What is WidgetBucks?

WidgetBucks is a FREE ad service that allows us to make money from our blogs - similar to Google AdSense. (Read What is Google AdSense? if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) WidgetBucks is the new kid on the block.



No, not the New Kids on the Block.

What's great about WidgetBucks is that right off the bat they give you $25 just for signing up! You can't beat that with a stick.

WidgetBucks differs from Google AdSense in that it offers up “widgets” for products like: electronics, books, health and beauty, etc. It does not crawl your content, but it is customizable and they even recently fixed some slowness issues - so it looks like they're heading in the right direction.

Unlike Google AdSense, you only need to make $50 to get paid (AdSense is $100). Payments are expected to arrive in 45 days (keyword: expected - we'll all know if WidgetBucks is the real deal come December). And they already start you off with $25 just for signing up - so you're half way there!

Some of the sites in their network include: Target, Best Buy, and Amazon.com. All early indications point to WidgetBucks becoming a major player in the ad game.

In my next article I will show you how to easily implement WidgetBucks on your Blogger blogs. But for now, head on over and sign up for a FREE account. Tell 'em Earn Money to Blog sent cha.

What are Google AdSense Channels!

Google AdSense is a great free ad service that will help you make money online with your blog. But in order to blog for money you have to know all the different options that are available like: AdSense for Search and AdSense images to name just a couple. It’s also important to know where you should place your AdSense ads to maximize your money making potential. But how do you know which ads are making you money and which aren’t? That’s where Google AdSense Channels comes in.

Google AdSense Channels

An AdSense Channel is simply a way to track the performance of your ads. For example, let’s say you’re using two different AdSense ads on your blog – AdSense Ad Unit and an AdSense skyscraper image. One day you log into your AdSense account and find out that you’ve made $5.00 from 10 clicks. Well guess what? You have no idea which ads your readers clicked and therefore have no way of optimizing your blog to become the money making machine you’re dreaming of!

With AdSense channels, you can create (for example) a 180 x 600 text only ad and assign it to a channel you call “Right Vertical Ad”. When you log into your account and see that you’ve made $5.00 you can easily figure out which ads were the moneymakers because you split them out by channels. So now you’ll have a channel called “Right Vertical Ad” that will tell you how many people clicked, what your click-through rate was, and how much you earned.

AdSense Channels for Multiple Sites

In addition to tracking individual ads on your blog, Google AdSense Channels will allow you to track multiple sites as well! So if you have a blog about fancy cars and another about video games, you can create channels that will track both sites. Now you’ll not only know which ads are more profitable… but also which site!

Hopefully you enjoyed this introduction to Google AdSense Channels. It’s a topic that’s extremely important to your success online. It will allow you to track and tweak your blog so you can make money online the right way -- by being smart.

In my next article, I’ll discuss how you can easily create channels so you can start tracking your ad performance right away.

Google AdSense Terms and Conditions abridged version

In my last article you learned how easy it was to sign up for Google AdSense so we can try and generate some money from our blog. But before we go haphazardly placing our Google AdSense ads, it’s important that we understand their TOS.

Generally Terms and Conditions are quite boring. We often scroll down the long page and hit “Yeah I accept, sure I read your blah blah blah”. If that’s you (like most) then this post is for you – it’s important we understand the TOS so we don’t get our AdSense accounts banned.

Invalid Clicks

Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT click on your own ads. Do NOT encourage others to click on your ads. If your intentions were to setup your blog so your Aunt Peggy can sit on your site all day and click your ads – forget it! You’re going to get your account terminated.

Do NOT encourage your audience to click on your ads. Attempting to be slick with your ad links and say, “click these ads” or “support us” is a good way to get the boot.

Ad Placement

There are several types of ads that Google AdSense allows you to place on your site. We’ll learn more about these as we go but for now, remember these guidelines:

1.) Up to three ad units may be displayed on each page.
2.) A maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes on a page.
3.) Up to three link units per page.
4.) Up to three referral units per page, in addition to the options above.

This site is dedicated to generating money from our blog legitimately. This is a great program and the fact that it’s free really presents an excellent opportunity for everyone. Let’s keep it that way.

Remember, this is an abridged version that touches on the highlights so you don’t fall asleep while drinking your coffee. But I encourage you to read the Terms and Conditons and the Program Policies in their entirety so you’re equipped with the proper knowledge. Heck, I’ll even provide the links on my sidebar in addition to this blog so we can all stay informed!

Google AdSense Program Policies
Google AdSense Online Standard Terms and Conditions

Google AdSense Account Setup

If you've been following along, you have a good idea what AdSense is. You're also familiar with blogging and have setup your very own at Blogger. It's time to get signed up with Google's Adsense and hopefully start making some money!

Like everything up to this point (minus your personal time) AdSense is 100% free. So head on over to the Google AdSense home page.



Now simply fill out the fields provided and voila!



Google states that they can take anywhere from 2 days to a week for approval, but my experience was quite quick - a couple of hours. Google's AdSense Help Center does a great job of answering all frequently asked questions. Now that we have an account we'll be able to put the ads on our blog page!

What is AdSense?

In the Getting Started series of articles (links on the right side of this page, if you missed them - shame on you), we learned a little bit about AdSense. We learned that Google AdSense could help us earn money from blogging. You probably saw the words money and blogging and feverishly read on to other articles, but hold on cowboy (or cowgirl)! This isn't a get rich quick scheme. We need to educate ourselves and today we're going to do just that.

AdSense is a free Google program that allows site owners to earn money from ads. What's great about these ads is that they're targeted to your content. The AdSense actually "crawls" your text and from there determines what ads are best suited for your website. How cool is that? So if you have a blog about cars, well you're going to get ads targeting car subjects.

Well that's fine and dandy but how do we generate money off of these ads?

I'm glad you asked. The answer is both simple and complex. I'll keep this article simple and save the complex for the future. But in a nutshell - you make money from people who click on your AdSense ads. That's it! Really!

But users have to purchase something on the advertising site before we make money, right?

No! That's what makes this program wonderful. Google's business model is brilliant - they help people make money, while making more money in the process. In layman terms: the advertisers pay Google to promote; when a user from your site clicks their ad the advertiser wins (they get additional traffic, possibly more business), Google wins (they get a big piece of the advertisers money they used to promote), and we win (we get a small piece but it's a piece that will add up over time... more on that in future articles).

There's a reason why Google is the Internet giant and AdSense is a perfect example. It's a snowball effect that helps all participants involved: Google, the advertiser, and most importantly… You!

Today we learned that AdSense, makes sense.

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