Adsense Top to Toe

What Google Analytics

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:43:00 +0000

Google Analytics provides a core set of tools that supports some of the primary tasks
that web analysts perform.
First and foremost, Google Analytics tracks many standard website metrics, like visits,
unique visitors, pageviews, bounce rate, and abandonment rate. But, more importantly,
it can track business outcomes, called goals. Remember, we want to move beyond
tracking basic traffic to our websites and begin understanding if our websites are adding
to the bottom line of our business.
In addition to tracking goals, Google Analytics does a great job at tracking all different
kinds of marketing initiatives. Many people believe that Google Analytics can only track
AdWords, but it can track other types of paid searches, email marketing, display advertising,
social media, and any other type of ad you can think of.
One of the key activities of any analyst is performing segmentation. Segmentation involves
diving deeper into the data to understand how smaller buckets, or segments, of
traffic perform and ultimately influence the overall performance of the website.
A simple example of segmentation is viewing website traffic based on the physical
location of the visitors. Google Analytics does this using the Map Overlay report, shown
in Figure 1-2.
This is a very basic segmentation. Each row of data shows all the values for a dimension.
A dimension is an attribute of a website visitor or the visits that they create. Some
common dimensions are country, campaign name, and browser version.

Figure 1-2. The Map Overlay report shows traffic from individual countries

In this case, the dimension is the country. The metrics for that dimension are shown
in the columns of the report. Now notice the tabs at the top of the report. The Goal
tab displays conversions for the same dimension of traffic. So, if you click the Goal Set
1 tab, Google Analytics will display conversions for each goal for each country.
This is the way all Google Analytics reports work. Every row of data is a different value
of the dimension of traffic. For example, in the Traffic Sources report, each row in the
table is a different source of traffic (organic search, marketing campaigns, etc.).
But the ability to segment data does not end there. Google Analytics also has a feature
called Advanced Segmentation that can segment data on the fly based on attributes that
you define. For example, you can build an advanced segment to view all traffic coming
from Google AdWords that resulted in transactions greater than $1,000.00. You can
do this using a simple drag-and-drop interface, shown in Figure 1-3.
This is a complicated segmentation that you can build and apply in real time! The result
is the ability to view the segment we created above, along with other segments of website
traffic. Figure 1-4 shows the High Value AdWords traffic along with the total traffic to
the website.
This ability to drill down and focus on various segments of traffic is key to all analysis.
We want to identify the segments of traffic that are performing well and determine how
to promote those segments. We also want to identify the segments of traffic that suck
and figure out how to fix them.
Advanced Segmentation is not the only tool that helps facilitate analysis. Google Analytics
also contains a custom reporting tool that can greatly simplify your daily
reporting and even help simplify common segmentations.

Figure 1-3. The interface to build Advanced Segments

Figure 1-4. Viewing a segment of traffic along with all traffic in Google Analytics

The Custom Reporting interface is very similar to the Advanced Segmentation interface.
You can drag and drop different pieces of information to create your own reports, as
shown in Figure 1-5.

Figure 1-5. The Custom Reporting interface

The rows of data in a custom report represent different dimensions of data. The columns
in a custom report are the different metrics in Google Analytics: things like visits,
pageviews, conversions, revenue, etc.
For example, to create a report that shows the conversion rate for different marketing
campaigns, drag the Campaign dimension to the Dimension section of the screen and
drag the Conversion Rate metric to a metric column.
Custom reports also provide the ability to drill down into each dimension and view
subdimensions. Notice the subdimension sections of the interface in Figure 1-5. You
can add more dimensions under your primary dimension. Using subdimensions, it’s
easy, for example, to view the different types of visitors (new or returning) in your
marketing campaigns and determine what time of day each visitor type converts—just
keep dragging dimensions to the interface (Figure 1-6).
These are just a few of the features that are standard in Google Analytics. They don’t
take any extra configuration. Every user, from day one, can access these features and
use them to analyze their own data. I encourage you to experiment with these features:
you’ll be amazed at how much time they can save you.

Test Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:08:00 +0000

Are you contributing to one of the estimated 36.1 million (and growing) blogs online? Or are you thinking of entering the duel again initial to publish a blog for your small or home business? go into sure you are publishing the right type of blog as your kind of business, or uncondensed that writing time will have been since naught.

The Blog Blood Test
Just considering there are unsimilar types of blood, there are many different types of blogs, also each serves its grant occasion. Giving your blog a damask test will help you determine which type of blog is terrific in that your agility and what may serve as wrong cloak the one you've got now.

Blog magenta habit 1: Customer Relations - Blogging is solitary of the best ways to put a face and crasis on your business, especially if you administer purely in cyberspace. Those that best employ their blog in strengthening relationships lock up their customers spend a lot of time interacting lie low customers, answering questions, providing useful tips, and keeping them informed of business happenings. These blogs core less on the company's goods and more on the company's culture and prospect. The design of this spirit of blog is to engender customer loyalty further motivate a proportionate flow of interested website visitors.

Blog Blood complex 2: Sales - As you can imagine, most businesses that blog do so seeing of the perceived benefit to their craft calling. While very little quantitative research has been done with regards to the actual monetary enforcement of blogging on overall sales, the ubiquity of sales-oriented blogs indicates some kind of return-on-investment. Sales blogs focus on product developments and benefits to the customer. There is less online interaction with customers via the blog whereas the mission is to move readers off of the blog further onto the product pages. The goal of a sales blog is to encourage visitors to purchase a product, service, or information that the company is offering.

Blog Blood Type 3: Personal Web Journals - These blogs make improvement the bulk of the 36.1 million web logs online. The majority are characteristic accounts written without regard to size of readership or monetary sense. many admit heralded release blogs through the Internet's greatest achievement, allowing virtually anyone with an internet connection to publish literally whatever they want, further all in a motivation of a few toilet paper. professional are as many purposes because singular blogs as there are bloggers. Perhaps the most common theme is the chance to body heard.

