AdSense is an advertising program run by Google which is also known as Google AdSense. What this program does is match the need-to-advertise by vendors with the need-to-see by consumers. As internet usage grows apace and increasing amount of commerce moves online, there are hungry advertisers just willing to place their promotions in front of the right people.
There are basically two types of traffic available on the internet, untargeted and targeted. The untargeted traffic is simply a waste of time, there is no two ways about it. These are people who just happen to come across your promotion whilst they were looking for something unrelated to what you are offering. They may just glance at it and simply move on.
Targeted traffic on the other hand, is what every advertiser and marketer dreams and strives for. This traffic is actually looking for what you have to offer and when it comes across your promotion, it is very likely to follow through by clicking and taking subsequent action.
Google AdSense displays adverts on websites that have enrolled for the program and who have then activated AdSense. These adverts are either text, image, video or rich media based. So how does this actually work?
Let’s say you wanted to search something on Google and you typed in your keyword/key-phrase in the search box. Up comes a site which you think contains what you are looking for. If this site is AdSense activated then as soon as you open it, you will see adverts, usually in the side panes of the website or even at the bottom of posts, which are surprisingly apt for you.
The content in these square or rectangular shaped adverts is determined by a number of factors including your location and browsing history. This targeting of adverts is what makes them so intelligent.
This form of promotion is also known as contextual advertising as it will display content that is in context of what you are interested in. It is also the form of advertising that is really sought after by advertisers as it marries the right content with the right consumer target i.e. it gets targeted traffic for the vendor. When this happens, both the vendor and the consumer are happy as they have both found what they were looking for.
AdSense is a huge business for Google. In 2011, it accounted for 28% of Google’s revenue which is 2.43 billion USD.
You too can capitalise on this enormous market by applying for an AdSense account for your website. Once approved, all you need to do is choose what dimension of advert you would like to display and ‘hey presto!’, adverts will start appearing soon after. You will be paid on performance which is the number of clicks placed on these adverts. How much this converts to monetary value is determined by Google but you can see all your performance statistics on the Google AdSense website.
The potential for earning from Google AdSense is enormous but you need a relatively high traffic site(s). It has been reported that some people earn in access of 100,000 USD a year just with AdSense.
Do not be tempted to cheat the system by clicking on your AdSense advert multiple times hoping you can accelerate your earnings. Google is smart and it has systems in place to identify exactly this form of click fraud. If you are found out, you are likely to be banned and then it will be difficult for you to get back into the program.
I have put together a mini course on AdSense which is free of charge. Please refer to my Resource Box below for details.
Google AdSense campaigns make a great addition to your home online business. To your AdSense campaign success!
Hanif Somani
