Ahh yes, arbitrage. The business model that was where it was supposed to be for just under a year and then… crash. Google certainly put the brakes on that one, didn’t they?

Or, at least, so you think. Whether you are willing to believe it or not, thousands of people are still making good money with MFA websites and arbitrage tactics. Let’s face it- the business model, when applied right, becomes a license to print money. Who wouldn’t get in on that kind of simplicity?

How I Made Arbitrage Work

Arbitrage is unique in the sense that it literally exploded with popularity. There are a lot of reasons for the sudden surge in popularity, and a few eBooks certainly come to mind, but I’m not going to get into them. The fact is that arbitrage, as it is seen in its online form, literally became the way to earn an income online.

A few months ago Google came down on arbitrage websites, banning thousands of AdSense accounts and refusing to pay for others. A lot of publishers, including myself, scraped by without so much as a warning. Without sounding pompous (or tooting my own horn), there were good reasons that I escaped Google’s ban hammer:

• My websites were not single-page fillers - The content on my MFA (made for arbitrage) websites was of decent quality, where the user would actually learn something from the content. As well, each website was a few pages, forming an actual website and not just a webpage.
• I had valid contact information - People could actually e-mail me if they did have a question. Admittedly, the vast majority of the e-mails went unanswered, or the only reply was that of an autoresponder that was promoting web hosting.
• I blended my AdSense ads well, but not too well - Unlike a lot of (creative) publishers out there, I made sure that my AdSense ads could be identified as such, and that they were not displayed in a way that was misleading or deceptive.

As well, something that I think made a major difference was the fact that I used third-tier search engines, such as 7search and Enhance, and had them send the traffic to AdSense ads. In this way, it was unlikely that Google would be able to connect the traffic that came from 7search or Enhance to the website.

At this point, I should probably mention that I no longer do arbitrage… you know, just in case Google’s reading.

Arbitrage Tidbits

Here’s a quick Q&A about arbitrage:

Is there money to be made? Yes.

How much? Lots.

How much is lots? Hundreds of thousands.

How easy is it to make arbitrage work? Very.

Does it have any amount of longevity? To be determined. It is likely.

How much does one website make? It depends. My sites averaged $2 a day each. I figured that by aiming low with each site and multiplying the number of websites that I would fly under the radar.

Is unique content important? Absolutely.