When you talk about earning money online, there’s one thing that always springs to mind: Google AdSense. It has been on bloggers’ mind ever since it started. And to be fair, it is one of the oldest, the largest, and the most popular advertising program of its kind. That is why everyone is trying to get their hands on an AdSense account. Why? Because it pays better than most. And it is more established than other programs.
Since the past few years, the threshold for AdSense approval appears to have somewhat dropped. So getting in is no longer hard. What is hard, though, is making it worthwhile. Google might let you in easy, but it isn’t so enthusiastic about paying. Which is why you have to do more than just putting up an ad on your website and hoping it would start churning gold.So here, we will discuss some tips, or important points, that you need to apply in order to increase your online earnings.
Be patient!
If you plan on setting up AdSense on your website soon, let me stop you right there! Understand that nothing will make you rich overnight. Making money online requires a lot of patience and dedication. Many people, when they start anew with blogging, start monetizing their blogs after just a few days or weeks, hoping they’d strike gold suddenly. Let’s be very clear on this. This is the most unprofessional, and highly discouraged strategy. That ‘striking gold with a new blog’ thing – never gonna happen! So snap out of it already!
That might sound harsh, but there is a good reason for it. Blogs, when they start out, have no traffic or fan following. So putting up ads won’t get them anything anyway. Secondly, ads scare away traffic, especially if it’s not a well established blog or website, since people think it’s just another wanna-be-rich person who started a blog, and probably he’ll be writing low quality content. So what little traffic a starting blog might have, AdSense will scare that away.
So it’s best if you wait a while. Wait till you get more than around 1,000 unique visitors daily, and when your Alexa drops below 100,000. Otherwise, ads will just hurt your blog.
Follow Google’s rules
Google is the big boss around here. So it would pay off if you listen to it. Follow the rules that it sets. Read AdSense terms of services carefully, and follow the rules.If you do anything against the rules, Google would be more than happy to ban you and be rid of one more person they need to pay.
Also, don’t try to be over smart with Google. They know it when you, or your friends click on your ads too frequently, since they are the leaders in website analytics. Any unusual activity, such as more than average clicks from a region, especially your own, will sound the alarm. Google has banned many such accounts, and seized their earnings. So be careful. No matter what you do, use a dynamic IP or a proxy etc, Google will know of your deception.
Ad Placement
Now we come to the somewhat technical aspects. The placement of ads is a key factor that decides your earnings. First of all, you need to be aware of the above-the-fold strategy. It means displaying th most important information in the most important section of the blog, which is the top-left section. People will always see this portion, whether they scroll down or not. So if you place an ad in that region, it’ll help a lot. But use one ad only. You will need to show other important information as well. Visitors come for information, not ads.
Besides the top-left region, you can also place your ads in the sidebars, or at the start or end of the content. Don’t put ads in the middle of the content. It annoys and drives away people. Look at this blog’s design and learn from it.
Ad units
Google allows you to set up three ad units per page. So you should utilize them well. Place them in various locations such as header, sidebar, at the end of content etc. Also, for units other than in the header region, it is recommended that you use ad blocks of 336×280, since they are proven to be the most effective.
Camouflage?
This has been an ongoing debate for a while. Should you conceal your ads within your content so the visitors won’t immediate realize they are ads, or make them so prominent that they are visible at first sight? The former is a trick that annoys visitors, but offers a high click-through rate. On the other hand, making ads prominent is a more decent way, but at the cost of CTR. So what should you do?
It is possible to adopt the middle pathway, or the ‘no man’s way’ if you will. What we recommend is, use the blog background colors for ads, so that they would go with the flow of the blog. But keep the ads away from the content. Place them above, or below the content. That way, the ads will match your blog, and the users will still be able to differentiate them. Besides, it will give a more professional feel to your blog.
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