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AdSense Publishing

Published by Fresh Publishing at Smashwords.

Skype: fresh.publishing

Website: www.freshpublishing-house.co.uk

Copyright © 2011 Fresh Publishing

Cover picture copyright © sachyn /sxc.hu

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.


Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.


LEGAL NOTICES:

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy at the time of going to press, please note that information can very quickly become out of date. Consequently the Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. Any perceived slights of specific persons, peoples, or organizations are unintentional.

This book is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field. There are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances and to act accordingly.

The AdSense and AdWords terms are trademarks of Google.

Coming Soon in the Business Focus Series:


Blogging for Profits

Start in ePublishing

Start Your Record Label



Chapter 1 – The Google AdSense Program: An Introduction

Some first-time web publishers see the Google AdSense program as a very easy way to make money online. All you need a keyword-optimised website and an AdSense account. Choose what kind of ads you will display on your site, and copy the code that is given to you in the pages where you want the ads to appear. Then drive traffic to your site. When your visitors like the look of one ad served by Google, they will click on it. And you earn a small commission out of this.

Although it sounds simple – just like any other business strategy – earning an income with the AdSense program involves a lot of planning and efforts.

Basically, AdSense is a good and simple to implement way of making money online, or adding a secondary income stream to an existing website or business. Only the program is often overlooked by both people who are starting a business online and those who have had a website for years.

It is true that AdSense – or more generally, showing ads on some websites – is not necessarily a good decision for your particular website or business. Some members of the public are 'turned off' when they see ads on a site. And so you need to consider if your site may suffer from from display either text or picture ads. But generally speaking, AdSense could allow you to make more money by promoting to your visitors products and services they might be interested about.

The Backstory

AdSense started its life as Oingo back in 1998. The company was owned by Gilad Elbaz and Adam Weissman. The two used the WordNet database as a base for their idea. WordNet is a cross between a dictionary and a thesaurus, and arranges groups of synonyms together into synsets while providing a general definition and links to related synsets. Elbaz and Weissman used this to develop a search algorithm based on word meanings.

The company became Applied Semantic in 2001, and Google went on to buy it in April 2003. From there, the AdSense program was born and developed further. It can now serve advertisements on RSS feeds, through Google Custom Search results on a publisher's site, on mobile sites, on domains where a site has not yet been built, and on videos – such as the ads that appear on some YouTube videos.

At first, the program mainly served text ads, such as those you can see appear alongside the Google search results. Nowadays, it serves display ads just as well as text ones. Displays ads are also easier to integrate within a website as they provide a break from written content.

How it Works

A web owner will build their site and sign up for the programme. Once approved, they simply copy and paste the Javascript code that Google will provide onto the pages where they wish the ads to appear. Google AdSense then serve ads provided by its sister programme Google AdWords, based on the keywords that appear on the page. The web owner then has to drive traffic to their site and hope that visitors will click on their ads. Once a visitor does this, the web owner will earn money – a small commission generally amounting to a few pennies by click. The more traffic a website receives, the more likely it is visitors will click on ads. The more clicks, the more money for the web owner.

It has to be said that Google can be quite picky about the sites they originally let into the programme. However, once you have your first site approved, you will not have to have your newest sites approved anymore. Your Google account can then be used on as many sites as you can handle. This can allow you to build your Google AdSense empire very quickly. The only rule is to keep within the Google's term of use. They do kick people out of the programme as soon as they spot a site that do not follow the rules, and it is near impossible to get back onto the programme.

After you have been approved, you will need to go through the other stages of creating an AdSense-ready and profitable site. The first is keyword research – knowing which keywords are the most search and identifying those that will bring you the most money. Following this, you will need to create content that will draw these high-paying ads using the Google AdSense algorithm Finally, you need to drive traffic to your site. Because without visitors, you will get no clicks, and so no money. This is not as easy as it sounds, and there is no trade secrets to learn. It just a question of being determined, planning a good marketing strategy and sticking to it.

AdSense Income Strategies

There are two ways to make profit with your AdSense account. The first is to use keywords that are very much in demand. These will bring very high traffic and may well generate thousands of clicks from your site. So that even if the keyword pays out a low amount, the sheer number of time the ads will be clicked is enough to make up for the fact.

The second way – and my favourite – is to find high-paying keywords to use on your site. Even if they are search a bit less frequently, they will bring more money in when the ads they are related to are clicked. This way, you will also end up with a lot of money but will rely on less traffic and clicks. I prefer this way because Internet users have become used to Google advertising on websites. Many people will just skip the ads and go straight to the content. Quite a few will read the content and then the ads. Some, on the other hand, will just go off and never really look at the ads. And so you never get clicks from them.

