A content-rich site is one that has lots of informative articles up at it, usually centered around a theme. Most sites can’t quite pull off being WikiPedia, so they specialize. For instance, you could do a site for dog owners. Possible articles on that site would cover:
• How to figure out what kind of dog you want
• Where to get a dog
• How to deal with a puppy
• Life stages of a dog
• House-training puppies
• Dog training
• What to feed dogs
• Whether to get more than one dog
• How to socialize dogs with other dogs and with cats
• Exercise needs of dogs
• Training dogs to do tricks
• Treating fleas
• Common dog ailments and when to go to the vet
• Dog nutrition
• Taking your dog on a trip The Google Adsense Empire Handbook
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• Getting a pet sitter or boarding your dog if you don’t take him on a trip
The articles you’ll want to have on your site should be short enough so that someone can read them in about 5 minutes. This means you want to stick to articles of 250 to 750 words, with 300 to 600 words optimal. To give you an idea, a single page in a published novel has about 300 words.
Of course, your real purpose in putting up all these nice little short articles and changing them out frequently is not to just put information out into the world. It is to have a site that people will come back to so that they will see the Google AdSense ads, and click on them, and then you will get checks in the mail.
That’s a key point, so I’m going to repeat it:
The purpose of having a content-rich website is to attract people to it, again and again, so that they will see the ads and click on them.
You might think it’s lots of cool graphics and colors that make a site attractive to a visitor, but it’s really the content. In order to make money from Google AdSense, you need to grasp that concept. Believe me, you could run a wonderful advertising campaign and develop all sorts of viral marketing tools and attractive affiliate programs.
But unless your Website is content-rich, the traffic spikes that you get for your efforts will only be temporary. The very best way to attract and retain an online audience is to provide content that’s useful, valuable, informative, educational or just downright funny as hell or entertaining in some way.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
8. Building Content-Rich Sites
First off, why would you want to build content-rich websites? The short answer is “Because it keeps people on your site for awhile, it makes them come back, and they tell their friends about that site.”
But why? Well, for one thing, people will stay on a content-rich site because it takes awhile to read an article or two. Thus, while they’re reading the material, their peripheral vision (off to the sides) notices little ads that happen to surround that articles.
And if people start to realize that a certain site has good content that they like, and in particular, different content that constantly changes and is updated, then they’ll check back to see what’s new.
The worst thing in the world to have is a stagnant website that never changes. People will visit it exactly twice—the first time to check it out, and the second one to see what’s changed—and when they find out it hasn’t changed, they most likely won’t come back. Ever.
But why? Well, for one thing, people will stay on a content-rich site because it takes awhile to read an article or two. Thus, while they’re reading the material, their peripheral vision (off to the sides) notices little ads that happen to surround that articles.
And if people start to realize that a certain site has good content that they like, and in particular, different content that constantly changes and is updated, then they’ll check back to see what’s new.
The worst thing in the world to have is a stagnant website that never changes. People will visit it exactly twice—the first time to check it out, and the second one to see what’s changed—and when they find out it hasn’t changed, they most likely won’t come back. Ever.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
7. Am I Going to Make a Lot of Money Off of This?
While we can’t guarantee results, of course, since a lot of your success lies in your own hands, we wouldn’t have written this book if we didn’t believe in the power of Google AdSense. A lot of webmasters are making a lot of money off of AdSense, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be one of them.
The amount of money you can make with Google AdSense mainly depends on what user needs your Website fills. For instance, a site about women’s issues can make some serious bucks on AdSense because of the high level of competition for related keywords.
The CPC (cost per click) is the amount you get paid every time a user clicks on one of those ad banners. CPC rates for competitive keywords can be more than $1, which translates directly to your site’s earning potential within the program.
However, if you’re in a less competitive market, you’ll make less money—that’s just a fact of life. Still, it’s unusual to see anyone using Google AdSense report earnings of less than an effective $1 CPM (cost per 1000 impressions), and the average runs in the range of $4-$5 CPM. Some people are making an effective CPM of $15 or more with AdSense. Oh, and best yet, this is all after Google takes its commission.
