Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Google Adsense is a great platform for those looking to monetize their WordPress blogs. It’s a simple system that has great potential to make a few bucks. However, many people don’t really understand the system and expect the money to come pouring in. Unfortunately, it’s not something that can make you a ton of money right off the bat. In fact, it could take a very long time for this system to really impact your monthly budget.
How Adsense Works
Adsense is a free-to-use system that places advertisements for other people on your website. These ads can be directly related to the type of content you’re developing, or they could be simply showing sites based on what your visitor has searched for in the past. This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to make money from your site, but can also be one of the most difficult to master.
I’m, by no means, a master at using Adsense. In reality, I’ve only been putting in a strong effort for my sites over the past eight months. However, it has been used on other sites I’ve set up for clients in the past. If there is one inescapable truth about this system is that there is no guarantee you’ll make a set amount of money per month.
Placing the Code
When you sign up for Adsense, you can pick and choose the types of ads that are placed onto your site. You have limited control over color scheme, sizes, responsive layouts and other features that can tailor it to your website. Once you’ve made the selection, you’re provided with a code that is simply copied and pasted directly onto your posts and pages.
What Other People See
Once the code is pasted into a post, page or widget, visitors will start seeing ads almost immediately. Remember, this could be based on the type of content you deliver or the type of searches the visitor has done in the past.
How it Makes Money
There are two different ways that I found which have impacted the amount of money I make in any given month: impressions and clicks. Impressions are made any time someone sees the advertisement. Clicks are counted when someone actually clicks the ad to go to that other person’s website. It’s the clicks that make the most money. Impressions are subjective to industry and don’t really generate a great deal of income for people like yourself.
How Much Money Can Be Made with Adsense?
While I’ve seen people claim to quit their day jobs based on what Google has paid them, I have yet to see the same results. Part of this is because I’ve only been putting in a strong effort in the last few months. Yes, I’m kicking myself in the ass for not starting five years ago. My health and fitness blog makes $0.0018 per page view on average in the first seven months it was active – this includes clicks and impressions. This means in order to make $50 per month, the site needs to accumulate almost 28,000 visitors inside that 30 days. At the moment, I am a far cry from reaching that level. Here are things that can directly affect how much you actually make.
Visitors
Obviously, the most primary component to making money with Adsense is the number of visitors you receive. The more visitors you get, the more likely you’ll generate clicks and impressions. It could take a great deal of time to create a high enough visitor count in order to quit your day job using nothing but Google. You could spend some money and invest is SEO services to boost your WordPress site’s awareness, but the return on your investment may be quite low unless you offered eCommerce or some other service that could also generate a bit of cash on the side.
Industry
As of this post, I have five sites in my list using Adsense. My industries are: gaming, health, writing, computers and liquor. Guess which one makes the most money on average? Over the last seven months, the liquor site has the greatest potential based on visitors and actual income. The lowest on the list, unfortunately, is Writer Sanctuary. The niche you stick with when blogging will impact how much money you see per visitor. This is because of the value of the ads in those industries. Eventually, I’d like to see all of my sites take off – but that’s going to take a great deal of effort.
Ad Placement
Although I use a responsive banner on the top of most of my posts, such as the one above, it’s the square ad on the side that makes the most money for my health site. You want to make sure the ads you place are in a great position to catch the eye of your visitors. If you stick them at the bottom of the post, they are less likely to be seen.
Ad Value
Most of the ads that are delivered to my websites come from Google Adwords. This is the platform people use to advertise their sites, goods and services. This system is based on value per click and impression. If one ad has a higher bid than another, it has a better chance of being displayed. This also increases the amount of money you’ll make once a click happens. Personally, I’ve seen a $3 click on the computer site and as low as a $0.04 click on the health site. It fluctuates quite a bit based on what these ads are worth and how much people pay in specific industries.
How to Get the Most Out of Adsense
Essentially, your success with making money on Adsense is directly related to the success of your site. The best way to maximize the potential for making money is making sure your site is optimized for visitors. It’s all about engaging a large audience and keeping the site heavily populated.
Under no circumstances should you try and boost your numbers by clicking on the ads yourself. This will get you removed from the system and ruin any chances you have for potential income.
From the beginner’s point of view, creating wealth using Adsense could take an incredible amount of time. However, it could be worth the investment as this has potential to generate a residual income that literally has no bounds. The most difficult part about it is making sure your site can drive enough traffic. Keep creating fresh new content and keep the visitors engaged. It will directly affect your success while using Adsense.
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