Top Five Tips for Using Google AdSense

Monetizing your website traffic can be a tricky business, but with an intermediary like Google AdSense, it doesn’t have to be.  For large corporations, this usually means hiring an entire department to manage ad revenue, but for a small business or your own personal blog, using a service like Google AdSense is the most efficient way to connect you with the advertisers who want to give you money.  Like anything, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this, so here’s a list of the top five ways to make the most of your partnership with AdSense.

1. Getting Started

The AdSense website has plenty of information on getting your account up and running, but some simple things might get lost in the shuffle.  You can have up to three ads on your page, so you might as well have all three.  Link units are also a good option.  And, as a general rule, use the most open settings you can for selecting ads.  Having both images and text enabled, as well as sticking to the standard sizes – 160x600, 728x90, and 300x250 – gives you and AdSense the most options to draw from.

2. Learn the Art of Placement

Your website is your very own piece of two-dimensional real estate, so know where on it users are most likely to look and most likely to click.  Content on the left of the page is usually viewed first, so ads there are more likely to draw attention, and in general, ads above the fold (at the top of the page) are viewed more.  However, be careful to avoid separating the ads from the content, such as with a banner at the very top of the site – as soon as your reader scrolls down, a top edge banner is out of sight and out of mind.  You can even try your hand at “omnipresent” ads, which follow users as they navigate your site so they’re never missed, although this is a somewhat risky move as some users find omnipresent ads an insufferable nuisance.

3. Make Sure the Advertisements Fit with the Theme of your Website

AdSense allows you to control certain aspects of the ads that are put up on your website.  For text/link ads, you can change the color and font size of the ads to fit with the overall look of your site and avoid being overly distracting to your users.  With picture, video, and interactive type ads, you can choose where on the page they are placed, and you always have the right to say no to an ad you don’t find visually pleasing.  People (your users) are visual creatures, so having a good-looking site ruined by intrusive ads is a major problem.

4. Don't Neglect Mobile Users

Mobile users are a rapidly growing percentage of almost every website’s total traffic, so you can’t afford to have ads that won’t perform on a small screen.  Make sure load speed is AdSense’s top priority to avoid bogging down your ads and your whole site.  One especially useful option with AdSense is responsive ads, which allows your site to automatically adjust ad sizes to fit different mobile screen sizes.

5. Don't Get Lazy
You've put a lot of time and effort into making sure Adsense is working for you, and now that you have optimized you might be tempted to kick back and relax. However, AdSense is always adding new features, tweaking options, and bringing you advertisers who might be willing to pay you more than what you're currently getting. The official AdSense site is a good place to keep up with updates and new features, and after you've gained some experience you can join AdSenseExperts.com to learn some more advanced monetization strategies. In the long run, keeping your advertising strategy dynamic will pay huge dividends.

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