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Google adsense is the one thing I would say single handedly changed internet marketing. When people found out they could make money from ads on their websites, the masses started to follow.
I remember the Adsense launch date well, March 2003. Forum chatter was high about people earning lots of money with the program, some even quitting their jobs to focus on their business fulltime. New webmasters everywhere were excited about a chance with Adsense.
The earnings some people were making back then was huge. Some people were pulling in over $100,000 a year or more. Jeremy Schoemaker of the now famous ShoeMoney blog posted a picture of himself holding a check from Google worth over $100,000. That picture went viral on the internet and many people got excited about making the same amount of money.
Joel comm was also another guy back then who was also earning huge amounts with the program. In Joel’s case he started a website back in 1995 and when the Google released their ad program, and he was an instant success. Although he had many other things going on at the time also. I think Joel was destined for success anyway.
Fast forward to today in 2016 and beyond and things are a little different with the program. For one, people are not earning as much as they did back then. Although some still claim they do.
I believe Adsense can still be very lucrative for webmasters when it’s put in it’s proper place. But, you have to follow any rules Google makes and many times you can make more promoting affiliate programs straight out.
But either way if you can get accepted into the program it can be a good way to earn income online.
How Adsense Was Abused
One things that happens online when people start to notice anything with having to make money, it gets abused. And in Google’s case this is what happened. It was meant to display ads on real websites with real content.
The problem was people were starting to create websites only for the purpose of making money and getting clicks on their adsense ads. These website either contained little content or the content was junk or spun content.
Google started to take note and then started banning people from the program. People were getting kicked out daily, but Google would also do sweeps and kick out many webmasters at once for violating their program policies and procedures.
How And Why Adsense Works
In simple terms, adsense is a code placed on a website that will display ads to users coming to whatever page a person visits. The ads which are shown are relevant to the page and this is what makes it the best advertising platform along with the fact there is also a huge ad inventory to back it up.
relevance is truly what makes adsense work so good. Many websites even today will show ads for things that are way off topic to the webpage. But adsense will show you ads which the person would want to click because they are closely related.
And, if these ads are placed on your site with an approved ads account, you will get a percentage of what a Google Adwords advertiser is paying Google for their ads.
Now, if you truly want to know about the technology behind how Adsense really works, you can find out more on the Wiki page.
Where To Place Adsense
Back when the program first started many people were adding ads from the program in many different places on their websites. Some had the ads right above the content, where you had to scroll down to see the content. Others, placed the ads right next to images and some even tried to blend the ads in with the rest of their site so they wouldn’t look like ads.
But, most of these practices are now banned by Google today and there is a whole new set of rules they want you to follow.
There are particular ad sets that also work better than others. The reason some work better than others is there is more ad inventory for certain sizes than others. And, some ad sizes just produce more ads also.
Google used to offer a Adsense heat map for web masters, which showed webmasters the best place to put their ads. But they have since moved away from this model. The reason is, they don’t want the ads to become obtrusive to anyone visiting your website. User experience is paramount but many think it’s not. All they want to do is make money from the ads as their main goal and this is not what Google wants you to do.
Placing too many ads on a page can take away from user experience and make your site look unprofessional. To learn more of what Google allows these days see their best practices for ad placement page.
Different ad types
Google offers many different ads types in the program and each one has it’s own benefits for site placement. They also have a list of the most successful ad sizes available.
Usually wider ad units do perform better than their counterparts. The offer more text in a horizontal fashion. They get clicked on more because they are also easier to read. And, although it is important to test anything you do with internet marketing, always keep your users in mind first.
Many times it is far better to write more content for your website with various ads placed with caution then it is to make the ads look obtrusive on your site. You will have to experiment with ad placement to see what works best.
Some say image ads work better than text ads and vise versa. But, the real truth is you will need to test this for your site. Advertisers will change their ads also, which is another reason you will want to keep a watchful eye on your CTR, CPC and revenue.
Checking Your Analytics
If you don’t have Google analytics installed on your site, now’s the time to do so. Analytics will allow you to see what type of traffic you have coming to your website and allow you to make considerations for ad placement and use.
The reason you want to do this is today a huge amount of traffic is coming from mobile devices and you should check to make sure your ads are set up to look good for mobile. Plus it doesn’t hurt to check what types of browser the majority of users coming to your site are using.
Being a Successful Adsense Publisher
Many webmasters today are successful with Adsense and some are even millionaires. But most didn’t get there over night. It takes hard word and dedication.
If you are making websites to place ads on and this is your only goal stop. Rethink your whole business process. What makes an adsense site successful and sustainable these days is good quality content.
It’s much better to create a website you are passionate about and deliver quality information, then it is to just make a site where your goal is to get clicks. I would much rather start a few authority type websites filled with awesome content then 1000 cheap made for adsense websites.
And, if you are make thousands of cheap quality websites, you could be making tons of money yes but, are you really delivering value and quality information. How many times did you read a blog post that was a complete lie? You might have spent your hard earned money after reading such a post only to find out it’s a scam. It sucks to be in that position so, don’t do it to others.
Google has many wonderful success stories you can also see on their YouTube channel.
Don’t Put The Cart Before The Horse
Many newer webmasters and marketers have high hopes for with Google’s program. So much so, that they never really make any money from it. The reasons for this are endless but the majority of the time, it’s because they are too eager and forget the basics.
And the basic rules are you need content and traffic first. It does no good to start a website, write a couple of pages and then place ads on your website. You must put in the work first and write good quality content and have real traffic coming to your blog.
Building an authority website takes a huge amount of time but, in the end it is very well worth it. Because, once you have actual traffic coming to your site (a good amount I might add) and then you place your ads. You will see success.
