Interested in making money with Google?
Here's your complete guide to getting started along with some info on how to maximize your earnings, why some accounts are disabled and even alternatives to AdSense.
If you want to jump to the various sections, use the table of contents on the right.
What is Google AdSense?
AdSense is a nice way to monetize your traffic, and very easy to implement. It's one of my top earners and has been since 2003. (See the video about my earnings further down.)
AdSense is not a get-rich-quick program. You have to build a site with lots of traffic to make it worthwhile.
This free guide will give you a realistic overview of what you can expect from the program.
Don't pay a cent for these "Get Rich Quick" books on AdSense. Many of them are all hype or they're trying to get you to purchase one of their products.
Google.com earns most of its revenue by allowing other website owners to advertise on their search results pages.
All this is managed through a program they call AdWords (pay per click marketing).
You see these ads displayed above the free/organic results and along the right side of the page on Google.com.
These are called Sponsored Results, and the advertisers are paying a certain amount of money per click for these ads.
It's an auction-based system that allows advertisers to compete for those spots. Whomever has the highest bid and most "quality" ad, gets the top spot and so forth.
Now you can earn a share of the revenue that Google earns from AdWords by displaying these same text or image ads on your site. When someone clicks, you earn roughly 68% of the click and Google gets the rest.
This program is called AdSense.
It's a great program that can help you drive additional income to your website -- especially if it's mostly content based.
So if you are one of those people that doesn't like the idea of paying for a site, this is an excellent way to earn your money back and then some.
Please make sure you read this entire article. AdSense is not a get-rich-quick scheme and it takes a lot of work to make money. Don't think that just because you join, you are guaranteed to make big money.
How Does AdSense Work?
Here's a video I did some years back. The reason I still show it here is the concept is still exactly the same.
The biggest difference is it takes more work to build up traffic. Nevertheless, AdSense still works just as well as it did back when I created this video.
How Much Can You Earn With AdSense?
The commission you receive per click depends on how much advertisers are paying Google for the particular ad. You will earn a share of that amount. I've heard of earnings anywhere from 2 cents to $15 per click.
Getting over $1 is probably very rare, although it does happen from time to time. However, you will find that most of your earnings will be on the lower end of the spectrum.
It's important to note that I cannot estimate how much you will earn based on your traffic. People always want to know what the average amount is per click.
No one knows the answer to this except Google, so don't let anyone try to tell you any different. It would be impossible for myself or any AdSense publisher to give this information because the ads all cost different prices and we have no idea what advertisers are paying.
However, there are some niches that obviously pay more. So it is logical to believe that keyword phrases like sex, make money, etc. may earn you more per click since these are highly competitive keywords that are searched for quite a bit on
The more competitive the search term, the more the advertisers pay and the more you earn as a publisher.
Even though Google will not reveal how much you are earning for each ad that is clicked from your site, you can still login to your account at any time and see the total amount of revenue you've generated that day, week, month, year, etc.
For example, if you see that you've made $12.60 today from 9 clicks then you can calculate that your average click-thru commission was $1.40 per click. That's as detailed as their stats will get. Also remember, that's only an average. You won't know how much each specific ad brought in.
The amount you'll earn also depends largely on the amount of targeted traffic you receive to your own site, how well the ads match your audience's interests, the placement of the ads on your pages, and of course the amount you receive per click.
Ideally, you should create a site on a topic you know a lot about. That way you'll have a much easier time creating a generous amount of content on that subject.
Creating Your Website for AdSense
Before you even begin your site, make sure you've come up with a topic that you feel you know plenty about. That way it will be easiest to write a lot of content.
The more content you have, the better chance you have getting accepted into the program. Also, the more content and traffic, the greater the earning potential.
If you want to make a lot of money, prepare to write a lot of content and learn how to market your site. Don't expect to throw up a 10 page site and make $1,000 per month. That's unrealistic.
Now let's talk about building your website. There are two ways you can approach this:
1) Do it Yourself (DIY) from scratch
2) Use Site Build It! (SBI!)
The Do It Yourself Method
I've actually used both methods for building my site and there are advantages and disadvantages to both. So the option you choose, depends on what you're comfortable with.