About that commission…commission is definitely one thing is that’s a little bit ambiguous with AdSense. Google doesn’t publicize it’s “cut”, and only displays the publisher’s cut in proprietary member reports, so getting good, accurate information on this has been difficult. The
To date, comparisons of AdWords rates with AdSense earnings add up to commissions of between 40% and 60%. People speculate all the time on user boards as to why Google refuses to publish its commission rates, but no one has the answer. It might have something to do with legal reasons or it could just be that Google wants to retain the ability to change rates without having to send out an announcement about it each time, which costs money
The amount of money you can make with Google AdSense mainly depends on what user needs your Website fills. For instance, a site about women’s issues can make some serious bucks on AdSense because of the high level of competition for related keywords.
The CPC (cost per click) is the amount you get paid every time a user clicks on one of those ad banners. CPC rates for competitive keywords can be more than $1, which translates directly to your site’s earning potential within the program.
However, if you’re in a less competitive market, you’ll make less money—that’s just a fact of life. Still, it’s unusual to see anyone using Google AdSense report earnings of less than an effective $1 CPM (cost per 1000 impressions), and the average runs in the range of $4-$5 CPM. Some people are making an effective CPM of $15 or more with AdSense. Oh, and best yet, this is all after Google takes its commission.
About that commission…commission is definitely one thing is that’s a little bit ambiguous with AdSense. Google doesn’t publicize it’s “cut”, and only displays the publisher’s cut in proprietary member reports, so getting good, accurate information on this has been difficult. The
To date, comparisons of AdWords rates with AdSense earnings add up to commissions of between 40% and 60%. People speculate all the time on user boards as to why Google refuses to publish its commission rates, but no one has the answer. It might have something to do with legal reasons or it could just be that Google wants to retain the ability to change rates without having to send out an announcement about it each time, which costs money
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
6. What are Users Saying about AdSense?
It’s one thing to hear about all the great advantages Google AdSense offers, including how it can make money for you in your sleep. But it’s another thing to hear comments from real, live people. Here are a few of my favorites.
• “We’re seeing this impressive new revenue stream without incurring any cost. We’re maximizing our previously unsold inventory, and our revenue per page figure continues to grow.” - Scott Zucker, Executive VP and COO, Intelligent Content Corp, PetPlace.com
• “It took no time at all to copy and post the code on individual pages, and it fits well with our content management system and with the look and feel of all our pages.” - Steve Larson, Founder, Our-Hometown.com
• “Instead of spending money to hire an additional sales rep to sell ad banners, Google ads have become a virtual sales tool for us. Now we’re able to reap thousands of dollars in additional advertising revenue each month that we would very likely have missed without Google AdSense.” - Robert Hoskins, Editor and Group Publisher, Broadband Wireless Exchange
“Google shows targeted ads reflecting the sorts of information and services SeatGuru visitors want. For a small business like mine, this is the best approach to advertising. You set it up easily, it automatically serves relevant ads, and it takes very little of my time.” - Matt Daimler, Founder, SeatGuru.com
• “At the beginning I was very concerned that I might lose traffic to competitors. I only used AdSense on a limited number of the site’s pages, and I watched the stats very carefully. If the traffic, pages per visitor, or conversion rates dropped I knew I could easily pull the ads...Since implementing AdSense, our ad revenue has increased more than tenfold, and 100 percent of my available inventory is now sold through AdSense.” - Vik Kachoria, Entrepreneur, Real Adventure.
• “We’re seeing this impressive new revenue stream without incurring any cost. We’re maximizing our previously unsold inventory, and our revenue per page figure continues to grow.” - Scott Zucker, Executive VP and COO, Intelligent Content Corp, PetPlace.com
• “It took no time at all to copy and post the code on individual pages, and it fits well with our content management system and with the look and feel of all our pages.” - Steve Larson, Founder, Our-Hometown.com
• “Instead of spending money to hire an additional sales rep to sell ad banners, Google ads have become a virtual sales tool for us. Now we’re able to reap thousands of dollars in additional advertising revenue each month that we would very likely have missed without Google AdSense.” - Robert Hoskins, Editor and Group Publisher, Broadband Wireless Exchange
“Google shows targeted ads reflecting the sorts of information and services SeatGuru visitors want. For a small business like mine, this is the best approach to advertising. You set it up easily, it automatically serves relevant ads, and it takes very little of my time.” - Matt Daimler, Founder, SeatGuru.com
• “At the beginning I was very concerned that I might lose traffic to competitors. I only used AdSense on a limited number of the site’s pages, and I watched the stats very carefully. If the traffic, pages per visitor, or conversion rates dropped I knew I could easily pull the ads...Since implementing AdSense, our ad revenue has increased more than tenfold, and 100 percent of my available inventory is now sold through AdSense.” - Vik Kachoria, Entrepreneur, Real Adventure.