Some of the Tools

There are tools to find out which keywords will yield the most searches. Some of the best known are Google's AdWords Keyword Tool, WordTracker, Keyword Elite, KeywordDiscovery, and WordStream. Many website publishers will use one or more of these tools in order to research their keywords:

  • which subjects are most searched at the moment

  • and what word or word combinations are most used

This research allows web publishers to know what people want to know about. They can then target their publishing efforts on these particular subjects. Using those keywords that pay the most, they build sites that match these interests closely and use AdSense to monetize these sites. This way, they willo get more than just a few cents per click and maximize their revenues.

When looking to use the AdSense program, you should also sign up for a Google AdWords account. The two programs work together: AdWords allowing advertisers to promote their products, websites, or businesses; and AdSense serving these ads onto publishers' websites. Setting up an AdWords account is free.

Once you have set up your account, it will allow you to access the Google AdWords keyword tool. As well as helping you research keywords, this tool will show you an estimate of how much you will earn out of each click for a particular keyword. The higher the bids on a particular keyword, the more money you will get out of each clicks on the ads it serves to a website. Not everyone knows about this. And few web publishers will tell newcomers about this – although it is not necessarily difficult to work out.

Once you have build your site, you need to make sure that you can bring traffic to it. Without visitors, you will not get any clicks onto your ads, and consequently, you will not earn anything out of your site. If you experience only a low amount of traffic, it might not be enough for you to make a living on. This is why many web publishers build many sites in order to have several income streams. This obviously means more work, as you need to build, update and market each site. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide whether it will be worth the work to create several sites, or if concentrating on one site and make it take off would be more rewarding financially. Keep in mind that hundreds of low traffic sites could bring you as much money as two or three with a huge amount of traffic. Your final decision might well lay in your SEO skills.

This is precisely what successful web publishers do. They find the subjects that are most searched about, find the keywords that are the most used, then choose those that will earn them the most each time their visitors click on the ad. They then go on to build their websites that fit their newly targeted markets. They will usually have sites on widely searched about subjects – such as money making, weight loss, fitness, video games... They also use this technique to research the new crazes that regularly sweep through the Internet. They then create websites to respond to these demands. Having several sites, even if each only bring low to medium amount of traffic, can allow them to make enough money to make a small profit. Some of the larger publishers may even have hundreds of site, set on auto-pilot and bringing them money.

Is it worth it?

There has been many gurus who have said that AdSense sites are not profitable anymore. This is because of changes in Internet behaviour. Internet users have gotten so used to seeing Google AdSense and other advertising that they are automatically ignoring these after casting them a passing glance. It is true that this behaviour has developed over the years with the increased use of Internet advertising. But it also does not happen on keyword and subject focused sites. Your visitors will quickly learn that the ads showed on your pages will be relevant to the subject, and so they will look at them, even maybe click through in order to learn more.

There are still thousands of people who make a decent living out of being an AdSense publisher. Usually these publishers will have several sites on various highly searched for subjects. It is also possible that they will do more than just use AdSense in order to make their sites profitable. Many promote affiliate products that are related to the subject of their site in order to maximize profits – they will receive a sale commission each time they help to sell a product. Others concentrate on bringing a very high amount of traffic to their site, and rely entirely on their visitors clicking through the ads served by AdSense.

The fact remains that you will be starting with just one site. It is a good idea when starting up to carefully record each step you take when setting up your site, and then marketing it. You will find that some techniques work better for you than others. When you decide to launch a second site, you will then have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. You should also take seasonality into account. Some sites – such as those with travels and holidays as a subject – will always work better in the rune up to major holidays. Others sites with subjects such as books, video games, and general gift ideas will do better in the run up to Christmas. They might well make their entire profit over the September to December period.

You need to think about all of this before you decide if AdSense is a good way to make money out of your site.

Chapter 2 – The Rules of the AdSense Program

Google has decided long ago that not all publishers would be allowed onto their many programmes. The rules they have decided on may look a lot when you read through the various terms of use, guidelines and policies they have put in place, but they are actually rather common sense for those who have good practices. Getting accepted is not all that difficult. You just need to be well prepared.

The first thing you need to know is that you will not be able to use Google AdSense until your website has been approved by the Google team. They will check that your website meet their requirements and guidelines before granting you access to AdSense. This is why it pays to be well prepared.

Read the Google's Terms of Service and Program Policies. It will tell you everything that you should know about what can and can't appear on your site, what you can do with the code that will be given to you, and how to behave in general. If your site fails this test, it will not be approved. Even after you have been approved, you could still be removed from the site, maybe even banned, if you break the guidelines set out in the TOS. As already noted, it can be extremely difficult to be accepted back into the programme once you have been removed by the Google team.

