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So, you've got a website going,
and you're looking to make a little money by putting ads on your
site. Look no further than Google's Adsense program.
First, a little about Adsense. It's basically a
pay-per-click program where Google acts as the middle-man
between the merchant and the publisher (advertiser).
You've probably seen Adsense ads all over the internet already.
Many sites have "Ads By Google" in the sidebars, at the top of
the page, at the bottom of the page, etc. You might have
noticed that Adsense ads are "targeted", or related to the page
in some way. This is all done on Google's end. All
the webmaster did was add a chunk of Google code to their page,
and Google did the rest. Every time one of those ads is
clicked, the owner of the page gets some money, based on what
the ad is worth.
If you're not already signed up with Adsense, a few tips
before you apply. Not everyone is accepted into the
program. You have to read their requirements, and if your
site fits, then apply. Someone will review your site and
you will either be accepted or declined. Note that Google
is also accepting certain blog sites into their program now.
For example, blogger.com even has an interface set up to easily
insert ads on your blog hosted there.
- Tip #1: Ensure your website is full of meaningful
content.
- Tip #2: Don't submit websites that are "under
construction". Wait until it's complete.
- Tip #3: Make sure your site is well laid out and easy to
navigate. A site that looks like it was slapped
together in a matter of minutes is sure to be declined
- Tip #4: Don't submit a site already full of ads and
advertising. If it looks like your site was designed
specifically for ads, it won't get accepted. Google's
terms also limit the types of advertising you're allowed to
have. Assume you're going to be accepted, and remove
current ads that will be disallowed by Google before you
submit. If you're rejected, you can always put your
old ads back on.
So assuming you've been accepted into the Adsense program,
what next? Put the ads up of course. And here are
some tips to follow to help you make the most of Adsense:
- Read and understand the rules regarding Adsense.
Then read it again. If you break the rules, you will
get dropped from the program, and will not receive any
money. You probably won't get back in either.
There is no 3-strike rule, no pleading ignorance, nothing.
Google has to protect the merchants, and these rules are
designed with their interests in mind. So make sure you
understand what you can and can not do.
- Never, Ever, Ever click on the ads yourself. Not
to test them, not to show your friends, not because you
think "every once in a while won't hurt", and not even if
you're genuinely interested in the ad. First of all,
that click just cost someone money. Second, it's not
permitted. In fact, if there are others in your
household who might visit your site, tell them *not* to
click on the ads on your site. Google has many
tracking methods in place, and if they find that someone
from your household has been clicking on ads (possibly
thinking they're helping you), you might wake up one morning
to find an email saying that your account's been suspended
for fraudulent clicks.
- Never ask or suggest to anyone that they should click on
your ads. This includes "click on XXXX to support this
site". This will generate un-interested clicks, and
again, you could lose your account. In fact, play it
safe and don't even refer to the ads on your site.
- Design your site for content, then place the ads.
Don't make a page of ads and then add content.
- Place your ads in good positions. Google has a
"map" of the best locations, basically starting at the top
left of the page and moving towards the bottom right. These
are simply guidelines, and won't be practical for all sites,
but they're a good starting point.
- Make sure your ads don't interfere with your content.
Remember, your viewers came to the site for the content, not
the ads. If they're having trouble reading or
navigating to the content, they'll just leave.
- Make your ads "fit in". The last time you saw a
big flashing banner on a website, did you click on it?
Probably not. I'd be willing to bet you tried not to
look at it. What am I saying here? Try not to
make your ads look like ads. Google lets you customize
ad colors, so try to make them fit in with your site.
That combined with good placement will help to ensure people
look at them, and will increase your click rate.
- Use content channels. These are set up when you
log in to Google's Adsense, and can be used to place
different ads in different "categories". They're
actually surprisingly simple to use. You create a
channel name. That's it. Then when you create an ad,
you simply select the channel for that ad, and it's included
in the code. Channels can help you determine the ad
locations that perform well, and those that perform poorly.
For example, you could create a channel called "sidebar",
for the ads in your sidebar. When people click on ads
in your sidebar, Google will record it, and you can see how
many of your clicks were from the ads in the sidebar.
If those ads are performing poorly, you will know.
- Make changes from time to time. It's good to
experiment with ad types and positioning. First, it
can help you find the optimum placement for your ads.
Second, assuming you have repeat visitors, people become
used to seeing the same thing over and over again, and can
eventually "block out" your ads if they're in the same
position all the time. Moving your ads make them seem
"new" again, and it will take your visitors awhile to block
them out again.
- Do not pump as many ads as you can into a page.
First of all, Google has limits to the ads per page.
Also, while you want visitors to see the ads, you certainly
don't want visitors to be turned off by ads. If every
3 seconds another ad is hitting them in the face (due to
good placement), they may start to block out the ads or
leave your page. When a viewer sees an ad, and
realizes it's an ad, you want their mindset to be "what's
this about?", not getting ticket off that they're beeing
force-fed ads.
- If you have a massive amount of content on your page,
have hit the limits of what Google will allow for ads, and
want to get the most for your money, consider breaking that
page up into 2 or more pages, each with their own ads.
- Google's system of determining which ads to place on
your page isn't perfect. Sometimes it will pick the
wrong key words and deliver ads based on those. If
you're getting the "wrong ads" displayed, check your page to
see what words are causing those ads to be displayed.
Either change them, or add emphasis to the proper words by
using tags like h1, h2, strong, etc. Note that it can
take days for these changes to be recognized, so make the
changes you think should be made, and then leave the page
for awhile. Eventually Google will catch up with
things and the ads will be changed.
To sum things up:
- make sure you follow the rules
- try to find the "right" amount of ads per page (don't be
overzealous)
- make sure your ads don't look like ads. place and
integrate them well.
- make sure your ads don't interfere with the content.
Don't try to "force-feed" ads to visitors.
- keep an eye on the performance of ads. Don't be afraid
to make changes.
With a high quality website, and following some of the
tips provided here, you should be on your way to pulling in
profit using Google's Adsense program.
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