You can make lots of money monetizing your blog with AdSense if you have quality content, the right keywords, and the right AdSense ad layout. Many people complain they can't make money with AdSense or that it cheapens their site. I will show it how it will not only increase the value of your site, but how it will start building you monthly income!
I monetize my web sites and blogs in many different ways. I see many web sites missing out when it comes to non-invasive ways to monetize your web site or blog, and they don't have to be ways in which you anger your visitors. In fact - good monetization will always compliment your web site, not "cheapen" it. I have also read many articles that debate when to monetize, and there are still some hold-outs that say build up traffic on a site first and then monetize once it gets to a certain level. I'm sorry - that's just BS in my book, and I have the experience to back it up. Monetize your web site from day 1 - PERIOD!
Why? Every post and page is an opportunity to make money. Making money with a web site is like planting a garden. Why would you want to keep plowing the field for 6 months and and keep waiting to plant the seeds? Also monetization is marketing, and marketing takes time and skill. Yes - skill. The more you do it the better you become, so do it from day #1.
Making money online is like a sport or a professional trade.
Ingredients you WILL NEED to become SUCCESSFUL:
Competent Trainers and Mentors
Passion and Drive to Succeed
Organization and Work Ethic
Ability to make 10,000 mistakes and keep going
Good Communications Skills
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Today we're going to talk about monetizing your web site with Google AdSense. If you're already using Google AdSense - read this article anyway and learn how to make more money using AdSense. Click the banner above to join AdSense if you haven't already. By signing up with AdSense you can build code snippets and place ads on your web site.
AdSense Myths:
To make any money you need thousands of visitors per day
Ads will make a percentage of your visitors leave and not come back
AdSense cheapens the look of your web site
You would be surprised how much more money you could be making with some very basic and simple changes to your web site. Think about how much you could be making per day. Just $1 per day is $30 per month, which should more than pay for most basic hosting plans (and then some). Only $5 per day and you're making $150 per month, $10 per day is $300/mo. It adds up quicker than you think. Especially if you have more than one blog or web site to monetize.
AdSense Facts:
You can make $1-$3 a day on as little as 20-30 visitors per day
A percentage of your visitors quickly leave anyway (the bounce rate) - you can make money on that dead traffic
AdSense is so targeted that it's less of an intrusion and more of a service compared to other ads
The first thing you need to understand is where the ads come from. AdSense is fed by Google's other product AdWords. If you haven't used AdWords before - it's where you can pay to drive traffic to your web site - you "pay per click". In the AdWords marketplace - people "bid over keywords". The more competition there is for a keyword, the more it costs and the highest bidder wins the top slot, the next bidder the next slot, and so on. For example it may cost 50 cents per click to get the keyword "designer handbag", but I bet you can get "clay flowerpot" for under a nickel. It's all about supply and demand. The most searched for terms are fought over pretty fiercely. Once keywords are purchased, the AdSense algorithm places the actual ads on web sites - matching them up with keywords and content on web pages. The algorithm is pretty amazing, and in most case will be serving highly target ads to your web site within minutes. If the ads are way off target or inappropriate - you need to re-think your web site setup.
So once a keyword is purchased and an ad is written - it's matched up with a highly targeted web page where it should perform well. It doesn't matter how "busy" or popular that web site is, well performing and paying ads are placed on appropriate pages getting from a dozen to thousands of visitors per day. If you are using high paying keywords in your web site content, you will attract high paying ads. Did you understand that statement? Go back and read it two more times and think about it a minute.
That's right - the key to making money in AdSense is attracting well paying ads. If I have a web site that gets only 30 visitors per day, and 3 per day click an AdSense ad paying 35-50 cents, I can easily make $1 per day from this very low-traffic web site. Of course everyone wants to get more than 30 visitor per day, but all sites have to start somewhere. I'm illustrating how easy it is to make money from day #1. I do this in nearly all the sites I setup. Many of you that have used AdSense for a long time won't believe it, because in my example my AdSense clicks pay extremely high and the click-through-rate (CTR) is 10%. Most sites are lucky to get a 2-3% CTR on AdSense ads, and the clicks usually pay a nickel or less on average.
I said earlier that if you received off target ads your blog or web site layout was possibly not "AdSense optimized". If you want to attract high paying ads and make the most AdSense revenue possible from your existing traffic - I'll give you some very simple rules to follow when writing articles, pages, and posts. If you follow these very basic rules you will not only get more revenue per click with AdSense, but (in the long run) you will also get more visitors, and better search engine listings.
Top 10 Ways To Make More Money from AdSense Using Keywords
Obtain a URL with very important keywords in your niche: I can't say enough about this. The #1 reason I have so many domains is because when you build a niche site if the domain has your top 2 or 3 keywords in it - you immediately start getting traffic from post #1. This is very important.
Use permalinks, pretty URL's, etc: This is second most important whether you are using WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, or whatever. As soon as you setup your software turn on permalinks, pretty URL's, or whatever it's called so you posts have "site.com/this-is-my-post". Having great keywords in the URL past the top level domain name is only second to keywords in the domain name itself.
