For many Internet marketers, an AdSense ban would be a devastating blow to their online earnings. If you are one of those who have thin little AdSense sites making up the bulk of your online portfolio, and you haven’t been Google slapped yet, prepare yourself. Google rolled out yet another algorithm update yesterday, and not only were another wave of “Made for AdSense” sites slapped from the listings, AdSense accounts were also getting banned left and right.

In fact, one very well-known Internet Marketer, Spencer Haws, head of the website Niche Pursuits, just published a post yesterday in which he announced that his AdSense account was banned. He mentioned that other big-time marketers just had the same experience – and he named Ghauer Chaudhry, Zac Johnson, Mark Peeters, and Eric of My4hrworkweek.com as some of the other unfortunate victims. In his post, Haws muses about the likelihood of Google reinstating an AdSense account. He says although he has submitted a reconsideration request, he’s not holding his breath.

Many other publishers AdSense banned share his sentiment. So instead of trying to find a way back in, Haws is formulating an after-the-fact Plan B. Others, such as the guys from AdSenseFippers.com, are not banned (yet), but are posting about their plans for coping with an AdSense ban if it comes about.

Diversification is Still Key to IM

If we’ve said it once on our Internet marketing blog, we’ve said it a million times. The key to Internet marketing is diversification. If you put all your eggs in one basket by building an army of micro niche sites and monetizing them with AdSense, then you stand to lose everything overnight. We’re seeing it happen all over the ‘net these days, so it is imperative now more than ever to make sure you base your revenue model on things other than search engine traffic.

Google AdSense is still a great way to earn money from your websites, but if you plan to go this route, you should stop everything and take a page from the big guys’ playbooks today. Formulate a backup plan – a monetization strategy that you can implement immediately if you find yourself banned from AdSense with no prior warning.

Alternatives to AdSense

As many marketers have pointed out on their blogs, AdSense is the biggest and best way to earn from your site. The pool of adverstisers is bottomless, so the ability of the platform to display relevant, targeted ads is unsurpassable. You will make more from AdSense, too, so make sure to be aware that you may not earn as much, at least at first, until you find a substitute that works for you. Many months of testing will be the best way to find the closest match for your AdSense earnings.

Try sites like Commission Junction, Infolinks, or Media.net to replace your AdSense blocks. You can also try different models altogether, such as promoting Amazon or Clickbank products on you site. Don’t underestimate the power of adding an opt-in list and generating sales yourself if you have your AdSense account banned unexpectedly. There are ways to recover from an AdSense ban, and it’s NOT the end of the world – if you’re prepared.

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