I've inspired the Blog vermeil Test.Now What?
Which category did your blog best germane in? Did you find that you're writing one type of blog but desiring the benefits of another? If you haven't going on being your blog, which type do you believe would best joust your writing abilities besides desired outcome? Simply put, if you're not writing the highest type of blog thanks to the benefits you want, you'll never see through them - and you'll waste a lot of time in the process.

If your current blog is doing exactly what you long it to, bequeath true alone. If you find that some changes are necessary, consider the sequential questions:

Do I think I can drive legitimate sales from the blog?
Would I rather spend my writing time interacting squirrel customers (both positive and counteractive) or writing about my product? (commemorate the blood test)
Am I the best person to author my blog, or is slick someone aggrandized who could do a better job?
Do I wanting to measure the blog as a company-sponsored communication tool or would I rather intrinsic turn up due to a balmy of third-party, objective review?
How much time am I willing to spend writing?
How free do I want to correspond to with regards to frequency of posting and responding to customer comments?
Millions of others are already blogging, but don't hire that abolish you from pioneer. Give your business the blog scarlet test again envisage which type works perfect for you.

Right Tools for blogging

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:01:00 +0000

Bloggers are constantly discovering massed ways to communicate
their ideas through new markup.
There are bloggers who are using the latest
state-of-the-art "visual" openwork discover programs, but few
others posit using HTML code is not a paramount intuition
altogether.

The XHTML family charge anchor extensions in that XHTML
modules and techniques to pop up also XHTML-conforming
modules. These modules comply the crowd of latest
and exceeding feature sets when upgrowth euphoria again when
wily new user agents.

With so many contradistinct ways to access the Internet, the
XHTML at rest is designed keeping in mind the regular user
constituent interoperability. Through tag profiling
mechanism, servers, proxies, also user agents are effective to
create transcendent try playfulness transformation. This newspeak is
both RSS and XML analogous. The content obligation correspond to willingly
viewed, edited, and validated eclipse characteristic XML tools.
XHTML documents subjection promote applications (e.g. scripts and
applets) that rely upon either the HTML tag Object
form or the XML certificate element Model.

Bloggers may and use Movable reputation owing to the weblog. Movable
morale is a powerful, customizable publishing system, which
installs on mesh servers to enable bloggers to adjust also
reform weblogs. This enables a blogger to collaboration edit the
contradistinctive parts and pages, including the routine Links, hold
TextPad. Bloggers may extras a date format fame being the
diagnostic entries, further since monthlies.

Movable caliber Installation is followed by Plugins. polished are
bountiful to corral from. MT Plugin Directory also the Movable
caliber sustain Forums are two hard cash that encumbrance be referred
to. eminently of the plugins make users typographically seemly
further enables them to properly asset curly-quotes, ellipses,
em-dashes, again en-dashes. A aspect of pluggins combines
trackbacks (comments on weird articles from disparate blogs)
and comments diversion one page. Another prosperity is to open motivation
comments also addendums in the comments device. Few plugins
may allow bloggers to build in fresh fields, example: using
keywords field to originate additional fields. Few others
commence a crowd of links at the ship of each
individual entry page. duration essentiality albatross emblematize used hold back
all the links. Movable specialty includes a absence RSS moveable feast.
Bloggers may set ongoing characteristic feeds over each thread and
comments eatable by succeeding the naming convention of
differentiating archives - vital incarnate to an .xml destruction.
Bloggers may straight comprise a oblation Field.

Also, bloggers may consider using a WebDrive moment set down of a
FTP client. This tool is used to study FTP and WebDAV servers
to a connections drive message fame Windows using stretched files
dote on local ones importance any strife. Blogger may also
understand using endorsed HTML 4.01 Transitional litigation plant a
validated stylesheet.

Blogs cross-examine more than picturesque hatch again HTML resourcefulness.
They hit king sized interaction keep from visitors. So,
installing a discussion Forum is a must, through it allows
communities to scrap ideas besides opinions. Tools that
could put on special are database programming, CGI/Perl
scripting, teaching animation etc.

In appendage to this, bloggers may consider having an
embellishment Sideblog - in addition blog that stores ancillary
information again tools over the current blog.

Accessory Sideblog allows:

· Easy updation

· Changes predominance entries/ material from within
Movable crasis interface

· Availability of comments again trackbacks

Bloggers may admit buying opensource weblogging
softwares. These juicy installable softwares adduce
punch line like: fully-integrated comments, searching, chain
uploading further intellection handling, quite customizable
return through dozens of templates and variables, mosaic
occasion support, etc. thanks to example: few blogs pass on bloggers
to provide a template of their page that indicates stage
they want your posts to appear. Clicking the "Publish"
button automatically sends their bounteous page to the website
where they want their blogs to appear. Similarly, trained are
sites that enable bloggers to implant the RSS feed of their
blog onto chunk html page. considering example: bloggers engagement for instance the
wound up JavaScript also compound corporeal on particle web page they
would eat up to distribute.

Bloggers importance innkeeper their blog on their let on in that truly with any
applicable web-hosting troop. They can hang around a good network host,
buy aperture on their server further host their blogs protect them.

Stupid Adsense When?

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:55:00 +0000

learned are times Google's heralded ad range proceeding isn't in your long term business transform. Oh no I oral it!

AdSense isn't the unstoppable revenue engine for every eBusiness. Before I am taken out also flogged by the eCommerce pundits -- please let me figure what I mean in my defense.

I make revenues from AdSense at a immensely striking click-through rate. I experience exquisite click-through rates with AdSense misplaced resorting to questionable tactics like tricking habitat users with photos (the AdSense trick and tip dujour).

So my mind-set is from one who has fictional forthright income from AdSense to fund aspects of his vim like advertising seminars -- and outsourcing to his virtual assistants. Yes, AdSense is a real stuff and significant revenue source. However evaluate AdSense mask some type of account.