5. How do I Get Started?
It’s easy to get started with AdSense and it only takes a few minutes. You fill out one single online application and that’s it. Once you’re approved, it takes only minutes to set up AdSense; all you have to do is copy and paste a designated block of HTML into the source code for your site. Once you do that, targeted ads will start showing up on your website.
To fill out the online application, go to:
https://www.google.com/adsense/application-1?apply=Click+Here+to+Apply/
To fill out the online application, go to:
https://www.google.com/adsense/application-1?apply=Click+Here+to+Apply/
4. What Kinds of Ads Will I Get on My Site?
Obviously, there are some kinds of ads you wouldn’t want to have on your site, such as pornographic ones or ads for sleazy multi-level marketing schemes that scream “Make $30,000 a month just for watching TV!” in big red letters.
Well, you can put your mind at ease. Google has an ad review process that checks the ads they send to your site. This process ensures that the ads that you serve up are family-friendly and that they comply with Google’s strict editorial guidelines.
Google’s ad-screening team combines sensitive language filters, input from site owners like you, and a team of linguists with good old common sense to filter out ads that could be inappropriate for your content. And if that’s not enough, you have to capability to block competitive ads and choose your own default ads. That’s another nice feature: Google kind of lets you run your own show.
Now, another thing you might be concerned about is whether the ads will clash with the look, feel, and colors scheme you’ve got going with your site. Don’t worry. You can customize the appearance of ads and choose from a wide range of colors and templates. Same thing goes for your search results page. And reports are customizable, too. Google provides flexible reporting tools that allow you to group your pages any which way you want.
That means you can view your results by URL, domain, ad type, category and more so that you can figure out where your earnings are coming from.
Well, you can put your mind at ease. Google has an ad review process that checks the ads they send to your site. This process ensures that the ads that you serve up are family-friendly and that they comply with Google’s strict editorial guidelines.
Google’s ad-screening team combines sensitive language filters, input from site owners like you, and a team of linguists with good old common sense to filter out ads that could be inappropriate for your content. And if that’s not enough, you have to capability to block competitive ads and choose your own default ads. That’s another nice feature: Google kind of lets you run your own show.
Now, another thing you might be concerned about is whether the ads will clash with the look, feel, and colors scheme you’ve got going with your site. Don’t worry. You can customize the appearance of ads and choose from a wide range of colors and templates. Same thing goes for your search results page. And reports are customizable, too. Google provides flexible reporting tools that allow you to group your pages any which way you want.That means you can view your results by URL, domain, ad type, category and more so that you can figure out where your earnings are coming from.
3. What Can it do for Me?
In three words, earn you money. More relevant ads on your pages translates into more clicks—and more money that you receive. Because when users click on an ad, Google will pay you. If you’ve set up your own sales team, you’ll get an additional benefit: AdSense complements their efforts. It doesn’t compete with them. With AdSense, you get a reporting page that gives you a breakdown on how your ads are doing and what they’re bringing in.
Google has a huge advertiser base, so they have ads for all kinds of businesses and for just about every type of content no matter how broad or specialized it is. And since Google provides the ads, you don’t have to spend time talking to your advertisers.
AdSense represents advertisers that span the spectrum. These advertisers range from large global brands to small and local companies. And ads are targeted by geography so global businesses can display local advertising easily. One more thing: you can use AdSense in many languages. So how does AdSense figure out how to do all this targeted advertising? Well, AdSense has the ability to deliver relevant ads because the gurus at Google understand how web pages really work and they’re continually refining their technology to make it smarter all the time.
For example, some words can have several different meanings depending on context. You’ve seen th is happen with “two” and “too” and “to.” Google technology is smart enough to understand these distinctions from the context that the word appears in, so you get more targeted ads.
When you put a Google search box on your site you start making money off of web searches that people do on your site. This ability to search off of your page keeps them on your site longer—since they can search from right there where they are—and it will only take you a few minutes to get AdSense up and running. The best part, of course, is that AdSense is free for you to use.
I gotta get some sleep now and will continue tomorrow.
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