How Old Do You Have To Be In Order To Join The Adsense Program?

I answered this question on Yahoo and I thought that I would post it here in case anyone else would like to know the answer to this. I can't take credit for it though because I got the answer from another website.

Does AdSense have a minimum age requirement for participation?
As stated in the AdSense Terms and Conditions, publishers must be at least 18 years of age to participate in the AdSense program.
If you are not yet 18, you may have a parent or guardian submit an application using their name as the payee name. Please note that, should the application be approved, all payments will be made to the adult responsible for the site.

Rose

Grant Basics 101

What Is Adsense?

I have this poll on my original Adsense Consultant Blog asking people if they have adsense on their sites? While there have been some people that have said "Yes" there have been a few people that voted that they didn't even know what adsense is - so let me clarify:

Adsense (which is now a part of Google) is a program that lets you put ads on your website or blog. When visitors to your site click on the ads you get paid.

First of all in order to join the adsense program you have to apply. There is no cost involved in signing up for adsense. But you will need a website or blog to join!

Once your site has been approved by adsense then you can go through the steps of picking the way that you want your ads to look. You can not pick which specific ads will appear on your stie. The ads that appear on your site will be determined by the content (the words that are) that is on your site. (There are some exceptions though)

When visitors to your site click on the ads you earn money. How much money you earn per click depends on what the advertisers are paying for the ads that are appearing on your site - so it is IMPOSSIBLE to say how much you will specifically earn!

You have to earn at least $100 during the month before you will be issued an adsense payment and you have the option to receive your payment either by regular check or by bank transfer.

One important thing that you should note is that you should NEVER click on your own ads! Adsense has a sophisticated way of checking for things like this and if you click on your ads on a continuing basis you will get your adsense account cancelled! And once your adsense account is cancelled because of invalid clicks it is VERY hard (if not impossible) to get your adsense account back!

"I Don't "Get" Adsense?"

Here is an email that was in my inbox. I'm having trouble replying to the email because it seems as though my email program is acting up. But it is a good question to post here because I am sure that this person isn't the only one that feels this way.

"Hey why is al(l) of this made to be so easy and its not. Am I stupid? I dont get adsense on how to add more advertising,Help if you can let me know were I need to start.

Thanks
A~

Well first of all your post seems kind of confusing.

First you have to apply to join the adsense program. You are going to have to submit the url of your website or blog so that adsense can review and approve your site. After your site has been approved you can then log in to your adsense account and start going through the process of adding your adsense ads.

You are going to be picking things like ad size and color. However you can't pick which specific ads appear on your site because that will be determined by the content that is on your site. To make your adsense ads more specific and more relevent to the content of your site you can do "section-targeting" which is explained in detail on adsense's own help site.

I do not think that you are stupid. I do think that adsense is new to you and you may just be becoming frustrated because you are trying something new for the first time.

Lots of people seem to be having trouble adding the adsense ads to their sites. Although there are no adsense ads on this blog, you can take a look at one of my client's blog to see what a properly configured adsense ad site would look like.

About the best piece of advice that I can give as far you being able to earn adsense money (or more adsense money) is to pick a theme for your site - that way you stand a much better chance of getting more targeted ads for your site.

Now the question comes up of whether or not you can make a business out of adsense - in other words can you make an adsense site solely to make money as opposed to you have a site about something that interests you and then adding adsense as an afterthought. Of course the answer is yes but since you are going to treat it as a business you are going to have to look at it as a business.

There are certain subjects that advertisers are willing to pay a high price for. So if you start a blog or website using these high-paying keywords then you have the potential to earn a lot more in adsense money. However there are people that have adsense ads on sites with subject matter that they are interested in or passionate about - so it does work both ways. However my best piece of advice would be to have your adsense ads on a site with subject matter that you are interested in or are passionate about!

Why Does Adsense Ask Me For My Social Security Number?

Why Does Adsense Ask Me For My Social Security Number?

What Is A Taxpayer ID? / I Don't Have A Taxpayer ID

I Feel Uncomfortable Giving Adsense My Social Security Number

Adsense requires your social security number simply because when you start earning over a certain amount of money (I believe now its $400 - $600) you have to start paying taxes on it. Adsense is obligated to provide information on how much money they pay you (if its over a certain amount).

The Taxpayer ID is the number that businesses use as their tax identification number when they are filing their tax-related paperwork. If you operate as a business then you have to have a taxpayer ID number. However if you are working as an individual then your social security number acts as your taxpayer ID number.

Many people have said that they feel uncomfortable giving out their social security number but the bottom line is that you have to provide that information if you want to collect your adsense earnings.

If it makes you feel any better, rest assure that adsense publshers have to provide that information too. Adsense is not singling you out. It is required information.

Is There A Fee To Join The Adsense Program?

There is no fee to join the adsense program. You can join it for free.

However before being able to put the ad codes on your site you will have to submit the url of your site so that adsense can review and approve it first.

Is Everyone Approved For Adsense?

No not everyone is approved for adsense. There are a number of adsense-related newsgroups with posts from people who post lamenting about how they weren't approved for adsense.

When you sign up for adsense you have to submit the url of your site so that adsense can review and approve it.

You don't have to have a "high" traffic site but your site (or blog) has to have some content on it.