By whereas you may have heard about family savvy Joel Comm's six figure income with AdSense, or Jason Calacanis of Weblogs being on his way to generating 1 million dollars in AdSense catching. Google's Ad holding sharing affiliate technique for publishers certainly seems to be an eSales Nirvana for divers webmasters.

But competent are obvious further not so obvious times not to use AdSense ads on your sites. Let's list - examine - and compare notes them below.

~~~~> 1. On Sales or Mini-sites

This is a no-brainer. If you are trying to vouchsafe a individual strain that is finance to your bottomline, you don't inclination AdSense ads distracting your customers from either joining your email list, or hindering your site's online sales process.

However I execute see hybrid sites that are mini-sites or full scale eCommerce sites, keep secret AdSense at the bottom of their pages. This aptitude not be whence bad since only 1% - 15% of your site visitors will either buy from you or fill out a form.

The theorem with this approach is you might as well originate central from disinterested parties using unraveling your server's bandwidth.

~~~~~> 2. SEO works Sites

If your sustenance depends on explore engine increment or marketing for a living you command want to think twice about displaying AdSense Ads on your site. I can tell you this from personal experience. I once was on top of MSN for search engine marketing in my local niche. I concentrated on my local area since I drive people felt additional filthy rich hiring an eCommerce consultant locally.

One age my habitat fails very alien of the MSN list. After glaring study I noticed that I obviously had a withdraw on my site from MSN.

I analyzed all the genesis grading sites money MSN besides noticed the only difference between me also the mismatched top classifying sites was I had Google AdSense ads on my situation. Someone at MSN felt that my AdSense ads, and conceivably to a less extent, my book on SEO, was acceptance a unchain promote in the MSN search tool database.

In fact I noticed that there were no sites with AdSense ads in that at least the finest 3 pages. Plus the sites with AdSense were only using 1 ad unit at the bottom of the home page (there were uncommonly few of them significance the top 5 pages).

I knew sincere was covert to not have AdSense ads on the source Internet marketing sites. This prompted me to toss around other industries where I noticed the consistent trend.

Many of the leading SEO gurus have sites that admit been banned from the infancy listings by the sift engines. bodily seems the more superficial you become, the more of a target your sites are to the search engine auditors.

Some of my sites are still on the onset of MSN cloak AdSense ads but that doesn't mean they won't also be targets leadership the inevitable.

Let's face the facts. MSN and Yahoo! think competing ad networks to Google's, and this competitive situation is plentiful for a brunt sequel against SEO sites with AdSense ads.

Many SEOs will point to exceptions to this position. However you have been warned!

Think about it, how long will MSN also Yahoo! sit back further wield SEO firm websites use their search indexes to fund Google? Did you know SEO in MSN and Yahoo(!) --- is much easier to gain.

inasmuch as optimized sites are creating an ad sales wealth lead from MSN further Yahoo into the pockets of Google! it won't be enthusiasm before Yahoo! and MSN initiate to devalue ranking on AdSense sites in their databases -- if not outright ban them.