If you use the DIY method, you will have to go and get a domain (yoursite.com) and then sign up for a web host and build your pages.
Decide if you want a static website like this or a blog. If you don't know the difference, this article will help you out.
Averaging between $3 and $10 per month, the DIY method is usually the most cost friendly of the two but you are mostly on your own in terms of learning how to create your web pages and adding the AdSense code to your site.
Web hosts are generally there to house your site. They don't specialize in helping you market and optimize your site for the search engines to help you get traffic. So don't expect a lot from them in terms of helping you market your site and making money with Google AdSense.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. I had to learn how to build this site on my own and it wasn't very difficult.
Consider Using Site Build It! (SBI!)
This is a revolutionary web host like no other. I use it for my site, flat-stomach-exercises.com, and
AdSense is the #1
way
this
website
earns
money.
I don't make a ton of money because it's not my primary site, but the site definitely pays for itself and then some!
I actually just created this website to test the website building system out.
The reason SBI! is different from the other do-it-yourself hosts is that first it provides all the web page building and marketing help all in one place. Your domain registration, web hosting, website builder, and marketing help come with the price.
They provide you with a brainstorming tool so you can research and select a "profitable" niche based on monthly keyword searches/demand. Then they guide you to building your website using their Video Action Guide.
Now, it's important to note that SBI! does not build your site for you. That's up to you. They simply provide the guidance so you can optimize your site for AdSense or other programs.
How to Join AdSense
Once you have 20-30 pages on your site, go to http://adsense.google.com to apply.
When you are accepted, simply copy and paste the provided HTML code into any page that you'd like to show the ads. You can opt to display text ads, image ads, or a combination of both. It's up to you.
You can either display the ads vertically along side the page like Google does or in a banner-like formation horizontally across your pages. You can even customize the colors to match your site's theme.
Tips on Succeeding With AdSense
Here are some tips for achieving success with Google AdSense.
Build Traffic
You're not going to make anything with AdSense if you don't have enough traffic. Please don't think this is some easy, get-rich-quick program. This takes work and it all starts with getting visitors.
Learn more about traffic building here.
Experiment
Test ad sizes, images vs. text, play around with colors, you name it. I personally like to have my ads match the background of my site so they blend more.
Some people prefer to make their ads stand out by using bold/contrasting colors, but that never worked well for me. I think it's because they look so much like ads.
Read a blog post I wrote where my readers and I discuss our best performing ad units/sizes.
To display the ads vertically along the right side of the page, just copy this code into your site and paste your AdSense code where indicated.
<table align="right" width="300>
<tr>
<td>INSERT ADSENSE CODE HERE</td>
</tr>
</table>
You can change the width of the table to suit your needs, just remember that it needs to be wide enough to fit whatever AdSense code you selected. You can also switch the alignment by changing the align attribute from "left" to "right."
Create Channels
Channels allow you to see what units are working best. So if you are adding an AdSense unit to your header, you should create a channel called (name it Header, for example) so you can track its performance in your reports.
I think it's important to maximize your click through rate (CTR) so you can attract more advertisers (just my opinion based on logic.) So I remove channels/units that perform significantly lower than others.
Advertisers want to advertise on sites that will give them the most clicks, right? So it makes sense to optimize your account's CTR as much as you can.
So how do you create channels?
When you are creating a new ad unit, you are presented the option of creating a custom channel on the first screen...
Set Units to "Targeted"
When you target your custom channel units, you make them available to Placement advertisers who may want to advertise on your site directly. These advertisers pay more so you earn more per click.
It's super easy to set this up.
Just click "My Ads" from your account, then select "Custom Channels". Click the channel you want to target and click the box for targeting as illustrated below...
Avoid Free Hosts
I know times are tough economically and a lot of you don't want to pay for a website. But the facts don't lie. Successful website owners invest money. Period.
I have yet to open up a magazine and see a successful site featured hosted on Blogger.com or another free host. Never. And I've been out here since 1998.
If you want the search engines and people to take your site seriously, you have to own your site. And if you don't do this, I question your dedication.
Even if it means you have to wait and save your money for 6 months to buy a domain and hosting. I'd rather you do that then take shortcuts with free hosting.
