Does my site have to have a certain ammount of hits to qualify for Adsense?

There are no traffic requirements or restrictions.

Here is a quote from Adsense:

Google AdSense and AdSense for search is open to website publishers of all sizes. Please read our program policies to ensure that your content fits in to our guidelines.

To read more about Adsense's policy regarding this just click here.

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!

Having Problems Adding Your Adsense Codes?

It seems that there are a lot of people having trouble adding their adsense codes. As far as my clients are concerned there are 2 ways that their codes are added. Either I have access to their adsense account or I talk them through adding the adsense codes to their website or blog.

Before Blogger.com had their new version you could simply go to your template and add the coding where you wanted it to appear. Now with Blogger.com's new layouts you can either have Blogger.com add your adsense codes to the bottom of your blog posts (you can click here to see an example of blogger adding your adsense ads to your blog posts) or you can add the adsense coding yourself by "adding a new page element" to your blog and then pasting the adsense codes to your new "page element".

As simple as this may seem there are still a lot of people who haven't been able to get their adsense codes on their site.

It is a very kind of hard thing to explain - especially when its going to depend on where you want to add your adsense codes.

Need / Want To Send Feedback To Adsense?

need to contact adsense?

need to send feedback to adsense?

How can I contact adsense?

To send feedback to adsense you can email them using the email address below:

inside-adsense@google.com

Can I Get My Adsense Payment via Paypal?

In a word "No". Adsense pays by check and EFT only. In some areas they are just starting to issue payments via Western Union but that option isn't available in the United States.

There are also some other opinions as to why adsense doesn't pay via paypal

"Google owns Google Checkout, a competitor to PayPal, so I wouldn't really see a reason why they would want to offer PayPal payments.

I've emailed them about this already and they said no, they are not and will be not offer paypal payments."

There are also some good arguments about not using paypal to receive your adsense payment:

not a good idea to use paypal, they take a percentage on YOUR hard earned clicks. PLUS ive noticed it takes 3 days to transfer your paypal balance to your bank.

Adsense Reports Not Sorting Properly

I have to give credit where credit is due!

Adsense Reports Discussion

It seems that the adsense reports are not sorting properly. Usually when you view your adsense numbers your numbers are sorted by earnings. But lately there really seems to be no kind or order to the numbers displayed.

Until the problem gets fixed, here is a temporary "fix" for the situation:

To view results sorted "properly" I must select:

view all AdSense for Content channels

then click "earnings" so it will sort that way...

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.

How Can I Get My Adsense Account Back?

If Adsense cancels your adsense account they probably have a very good reason. However if you feel that a mistake has been made you can appeal adsense's decision.

Here is an excerpt from one of Adsense's pages regarding appealing to get your adsense account back:

As you know, Google treats instances of invalid clicks very seriously. By disabling your account, we feel that we have taken the necessary measures to ensure that invalid clicks will not continue to occur on your site. Due to the proprietary nature of our monitoring system, we're not able to disclose any specific details of these clicks.

Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in Google AdSense. However, if you can maintain in good faith that the invalid clicks we detected on your ads were not due to your actions or negligence, or the actions or negligence of others working for you, you may appeal the closing of your account.

Google reserves sole discretion in considering whether to take any action on an appeal.

In order to appeal the disabling of your account, please supply us with the details requested below. We're unable to consider appeals that do not contain all of this information:

You can go to their site directly using the link below to get to their form to "appeal" their decision

https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py?contact=invalid_clicks_appeal

-------------------------------------------------
6/16/08 Update!

Here is the latest information about how you can appeal your adsense account being disabled:

Can my account be reinstated after being disabled for invalid click
activity?

We're always willing to work with you to resolve any issues you may
have. If you feel that this decision was made in error, and if you can
maintain in good faith that the invalid activity was not due to the
actions or negligence of you or those for whom you are responsible,
you may appeal the disabling of your account.

To do so, please contact us only through our online appeal form.

Once we receive your appeal, we'll do our best to inform you quickly
and will proceed with appropriate action as necessary. Please
understand, however, that there is no guarantee that your account will
be reinstated.

Please also bear in mind that once we've reached a decision on your
appeal, further appeals may not be considered, and you may not receive
any further communication from us.

Is My Site Eligible For Adsense?

The person who could best answer that question would be adsense themselves. Before being able to add the adsense coding to your site you have to first submit the url of your site to adsense so that they can review and approve it. There are some sites that adsense will not approve:

Sites displaying Google ads may not include:

• Violent content, racial intolerance, or advocacy against any individual, group, or organization
  

• Pornography, adult, or mature content
  

• Hacking/cracking content
  
  
• Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia
  
  
• Excessive profanity
  
  
• Gambling or casino-related content
  

• Content regarding programs which compensate users for clicking on ads or offers, performing searches, surfing websites, or reading emails
  

• Excessive, repetitive, or irrelevant keywords in the content or code of web pages
  

• Deceptive or manipulative content or construction to improve your site's search engine ranking, e.g., your site's PageRank
  

• Sales or promotion of weapons or ammunition (e.g., firearms, fighting knives, stun guns)
  

• Sales or promotion of beer or hard alcohol
  
  
• Sales or promotion of tobacco or tobacco-related products
  
  
• Sales or promotion of prescription drugs
  
  
• Sales or promotion of products that are replicas or imitations of designer goods
  
  
• Sales or distribution of term papers or student essays
  

• Any other content that is illegal, promotes illegal activity, or infringes on the legal rights of others

You can find out more by going to the adsense help files

"When Will I Get Paid?"

