Google Adsense has swept the online community as the cheapest and easiest way to make money online. The Adsense concept is really simple, if you think about it. The publisher or the webmaster inserts a java script into their website. Each time the page is accessed, the java script will pull advertisements from the Adsense program that are based on your keywords. The ads that are targeted should therefore be related to the content that is contained on the web page serving the ad. If a visitor clicks on an advertisement, the webmaster serving the ad earns a portion of the money that the advertiser is paying the search engine for the click.

The truth though is that there is a large number of people out there who use Adsense and make very little money from it. One thing you have to remember is that Adsense is a numbers game... the more optimized your website is the greater your chance of hitting a hot spot where consumers are searching by the thousands for your keywords.

Even then, in this ideal situation, you have to experiment with different ad formats, lay-outs, looks-and-feels of your pages to get the most out of it.

Here are a few things your website should have to get the most out of Google Adsense:

1. Valuable Content

Most important of all, you still have to deliver valuable content, so your visitors will consider the click on the Adsense ad as valuable.

The lack of any valuable content in Adsense sites, in my opinion, is rapidly devaluating the economic value of the whole system. Here's why:

You (and Google) only provide the place (and matching device) in a 'matchmaking attempt' between keywords and advertisers looking to reach an audience. It's a delicate system that is easily broken or damaged or destroyed. It is much more likely for the 'matchmaking' to be successful on a well optimized and focused website than in some keyword dump. Even if the relation doesn't work out, you can still have a look around with no hard feelings.

That's one reason why you should always have valuable content and a well optimized website!

For your reference there are a few SEO related articles in the Millionaire Geeks Article Database(link). One of my personal favorites for starters is the article “Optimizing Your Website: For Beginners”(link).

As soon as you realize that, you will have a much better chance to earn the same amount of money as those who take the rough way by setting up hundreds of Adsense sites.


2. Don't Chase High CPC Keywords

Many Adsense users make the mistake of only going by the numbers. They chase the so called “high” CPC (Cost Per Click) Keywords. They buy lists with keywords that pay the highest prices and then put them into their automated website generation system.

How wrong they are. Because.... what's the first marketing lesson we learn? Find a HUNGRY crowd willing to PAY for your products or services, right? Then why go after artificially priced high CPC keywords?

What you'll need are high paying keywords with a crowd of advertisers who are virtually fighting to pay you to advertise their website to your visitors! The more advertisers, the more competition among them to get the top position.

Question is: how do you find out which keywords have the most advertisers? I can suggest two options: the first is simple but free; you could always use the tools that Google itself provides. Google has a keyword research tool here on their website. This tool will tell you how many people search for the current keyword and roughly how much competition there is for that word. Obviously you are looking for a keyword that has a ton of people searching for it and not a lot of competition. The other option involves dishing out some cash but will do a lot more for you. The website keywordspy.com is a great resource for getting you on the road to an extremely lucrative Adword campaign. Keywordspy.com can find competiors within your field and tell you what Pay Per Click (or PPC) words they are using and will even let you view the text they are using to attract the search engines. You can also view a more detailed version of the statistics for your keywords as well as monitor the strength of each keyword over time.

3. Use Meta Tags

The META-tags in your webpage have a low impact when it comes to search engine ranking etc. But in my opinion they are still worth while, especially when you use Adsense ads. They tell the Google Adsense bot (a subset of Google's main crawler who will visit your Adsense site within 48 hours to determine the keywords) exactly what your page is about and make the matching easy.

So, use your main keyword or keyphrase in the Title, Description, and Keyword Tags and use it in your headings, your copy, and in the links.

Now, suddenly the place of your Adsense ad becomes important, doesn't it? Because if you put the ad close to those keywords, you will improve the quality of the ads shown. Because Google will know exactly what keyword your page is targeting.

Therefore you should target only 1-3 keywords or keyphrases per page. Not only will Google recognize the keyphrases better, you're also avoid confusing your visitors.

4. Concentrate on ONE format

The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format has the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates.

Personally I find this format too big, too intrusive. I prefer the small vertical banner that I integrate with my articles using a few extra Javascript commands. View the HTML version of this article to reveal how I do this:

But you should also consider the best spot on the page to place your ads on. The one used in the example above is NOT in the right place. I found the place higher up, above the fold, right at the beginning of the article to be the best one. Test this thoroughly. There are several great resources, but I recommend you start with Google.

Personally I do not use Adsense to make a full time income. I just use it as another income stream, not the main one. I still prefer a mix between my own products, affiliate promotions and, occasionally, Adsense. But it's up to you. Use my tips above. They have proven to be valuable for me.

Wishing you success!

About the Author:

The Ad Wizard wanted to be the Pinball Wizard but he just couldn't cut it against that deaf, dumb, and blind kid! So now he resorts to writing informational articles using his Magic Advertising Staff and Hat Of Wonders.

Article Source: Articles - Millionaire Geeks