How to Make Money With Google Adsense | Tips On How to Get Started and Setting Up your Adsense Account

I became an Adsense publisher in April of 2005 when Google’s Adsense was just 2 years old from being launched.
Adsense is definitely one of the hottest ways to earn passive income of the century. All a person needs to do is to create an AdSense account. Build a website with unique and original contents. It is so effective that not only individuals but businesses have started using GoogleAds for passive income as well. Before we discuss tips and tricks on how you can make the most of AdSense, let’s read the answer to a very important question.
What do the terms residual income and passive income imply?
The use of the word, passive does not mean that you will have to do entirely nothing to earn regular income. Rather it means that the amount of resources you spend on an activity is very little in comparison to the revenue it generates. For example, after posting an interesting/controversial/informative article, you might continue to receive visitors on your blog for more than a year. Remember, some topics provide more passive incomes than others. For example a fashion blog will be able to generate less passive income because of the rapid changes in styles. A fashion blogger will have to continuously have to update his/her blog to keep readers abreast with the latest developments in the world of style. On the other hand, blogs and websites on relatively stable subjects such as education, health and relationships are more likely to generate more passive income because of their evergreen nature. There are many issues that people discuss again and again and information related to which remains the same. Hence, readers may continue to come on a certain blogpost related to for years.
On the other hand, the term residual income refers to the fact that AdSense is not your primary source of income. In fact, it is a fraction of the income you derive from your online activities. For example, a blog that discusses nail art and simultaneously sells nail art supplies to its readers is likely to make AdSense display advertisements related to the subject. Hence, the blogger will have to streams of income – one from the income of the nail art supplies and the other from AdSense. Since, revenue generated from AdSense will only be a fraction of the revenue from the sale of the nail art it has been termed residual income.
How to Use AdSense in an Effective Way. Let’s look at the Holistic Approach
If you are planning to use AdSense as one of the sources of income, there are a few tips you could use to make your endeavors more effective.
1. Number of Websites/Blogs and their Genres
There are two extreme ways of earning with GoogleAds. Earn $100 with 1 blog or earn $20 from 5 blogs each. When it comes to choosing between the two, we recall the old adage; don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Yes, diversification is the key to success when it comes to earning residual income through AdSense.
Following are some of the benefits of diversification.
a. Having more than one blog/website will allow you to cover a wider range of topics. If you decide to run three blogs at a time, you may cover very distant genres of entrees such as health, fashion and travel. This will help you cover three unique sets of consumer markets, news items and products.
b. Some genres are better more effective at generating passive income than others. As discussed above, it is a great idea to invest resources in at least one website/blog that is sure to generate a small but steady stream of visitors and thus passive revenue. The other blogs/websites may be on topics that require regular updates.
2. Attraction Marketing to Increase your Website Traffic and build your list!
Attactraction marketing is a technique that’s used not only by those who sell products but also who help those who sell products. This is true for blogs/websites that provide visitors with information or free online services. A few examples of such websites that cater free email services, provide news updates and make downloadable content available for free.
Regardless of the revenue from GoogleAds being residual or not, it is imperative that you increase the traffic to your websites and blogs. The more people will visit your blog/website, the higher the number of clicks will be on GoogleAds (even if the percentage remains the same).
3. Update your Contents on a regular basis!
It is true that the older articles get, the more they are shared among readers and the stronger their presence on their internet grows. And the stronger its presence is, the more people visit it and the more revenue GoogleAds placed next to it earn. However, this situation is applicable to articles that have the potential to appeal to readers over a long period of time. A few categories such as health, education and relationships are better able to retain the longevity of their articles. Others however serve readers best with fresh content.
Hence, to be able to generate lots of traffic and remain in Google’s ‘good’ books, make sure that you continuously update your blogs/websites with the latest info on the topics the platforms are about.
4. Positioning AdSense
Perhaps the most important thing to do is to place GoogleAds on your website in a highly effective way.
There are three things that you must keep in mind when configuring the settings.
a. Size
The basic rule that you must follow when placing ads on your website/blog is that of camouflage. The aim of doing so isn’t to hide the advertisement but to make it look like a part of the website itself. Although doing so entirely isn’t possible, your effort is bound to cause a positive change and make the advertisement more in sync with the rest of the website.
GoogleAds come in three different sizes:
i. Large rectangle –336×280
ii. Medium rectangle – 300×250
iii. Wide skyscraper – 160×600
Choose the size that suits your blog/website best. One good way of figuring out the right size is to consider the dimensions of other graphics/tables that are present on your site. Also keep in mind the website’s template. The greater number of columns a website has, the lesser flexibility it will have for larger advertising boxes.
b. Color
Another factor that must be used to taken into consideration when placing ads on a site is its background color. You may employ one of the three techniques mentioned below to maximize the number of clicks GoogleAds on your website generate.
i. Blend – Choosing the color of the advertisement to be exactly that of website’s background will give it a very subtle attraction. It is best for visitors who are averse to advertisements.
ii. Complement – You may also choose one of the two or more colors that your website contains. For example if your blog is primarily blue with green accents, you may choose green as the color of the advertisement. This too will make it look like a part of the website and will appeal to a wide range of audience.
iii. Contrast – A rather wild but at times effective idea is to choose a color for the advertisement which is nowhere in the website. Doing so will make it very prominent. And if the advertisement is alluring enough, even the greatest skeptics will click on it.
c. Position
Yet another important factor that affects the probability of an advertisement getting clicked on is its positive relative to other content present on the site. While many experts suggest placing advertisements right at the top of blogs/websites, the rule isn’t applicable in very case. One relatively safe option is to place advertisements on the right hand side. Other than that, it is best that the psyche of the website’s visitors be kept in mind when position ads.
If the website talks about something serious such as health, it is preferable that the advertisement be placed at the bottom or the side of the website (these are just my recommendations because I also blog on health care office management). This way the website will get a chance to first build credibility with the visitors. On the other hand, if the website is relatively frivolous in nature, it is okay to position ads even right at the top.
5. Things to Avoid when Using AdSense
AdSense comes with a set of dos and don’ts. While religiously following the dos don’t forget the don’ts are almost equally important. One wrong move and your AdSense account can be frozen. Following are some of the most basic don’ts Google does not tolerate.
a. Clicking on Your own Website’s Ads
If you have been trying to act smart by clicking on your own website’s Google Ads, you are not only wasting your time but even jeopardizing your Google Ads account. Yes, Google clearly states in the guidelines it provides to those using AdSense that clicks ‘originating from your IP addresses or computers under your control’ on the ads is a violation of the terms and agreements you consented to. Hence, the violation of the agreement may lead to the termination of your AdSense account.
b. Asking Others to Click on GoogleAds
Yet another action that is prohibited by Google is to ‘request … end users to click on Ad’. Often bloggers request their fans to click on ads on their blog by clearly explaining their motive. Even if readers do fulfill such a request, their clicks will be considered invalid.
c. Placing Ads on Restricted Sites
Google forbids users from placing GoogleAds on restricted website such as those which contain adult content. Even if the clicks on such ads are valid, they are not going to earn you any revenue.
d. Publishing Competitors’ Advertisements
GoogleAds is not the only network of advertisements. Alternatives do exist such as Yahoo Publisher Network, Bidvertiser, Clicksor, InfoLinks and Project Wonder. It may occur to you that using more than one publishing networks may result in greater total revenue given the variety of ads the two or more than two networks will display on your website. However, such an arrangement does not. Even if smaller publishing networks may be okay with being on the same page with others, GoogleAds is not.