It seems that a new generation of websites depend on advertising revenue for 100% of their income. Is this a sustainable and profitable way to run a company and how long before google ads is ignored by users?

Also, has anyone used google adwords / adsense and does it bring paying customers? From all the stories ive heard, it is simply a waste of money.

I use Google Adsense on two of my sites. Earns about $200 a month which is enough to pay for the server they run on, and buy me a few beers ;) I'm looking at building traffic over the next few months so that they are bringing in $1000+ per month purely from advertising.

I initially used Google Adwords to advertise the sites, this brought in a huge amount of traffic, once that was in I stopped advertising and the traffic has stayed fairly level over time.

Well worth spending the money if you do it well.

I don't have advertisements on any of my sites...

However, if you look at other companies such as free webhosting providers (the large ones) and forum hosting companies like ProBoards, depend a lot on ads. With the amount of servers they have, it must be bringing in something for them...

Income of some sort will always be needed, and the sources are limited.

1) Advertising
2) Sponsorship
3) Donations

I use Google Adsense on two of my sites. Earns about $200 a month ..

I initially used Google Adwords to advertise the sites, this brought in a huge amount of traffic, once that was in I stopped advertising and the traffic has stayed fairly level over time. How many page impressions does that site have?

How much did you spent on Adwords? I want to compare your Adwords spending with your Adsense performance.

Sometimes, I wonder if I should be bold in advertising and go and spend 1000s of dollars.

I have a full time job and funded ZoomCities IT Community privately. I never depended on advertising. But maybe as we continue to grow and due to expand thru UK, NZ and AU in the next 6 months I might consider AdSense.

How many page impressions does that site have?

How much did you spent on Adwords? I want to compare your Adwords spending with your Adsense performance.

Sometimes, I wonder if I should be bold in advertising and go and spend 1000s of dollars.

Impressions on pages with Adsense on (home page only) are roughly 1500-2000 per day.

So far I've only spent about $70 on Adwords and the average CPC is $0.10. So as you can see a lot of traffic is is repeat users or with one site in particular is users posting things which link back to the main site, then new users come along and use it too.

Earnings from Adsense are between $6 and $10 per day.

Today I've actually just installed an adsense tracker, so I'm going to track how many clicks on adverts come from users who came in via Adwords.

hmm we depend upon nothing. we use adsence but and also to mention guys here around that google has stated in its acceptance policy that you should never reveal your income publicly.

hmm we depend upon nothing. we use adsence but and also to mention guys here around that google has stated in its acceptance policy that you should never reveal your income publicly.

Actually you can talk about how much they pay you, just nothing like statistics like CTR etc.

Confidentiality. You agree not to disclose Google Confidential Information without Google's prior written consent. "Google Confidential Information" includes without limitation: (a) all Google software, technology, programming, specifications, materials, guidelines and documentation relating to the Program; (b) click-through rates or other statistics relating to Site performance in the Program provided to You by Google; and (c) any other information designated in writing by Google as "Confidential" or an equivalent designation. However, You may accurately disclose the amount of Google’s gross payments to You pursuant to the Program. Google Confidential Information does not include information that has become publicly known through no breach by You or Google, or information that has been (i) independently developed without access to Google Confidential Information, as evidenced in writing; (ii) rightfully received by You from a third party; or (iii) required to be disclosed by law or by a governmental authority.

It is yes, but what about these new 'banner blocking' scripts like the Firefox extension?

It is yes, but what about these new 'banner blocking' scripts like the Firefox extension?
There is such a thing? Im on my way to firefox addons :).

Yeah, it's on the 'most downloaded' section actually. Here (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/10/)

Has anyone actually tracked the amount of clicks that come from adwords and how they reflect on adsense clicking?