This is a guest post by Angelica Dowson, and has been co-written by Adhip Ray.
Introduction
To earn online, you don’t
need a crafty CV or to stand in a long queue in front of interviewers.
However, to start earning from
your website or blog, you must be looking for a better platform to earn from and
preparations to make on your site before becoming qualified earner.
The purpose of this post is to
tell you about the platform “Google AdSense”, which is famous for its trust,
and pay-on-time procedure.
The user has to apply to get benefit from it. However, to become a user of the Adsense program, Google has set some strict rules for its users to become qualified and these rules are not so easy at first glance due to the sheer amount of people applying for it and the fact that Google cares about the well being and integrity of the quality of the service.
The user has to apply to get benefit from it. However, to become a user of the Adsense program, Google has set some strict rules for its users to become qualified and these rules are not so easy at first glance due to the sheer amount of people applying for it and the fact that Google cares about the well being and integrity of the quality of the service.
In this article I will show these
rules and give you tips on how to follow them and make AdSense a money machine
(that you deserve!).
Your CheckList for Getting Adsense Approval
Following are the things you need
to keep in your check list to become qualified for AdSense-
Have some pages prepared
To qualify,
Google wants you to prepare three pages on your site or blog.
- The“Privacy Policy” page,
- The “About Us” section and
- “Contact Us”form page.
Privacy Policy may
seem odd for the blog users, but it is a good idea.
Write your own short, easy
to understand privacy policy where you assure your visitors that what
information you gather about them and what to expect.
You can also make rules
like don’t share your sensitive info or we don’t as such thing on our blog,
etc.
In About us/me section introduce yourself or your team to the visitors of
the website. So that visitors see this is not a scam site and they feel valued
to contact the admin through “contact us/me” page of the site if desire to.
If
your website is not a blog, but a business portal than in ‘about us’ page you
can give an introduction of your business and its mission statements.
Also, you
can give a small profile page of your team.
‘Contact us’ page will ensure that your
client can get an ability to contact the business at any time if any problem pops-up or if they have anything to say whatsoever.
Sufficient amount of text and original data
To qualify your
website for AdSense, Your site or blog must have sufficient amount of textual
data.
The textual data must be original, (plagiarized content will even cause
your website to be barred from re-applying) well structured (well formatted,
with headings, subheadings, introduction, body and conclusion), and be grammatically
correct.
The text should be something that attracts the attention of your
visitors. You may want to test few keywords to get extra traffic. Articles should not
be long and boring.
(Adhip's Note:) Beware that short articles tend to get low search visibility and ranking. Also, since Google prioritises long form of content, it would be best if you created long-form posts for adsense.
It would be best if you study storytelling or copywriting so that you can capture and keep your audience's attention in long posts.
Make your articles extra spicy by adding images. Just keep in mind that the images must not violate someone's copyright over them.
Remember that your website will be reviewed by the real
humans. You have to think, they are like a visitor who read from your website
and get impressed after reading your material. If you have some good quality
content already on your website then you have one less thing to worry about.
Connect to social media
You can make a special page for your blog where you can
gather followers and update them of your new pages or posts. Put sharing and
like buttons and appropriate sections of the website. You can also put the
social media pages In your ‘contact us’ page.
And hey, while you are at it, connect with Adhip on Twitter for more amazing posts! :)
Also, here's a guide to help you boost your twitter followers and increase engagement.
And hey, while you are at it, connect with Adhip on Twitter for more amazing posts! :)
Also, here's a guide to help you boost your twitter followers and increase engagement.
User friendly interface – simple Temple/Design
If you qualify for
the Adsense, you need to have a good website temple design, which is easy to
navigate, easy to load, well arranged and eye catching for the visitor.
Imagine
you have random animations, buttons, random formatted fonts and color text.
This type of website will turn down your visitor's attention span. It will also make Google's ads to be placed far beyond a person's reach.
Place the ad code in the
correct manner and avoid stuffing your site with pop-up ad code or messages.
These pop-up and random messages annoy the visitors. One of the things you must
make sure, is that your website should not load slowly, usually this happens if you put
to many un-compressed pictures or animated content which are not optimized.
Don't Blog About Illegal Stuff!
Google will not just disqualify you, but there is a good chance that you will get be permanently striked down on their site and no matter how many times you apply, they will keep on rejecting you.
Illegal
things mean, traffic by illegal way, so many backlinks, illegal content, selling drugs or stuff that's banned in your country.
Do-follow links of pirated sites and malware links are also a
big time no-no.
Do You Have A Good Number of Posts?
Yes. This is also important. As I already said, Google looks for the quantity of content in your website. This is eligible for both quality and content of posts in your website.
