AdSense- The Working

Monday, September 29, 2008

For those of you hearing the word for the first
time, AdSense is Google’s word for the pro-
gramme whereby they place ads on a site or
blog based on its content. Anyone can have an
AdSense account, though to actually make
money off it, you’ll probably need a blog or site
with good, extensive content.
The concept is simple: after you sign up for an
AdSense account, bots “look” at your page and
place relevant ads on it. Those are the “Ads by
Google” links you see. The advertiser pays Google
when someone clicks on one of his ads (on your
site). Google pays the “publisher”—that is, you—
some of that money, and keeps some for itself.

Google’s AdSense programme

“Google is God,” many are apt to
declare. And they are, really, close to
being right… in certain senses. For
example, you get a .odt file from someone
when you expected a Word document. You
scratch your head for a while—“open document
something?”—and then you give up and do the
usual thing: www.google.com. Type in just “.odt”
without the quotes, and you’re in business: a
link to a forum, a link to a page, and seconds
later, via a link you find, you have a Word doc-
ument. Try it!
Now go to, for example, Yahoo! Search. Otago
Daily Times. Not so helpful…? Next up: some
world maps. Not so helpful…?
That example graphically demonstrates why
Google is the most popular search engine. No-
one can say it is “the best,” because that’s a
much tougher question.
Now, back to the clicks: all this fabulous
search technology, all the power that Google
has come to be known for, all its great products,
rest on one edifice—its advertising pro-
grammes, AdWords and AdSense. (We’re
focusing here on AdSense.) It seems money is
just a click away—to be precise, a few thousand
clicks. Those clicks can be engineered.

Payments

So how much can you make with AdSense? Well, basically, the
amount you make is entirely dependant on how many people visit
your site; the more the visitors, the greater the chance that they
will see the ads and, therefore, click them. There are reports of
cyber-café owners in Rajasthan making up to $1,500 a month!
High-value keywords obviously pay a higher amount per click, but
that also means that the content you serve has to be related to
those keywords. For example, finance-related content usually
serves high-value keywords, i.e. financial content related AdSense
ads usually pay more than say cricket-related ads. However, some
ads can pay really low (as low as a cent per click) as well. The
thumb rule remains, though, that the more the number of visitors
to your site, the more money you can make.
As we mentioned before however, there are certain aberrations
to the rosy picture, and cases have been reported of people’s
accounts being blacklisted for no fathomable reason. However, if
you’re clean, and of course, popular, you can be assured of some
extra monthly pocket money!

So Can I Keep Making Money?

Simply put, yes! You can keep making money as long as people are
clicking the ads on your page. The site Freeweblayouts.net that
gives people MySpace templates makes about $100,000 a month
via AdSense clicks (from a Washington Post report)! So does that
mean you can click on your own ads and it’ll count?
Really now, is that even a question to ask? The obvious answer
is no. There are tons of people who are caught by the law for click
fraud. Essentially, these people, either themselves, or via automat-
ed programs, simulate browser clicks on ads. Obviously, for an
advertiser, these clicks are useless as they don’t result in conver-
sions, and Google cracks down on the fraudulent parties. Google
themselves give a disclaimer that you can’t click on your own ads.
There’s a bunch of stuff that you can’t do, that if done will lead to
blacklisting. For example, you can’t mention any incentives on
your site for clicking on the ads. You can’t put ads on sites with
pornographic content either.
There have been a lot of controversies about Google and its
banning policies, with lots of sites being blacklisted from
AdSense for seemingly no reason whatsoever, and others getting
away scot-free.

AdSense For Blogger

Blogger has very simply integrated AdSense into blogs hosted on
Blogspot. Here’s an easy guide to configure AdSense on Blogger.
1. Sign in to your Blogger account
2. On your blog’s dashboard, click Change Settings
3. Click on the Template tab and hit the AdSense button
4. The rest is pretty much right there for you to see and do…
Select the “ad format” that you prefer, that is, the ad size on
your blog, and then select the colours you’d like the ads to have
5. Click Save

Made For AdSense

Essentially, Google is what is known as a scraper site. It uses Web scrap-
ing, that is, it makes the use of Web crawlers to index content in the form
of search results. Now this is a fair and legal use of other people’s con-
tent, that is, for the purpose of indexing. However, some scraper sites
make use of the “scraped” content and plagiaries it for their own use.
How do they use this content? Essentially, an illegal scraper site is created
for monetising content from AdSense. Such a site is in the parlance called
an MFA or a Made For AdSense site. Scrapers take content from sites that
have highly-searched keywords and use them to generate high-revenue
clicks from unknowing users who click on these sites thinking them to be
some other, legitimate sites. For example, the site www.everyrule.com is a
shopping site that claims to offer great prices on a host of products. But
the links displayed are almost all AdSense ads. So anything you click is an
AdSense click for the webmaster of Everyrule, who is making money off
these clicks. Visit www.adsblacklist.com for a whole bunch of blacklisted
MFA sites.

