Google AdSense is the most popular pay-per-click program
currently online, they have offered pay per click, in one form
or another, longer than any other search engine on the net.
They've put a great deal of research and development into their
keyword matching to ensure it is a profitable program. Not only
have they been around the longest, but they also boast the
biggest number of advertisers as well.
Google requires website owners to conform to a number of rules,
including:
All pages must have at least one link that leads to it, without
concealing pages.
All links must be active and work.
There is a limit of 100 links per page. Creating a hierarchy
should keep your navigation clean and well under the link
limit.
Tags, especially the 'title' and 'alt' tags should be
explanatory and distinct.
When designing your site, create one that is helpful to a user;
don't design a page for search engines. Make sure you clearly
define what your site is about.
Google forbids hidden text. Don't colorize the text as the same
color as your background, or even size the text so small it
can't be read. Google has been known to ban publishers who
engage in these so called "black hat" techniques.
Google strongly recommends that you include a site map page.
They also strongly recommend you include a robots.txt file in
your root directory. The robots.txt file tells website
crawlers, like those that will match the ads with your website,
which pages not to crawl. This is especially important if you
want ads for some but not all of your content or if you have
password protected pages.
Following the website design rules doesn't make you
bullet-proof, though. Even if you follow all of them, you may
still be at risk of losing your AdSense account permanently or
even temporarily.
If you are indeed banned by Google to display AdSense
advertisements on your page, you can file a re-inclusion
request. Although not very successful many times, it still
gives a publisher a chance to get back into the program.
Here's what you'll need to include in your re-inclusion
request:
Your account name
Your contact information
A list of changes you've made to fix any violations
A guarantee it won't happen again
Reports and evidence of click bombing, if you have any (more on
this below)
You should NOT include any threats to pull your business. Visit
http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py to contact customer
support. Keep your email straightforward. The subject of your
email should be "Re-inclusion Request" to make sure it gets to
the right desk.
Click Bombing
Click bombing is when someone clicks on one or more of the ads
that appear on your webpage repeatedly.
While this seems like a great way to increase your profits, it
is against Google's policy and they are always searching for
click bombers. While you can't prevent malicious click bomb
attacks, you can take steps to defend yourself should you be
accused of it.
Consider investing in a third party tracking software program
that is approved by Google. Look for one that tracks IP
addresses.
Run reports often, and keep them stored separately from your
Google account. Should you be removed from the AdSense program,
you won't necessarily have access to run reports.
If or when you are removed or fined by Google for AdSense
abuse, make sure you send copies of your IP address reports
along with your re-inclusion request.
As mentioned before, even if you follow all the rules of appeal
and properly request a re-inclusion, you are not guaranteed a
reversal. It seems most requests to be reinstated are not acted
upon by Google.
Google's policy has been always one of "protecting the
advertiser by any means necessary". Unfortunately, this may
mean kicking a legitimate publisher out of the program
needlessly if they've been targeted by a malicious person.
Earnings Calculations
So how much money can be made in the AdSense program?
Publishers can earn A LOT. From 10 cents a day, to over one
hundred thousand dollars a day. Of course this is all dependant
on how much traffic your website gets as well as how well you
integrate the advertisements. But how does Google calculate per
click how much that you, the publisher, gets paid? This is the
fuzziest of all gray areas in the AdSense program. Google
admittedly doesn't disclose revenue share or whether the ads
appearing on your site are cost-per-impression or
cost-per-click. What they do tell you is how many page
impressions (ads shown), number of clicks on the ads, page
click through rate (CTR) and your earnings. Increase your
impressions, number of clicks or CTR, and your earnings will
follow.
Alternatives
If you've been removed from AdSense or are just looking for
another option, there are a few to choose from:
Yahoo! Publisher Network is very similar to AdSense.
Experienced webmasters who have used both Google and Yahoo!
programs believe Yahoo! is second best, but still a very good,
profitable program. As it becomes more popular, more
advertisers will jump on board with Yahoo thus creating a PPC
race with Google.
Chitika - A pay per click advertising stream. They don't have
as many or such a variety as AdSense or Yahoo!, but are usually
less expensive to advertise on.
AdBrite is very similar to Chitika, though slightly smaller.
There you have it in a nutshell, utilizing Google's AdSense
program to increase your own profits truly does make
"cents"..and dollars. How much you can earn is dependant on how
much targeted traffic you can get to your site as well as how
well you can integrate the advertisements in the site design as
well. Get on board today and start making money!
About The Author: Shon Christopher can show you you how make
money on the internet. It doesn't have to be untold riches, but
what if he could show you how to EASILY make an extra $900 per
