Introduction

One of the latest online money making strategies is to use Google’s AdSense and or to use Google’s AdWord programs. Each of these programs has the potential to improve your cash flow, however, you need to know how these programs work before you can make a realistic estimate about the kind of money you will be able to earn, and before you can determine which program(s) is/are best for you. This article will go over the basics of both Google marketing programs including what you need to do to join, how the pay structure is designed, and what you need to do to be successful in each program.

Google AdSense

AdSense is a marketing affiliate program where you place specially selected Google-generated advertisements on your web page that reflects the information and content of your web page. In return for hosting these ads you are paid based on the number of ad images, click throughs, or purchases made because of your web page.

Signing Up for AdSense

To become an affiliated member of AdSense you first will be required to fill out an application. You will be asked if you will be setting a business or personal account, and what country you reside in. This will help determine what types of ads will be most appropriate for your website. The second category of application questions addresses the URL location of your website and the language your site is in. You then select what Google products that you are interested in. You can select AdSense for content, AdSense for search, or both. Next you enter your personal information including contact information, and payee information. Finally you will be required to set up your password and access name. This is similar to setting up most other online services. Use an email address that is stable and that you will have for a long time, and select a password that you will remember. After entering this information and submitting your application, it will be reviewed.

Once your application is approved you will receive a block of HTML code that you will need to program into your website so that AdSense will be able to run and be able to be tracked on your website.

Benefits of AdSense

One of the most impressive advantages of AdSense is that Google has a huge database of advertisers that are looking for space. Because of this huge base of advertisers, AdSense can provide you with a steady stream of advertisers that can match just about any type of content that you can think of. Advertisers are segregated based on product, service, geography, and company size. This helps to both provide local advertisement opportunities to companies, as well as provide your site with relevant content.

Another no cost benefit that AdSense offers is the use of their Google search box technology. You can add this feature to your website, which will encourage visitors to stay at your website longer, and it will encourage them to return to your site. You can even earn money from this technology. When a visitor enters a keyword or keywords the results appear in a box at the top of your web page. You earn money for every ad that they click on that was generated from their search.

In addition to these benefits you also are able to control what kinds of ads that you want displayed on your website. You can filter out ads from specific company genres, and you can also filter out companies that compete with what you are trying to sell. You can also design the look of the ads that are displayed on your website. You can choose their color pallet, layout, and size of the ads that are displayed, and where they appear on your website. Finally, you can customize your AdSense to run on only certain pages of your website. All of these options allow you to stay in control of how AdSense is displayed to your customers.

Costs Associated With AdSense

There isn’t a fee to participate in AdSense, however, you do need to invest time in setting up AdSense features and filters. You will also have to pay for the design, hosting, and domain name of your website. These set up costs should be minimal depending on the complexity of your web site. There are free website hosting sites available, and often home page hosting is provided as a free service with your ISP. To determine if your ISP offers free hosting and web page design assistance you should contact your ISP representative.

Making the Most of This Program

While most ads that promote this type of affiliate program boast of fast and easy money, if you truly want to make money with this program there is going to be substantial work involved. In order for you to make money, you will need to attract visitors to your website. To do this you will need to provide your viewers with quality content that appeals to a large audience. One popular way to do this is to provide a blog of current events, issues, opinion, commentary, etc. Another way is to produce original content that people will drool over. Be creative. There is a lot of competition out there, so learn how to produce content that will top the search engine results, and learn how to use keywords to your advantage in order to attract more viewers.

AdWords

AdWords is an advertising program that is targeted at sellers. It is an effective way to establish your company’s online presence. It is very cost effective with a one time start-up fee of only $5.00 followed by a per click-through cost of between 1 cent and $100. This price will be based on what you are willing to pay. If you want to target a specific content genre or website, then you will pay a minimum of $0.25 per 1000 impressions. To help you create the most effective site-targeted ad campaign, AdWords also provides you with a development tool to help you build your ad.

Costs Associated with AdWords

Because you set your advertisement budget and limits based on what you are willing to pay per click, per day, or per month, you remain in control of your account. AdWords does not require you to commit to a year of service. You simply pay for what you want, no more and no less. When you set up your account you can even select how you want to pay for your advertisement services. AdWords accepts Master Card, American Express, JCB, Visa, and debit cards with the MC symbol or Visa logo.

