by James Martin

So you’ve started a nice new blog, you have a funky domain, some content and you’re all up and running. A few weeks later you magically come across a blog by the name of ProBlogger run by Darren Rowse. You find out that he works from home and earns a very respectable income from blogging.

Your mind goes into overdrive, maybe I can earn money from my blog – but how does he do it?

For you Successful-Blog readers, I’m going to briefly delve into the wonderful world of Adsense.

WARNING – this covers a very basic guide, however I will reveal a few tactics that you may be unaware of…

Introduction to Adsense

Adsense is a publisher’s god send. Google Adsense is a contextual advertising system that allows publishers (people who own/run websites, blogs) to place advertisements on their site. When people click an advert, the publisher will be paid for that click.

Signing up is easy; however you must have an already established website with real content. Click here to signup for Google Adsense.

Once your site has been approved you will be able to select an advert type, color and shape. Below I will list some tips that you should try and stick to when choosing these options.

What works:

1) Blend the ad into your content as much as you can. If your blog background color is white, make your advert background color and border white as well.

2) When considering a “link color”, try making it the same link color as the links found on your blog. If your blog has links in the content, what color are they? Apply the same color to your Adsense adverts.

3) If you’re unsure about what color to use for links, stick with blue. It’s a standard across the web and when people see text that’s blue, it screams “click me”.

4) Location is important as a well placed advert can be the key to success. 468×60 adverts work well above your blog content; horizontal link units work well too.

5) Another 468×60 advert works well under the first post, click here to learn how to place an advert under your first blog post. (WordPress only!)

What doesn’t work:

1) Skyscraper adverts don’t work too well on a blogs sidebar; they just scream “I’m an ad!” and generally don’t attract much attention.

2) Ads with borders. Though some people have success with them, the majority don’t. You could always test it, on one week, off the other.

3) Bright, ugly colors. Don’t go there.

Big No-no’s

1) NEVER click your own adverts. This is a big no-no and Google have devices in place to detect fraudulent clicks.

2) Never ask your readers to “click on your adverts”, or have headings that state “please click my ads to support this site”. This is strictly forbidden as per Google’s terms of service.

How much will I earn?

The question that gets asked the most is how much will I earn or how much should I be earning. The trick to this question is that different content will receive a different CPM. (Cost per thousand impressions). There are keywords that will attract a higher CPM, while others won’t.

There are people who write content specifically designed to include high paying keywords as to attract higher earnings. But that is a whole new story and generally isn’t considered true blogging as the user is publishing content made for Adsense, and not the readers.

The general consensus is to create content that is valuable and useful to REAL surfers. MFA (made for Adsense) content won’t make you rich overnight and with so much competition, you’re better off creating real content that you love writing about.

I’m sure Liz will agree 🙂

James “Jamsi” Martin

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Check out James’ blog, Workboxers. His approach to business blogging is refreshing, inquisitive, and intelligent. Workboxers a great read, packed with information in the right size nuggets. I always catch myself remembering his posts long after I’ve read them.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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