Find the Best Keywords and Phrases: DO YOUR RESEARCH! Find out how to do keyword research. If you don't know what the best keywords for your niche are - there really isn't much point reading any farther than this...
Create a Great Title: When you write a post the title controls much more than you think. Everyday I read great articles with crappy titles. With every title you need to be thinking of using keywords that will be searched for while linkbaiting a title enticing people to click. This can be harder than it sounds, because the best titles are 6-8 words or less. I've gotten better at this over time, but it's just practice, practice, practice to become a master at it!
Have an H1 Title first: WordPress natively takes your html post title tag and puts it into an H1 tag as the textual title on the post's web page. If you use another CMS like Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, or something else make sure your Content Management System does the same. Keywords in header tags (especially the first header of the page) carry much more weight than laster in the content areas.
Start with a Synopsis Paragraph: Unless you are writing custom meta description tags for every single page the most important area of any post or page after the title is that first paragraph. This paragraph ultimately becomes your description under you title link in search engine results pages. You want to stick to 2 or 3 sentences when possible, or at least place your important keywords there. Remember - what you type will not only determine how well this page comes up in search results, but also how your page is described and why people click!
Bold important keywords as you write: As you write your post or article bold keywords and phrases when you are making points. These keywords, combined with your title and synopsis help target ads (and traffic!).
Link relevant sources: This is a given, but should be mentioned. Be sure to link only relevant items in your post - it helps target everything.
Organize sections using h3 and h4 headings: Using h3 and h4 headers in longer pages and posts is a great way to "sub-title" the page with even more targeted keywords. It's also easier to organize information (and for more people to follow and read).
Use keyword laden categories and tags: Just before you publish that page or post, be sure to use great keywords to both categorize and tag it.
Now back to the AdSense ads themselves. First - if you are brand new to AdSense, be sure to visit the newly created AdSense official newbie help at Google and get all the free information that you can. Second you want to get the code for the AdSense ads necessary for placement on your web site. I want you to view the Google heat map (you can find it in the newbie help link). This picture illustrates where a visitor's eyes go first, and where you would get the most clicks. Do you see how the reddest spot on the page is directly above the content? I want you to understand that if you could only place one AdSense ad per page - it should be directly above you content. In addition, the highest paying and best performing AdSense ad is 336x280 large rectangle.
So you're ready to place that ad? Not so quick - you need to "blend" it into the look and feel of your page. When you create it in AdSense setup make the background color the same as where it will be placed on your page. Make the font color and size the same, make the link colors the same too. I personally would never use video ads for any reason - only text. My reasoning on this is that in a 336x280 text ad you normally get 4 text ads, and that's 4 chances to make money. If a video takes up the entire 336x280 block - it's only 1 chance to make money, and it's images and video that can be intrusive to many visitors. IMHO - you would need some type of pop-culture (music, movie, celebrity, joke, media based) web site to be successful with image or video ads. Place one 336x280 AdSense ad directly before your content and one directly after. If you use Google analytics to track your web site - you many already be aware of your "bounce rate". When people come to your site, and quickly leave because they didn't find what they wanted they "bounce". To me a bounce rate of 20-30% is normal. Over 50% is incredibly high.
If you've placed the 336x280 blocks before and after the content your are placing highly targeted ads to soak up your bounce rate. In other words - if 20-30% of my customers are going to leave my site quickly anyway to find what they want - I'd prefer that they click on one of my AdSense ads to find it. I help them find what they need, and I get a "referral fee" for the click. Also visitors that stay awhile on my site many click an ad because they're in the same niche. It's like being in the library and finding the book you need, but seeing others on the same shelf you might also like.
Beyond the two mandatory AdSense blocks I use before and after the content - I often also add a 4 text link unit in a sidebar or a 160x600 skyscraper. How you feel about this is up to you and your layout. If you have other ads or sidebar content that could be earning money - it might be better placed there. But if all you have is the latest posts and some categories - these types of AdSense ads can help you not "leave any money on the table". That means - you might only make a few extra pennies or nickels per day - but if that money was just laying on the table would you just leave it there? Probably not. It adds up over time. Again - especially if you are monetizing multiple web sites.
I learned this term (money on the table) from Joel Comm, whose AdSense eBook I read a few years back just after setting up my AdSense account for the first time. For the first 6-7 months I used AdSense I made no money at all. After I read Joel's book I quadrupled my CTR and went from making pennies per day overnight to $3-$5. One month after reading that eBook I received my first ever Google AdSense check, and I've received one every month since.
So - if your web site or blog consistently using my techniques above you should have no problem earning more money from AdSense. A lot of times you read a great article like this and you wonder how successful it was for the author. Well, it worked for me - last year I made more than $10,000 from AdSense on just a few web sites...
John Pratt is a full time WordPress Consultant, and also owner of the eBay Plugin WP-Easybay.
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