Does AdSense Make Sense For Your Online Business?

You've probably heard about Google's AdSense and you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. It could be about making more money from your web site, but only if AdSense fits your strategy and your site.

If you're like most of us and use Google for searching, you know about the paid listings that appear above and beside the basic search results. Those listings are paid for by advertisers using another Google program called AdWords.

There are lots of searches on Google, but the bright people at Google figured that if the AdWords advertisers could advertise on other sites as well, they'd get more business and Google would make more money. The result was the AdSense program.

The value proposition is simple. If you have a web site and sign up for AdSense, you let Google put ads on your site keyed to your content. Then, if someone clicks on those ads, you can get a piece of the action.

Do People Really Make Money With AdSense?

There are businesses out there making boatloads of money with AdSense. Alas, they are probably not like you. To make a lot of money using AdSense, you have to devote whole web sites and a lot of time and energy to the process. In other words, you have to make it your main business.

If you don’t want to do that, you can still make money from AdSense. There are sites that make a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand dollars a month using AdSense. For them, it's found money.

Here's what you need to think about before deciding to sign up for AdSense.

AdSense experts say that you need at least two thousand visitors a month to make any money from AdSense. If you've got less than that you won't get enough visitors so that you get enough people who click on the ads.

You have to have content that draws good ads.

If you have a site about grooming for men, you'll probably mention electric clippers or moustache trimmers in your content. AdSense ads placed on your site would probably be for businesses selling electric clippers or moustache trimmers.

You have to be willing to tolerate the ads.

This is not about good taste.  Google does a good job of policing that. But you may not want Google's ads on your site because they compete with you.

You may wind up with your competitors' ads on your site. If you do leadership training, for example, Google may place ads for other leadership training firms right next to your copy. For some sites and business strategies that's not a problem. Is it for you?

You may wind up with ads on your site that compete with other ads on your site that you're being paid for. Consider that grooming site again. The site might already have as an advertiser, Clipper Maker A. How will Clipper Maker A feel if the AdSense program places ads for Clipper Makers B, C, and D on the site?

You have to put the ads somewhere on your site.

The thing about ads is that they take up space. And the thing about most web sites is that they weren't designed with that space in mind.  Before you commit to AdSense, chat with the people who design your site about where the Google ads can go and how they'll look.

Remember, AdSense might work for you if you have good traffic and a strategy that tolerates ads for others on your site.