How do you make money from the Google Adsense Program? What AdSense Tips can you share with us?
I have been asked this question so many times in the past few weeks that I thought I should write something on the topic. It seems increasingly bloggers want to try to cover their hosting and ISP costs with some revenue from their blog – and increasingly they’re doing it and are able to make a few (or quite a lot) dollars on the side. Many are turning to Google’s Adsense program.
Covering costs of my Digital Photography Blog is why I originally signed up with Google Adsense – blogging can get expensive when you have high levels of traffic and a lot of pages.
Whilst the agreement you sign with Google stresses that you are not allowed to give specific information about your earnings from the program I can say that I’m glad I’ve signed up because its well and truly covered my costs – and then some. In fact I think its quite feasible to expect that Adsense coupled with other strategies for making money from Blogging could quite easily generate a decent living. It takes time and hard work, but I think its very doable. (Update: Since writing this series I’ve revealed that I am now looking at making over a six figure income this year in 2005 from blogging).
So how do I make money from Google Adsense? Let me share some AdSense Tips that heve helped me.
This will be the first in a series of posts on this topic. Let me say up front I’m no expert – there are a lot of people out there making a lot more money than I am using Adsense – however most of them are not telling their secrets – well not for free anyway. I’ve got no secrets to hide and am willing to share what I’ve learnt since I signed up for the program 8 months ago. If you want a REAL expert’s opinion on Adsense I’d recommend buying Joel Comm’s What Google Never Told You About Making Money with Adsense E-Book. Joel earns $15,000 per month from Adsense and has some good things to share.
I know some bloggers are put off or offended by the idea of making money from blogging so I’ll try not to let these posts dominate my blog – however if you are not interested in the topic, simply skip over these posts.
I am going to assume a few things in this series to cut down the amount of introductory comments I have to make. Here is what I am assuming:
- You have a blog. Whilst most of the following tips will apply to other types of websites I run Adsense on blogs and will speak from that experience.
- You have (or will) read a basic overview of Adsense and have some understanding of what it is.
- You have(or will) read the program policies as outlined by Google. These give details of site eligibility, ad placements and other requirements for using the system.
Enough introductory comments – lets get stuck into the Adsense Tips for Bloggers!
The full series of AdSense Tips is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8.
Adsense Tips for Bloggers 1
How do you make money from the Google Adsense Program? I have been asked this question so many times in the past few weeks that I thought I should write something on the topic. It seems increasingly bloggers want to…
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I’ve found Adsense to be very hit and miss with my blog… some days high visits and clicks = a few cents, while others with few visits and clicks = few dollars…
So much hype about AdSense and Google… Maybe blogging about AdSense is not so bad idea…
Dear Sir,
Do you think that a blog devoted to penguins and penguin accessories would have much appeal and ability to earn some money using adsense?
Sincerely,
Gruntie
now every body is talking about google adsense…. seems it could generate a huge income?
My ads have totally dissappeared on one of my blogs, allthough there are thousands of searches for the term that my blog is about – my Adsense account is still active and my ads do work on other blogs, just this specific one. Very weird. I’ve checked the code and it’s still fine…
Well, if your blog is full of “blog” related ads, you can get this domain list and block them all so that you can have some “real” ads on your blog!
http://adsense-spam-list.blogspot.com/
The spam list link doesn’t work… =(
I find putting google adsense right above or below a picture about the same size of the ad unit converts best. Example… if your photo is 450 pixels wide… select the 468×60 text ad unit.
Thank you for these tips! — I am thinking about starting a blog now… of course w/ the intention of writing quality content, and not made for Adsense. :)
This is some really useful information. I will definitely be able to look into so income streams that will be able to help my weblog grow. Keep up the good work and the tips!
I read all 8 parts. Another great article.
I am no Adsense Pro either, but I am learning how to increase my Adsense earnings every day. I even have some great articles posted on my blog about how everyday people are making a living from Google Adsense.
adsense-spam-list.blogspot.com – still 404 there, is there anyone know where is that list?
I have seen my click through go up as I match my ads to the backgrounds and colors of my sites. Like someone said above, it seems hit and miss some times with not a lot of consistency.
Laurie
Simple stuff– Traffic X Click-thru rate X ad value wins the day….
The trick is generating good content that gets you good traffic and ALSO causes high dollar ads to present themselves…
There’s a pretty good search engine for high dollar keywords at http://www.iotaweb.org
There is no way to make good money with adsense unless you have consisten, targeted traffic to your blog or websites. Good SEO and ways to get more traffic is still the main key to increasing your adsense income.
“how to make money with adsense” still isn’t “how to get 50,000 hits per month on your website”. My site has regularly updated content, items for sale, and tons of cool, non-pr0n pictures. I am ranked in the top 10 on various search engines for terms as general as “fine art”, and I don’t get anywhere near 50,000 hits per YEAR,much less per month. I would be shocked if there were a non-commercial non-pr0n way (i.e. doesn’t cost you money or raise moral issues) to get that kinda traffic started, if not maintained.
After reading all 8 articles in this series, I would have to say this is one of the better ones out there on the net, I have a few sites, which a few years ago did awesome with adsense, but over time have died down. It seems trying to breathe new life into them isnt working very well either. I can say that I had about 120,000 unique page views a month, and unfortunately, even a good day on Adsense didn’t live up to what I had expected.
