Ever thought of making money from the content you put online, great this article is for you. Running a blog is expensive most especially if you don’t earn a penny from it. You spend money on buying domains, hosting, graphics, and maintenance other than making it back.
The reality is Google Adsense is the best contextual marketing program with one of the biggest number of advertisers and huge payouts. If you’re looking for one easy way to make money from your blog, Google Adsense should be among your priority list.
Let’s take a quick look at what Adsense is and steps you’ll need to take to apply and get approved for the program.
What is Google Adsense?
Google AdSense is a platform run by Google that allows publishers in the Google Network of content sites to serve automatic text, image, video, or interactive media advertisements, that are targeted to site content and audience.
These advertisements are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google. They can generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. Google beta-tested a cost-per-action service, but discontinued it in October 2008 in favor of a DoubleClick offering (also owned by Google).
In 2014, Google earned US $3.4 billion ($13.6 billion annualized), or 22% of total revenue, through Google AdSense. AdSense is a participant in the AdChoices program, so AdSense ads typically include the triangle-shaped AdChoices icon. This program also operates on HTTP cookies. Over 11.1 million websites use AdSense which makes it one of the best programs to monetize content websites.
Does Adsense approve everyone?
To be honest, it’s very hard to get approved for Google Adsense program, some publishers get approved after one or two rejections while others have never been approved up to now.
In Fact, some publishers credit the approval process to luck which at some point might be agreeable with. However, there some key things publishers miss out when applying for Adsense such things as privacy policy, contact page, enough content, and others which are very important.
You need to be careful when applying for Google Adsense, make sure your site looks PROFESSIONAL (by this, someone should look at your site and think it’s from a legitimate company ). You can ask a friend to check it out and let you know what they think.
If you fulfill some of these crucial steps the approval process will be easier for you.
Getting Started monetizing your website/blog with Google Adsense Uganda.
To get your website approved for Google Adsense, you have to follow these 5 crucial steps. Chances are high that Google will approve sites that comply with any of the steps mentioned below.
Quality Content
You have to make sure your site posses not only valuable resources or content but also very articulate, helpful content free from adult material. Google values content while approving websites better than any other thing.
Having high quality, original and helpful content is mandatory. If you have any copy and paste material, it’s better you first take it down. I would recommend you have at least 10 articles with a minimum of 500 words per article. You should also have a contact page, about page and privacy policy which can be generated using any free privacy policy generating tool on the web.
Nice looking Website/Blog
In Addition to the great content, you’re most likely to get approved if you have a nice looking website. You can improve on how your website looks by installing a nice looking premium theme such as newspaper or Genesis.
A free theme is also okay but you should do your best to ensure that it looks very well. Finally, to give your site an extra boost, a well-designed logo is also very helpful. A professional logo makes your site look more credible and legitimate.
In general, make sure your site is well built with content, easy to navigate layout, nice looking theme before you can submit to Google.
Apply For Adsense Online
You can apply for Google Adsense using the link here, the application process doesn’t take long. You’ll be required to submit your website URL, personal information like individual name, phone number, mailing address, and email address.
Make sure your mailing address is a valid P.O Box address since Google will send you a PIN number to the address during the verification process. In brief, the online application doesn’t take any longer.
Temporary Approval and Ads Placement
The approval process according to Google takes between 24-48 hours, but from the Ugandan experience, sites take close to 2 weeks. However, if you followed all the steps above, chances are your account will be approved temporarily.
In this step, you’re required to place ads on your website. Never click these ads as this will lead to an instant ban.
In addition, you can as well add this code to any of your other websites, you don’t need to apply for each and every website of yours. Remember you need to first verify the other websites before you can place your ads on it.
Account Verification
After making $10 on your Adsense account, Google will automatically send you a PIN verification to your mailing address. This can take close to two weeks depending on your location.
You can’t receive any payments from google without verifying your Adsense account. You don’t need to rush at such a point, you can continue with the rest of the activities as you wait for the verification pin to arrive.
Observe Google Adsense Policy.
Once you have your account verified, be smart with how you handle the Google ad code, observe the Google Adsense guideline content. Never click your own ads or ask a friend to do so, you’ll be banned from the program for a lifetime.
In simple obey the Google AdSense guidelines for publishers.
Frequently asked Questions
These are some of the frequently asked questions that come with trying to monetize websites.
CAN I GET APPROVED WITH MY .WORDPRESS WEBSITE?
Unfortunately, you can’t. Google requires publishers to apply using top-level domains such as www.google.com, not tumusiimeblog.wordpress.com.
DO I NEED TO HAVE A LOT OF TRAFFIC ON MY WEBSITE?
Nope. Google doesn’t consider the volume traffic of a website for approval.
DO I HAVE TO USE WORDPRESS ONLY?
No, You can apply for Google Adsense from any blogging platform.
CAN I APPLY FOR GOOGLE ADSENSE WITH BLOGGER SUBDOMAIN?
Yes, Since blogger is a Google platform, it’s allowed.
CAN I USE GOOGLE ADSENSE WITH OTHER MONETIZATION PLATFORMS?
You can monetize your website together with other platforms that comply with Google Adsense policies.
ARE THERE ANY OTHER ALTERNATIVES FOR GOOGLE ADSENSE ?
Yes, there are a number of them. E.g MGID, Infolinks, bidvertiser, and others.
GOOGLE ADSENSE SAYS I HAVE AN EXISTING ACCOUNT.
Delete the alleged existing account and apply again. Also, check whether your domain name wasn’t banned by Google.
HOW MUCH SHOULD I EXPECT TO MAKE FROM GOOGLE ADSENSE?
This varies, some niches have a high CPC ( cost per click ) whereas others don’t, so the earning depends on your niche and competition for advertisers to place ads on your website Most times the money you make with Adsense will be determined by your everyday traffic.
Conclusion
These are some of the steps that are used to have a website approved for the Google Adsense program. They may look a little bit straightforward but many publishers never get approved because they underlook them.
This article originally appeared on UG TECH MAG
