Guidelines for new web publishers
Imagine this. Mr. Big Google Advertiser is surfing the net, looking up some
trade-related keywords. He clicks through lazily to land on a strange website.
The logo looks amateurish. The content is full of typos. Heck, some of the
links don't even work. And then, he sees something he least expects to find.
He seems to freeze for a second. His eyes pop wide open and you can see a
muscle going in his cheek. He picks up his phone and dials a number. "I can't
believe it!" He booms, "I can't believe you put MY ad on THAT website!"
Uh oh.
Google has a reputation to live up to. A reputation for providing quality
content, targeted traffic and good value for money to their advertisers.
The way to meet these requirements is to provide content that meets their
requirements and goes one step further to add something unique, which
other websites might not offer.
Before you apply to Google AdSense, make sure you haven't cut corners on
the layout and the quality of content. Google is quick to reject websites that
are built specifically to attract search spiders or that trick people into clicking
AdSense Ads.
To make a sizable income from AdSense, you need unique content, a true
commitment to your visitors and focused content — which makes it easy
for advertisers to target their audience.
To sum up, here are a few quick Do's and Don'ts before you Apply:
12.1 Don't build a website that specifically targets search spiders,
with nothing unique to offer human visitors.
I’ve already discussed the importance of creating content that your users
are genuinely going to find interesting. If you have interesting content, you’ll
have higher CTR and higher revenues.
With so many legitimate ways of creating revenue-generating content, you’re
only cheating yourself when you take a short-cut. You reduce your CTR and
you increase the odds of being banned by Google.
Don't build a website just to make money from AdSense.
The easiest way to produce genuinely interesting content is to produce
content that genuinely interests you!
You might feel that the more pages that you can throw up, the more money
you’ll make but if you can’t produce the sort of content that can compete
with companies who produce genuinely good material, you’re not going to
get the traffic or the revenues.
But there is plenty of topics that you know about and enjoy. That’s the kind
of material that can give you money.
It will also make earning that money a lot more fun.
Provide targeted content that will help Google Advertisers to
capitalize your traffic.
But writing about what you enjoy rather than what can help you earn
doesn’t mean you should forget about using your content to bring you
targeted ads.
If you know that there are certain keywords in your topic that are worth
more, then you can certainly write about those. You can also make sure that
you toss in plenty of keywords and headings to keep those ads targeted.
DON'T build a website specifically to target high-
value keywords unless you plan on developing
quality content!
Not all advertisers bid high on the same keywords.
Just as it’s a bad idea to create more content simply to create
more money, so it’s a mistake to focus on particular keywords to
create lots of money!
If you are prepared to produce good content and want that content to include
high value keywords, one VERY useful report reveals those high-value
keywords. You can find it at:
http://www.adsense-secrets.com/cashkeywords.html
If you want to aggressively build sites, another very useful tool you might
want to look at is Top Keyword Lists.
This is a 'plug and play' monthly membership service offering twenty-five
high-paying AdSense markets each and every week. With a simple page
generating application, you can turn out twenty-five sites quickly and easily
from each week's updates. If you prefer to spend a little more time building
your site with articles, they offer a unique keyword research tool that allows
you to pinpoint the key phrases you should concentrate your articles on for
maximum payout through AdSense. Read more about it at
http://www.adsense-secrets.com/topkeywords.html
Websites that rank higher in a Google search (SERPS) will get a
better per-click payout than websites which rank lower for the
same search term.
I don’t know if that’s because Google just wants to reward sites who meet
their criteria for high search listings or because they assume that sites that
rank higher are going to have better users for advertisers than lower-ranked
sites.
Most likely though, is that it’s all about content relevance. A top-
ranking website is considered more relevant than a lower-ranking one. So
keep an eye on your Google Search Ranking for your targeted search terms
and work continuously to optimize your website. The upshot is that when
you’ve created your site, you need to pay attention to search engine
optimization.
That won’t only win you free traffic, it will also get you more money for the
traffic you receive.
Increase 'Readiness to Buy'
Advertisers prefer websites that qualify visitors for the purchase.
Allow me to explain with this simple example: A search for "cell phones" can
throw up a page about the perils of cell phone radiation, a university
professor's treatise about messaging technologies and a buyer's guide that
compares features and prices of top-selling cell phone models.
For an advertiser looking to target cell phone buyers, the buyer's guide offers
the most relevant (and therefore valuable) advertising space.
This is part of targeting your content.
You want people to click on your ads. So do your advertisers.
If you can keep your content focused on the products your advertisers are
selling then you should be able to increase your CTR.
Of course, it’s also Google’s job to make sure that your ads match your
content, but if you’re writing about DVD’s it makes sense to produce content
that encourages people to buy DVD’s because those are the sort of ads you
know you’re going to be served!
If you were writing about homebuying, you can be sure that you’d get ads
about mortgages and real estate agents. Put up pages about finding the right
mortgage or how to pick a real estate agent and not only do the ads look
even more relevant, they’ll also appear more attractive.
Tim Carter is a living example of how content relevance builds loyalty. As an expert
in his field, he adds relevance and credibility to the ads appearing on his pages.
Check out this example at: http://www.askthebuilder.com/535-Installing-Large-
Ceramic-Tiles.shtml
Don't cut corners. Watch out for typos, amateurish layouts,
malfunctioning links, poor-quality or plagiarized content.
Users expect to reach professional websites. Those are the ones they spend
the most time on and pay the most attention to. Those are also the ones that
Google rewards the most.
It pays to put effort into improving your website. It pays to have a good
design and a site that’s attractive and well-maintained.
