Google AdSense isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make decent money with it! In fact, Google AdSense is one of the better and more reliable ways to monetize your site. The key to making money with Google AdSense is the same as with many other money-making schemes, you have to know what you’re doing. Knowing and loving the topic you write about will go a long way towards helping you be successful with Google AdSense.
The same goes for posting regularly and making sure the content you post is unique. Researching the best niches to write in according to search demands and CPC (cost-per-click) is going to help too. As is often the case, honesty wins out, and it’s best to refrain from trying to trick Google into thinking you receive more traffic than you really do, such as by clicking on your own ads.
How To Make Money With Google AdSense
If you’ve ever thought about monetizing your website or even just googled around a bit, you’ve probably come across Google AdSense. While Google AdSense is just one of many ways to monetize your website, this particular method has become one of the most popular. And, it seems, for good reason.
Google AdSense allows publishers and content creators to earn money from their sites. The idea of “content creation” has changed over the past few years but it really just means anything you create. That can be articles, writings, videos, podcasts, or anything else. Ads are created and paid for by advertisers who want to prompt their products. Since these advertisers pay different prices for different ads, your income can vary.
How It Works
Getting started with Google AdSense doesn’t take a lot. All you need to start is an AdSense account and a small amount of code on the pages of your website. Google does the rest by displaying targeted ads on your website, either relevant to what you’re writing about or based on what your visitors have previously searched for.
You’re probably thinking to yourself “that sounds too good to be true, how does Google AdSense work, and what’s the catch?”. Well, the catch is that you still need organic traction on your site. If people aren’t visiting your site, then they aren’t clicking on the ads. That means you’re not getting paid.
You get paid when your website visitors start clicking on those targeted ads. Your job, then, is to get as many clicks on those ads as you can. AdSense pays per click, so if there aren’t any clicks you don’t make money.
Just as a side note, you can’t be the person clicking the ads on your site, and you also can’t encourage your visitors to click them. Google knows how to find information online and has systems in place to discover fraud connected with their click ads. If you try to cheat the system and make your own clicks, there’s a good chance you’ll get flagged or have your account suspended.
Some tips to get people to click on the ads are
- Keep releasing quality content so that customers feel as though they can trust your site. People buy what they trust.
- Google will add ads based on what you write about, or people previously clicked on, so continue to ensure that your writing is specific and relevant.
Why Google AdSense?
One of the biggest advantages of using Google AdSense is the large number of advertisers and publishers that use the program. Google launched Google AdSense back in 2003, and it has increased in popularity in the seventeen years since. Today, Google AdSense is used by over 10 million websites.
That makes sense considering the possibility for businesses to get relevant ads in front of a target audience. For example, let’s say you write about golf; Google AdSense will place golf ads on your site, adding relevant ads. This benefits your site (you make money) and benefits the business that placed the ad (their products get in front of consumers who are interested in their market.)
Added Security
Another benefit of using Google AdSense to make some extra money off of your site is the level of transparency and security that working with a giant like Google offers. If there are issues, Google is the intermediary between publishers and advertisers, and Google AdSense is also fairly transparent as to what it is and isn’t.
If you’re a smaller blog or site, it’s reasonable to be fearful of adding advertisements to your site. You don’t know who or what will be advertising. Working with a giant like Google takes that fear away. You can rest assured that Google AdSense is safe and secure for you and your site.
Ad Variety
You can use just about any type of ad. As a publisher, you have the freedom to experiment with the kind of ad that brings in the most revenue since Google AdSense supports HTML ads, video ads, text, images, etc., in all kinds of sizes. If you don’t know where to start, you can look at what other publishers are doing to get ideas as to what types of ads might work best for your site.
Some of the more popular ads include.
- Videos
- Images
- HTML
- Embedded
- Text
- Display
- Link
It’s recommended that you play around and figure out what works best for you and your site. This ensures that you make the most amount of money. Try using video ads for a week or two, then try using image ads and see how your clicks and income change between the two.
Easily Tracked Metrics
Another benefit of Google AdSense is, of course, that any of the metrics you need to keep track of in order to succeed can be easily tracked with your Google Analytics account.
This allows for maximum profitability; try using the metrics to quickly understand what ads are performing well and what ones aren’t. If you’re ignoring analytics, you’re leaving money on the table that you could be making.
How Much Money Can You Make?
The amount of money you can make with Google AdSense depends on a couple of things. The amount of traffic you get to your website determines how many clicks you get. As a publisher, you’ll get 68% of the click amount. Except with AdSense for search, where the percentage is more like 51%. Exactly how much money those percentages account for depends on how much competition you have and the CPC in the niche you’re in. Most of the niches bring about $3 per click, and at 68% of that, you’re not exactly making bank.
Google AdSense pays per click. So, if you can maximize clicks you can make more money. If your website has thousands of visitors a day and a hundred of those visitors click on the ads, the money adds up pretty quickly.
For Example
- 150,000 people visit your site a day.
- The ads on your site pay 3 dollars per click
- 10,000 people click the ad.
- You’ll be pulling in between 51% and 68% of $30,000.
More often than not, you won’t pull in nearly this much money, but it’s an easy example to understand that there is an avenue to make a lot of money off of Google AdSense.
Pick The Right Niche
The most profitable niches in the US are online education, marketing and advertising, and insurance. If you haven’t yet started your blog, choosing a topic in a profitable niche is your best bet. This, of course, also requires learning a lot about that particular topic since you will have to create a lot of content regularly in order to actually drive traffic to your website.
Often people get distracted by the idea of getting clicks and making money. The number one way to make sure your site is profitable is to provide quality content. The rest can take care of itself, but first and foremost, you need quality content to drive visits to your site. After that, you can let Google AdSense take care of the rest.
Use The Right Keywords
Researching the kinds of keywords that work best with AdSense can also be a game-changer. There are online tools you can use both to figure out the best keywords as well as learning the CPC, competition levels, and search volumes for particular keywords.
Maintaining Website Traffic
Perhaps it should go without saying, but how much money you can make with Google AdSense will, of course, depend on your website traffic. The percentage of visitors that actually click on ads at all is tiny. While there aren’t official numbers, it’s likely around 1-2% at most. Considering that each click is likely to make you less than a dollar, this means you’ll need that much more traffic to combat it.
Writing What You Know
Even if you pick the best niche and placements for ads, it will help nothing if people aren’t coming to your website to see and click on that perfectly placed ad. Increasing website traffic requires unique quality content and lots of it. This is why writing on a topic you already know a lot about will make the job so much easier. After all, it isn’t difficult to create lots of content writing about what you love, and it’s also a whole lot more enjoyable than writing about something you couldn’t care less about.
Try figuring out what you love. Then ask yourself these questions.
- What do I wish I would have known earlier?
- What is something not many know?
- What are the basics?
- How can I help others?
Once you’ve asked yourself those questions, you’ll have an idea of what to start writing about.
Generating A Lot of Content
It’s recommended to have at least 20-30 pages worth of well-written, unique content before even starting to use Google AdSense. This means that if you have a 10-page website, the time to start creating content is now, not after you get your Google AdSense account all set up.
Having your website up and running completely will help you to have visitors. When you have visitors, you can set up your Google AdSense account. Doing it in this order allows for maximum profitability. It also allows you to have a base of visitors to monitor and track when the ads start to pop up on your site.
Wrapping Up
Google AdSense can definitely make you some money if you do it right. It all depends on how much work you are willing to put into creating unique, regular content and driving traffic to your website. If you’re willing to learn about niches, CPC, and ad placement, Google AdSense can be a good way to add another stream of income for your business.
