An Honest Review of Google Adsense

If you are thinking that Google Adsense may be an easy way to monetize your already-popular website, you could be right. If you are thinking that Google Adsense could be an easy way to earn money from home with little or no effort – you are flat-out-wrong.

Adsense does not make a very good “Get Rick Quick” scheme. To honestly make a living with AdSense takes an excellent, highly popular website made through lot of hard work and dedication.

AdSense does have its drawbacks. I am not a fan of their $100 minimum payout. Especially when many other ad networks have their limits set around $10.  And the whole having to verify who I am thing was a pain. Plus I don’t always appreciate the ads they show on my site. – But Google has ways for you to block unwanted ads and I suppose the other measures help cut back on the number of dishonest users. – So I can handle it.

Adsense does have its place. Among websites that meet the right requirements, AdSense can be a great tool to create a win-win-win situation where advertisors get spread the word about their stuff, website visitors have somewhere interesting to go when they are finished with your page, and website owners earn a little money for their hard work.

When is it time to sign up for Google Adsense?

I excitedly signed up for Google Adsense in 2006 as my first website approached 100 or so pageviews per month. … Needless to say, I was very disappointed with my earnings that first year. It is against Google’s rules to reveal exact numbers, but I will tell you that my grand total for that first 12 months was well under $5. … Not much progress toward the $100 minimum required for a payout from Google. And not really worth altering the look and feel of my website for.

So at what point is it worth incorporating Adsense into your website? There is a wide variety of factors making the answer different for everyone. But in general if you want to reach that first payout in your first year, I would suggest you make sure your website meets these minimal requirements:

• At least 1,000 unique visitors per month. I say “unique” visitors because after a while, returning visitors will know what parts of your website contain valuable content and what parts just have ads. They will develop what is known as “Ad Blindness” and be less likely to even notice your ads.
• Easy for Google to understand. It needs to be easy for Google to understand what your site is about. The better understanding Google has, the more relevant ads they will be able to deliver. More relevant ads will be more interesting to visitors and therefore more likely to receive clicks. To make sure your website meets this requirement, you need to know a bit about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• A place for AdSense to “Fit In”. The physical placement of ads on your website is another very important element for ads to be successful. They need to be placed somewhere that they can be noticed without “Getting in the way”. You should choose colors that either blend in with what your site already uses or contrast nicely.

My Opinion of Google AdSense Summed Up

Overall I think AdSense is a wonderful program. – A great way for owners of popular information-based websites to bring in some extra cash.

I think the program is hurt by people who try to abuse it through click-fraud and MFA (Made For Adsense) sites. … It is not living up to its full potential.

I would not suggest AdSense for websites that only have a few visitors/members. And I would not suggest it for websites that already earn money by selling a wide variety of common products. — After all, how likely do you think a customer would be to buy a leather jacket from you for $79.99 when right next to it they see an ad for another website that offers the same jacket for only $59.99