Imagine this. Mr. Big Google Advertiser is surfing the net, looking up some
trade-related keywords. He clicks through lazily to land on a strange website.
The logo looks amateurish. The content is full of typos. Heck, some of the
links don't even work. And then, he sees something he least expects to find.
He seems to freeze for a second. His eyes pop wide open and you can see a
muscle going in his cheek. He picks up his phone and dials a number. "I can't
believe it!" He booms, "I can't believe you put MY ad on THAT website!"
Uh oh.
Google has a reputation to live up to. A reputation for providing quality
content, targeted traffic and good value for money to their advertisers.
The way to meet these requirements is to provide content that meets their
requirements and goes one step further to add something unique, which
other websites might not offer.
Before you apply to Google AdSense, make sure you haven't cut corners on
the layout and the quality of content. Google is quick to reject websites that
are built specifically to attract search spiders or that trick people into clicking
AdSense Ads.
To make a sizable income from AdSense, you need unique content, a true
commitment to your visitors and focused content — which makes it easy
for advertisers to target their audience.
To sum up, here are a few quick Do's and Don'ts before you Apply:
12.1 Don't build a website that specifically targets search spiders,
with nothing unique to offer human visitors.
I’ve already discussed the importance of creating content that your users
are genuinely going to find interesting. If you have interesting content, you’ll
have higher CTR and higher revenues.
With so many legitimate ways of creating revenue-generating content, you’re
only cheating yourself when you take a short-cut. You reduce your CTR and
you increase the odds of being banned by Google.
Don't build a website just to make money from AdSense.
The easiest way to produce genuinely interesting content is to produce
content that genuinely interests you!
You might feel that the more pages that you can throw up, the more money
you’ll make but if you can’t produce the sort of content that can compete
with companies who produce genuinely good material, you’re not going to
get the traffic or the revenues.
But there is plenty of topics that you know about and enjoy. That’s the kind
of material that can give you money.
It will also make earning that money a lot more fun.
Provide targeted content that will help Google Advertisers to
capitalize your traffic.
But writing about what you enjoy rather than what can help you earn
doesn’t mean you should forget about using your content to bring you
targeted ads.
If you know that there are certain keywords in your topic that are worth
more, then you can certainly write about those. You can also make sure that
you toss in plenty of keywords and headings to keep those ads targeted.
DON'T build a website specifically to target high-
value keywords unless you plan on developing
quality content!
Not all advertisers bid high on the same keywords.
Just as it’s a bad idea to create more content simply to create
more money, so it’s a mistake to focus on particular keywords to
create lots of money!
If you are prepared to produce good content and want that content to include
high value keywords, one VERY useful report reveals those high-value
keywords. You can find it at:
http://www.adsense-secrets.com/cashkeywords.html
If you want to aggressively build sites, another very useful tool you might
want to look at is Top Keyword Lists.
This is a 'plug and play' monthly membership service offering twenty-five
high-paying AdSense markets each and every week. With a simple page
generating application, you can turn out twenty-five sites quickly and easily
from each week's updates. If you prefer to spend a little more time building
your site with articles, they offer a unique keyword research tool that allows
you to pinpoint the key phrases you should concentrate your articles on for
maximum payout through AdSense. Read more about it at
http://www.adsense-secrets.com/topkeywords.html
Websites that rank higher in a Google search (SERPS) will get a
better per-click payout than websites which rank lower for the
same search term.
I don’t know if that’s because Google just wants to reward sites who meet
their criteria for high search listings or because they assume that sites that
rank higher are going to have better users for advertisers than lower-ranked
sites.
Most likely though, is that it’s all about content relevance. A top-
ranking website is considered more relevant than a lower-ranking one. So
keep an eye on your Google Search Ranking for your targeted search terms
and work continuously to optimize your website. The upshot is that when
you’ve created your site, you need to pay attention to search engine
optimization.
That won’t only win you free traffic, it will also get you more money for the
traffic you receive.
Increase 'Readiness to Buy'
Advertisers prefer websites that qualify visitors for the purchase.
Allow me to explain with this simple example: A search for "cell phones" can
throw up a page about the perils of cell phone radiation, a university
professor's treatise about messaging technologies and a buyer's guide that
compares features and prices of top-selling cell phone models.
For an advertiser looking to target cell phone buyers, the buyer's guide offers
the most relevant (and therefore valuable) advertising space.
This is part of targeting your content.
You want people to click on your ads. So do your advertisers.
If you can keep your content focused on the products your advertisers are
selling then you should be able to increase your CTR.
Of course, it’s also Google’s job to make sure that your ads match your
content, but if you’re writing about DVD’s it makes sense to produce content
that encourages people to buy DVD’s because those are the sort of ads you
know you’re going to be served!
If you were writing about homebuying, you can be sure that you’d get ads
about mortgages and real estate agents. Put up pages about finding the right
mortgage or how to pick a real estate agent and not only do the ads look
even more relevant, they’ll also appear more attractive.
Tim Carter is a living example of how content relevance builds loyalty. As an expert
in his field, he adds relevance and credibility to the ads appearing on his pages.
Check out this example at: http://www.askthebuilder.com/535-Installing-Large-
Ceramic-Tiles.shtml
Don't cut corners. Watch out for typos, amateurish layouts,
malfunctioning links, poor-quality or plagiarized content.
Users expect to reach professional websites. Those are the ones they spend
the most time on and pay the most attention to. Those are also the ones that
Google rewards the most.
It pays to put effort into improving your website. It pays to have a good
design and a site that’s attractive and well-maintained.
