Google AdSense is the client side of Google’s Pay Per Click advertising system.  It displays targeted advertisements for other websites on your site. Web site owners use Google Adwords to display ads on search results and other sites which are running AdSense.  When a visitor to your site clicks on an AdSense ad you get paid a certain percentage of the money the advertiser paid google.  The figure I’ve heard most is 40%, which may not be entirely accurate but is close enough.  The price advertisers pay for keywords varies wildly, from $.01 to $60+.

AdSense is a great way to monetize forums, or other sites that get lots of visitors but don’t have a product to sell.  There are many webmasters out there that make a living just from adsense income.

I use Google Adsense personally on several of my sites (including this one) to supplement the income they generate from affiliate programs.

It is the targeting that makes this system so valuable.  AdSense has proven to be much better than typical banner advertising systems.  The payout is great, and the ad targeting rocks. I will warn you though that Google has anti-fraud technology in place, and if you plan to sign up with cheating in mind don’t bother.  I’ve seen a lot of sob stories from people that screwed up and got their accounts cancelled. 

The ads can be customized for the color layout of your site, and they offer many different sizes and formats, assuring that something will be available to suit your space and site layout requirements.

Google provides the ads in a simple javascript format that can easily be pasted directly into any web page or template.

MSN and Yahoo are both spinning up similar programs, but won’t be able to complete with Google any time soon.  Those new systems will benefit the advertisers due to less competition for keywords, but that means the sites displaying the ads won’t make as much money.  The big value that AdSense brings is the size of the network and number of advertisers.  No matter what the subject of your site, there’s going to be some relevant ads to display.

I firmly believe that this program is one of the best ways to make money online right now. 

If you want to read more information about adsense or sign up now click the big blue button on the right side of this site.

~Wealthy Webmaster