Managing URL’s and channels

Adsense channels is one area where it’s really easy to go overboard with stats. You can set up URL channels to compare how one website is doing to another. You can also set up sub channels for each URL. If you wanted to you do something channels like this:

• domain1.com - 728 banner
• domain1.com - 336 block
• domain1.com - text link
• domain2.com - 728 banner
• domain2.com - image banner
• domain2.com - 336 block
• domain3.com - 300 block

While this is great for testing and knowing who clicks where and why, it makes your reporting a little wonky. Your total number will always be correct but when you look at your reports with a channel break down things will get displayed multiple times and not add up to correct total. Makes things pretty confusing, so decide if you really need/want that level of reporting detail. TIP: At the very least you want to know what URL is generating the income so be sure to enter distinct URL channels.

New Sites, Files and Maintenance

When you’re building a new site don’t put adsense on it until it’s finished. In fact I’d go even farther and say don’t put adsense on it until you have built inbound links and started getting traffic. If you put up a website with “lorem ipsum” dummy or placeholder text, your adsense ads will almost certainly be off topic. This is often true for new files on existing websites, especially if the topic is new or different. It may take days or weeks for google’s media bot to come back to your page and get the ads properly targeted. TIP: If you start getting lots of traffic from a variety of IP’s you will speed this process up dramatically.

I like to build my sites using include files. I put the header, footer and navigation in common files. It makes it much easier to maintain and manage. I also like to put my adsense code in include files. If I want/need to change my adsense code, it’s only one file I have to work with. TIP: I also use programming to turn the adsense on or off. I can change one global variable to true or false and my adsense ads will appear or disappear.

General or Niche

You can build your website around general topics or niche ones. Generally speaking niche websites work better with adsense. First off the ad targeting is much better. Secondly as you have a narrow focus your writing naturally becomes more expert in nature. Hopefully this makes you more authority in your field.

If this is your first try at building an adsense website, make it about something you enjoy. It will make the process much easier and less painful to accomplish. You should however make sure that your topic has enough of an ad inventory and the payout is at a level you are comfortable with. You may love medieval folk dancing, but the pool of advertisers for that subject is very small (in fact it’s currently zero).

Once you’ve gotten the hang of how Adsense works on a website, you are going to want to dabble in some high paying keywords, you may even be tempted to buy a high paying keyword list. This does come with some dangers. First off the level of fraud is much higher on the big money terms. Secondly there is a distortion of the supply and demand relationship for these terms. Everyone wants ads on their website that make $35 or more a click, however the number of advertisers who are willing to pay that much is pretty limited. Additionally the competition for that traffic is going to be stiff. So, don’t try to run with the big dogs if you can’t keep up. If you have to ask if you’re a big dog, then chances are, you’re not. I have used a high dollar keywords report from cashkeywords.com and was pleased with my results (see cash keywords free offer recap).

Build an Empire?

When you’re deciding to become a website publisher you will fall into one of two broad categories:

• Publish 100 websites that each earn $1 a day profit
• Publish 1 website that earns $100 a day profit

The reality of it is, most people end up somewhere in between. Having 100 websites leaves you with maintenance, management and content issues. Having one website leaves you open to all sort of fluctuations (search engines algorithm’s, market trends, etc). You can adapt your plan on the way, but you’ll have an easier time if you start out going in the direction of where you want to end up.

AdSense Step 1: Google Approves Your Site

Tips on Getting Your AdSense Application Approved

Your first step in making money with AdSense is to apply and be accepted into the program. Before applying, you must make sure you can conform to Google's policies:

https://www.google.com/adsense/policies

To maintain the integrity of the program, Google can (and does) reject AdSense applicants for many reasons, usually because of inappropriate or unacceptable content. Before you apply, make an honest evaluation of your site and read the following tips to help you avoid being rejected by Google:

1. Is your site about gambling, drugs, hate, or pornography? If so, it will not be approved.
2. Is your site nothing more than a "personal" page? If so, it is possible that your AdSense application will be rejected. However, Google is allowing more personal sites into the AdSense mix, especially those with an extensive amount of quality content focused on a specific topic. It also seems that having a blog (weblog) hosted by Blogger may increase your chances of getting in, as Google now owns Blogger & is encouraging Blogger users to apply.
3. Does your site offer many pages of focused, quality content? A site with just a few pages will probably not be approved. AdSense prefers good writing, frequent updates, & lots of content. What is "lots?" You should consider 15-20 pages a minimum.
4. Is your site just a "link farm?" Does your site contain not much more than a bunch of affiliate program links? It's certainly OK to promote an associate program or two, but AdSense doesn't want to have to compete with an endless amount of revenue sharing links. Again, Google wants to see fresh, solid writing.
5. Does your site work? This one may seem obvious, but do not submit your AdSense application with a URL that doesn't work or to a page that just says "Under Construction." Make sure your links aren't broken and your images load.