Google wants to make sure your blog is there to stay and is not going off the radar anytime soon.
And what is a better way to ensure that than to see if you have already put in sweat for the blog. And by that I mean you need to pour in content to your blog.
But remember, quality beats quantity. A 4000 worded post is better than twenty 200 worded post.
Related: Create A Blog Post That Goes Viral And Brings Links
Related: Create A Blog Post That Goes Viral And Brings Links
Am I eligible to apply for AdSense?
If you have
a good website or blog and think it has all the qualities to
become qualified to the AdSense than you are obviously eligible to apply.
Just
make sure you review your website, By verifying the things we mentioned above
in this article. Now you are all set and ready to apply.
Some Other requirements You Got to Fulfull
You must have organic visitors
(make sure no paid visitors) and your website/blog has content that is the
interest of for the visitor,
So for organic traffic, you need to better your site's SEO and what's more important when it comes to SEO than building loads of quality links?
If you want to know the basics of it, then this guide will help you understand the A, B, C's of link building.
You must verify the names and address on the domain
and make sure to use your name in the website or blog similar to your email
address. You must be 18+ to qualify for the Adsense.
Drop off all other ad
services before submitting an application for Google AdSense.
Why Did My Application Still Get Rejected?
If your application
is rejected, then you should have received the email from the google with the reasons
of rejection in it.
Read the email carefully because it gives you all the
necessary hints.
And, don’t worry! Read the email and see in which area your website
is lacking. Keep improving the website and apply again and again, until you are
good enough to get accepted.
Mostly in my experience the application gets
rejected for minor issues, these issues, sometimes you need patience and sometimes you need a little re-tinkering until you get a hold of the right thing.
And sometimes you are straight out unlucky!
I would give you one snapshot as an example in this regard-
This rejection email
foran application is obvious, the articles written in the website were very
incomplete and fewer in number and the website as a whole was small in size
(containing only a few pages).
I had put some animations at that time (an
animated fairy to make my website look cute, or at least this is what I
thought) which seemed to be not according to the liking of Google. I remember I
had put a message on the homepage “the website under construction”, it also
came to Google’s attention.
I started to fix
my website based on this email. First, I started to write good articles.
Then I removed all unnecessary animations, (I forgot
to tell it was a blog) and re-applied again. This time I finally got accepted.
After first acceptance, they have given second phase of acceptance, another trial,
which is to have an organic traffic. Google gives time period and target which
you have to meet in time, and then your website/blog will be reviewed by Google
again.
- If you want to get a good idea of how your website is perceived by Google, then Moz has a tool which measure's your site's Domain Authority (DA). The higher the DA, the better your site's performance in Google Search. Here's all that you need to know about Domain Authority and How You Can Increase It.
If you pass the second phase too, it’s your win. Getting accepted
doesn’t mean you are getting a permanent status. The rules you are given must
be followed always, because your website will get inspected from time to time.
If you are found doing any wrong or found defaulter of breaking any rules, you
will get your AdSense feature revoked from you again.
If I Still Get Rejected.. Then What!?
Just fix the issues mentioned in
the website or blog for which you are applying for an application. Also,
consult the experts, IT expert, knowledgeable family member or friend if you
are not sure what to do. Panicking is not the option.
Summing It Up
If you have a good website or blog, which has all of the stuff that I mentioned above, then most chances are that you can qualify it to apply for AdSense, and make your website a reliable revenue generator.
Adsense Best Practices for Earning More Money
- Write content for high CPC keywords: There are some keywords that have a higher CPC (cost per click). You can identify these keywords using a free tool - Keyword Everywhere. If you can rank for these keywords and get traffic, you'll make more money.
- Identify pages ranking for high CPC keywords: In Google Search Console, you get the data of keywords for which you're ranking. You can use Keyword Everywhere (which is a free tool), and get the CPC for these keywords right there is Google Search Console. You can use this to try and optimize the pages with high CPC keywords. If you can rank better for these keywords, you can make more Adsense income.
- Use Google AutoAds: I have seen a 20% jump in my income using Google AutoAds. Despite showing more ads, it takes care of user experience. It also takes care of testing different ad sizes and locations which leads to higher clicks and more Adsense income. (Thanks, Sumit Bansal of Trump Excel)
- Experimenting with category blocking: A bit counterintuitive but potentially effective way to increase your AdSense earnings is to experiment with category blocking. AdSense enables safe categories and disables riskier categories, like gambling, by default. It's easy to think that allowing all the categories would increase competition and earn you more. However, different categories have different CPCs (cost per click) and CTRs (click through rate). Therefore, some categories can have high CPCs but low CTRs - and vice versa. That's why it's paramount to test what categories work best with your audience. (Tip shared by Ville Salminen, Owner, Cordcutting)
- The best practice you can implement is to have the same font, color and size and integrate the ads into highlighting clickable areas on your website. Install a heatmaps plugin to find where users are clicking and then place your Adsense ads in these areas. (Tip shared by Ben Stanford, https://redcedarwebsites.com/)
- Using Vivid and Eye-Catchy Images: The image is the most important part of the ad. If the image doesn’t catch the eye, you already lost your potential customers. We know two things about people, first they have short attention spans and second, they respond well to vivid visuals. Take advantage of that information. A good image is like good bait, once you’ve caught the eye all you need to do is reel them in.