Thanks. Thanks.
I have been wondering how to turn my hobby into profit. I have created and still maintaining several web sites. But they all burn my money. This article point me a direction to go to. It is can be done by one person, not a business; no extra investment; part time, night. This is a great business model.
Also I realise the websites I created are not good for adsense. First, they are Chinese words. Second, it is CMS, there is a lot of overhead in the HTML code. Adsense is not that sensitive to the background of the page. In contrary, blog is very effective with adsense.
Also based on this articles, I created several bloggs for each specific topic.
Health: http://health-food-safety-kids-sex.blogspot.com/
Cruise Airline Ticket Vacation: http://travel-cruise-airline-ticket-vacation.blogspot.com/
Internet/Technology: http://google-internet-seo-hosting-database.blogspot.com/
Money: http://money-credit-cards-mortgage-insurance.blogspot.com/
Hope some money is coming to my account.
Agreed, very good article. You may mention this later (haven’t read the whole series just yet), but one thing to consider is the topic of your blog. If you are starting your blog with the intention of making money from it, it might pay to do some keyword research at the Google AdWords site. Find a topic with expensive keywords, and you’ll likely find that clicks on your blog generate higher revenues.
-Gary
Work From Home
Do you think I can make some money with my site with photos of my cat or a photoblog with that pics?
Keberle Marian
I’d think people browsing a site with photos of a cat would be the type of people that would click on ads (that’s not at all meant to be offensive, by the way).
Driving traffic to the site might be a little more difficult, however. Also I wouldn’t imagine the text content wouldn’t get you very high paying AdSense ads. Maybe something like those new chitika mini mall deals that Darren has floating around here and there…
nice placement of ads in this page… v subtle and blends well with the content. great work!
I got a small website and I’ve been using AdSense for awhile now, and also the Google search, but I didn’t get any dollar yet, hehe, I’m not sure how the people can get money via adsense, I mean can i earn money just if the people visit my site? or if the people click on the ads link?
This is very interesting. My biggest problem is getting visitors to my site. Anyone have any good ideas, place a comment on my blog. Thanks very much.
April
It’s actually pretty easy. Partner with alot of sites. My site http://www.shadowClick.com earns $x,xxxx per month. The site has many partners and people keep coming back because they can browse any site at work and bypass the firewall. It’s works well and people are addicted.
iv been getting a lot of traffic to my blog, iv found the best way to generate traffic is word of mouth, like telling people like your parents, friends. best thing aswell is to just write a blog about the things you know best, like my blog is about my unsigned band, and i give tips and links for other unsigned bands!!
I’ve just started using ad-sense recently. I’ve been getting some traffic with low clicks so I am looking for ideas. So I appreciate the finformation shown on your site.
Cheers,
Eugene
http://searchforthesky.blogspot.com/
Good blog! Many tips are very useful to me.
great blog.Get lot of information about goofle adsense.And if there is anyone who have the google adsense spam listing.
FREE to all who want it!
The #1 Ranked Adsense Guide on the Internet , Do a search on Google if you don’t believe me.
Another great thing about Google AdSense is that it rewards you for creating sites rich in high-quality, focused content and that in turn makes the Net a better place!
I was using adsense for 4 month ago, but my earning is very poor, I want your advice for this, here my site http://gaweweb.com
ps:I have poor traffic, can some one tell me how to increase the traffic? thanks for your advice
best regards
I just started using google adsense on my blog site. Hmmm haven’t yet started to promote it since i’m putting some finishing touches on the content.
If you want to check it out gadgethq.blogspot.com
sorry for the mess up on the link, here it is
http://gadgethq.blogspot.com
I really like your pitch on making money off blogs. I was dumb enough to buy a couple of programs that “guaranteed” me money within minutes but your approach to it is far more realistic– particularly the part that it takes LOTS AND LOTS OF TIME spent on this! Everyone wanting to make a quick buck- a bit of advise- look elsewhere. To profit, you have to be dedicated, knowledgeable and persistant.
I did a test on one of my websites. I changed the adsense banner from the 728×90 to the 250×250 and intergrated it to the site content. Revenue went up by 300% as a result of this simple change. I feel really dumb. I wanted to try this some months back but “never had the time”
I use adsense on quite a few sites including blogs and it is a useful way to pay for domain and hosting costs.
I’m new as adsesnse publisher, thank’s for your great article.
Darren,
i tried as u said but i could not make money. i couldnt make money more than $30 which was the maximum i got for a month. it $ucks!
Good article. I also have a blog, but have not earned too much yet. Seems like a lot of work for 30 bucks a month!
I started with about $20 per month…now i’m making about $350/month six months down the line. It continues to increase every month. Its definately hard work but it pays off if done correctly. I use a variety of tools which I’ve bought to help me out
i have one question; if i were to sign up for the Google Adsense, would this entitle me to pay google for anything?
no amanda – it doesn’t cost anything
Darren,
Currently I am making like on average $5 to $6 per day, could you suggest some tips to increase my adsense earnings?
Gold Fish – this series contains most of my tips. Keep reading problogger and you’ll know what I know
Interesting suggestions for sure.
I am still moving things around at The Garage. One of these days I’ll find the right placement for my ads.
Thanks for the tips!
One thing that I have heard which helps is to buy text link ads from high page ranked Google websites. This is something I am going to implement. I will keep you posted on the results.