Content, Or Search, Or Both?

AdSense for Content relates to what we’ve spoken of thus far. What
we didn’t mention was that the ads that Google will display on
your site are related to the content on the page. This means that
depending on the content on your Web site, the ads that are dis-
played will change. For example, if your Web site has content about
music, AdSense displays ads about artists, audio devices, and such.
Google claims that AdSense can grasp the context of your con-
tent and thus deliver relevant ads to your page. Sometimes, howev-
er, you may get ads that are completely unrelated to the content of
your page. These are rare, though, and Google does its job well for
the most part. You can also choose to block certain types of ads from
your site. For example, if your page has content about music or
entertainment, you can choose to block ads related to, say, real
estate. You can also choose to show only one category of ads if you’re
not happy with blocking tons of categories.
Google also lets you customise the ads on your page in such a
way that they can merge with the template of your site. It offers a
colour palette so you can choose the border and font colours that
would best match your site’s template. It does this for Blogger
automatically, that is, the colours used by the ads are automati-
cally configured to match those that you use on your blog.
AdSense for Search involves the addition of a Google search
box to your page, that is, you put a search box on your page that is
“powered by Google.” The way it works is, you put the Google
search box on your site, and every time someone uses it to either
search the Web or your site, AdSense brings up sponsored links as
search results in addition to the regular search results—it’s quite
ike searching via www.google.com. The money comes in when
people click on the ads in their search results.

Getting Cracking

Here’s a step-by-step guide to getting the moolah.
1. Go to www.google.com
2. Click on the link that says “Advertising Programs”
3. Take the AdSense tour
4. Click on “Click Here To Apply”
5. Fill in the form
6. Wait two to three days while Google reviews and approves your Request
7. Log in to your AdSense account
8. 8. Click on the “AdSense for Content” tab. There is also the option of
9. “AdSense for Search” which follows the same procedure.
10. 9. Click on the “Ad Colors” tab and select the layout for the ads.
11. 10.Copy and paste the HTML code from the “Ad Layout Code” tab
12. into your Web site’s template
13. 11. Voila, ads on your Web site!

Here’s Where The Money Is

Friday, September 26, 2008

Essentially, there are two ways in which you can get money using
AdSense. The first is pay-per-click (PPC). Via this method, you
get paid every time someone clicks on an ad on your Web
page or blog. The second method
is pay-per-thousand-impressions (PPM). Via this method, you get
paid a certain amount for every thousand unique page views your
Web page gets. Google has algorithms and formulas that determine
what kind of ad (PPC or PPM) will get you the highest returns.

Free Money… How?

How does a chan-nel like Star Plus make money?
How does a news-paper like TheTimes of Indiamake money?
Just in case you didn’t already know, the answer is ads.
Advertisers pay the channel or the newspaper tohave their ads
broadcast or print, as the case may be. The growth of the Web 
meant that it, too, became a profitable media
channel. This resulted in the advertisers who previously had their
ads on TV or on radio begin to advertise on the Web as well. Now
here’s where a company like Google comes in (Yahoo!, too, offers a
similar service). Google’s got a bunch of advertisers dying to adver-
tise on anything that Google touches because as we know, any-
thing that Google does on the Web usually turns to gold. Since
AdWords already takes up the advertising place on Google’s search
pages, the only place to go is all the blogs and sites that Google
hosts, that is, Google gives out ad space on Blogger sites and blogs
that it has. This was the case for a while, until a few months ago.
These days, AdSense is not restricted to just Google sites; any Web
site can host “Ads by Google.”
How does this work? It involves an application and review pro-
cedure; basically, what Google does is, it gives all the advertisers
who want online space to advertise their stuff the opportunity to
do so. And in return for the advertising space on your blog or Web
page, it gives you the chance to make money. 
Now, advertising on the Web is a bit different from advertising
in a print publication—you don’t get money for just placing the ad
on your site...

AdSense

Where there’s a will, there’s a way to make money—and
Google is all but handing it to you on a big silver platter.
Everyone knows Google makes tons and tons of money, and with
AdSense, it looks like Google’s opening the doors to the safe and
sharing. Of course they’re not—they’re just making more money
themselves—but like any good Samaritan, are giving you your
share as well. So if you’re a popular blogger, or own a Web page
that gets a lot of hits, here’s your payoff.

Blogging for individuals

There are people who need help blogging or who want to build up unique content the fastest way possible and so recruit a few people to contribute posts. The amount to be paid is entirely by mutual agreement and you possibly run a certain risk of not getting paid for your work. Sites: Bloggerforum.com, Earnersforum.com, Goldage.net, Forums.digitalpoint.com.