First of all congratulations on making enough to get your adsense payment (I don't know if its your first adsense payment or not)

Here is the general rule regarding the payments

When you have reached $100 in earnings in a month you should expect to receive a payment. However the payment won't come to you until the next month and it will be AFTER the 15th of the next month at its soonest because the 15th of the month is the last date of the "holding" period - that is the period where people can change their account information and things like a change of address or if they want to change how they receive a payment.

If you're getting paid by EFT/bank transfer then the "average" date that you will see it show in your account would be the 25th of the month. Note I say "average" because you may get the payment sooner or you may get it later.

If you are getting paid by check then it will be a few days or even a week later then mentioned above.

Adsense's policy says that those who are getting paid by bank transfer can expect their payment by the 5th of the next, next month. If its not received by then, then you can contact them and find out why and possibly get a "replacement" payment.

If you are getting paid by check then you can expect your payment by the 25th of the next, next month and it you don't receive it by then you can contact adsense about getting a "replacement" check.

Now even though I mentioned adsense's "official" policy towards payment it has been my experience so far that the payments come a week or so before the "actual" stated policy date - which I'm sure adsense has to allow for "whatever" problems may come up.

How Come The Adsense Ads That Appear On My Site Don't Have Anything To Do With The Content Of My Site?

If the adsense ads that are on your site are not related to the content of your site then you definitely are missing something because the adsense ads are drawing from the content of your site so it means that the adsense ads are working right - it's just the contents of your site that isn't working "right".

Now I know that you are probably saying "How could MY content not be right?". You have to remember that the adsense spiders are basically robots / machines and that they crawl your site's contents with machine (and not human) eyes! That means that they won't be able to distinguish that your "Sunshine's Flower Store" website has to do with flowers and not sunshine. Clearly if adsense's "spiders" were human then the human spiders would be able to see that your site has to do with flowers and not sunshine. But such is not the case!

Okay so how do you get the ads to relate to the content of your site?

You have 2 options here

• Change the wording and the content of your site. Now you don't have to give your site a major overhaul - just change the wording of your site so that the adsense spiders will find the right kind of content for the right kind of ads that you want showing on your site. Now this is going to take a bit of work and a bit of practice but honestly speaking if you want the ads to relate to the content of your site then you have to do it. Now you can't tell from this blog but if you go to one of my client's blogs - Hamming It Up - you will see that the adsense ads that appear on this blog are related to the content of the blog. You will also see that the blog posts don't compromise the intent / true meaning of the blog just to get the "right" adsense ads to appear. You can do the same thing with your blog.
  

• You can implement "section targeting" on your blog so you can target the content that the adsense spiders will crawl for when searching for keyword content on your site.
  

  
  
  What are the "section-targeting" codes?
  

  Use:
  

  
  

Is It Difficult To Use Adsense?

Actually I don't think that its too difficult at all! I think the problem comes in when people get frustrated because they are trying too hard to get the adsense codes on their site.

Ust think about it. You hear about all this money that people are making using adsense and you are 'rarin to get started!

The basic process of adding the adsense codes involves you first deciding on some options about the ads that you want to appear - like size and color. Once you have made your decisions you are given the adsense code that your are supposed to copy and then paste on your website on blog.

Now there will be problems if you paste the adsense code in the wrong place! If you do that then you may end up messing up the coding of your entire site!

I Am Under The Age Of 18. Can I Still Join Adsense?

Here is an excerpt from Adsense's own help site

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.

What Should I Do If I (Accidently) Click On My Own Ads?

Adsense's own page says that "they understand the occasionally click
by the publisher" - those won't be counted as valid clicks but like
their site says they understand the occassional "ooops".

But going to their site and sending them an email telling them that
you accidently clicked on your own ads will be in your best interestes
- and will make you look good by reporting it.

Just click here to find out what adsense has to say about "invalid" clicks. Here is a link to their blog post Accidents Happen which also talks about what you should do if you accidently click on your own adsense ads.

Just make sure that you don't do it again

What Does CPM Mean?

From Adsense's own site:

"From a publisher's perspective, the effective cost-per-thousand impressions (eCPM) is a useful way to compare revenue across different channels and advertising programs. It is calculated by dividing total earnings by the number of impressions in thousands. For example, if a publisher earned $180 from 45,000 impressions, the eCPM would equal $180/45, or $4.00. However, please keep in mind that eCPM is a reporting feature that does not represent the actual amount paid to a publisher."

Personally I use it as a way to judge what kind of rate I'm getting from advertisers - in other words - are my sites drawing high-paying advertisers

How Many Adsense Ads Am I Allowed Per Site?

For each site, adsense allows you:

• 3 context ads
  
• 3 link units
  
• 3 refferal bars
  
• 2 search boxes