Webupon

This is what Google’s relatively new Adworks program is promoting: use this program, and within a matter of days, you will be making far more than you ever did at your day job.  Sounds fishy, right?  The thing is, this is actually a legitimate business opportunity, and not a scam that will suck all your money from your bank account.  However . . . here it comes . . . there are some catches that make this trickier than Google would have you think.

The whole premise behind Adworks is users placing online links for Google.  Whenever people click on this link (or ad if you will), thus making Google small change, the user gets a dividend of that money.  The more people that click on the ad, the more money the user makes.  Sounds great!  So what are the pros and cons of this venture?  Let’s go with the pros first.

•   You can work from your computer, so if you have a laptop you can work virtually anywhere.  Great!
•   The startup fee for Adworks is a mere $3 for shipping and handling.  No upfront costs.  Great!
•  You don’t have to be a computer genius to use Adworks.  The instructions are simple and straightforward.  Gr8!
•  You can post these ads anywhere: craigslist, in your online articles, on your webpage−the possibilities are endless!  Great!

Okay, that sounds pretty darn good.  For only $3 from your pocket, you can start posting ads like there’s no tomorrow and be rich by the end of the month!  Consider the cons though before you’re so quick to bite.

•   Although you are only charged $3 for shipping and handling up front, you are billed approximately $70 a month for using Adworks.  Hm.  Sounds like Google might make more of a profit than you.
•   Although you don’t need to have hacker skilz to make online ads, you do need to have salesman skills.  If your ads don’t catch an internet surfer’s eye, and pretty quickly at that, they’ll just click right by you.
•   Although you can post these ads anywhere, you can’t just throw an ad out as a post by itself.  Otherwise it will be labeled as spam and removed, and you will probably be banned (eventually) from the site you placed the ad on.  Your best bet for ad placing is in articles and via your own web page.  Which brings us to con number
•  Plenty of people have their own webpage, but unless it’s used for business, really, who visits it?  A couple of friends and family members?  The occasional blog reader or groupie?  This isn’t enough to get the money rolling in.  Unless you already have a booming website, chances are ads placed here won’t receive a lot of traffic.  The same goes for ads placed in online articles (such as this one!).  Unless you already have a steady following, your ads won’t receive a lot of traffic after the initial burst of interest.

Let’s take a moment to contemplate and sum up these pros and cons. 

Work at home, easy to use, little money up front

Versus

Salesman-worthy ads, relatively steep monthly charge, ad placement

Obviously Google is a great salesman.  It’s got tons of people thinking they will be millionaires within a year!  And for some people, Adworks might work great.  Maybe they do have online sites to place ads where millions of visitors stop by daily.  Maybe they will make enough so that the $70 monthly charge seems negligible.  With a little bit of creativity and luck it’s possible.  Just check out this guy’s article on Adworks here.  For the vast majority though, Google Adworks seems like a valiant waste of time.  Sure you might make a few bucks, but in the long run, wouldn’t it be better to do something you enjoy rather than writing ads for the internet that even you probably wouldn’t want to click on? 

And by the way . . . there’s never “only one left.”