How to Make Money Using Google Adsense on Your Blog
Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 by Julius.
Google Adsense has been around for a while with lots of people using it. It is easy to use and fast to integrate into your web site and that is what makes it so attractive in general.
Many web site owners use it to monetize their web sites. Some people make lots of money through it, others don’t make money at all. What is it that separates these two types of people?
I hope to uncover this question in this article.
New to Blogging?
Adsense seems to be the tool that everyone uses when they start out as a blogger. To be honest I don’t believe that it’s a good tool for beginners to use. I think that Adsense is way harder to use then most people think it is.
And yes I agree Google Adsense has the huge advantage of being easy to set up. Once you have set it up you also don’t need to worry about having to manage the ads. These are definitely all advantages that make people use Adsense in the beginning. But still most people don’t make money through Adsense anyway.
What Separates Those Who Make Money and Those Who Don’t?
Generally speaking the people that make money in the long run are those that are not afraid to try new things out. I have made the mistake myself when I started blogging. I simply added Google Adsense to my blog and thought I would easily start to make money. Since then I have made $0.63, and that’s within over a year.
Once you have your website running test different things. Try to monetize it using affiliate links, Google Adsense, Kontera, text links or whatever you find suitable. If you find that Adsense is performing pretty well, stick with it but try to optimize it further.
Anyway I think I drifted a little bit away from the topic I wanted to talk about. So why are some people making money?
Usually the key is your niche but also the kind of content you present on your website. If you own a web site centered around web hosting than Google Adsense might work rather well because it’s a market that a lot of people choose to advertise in.
Internet Marketing Niche
The biggest reason why people are not making money through Google Adsense is because they usually write about Internet marketing or how to make money online and simply add an ad unit to their post or sidebar. I think that Google Adsense works particularly bad for Internet marketing websites. Maybe I am wrong but have you seen Google ads on huge blogs like Problogger, John Chow or Copyblogger? You haven’t, have you?
That may be because it’s not such a good way to earn money through your Internet marketing blog. That’s why earlier on I said that you need to do some testing. Test different ways to make money through your blog. There are so many ways you can make money on the Internet, simply try them out.
The reason why Adsense tends to perform poorly with Internet marketing as a niche is there are not a lot of advertisers willing to pay a lot for your visits. Usually internet marketers rely more heavily on word of mouth or social media to promote their products. They don’t spend a huge amount of money on advertising.
Web hosting, on the other hand, is a very commercial topic. Thus there will be lots of advertisers available that use Google to send people to their web site. For this web site, the ads are highly targeted. Therefore people who come to that web site are also more likely to click on that kind of advertisement and the advertisers are also willing to pay more for visitors.
Highly Specific Niches
Adsense works in general very well if the topic you, as a publisher, choose fits into the category within which most advertisers advertise. If you web site’s topic is more general, then your ads are not going to be as relevant and people won’t pay as much money per click, thus you will end up with comparably very little money.
Highly focused and specific niches can really make the difference once you try to make money through Adsense.
It’s Just an Alternative Way to Make Money
Again I want to highlight that Adsense is not the only way to make money through your web site or through your blog at all. I think that Adsense should be seen more like an alternative way to monetize your website, not as the main source of income. That’s the mistake most people make.
If you want to learn more about Adsense and learn about the different ways to on how you can truly make money through Adsense then be sure to read this Google Adsense article I have written at FamousBloggers.
What do you think? Have you made a lot of money through Adsense?
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The Bad Blogger - Mucho Fungolas For You
23. Jul, 2010
Adsense are really hard to use in make money online niche and I agree with that, although I use it on my blog, well… if you know who is Michel Fortin, then you should go to his site because he does earn from adsense, but his in the copywriting niche, how much he earn I’m not sure but I think he should be earning a few hundreds maybe thousand or else he won’t put it up for so long.
