Google AdSense
Make money from your website without doing anything?
What is Google AdSense?
In the imortal words of Google themselves: "Google AdSense is a free program that enables website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads and earn". Basically you can sign up for a Google AdSense account and add a
widget to your own website pages which will display google adverts relating to the context of the page the user is viewing on your site. For each advert clicked you (the website owner) get paid a commission. The website displaying the adverts does not need to do anything other than paste the widget code into their pages, continue to maintain their website and receive money from Google.
How does AdSense work?
Without going into the complex structure of the system a basic overview is that Google spiders your site and works out what you are talking about on each page (using keyword density analysis etc). Then Google will trawl through it's huge AdWords (
pay per click advertising) repository and pull out sponsored lists which match in relevancy to your page. When your visitor click one of these links you are paid a percentage of that click price paid by the advertiser. This drives targeted traffic to the advertiser and allows you to act as an anonymous refferer for multiple sites.
Why display AdSense ads on your site?
It is a very quick and easy way to start earning money from your website. This extra cash can be used to further develop or advertise your website - which drives more traffic and thus could create more revenue in AdSense commission. Futher to receving anonymous payments from Google many savvy website owners will track and analyse their traffic in order to gain a profile of the site which refer the most and highest quality leads. If your site referrs good quality leads to theirs on a consistent basis it is likely that they may contact you and present an affiliation proposal which will be of more benefit to both parties.
AdSense Warnings
9 times out of 10 you're not gonna end up a millionairre from AdSense. It is true if your site generates hugh amounts of traffic and you are in a sector where you can pass traffic to anyone without worrying about passing it to your competitors then you may do quite well out of AdSense. However, the reality is that AdSense works in volume - in order to gain a good revenue stream from AdSense you have to have a good traffic flow to your website and those visitors must click on one of the ads. I't hard enough just getting visitors to go to certain pages on your site let alone following other peoples adverts.
Try not to send all your visitors to your competitors sites - if you have a page which is talking about your particular product or service then Google will pick the adverts based on that context and that can mean your competitors are being displayed o your website - for free or very little! Make use of the filters to make sure competition is adequately removed from the ad pool. Also be very wary where and how you use AdSense - sometimes you have to concede to the fact that AdSense is not for you.
Do not rely solely on Google's resports and statistics to adjust your online strategy. AdSense reports are quite vague and can give a distorted picture of how your site is being used and what interests your visitors. Always couterbalance these reports by recording your own data.
The biggest warning with regards to using AdSense is that you work so hard to get someone to visit your site you have to work out the revenue implications as to whether the commissions from a click is worth having that visitor moving off your site to somewhere else. If you have a non-commercial site which generates a lot of repeat visits then AdSense is a great way of earning profit off a non-profit engine. If your business relies on people purchasing from your website then be very careful using AdSense as you cannot afford to lose your visitors before they buy from you.
Taking AdSense Seriously
Serious can advise on the useage of AdSense and how to make the most of it. For more information contact us on 01932 835850 or for more online marketing topics see:
Let us help you make Serious money with AdSense
Top tip
If you are using Google AdSense make sure you make extensive use of the filters available - these allow you to minimise competitors showing on your site as well as refining the context of the ads to make them more appropriate.
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