Making Money Blogging – Blog Stew

Google Adsense can be daunting for people new to the advertising format.  This post will outline what Google says for first time Adsense users.  I’ll also give some opinions on what they say.  Again please understand this is aimed at people newish to Adsense, that’s not to say it might contain some things people who are more familiar with the format can take away and learn from.

So lets get stuck in, I’ll list the guidelines in bullet points then break them down.

Basic Adsense user guidelines

• Use text and image ads.

Text ads have more ads per ad block.  So you might lean towards thinking ‘there’s more ads so more chance of people clicking on them right?’  This is not entirely the case.  People find images a lot easier to look at, also they may be animated giving the eye more incentive to look in there direction.

• Use wider ad units.

Bigger ads.  The bigger they are the more chance people have of seeing them.  But remember not to go overboard, people are still going to visit your site looking for quality content, not an ad fest.

• Use channels to monitor ad performance.

Make sure you use these, its easy for first time or new users to ignore this.  They will allow you to monitor the exact amount of turnover each add is producing.  Naturally from that data you can then begin to fiddle with your ad design and placement.

• Ensure your site is Google policy compliant.

If its not then expect to get banned!  Or thrown so deep into the google black hole (sandbox) you’ll never come back!

• Good quality site content.

This is what will make people keep coming back!  As I’ve said before, sites that I’m interested in writing for tend to do better performance wise.

• Original content.

Copy and pasting jobs can be good for some sites, however its generally better to produce your own stuff, then with some luck you will get well known for it!

Keep reading on after the split….

• Best way to increase earning is to keep quality content flowing.

This will organically increase your traffic.  The better quality your material the more sites will naturally link to you.  SEPR is based on quality and quantity of back links (more so quality).  The better your SEPR the more traffic you get!

• Design your ads to fit into your sites overall design.

Google lets you change the basic design of the ads they will display on your site.  Simple stuff such as changing the text colours along with background etc.  Look at the Adsense on BlogStew, its all grey to blend into the sites overall design.

• You will earn more money from sites with higher traffic.

Well Duh!  However sometimes sites with far lower traffic can still make good amounts of money, it all depends on the sites content which dictates the type of ads Adsense will show.  Some ads have a far higher CMP than others along with higher click revenue.

• Maximize advertiser potential by producing quality articles and content.

Which will increase your traffic, so naturally you should make more money.

• Make URL channels to divide up different site reports.

Similar to channels for each ad, however this is for an entire site. Personally I like to keep all ads within there own channels for increased report information.

• Getting Google clicks? But no cash?

This can be down to a few things.  First of all make sure you have added all your sites displaying Adsense to the allowed list of sites, find this from within your Adsense control panel.  Invalid click’s – clicking on your own ads for example.

Improving Ad Targeting

• Use text in addition with images when possible.  The Google bot cannot read images, so giving it a little bit of help can’t hurt.
• Title images correctly, and make sure to add ALT text (this is what the bot will see).
• For an idea of what the bot sees, you could turn off all images from within your browsers options.  Alternatively you can download a text based browser such as Lynx.

Click Fraud

• Clicking on your owns ads.
• Users or family members clicking on your ads – I don’t think they can track this entirely, however they would be able to tell if the same IP Address kept clicking on ads from all over your account.
• Third party programs with user incentives, such as paid to click programs.
• Automated clicking tools.

If your wanting to use Adsense legitamatly then try and avoid all of these, Google will track your account activity and will take actions against your account.  Click Fraud is a major violation of Googles Policies so usually results in account suspension/banning.

Invalid Page Impressions

• Constant page refreshing.
• Paid to surf or auto surf programs.
• Third party application’s for buying traffic

How Many Ads you are Allowed to Run?

Per page you can run:

• 1 – Video unit.
• 2 – Search box’s.
• 3 – Standard ads or text links.

I highly advise you not to use all of these on each page.  Its easy to think your increasing earning potential for your site.  The thing is usability will drop into the floor.  You have to be wise when placing ads and try not to overwhelm your users.