sign up for Google AdSense

It's time to get signed up with Google's Adsense andhopefully start making some money!

Like everything up to this point (minus your personal time) AdSense is 100% free. So head on over to the Google AdSense home page







Now simply fill out the fields provided and voila!



Google states that they can take anywhere from 2 days to a week for approval, but my experience was quite quick - a couple of hours.Google's AdSense Help Center does a great job of answering all frequently asked questions. Now that we have an account we'll be able to put the ads on our blog page!

Do you have an understanding of Google's Terms of Service so your account doesn't get banned?

In my last article you learned how easy it was to sign up for Google AdSense so we can try and generate some money from our blog. But before we go haphazardly placing our Google AdSense ads, it’s important that we understand their TOS.

Generally Terms and Conditions are quite boring. We often scroll down the long page and hit “Yeah I accept, sure I read your blah blah blah”. If that’s you (like most) then this post is for you – it’s important we understand the TOS so we don’t get our AdSense accounts banned.

Invalid Clicks

Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT click on your own ads. Do NOT encourage others to click on your ads. If your intentions were to setup your blog so your Aunt Peggy can sit on your site all day and click your ads – forget it! You’re going to get your account terminated.

Do NOT encourage your audience to click on your ads. Attempting to be slick with your ad links and say, “click these ads” or “support us” is a good way to get the boot.

Ad Placement

There are several types of ads that Google AdSense allows you to place on your site. We’ll learn more about these as we go but for now, remember these guidelines:

1.) Up to three ad units may be displayed on each page.
2.) A maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes on a page.
3.) Up to three link units per page.
4.) Up to three referral units per page, in addition to the options above.

This site is dedicated to generating money from our blog legitimately. This is a great program and the fact that it’s free really presents an excellent opportunity for everyone. Let’s keep it that way.

Remember, this is an abridged version that touches on the highlights so you don’t fall asleep while drinking your coffee. But I encourage you to read the Terms and Conditons and the Program Policies in their entirety so you’re equipped with the proper knowledge. Heck, I’ll even provide the links on my sidebar in addition to this blog so we can all stay informed!

Google AdSense Program Policies
Google AdSense Online Standard Terms and Conditions

Have you successfully setup your very own blog with the Blogger service?

Estimated Time to Start Earning Money: 60 minutes

Google's AdSense sounds interesting to you. You like the idea of legitimately making money online with advertisements. You even went so far as to read my last post: Getting Started with Blogging! But you have no idea how to get setup - until now.

I do Web Consulting for a living (no, I'm not a full-time blogger… yet). I'd say on a scale of 1-10 of web knowledge I'm probably near a 9, maybe a 9.1. But guess what? You don't have to know squat about web design or web programming. Of course you'll have to learn some web terminology along the way but you can start at ground zero today. The great thing about blogging and potentially earning money with AdSense is that you don't have to be a web guru.

I repeat: you do not have to be a web guru to start a blog and use AdSense.

There is a wide range of blogging tools out there. Some free, some not. If you haven't noticed, I'm using a tool called: Blogger. Before this I had experimented with Typepad and even created my own (this was a few years ago when the term “Blog” wasn't exactly a household name).

Why Blogger? Well for a few reasons: 1.) It's Free! 2.) It's a breeze to setup and 3.) Google owns it. Yeah, the same Google that's helping us earn money through their AdSense program - A perfect marriage indeed.

Ok, so you have your blog topic (or maybe not but you will soon…right?) I'm going to get you hooked up to the service in no more than 10 minutes (times will vary for animals and small children). At the end of this you'll be ready to start writing up some content, free of charge.

1.) Go to Blogger and sign in with your Google account. If you don't use any Google services like Gmail you can create a new accounthere.



2.) Click on the “Create Your Blog Now” button arrow on the bottom right and fill in the information.



3.) Name your blog and give it an address. Make sure the name is meaningful and not too long.



4.) Choose from one of the many templates available.



5.) Your blog has been created!




Now wasn't that painless? In a matter of minutes you have reserved some real estate on the Internet.

I would suggest doing some exploring on your own at this point. Get a sense of the tools available to you and I'll go into further detail in the near future. Have fun!

Are you familiar with the terms: blogging and bloggers?

So you’re interested in making money with AdSense? Well join the club. But before we get to the good stuff, we have to build the foundation. Chances are good that if you’re reading this you know what blogs are and how to create them. Good for you! You’re on the fast track to getting started with AdSense. But patience grasshoppa, we must help those who don’t even know what blogging is.

Here’s the definition of a blog from Wikipedia:

“A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.”


A blog is basically an online diary - A journal written by an author, about the author and/or the author’s interests. The great thing about a blog is there are no boundaries whatsoever. You can blog about your dog, cat, career, relationships, car, favorite ice cream, etc, etc. You have total control to be as creative as your heart desires!

The important thing about this journey is that you blog about something that matters to you. Different people have different interests and you’re no exception. Chances are good that others just like you are ready to delve into your material because they have similar tastes. Don’t hesitate to write about something you’re passionate about - just do it! (like Nike)

If you interested in learning more about blogs and blogging, check out the wikipedia page.

PLACING ADSENSE ON YOUR BLOG

Let's do a quick recap up to this point in case you have some catching up to do.