Remember, when you apply to the AdSense program, a human reviews your site before you get approved. So, you should be less concerned with optimizing for search engines & spiders, and more concerned with producing a functional, informative, and visually pleasing site. Once you have done so, you're on the road to success with AdSense!

Adsense in RSS

With the growth of blogs and RSS feeds you’re starting to see adsense included in the feeds now. IMHO this doesn’t work, and here’s why:

• You only get to place one ad unit.
• You have no control over finding the ’sweet spot’ for the ad unit.
• The ads are usually poorly targeted (this is getting better).
• People develop ‘banner blindness’.

I know people like being able to read full postings in their feed reader, and there are at least a dozen other reasons for full posts from pleasing your users to mobile offline computing, all of which are completely valid. However if your website depends on generating adsense revenue to survive, then bring them to the site and show them the ads there.

Adsense Revenues - Streams of Alternative Profits

There are thousands, if not millions of ways to be successful on the internet. Many internet marketing ideas readily exist that someone else has developed and perfected, just waiting to be implemented. One such opportunity is using the Adsense program with none other than Google. Very quickly, anyone who has already started their Adsense program has figured out that just getting your account set up, putting the advertisement snippets on your web pages are a few helpful marketing ideas to enhance your revenue and profits.

According to Google, the Adsense program contains three distinct sections that influence the exact amount of your revenue. These are: Clickthrough rates, Page impressions, and Effective cost per thousand impressions (CPM).

It may seem simple but the truth for many is, by simply adding Google ads to any new or existing website you have will automatically maximize possible revenue streams. Google places relevant CPC (cost-per-click) and CPM ads into the same auction and lets them compete against one another. The auction takes place instantaneously and when it's over Adsense will automatically display the text or image ad(s) that will generate the maximum revenue for a page -- and the maximum revenue for you.

Clickthrough rates are mathematically determined as a percentage of viewers who have chosen to click on your particular advertisement, versus the total number of impressions viewed. This number can be influenced and enhanced by carful wording, structure, and layout of the surrounding information to any given ad. Google attempts to adapt each advertisement placed to appropriately fit their ad to the content, context, and relevance of the web pages themselves. The more the information surrounding the Google ads have in common, the more specific and targeted Google is able to make their ads.

For example, if your web page is designed to focus on bicycles, you would make sure that the work "bicycles" appears prominently through the page, typically with several aspects about the bikes outlined. This greatly increases the likelihood that Google will deliver specific advertisements for bicycles to your ad pages. The net effect is delivery of targeted which in turn increases your clickthrough rate.

Page impressions simply stated are the number of occurrences web pages that contain Adsense ads are viewed for a given period of time. There is no getting around this issue. Unless you have traffic coming to your site, well maximized Adsense activities will do you no good! Increasing traffic to your site is a multi-dimensional effort that involves a multitude of different techniques and efforts. These typically include such things as a reciprocal linking strategy, article submissions, forum participation, directory submission, pay-per-click (PPC) programs, and a carefully planned and implemented search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.

Effective cost per thousand impressions (CPM). The measure of importance for CPM gauges a marketer's average revenues or earnings, per thousand clicks. The goal being to increase the CPM earnings average as high as possible. This ensures maximum profits and revenues. A key to increasing the CPM effectiveness is careful selection of keywords. Depending on the popularity of specific words, Google pays according to this popularity. Keywords that receive millions of clicks pay a much higher rate (per click) than those with low click frequency. To locate additional information about keyword research tools, simply run a search on Google. You will find information ranging from the use of search engines such as Overture, to a wide variety of keyword search tools.

Utilizing these simple techniques, you should be able to substantially increase your profits and success with the Google Adsense program. Combining these with other strategies (such as the location Google ads within a given web page) will dramatically increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of your campaign activities.