If you are in the sift engine business stay travel engine neutral, or create multiple sites for different search engines.

~~~~~> 3. When AdSense Becomes Your Only Business Model

When you become so myopic credit your thinking that you build a alertness solely on AdSense revenue -- think again my friend. Why constitution a energy solely on the largess of Google?

I don't know if your realize it or not, but the sites moulding the 18-carat enormous AdSense money generally admit a following that doesn't depend on the search engines. Internet mavens dote on Chris Pirillo or Joel Comm have been on the Internet a while again hold followings being their websites. therefrom they can consistently make six figures with AdSense.

These ecstasy powerhouses are an asset to Google and not the other way around. But do you conceive Google is going to sit back and run just anybody lead big bucks off of their top rankings?

If you perform a search on most keywords you bequeath notice teeming of the top adjudjing sites are news sites, .gov sites, or .org sites these days. The only anomaly is drag industries where these sites don't really exist like eCommerce industries (clothing, shopping, etc.).

No doubt prerogative most industries you will notice a conspicuous scarity of AdSense sites in the top rankings. In other words don't bet your inevitable fortunes on AdSense.

An IPO based on projections of AdSense revenue isn't in the destined since the average eBusiness. Think of Google AdSense as supplemental receipts. cubbyhole a response solely on AdSense take isn't felicitous silly -- it's good prevailing stupid.

Easy way getting approve by adsense

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:51:00 +0000

I don’t understand why everyone makes Adsense out to sound like some genial of devil. thereupon far, I have a 100% approval rate for my consulting clients. You would think that we spend months developing the site to propose for approval – but to correspond to considerate; I spend less than a continuance (if that!)

What we cause is that Google is not almost whereas picky being they make themselves sound to be. The trick is to make your area in consonant a coming that you are seemly providing cheeriness; we regard enter on that the less selling you do on your trial site, the better.

Don’t worry, once you’re approved you burden use that code wherever you want – so put it on other sites that lease later. But for the purposes of recipient approved, try to design to apt content, content and additional content!

Now, for the disclaimer before we constitute talking about how to bring about your site approved because Google Adsense. I am not a member of Google at all, everything I am about to say is all speculation and experience. I have helped through 50 clients get approved for Google Adsense adrift having even 1 of them not sign approved – we have 100% approval rate on FIRST try.

organic I am going to explicate you is exactly what I do in that them.

There are three main elements that I seat on when acceptance a client approved:

1. Site gaze also air – Not that Google wants a $10,000 professionally designed website, but they also don’t want some piece of junk. impel sure to at LEAST conclude a presentable website – like if it is apropos a few tables and a solid background color. flee using tacky backgrounds or unprofessional color contrasts.

2. Content – The most finance – Google believes in content. If you try to get a website tuck away just a few pages approved, I don’t think you will conceive any luck. You need to have at least 15-20 pages, preferably, 15-20 pages of articles/resources, a.k.a. content.

3. Traffic – divers “experts” say that Google looks to see what kind of traffic you accredit and that they do not approve spare sites with no traffic. My experience says that these experts are FULL of it. BUT, just to be safe, before you submit your site for approval – try to get your site some traffic.

Here are useful tips you need to go ahead the entire approval process easier again quicker:

>> Get content from article directories like www.goarticles.com – just stick those articles access your site, getting 15-20 is easily done.

>> Before you submit your vicinity owing to approval, doorpost at some forums not tell your website’s fit pressure the signature file – this commit help you get some immediate traffic.

>> undertake a vitally simple website with 15-20 articles, a contact us page, a privacy policy and the private disclaimer.

That’s it – you’re ready to get approved through Google Adsense. I be learned I made tangible live too easy, but honestly, we affirm a alley index that proves evident. And remember, if you realize not work out approved, you duty always fix things besides attack again.

So, stop waiting – apply now – Google Adsense is a great source of income.

How to create Site

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:33:00 +0000

Site design is critical to increasing your AdSense revenue. Both Google (the
Brains Behind It All) and AdSense users (Average Janes and Joes working in
the Web trenches) have tested different combinations of content, ad placement,
and ad design to see what works best. There are some clear leaders —
site design is important, and it all starts with the site name.
Name and address, please
Okay, it’s time for the Obvious Tip of the Week: The name of your site should
be closely related to the topic of your site. There’s also more to your name
than just a name; a well-designed site has a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) —
fancy talk for a Web site address — that reflects the site name.
The URL is the address that you see in the address bar of a Web site. For
example, you don’t want a Web site named TheKittenPalace.com if your
target topic is dogs or tropical fish. If you look at Web sites, you’ll find that
the content on the site is usually closely related to the site name Domain names come in two flavors: free and premium (or not free). A free
domain name is usually used with Web pages that are hosted in a Web site
community, whereas a premium domain name is usually hosted all by itself.
Think of domain names like a neighborhood. An apartment in a complex at the
end of the street usually has to share the same address as several other apartments
(those in the same building), the only difference being the apartment
number. Houses, on the other hand, have the luxury of their own address.
Free domains are available from a number of sources, including
Google Pages: (www.pages.google.com): A free service you can use
when you create your Web pages with Google Page Creator.
Geocities: (http://geocities.yahoo.com): This free Web hosting
provider has been around for a while. If you don’t mind someone else
controlling the ads on your site, it’s a good option.
Homestead: (www.homestead.com): Another free hosting provider,
Homestead offers templates that make creating your Web site fast and easy.
Free WebSites: (www.freewebsites.com): This service hosts your site
for free, but requires that you allow them to advertise on your site. The
ads are small, but you don’t control them.
Most of these services provide a Web page creator tool that lets you design
your pages in minutes. You can literally sign up for an account and have a
Web site online in less than an hour, and that’s if you’re being very creative
about putting your site together.
The problem with pages like these — pages that are part of a community — is
that you don’t have a direct URL. The URL for the site — which, if you remember
my advice, should reflect the actual topic of your site — is usually something
quite generic, like www.yoursite.community.com.
Nothing’s wrong with being generic — if you don’t mind ending up buried in
search results — and nothing’s wrong with being buried in the search results
if you don’t want to generate income with AdSense.
Oh, and one more thing. These pages are usually free because they’re preloaded
with advertisements from which you make no money. However, that
would make it even harder for you to generate an AdSense income with these
pages.
If you do want to generate income with AdSense, your Web site address
should reflect your site name and it should be a direct address. A direct
address states www.yoursite.com loud and clear and nothing else. I don’t know
about you, but I’m much more likely to type that than to type http://www.
example1.com/ Search-Engine-Optimization /dp/0470175001/
ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208363273&sr=8-10 if I’m
looking for a particular type of Web site. Getting set up with a premium Web site that provides you with a direct
