Thursday, November 10, 2005

Get started with Google Adsense

STEP 1) Go to the application page...

Apply

After creating a login for your AdSense account, fill in the application form (it's free).

STEP 2) You will receive an e-mail requesting confirmation. Confirm it.

STEP 3) Google evaluates your site (the Google spider comes first, and then perhaps a human for borderline cases -- I have trouble believing that Google would rely 100% on a algorithm, at least while they are ramping).

STEP 4) Hopefully, you are accepted (details on this below). This usually occurs within 24 hours. At this point, you will receive your login information.

STEP 5) Log into your account and read the AdSense Terms and Conditions agreement...

Terms and Conditions

STEP 6) Happy with all the legalese? Good. It's time to agree to the Google AdSense Online Standard Terms and Conditions (or reject it if there's something you just can't live with).

STEP 7) Place your ads on your page(s) by copying and pasting the AdSense code

STEP 8) Start earning almost immediately.

STEP 9) Check the Reporting stats. Although Google won't reveal what your share of the advertising revenues are (although, at this point, it certainly appears to be quite generous), you do earn revenue each time a visitor "clicks" on one of the ads displayed on your site. You can log into your account and view...

* Impressions: The number of times Google's ads have been displayed on your Web page.
* Clicks: The number of times an ad is clicked.
* Click-Through Rate: The percentage of times an ad is clicked, out of the total number of impressions.
* Your earnings: What you've earned from Google so far.

NOTE: The AdSense HTML ad code is unique for your account and is NOT site/page-specific. You can place the code and run ads on any page or site you own.

STEP 10) Questions? Need help?

https://www.google.com/support/adsense

Contact them at...

https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/request.py

E-mails to adsense-support@google.com (general questions or concerns) or adsense-tech@google.com may also get a reply. Google seems to be moving to form-based support, though.