You can even select when you want to pay. If you want to pay after you have accrued a balance then you will need to set up your billing information and provide payment information at the time you sign up for services. After you have signed up you will receive an initial credit limit of $50. Once you reach this limit your billing method will be charged, and after successful processing of your payment your credit limit will be raised incrementally depending on how many times you hit your credit limit during the month. While not every account will be able to increase their credit limit above $500, AdWords does review each case and request for a credit limit increase.

If you want to pay in advance then you don’t have to worry about your credit limit. You simply pre-pay the amount of money that you are willing to spend for a certain time period, a day, a week, or a month. As your ad receives clicks or impressions your account is debited until your account balance is $0. At this point you can either deposit more money into your account, or wait until your next advertising cycle. AdWords helps you keep track of your account balance by emailing you when your account balance is low.

When Will Your Ads Run?

Once your AdWords account has been set up and activated, and your billing information has been entered, your ads will then be up and running within a matter of minutes. This is the best part of the AdWords system. You don’t have to wait a week, a month, or for the next quarter before your ads are in front of customers. Instead your ads are flashing before the eyes of thousands of potential customers within minutes.

Designing Your AdWord Ad

While you are free to design and compose your own AdWords ad, there are editorial restrictions that apply to this program. The first is that you must use standard punctuation in your ads. You are not allowed to use an exclamation in your title, nor are you allowed to unnecessarily use repeated punctuation. You also can only use one exclamation mark in your entire ad, so be selective about what is the most exciting thing you want to emphasize.

In addition to using standard punctuation you also have to use standard capitalization. You are not allowed to use all capital letters in words for emphasis, such as FREE or EXCITING NEWS. You can, however, use all caps if your ad contains an acronym such as CPA or LPN. You can also use a capital letter for each new word in your URL address for example www.MyBestFriend.com is acceptable.

You also will need to use proper grammar, spelling, and eliminate "gimmicky repetition." This guideline help to improve the quality of ads provided by AdWords, and gives the program legitimacy. In addition to maintaining a strict standard of formatting, conciseness is also required. AdWord titles are limited to 25 characters, and ads are limited to two lines of text each containing a maximum of 35 characters and an URL address with no more than 35 characters. These additional restrictions help to maximize the effectiveness of the ad space used.

Content Restrictions

Because Adwords wants to maintain the quality of the advertisements that it distributes, they uphold a few restrictions on what types of ads that they will accepts and what wording they will accept. In general, AdWords does not accept ads that feature:

• Ads to promote drug tests
• Ads that promote alcohol use
• Ads that promote violence
• Ads that promote bulk marketing products
• Ads that promote illegal devises or substances
• Ads that promote dialers
• Ads that promote explosives, including fireworks
• Ads that promote miracle cures
• Ads that promote non-family oriented materials (adult entertainment websites)

For complete list of restricted materials please visit AdWords home page.

In addition to managing what content is suitable for AdWords, they also prohibit the use of words and phrases that call viewers to action such as "click here," "link here," etc. Also re-routing links are not permitted, nor are double serving links. You should also know that AdWords expects you to be able to support your claims about your service or products such as best, first, and leading. Support for these types of claims have to be posted on your site and be made by an independent third party. AdWords also requires ads to meet all federal requirements for trademark and copyrighted material use on your website, and you have to provide and post your permission to use said protected materials on your website.

In regards to your URL link, AdWords requires you to ensure that your link is accurate, and that it works. You cannot have pop-ups or redirecting links associated with your URL, and you must have a working back button on your site that will redirect the viewer back to the originating search results page or originating network page. You are also to have a secure server if you will be collecting sensitive data from your customers. AdWords will check out all of these things before you are accepted into the program, so make sure you meet all of the requirements that AdWords sets out.

Maximize the Benefits of AdWords

To maximize your benefits with AdWords, you will need to design advertisements that meet all of the requirements that they set out, as well as create a concise ad that tells your potential customers exactly what you offer. To get an idea of what other companies are doing surf the web looking for AdWords displays. See how accepted ads have been worded, and evaluate how you react to their wording. If you are enticed to click on the advertisement then you might want to consider using a similar format for your ad.