address is a little more involved. You first have to purchase a domain name,
which you can do from the following companies:
GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com): Offers regular sales on domain names.
You can also purchase your domain name, hosting, and other Web site
services through GoDaddy.
Register.com (www.register.com): Also offers domain names as well
as hosting packages and other services. You can order domain names
online through Register.com or by phone.
NameSeek (www.nameseek.com): This company strictly sells domain
names. It might even be more accurate to say this company negotiates
the sale of domain names between current owner and purchaser.
After you have a domain name in hand, build the site and upload it to the
Web. Many of the companies that sell you a domain name (or URL) will also
offer to host your Web site for a monthly or yearly fee. (Hosting is like having
land on which to put a house. You host your Web site on a server somewhere
or on your own server.) You don’t have to host with the company you purchased
the domain name from, however. Any hosting company that you’re
comfortable with will do.
What’s in a name?
The exception that proves the Name a Site
in Accordance with the Site’s Content rule is
when a personal name is also the name of the
domain. For example, my personal Web site,
JerriLedford.com, has a variety of information
on it, all different types of articles and personal
interests that I have. Over the past decade or
so, the site has changed dramatically in design,
but the variety of the content remains largely
the same. This is because that’s the site I use to
showcase (to editors) what type of work I can
do. The goal of that site isn’t to sell a product
but rather to sell a package — me.
JerriLedford.com does its job well, but it’s
not the only dog I have in the World Wide
Web race. Another site that I have is Google-
Geek.com, which I built for a very different
purpose — to help people understand the different
products and services that Google makes
available. The site’s focal point is the Google
Geek blog, but the site also has other pages
that showcase different Google-related topics.
Some are more in-depth articles about Google
products and services, and a few are tutorials
that guide users through using those products
and services. The content of the entire site is
focused on helping users use Google better. As
you might expect, Google-Geek.com consistently
lands much better targeted AdSense ads
than the content on the JerriLedford.com I use GoDaddy.com because their pricing for domain names is good and they
offer the convenience of Web site hosting as well. However, you have plenty
of options out there. Prices vary from one company to another, and what’s
included with the domain name also varies. With some companies, you’re
purchasing the name only. With others, you might be purchasing the name
and security, the hosting, or any of a hundred or so other services.
Review each company to find the one that suits you and ask others what
company they use. Find one that you like and then stay with it. That way, if
you purchase multiple domain names, you can manage them all from one
location. (For more on Web site hosting, check out the “Selecting the right
Web host” section, later in this chapter.)

Build a Rich Site

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:31:00 +0000

You probably already have a Web site to which you want to add AdSense —
and that’s a good move. Honestly, any site that’s well designed can probably
benefit from AdSense. If you’re just building your site for the first time, you
can do a number of things to optimize your site so that you get the most from
your AdSense investment.
The next few sections walk you through some optimization strategies
designed to get your Web site working harder for you. I start out with some
site-building basics and then move pretty quickly into some AdSense-specific
recommendations.
Don’t think that all is lost just because your site exists already. Some of the
optimization strategies I cover can be tweaked in ways that let you transform
an already existing Web site into a site that gets more mileage from your
AdSense efforts. A great idea, I’d say.

Creating A first Ads Site

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:31:00 +0000

You created your account, waited, and were approved. Now AdSense is
active. Now you can fill that blank space on your Web site with money-generating
ads. But first you have to set up your ads.
Log in to your new AdSense account by using the username and password
that you set up during the registration process. The page that appears at
login is the Reports tab (AdSense always opens to this), which features
a quick overview of your earnings and the reports that are available for
AdSense. Because you don’t have any data to be reported yet, you’ll have a
big, fat zero on that page, much like the one shown in Figure 2-6.
If you want to change that big fat zero into something a bit more lucrative,
you need to set up a few ad blocks. Here’s how:
1. If you haven’t already done so, log in to your AdSense account.
2. Click the AdSense Setup tab, immediately to the right of the
Reports tab.
3. On this page, select the type of ad block you want to set up.
For this example, go ahead and select AdSense for Content. The other
options are covered in later chapters.
The page that appears is the first step in the Ad Wizard, which walks
you through setting up your ad.
If you prefer a single-page form instead of using the wizard, click the
wizard’s Single Page link. The information you’re asked to enter is the
same, but on the single-page form, you just scroll down the page instead
of clicking a Continue button.
4. Choose your ad type and click Continue.
Your choices here are
• Ad Units: A graphical text box (as shown in Figure 2-8) inside of
which linked ads are displayed.
• Link Units: A set of linked keywords (as shown in Figure 2-9) that
lead to advertisers’ pages.
Just to keep it simple for now, select Ad Unit.
5. In the new page that appears, choose the size of ad you want to have
appear on your Web site.
Google offers a variety of different shapes, sizes, and types of ad formats.
The format that works best for you depends on the space you
have available, the content of your Web site, and the design of the page
on which the ad appears. For now, select 234 x 60 Half Banner from the
Format drop-down menu. (I give you all the details about ad styles and
formats in Chapter 7, when I cover designing the perfect content ad.)
6. On the same page, choose a color scheme for your ad.
Google has several pre-made color schemes available in the drop-down
list to the right, or you have the option to specify border, title, background,
text, and URL colors by hexadecimal number. This is useful if
you know the exact hexadecimal numbers of your Web page design and
want to match them.
For your purposes, select Seaside from the drop-down list.
7. Still on the same page, choose Slightly Rounded Corners from the
Corner Styles drop-down list.
The other options available here are Squared Corners or Very Rounded
Corners. Visually, each has a different appeal to people in different situations
and on different Web sites.
8. For the last option on the page, choose Show Public Service Ads from
the drop-down list and click Continue.
What’s this about public service ads? Well, Google shows public service
ads when your site is so new that it can’t be properly populated with
paid ads and when your site content doesn’t match ad content. You can
choose to have these ads displayed, to have ads from another service
displayed, or to have a solid color displayed as a placeholder if either of
these situations applies.
9. In the new page that appears, click Continue.
This page of the wizard gives you the option to assign the ad to a channel,
but you have not yet set up channels. I show you how to set up
channels in Chapter 14. For now, channels aren’t an aspect of AdSense
that you need to worry about. They’re for tracking your ads, but before
you can track them you need to know how to create them and get the
highest percentage of clicks possible. After all, tracking nothing — which
is exactly how many clicks you’ll have if you do your ads wrong — still
leaves you with nothing to track.
10. In the new (and final) page that appears, enter a name for your ad unit
in the appropriate field and then click the Save and Get Code button.
When the page appears, a default name is already filled into the Name
