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Feb 15 2009
Adsense for Beginners
On Feb 7, 2009 Newsweek.com published an article by Daniel Lyons . For the previous two years Dan had been anonymously running what turned into a popular blog called The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. The article went on to explain why Lyons was giving up the blog - in spite of having a large readership by most standards.
“My first epiphany occurred in August 2007, when The New York Times ran a story revealing my identity, which until then I’d kept secret. On that day more than 500,000 people hit my site—by far the biggest day I’d ever had—and through Google’s AdSense program I earned about a hundred bucks. Over the course of that entire month, in which my site was visited by 1.5 million people, I earned a whopping total of $1,039.81. Soon after this I struck an advertising deal that paid better wages. But I never made enough to quit my day job. Eventually I shut down—not for financial reasons, but because Steve Jobs appeared to be in poor health. I walked away feeling burned out and weighing 20 pounds more than when I started. I also came away with a sneaking suspicion that while blogs can do many wonderful things, generating huge amounts of money isn’t one of them.”
So - is he right? Because a journalist failed to make money using Adsense does that mean that all others will fail as well?
Or… Maybe journalists should stick to what they do best and leave the online world to experienced marketers.
I must admit that I cringed when he revealed just how poorly his Adsense income was considering his traffic. To put his traffic numbers into context - I usually earn $40 or so for 1000 page impressions on an average CPC keyword. An average paying keyword is in the 40 cent to 60 cent range. This is nothing too difficult to achieve if you understand how Adsense works. Mr. Lyons apparently did not take the time to learn a few rudimentary rules when it comes to monetizing with Adsense. He earned a whopping .0006 cents a click. Maybe the worst I have ever heard of. One and a half million visitors would add about 60K to my bank account with just an average CPC keyword.
So where did Dan Lyons go wrong?
He commited the number 1 mistake when it comes to optimizing Adsense - he added it to a site that had neither targeted traffic nor targeted ads. In short he was smart priced.
I will get into the finer points in upcoming posts but let’s do a quick run through of just what Adsense is and how Google runs it - what their priorities are - who Google caters to - and see if it makes sense.
Google has built the finest search engine to date. A feat worth bragging about but a feat that doesn’t make Google any money. It’s free to use - sure they could charge a monthly fee but who would pay? People would go elsewhere - yup, they would get poorer search results but so what - people won’t pay for a service if it is free elsewhere.
The real genius behind Google is how they monetized their product - Adwords and to a lesser extent Adsense. Google has the largest advertising network in the world - a network they brought into existance based on the popularity of their search engine. They have traffic, oodles of it. They are the second largest site online next to Yahoo.com. If you have millions of visitors a day using your site - you can sell advertising. Google created Adwords to do just that. 500 million in sales last quarter - that’s a lot of advertising.
The concept behind Adwords is simple enough. Advertisers bid on the amount they are willing to pay per click for their ads to show up in the search results on Google. These are the ads you see in the “Sponsored Links” section on the right hand side of the search result pages (serp’s). They are also listed above the free search listings on the left hand side or main body of the serp’s. In general an advertiser bids for placement dependent upon the keyword (search query) used by a visitor. If I am selling “Red Widgets” then I would bid to have my ad shown on the search results page whenever someone types in the query “Red Widgets”.
Ideally I would like my ad to be placed in the top spot on the page - this position will generate the most clicks or “click throughs” to my site. This is commonly known as CTR (click through rate). My position on the page will depend on my bid and how much competition my term or keyword has. If there are a lot of other advertisers bidding on the keyword “Red Widgets” then I may find my ad lower down on the page or worse - on one of the pages farther back in the serp’s.
The advertisers who bid the highest generally get the top spot. There are exceptions to this as the advertiser’s landing page (where the clicker is taken when the ad is clicked) plays a big role in how much Google charges the advertiser. If the advertiser’s landing page is well optimized for “Red Widgets” then the click will cost them less than it would if their landing page was for “Green Grommets”.
Google penalizes advertisers who bid on un-related keywords in an attempt to get more traffic to their pages. If I was selling “forex” I might try and increase my sales by targeting people looking for “work at home programs”. If I bid on the “work at home” keyword Google may well charge me $2 a click for it as my landing page is not relevant. The “forex” keyword may only cost me 50 cents a click as my ad and landing page are very relevant.
In any event Google makes the bulk of their income from Adwords. To increase revenue Google developed Adsense. This is closely associated with Adwords and consists of allowing the Advertisers to also place their ads on websites related to their keywords. These are known as “content” ads as opposed to the “search” ads you see in the serp’s.
