Probably the two most popular affiliate marketing programs across the globe today are Amazon Associates and Google Adsense. These two companies dominate the market for product sales and commissions paid out to affiliates.
Google, besides being the world’s most popular search engine, offers an affiliate marketing program under the name Adsense. They offer several different ways to display content on your website and earn money via click-throughs to purchase various items.
Google also offers a search box for your website with you sign up for the program (Adsense for Search), a nice bonus.
How Google Adsense Works
It is free to sign up for a Google Adsense account. Account holders must be in compliance with Google’s program policies, and they are pretty strict about the ways you can and cannot encourage visitors to click-through the ads. Adsense content can be added to either a traditional website or a blog.
Adsense for Content refers to display advertisements that specifically target the content or visitors to your particular website.
Adsense for Search includes a search box you can use on your website for the convenience of your visitors. You earn commissions from ads that pop up in relation to the search terms being input.
Adsense for Feeds is a managed advertisement program where Google places content it considers relevant to your site on the pages with appropriate code.
Adsense for Domains applies to those URLs which are not currently in use, or “parked” domains. Instead of getting an error, visitors will be presented with a listing of paid advertisers.
And finally, Adsense for Mobile Content is the newest offering from Google which is targeted at marketing to browsers used on mobile devices, such as cell phones. It works the same way as other Adsense programs, but there is specific code that targets anyone accessing your website from a mobile device.
Getting Adsense Payments
No matter the type of content you choose, each Google affiliate partner is allowed to select from cost-per-click or cost-per-1000-impressions as the basis for payment, which comes from the advertiser buying these services from Google (revenue sharing).
Affiliates are paid on both a pay per click and pay-per-impression basis. This means that your commissions are based on both advertisement clicks and page impressions.
You can view your current earnings through an online page set up for your account. There you will find reports giving you totals for page impressions, clickthroughs, and commissions earned.
As with most other affiliate marketing programs, Google requires that associates reach a minimum level of earnings before allowing pay-out. The company also requires that the commissions are validated, which means that payments lag by a few weeks.
Earnings under the minimum amount will roll over to the next month. Associates must remain in compliance with Google’s policies in order to receive a check in the mail or a bank transfer.
For the website owner who wishes to find an easy, and attractive, way to monetise their site, Google Adsense fits the bill. It is a simple process to get started with an account, but the company takes several days to notify you of acceptance in the program.