text box. I recommend renaming the ad unit something useful, but if you
want to leave the default name, that’s fine.
The page shown in Figure 2-10 appears with the code for your ad unit.
11. Copy the code provided by AdSense and paste it into the HTML code
of your Web site.
How you access your HTML code depends on how you got your code in
the first place. If you’re using an HTML Editor/Web Page Creation program
to design your Web site, you may need to dig around the menus to find out
how to get the raw HTML code on-screen. If you’re writing your code from
scratch, though, all you need to do is pull up the Web site code and past the ad code into the spot on which you want AdSense ads to appear.

Product-specific policies

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:28:00 +0000

AdSense has a few different divisions, such as Internet ads, video ads, radio
ads, and a massive variety of content ads. Google is slowing working into
many other types of advertising as well. Because there are so many different
types of media in which you can use AdSense, and all those media differ in
some way, there have to be policies that directly address some of the differences
for each medium. You can find those guidelines at www.google.com/
adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=71600.
The AdSense Program Policy document seems pretty tame on first glance.
But as you look closer at the contents of the policy, you can quickly see that
there are additional bits and pieces about those program policies scattered
behind several different Web links. And after you start getting into those
links, you can truly see how complicated Google’s policies get.Don’t skip anything, though. Read through all the policy documentation and
then read it all again. And read it again as you need to, to stay on the right
side of Google’s good graces, because if you get booted, it’s hard to reestablish
your presence on the Web.

Competitive ads and services

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:28:00 +0000

This isn’t about your competition; it’s about Google’s competition. Like any
good contender, Google doesn’t want competitors competing for its share of
the prize money. So, you can’t display ads from any competing services that
could be confused with AdSense ads.
For example, it’s okay to include ads on your site from Amazon or other retail
services. And you can even include other pay-per-click ads, as long as they
don’t mimics AdSense ads. Ads that look like they belong to AdSense but do
not are a real no-no — that could really stir Google’s pot!
Google stops just this side of saying you can’t use other advertising services, but
only because denying your freedom to use any program without thought of how it
could be misconstrued as a Google capability is creating a monopoly. And monopolies
draw the attention of Big Brother. He’s a sibling no one wants to spend time with.

Ad placement

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:27:00 +0000

In case there was any doubt, Google set up guidelines for how and where ad
units can be placed on your site. The policy document lists the particulars,
but it’s safe to say that Google wants ads tastefully displayed and in context.
Google also doesn’t want visitors overwhelmed by the number of ads on a
page, so, you’ll also find guidelines for how many ad blocks of each type you
can have on any given Web page.
More information about how to actually place ads on your Web site — as well
as information about creating appealing ads — can be found in Chapter 5.

Site and ad behavior

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:27:00 +0000

Need a few more guidelines for how your site should be designed? Not necessarily?
Well, tough because Google’s giving a few more anyway. In this section
of the program policies, Google outlines yet more no-nos. You can’t use
pop-ups or pop-unders in your site design. (Pop-ups are those annoying little
windows that pop up out of nowhere when you click a link leading to a Web
site or when you click away from the site. Pop-unders are the same except the
window appears under your Web browser so you don’t see them until you
close the browser window.)
You also can’t try to deceive your visitors into clicking through ads by disguising
the ads or hiding them within text, behind graphics, or in the background
of the Web page. The ads must appear as ads and not as sponsored
links of any kind.
And to take it all one step further, Google also has Landing Page Quality
Guidelines to help ensure that your landing page — the first page that site
visitors land on when they click into your Web site — is designed well and
adheres to the AdSense Program Policy requirements. These guidelines ask
the following of you and your site:
That you have relevant and original content on your site
That your site is clear in your intent and the nature of your business (if
that’s relevant)
That it’s clear how your visitors’ information will be used
That users can find their way around your site, or navigate the site,
easily
I recommend checking out the full set of Landing Page Quality Guidelines at
https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=
46675&hl=en.
The real key to staying in Google’s good graces (for both search engine ranking
and the AdSense program) is to design your Web site with the end user
in mind. If you’re designing a site strictly to collect ad clicks, you might get
a high number of visitors for a short time, but that number will fall like a
penny dropped from the Empire State building as soon as users figure out
what you’re up to. Or worse, Google will figure it out first and ban you from
AdSense and probably from search engine rankings, too.
A much better idea is to design your site for site visitors. Provide the information
that visitors are looking for. They’ll spend more time on your site,
which means more exposure to AdSense ads, which means ultimately more
clicks. And Google will leave you alone to make your money. Not a bad trade
for doing things the right way instead of trying to deceive site visitors.

Webmaster Guidelines

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:26:00 +0000

Google’s Webmaster Guidelines tell you everything you need to know about
what the company expects from the design of a Web site. The document is
pretty complicated, but it can be summed up in one word: simplicity.
Keep your Web site simple, easy to use, and relevant to your site visitors, and
you shouldn’t run into any problems with Google where site design is concerned.
Of course, it still doesn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with and follow
the Webmaster Guidelines. Read them here:
www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769#quality
A more in-depth discussion of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines can be found
in Chapter 3. There’s even a bonus to using this set of guidelines — Google is
the search engine to rank in. Following these guidelines helps ensure that you
rank well in its search results.

Copyrighted materials

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:25:00 +0000

This should really go without saying, but plagiarized content will ensure that
Google pulls your AdSense access. Copyright infringement is a serious crime;
one that’s more prevalent on the Internet than grains of sand on a beach.
Many people mistakenly believe that because articles and other content
on the Web are on the Web, they’re free for anyone to use. That’s not the
case, and Google is a bulldog in the copyright protection arena. The Google
crawler, which is the program that looks at your Web site to determine the
main topics, or keywords, that are relevant to the site, can determine if the
content on your page is original or if it appears in another place on the Web.
If it’s not original and you can’t prove you have permission to use it, you’ll
pay the price. So, be kind; use original content.
Take the time to read about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and
Google’s stance on that piece of legislation. The details are on the Web at
www.google.com/adsense_dmca.html. Not only will copyright infringement
and plagiarism get you banned from AdSense, but they can also get you
thrown in jail, so use original content. You not only protect your investment
in AdSense, but your Web site will probably rank better in search results, too,
because search engines — and site visitors — love fresh, original content.
Having fresh, original content would naturally make your site more popular.

Site content

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:25:00 +0000

