Increase your CTR through better visibility

We had a series of articles at rakeshsgk.blogspot.com on increasing the CTR. You can find them under CTR Wednesdays.

Saw a similar series at the Inside Adsense blog recently. They have come up with a set of videos that are easy to understand. Have a look at them here.

My Helper Turns 10!

In 1998, Larry and Sergey started a search engine which soon grew so big that it could easily touch the sky! It's just 10 years since Google hit the internet. Google has conquered the net with all sorts of innovative stuff right from Google Earth to Maps and more.

One of the reasons I love Google is 'cos they provide a lot of free services like Analytics, Trends and so on. Any one could have easily charged a handsome amount for these!

Hey I haven't missed Adsense! How can any blogger miss that?
That's yet another reason to love Google.

So here's wishing Google a very happy B day!

Here's the official Google blog post on this.

Second Adsense Account on a New PC?

Punit asks:
If we get banned from 1 PC then is it possible that we cant make new acct for AdSense from that PC because the IP address is traced if so what to do to change the IP address of PC so that they get different IP address?

Answer:
Once banned, you are not supposed to make a new account and a ban would hold good for a life time. So it’s always advised not to go against the ToS. It’s like killing the goose that lays golden eggs. As a publisher, you need to think long term and avoid violations for short term benefits.

You can go through the following answers to get more insight into this:

Adsense Account Disabled - New Account?

Sidharth asks:
My account has been disabled :( today itself and I know that I performed something that was against Google TOS (because then I didn’t know everything about Google adsense).

I know chances of recovering back is almost 0. So what I want now is that I know full rules and TOS now and won’t engage in any sorts of click exchanges. Now my main question is I know that once banned address cant be used, but if I use my relatives name and address and operate the account from my computer (i.e. same IP which I earlier used for adsense), will that cause any harm to my new account ?

Answer:
I appreciate you honesty in that point that you admit of having done something wrong. My friend, if only you had taken this decision (won’t engage in any sorts of click exchanges) a bit earlier, the story would have been very different. As you already know, a ban would hold good for a life time and Google is very particular about this. For answering this, I assume that you are using your relative’s account on your sites and operate it from your PC.

Google uses a set of online and offline methods for invalid click detection / prevention. The online methods include a series of filters that filters out invalid clicks on a real time basis. The offline methods include both automated as well as manual methods. Google also have systems that can detect multiple accounts opened by the same person. Google does every bit it can, to uphold the credibility of Adwords program.

Boiling all these into a one liner would mean that Google would vigilantly look at this: “Is an account a threat to Advertisers?” If it is, they will ban the account; if its not, the account will stand.

Not much more on this is publicly available.

Related: Adsense account disabled?

Traffic Exchange with Adsense?

Marco Esposito asks:
Thank you for your tips!
I'm a Italian blogger. Which of these promotional activities are eligible in a web site with Google AdSense?

-publish banner of traffic's exchange
-publish a Blogroll
-publish a "My blog friends" list
-publish comments with the 'nofollow'
-publish gadget as MyBlogLog widget or similar

Thank you!

Answer:
Glad to know that you found the tips useful.

Let’s go right to your answer. You can use all except the first one on a website with Google Adsense. Let’s take a deeper look.

Advertisers appreciate only quality to their websites and so does Google. The kind of traffic that a traffic exchange program brings may not be converting. This is an excerpt about traffic exchange programs from the official Google Adsense blog: “While these services may help advertise your site, we don't recommend using them, as they may also result in similar invalid activity.”

Placing a Blogroll, links to blogs under My blog friends, comments with (or without) 'nofollow' and publishing a gadget as MyBlogLog widget or similar is not going to hurt your Adsense. That said, you are responsible for the content on your site and must take care not to add content that goes against the ToS.

Domain Hosting for Your Blog

Kranthi asks:
I like to start a new blog on careers category, Can you advice a good Domain Hosting service which also allows the banners like Shaadi, ICICI and many more. I will be waiting for your reply.

Answer:
You wait is over and here is the answer to your question.

If you are looking for a custom domain name (like Kranthisblog.com) for your Blogger blog (say, Kranthisblog.blogspot.com), you needn’t necessarily have a hosting. You can just register a domain name and use the CNAME in the control panel of your domain to map it to your blog. Now when someone type Kranthisblog.com in their browser, you will get your blog shown to them. Is that all you wanted?

In the above arrangement, all your files physically reside on the Blogspot. If actually want those files to be on your server, you would need your own domain and a host. For this you again have two options.

