Earning with AdSense. How much can I earn?
When do I make money with AdSense?
Before I can even earn money with AdSense, I first have to register there. Since AdSense is a service from Google and the search giant allows access to all its offers with just one login, access to Gmail or Google+ is sufficient to use AdSense. Otherwise, simply register with Google.
AdSense is the largest ad network out there. This is probably due to the fact that it is relatively easy to use. With a few clicks I have created an ad and get the code that I then have to integrate into my website. The last step is certainly the most difficult for less tech-savvy users, but the requirements are actually rather low compared to those of other networks.
When is AdSense worthwhile?
Setting up AdSense is easy. The first revenue comes as soon as the site has generated several hundred or a few thousand page views. However, income in this area is still at an exceptionally low level. That’s why I advise most publishers against integrating advertising until their page views are over 10,000 per month. During this time, your focus should be on creating content and building a readership. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but they are usually very obvious and can only be found on websites that are specifically designed for monetization. Many colleagues go even further than me and advises against advertising on websites that generate fewer than 1,000,000 page views a month.
Many bloggers and website operators justify the early integration of advertising with the running costs of the website. In my experience, however, these are always well below what your own time is worth. The first few years of building a blog, for example, can certainly make more money washing dishes than doing advertisements. Another argument against the inclusion of advertising banners is that they clearly indicate a commercial project – with all legal consequences.
These are the Basics of AdSense Income CPC, CPM, and CPE
If the banners have now been placed on your own page, you can practically start making money. However, to find out where the money comes from and why it is trickling rather than bubbling, you need a certain basic knowledge. In the following I answer the most common questions that I am asked in workshops and by customers.
Where do the banners come from?
With AdWords, Google operates a mirrored service to AdSense. Here advertisers can create advertisements for their products and services and have them delivered both in the Google search results and in the display network (i.e., the AdSense publishers). With AdWords it is now also possible to place advertisements on specific pages.
What is the payout on AdSense?
Regardless of the remuneration model (see below), Google AdSense pays 68% of the income to the publishers, i.e., us website operators. That is actually a rather high proportion in this market. Google determines the income via a kind of auction model in which all banners in question compete with one another. However, the winner is not only determined on the basis of price, but also more and more on quality.
In the end, of course, Google is concerned with the performance of a banner, which results from the click price and the click rate. So, a cheaper banner can generate more revenue with a higher click rate than a more expensive one with lower click rates. Decisive for this are many factors that Google does not reveal to us, but which are probably somewhere between the topic of the website, the content of the banner and the interests of the visitor.
What is CPC?
I believe that at the beginning of the Google AdSense service there was only the CPC, the cost-per-click model – that is, the payment per click on an ad. For publishers, this form of advertising means that their income does not depend on the number of times a banner is displayed, but on the click behavior of the visitors. A badly placed banner, for example in the lower sidebar, therefore, generates less sales than a large banner in the main content, although both are displayed with the same frequency. On the other hand, you also know what you can optimize to increase AdSense income. You should absolutely refrain from clicking yourself.
What is CPM?
CPM (cost-per-mille, in German also TKP – thousand contact price) is a model in which the remuneration is flat-rate per 1000 page views. This type of bid can be selected by the advertiser on AdWords, so we cannot influence it. If used correctly, the CPM model has the advantage that it can be used to monetize advertising spaces for which the CPC model does not work well.
What is CPE?
The cost-per-engagement bid type is so new that AdSense’s documentation doesn’t include it. What is meant is the remuneration for actions that are to be defined by the advertiser and carried out by the visitor. This could be a click on an expanding banner, playing a video ad, or filling out a form on the landing page. The first AdSense earnings I saw for this bid type were incredibly attractive. However, these forms of advertising are much more penetrative than others, so it first has to be shown whether visitors will accept them. However, in the worst-case scenario, CPE ads can result in even more people blocking ads.
Examples of AdSense Income:
It is thanks to Peer Wandiger that there is a kind of AdSense benchmark in German-speaking countries with which everyone can compare. However, the websites and figures from his October report show one thing very clearly: Anyone who wants to earn money with their website uses AdSense either at the beginning or later only as a supplement. The really high-income potential lies in other, specialized advertising programs or in marketing your own services and products.
In the English version of this article, I analyzed a few English pages in more detail. The conclusion here is a little better, because in my opinion the pages are even more optimized for advertising than the examples that Peer Wandiger cites for the German-speaking area. However, my impression is that US sites in particular are much more open with their income than Germans and that the English sites listed are also larger. The basic statement about AdSense’s position on other programs remains the same.
AdSense Income Potential
Should I give AdSense a chance or not now? The previous paragraph is of course not a satisfactory answer, especially for beginners. However, in order not to end with only one “depends on it”, I am now listing a more concrete grouping of income potentials by website topic, based on my observations and experiences from customer orders corresponds.
$ 0.40 -$ 1.50 CPM for general content
Anyone who operates a website with general, unspecific topics such as a blog with private content cannot expect the highest income potential with AdSense. This also includes websites with returning visitors such as forums or any kind of tools. The reason for this is that products are not specifically advertised, and visitors do not visit the website based on product information. In addition, returning visitors are more resistant to advertising.
$ 2.5 -$15 CPM for editorial content
In addition to classic news offers, the editorial pages also include themed blogs. The CPM is significantly higher here because the ratio of page views to visitors is lower than for user-generated content or forums from the upper group. Visitors not only read the information offered more intensively but are also more inclined to click for more information at the end. Of course, this is especially true if this additional information also fits the content. However, it is precisely this relationship between content and advertising offer that explains the large range of AdSense revenue that is possible here.
Thirteen dollars and higher for product-related websites
It is no surprise that product-related websites with content such as test reports, comparisons or specific dealer contacts have the highest sales potential – not only with AdSense. Anyone who lures visitors interested in buying to their site from the outset must hide their banners well or have made a poor product selection in order to generate significant advertising income.
Add or expand AdSense?
My explanations may have dissuaded one or the other from AdSense. But exactly the opposite is my intention. Used on the right website and in the right place, AdSense has more potential than you might think. Especially those who cannot fall back on specialized advertising partners have the opportunity with AdSense to be able to integrate suitable advertisements thanks to the clever algorithms. Website operators should also play with the positioning of ads in order to find the best settings for them.
Finally, I would like to remind you once again of the size of websites, from which monetization only makes sense. According to my 10,000 pageviews requirement for monetization mentioned above, most of the pages named by Peer Wandiger are dropped. This is also borne out by their low advertising income. Those who do not at least reach this still low bar should continue to work more on content than on advertising or think openly about whether they can even make money with their hobby.
For more information on understanding how to start a web business you can go to www.DiverseInvesting.com or purchase The Road Map to Investing on Amazon.
Author: J. W. Sabastian
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