Making Dollars and Cents from Google's New AdSense

Google's done it again with the recent launch of their new program, "AdSense." This program gives website owners the ability to generate cash simply by displaying AdWords Ads on their pages. You must first apply to be approved into the program; then they give you some code to put on your web pages that displays their "Adwords Text Ads" on your site.

The ads can be displayed vertically or horizontally, whichever works better with your site's format. You'll also have the ability to customize the appearance of the ads, choosing from preset color palettes so the ads will blend with your website.

You're paid so much every time someone clicks on any of the displayed ads. Google uses its technology to decide the content of your web pages so only relevant ads are shown. If you're worried about showing ads that may compete with your own services or products there is a filtering system you can take advantage of.

The buzz on the Net is you can make some decent income if you already have some decent traffic. No one knows exactly how much, since Google restricts participants from discussing exact results they are having with others. You'll be paid every 30 days as long as you reach the 100.00 minimum payout.

If you sell your own products/services you might not want to join Adsense, as there's no way to keep direct competitors' ads from showing up. Adsense works best on information/resource sites that have a lot of great content. Google does not accept sites dealing with profanity/gambling/hate or violence. If your site deals with any of these themes don't bother applying. They also don't like pop ups so make sure you remove any you may have on your site before applying.

For a quick review of what's acceptable, see http://google.com/adsense/policies. You'll know within 24 to 48 hours if you're accepted, as you'll be notified by email where to go and pick up your codes.

There are two different ways to add the Adwords ads to your website pages:

Banner Format - Displays 2 ads in a horizontal format like a banner layout

Skyscraper Format: Displays up to 4 ads vertically in the right or left page margin. The majority of sites I've seen prefer this method, usually placing the ads on the right hand side of their webpages.

To apply for Adsense go to http://www.google.com/adsense/application-1 and fill out the short application. There's no commitment on your end and you can remove the ads and cancel at anytime.

There's really no set website length or traffic required to be accepted, but the rumor online seems to be you must have a minimum of 50 unique visitors a day and a minimum site size of 20 pages with good content. Again, these stats are not set in stone just popular believe by many of the "experts." For a complete overview, see http://google.com/adsense/overview

If you're really interested in running Adsense on your website but are hesitant since you don't know what kind of ads will be displayed there, I found a really cool online tool at http://www.about-adsense.com/adsense-web-tool.html Just type in your url and you'll be shown an example of the types of ads that will appear on your site.