@Justin - Thanks for the insight and articles. I read throught them all. Great stuff and its good to see you back.

Check out:
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2005/10/facts-about-smart-pricing.html
https://adwords.google.com/select/news/sa_mar04.html

According to Google, who I consider to be more of an authority on the topic than both Bryan and Mary.

Advertiser ROI and conversions are a bigger factor than CTR. They’re more concerned about an advertiser getting their money’s worth, than just CTR. You can have a high volume, low CTR, site that converts well. If you only have 1% CTR, but 90% of those who clicked converted for the advertiser, I doubt you’d get priced.

I think low CTR tends to be a side effect of poorly targeted traffic. Poorly targeted traffic doesn’t convert well. So you get priced, and you assume it is only due to CTR.

I suggest checking out this post from Griz. He ranks well. Knows his shit. He’s a nice guy.
And he’s one of the few MMO bloggers who are successful monetizing with adsense.
http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/2008/04/optimization-tips-for-adsense.html

I’d trust him more than all the other blogger rattling off their views on the topic. Griz actually uses adsense in a niche that is notoriously bad for adsense.

I’m not trying to debate with either Mary or Bryan, just thought I’d give some input.

Do your best, dont give up. You have allies here, amongst the bull shiters and negative people. Im rooting for you. I dont know you well, and you dont know me. But who cares? Just do your thing. No one hits a home run on the first at bat. Well some do, but who cares about that.

Focus on what you want first, then seek out the help of those can help, such as Bryan and the others here who have volunteered to help.

You have friends, which as a blogger, is a big big plus. Run with that. After awhile, i would just not let any negative commenters here on your blog. I can see how some come for the negativity, and traffic is traffic. But it will distract you.

So my best advice is to start to focus on what YOU want. Then use every resource at your disposal, including your blogger friends, and take it one day at a time.

It’s not easy, but you can do it.

Have a good day. Where have you been traveling, any highlights?

Don’t get me wrong. Everything start small and slow. I sounds old like your Dan, but that’s what I have been through. I had tons of freedom and I had so much fun when I were 25 years old. I have done so many crazy thing that people wanted to do for so long. I have done all that.

Now I am working very hard and play very hard to enjoy my life while building my own business seriously. I spent 15 months traveling in the past 2 years. I can still working on my business. It’s slowly growing, but it’s steady.

My point is this. You can have freedom and anything you want, while seriously building your business. Don’t wait until you are older. It’s up to you how you want to plan your life. You can have BOTH!

To me nothing would be sader than being 35 or 45 and rich and have a bad back and look back and wish I enjoyed my life.

I’ve worked the past 15 out of 17 nights at the Ore House. I go for 3-6 mountain bike rides every day. 11-42 miles and 1,700 to 3,700 vertical feet. A slacker, I am not. Later