Pt. 2 - Adding Adsense to Your Blog

Most questions about posting on your blog site can be answered at http://help.blogger.com at Blogger Basics> Posting and Editing.

This is really not as complicated as you might think it is. AdSense works on a very simple principle- whatever people are looking for the most is what you want to give them. If everyone is searching for “running shoes” then you can cash in on a large audience by having a website where you tell them about the best brands of running shoes. Now what if you could get also paid to display ads on that website, ads that will tell them where to buy the best running shoes, the cheapest running shoes, the most running shoes to choose from? If I have a website that talks about choosing a home based business, and I display ads for home based businesses on that website, how likely am I to be showing those ads to people who are INTERESTED in finding out more about home based businesses? Pretty likely. Will business owners pay for the ability to run their ads on websites all over the internet that talk about what they’re selling? Yes they will, and they do. Your Google Adsense banner displays ads from a certain category to match the content of your webpage. Your banner displays the ads, and Google pays you a certain amount per click-through on those ads. If the ads on your banner are clicked on by enough interested people, you can earn a tidy sum of money. If you know how to match the ad categories to the subject of the site(s) where you display the ads, you can make even more money.

Advertisers bid for the top spot by bidding per keyword, in other words, they’re willing to pay up to $0.05 per keyword to get the top display spot in anyone’s banner in the category they chose. If the next advertiser bids $0.03 per keyword, they have to take the second spot on the display banner. These are just examples. Now the real key here is that the advertiser picks several keywords, any of which may bring someone who is interested in what they’re selling. That way they get as many interested visitors through their ad as possible. They also have to pay for each click through on their ad, and not every visitor will purchase right away, or at all. Advertisers can reach large numbers of very targeted people who are looking for whatever they are selling. But advertisers also pay for a lot of click throughs that don’t produce sales right away, and this form of advertising can become expensive fast. Even at just a few cents per keyword! So whether you’re an advertiser, or the one displaying the ad-banners on your site, it really pays off to know WHICH keywords in any given subject category are the HOT keywords, the ones EVERYONE is searching for.

b.) How to Sign Up for your own Adsense account:

The EASIEST WAY to do this is to go through your Blogspot site.

If you go to your Dashboard for your blog, and click on the TEMPLATE tab, it will give you the option to ADD and ARRANGE Page Elements.

You’ll see an area that says “Add a Page Element” – just click that link.

Another smaller window will pop up with all the options for the page elements you can add. Three options down on the right-hand side will be “AdSense” and it will be described as “Add a collection of your favorite sites, blogs, or web pages.” Then there will be a blue button you can click on to add this element to your blog that says: “ADD TO BLOG”. Just click that button.

NOW you should see directions to “Sign in to your Adsense Account” then right below that you’ll see it says “Don't have an AdSense account? Create one.”

Now, you’ll be asked a few questions. They need your email address. They need to know what language your blog is being published in. And what language you need email correspondance in. Then you just click on the Orange “Create Account” button. Next you should see “Complete sign up for your AdSense Account” and these directions:

“Please check your email for a confirmation message from Google AdSense. You must complete the sign-up process by clicking the link within that email and filling out the required information before targeted ads can be shown. Your account will not accrue revenue until you do this, and Public Service Ads will run on your blog in the meantime.”

Click on Continue and go check your email. Click the link in your email to confirm as directed, and within about 48 business hours you should have your own Adsense account. It’s really that easy! Then if Blogspot doesn’t recognize your Adsense account automatically, you just tell Blogspot your email address that you gave when you signed up for Adsense and your zip code given when you completed your Adsense application, and they’ll find your Publisher Id, and link your banner to your Blogspot automatically. You can even choose your colors to match or compliment the template of your website for a truly professional look. Google Adsense will automatically read the content of your articles on your blog page and choose the best ads for your site content.

Alternately you can go to this URL:

https://www.google.com/adsense/login/en_US/

If you happen to already have a gmail account, use it to sign in. If you don’t, no big deal, go ahead and click on the “Sign Up Now” banner. Fill out the application, being sure to list your Blogger URL as the site on which you plan to place your Adsense banner.

Congratulations, you're one step closer to Internet Marketing Mastery!

Pt.1 - Creating a Blog

Setting up your own custom blog on blogspot.com/blogger.com is super-easy. You will see the 3 easy steps outlined for you on the main site - Create an account, name your blog, and choose your template. When you create your account with blogspot, they’ll ask you for an email address, one that’s already in existence- you should choose the email address you use most for your personal or business email, so it’s easy for you to remember. This will also function as your “username” or “log-in” for your blogspot account. You’ll use this email address and a password, which you will also be asked to choose, to log into your blog whenever you want to post a new article, or add other content to your custom site. <<IMPORTANT NOTE: SAVE YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD - someplace where you will be able to find them again! One way is to use the “notepad” program on your computer (included on all Windows computers) to create a text file that will be your central “keeping place” for all your usernames and passwords that have to do with your business. Name it “passwords” and save it right to your desktop. You can do this quickly by right-clicking on your desktop and choosing “open new” and then choose “text file”. It’s a whole LOT easier than trying to keep up with a bunch of little bits of paper!>>

Next you get to choose your “display name” or the name that will appear as the author of your articles. Choose a display name that you want the public to see. You’ll also need to verify a word that’s printed on the page in odd-looking text, and check the box agreeing to blogspot’s terms of services. Next you will NAME your blog. You can name it anything you want, but again, be mindful that you choose a name that will describe the subjects you want to write about. The name of your blog will end up being thewordyouchoose.blogspot.com. This will be the address that your readers can find your latest articles posted at. We’ll talk some more about this address in the next section- but we’ll get to that in a minute. Lastly, you’ll be asked to choose your template- there are several to choose from, and a nice variety as well. You should be able to find one that you think is both professional-looking and suits your taste and personality at the same time. Pick something you – and your readers - won’t mind looking at for 15 minutes to a half hour; that’s about how long they’ll need to read your articles online.

CONGRATULATIONS! You are now the proud owner of a brand new CUSTOM blog – where you can post your very own story, your own ideas and tips, helpful information, and whatever else you think will draw interest to your site.