Free hosts
You can use the 000webhost [affiliate link]. They provide you get 350 MB of disk space and 100 GB bandwidth and there is no kind of advertising on your pages.

Paid Hosts
If you are looking for a paid host, you may use any of the following. What you need to look at it, how much bandwidth they provide, how friendly their services are and how much space you want to have. Bluehost and hostgator are good ones. Their packages start at around 5$ a month if you order for 3 years at a go.

Classic Template Against Google ToS?

Aniket asks:
I'm Using Classic Template (I got it from one blog) for my blog; there I can’t edit the layout. I got only one place to put the AdSense Add. Is there any way by which I can put more Ads on it? And is using modified template against the terms of AdSense?

Answer:
The classic template is mainly plain html. You can navigate to Template > Edit html and directly paste the ad code into the template.

Remember to take a copy of the template before you make any changes so that you have a backup if something goes wrong. Classic templates don’t provide a ‘Download Full Template’ option, so you can directly copy the code for taking the backup.

Using a modified template has got nothing to do with the Adsense ToS. But you need to take care that what you have on your template and content for that matter is in accordance with the ToS. Say if you have some hate speech on your modified template, that’s not accepted.

There are a lot of new blogger templates available for free on the net. I would recommend you to upgrade to the layout style so that editing the templates are so easy and the number of available templates are much more.

Bank Charges for Adsense Check Collection

Mudit asks:
Can you tell me the charges for clearing an Adsense check in India and how many days does it take. Also which is the best bank for it? Well, I just know that adsense checks are drawn on Citi bank. And please can you mail me the answer also.

Answer:
The best bank to get the checks cleared is the Citi bank. They don’t charge since the check is drawn on them. I have collected the below info from the website of some common banks and here is it for you. You need to verify with your bank however.

Citi Bank
FREE

SBI
Collection of cheques Upto Rs 5000/- Rs 25/-
Rs 5000/- to Rs 20000/- Rs 3.50 per thousand Min. Rs 35/-
Above Rs 20000/- Rs 3/- Per thousand with Min. Rs 75/-and Max. Rs 12,500/- +out of Pocket expenses

ICICI
Rs.3.50 per thousand rupees or part thereof, subject to a minimum of Rs.50 and maximum of Rs.15,000, plus other bank’s charges at actuals

HSBC
For location with an HSBC branch 0.3% (Min. Rs.50)

HDFC
Re. 1 per 1000 (Min Rs. 50)

Please subscribe via email so that you can know it when your question gets answered!

100,000 per Month From Adsense?

Ramesh asks:
I want to earn 1 lakh per month in Google adsense. What should I do?
Pls tell me so that I can work hard in that way.
one lakh per month from adsense
Answer:
This is an interesting question from Ramesh. Yes it’s possible to earn a lakh per month from Adsense. Let’s see what it takes!

I don’t know what kind of website you have, nor do I know your traffic figures. Let’s assume a few things to proceed.

At present your
CTR = 2%
Page views per visit = 2
CPC = $0.1

Here we go...
Say you have 3000 visitors per day at present, then
Earnings = 3000 x page views per user x CTR x CPC
= 3000 x 2 x .02 x 0.1
= $12
= $360 a month
= Rs 14400 a month [1 USD = Rs 40]

Now, how can we increase this to Rs 100,000 a month?
There are two sets of things that we can work on, one set that can be achieved almost instantaneously and another, which takes time.

Instant Increase
There are a set of things that you can do to increase your earnings instantly. They are
Increasing your CTR
This can almost be achieved instantly by choosing better placements for your ads, the right colours for them and the right format. We have a series of articles on increasing your CTR published every Wednesday. By following those, let’s say you manage to get a CTR of 4%.

Increasing the number of page views per visit
By using effective internal linking and providing catchy headlines, you can increase the page views per user to great extend. Let’s say you manage to make this 4 after a series of modifications on your pages.

Now let’s have a quick calculation based on your new figures.

CTR = 4%
Page views per visit = 4
CPC = $0.1

Here we go.
Let your traffic remain the same. Ie; 3000 visitors per day, then
Earnings = 3000 x page views per user x CTR x CPC
= 3000 x 4 x .04 x 0.1
= $48
= $1440 a month
= Rs 57600 a month [1 USD = Rs 40]


Gradual Increase
Now that you earn Rs 57600 a month for your present traffic, there are a set of things that you can use to make it touch the Rs 1 lakh mark. They are

Search Engine Rankings
You can do a lot of optimization on your pages and get some better rankings. Even the traffic I have mentioned above is not possible to acheive without a good search engine presence.

