Google Adsense is a highly popular method of “contextual advertising”. With Adsense, website owners can display text or image ads that are closely targeted to their site content. The site owner gets paid each time a visitor clicks on any Adsense advert displayed on the website. The amount that is paid per click depends on what the advertiser is willing to pay per click (minus Google's commission). The Adsense publishers commission can be just a few cents or several dollars per click. There are certain keywords available where advertisers pay over $100 for a single click.

This matching of content to ads is done automatically by Google, so for example, a website that has content about travel to the Maldives will bring up adverts about holidays in the Maldives – such as flights, resorts and other travel/holiday advert displays. The website owner benefits because they do not need to do anything aside from insert some simple code onto their site.

Google Adsense is closely related to Adwords. If you have searched through the Google search engine you have probably seen the sponsored ads that are found on the top and to the right of every page. Google Adsense just takes this concept a step further by allowing ads from the same advertisers to be displayed across billions of web pages & blogs. It's a simple yet highly powerful concept that has revolutionized online advertising. It allows grandma to make some residual income while sharing her apple pie recipes. It allows sports enthusiasts to set-up a blog following their favorite football/cricket/basketball team and make some money in the process. And it allows serious website content owners to make a significant stream of income by displaying adverts on their website network. Everyone has something to gain by using Adsense.

While some people rely mainly on Google Adsense for their website income, others use it to supplement their main income. The very top earners from Adsense are able to yield incomes of several thousand dollars each month just from Adsense, but equally many struggle to collect just a few dollars daily from their Adsense sites. We'll look at how you can get into the former category shortly but first let's investigate some of the advantages & drawbacks of the Google Adsense system.

Make Sure You Understand The Google Policies Before Starting

While Adsense is a fantastic way of creating an online income stream, it's important to keep in line with its terms and conditions. Before you can set-up a Google account, it will check out your website to make sure you are eligible to participate in the Adsense program. Here are the Google policies that you should familiarize yourself with before and during your time with Adsense:

https://www.google.com/adsense/policies

Having quality content to offer is one of the biggest assets your website/blog will possess in order to qualify for the Adsense program. Having multiple informative articles on the general subject of your website niche will greatly improve your chances of being accepted into the Adsense program.

Advantages Of Using Google Adsense As An Income Generator

- It's easy to use and simple to set-up. For those who have content it's possible to start displaying Adsense adverts in minutes. It's one of the most accessible sources of online income available.

- Many people dislike “selling” online. If you fall into this category and the idea of having to write specialized sales letters does not appeal to you then Adsense could be a good income generation system for you. The website owner can focus on publishing good content & driving traffic to the site – the ads are automatically displayed and will sell themselves to the website visitor.

- Equally, many people dislike the customer service aspect of owning an online business. Having to deal with customer queries can be tedious and stressful. With Adsense, the site owner is paid each time someone clicks on one of the displayed ads, and that's all there is to it.

- In the right conditions, Adsense can be a significant source of income. Some website owners have proven to yield as much as $19,000 & more a month from Adsense income alone. Of course this type of income is very difficult to achieve when you first start up (unless you have a huge site network with massive traffic streams).

- Google has an incredibly large number of advertisers so however specialized your niche there's a high possibility of being able to participate in the Adsense program.

- Adsense offers a high degree of customization – the look and feel of the adsense displays can be changed to closely match your site. This ultimately results in higher click-through ratios.

- Just about anyone can make a start with Adsense. The program itself is free and even those who do not have the funds or technical expertise to set-up their own site can set-up a free blog.

- Google allows you to block out adverts that you do not want displayed on your pages (for example those of direct competitors).

Drawbacks With Google Adsense – Some Points To Consider If Operating This Model

- You need to have solid content to succeed with Adsense. For those with a lack of time to write their own content some investment may be required to hire a ghost-writer to create content for them, or to acquire private label rights content.

- As soon as the user clicks on the Adsense ad they are taken away from your site and onto the advertisers site (ie the ad does not open in a new window). This can lead to lost revenue for the website owner.

- Google takes a hefty chunk out of the amount that the advertiser pays to display his message on your website. This may be countered in the future as more “big players” enter the contextual ad market – the competition could mean a greater portion of the ad revenue will be retained by the website owner.