Welcome To My Island

Google AdSense is a great way to earn money from your web site or blog.  Adsense automatically provides targeted ads, and it is easy to use and sign up.

How do I use AdSense on my web site or blog?

Upon signing up for AdSense you go through a simple process where you first pick the “product” type you want. Each Google Adsense product will help you make money from your web site.  Google AdSense has three different ”products” to choose from; link and ad units, AdSense for search, and referral units.

Link Units and Ad Units 

Link units are just that, a list of links.  Ad units have links with text underneath saying something about the link above.  You have lots of sizes you can pick from for both the ad unit and the link unit.  For the ad unit you can choose to show only image advertisements or text ads, or you can choose both if you want it to rotate between the two.

After you select what kind (ad or link unit) and what size of ad you want, you can then select the colors you want your Google Adsense ads to be.  The colors of your Google Adsense ads play a huge factor at how well they preform.  Many AdSense guru’s suggest making your AdSense ads blend in with your web site, as they feel this will increase their effectiveness.

Once you choose the colors, you then have the option of choosing what channel to put the ad into.  A channel lets you track the statistics of the ad or ads you place in it.  Lets say that I created a Google AdSense ad to place on the top right of this blog.  I would create a channel called ”WelcomeToMyIsland: Top Right.”  Then AdSense will show me the  statistics of that ad under that channel name.  This is very, very important in trying to find the most effective set up for your Google AdSense ads.

Once you select a channel AdSense then gives you the code for the ad.  You copy the code and simply paste it into your web site’s code where you want the ad to display.  The ad will scan the content on the page you pasted it onto, and display ads related to the content on the page.

As of right now you can have up to three ad units along with up to three link units on each page of your web site.  

AdSense For Search

On top of adding ad units and link units onto your web site, you can also add a search box that will help make you more money as well as improve the functionality of your web site.

When you are choosing what kind of Google AdSense ad to show on your web site you can display a Google search box that lets visitors search your site, or even the web if they don’t find what they are looking for there.  This search box lets you make some money on exit traffic.  This is because if a visitor uses the search box, and then clicks on an ad on the right side of the Google search results, you will earn money.

To take advantage of the search box, simply copy the code and past it in your web site’s code in the location you want it to display.

As of now, you can have up to two AdSense for search boxes on each of your web site’s pages.

Referral Units

Just recently Google has created an amazing selection of referral programs that you can promote as well.  Each referral program pays differently and pays for different things.  Some pay for each person you send them that downloads their program, while others pay for each new sign up you send them.

When choosing a referral program to promote on your web site, make sure the program relates in some way to the content on your site. 

As of now you can have up three referral units on each page of your web site.

AdSense Terms

Here are some terms you’ll need to know when using AdSense.

Impressions- How many times an AdSense ad was displayed.  If your AdSense account shows 1000 impressions, this means your AdSense ad was displayed 1000 times.

CTR - “Click Through Rating” tells how well your ads are doing.  CTR is equal to the total times the AdSense ad was clicked divided by how many times it was shown (clicks/impressions). The higher the CTR, the more effective the ad.

eCPM - “effective cost per thousand impressions” This tells you how much you would likely earn for each 1000 impressions based on your current earnings. (Total Earnings/Impressions)*100 = eCPM.  The higher the eCPM, the more effective the ad.