What Is Google AdSense?
Google AdSense is a context sensitive advertising program. Context sensitive means that the mechanism behind the adsense javascript code that you place in your web page examines the actual content of your page and inserts advertisements that are relevant. People who advertise using the Google advertising program (known as 'Adwords') can have their advertisements displayed on your web site. It is all very seamless and can earn you a considerable amount of income if your web site has original and useful content.
My name is Gary Smith and just like you, i am always looking for ways to generate some extra income from my web sites. I have been trying various techniques and methods over the past 12 months and have learned a lot from some of the courses and websites I will be telling you about and I have also made some useful discoveries of my own.
Through the information I am providing on this web site I hope I can enlighten you about how you can get the most out of displaying context sensitive advertisements on your web site. There are many good techniques that can be used to improve the 'click-through' rate of your website visitors and some things that you can do in addition to context sensitive ads to generate additional income. So, please make the most of what I have to offer here and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Getting Started With Google Adsense
Integrating Adsense ads in your site is a quick and easy process. It takes no more than a few minutes and you can be on your way with one or more Adsense ads.
The first thing you need to do is visit http://www.google.com/adsense and either apply for a new account or log in to your existing account. When you first log in you will see a page presenting the Google Adsense Terms and Conditions which you must agree to in order to continue.
The default page provides you with some reports which are essential in order to know how many times the ads are being clicked and how much income your site is generating. By using this information you can 'tweak' the ads ... make small changes ... and see if these changes increase the click through rate on the ads.
You will also see a link to the Adsense setup area where you can manipulate and generate the code that will need to be pasted on your website for the AdSense ads to be displayed on your site. You should become familiar with this area as it is important to be able to try different size and shaped ads and also to experiment with color changes.
There is also a "My Account" tab which allows you to set up personal details about your payment and tax information.
To add a text ad on your site, go back to the "Adsense Setup" tab and click the "Adsense for content" link. You can make a choice between ad units and link units. The former contain text and or images concerning a certain site for each unit, most with a detailed description, the latter only contain links to certain types. Of course, it's a bit hard to know which type you should use so you should probably experiment with both for a while before you decide. Elsewhere on this site I will be reviewing some excellent guides which explain everything you need to know about the color, size and positiong of ads for maximum performance.
You can also view an example of how the unit will look to the right of your page. However, you may only use three ad units and one link unit on any given page. This is believed to be a step which Google takes for quality control.
The next step is to choose your add format and colors. You can basically select any color palette you choose with Google offering some of its own if you don't have the time or skill to create one. You can constantly view how the palette will look through the aid of an example. The one that works best in terms of appearance and revenues will vary with the look, feel and content of a website. However, your ad formats are limited to a choice of eleven formats. There's an "Ad Formats" link which takes you to a page that lets you see all even of these in action so you can decide best which one suits your site. Sometimes the most intrusive, doesn’t work best however again, this can vary from website to website.
After you finish with customization, you can click "Continue" from the bottom of the page.
You are now presented with a section entitled "Adsense for Content". You can click anywhere in the text and that shows the JavaScript required to get Adsense running. This will automatically select the text in the box. You can then copy it and paste it into your pages directly. If you use dynamic pages, you should paste this code within your template so as to ensure that it gets displayed on any page of your website. Some advertisers choose not to display Adsense on every page, and this is understandable. An example of this is a company that has adsense, may also have terms and condition which would inevitably provide legal resources which would probably be deemed inappropriate.
What is then left for you to do is get content on your page (provided you didn't have any already). Google web crawlers will soon visit your site, making sure that the ads displayed are relevant to your site's content.
And you're all done. For a simple page this should indeed be a matter of a few minutes, which is precisely what makes Adsense the choice for so many. Although it is quick, its mass appeal also makes it the best. Through being the most popular, advertisers and publishers alike see Adsense and Adwords as their natural first choice.