To make this system work Google allows publishers to sign up with Adsense and display ads on their blogs or websites. The advertiser bids a second amount for these content ads (usually about a quarter or less than what they bid on the search ads) and Google splits the money earned per click with the publisher. They do not disclose the split ratio so you will never know how much Google keeps for themselves. You will know how much each click pays you though. This is known as the CPC or cost per click - ie. how much you make per click.
Most of you are familiar with Adsense and probably have content ads on your site. And most of you are probably in the same boat as Dan Lyons - making pennies from your clicks. I mentioned the term “smart pricing” at the beginning of this post and it is the reason you are making those pennies instead of what I make per click - 50 cents to many dollars per click.
I will explain the concept of smart pricing in the next post. For now I will leave you with this link - it will show you the kind of money I make using Adsense. The screenshot is for just one of my sites. I have several dozen sites producing the same kind of income each month. If you are interested in learning how to do the same come back soon - I will lay out the process in detail.
Screenshot of Grizzly’s January Income for Make Money Online for Beginners (It is against Google’s TOS - terms of service, to show details of your Adsense income and I have had to blackout the Page Impressions, CTR, ePCM etc. Only the Income earned can be shown)
Until next time…
Cheers
Griz
Damilik,
Lol. That didn’t take long! As you can see I am still just setting this blog up. I will be posting about this at some point - suffice to say that this sub-domain can be used to one’s advantage if used properly. The domain has a good deal of trust and like Blogger you can bleed some of that authority down to the sub-domains.
There are lot’s of reason why Lyons failed and I will address each in future posts - seemed like an ideal site to use as an example for what I intend to discuss.
Thanks for dropping in and Congrats - you’re the first of the “crew” to find this.
Make me the 2nd one to find this
-kenth
Wow,better info than the Gurus.Thanks Griz and please keep your sage comin here@ Today.
Yay, new site. My biggest hurdle in making money with adsense is knowing which traffic sources will convert. I just have to experiment a lot and see what happens. It would be nice to have a better idea of conversion rates before really promoting a niche.
Damien,
Number 2 it is!
Holy crap - I haven’t even got this thing indexed yet and you guys are crawling out of the woodwork!
What took you so long?
Thanks Damien - for dropping in and the support. Much appreciated.
Kenth,
23 minutes too slow - 3rd it is!
Buzzirk,
Thanks for the support and I’m just getting started. Lots to come.
DWilson,
Knowing the traffic sources is fairly easy - search traffic converts. If you meant knowing which keywords will convert then yes experimentation is the key. You never really know conversion rates until you experience them - the keyword tools - even Google’s are widely inaccurate and predicting your future income using them is not advisable.
Finding converting niches is a lot of trial and error - finding anything with a ton of traffic and no competition is almost unheard of - everything is taken. You can always be sure of one thing - the keywords with the most competition will have the best conversions.
I’ll go through my keyword selection process in upcoming posts and discuss some of the things you can do to narrow the field.
Thanks for stopping by
Ok, so do I get to be fourth? I as well just noticed the link in sites worth reading, and was shocked to find yet another and new griz site! Though I was missing out on the party…seems like Im just in time… Now off to see more about today.com… Hmmm…new case study
Matt
Geeze Grizz what u doing playing over here! I thought I had a hope of making the top 10 traffic list with my http://australia.today.com blog (I’m in the top 50 now that competition isn’t wasn’t too tough until now) - but now of course I might as well give up and go play with my niche sites - and you didn’t even sign up under my referral! BTW they won’t pay you the $1 for the posts with “self-serving” links in them you know - I know thats going to make a huge hole in your potential income from this site!
But what are you up to- have you taken up trends blogging? Its great on an authority sub-domain cause after a couple of months I outrank .com.au Australian newspaper domains LOL
I am looking forward to your views on digg and reddit traffic too cause that’s all the talk in the forums!
Lissie
P.S. you are stuck with the non-ugly theme too !
Camyden,
You’re sooooooo welcome!
I’m glad that you are getting those long tails to the top of the serp’s - I do hope they are creating traffic and moreover, traffic that converts.
Curt,
You are limited to the number and style of ads allowed on each page. Here is the list provided in Google’s Adsense Program Policies;
” * Up to three ad units may be displayed on each page.
* A maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes may be placed on a page.
* Up to three link units may also be placed on each page.
* Up to three referral units may be displayed on a page, in addition to the ad units, search boxes, and link units specified above.