The Terms of Use are localized, so you will need to choose your country of residence before you read them. You will need to read carefully though this as it forms part of the contract you are agreeing to with Google. This will basically tell you how to use AdSense legally. You should print yourself a copy and keep it somewhere safe. Also remember that Google expects you to stay up to date with any changes. They will generally let you know when they make a change, but you could miss their email so look back at this document – and all the others forming your contract with them – from time to time.

The Program Policies will give you a good overview of what you can and cannot do with AdSense. It will also link to other guidelines you may have to follow, such as content policies and ad placement policies as well as webmaster quality and landing page quality guidelines. It may sounds boring, but it is important to know what you can and can't do with your account in order to avoid getting banned. The rules are actually quite simple, and rather common sense:

  1. Don't click on the ads yourself – that's cheating!

  2. Don't encourage people to click on the ads – whether by asking them or offering them a reward for doing so.

  3. Don't host or link to unsuitable content – the list is rather long on this one. It includes pornography or mature content, violence, excessive profanity, sales of restricted goods such as weapons or drugs (including prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco products)... Basically, Google wants to be seen as open and family friendly. Anything unsuitable for younger viewers will probably not be good content according to Google.

  4. Don't modify the code you are given – well, for one you could break it altogether and loose lots of commissions. So just don't.

  5. Follow the guidelines regarding the number of ads on a page. Google will allow you to display up to 3 graphic ads, 3 groups of link ads, and 2 search boxes on any page you publish with the Google AdSense code included. Technically this is more than enough advertising space – it may well be too much for some of your visitors, so use this allowance with caution.

  6. Don't use or place the ads in a misleading way. For example, you shouldn't place the ads near written content or images in a way that implies all of them are linked.

You will also need to take a look at the Google's Webmaster Guidelines. These are the ones that will tell you what you cannot have on your site in terms of content, redirected links, and more. Google's aim is to make the Internet better for everyone, and this is reflected in their Webmaster Guidelines. These guidelines are separated into three main sections: design and content, technical, and quality guidelines.

There are too many of them to go through here but the general point is to create a site that will inform your reader with good quality articles and pictures, that do not use too much re-published content but rather new and original one, that is easy to use and navigate for both your visitors and the search engine's spiders, that is fast to load – even if you make heavy use of pictures and videos – that will work with all browsers, with no broken link or picture, that do not make use of the annoying pop over and pop under ads... Google wants to keep web users happy so that they continue using all the services their company provide. And so they want to try and make sure webmasters build the best sites they can.

You should also note is that Google will not accept any site that is not complete. This doesn't mean that your site will not be allowed to be updated. It does mean that you should not have any section of your site that is still under construction. It is best to work out all your features and sections of your site, and then make sure everything is working properly before you apply for your AdSense account. This includes your pictures and links. All pictures must be loading properly and links must link to where they're supposed to.

Very often, people decide that reading through all this stuff is a large waste of time. They go on and build their site the way they feel will work best. And then they either are disapproved by Google for an account. Or they get their approval only to be removed just a few short months later, or worse – banned. And none of them will have any idea why. Google will not help them to understand either...

Too many people just click through immediately without taking the time to read the Terms of Use, Program Policies, and guidelines. Google explains at length in these documents what they want to see in the sites that use their technology. They are very thorough, and there is little doubt in those rules they set out. And they do have many people making sure these rules are being followed by the web owners.

In order not to get removed, you need to read and understand the rules involve, follow them, and then make sure you read the updated rules as they become available. Google expects you to remain within these rules even if they change them. Fail to do so, and your accounts risk getting removed with little to no warning. You should print out as many of the policies and guidelines as you can as they will provide very useful references when you are thinking through the design and content of your site.

Once you understand all the rules involved with setting up an AdSense account, you can start getting your website in order . Many people decide to just publish a small site that will meet the Google rules and then add as many websites as they can manage to the AdSense account in order to try and make loads of money. The approach I prefer to recommend is that of research over speed of publishing. Although you could just set up a site on any popular subject, I believe it is best to plan carefully, find out the high traffic / high paying keywords you want to use within a subject niche, and then start to create a site around these. Of course, this method will take you longer, but it will also be more profitable in the long run...

Chapter 3 – Building a Basic Site for AdSense Earnings

As we have already seen, it is possible to build a very basic site, just barely optimized, and with just a little content, submit it to Google for approval, and then develop it further and/or build other sites better suited to Google AdSense. However, it might be more time efficient to simply build a Google AdSense-ready site from the start. It is also a good time for you to find out where your strengths and weaknesses lay when it comes to web design and development.

Your Niche

The first step to building a good AdSense website will be to define a niche subject. Choosing the right main topic for your site can be the difference between its success or failure. And as with most business, it will start with research. We have already talked about keyword research. This is the first use you will make of it.