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?

If you don’t already own any other web sites then it is a lot of work to get your web site to the point where it will start to generate a decent amount of money for you.

In this article I want to give you an idea of what you can do to increase the revenue of your e-business. I myself took the time to analyze one of the most successful businesses on the Internet: Amazon. There are several strategies Amazon uses that you can employ in your e-business to increase your revenue and get it to a level you are happy with.

There are lots of popular web sites out there but what sets Amazon apart from so many other businesses? Why is it so successful at selling products?

One key aspect Amazon has perfected is trust building.

Building Trust

One of the most important aspects of e-commerce is to build trust. If people don’t trust you or your business they are not going to buy from you. Some web site owners make the mistake of trying to rush the customer into buying without having prior established what every person needs, trust.

Word of Mouth

Trust can be conveyed through friends who simply recommend a business to you. People who are told that a product is great believe it as it comes from a person they can trust. That’s the power of word of mouth. You can create word of mouth through excellent customer support or by giving away free gifts, simply be creative. If you want to gain further insight into how word of mouth marketing works than I can truly recommend Andy Sernovitz’s book about How Smart Companies Get People Talking.

Just remember, it’s all about getting people to talk about your business.

Web Site Design

The design of a web site alone can establish trust. Think about it. You are much more likely to buy from a site that has a nice design because it means that the owner cares about the customer. If a web site doesn’t look professional people are less likely to buy from it. In order to have the right look & feel for your web site include lots of white spaces.

Testimonials

Some businesses also focus on testimonials from customers to establish trust. Amazon doesn’t use this kind of strategy since it doesn’t need to, people already know it very well. The practice is rather common among small e-business startups.

If you are using testimonials don’t forget to add the name of the customer you quote. Otherwise people won’t believe you. It’s even better to include a picture of the customer.

Verifications

Trust building can also be achieved through so called verifications. If you have a sign on your web site stating that you are “Paypal Verified” then this helps to build trust. It means that people from the outside trust your business, and that other people should too.

Social Proof

Trust can also be established through social proof. Social proof can be found everywhere. It states that when a lot of people do something then you are much more likely to do it too. Thus statements such as “100.000 satisfied customers world-wide” do create a certain amount of trust, especially if you are able to back up what you have stated.

Navigation

Once you’ve established trust then navigation becomes important, especially for product-based businesses like Amazon. The customer has to be able to find the product he wants within, let’s say, a maximum of 5 clicks.

That’s why you need to have a big search box on your web site. New customers will generally not click through a list of categories in order to arrive at the product they want. They want to find a product fast, i.e. they want to search for it. Therefore two mouse clicks should be all it takes for the customer to find a product.

Also think of it this way. By reducing the number of clicks you also reduce the load on your web server.

The next big part are categories. They are much more important for the returning visitor who has used the web site before and comes back to search the web site for a product to buy. These customers don’t know which specific product, they just might be interested in something to buy.

Especially before Christmas people visit web sites to get ideas of what they can buy as gifts. If you fail to give them ideas than they won’t come back the next time for Christmas shopping. And everyone knows that people spend a lot of money for Christmas. It would be a disaster to miss out on that opportunity.

That’s why it’s a good idea to design your web site differently for Christmas. Give people gift ideas by offering lists of what other people bought.

Follow along for a more in depth discussion of what you can do to give people these gift ideas.

Giving People Ideas as to What to Buy

Especially in product-based e-businesses this needs to be applied. Amazon has been incredible about inventing features that make their sales skyrocket by presenting lots of related products.

First of all Amazon has created wish lists to which users can add a product to. In turn customers can send the link of their own wish list to friends who might buy some of these products for them as a gift.

Another feature they have added to their web site is the special shopping cart.  After you’ve clicked on adding a product to the shopping cart it takes you to a new page where similar products are presented in which you might be interested. Buying on Amazon has truly become more like a personalized shopping tour.

Listing bestsellers is also a strategy to get people to buy more. People tend to buy products other people have previously purchased. The same can be applied to web sites which simply offer information. For example on blogs you commonly see a list of the most popular content. It’s the same concept.

Getting the Sales

Sales are not that easy to make. But still somehow Amazon has managed to increase their number of sales over the last few years. So what techniques does Amazon use to generate sales? Of course there are several but I will only cover the most effective ones.

Have you ever noticed how Amazon keeps the list price on the product page and actually crosses it out?! Then below it lists the “Amazon price” and a line saying how much you actually save.

Now we need to understand what the list price really is. The list price is the suggested retail price (SRP). This is the price that is suggested by the manufacturer to give the retailer an idea of what they should sell the product for. Therefore it is not necessarily the price you would pay in other shops.

In this example Amazon uses a psychological aspect to its advantage. Think about it. Would you rather buy a product that costs $300 or one that costs $350 which suggested retail price is $400 thereby saving $50?! I think you would go for the latter one.

Another strategy Amazon uses is the concept of scarcity. If a product exists 100.000 times does that make you likely to buy it? No. On the other hand if only 5 copies of a product are left does that make your decision whether or not to buy it harder?! It certainly does.

You can easily apply this concept to your e-business. If you only have let’s say 10 copies left of a product then show this to your customers. Simply state it on the web site.

One very important aspect I forgot to mention is to always include pictures of a product. Not using pictures will vastly decrease your number of sales. Everyone wants to see what they are buying.

