Making money with AdSense is a great way to generate an online income. Before you start out on your mission to use Google AdSense ads on your site, there are a few things to remember if you are going to be successful with this form of internet marketing.

Play By The Adsense Rules

First and foremost, if you are wanting to start making money with AdSense, you’ll have to play by the AdSense rules. That means, you’ll have to adhere to the AdSense terms of service. Otherwise, sooner rather than later, your account will be subject to the wrath of the Google axe, and that’s not pretty. Fortunately, it’s easy to comply with the TOS.

The Google Adsense program policies and TOS are laid out for your perusal, and all you have to do is follow them. No reading between the lines, no trying to decipher what is really meant by what is said. It’s all their in black and white. If you manage to stay on the good side of the Google gods, your account will remain in good standing and you’ll be well on your way toward making money with AdSense.

Keywords And Content

You’ll also have to remember to choose the right keywords and provide high-quality, unique content that will be beneficial to your readers. If you do both of those things (and perform good on and off page SEO), you can almost guarantee that you’ll see traffic to your site, traffic that will click on your ads.

The tricky part is finding a balance between those keywords that receive high search volume (and are therefore the most in demand) and those that are not inundated by huge levels of competition. Be sure to perform keyword research prior to making your decisions, the Google keyword tool is a great free option for doing so.

In other words, you’ll want to find keywords that have a reasonable amount of search volume but ones that not many competitor’s sites are using in their search engine optimisation efforts. The better your optimisation, the more traffic you’ll receive and the higher your click-through rate will be.

Appearance

When it comes to AdSense ads, appearance can make a difference. How your ad looks could have a profound effect on their effectiveness. Consider using ads without borders; instead, incorporate them into your content so they don’t stand out but are more a part of the content as a whole. Similarly, be sure to use a color scheme in your ads that is the same as what exists elsewhere on your page and only use one color for your links.

One caveat, here, though: Although it’s a good idea to incorporate your ads into the text so that it looks cohesive, don’t try to hide your ads or disguise them as regular content. You don’t want to be viewed as trying to deceive your visitors.

Adsense Ad Placement

In addition to appearance, ad placement plays an important role in the success of an ad. If you want people to notice your ad upfront, place them in the top section of your page (or, what is commonly referred to in print publishing as “above the fold” placement).

One way to do this is to place the ad between the title of your article/content and the content itself. This can be effective because once your visitor reads the title and is intrigued enough to read the rest of the article, the next thing they’ll see is your ad which, with any luck, they will be compelled to click on. Try switching up the placement of your ads and test and measure their effectiveness.

Amount Of Ads

Finally, be mindful of the number of ads you place per page. Double check the number of ads Google allows per page (with AdSense for content: up to three ad units and three link units per page is allowed – at the time of writing) before you ad them. You never know when their requirements may change and you don’t want to risk having your account banned simply because you didn’t take the time to double check.

Remember that in this case, more is not necessarily better. In fact, to max out your ad revenue it’s often best to include only one ad unit per page. That way, you know that each click through will go toward the right ad. But if you are going to use only one ad, it better be a good, strategically placed one! There are many different AdSense ad formats, it’s a good idea to consider your options here as well.

By following the above guidelines and testing and measuring your results, there is certainly no reason why you can’t start making money with AdSense. Play by the rules, do your keyword research, provide quality unique content, consider your ad placement/appearance and you could be well on your way to a nice monthly income stream.

PS: Never click your own ads or ask others to click them for you, this is a surefire way of having your AdSense account terminated!!