Google AdSense is a simple, no-nonsense way of turning web traffic into money. Instead of going through the hassle of selling advertising or creating your own product, with Google AdSense all you need to do is go through a ten minute set-up process and you will be earning money right away.
How Google AdSense Works
Google AdSense is what’s called a “contextual advertising” program. Basically, AdSense will read all the text around the ad, figure out what the website and webpage is about, and then serve up ads that are related to the category of your website. For example, let’s say you’re running a website that teaches people how to cook better. You don’t have a cooking store or product to sell, but you want to make some money from your website.
All you need to do is put up Google AdSense. Once AdSense is live, it will read the text on your website and figure out that it is about cooking. It will then serve up ads by advertisers targeting people who enjoy cooking. For example, you might have ads selling baking pans, utensils and cookbooks.
Every time someone clicks on your ad, you will get paid. The amount you are paid depends on how valuable the click is to the advertisers. For example, if you are running a candle-related website, you might make only $0.10 a click. On the other hand, if you are running a legal website, you might get paid as much as $3 a click.
How to Set Up Google AdSense
To get started, go to http://www.google.com/adsense/
You will need to register an account. In order to do so, you must first have a website up and running already so Google will know where you plan to put the ads. Then walk through the AdSense set-up process. At the end of the process, Google will generate a small snippet of code. Copy and paste this code into your HTML editor. Upload the file, and then wait about five minutes for it to process. Once AdSense has had a chance to read your website, it will generate the ads and you will soon be up and running. If you don’t edit your own website, just copy and paste the code and email it to your webmaster.
What Type of Websites Work Well with Google AdSense?
The best kinds of websites for AdSense tend to be content websites that get traffic primarily from search engines. It’s very rare that you will be able to make more money from AdSense than you are spending from another advertising source. For example, it doesn’t really make sense to try to advertise in a magazine for your website and try to make the money back with AdSense.
Because search engine traffic is free, you will almost always be profitable if you are driving traffic from search engines to AdSense. Content websites work best because you have increased trust already and people will tend to click on your recommendations and links. Also, AdSense tends to earn less than selling your own or other people’s products, so it doesn’t really make sense to use AdSense in conjunction with an ecommerce site. In short, AdSense works best with content sites that are ranked in search engines.
These are the basics of how to use Google’s innovative AdSense program. Setting it up takes less than ten minutes. If you’re already getting traffic, you can very soon be expecting a check from Google.
