AdSense is great, and if you want to learn more about it read on.
But you should know, I actually make more money with affiliate marketing than AdSense.
What is Google AdSense?
AdSense is one of the most convenient ways to make additional money from your website.
All you do is copy some code into your site to display the ads, and you earn every time someone clicks. You may also earn from impressions in some cases.
All this is derived from a program they call AdWords (pay per click marketing).
You often 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.
AdSense is your revenue share from AdWords ads. When someone clicks, you earn roughly 68% of the click and Google gets the rest.
AdSense is 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.
It's a great program that can help drive additional income to your website, and it's really best for websites that are mainly content driven.
The more content you have, the more Google can get a sense for what your site is about and better match the ads to your website.
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 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.
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.
I promote my sites on social media, create YouTube videos, get traffic from Google, etc. Making a lot of money with AdSense is all about numbers. The more traffic you have, the greater the earning potential.
My checks weren't always this large. I think my first month's earnings in 2003 totaled less than $20. However, as my traffic increased, so did my checks.
I cannot emphasize this enough. AdSense is NOT an overnight get-rich-quick opportunity. Even though this may look easy, please don't underestimate the amount of work I've put into my sites over the years.
You should also DIVERSIFY your income and earn money in other ways like I do with affiliate marketing, etc. Why? Because AdSense income is not stable. It fluctuates greatly from month to month.
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.
Creating Your Site
Get a domain (yoursite.com) and then sign up for a web host and build your pages. I highly recommend using WordPress to create your site because you just pick a theme and your site is up and running.
Once you have selected your theme, you can add AdSense ads by either using a free AdSense plugin or you can use the WordPress Text widget to easily add ads to your sidebar.
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.
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
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>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.
More AdSense Tips
Watch the video below to discover more ways to increase your AdSense earnings.
