Adsense Guide – How to Get Started and how to Succeed with Adsense

With over 2 millions sites running Adsense ads, it’s safe to say that Adsense is one of the most favorite money-making technique for bloggers.

In this post, I’ll go into how to get started with Adsense, the pros and cons of the program and some tips to help you make the most of it (i.e. make more money).

An Overview—What is Adsense?

Adsense is an advertising program by Google. The program serves as a middleman linking advertisers with publishers. It lets advertisers advertise on the network whereas publishers get to plaster those ads on their websites. The revenue is then divided up between Google and its publishers.

It is arguably the fastest route for beginners to start earning money. But not necessarily the easiest (more on that later).

The only thing that is required of you is to copy and paste a few lines of code to your website. All the rest i.e. billing, matching, targeting and all that are taken care of by Google. At the end of the month you’ll receive a commission.

CPC (cost-per-click) and CPM (cost per thousand impressions) are the two ad forms. CPC means you get paid every time an ad is clicked and in the case of CPM that will be for each thousand views.

Google calculates the revenue generated from the clicks and splits it between itself and the publisher, with a little over half of the revenue going to the publisher.

Getting started & setting up your account

Before you can display Adsense ads on your site, you need to apply and get accepted into the program, after which you’ll be called a publisher. To become a publisher, two things are necessary; a website with some content and a postal address. Once you fulfill these, all that’s left to do is for you to apply using your Google account.

Once you have been accepted, usually after a couple of weeks, you can log into your account and copy your Adsense code to paste on your site. You will also be able to check your stats and customize the look and feel of your ads.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Easy to set up

It’s easy to get started and make money with, especially for beginners. It doesn’t require complex technical skills or a marketing knack.

• Easy reporting

Adsense always works hard to better their analytics feature and to streamline reporting. You will get to see an in-depth breakdown of your performances and get deep insights or metrics such as income breakdown as to what comes from what, CPC, traffic source and the like.

• Customizability of the ads

Adsense has a variety of ad formats like video, text, and image ads for you to choose from and it lets you customize their colors, fonts and layouts so that they fit well into your design.

Cons:

• Disabling accounts without prior notice

Adsense is notoriously famous for disabling accounts without any prior notice. Mostly for click fraud, where someone clicks on ads on their own sites, unwittingly or otherwise. There are also other cases that could get you banned.

All the more reason to diversify your income streams. But if you go by the rules and avoid spam content, you don’t have a lot to panic about.

• Payment threshold

You get paid only after your account reaches a minimum of $100. For newbies, that means waiting ages to get their first pay check.

• Approval is not given lightly

It often takes a few weeks for approval. Your site needs to have some articles on it and be attracting visitors already.

Will you make money overnight?

Now I’ve said that getting started with Adsense is easy, but earning money with Adsense is not as easy.

You will not get rich by plastering a few ads hither and thither. Yes it is possible, but there’s a lot of hard work you have to put in.

In fact, most bloggers are heard saying using Adsense doesn’t pay well, relative to other techniques such as membership sites or selling your own product. But many bloggers use it to supplement their income.

In point of fact, there are some industries and niches where Adsense works effectively, more so than other modes of monetization. So the key is to figure out if Adsense is the right fit for your industry and figure out a way to successfully use it along with other monetization techniques.

Watch any top Adsense earner and you will see that they all are good at driving traffic, and they have a website overstocked with articles. With a little persistence and some hard work, you will get there soon.

Below are a few more pointers on how to get the most out of Adsense and increase your income.

Tips on how to succeed with Adsense

The publishers that make the most money from Adsense are ones who follow the rules, stick with creating quality content, and drive a lot of traffic. Some of the things you can do to increase your income include:

• Increase traffic

Unfortunately you will have a lot of self-styled gurus telling you it’s possible to make money with no traffic. Don’t be buying that tale. No visitors, no money. Simple as that.

• Keywords are keys

Pick relevant and high paying keywords. Some keyword research tools show you how much advertisers are paying to advertise using your keywords of choice. The higher the keywords cost, the more you end up getting paid.

• Follow the program policies

You don’t want to spend hours working hard only to see all the income and assets you have worked to establish vanishing overnight.

• Try out different ad sizes and formats

Play around with different ad sizes, colors, and formats until you find the ones that convert the best for you. Also bear in mind placement and ad sizes. Generally the larger ad sizes such as the large rectangle (336×280) are the best ones and are recommended by Google too.

There is one fact; Adsense won’t make you millions of dollars, if any overnight. You have got to work hard for hours on end before you have any kind of income coming your way. Promoting your site to drive traffic and creating articles will take up the majority of your time. But it’ll at last pay off.

Earn Money From Adsense

If you already have a website or blog with quality content and yet not incorporated Adsense, it would be a good idea considering applying for this Google program. Earnings may take some time depending on the traffic you are able to drive to your site. But it is well worth giving it a try and wait until the flow of visitors increase on your site.

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What’s Your Feedback?

Do you use Adsense as a monetization method for your blog? What’s been your experience with it and do you think it’s a good source of income? If yes, let our readers know your secret on how to succeed with Adsense.