* AdSense for search results pages may show only a single ad link unit in addition to the ads Google serves with the search results. No other ads may be displayed on your search results page.
* No Google ad or Google search box may be displayed in a pop-up, pop-under, or in an email.
* Elements on a page must not obscure any portion of the ads.
* No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages.
* No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.”
If you have added more text ads than allowed you won’t see them displayed.
If you are seeing irrelevant ads it is usually a sign that the Adsense bot can’t determine your main keyword or it can but has no relevant ads. The site in your link is targeting “How to fix sound” - this is not a well optimized title - “How to fix speakers” would be much more focused and would return better results.
Ady,
I haven’t got to dissecting the fake Steve site yet but basically any site can be re-written and optimized for the search engines. Lyon’s biggest problem was simply that his traffic was all social - un-targeted referral traffic who don’t click and those that do don’t convert for the advertiser. Hence smart pricing.
In the end - optimizing his site for the SE’s would be a waste of time as his social traffic would far outpace any search traffic picked up and likely keep the site smart priced forever. The fact is - Adsense doesn’t produce any meaningful income if you have the wrong traffic.
Curt,
Keywords on an authority blog can draw traffic un-aided but in general all targeted keywords need anchored backlinks in order to top the serp’s.
Lis,
Now why am I not surprised to see you on Today.com? Is there a platform you haven’t used yet? lol!
I wish I had known - I would have used your referral link. Damn. As for the dollar a post… I’ll live without it.
I’m sure you and the rest of the “gang” can figure out my intentions here - it ain’t for a share of their Adsense income. ($2 per 1000 impressions… lol)
Thanks for the forum warning - Digg? Reddit?… think I’ll keep away.
As for the theme - well it’s about as plain as I can get it… crappy layout from and SEO perspective but we’ll see what can be done with it. Left hand columns really suck.
I shall try to avoid the top 10 traffic list - let me know if I can do anything to help you though.
Thanks for dropping in Lissie.
Hi Denise,
You are late! Lol.
Trust me Denise - if you had a million visitors a month and only pulled in $1000 you would be pulling your hair out.
After 2 years of pushing “social networks” all the players are now finally wising up and doing a little head scratching - everyone is trying to figure out a way to convert social traffic and selling ads has been the only solution. The problem only get’s transferred to the hapless advertiser though - they aren’t seeing conversions either and the site owners have to keep luring in new advertisers who don’t know any better.
I started this sub-domain to lay out the basics of Adsense - written for total beginners. You folks may find this all a bit repetitive but I need to update my system and have a place to send all the new comers who are filling my inbox will questions that I have talked about repeatedly elsewhere. This site should cover all the questions and give my email a break - hopefully. (One thing I have found - answer 1 question and it causes 5 more to be asked! lol)
I hope you find it useful and maybe we can get you past the $100 per month mark.
Frank,
You are a gentleman and a scholar - always. Much appreciated and I will return the favor as soon as I get a little juice happening around here.
So who hasn’t showed up yet hmmm… I see Terry trolling around but no comments yet!
(You guys make me laugh - so much for sneaking around online!)
Denise - which link? The blogroll links seem fine and the in post link should point to the screenshot. (worked for me just now). Can you pin point it for me?
Thanks
Denise,
Must have been a glitch! Thanks for the heads up though.
Matt2257,
Hey Matt - nice to see you here as well. The bad news - I found your comment in the spam box - I’m not sure who you need to plead with as this doesn’t use akismet, not sure what program is handling the comments. Lissie… any ideas?
Jeff,
Sleep? Over-rated if you ask me - can’t get anything done sleeping!
Welcome and sorry to keep you so busy. lol
Griz - re spam - I think its an in-house system but at least you can see what is flagged as spam easily. Its possible that matt’s IP was flagged by another today blog as spam?
Dave,
Long time no chat - hope all is well in the Emerald Isle. I dropped into Niche Renegade a few days ago but it looks like you have been on sabbatical…
I hope nothing is wrong and that you are just “busy”…
I’m glad you stopped in.
Thanks Lis.
Matt - have you been a bad boy?
How’s tomorrow doing Lis - still yesterday here. This world wide thing kinda boggles the mind…
Gee… I dunno what would cause me to get into the spam box! That kind of sucks….and I thought I had a dynamic IP address….maybe I should refresh again.
I don’t think I ‘ve been naughtier than the average grey hatter
Denise,
I don’t know about the first page - I’m just wondering how long before they toss me from here.
N/A or PR10 - an anchored link is an anchored link and much appreciated.
If your sites have age you shouldn’t have much trouble getting them back into the crawl - just start posting and collecting a few new links and voila!