- Perfect your Ad Copy: The trick to good ad copy is making your product relevant to your audience. Once you’ve got the perfect ad copy you’re guaranteed to bring your click-through rate up.
- Blind testing: How do you know when you’ve got the perfect image and text? There only one answer, test it and test it some more. Once you get a good response with the right image mix and match the ad copy and see if you can’t get that click through rate up. (Thanks, Nate Masterson, Marketing Manager, Maple Holistics)
- Standard Display Ads - Move to Responsive: The old practice was to send a very specific size ad per spot that you have on your wordpress template. The challenge is that in that same 300x250 spot, you could also fit a 300x600. Why back yourself in a corner. Use the responsive ads and let Google determine what ad will work best and performs best for their advertisers.
- Use In-Content Ads: This is where a good A/B test comes in to play. I have seen 'Text Ads' outperform on many sites, medical/health is a good example. Some general lifestyle, beauty and food sites may have better performance with Google's In-Article ads. The in-feed ads are bigger and a little more in your face but advertisers love the real estate they can command right where your eyes are at. I suggest one after the second paragraph and one before the last.
- Match your Content: We all know of the 'related content' modules like Outbrain, Taboola and Revcontent. Google does a little better job as they can mix in not only related content but do a better job at contextual relevancy. The more relevant the article link, the greater likelihood someone will click on it. Therefore increasing your RPM. I reccomend that you place at the bottom of the article. Do not place on the right or left rail of your site as that will lower the performance and Google will then incorrectly optimize your site and not show relevant ads as effectively.
- Try Out AMP Monetization: This is huge for bloggers/website owners. If you have AMP pages turned on for your site, monetize with Adsense. I have seen so many publishers struggle with AMP monetization. It will still be difficult but at least you will begin to see some. I recommend responsive sizing or AMP Auto Ads. Here is how to setup: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/7486397. Adsense may automatically add a 320x50 or something larger such as a 300x250. Let their system determine the right size and you will see a better return. If you need fixed sizing, simply add the variables to the AMP tag for sizing.
- Run Experiments: You should always have experiments running to determine what kind of ads will work best in your environment. It can automatically change colors, text vs display ads and category targeting to better optimize your pages. There is a setting to automatically make changes based on performance. You can see a 10-15% increase in overall page RPM just by using experiments. For more on setting up: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/6321859 (Thanks for sharing the tips, Matt Arceneaux - CEO/Chief Business Nerd - Social3)
- Only use one ad per post, always after paragraph three, and I make sure that every blog post that is on the site is optimised to include the ad (i.e: have a heading after it, and not include any images near the ad).
- Don’t use in-post box ads, I instead use the rectangular ones. You need to find an ad that fits the layout, otherwise it ruins the reader’s enjoyment of your site.
- Every month, make an audit through Adsense of the type of ads that you don’t want displayed on your site. (Actions taken by Ben Strick, SEO/Digital Advertising Specialist, BenjaminStrick.com)
- Implement this three stepped process:
(i) Implement the Google Ad Server called
DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP)
(ii) Integrate DoubleClick Ad Exchange into DFP via
Dynamic Allocation
(iii) Implement a Header Bid Wrapper
With those three steps, publishers
tend to see 2-3x higher ad revenues. (Tip shared by Kean Graham of Monetize More)
18. The key to making the most money possible from
your site is to take a look at your sponsored post revenue, product revenue and
Adsense revenue by page. Pages with little to none sponsored post or product
revenue should get more, or all of, your site's Adsense ads. This way you
optimize every page to get the most possible revenue. (Tip by Stacy Caprio of Accelerated Growth Marketing)
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A Final Word By Adhip
Yeah, Adsense is a great way to start earning cash. But you shouldn't only depend on Adsense for making money out of your blog. There are several CPAs which pay better than Adsense. Also, crafting sponsored posts and selling e-books (provided they are actually helpful) can help you earn several times more than an adsense program.
So, is your website Adsense ready yet? Or, which is your biggest hurdle in getting your website Adsense ready? Let me know down in the comments.
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