Customer Reviews

Amazon is so successful partly because of their great customer review structure. First of all only customers who have previously purchased a product can post a review. This eliminates untruthful reviews. Another essential function is the ability to rate the review itself. The simple star rating system makes it also very easy for customers to differentiate between good and bad products.

If you own a product-based web site then include reviews of products since most people decide whether to buy a product based on the experience of others.

Setting Yourself Apart from the Competition

What you, as a business owner, always need to take into account is that there are thousands of other web sites out there just like yours. In order to become truly successful you need to set yourself apart from the rest!

You can achieve this through better prices, special offers or great support. Whatever it is, know your strength! And show this strength to your customers.

Has this been helpful to you? What strategies do you use to make more money through your e-business?

In this article I will outline the several different options you have when deciding on how to monetize your web site.

This table lists the most common ways to make money off your web site. If you want to know more about the specific method, then just click on the link and it will explain it for you.

Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay Per Click is an easy advertisement concept. Every time a person visits your web site and clicks on an ad, only then you get paid. That is why it is called “Pay Per Click”, therefore you get paid for every click.

Paid Reviews
The way paid reviews work is actually pretty simple. Advertisers pay you for writing a review about a product or service they choose, which you in turn publish on your blog. Of course criticism of the product or service is good but it should be done in a constructive way.

Banner Advertising
Whenever you see banners on web sites, the advertisement method used on this web site is probably banner advertising. Basically it just means selling ad space on your web site on which advertisement banners will be placed. The size of the banners does not matter and can range from 20×20 to 468x6o pixels.

Text Link Ads
Text link ads are, as the name suggests, advertisements in the form of text links. One of the big differences to other methods of advertising is that it not only boosts the traffic of the advertiser, it also improves his search engine ranking.

The reason for that is that text link ads do not add the HTML link attribute rel=”nofollow” to the ad link. What this attribute usually does is to indicate that a link is of no value, or for that matter that the ranking of the web site in search engines is not increased through the link.

Ever since search engine announced that this way of link building would be penalized, the use of this kind of advertisement has decreased a lot.

Affiliate Networks
Affiliate networks are a bit more complicated than the other advertising methods.

Traditional affiliate networks enable merchants to offer publishers a share of any revenue that is generated by the merchant from visitors to the publisher’s site, or a fee for each visitor on the publisher’s site that completes a specific action.

Basically you earn a share of the revenue of the merchant when you (the publisher) get visitors to take a specific action on your web site.

RSS Feed Advertising
This refers to placing advertisement in the RSS feed, typically it is used by blogs. An RSS feed is basically a stream of articles, written by a particular blog or web site and which can be read through a feedreader. A person can then subscribe to that RSS feed and receive new articles when they are posted.

The advertisement is only placed in the RSS feed, usually at the end of each article.
References and Further Reading:

• 101 Ways to Monetize Your Web Site or Blog
• 28 Ways to Make Money Online
• John Chow’s Recommended Money Makers

If you know more ways to monetize a web site than please let us know through a comment.

In this article I will give you an idea of what you can do to increase your earnings with Adsense. Note that this is just a summary of the Inside Adsense Optimization series but I hope it will be still helpful.

Adsense Optimization

There are three essential aspects to look at when considering to optimize Adsense.

1. Size of Adsense Units

   The size of the Adsense units does matter. According to the Adsense team the bigger the ad units the better the results. Because of that Google advises to use one of the three units:

   • 300×250 medium rectangle
   • 728×90 leaderboard
   • 160×600 skyscraper

   Not only do they create the highest revenue but by using these formats it will also increase the availability of advertisement because companies usually create ads for these specific units. Try to find 125×125 unit ads, I doubt that you will find a lot of them because companies do not normally use these formats.

2. Ad Unit Design

   The ad unit design is also an important factor when trying to increase your revenue. Some people might be more successful using ad units that stand out from the content but most of us won’t. To increase the click-through-rate and thus your income use the following techniques:

   • Use colors for your ads that blend or complement your sites color
   • No border or borders with lighter colors
   • Save sets of frequently-used colors as a palette

   To sum this up your advertisement should not look like an ad. It should look like it is content which makes sense because people are more willing to click on content related links than on ads.

3. Position of Ads

   The position of your Adsense advertisement also has a strong impact on your revenue. The best positions according to the Adsense team are the following:

   • Above the fold of a page (the section of the page a user can see without scrolling)
   • At the end of an article
   • Aligned with content

   Google also made a heatmap which shows you where the best position for ads might be.

Trying to make money online is not easy but I hope this makes it easier for you.

Highlights:

• Open to all publishers
• Book your own ads for free
• Buy and sell ads
• Recurring commission from affiliate referral program for lifetime
• Makes it easy to find advertisers
• Let’s you define regions where ads will be placed
• Nice integration with blogging software – supports WordPress, Drupal, Joomla etc.
• Get paid at the end of each month

PerformancingAds also offers a feature called “traffic exchange.” Every time advertisement is booked on your web site you in turn earn credits. When you have enough credits you can use them to display your own ads on other publisher sites.

Like To Advertise On Blogs?

PerformancingAds is also looking for advertisers. Advertisers currently get $25 off of your first $100 ad purchase, so you should consider looking at it.

PerformancingAds seems to offer some really nice features so that’s the reason I signed up. The ad network seems to be a lot better than Google Adsense since it is especially made for bloggers. Take a look at it!

I’ll keep you posted on my experience with it.