WebzCom.com your online resource for small business

Beginner's Guide to Google Adsense

This tutorial is for anyone who has been thinking about using Google's Adsense program to make some money with your web site. For people who are already using adsense you might want to check out my tips for optimizing your pages in order to maximize your site's revenue potential.

About a year ago I had read an article in Fortune magazine about Google and people who were making money with their Adsense program. Adsense allows you to insert some Javascript code provided by Google into your web page's HTML which generates Google ads on your web site and you as the web site owner make money when your visitors click on a Ad by Google.

I was excited at the chance to make some extra money from web sites that I have owned for years but have had some difficulty finding advertisers for so I leaped at the chance to see if it would work for me.

Did it work? Yes, it exceeded my initial expectations but I will explain some of the ups and downs later in this article. How much do I or did I make you may ask, I can't tell you exactly because of the Google TOS but it helped pay for all my server and web site operating expenses this year, three round trip airline tickets for my sons, Christmas gifts and covered a lot of the activities that my wife and I did this summer. It was a much nicer year financially because of Google.

What is Adsense?

With a minimal investment in time and no additional resources Google AdSense can give you advertising revenue from each page on your website.

AdSense delivers relevant text and image ads that are precisely targeted to your site and your site content. And when you add a Google search box to your site, AdSense delivers relevant text ads that are targeted to the Google search results pages generated by your visitors’ search request.

What do you need?

You might want to check out Google Adsense Secrets - 3rd Edition. by Joel Comm.

I purchased some of Joel's earlier Adsense information before and what I'd spent for the e-book I had made back in about one month after applying some of his techniques to my own sites.

A web site and the desire to make money is all you need but of course nothing worth while could possibly that simple. Google does have some rules about who can participate in Adsense and what you can do once you are accepted in to the program.

On Google's web site the following information is provided about the program:

To uphold the quality and reputation of Google AdSense, all publishers who apply are reviewed according to these program policies.

Ad Placement

• Up to three ad units may be displayed on each Web site page.
• A maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes may be placed on a page.
• A single link unit may be placed on each Web site page, in addition to the ad units and search boxes specified above. Link units are considered to be 'Google ads' for purposes of these program policies.
• No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages.
• No Google ad or Google search box may be displayed on any domain parking websites, pop-ups, pop-unders, or in any email.
• No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.
• Elements on a page must not obscure any portion of the ads, and the ad colors must be such that any ad elements, including text and URL, are visible.
• Clicks on Google ads must not result in a new browser window being launched.

Site Content

Site may not include:

• Excessive profanity
• Violence, racial intolerance, or advocate against any individual, group, or organization
• Hacking/cracking content
• Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia
• Pornography, adult, or mature content
• Gambling or casino-related content
• Excessive advertising
• Any other content that promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others
• Pop-ups, pop-unders or exit windows that interfere with site navigation, obscure Google ads, change user preferences, or are for downloads. Other types of pop-ups, pop-unders, or exit windows may be allowed, provided that they do not exceed a combined total of 5 per user session
• Excessive, repetitive, or irrelevant keywords in the content or code of web pages
• Deceptive or manipulative content or construction to improve your site's search engine ranking, e.g., your site's PageRank
• Incentives (monetary or point-based) to users or third-party beneficiaries for online activity including, but not limited to, clicking on ads or links, performing searches, surfing websites, reading emails, or completing surveys
• Sales or promotion of certain weapons, such as firearms, ammunition, balisongs, butterfly knives, and brass knuckles
• Sales or promotion of beer or hard alcohol
• Sales or promotion of tobacco or tobacco-related products
• Sales or promotion of prescription drugs
• Sales or promotion of products that are replicas or imitations of designer goods

Site Functionality

Your site must not contain broken links and must be launched, functioning, and easily navigable.

Site Responsiveness

Sites must respond adequately to support requests and enquiries of their users.

Webmaster Guidelines

In addition to the standards above, AdSense participants are required to adhere to the webmaster guidelines posted at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html. Some relevant items from the guidelines are included below for your reference:

• Do not load pages with irrelevant or excessive key words.
• Do not employ cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Do not create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
• Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).
• Do not participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web as your website may be affected adversely by those links.

To be continued...

Until then check out theses links.

Google Adsense Links