You can find all your Adsense sites by using the “allowed sites” function in Adsense Setup.
Toggle the “Only allow certain sites to show ads for my account” function and then only add 1 url in the box (or leave blank). Google will then give you a list of all the sites that are using your adsense publisher number - ie a list of all the sites that you aren’t allowing to use your acct pub on. It may take a day or two for the list to generate.
Curt,
Those aren’t my Adsense ads - they belong to Today.com. That’s how a lot of these subdomain sites work. You provide the content - they show their ads. Presumably I get a small cut but it won’t amount to more than pennies - I’m not here for the money.
Matt,
Maybe they are sensitive to “hats” around these parts?
Good news - your A-OK now - it didn’t spam you this time. Good to go.
Hey Simonne,
Seems your comment was hiding in the spam basket as well - sorry for the delay in finding it. You should be ok now.
Yes - the crew doesn’t let anything sneak by!
I really didn’t think anyone would notice one more measly link added to the dozens already on there… seems I was wrong. lol
Hope all is well and thanks so much for stopping in!
wow, another gem from master Griz. I signed up for email notifications.
There is alot of wisdom there. Thanks for sharing it.
Hi Griz,
I’m a bit late here (had a good look around the Today site first to check out whether it was worth using).
Like Simonne, I never look at the links in your sidebar, so I needed that post to find you here.
Good idea to put all your how to make money from adsense stuff in one place (and updated too).
You are right, your other blog is a nightmare to navigate (with some good reason I guess).
I’d better read the second post now
Nice, more info to eat up!
I downloaded Joel Comm’s book The Secret of Adsense. For 30 days you can get a free trial and it’s very helpful. The trial comes with a bunch of other stuff. Otherwise you can get it from amazon for like 7 dollars. I am not done reading it yet but I didn’t think it was a waste of time. Very informative
Grizz,
I’m determined to make money online. I figure if I stick with you and the rest of these good people I will HAVE to at some point. Thank you for the “schoolin”. I need to make my way back to the Forum and catch up.
Hi Grizz,
I am too “blind” to see the link of this site on your blog MAke Money For Beginners. I’m just too busy reading your juicy content on that blog. LOL. But here I am. Extracting juice from this site.
I will be reading this with my “eyes wide open”. Maybe I will find other links of your blogs. It’s a lesson learned. Whew! You’re teaching me not only how to make money but being attentive at all times.
Thanks Grizz.
Mike Avenue
Griz,
From what I’ve learned from your definition what a blogger is, that guy is really a good example.
I just hope he would eventually find your blog…and learn something new and very valuable.
I did…and now trying very hard to make what I’m learning from you work.
man, those earnings are very very very impressive. pretty inspiring.
way to go Griz.
Griz,
Here are 2 topics I would like to see you cover extensively.
1. When to place adsense on your site. After how many months etc.
2. When to start building links on a new site.
Hey Griz,
I’m sure you’ll be covering this topic at some point, but just have a couple of questions.
1) For sites that aren’t keyword targeted, basically have a mish-mash of everything… Are these types of sites penalized, or does big g treat them on a post by post basis?
2) How long does it take, in your opinion, for Google to remove the smart pricing?
Matt
Matt,
If you remove the ads from the problem site or sites then usually it only takes a few days before your other ads return to normal CPC.
Hey Grizz, what number am I? Matt told me about this new site. Did I end up in the spam bucket too?
Did you start this site because you got kicked out of Vic’s Academy? Only kidding!
Diane
Diane,
Nope no spam - and I’ve lost track of the numbers.lol
Hey what is happening at the Academy? I can’t log in - a glitch that Vic was trying to fix but I haven’t heard a thing from him in ages. Is it still up and running - if anyone can fill me in please do.
Griz,
I have been following your Blogs for a couple of months and have learned soo much! Thanks for time and efforts
I will be following this one also.
RedOne
Redone and T Edwards,
Thanks to both of you - hope this all helps.
Diane - fill me in once you receive help from support - I’m in the dark. Thanks.
Griz,
I am back in at the Academy. Vic told us about the technical difficulties with your account there but I did not realize it would still be a problem. I don’t know why I am in and you are not.
Support said they had to change my settings, and they did, and they checked for my payment, and so I got re-activated.
I think you got kicked out. Ha ha
DianeS
Oh this is too funny. I wondered why this name Steve Jobs was so familiar. Just look at the index page for bloggerunleashed and there Vic has a quote from Mr. Jobs himself. http://bloggerunleashed.com