Gaining some AdSense

Let’s get some AdSense...and probably even some cents if we're lucky!

I started this blog on September 6, 2008 and found an interesting system called AdSense.

What is AdSense? 
Apparently, it’s a way to make your site make money. Google puts ads on your website or blog and you generate revenue from it. I don’t know where they get the ads from, who sells them or who purchases them. I am currently learning how to choose what kind of ad box I want on my page and how to optimize performance and increase revenues. Woohoo!

The first thing you do is apply for AdSense. After being approved to use AdSense on your website or blog you’ll receive an email telling you so and giving you a link to your dashboard. Click on the tab AdSense and then Get Ads to find AdSense for Content.

Next step is to decide how you want your ad to appear. Using Opera’s color picker widget I found the colors that are used here at my blog. I decided to use the great orange you see in the top left hand corner as my background for the ads. I figured it’s an eye-popping orange and sure to get attention. Next I chose white for the text and title and attempted to choose a gray for the link but, alas, my skills are deemed dismal because I couldn’t get that to work. Settling for black links works by me. I’ll try again later I think.

Anywho who, moving on. 

Channels.
Apparently channels are something to help you see how well your ads are doing. My brain has not quite wrapped itself around how this happens but I bet you $50 I’m about to find out in T minus five minutes.

*Five minutes later* 

You owe me $50 and I don’t accept Paypal payments. Visa or Mastercard only, 0.01% discount if you pay in cash. 

Channels
Channels are used to compare how one ad style compares to other ad styles. You can create a channel to tell you how much more or less revenue your leader board ad is generating than your box style ad, which enables you to make an informed decision of whether or not to keep both types, get rid of one, or ad another of the kind that is doing well. I love how I’m so vague…bah on the English language.

I have decided to not create any channels at this moment in time, it is definitely something I will revisit. Moving forward…

So I name the ad box and now I get a code.

AdSense does not just publish ads to your website. You have to go to Setup and get coding to place into the HTML of the document. But wait…I didn’t write the html code for this blog, I used a template through blogger.com and chose some colors. Do I rip the code and put it into Dreamweaver to add code to the html? That sounds kind of illegal, isn’t it? How would I reload that anyways? Bah, what do I do?! I bet I can find out in four minutes, double or nothing? 

Boo, I just lost money, its definitely taking me longer than four minutes. Sad Day. I think I ought to search blogger.com website instead of looking for the answer through AdSense website.

All of this to discover that blogger.com has already set all this up for me. I wish I could have used the orange background though. I wonder if I create my own code instead of using a template would I be able to have more options in deciding exactly how my ads would look. I’m certain that is true. 

But for all other html websites you just copy the code and paste into your document. 
Yes, I’m feeling pretty stupid. But it’s all part of learning, which is what I’m here for!