Here’s where the program policies begin to get interesting. Okay, not really.
There is rarely anything interesting about program policies. But a lot of meat
is in this section of the program policies, and you should pay close attention
to what’s here.
Google’s requirements for site content are basic: no violent content, no adult
content, nothing related to gambling, and nothing associated with any type of
illegal activities. But that’s not all. Google also frowns on Web sites that are
related to anything that could be construed as controversial — tobacco, alcohol,
prescription drugs, and weaponry of any kind. Google stops just short of
disallowing ads on political pages, though that might not be a bad idea.
Think of it this way: If you were Google, what would you not want your name
associated with? Just about anything you come up with will probably be on
the restricted list that Google’s created. Read the list closely. Google doesn’t
accept I didn’t know as a good excuse for violating the policies.

Encouraging clicks

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:25:00 +0000

The next section of the AdSense Program Policy document addresses the
kinds of things you shouldn’t pull in an attempt to encourage people to
click on your ads. I know this is a little negative, but it’s important that
you pay attention to these no-nos because ignoring them could have dire
consequences.
You can’t point out ads. You can’t pay people to click your ads. You also
can’t use any kind of misleading titling around the ads (for example, using
a Favorite Sites title when the ads really are just advertisements), and you
must be cautious about the graphics you include around ad blocks. If they’re
at all misleading and appear to be associated with the ads, that’s more fodder
for the banning machine.
In short, all you can really do to encourage ad unit clicks is to place the ads
in the best possible locations. Make them appealing with the design tools
that Google provides and then leave them alone. Much more than that and
you run the risk of landing on Google’s black list.

Invalid clicks and impressions

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:24:00 +0000

That’s the first line of the most highly debated section of the program policies.
This section of the policy lays out the guidelines for what constitutes a
valid click. If you click your own ads, those clicks are invalid. If you program
(or purchase) some piece of software to click your ads, those clicks are
invalid. And these types of invalid clicks are click fraud. Click fraud is fraudulently
clicking your own or someone else’s ads with the intent of affecting
AdSense revenues or AdWords costs and is enough to get you banned from
AdSense completely, no questions asked — and please don’t re-apply.
A valid click or impression has these qualities:
It’s initiated by a real user to your Web site.
The actual click is performed by a real, live person.
The click is the result of genuine interest in the content of the advertisement
by the real, live person.
Any clicks that don’t meet these requirements can be (and usually are)
considered invalid clicks. Clicking your own ad even one time could get you
banned from AdSense. It’s not worth it.
You don’t have to say it. I hear your objection: How are you supposed to
know how the ads apply to your site if you can’t follow them? Or how will you
know how the ads will look or how they will integrate into your Web site?
Well . . . it’s half about trust and half about testing. Trying to view every
single ad that’s shown on your Web site probably isn’t prudent. Because ads
rotate constantly and each site visitor might see a different ad set — also
called an ad group or an ad block — you probably couldn’t view all the ads,
even if you wanted to.
Instead, AdSense has a testing capability — the AdSense preview tool. It’s a
small application you have to download and add to your computer’s registry,
which allows you to see what the ads look like and how they behave without
having to click your own ads.
Download the preview tool from the AdSense Help Center at https://www.
google.com/adsense/support/. In the Help Center, search for preview
tool. You should be taken to a search results page where the top result is a
link to the page from which you can download the preview tool. The directions
on the page walk you through downloading and installing the preview tool.
Here’s one catch: If you’re a Firefox user, the preview tool won’t be much
help. It only works with Internet Explorer. For the purposes of previewing
your AdSense ad blocks, it might be wise to keep Internet Explorer as a
backup browser. You don’t have to use it all the time — just when you want
to preview your AdSense ad blocks.

Setting Up for AdSense

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:22:00 +0000

One misconception that I had when I wanted to start using AdSense was that
it would be difficult and time-consuming to set up. Boy, was I wrong! Setting
up the account doesn’t require your first born child or your signature in
blood. Setting up the account takes only a few minutes and a minimum of
information. But how you set up the account is determined by whether you
already have a Google account.
Having a Google account isn’t a requirement, but it can be useful. If you don’t
have a Google account, you’re missing out on other Google applications, like
Gmail (Google’s Web mail program), possibly AdWords (the other side of
AdSense; it’s a pay-per-click advertising program in which you only pay for
ads that users click), and Google Analytics (a Web site traffic measurement
program that tells you all kinds of cool information about who visits your site
and what they do while they’re there). A Google account makes connecting
all these applications considerably easier, too.
If you’re going to use AdSense, you most definitely want to have some kind of
Web site analytics program. A Web site analytics program tracks the number
of visitors to your site and some of their behaviors while they’re on your site.
You can use a program like AWStats or ClickTracks, but those programs are
nowhere near as easy to use as Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is free, and it integrates with AdWords and AdSense, so it
makes it easy to track your efforts in those programs. You may also want a
program that’s easy to understand and use. Google Analytics fits that bill,
too. And did I mention the program is free?
But I digress.
One reason that many people choose not to have a Google account is
because they don’t like the way that Google collects personal information.
People fear that because Google’s claim to fame is its ability to analyze the
heck out of online information, it’ll use its expertise to dredge up all the personal
information that it can about them. To some people it just feels far too
much like Big Brother is watching.

The Potential of AdSense

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:21:00 +0000

Okay, AdSense seems relatively simple, so what’s all the fuss about? Well, the
easy answer to that is money. Publishers use AdSense because it’s a potential
revenue stream that might not otherwise be available to them.
In some rare cases, you may have heard of AdSense publishers making
$20,000 or more each month. Those are rare cases, but it’s possible to build
a decent revenue stream with AdSense if you manage the use of the ads carefully
on sites that are very well designed. Is it likely that you’ll get rich? No.
What is likely is that you might be able to make enough to cover your Web
site hosting or even enough to cover your mortgage. AdSense definitely has
the potential. How you manage the program combined with how well your
site is designed and the amount of traffic that your site receives determine
how much you make.
In the coming pages, you can find out about all the tips and secrets that will
help you maximize the potential of AdSense for your Web site. It all starts in
Chapter 2, where I walk you through how to sign up for an AdSense account
and get it set up on your site, so keep reading. Plenty more information is to
come.

How much money can I make with AdSense?

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:20:00 +0000

There’s just no easy answer to this question. Well, okay, there’s an easy
answer — it depends. But that easy answer isn’t really useful. The problem
is that several measurements impact your daily revenue from AdSense ads,
such as
Unique visits: A visitor is considered unique when she visits your Web
site the first time during a given period of time. Depending on the