Blogging for companies

Businesses recognise the blog revolution and even large corporations have set up blogs. Many look to freelance professional bloggers for their blog. Software development companies may require bloggers for gadgets and tech-related topics. A lifestyle magazine may require bloggers to write about the night scene in their city or updates on celebrity gossip. The scope is restricted only by your ability and time. Sites: Bloggerjobs.biz, Jobs.problogger.net, Elance.com

Variations of paid blogging

Thursday, September 25, 2008

There are several offshoots of paid blogging which instead of writing about a product or service, you get paid for your knowledge on certain topics and for providing answers to questions asked by other members in the community. Topics range from business to automobiles to health. You will be evaluated by a test before being accepted but earnings could be substantially higher than regular blogging. Site: JustAnswer.

You can also earn by providing a writing service such as academic papers and resumes, or writing content for end users such as websites, magazines and newsletters. These pay more than the usual paid blogging and is the the way to go if you have the skills. Sites: Constant-Content, CyberEdit, Academia-Research, Manuscriptservices.co.uk, AssociatedContent only accepts US residents.

Paid reviews

Some blog networks will assign offers to you from time to time and all you have to do is blog about the product or service and provide links as required on your blog. Other options of monetizing your blog may also be given such as placing banners and buttons or text links on your blog. Sites: PayPerPost, Blogsvertise, LoudLaunch, CreamAid.

Other blog networks provide a common platform to let advertisers select the blog they want to buy advertising space, links or pay for a review from the list of registered blogs. Sites: ReviewMe, ReverseLinks, Buzzbyblog, InBlogads, SponsoredReviews.

Setting up your own blog on your own domain

Buying your own domain costs about US$8 a year while buying a basic hosting plan costs from about US$5 a month. Choose a reliable web host which has a good uptime track record and customer service is important. You may have to be prepared to spend a little more to ensure some reasonable level of quality hosting.

Visiting a web host’s forum where members discuss the web host’s service will give you a good idea of its reliability but since most have a 30-day money-back guarantee, signing up to try would probably be the best way to go.

After building up a fair amount of quality content, you can apply to join professional blog networks if your blog meets the high standards of these sites: Blogburst, B5media, Orble, Webbleyou.net

Posting on Google AdSense blog networks

Other blog networks who use Google’s AdSense programme to generate revenue are less restrictive in terms of topics to write about and tend to be less demanding when it comes to content quality and the reuse of content at other sites.

Bloggers are paid by Google AdSense from the number of clicks received on ads embedded in their posts. Therefore you must first sign up for Google’s AdSense programme before joining these blog networks. You also get paid for referrals. Payouts may seem too little to bother with but if you are active in many networks, the amounts add up. Sites: WriteNiche, WritingUp, Hubpages, Squidoo, Xoomba.

Creating a blog on a blog network

If you do not own a blog, you can still earn from blogging. Some blog networks require you to create a blog hosted on their network with their revenue earned directly from advertisers, syndication or other means. Sites: Blogchex, Gather, DigitalJournal.

Other blog networks engage you as their freelance professional blogger where you have to commit to making regular posts. In such cases, the content you create could belong to the blog network and you will not be able to use your content anywhere else. These have very high journalistic standards and are difficult to get accepted. Sites: 451press, Blog Republic, Weblogsinc.

Use a free blog on a blogging service

Make a free blog on Blogger, Live Journal, Wordpress and other free blogging services is how most bloggers will start off. These sites are fine for personal blogs but if you have plans to monetize your blog and use it as a means to provide some form of viable revenue, it is best to register your own domain and host your own blog on a web host.

This is because you will have complete control over how you want to monetize your blog and have your own entity and identity eg. yourblog.com instead of yourblog.blogspot.com. Also, some paid-to-blog networks do not accept blogs created on a free blogging service.

Blog requirements

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Usually, there are certain requirements that your blog will have to meet before being accepted for assignments. Requirements vary with each paid-to-blog network. Generally though, paid-to-blog networks do not accept new blogs with little content and no readership base, so you will need to spend the first few weeks or months writing posts regularly to build up a sizeable amount of content.

You could buy articles or use free articles from various sources of course, but ultimately you will have to write your own unique content to keep readers coming back. It’s a lot of hard work.

Other requirements could be that your blog has to be several months old, be indexed by Google, be of a certain pagerank or have a certain amount of traffic. Blog content and writing standard also affect approval. If you do not own a blog, you may be asked to provide some writing samples for evaluation.

Make money to your blog

Use the many ways to make money by blogging with a blog, get paid to write reviews of product and services and earn extra money by write articles, contents and blogging for google adsense blogs networks.

1. About the paid blogging

There are 3 way of paid blogging- your own blog on your own domain and webhost, using a blog on a free blog service such as Blogger,Wordpress.com etc. and creating a blog on a blog network. The work is the same. You get paid to write or blog about a product, service or anything required by a customer.

The amount paid varies greatly from US$1 to US$200 or more for about 50 to 200 words depending on advertiser requirement. The more popular or higher traffic your blog has, the greater your reach and therefore the higher you are paid. Terms vary in that you may be asked to write a single post from time to time or you may be contracted to blog a minimum of 1 post a day for a few weeks for a specified sum.