1.) Do you know what AdSense is?
2.) Are you familiar with the terms: blogging and bloggers?
3.) Have you successfully setup your very own blog with the Blogger service?
4.) Do you have an understanding of Google's Terms of Service so your account doesn't get banned?

If you answered no to any of those questions, simply follow the link to my post explaining in more detail before you continue on. Otherwise, it's time to put AdSense on our blog and start making money (with some patience, of course)!

The great thing about Blogger is it makes it dead simple to get started. First, head over to Blogger and log into your account. When you do that, it should automatically bring you to your “Dashboard”. Here's a picture of my current dashboard:



To get started, simply click on the “Layout” link on the bottom right of your Dashboard summary and you'll see something similar to this:



What you're seeing here is a high level breakdown of your web design. Most sites (like my own) are composed of a header, menu, content, and a footer (not shown in my picture). To get AdSense up and running on your blog, click any of the dotted areas that are labeled: “Add a Page Element”.



Once you do that, you'll get a pop up (make sure any anti-pop up software is disabled) with many options to choose from. From here, click on the AdSense section button: “Add To Blog”. The icon is marked with dollar bills (Oh yeah!).



We're almost home...

Now you have a screen that let's you choose format options and colors. It even gives us a nice little preview to save us time later on! We'll dissect these options more in future articles, but for now keep the defaults.



Hit the “Save Changes” on the AdSense window - it should close automatically. At this point you are all set! You can click on the “Preview” button on the original page to view your changes or simply refresh your blog. You also have the ability to move the AdSense up or down - or move it to a completely different page element altogether! (Just make sure you preview your changes before you save)

I wasn't lying when I said you don't have to be a web guru to get this setup, was I? Now you have the tools setup to pull in some extra revenue (hopefully a steady stream). Well, not quite. This isn't a get-rich-quick-scheme. It's going to take some time, patience and hard work (I saw you roll your eyes). Nothing comes easy, but if you stick around we can get there together.

ADSENSE Choices WITH BLOGGER: PART 2

AdSense Choices for Blogger: Part 1, we learned that Blogger gives us AdSense for Content options: ad units (text only) and link units (yep, you guessed it - links). But just as important as the ads themselves are the colors.

If you're a fan of the Boston Red Sox (sorry Yankee fans) you're not going to Fenway Park dressed in hot pink. Chances are you'll show up in the team colors - white, red, and blue. Your AdSense ads are no different - They should seamlessly blend in with the rest of your site, and lucky for us, Blogger makes that really simple.

Ok, head back on over to your layout screen, click the trusty ol' Add a Page element and click on the AdSense section. You'll see the familiar Configure AdSense screen.



Have a look at the Colors section. You'll notice a drop down list of options and ways to customize the colors.



Right off the bat - I would suggest the “Blend Template” option.



In just seconds Blogger will help us blend our AdSense ads into our page. This nice option will get us 90% of the way there… we just need to do some tweaking to the colors.

Look closely at the colors presented and watch as you make changes - the preview will automatically update for you. This is a great way to fiddle around with the color scheme and get it just right. Off to the right there are a bunch of funky looking numbers and letters. Don't get scared - this hexadecimal, and is a color combination to tweak your ad just right.



So how do you know what hexadecimal values to put in there? I'm glad you asked. Head on over to: Hex colors where you can find every color imaginable (even hot pink!).

There you have it! Configuring AdSense color combinations with Blogger is easier than knocking the Yankees out of the playoffs (sorry, I couldn't resist).

That wraps up this two-part series on AdSense Options with Blogger. Now go earn yourself some money!

AdSense Choices for Blogger: Part 1

Blogger offers some simple “out of the box” solutions for placing AdSense on our sites. We'll learn eventually that these aren't the only options, and that's what makes Blogger so incredibly flexibile. Today though, we're going to look at some of the simple built in options that Blogger provides so we can start making money with AdSense.


After you log into your Blogger account, head on over to the Layout screen and select the “Add a Page Element”. If you have no idea what I'm talking about (I get that look sometimes), you can easily catch up by heading over to my prior article: Placing AdSense on Your Blog.

Once you have the layout options open, go ahead and click on the “Add to Blog” under the Adsense section.



You're presented with the all-mighty AdSense Configuration screen.



When you pull down the Format list, we're given many AdSense options with all sorts of size configurations.



Out of the box, Blogger gives us three main AdSense options. In the Google AdSense world these are better known as: AdSense for Content. In a nutshell - they're ads that are text and link driven (There are actually images too. Those don't come out of the box but we'll see how we can do that in the near future). They allow us to put ads on our site that will target the content we have written about. (Don't know much about AdSense? No problem, check out: What is AdSense?)

Here's what a sample ad unit (300 x 250) looks like:



And here is a sample link unit (160 x 90):



It's important to note that Google's Program and Policy states we can put up to three ad units and three link units on any page. Besides, we wouldn't want to bombard our audience with ads everywhere. We want to make money from our blog but we also want to create an enjoyable experience with quality content.

Play around with the different format options. Get a feel for the different shapes and sizes that Blogger AdSense options have to offer. We'll take a closer look at the color options for our AdSense in the next article.