How Bloggers Make Money: Google AdSense

(Shout out to my friend, Devin, who reminded me that...I'm sorry WordPress people, but you can't do AdSense. Don't blame me! Blame Wordpress!) But do feel free to look at my other "How Bloggers Make Money" posts, k?)

This post is going to be short because I mostly know THAT you can make money with AdSense but the rest of it kind of confounds me. I have learned, however, that there are a few basic principles that can help you out.

Let me tell you a story.

I installed AdSense in early 2012. I didn’t really get what it was but I figured if it was a source of income, I’d take it! Mind you I was making…nothing…from my blog at this point.

And I watched with disappointment as I made next to nothing on AdSense. Until about six-ish months ago when things started to change. How? Read to the end of the post to find out!

So what is it?

Google AdSense is, of course, a Google application wherein you allow Google to place ads on your website and you get money whenever anyone clicks those ads. Sounds like a great deal, right?

Well as with any income stream there are rules and strategies.

The Rules

I’ll break this down into two categories: rules, as in logic and then rules, as in guidelines to which you must adhere.

Rules/Logic

AdSense is governed by the principles of search engine optimization (SEO). When you set up your AdSense account you can tell Google what kinds of ads you absolutely do NOT want on your site (no porn, no pharmaceuticals, etc.). But from there Google uses two basic pieces of information to determine which ads will go best on your site:

• The content on your blog (as referenced by your post titles and the keywords your posts contain)
• The search history of your readers

So here’s how this plays out.

Say Jane comes to your blog post about how to sew a handbag. But she just recently did an extensive search to find a better rate on her mortgage. She’s likely to see ads about sewing supplies, home mortgage loans or a combination of both (if you place more than one ad on your site).

In this environment I learned very quickly something I wish I did not know. Double entendre seems to work to the benefit of the AdSense user!

This is especially easy to do with a food blog and our talk of “food porn” and one of my favorite recipes on my blog “protein balls” (I shiver to think what a person who enjoys online adult entertainment sees on my site when they arrive at that post!).

My advice there: Be authentic! (I say that a lot, don’t I?) Don’t use double entendre needlessly, but just recognize that if it does make sense, it can also make cents!

Rules/Guidelines

AdSense seems to be shrouded in mystery. You aren’t allowed to say much about it. Namely:

• You are not allowed to tell your audience to click on AdSense ads.
• You are not allowed to publicly discuss your AdSense earnings.
• You are not allowed to click your own ads. (Why does that sound dirty?)

Doing any of those things (and trust me, Google would eventually catch you) will get you permanently expelled from AdSense. Which would be a shame because it’s a low-risk, low-effort way to make money from your blog.

That being said.

How can you have any control over your earnings?

Good question!

To the best of my knowledge the best way to increase AdSense earnings is to increase your overall traffic. And increasing your traffic means consistently creating and promoting good content.

Use the basic principles of writing good content and Google will know what ads to place on your site. They are geniuses, people. They have this down to a science. So help them to help you! Just in case you don’t want to go back and review my thoughts on content it can be summarized in these few points:

• Speak the lingo of your people: keywords are important. They help Google know what you are writing about and to match people interested in what you’re writing about to your blog through their search engine. It also helps them to place ads that people are likely to click.
• Keep it readable: No chunky paragraphs. Use bullet points. Summarize, tell, then summarize. Yadda, yadda.
• Write about the things your readers want to know about: Use Google Trends to discover what folks are searching for in the subject matter your blog covers and then write about that stuff!

Also, attention to your times of highest traffic, both on your blog and on social media (as a vehicle to promote blog posts). Things got much better for me with AdSense when I realized that I have a strong West Coast readership and that if I scheduled Facebook posts/Tweets late at night for me, it’s early in the evening for them and they will visit the site. Pay attention to your numbers!!! (We’ll do numbers soon. I promise!)

Lastly, know the basic rules. For instance, Google will only pay you for three ads on any given page of your site. So don’t place 10 ads! That’s giving Google free ad space on your blog and, as I’ve said ad nauseum, every scrap of space on that blog is worth something!

You might also consider your Google ads against ads you can sell. You’re likely to make more on a direct ad sell then on Google ads (at least at first). So don’t occupy your prime ad space if you think you can sell an ad there. Be strategic!

So, that’s what I know. It isn’t much but it’s a start. If you know more, post about it! Let’s learn from one another.