Getting Started with Google AdSense

By: Laura Wheeler
Submitted: 2007-01-17 12:54:54
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Google AdSense is either the greatest thing since peanut butter, or evil incarnate, depending on who you listen to! Personally, I like AdSense. It allows me to earn money from sites that just sat there waiting for me to put in some kind of method for charging people previously.

I can write whatever I feel inspired to write, slap it onto a website, and make money from it! Of course, if I write popular things, I make more money. And if I write using terms people LOOK for, I make even more!

A website with a fair amount of traffic can make a little. Purportedly, the average site makes $20 per month. When you consider how little work you have to do to get that $20 per month, ongoing, it is not too hard to build another site that makes $20 per month. Better yet, it is not too hard to tweak the wording of the pages a tad so that they use keywords that people will use to search for them, and increase the income on each site.

I am in no way suggesting anything unethical, just stating that search engine optimization techniques become doubly important when the site uses Google AdSense to earn, because not only will it get you more targeted traffic, it will get ads delivered to your site that are more closely targeted to your content. Remember not to include words that you do not want Google to display ads about.

Your site must be built, and should be registered with search engines before you post ads. And you have to have content - not just a notice saying "in development", on every page that you put ads on.

The first thing you need to do is to go to the Google AdSense site and check out their terms of use. They are pretty strict about your content, and you must follow the rules or they'll boot you out with no warning. Get your account, and then select some code that coordinates with your site design.

Place the code in a logical place - Top of the page, sidebars, and bottom of the page are standard places for ads, to keep your site from looking tacky. Google has a limit of how many you can put on a page, so make sure you know what it is for the type of ad you are using.

Get the code in, and upload your pages. You can look at the ads on your pages, but do not click on one. Don't even think about it. Clickfraud is dealt with very sternly - your account is suspended, and any earnings you had to that point are forfeit if you are suspected of clickfraud, and Google does not change their mind. Once you are out, you are out for good. If you want to make money with Google, clickfraud is not the way to do it, and they consider any clicks you generate to be clickfraud.

Don't have your friends go clicking on the ads either. Clicks are analyzed for normal patterns, and any anomalies will raise a red flag.

You can create "channels" in Google, to track the performance of various site sections, pages, or separate sites. This will help you to see what is working and what is not. Your goal is to make money... but fairly. You don't want to cheat anyone else by using unethical tactics to do so. Just follow the rules and use the tools Google provides to see which of your areas does best.

Once you get one site going well, you can build another. And with the next one, you don't have to apply for an account with Google, you are already in. Just load the site, register it, and add the Google code.

Google AdSense can be a great way to either supplement your existing website, or to build a separate income based on information sites. It takes a lot of work to make a full time income from it, but then, everything does!

Written by Laura Wheeler

Owner of Content Cupboard AdSense Instructions - http://www.contentcupboard.com/ - Laura writes instructional materials, produces infosites, and builds affordable websites for her business startup clients. Her varied experience allows her to give exceptional service, and to produce instructions on a surprising range of topics. Laura is a busy mom of eight, homeschooler, and home business owner.

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