Julius
24. Jul, 2010
Thanks man. Yeah Adsense doesn’t seem to work so well for the make money online niche. I don’t know who Michel Fortin is but I will be sure to check out his site. If he is in the copywriting niche then I think it’s much more easy to earn money through Adsense. That’s because again people are much more likely to advertise through Adwords for the copywriting niche.
Thanks for the comment.
Dean Saliba
25. Jul, 2010
I have been using Adsense for about four years now and I have made a grand total of about $300. I just can’t get it to work for me no matter what type of web site or blog I run.
Julius
28. Jul, 2010
hmm that is strange. Have you done a lot of testing? Usually it really depends on the niche and the kind of things you are writing about. If you have a blog about web hosting or something like it then it should be rather easy to make money through it.
Justin
11. Aug, 2010
A web hosting website is one of my several domains that I own.. And well yeah, its been the one I’ve excelled in the most when it comes to AdSense, however I’ve only really made about 20$ with it in the past like, three/four months or so.
Any tips on getting new clients (considering I only have one to be honest lol) or getting more views? I even spent about 100$ with Adwords, and got many page views (that’s probably where the few Adsense clicks came from) but still only one client.
Julius
11. Aug, 2010
Thanks for the comment Justin. Well you could always try to make money through affiliate marketing on that web hosting website. That way you would probably earn a lot more. Also test different things on Adsense, use different banner sizes and different places and see what works best.
What do you mean by clients? Do you want to get more traffic to your website?
Jonathan
27. Jul, 2010
Hi Julius,
This is Jonathan from Kontera. Thanks for including our In-Text network among your preferred monetization methods. With over 15,000 Publishers and 140 million unique users per month, Kontera is easily the leading In-Text ad network.
One of the main reasons Kontera is so effective for so many people is our Synapse Engine, our next generation technology, that rather than just scanning for keyword like other networks do, can actually read your webpages for meaning. This deeper understanding of your content is how we can provide you with the most relevant ads, leading to higher CTR and better CPC.
Another advantage of Kontera is our exclusive ad inventory from such global brand names as Ford, Microsoft, Blackberry, HP and L’Oreal. These premium, often Rich-Media ads are the most attractive to site visitors, offer the best possible CPC, and are only available on sites using the Kontera Network.
If you’d like to become part of the Kontera Network, we’re currently offering new publishers a 70% revenue share, which is the best rate in the industry. We’re also offering new publishers a $50 bonus if they get at least 25,000 U.S. page views during their first 30 days on the network. Additionally, we recently lowered our minimum payout threshold from $100 to $50, across all payment methods, so now publishers are seeing their earnings in half the time.
So, Monetize your site with Kontera In-Text ads today and start generating revenue.
Thanks,
Jonathan Cohen
Kontera Community Manager
Jonathanc@kontera.com
Julius
28. Jul, 2010
Thanks Jonathan for the information. Good to see that you are making it easier for publishers to start and to actually earn money.
WP Content Plugins
08. Aug, 2010
Adsense is rocking, the only thing you need is traffic. I am using Adsense on my 4 blogs from 3 years.
This is one of my source of income
Julius
09. Aug, 2010
Well how much are you making through Adsense? I haven’t earned much through it at all. But if you use it right you can make a decent amount of money through it.
Aaron
29. Aug, 2010
From what I’ve read, those that make decent money from Adsense have it on dozens, if not hundreds of blogs they operate.
I used to have it on every page of my site, but I’ve removed it from a bunch, including my blog pages. I spent too much time filtering out my competitors ads to make it worthwhile keeping on every page. I’ve had it for years and have not earned enough to get a payment.
On the other hand, even though I don’t get anything if someone only clicks on my other affiliate ads without buying, if the right person clicks one and makes a purchase, well that could easily to a $60 or $80 dollar click.
Julius
30. Aug, 2010
I am not sure whether that’s true. I mean yes there are people out there running multiple sites and earning some nice money through Adsense. But what I think is also important is to have enough traffic.
Yeah affiliate marketing can make you money a lot easier. It just depends on whether your audience trusts you and whether they have money they can spend. Thank you Aaron.