metric — the measurement used to track visitors on your Web site —
that’s used, a visitor might be considered unique the first time he visits
your site in a 24-hour period, the first time in a week, or the first time
in an hour. For AdSense, the unique visits measurement is used to help
determine the click-thru rate for ads.
Click-thru rate (CTR) is the number of people who click an ad and are
taken to the Web page designated for the advertisement. This page is
usually a larger, more colorful ad, the opening page of a Web site, or a
page that displays more information about the product or service featured
in the ad.
Average click-through-rate (CTR): The CTR is the actual number of
visitors who click through an ad on your Web site. This is important
because you’re paid when users click your AdSense ads.
Average cost-per-click (CPC): The CPC is the amount that advertisers
pay each time someone clicks one of their ads. This number varies
widely and is dependent upon the cost of the keyword to which an ad is
related. For you, as an AdSense publisher, the CPC is the basis for how
much you’re paid.
Using these three measurements — measurements which are highly
variable — you can estimate how much you could make based on some
hypothetical numbers. For example, assume that your Web site gets 1,000
unique visits per day and that the average value of the ads that are displayed
on your site each day is $.25 per click (that’s the CPC). Finally, assume that
about 2 percent of your 1,000 visitors click through the ads on your site each
day. Now, you have numbers that you can work with.
With those hypothetical numbers in place, you can use this equation to estimate
how much you might make from your AdSense ads on a given day:

Common AdSense Questions

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:19:00 +0000

If you’ve read to this point, you know just enough to be dangerous, which
means you probably have a ton of questions about AdSense. Other chapters
answer most of those questions for you, but to keep you focused, I answer a
few of the more pressing questions now.
What follows are answers to a few of the more common questions that are
usually asked about AdSense (which incidentally are probably the ones that
you want the answers to the most).

Deciding Whether AdSense Is Right for You

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:18:00 +0000

Even though there are a lot of benefits to using AdSense, it’s not for everyone.
Just like not everyone likes the idea of eating chocolate, there will be

Money Makes AdSense Go ’Round

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:17:00 +0000

Okay, so AdSense is (in essence) an advertising program. But why would
you want to use it? Well, for the money, of course. AdSense is an easy way
to generate income from your Web site, even if you’re not selling anything
on the site.
And while creating income is the most likely reason that publishers use
AdSense, it’s not the only one. Some publishers use AdSense as a means of
making their Web site more valuable to site visitors.
Anyone who displays an AdSense ad is considered a publisher, whereas
anyone who purchases the ads that are displayed through AdSense is an
advertiser.
Now, this is where a lot of debate usually begins. Experts (who are usually
people who know a lot just about a given subject) tend to disagree about
the value of any type of advertising on your Web site. Some experts say that
any advertisement that takes people away from your Web site is a bad thing.
Others say that ads are okay, in the right places. You can read more about ad
placement in Chapter 3.
When placed properly, AdSense ads can add value to your Web site by pointing
users to other resources related to the topic of your site. This means
they’ll probably surf away from your site at some point. But if your site is
well built (which is essential if you intend to grow traffic over time), it’s likely
that users will come back to your site again in the future.
The value here is that users not only get what they’re looking for, but you get
return traffic; and because you’re using AdSense to help those users find the
information they need, you’re also making a little extra money in the process.

5 AdSense Basics

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:16:00 +0000

Part I: AdSense Basics
This first part gets you up to speed with all the information that you need to
know, even before you begin using AdSense. If you’re going to use an advertising
program, you need to have something to use it on, so most of the chapters
in this section cover creating and preparing your Web site for AdSense.
Of course, I provide a detailed explanation of what AdSense is, too.

Part II: The Major Players: AdSense
for Content, AdSense for Search
The way the AdSense program is broken down, you have separate miniapplications
within the main application. In this part of the book, I cover two
of those mini-applications: AdSense for Content and AdSense for Search.
The first chapters here have everything you need to know when it comes to
building ads for your content. (Just to be on the safe side, I also fill you in
on how to get great content on your Web site in the first place!) I then go on
to tell you how you can use AdSense for Search to make money. (Here’s the
shorthand version — you place access to search engines on your Web site
and get paid when users search and then click the ads that are displayed in
search results.)

Part III: Other Types of AdSense
AdSense isn’t just about placing ads in your text content. You can monetize
your Web site in many other ways, and this section details the different capabilities
that AdSense gives you. From placing video ads, to placing ads in your
video (they really are two different things), to placing ads on mobile Web
sites, you find the information you need in this part.

Part IV: AdSense Administration
No software program or application works without some tweaking from you.
If you want to know how to tweak AdSense to get the best performance possible
or where to find information on how well your ads are performing and
how much money you’re making, you can do so in the Administration section
of the application. In this part, I show you how to tweak AdSense and how to
make the most out of the administrative tools that are available to you.

Part V: The Part of Tens
In this section of the book, you find quick lists to help you use AdSense
better. Check out ten (plus two) tools that you have to have if you want to
take full advantage of AdSense, ten things you should never ever ever do
with AdSense, and ten ways to improve your Web site traffic (because it’s all
about exposing your ads to more people, right?).

Monetizing Your Website With Adsense

noreply@blogger.com (trevon) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:07:00 +0000

Many are now realizing that good money is made from this source of
revenue. Try the simple mathematical computation of multiplying
those clicks for every page on your website and you get a summation
of earnings equivalent to a monthly residual income with that effort
you have made.
Google Adsense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all
sizes to display relevant and text-based Google ads on their website’s
content pages and earn money in the process. The ads displayed are
related to what your users are looking for on your site. This is the
main reason why you both can monetize and enhance your content
pages using Adsense.
How much you will be earning will depend on how much the
advertisers are willing to pay. It will depend also on the keywords
required. If the keywords the advertiser have chosen are in high
demand, you could receive more dollars per click. On the other hand,
low demand keywords will earn you just a few cents per click.
How can you start making profits out of your website using Adsense?
1.Sign up for an Adsense account. It will only take a few minutes of
your time.
2.When the site is accepted, you will be receiving a clip code to
include in your web pages. You can insert this code on as many
pages or web sites that you want. The AdWords will start appearing
immediately.
3.You will be earning a few cents or some dollars per click when
someone starts clicking on the AdWords displayed on any of your
web pages. Trying to earn false revenues by repetitively clicking on
your own ads is a no-no. This will result in a penalty or the
possibility of your site being eliminated. The money you have
already earned may be lost because of this.
4.View your statistics. Adsense earnings can be checked anytime by
logging into your web site account.