The other problem with free hosts is they can remove your site without warning. This happened to a gentleman just last week who emailed me. There was nothing I could do. If you don't own your site, you don't own your income.
How Come I'm Not Making Much Money With AdSense
People often ask me why their earnings are so low and there are many reasons for that.
1. Not enough traffic
If your site has less than 500 visitors per day, it's going to be difficult to make much with AdSense. You have to remember that only a small percentage of people will click on your ads (1-2%) so if you have 500 people coming to your site in a day, that's 5 clicks.
Also, most clicks will earn you less than $1, so hopefully you can see that it takes a great deal of traffic to build up income with AdSense.
2. Not enough relevant ads displaying
Some niches have more, relevant ads that Google can display. This will drastically impact your click through rate. If the ads aren't relevant to your content then your visitors aren't going to click.
That's why it's important to make sure your site has a lot of content so you can help Google display the most relevant ads. Granted, sometimes there aren't relevant ads available, and there's nothing you can really do about that.
However, just having a few sentences with some images is not helping Google find the best ads because you have so little content.
3. Low paying niche
Let's face it. Some niches pay more than others. If you have a finance site, the ads will probably pay more than the ads on an entertainment site.
So the niche you are in plays a big role in how much you can make. That's why it's hard to estimate how much anyone can earn with AdSense. There are just too many different variables.
Not Getting Approved?
People often ask me why they can't get approved for AdSense. It's tough to answer because I do not work for Google, so I can only guess.
Many times it's because there are not enough pages on your website. I tell people to shoot for at least 20-30 pages at the very minimum, and make sure your content is very niche -- centered around ONE topic.
Google doesn't like sites that cover too many different topics because it's hard to target ads. The more focused your content is, the better.
In addition to more content, aim for longer articles (at least 700 words or more). Google does not like "thin" content sites that look as if they were created just for AdSense. Put some meat on those bones and make it look as if you put some effort into your website!
Also, check your grammar, spelling, layout etc. Remember you are partnering with Google and they don't like to see messy sites with poor/confusing navigation structures.
Getting Disabled From AdSense
Recently, a lot of publishers have been getting their accounts disabled for "fraudulent or potential fraudulent click activity."
This has frustrated a lot of AdSense publishers because many claim they have done nothing wrong and how in the heck does Google define "potential?"
No one really knows.
Remember, Google earns its money from advertising. The ads that appear on your pages are costing someone money every single time a click is registered
Google monitors clicks very closely -- especially if your account is new.
So if they sense A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G out of the ordinary or feel you are getting traffic from places that may may produce bot/automated/fraudulent clicks, they will disable your account to protect their advertiser's money.
They used to disable when they confirmed fraudulent clicks, but now they will disable even if they see potential risk with your account -- whatever that means.
Then they refund the advertiser their money -- which is why you don't receive a check for money earned if you are disabled.
Unfortunately no one really knows exactly what the threshold is for determining your account has "potential fradulent clicks."
And to make things worse, their communication when you are disabled is automated and there are usually no warnings -- which is unfortunate and frustrating for people who have done nothing wrong. There's also no way to reach out for definitive answers and appeals usually fail.
It's Not Our Money... Unfortunately
As frustrating as it is to get disabled from AdSense, keep in mind, Google is SHARING their advertising money with us.
If there was no AdSense program, all of that money we're earning would be Google's anyway. So ultimately it is their money, not ours.
I know that's tough to hear and I can imagine it does feel like your money was taken from you, but when we all "accepted" the terms and conditions upon signing up, that is basically what we were agreeing to.
There are no guarantees with AdSense.
Now I do believe that the system has kinks, and I believe some innocent people are disabled, but that's why you cannot put all your income eggs in one basket. Google has to protect their advertiser's money.
No one is safe from getting banned... not even me... and it's just one of those things that comes with the territory if you decide to join the AdSense program.
Google will always safeguard their advertisers because they are their customers -- not us. And if they feel their money is being wasted on fraudulent clicks (even if it's only potential), they won't stand for it.
Why Your Google AdSense Earnings Fluctuate
I am often asked why AdSense earnings change so often and drastically. Read why there are so many highs and lows with your earnings.
Google AdSense Infographic
Here is a basic summary of key information that will help you get approved and manage your AdSense account.
