What is Google Adsense???
The majority of Internet users are probably
aware of Google AdSense but for the sake
of keeping beginners up-to-date here is a
quick overview about the program and
major benefits:
It is own by Google
It’s a major source of income for
Google (On 2012 Q3 earnings from
AdSense was $3.13 billion which
represents around 27% of Google’s
revenue)
It is free for publishers
Advertisers use the Adwords program
to advertise their products or services
on AdSense websites. They only pay
when someone clicks on their ads (PPC
– Pay per click) Publishers receive 68% of the revenue
and Google 32%. For example if an
advertiser pays $1 for a click then 68
cents will go to the publisher and 32
cents to Google.
The cost per click calculation is based
on an auction type system
It is very easy to use
It is the most reliable advertising
platform on the Internet today and
can generate the most revenue for
publishers (compared to other similar
PPC systems)
AdSense besides content web sites is
also available for games, videos,
mobiles and search products.
You can find out more details about Google
AdSense in the AdSense Help Center.
So, AdSense is free, easy to use, you get
68% of the revenue – what else do you
need to make money with AdSense?
What do you need to make money with adsense???
You need a content rich website
AdSense loves content rich websites.
Content can be of any kind (including text,
images, videos), provided that it does not
violate the AdSense content policies.
It is suggested though to have text on the
pages as well so that the AdSense crawler
can understand better what the website is
about. AdSense is more suitable for
websites that publish articles, case studies,
how-to guides (like this one), but there are
also success stories of other types of
websites as well.
You need a high quality website
It’s not enough to publish content that
does not violate AdSense content policies
but you also need to provide for high
quality content on a high quality web site .
Google is liable to advertisers for the
money the pay so they don’t want their ads
to appear on low quality websites. In the
past this was possible but the last couple
of years they have more strict policies on
the type of websites you can run AdSense.
You need a LOT of traffic
AdSense is a good way to make money
online and it is perhaps the easiest method
provided that you have a good amount of
quality traffic coming to your website. I
cannot give you an exact number because
the amount of money you can make
depends on the earnings per click (EPC)
and click through rate (CTR), but I don’t
usually advice my clients to run AdSense on
websites that have less than 300-400
unique visits per day.
In general though, the more targeted
traffic you have, the more money you can
make with AdSense.
You need to target the right keywords
If you target the right keywords in your
content then you can make more money
with AdSense or with any other advertising
platform. What are the right keywords?
Keywords that are: (1) used by advertisers
to promote their products so the
competition is greater and (2) action
keywords. Action keywords are more
effective since the users are more likely to
‘take action’ i.e. convert after they click.
Let’s look at the following example:
Assume that you have 2 websites in the
weight loss niche that are running
AdSense. Both websites receive the same
amount of organic traffic and they have the
ads in the same positions. The first one is
getting visitors searching for: ‘weight loss
tips’, ‘how to lose weight’, ‘lose belly fat’
and the other one is getting traffic from
keywords like: ‘why drinking water is
important’, ‘what to eat after dinner’, ‘how
many meals to eat per day’.
The first website is likely to make more
money with AdSense because more
advertisers are interested for those
keywords so the number of available
relevant ads will be greater. Users are also
likely to click the ads more often since
users looking for tips or solutions to their
problem are more likely to click on a
relevant ad than users who are searching
for general information.
This is also the reason why organic traffic
is considered to be more valuable than any
other form of traffic i.e. because it is
highly targeted and converts better.
You need to fully comply with AdSense
policies
As I said above AdSense represents 1/3 of
Google’s revenue so they take the whole
program very seriously. While it is relatively
easy for everyone to get an AdSense
account, if you don’t play by their rules
100% you risk losing your account.
Even if you are an existing or new AdSense
publisher make sure that you read
their policiesbefore implementing AdSense
on your website. Remove from your mind
any ideas for tricking the system and
always remember that they have hired the
best people to make sure that nobody will
be able to bypass their rules and policies.
You need to have a website with a
purpose and not a MFA (made for
AdSense) website
While AdSense is a great way to monetize
a website, websites that are made for the
sole purpose of running AdSense ads are
not favorable by Google. I have mentioned
this in a previous post: 5 reasons you are
not making money online and what is
important to understand is that you
website or blog needs to have a clear
purpose which goes beyond making money
with AdSense.
Yes, you can use AdSense to make money
from an established blog that has lots of
traffic and visitors; you can use AdSense to
make some extra money from you website
while selling your own products and
services as well, but it’s not a very good
idea to make a blog and start publishing
mediocre content for the sole purpose of
getting organic visits and then run AdSense
to make money. In the past this model
may have worked, but not anymore.
