Can You Really Make Money With Google Adsense: Part II

by Rick Carbone

In my first article in this series I provided some information about how to set up a Google AdSenseÒ account. In this article I will tell you how to potentially monetize your site with AdSense. I say potentially because you can position and color your AdSense ads to your heart’s content, but unless you have a steady stream of traffic to your site you won’t make a dime. If you are interested in getting more traffic see my articles on traffic from my website link below.

Position:

First and foremost you should consult the Google AdSense help pages on the AdSense section of Google. There is a wealth of information there. One of the items you will find there is an AdSense "heat map." This basically describes the most effective positioning of you AdSense ads on your pages. When viewers arrive at your site for the most part they start reading from left to right. This means that the most effective placement is at the top left. Now this may not always work based on your website design so you may have to adjust your design or try different positions on your site to see what works best.

Size:

Google AdSense ads also work best in larger horizontally based ads that means that the larger block sizes such as 336 x 280 and 300 x 250 pixel ads work better on average for most sites. Your site may be different, so once again you may have to test into it.

Color:

Believe it or not color is vitally important. Try to make your ads blend in with your site. This is once again, driven by your site specifically and you may find that higher contrasting ads work best for you. There is even a rule of thumb that says that people only react to headings and urls that are blue because they been conditioned to that color.

Number of Ads Per Page:

Google only allows a total of three content ads per page, however you can also put any number of link units on the same page as well, although I wouldn’t suggest it because it could destroy your site aesthetics.

Channels:

One additional import part of monetizing your site is to be sure that you use channels for all of your ad types. A channel could mean an ad type or color or position, it’s up to you. In this way you will understand where your viewer clicks are coming from.

Google Custom Search:

If your are trying to monetize your pages you need to cover all of the bases.  Google provides custom site searching for your website only.  The search results can appear on your site or on Google's, it's your call.  If you opt to have the search results appear on your site all you need to do is put a snippet of code on a blank page.  This is a much more professional look and keeps your vistor always on your site.  Google site search is another revenue stream that you need to use.

One last note. There are many marketers ready and willing to part you from your money to explain what I have just told you above, selling videos and ebooks for up to $97, don’t do it! As I stated earlier, the information that I have provided is on the Google AdSense website for free. There isn’t any magic formula. If there was, believe me, you wouldn’t hear about it.