Traffic
Just think that you if you are able to double your traffic, you will almost double your income too. It could easily touch the 1 lakh mark. But it’s not that easy to simply double your stable existing traffic.

CPC
Find the keywords that are better paying than the one we used ($0.1). There are such keywords in most industries. You can write pages on such keywords, add these pages to your existing site, drive existing traffic to these pages and better monetize. You learn how to use high paying keywords from this article.

Now let’s recalculate with an increased traffic and a better CPC (slightly increased).

CTR = 4%
Page views per visit = 4
CPC = $0.15

Say your new traffic is 3750 per day visitors at present, then
Earnings = 3750 x page views per user x CTR x CPC
= 3750 x 4 x .04 x 0.15
= $90
= $2700 a month
= Rs 108,000 a month [1 USD = Rs 40]

And Yes, you have made it!

While this seems so simple on paper, it may not be that easy.
All the best!

NB: I don’t earn this much! :)

Free Web Host for You!

Suri asks:
Please let me know any free web hosting service where I can customize my webpage using html code. This is completely not possible in Google pages. In Google pages, we can’t create frames, buttons etc. Pls suggest a free web hosting service with html code access for customization.


Answer:
You may use the 000webhost [affiliate link] for free hosting. They provide you get 350 MB of disk space and 100 GB bandwidth and there is no kind of advertising on your pages. That said, I haven’t used their service and can’t give you my personal experience with them.

It’s recommended to go for a free hosting if you are a newbie starting off on the internet or to host your non profit sites. Once you get a feel of how things work, you can upgrade to your own paid hosting.

Btw, GooglePages allow the use of frames. I couldn’t find a way to fully customize the pages, though.

Google Releases Web Browser: Chrome

Today, Google releases their new web browser, Google Chrome.
It's said to be highly sophisticated, fast and simple at the user interface.


They started off by thinking of a multi threaded browser but eventually grew to a multi process one, more or less having the process isolating capability of a modern Operating System. Read the full post here: Google release web Browser

Adsense application rejected? Re apply!

Ajith asks:
I just create a Blog, and put a topic about Online income on it. After that I signed up for Google adsense, but my application got rejected. They said create your own website and resubmit, and website should be active for 6 months before I can apply for Adsense. Can you tell me what the problem is? Below is the mail I got. The blog I applied with is www.investmentincomes.blogspot.com

**************************
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in Google Adsense. Unfortunately, after reviewing your application, we're unable to accept you into Google Adsense at this time.
We did not approve your application for the reasons listed below.

Issues:
- Unacceptable site content
---------------------
Further detail:
Unacceptable site content:
In order to participate in Google AdSense, publishers' websites and application information must satisfy the following guidelines:
*Your website must be your own top-level domain (www.example.com and not www.example.com/mysite).
*Your domain must have been registered and active for at least 6 months before you apply for AdSense.
*You must provide accurate personal information with your application that matches the information on your domain registration.
*Your website must contain substantial, original content.
*Your site must comply with Google AdSense program policies: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py which include Google's webmaster quality guidelines: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769#quality.

If your site satisfies the above criteria in the future, please resubmit your application and we'll review it as soon as possible.

Regards,
The Google Adsense Team
**************************

Answer:
Google is always against duplicate content and would go any extend to get rid of it. I had a quick look at your blog and found that the same content could be found on around 180 other sites on the internet. The blog has duplicate content!

Write something of your own and re apply. Give an impression that you are going to continue writing. Chances are quite high that you will be counted in! Once you get approved, please let us know about it here.

All the best!

How to earn with Google Adsense?

Raju, Swarnava and Joseph ask:

I have a blog / website and I am new to adsense. How do I go about increasing my earnings?

Answer:
This seems to be the question on every mind. Let’s have a look at the road map for earning so that you end up getting what is on your mind.

To start with, let me say that Adsense is not a “get rich quick” scheme. To earn a decent sum from adsense you need to put in effort consistently. Let’s look at the main factors that influence earnings with adsense.


Content = Traffic
Content is rightly named the 'Holly Grail' of Internet. It is so important that it can influence all other factors that affect your earnings. So take care to get it right. Keep on adding fresh unique content to your site / blog. Good content gets good back links. This takes your site high up the search engine rankings and brings you lot of quality traffic.

Type of Site you have
Since you already have a website / blog, this point may not be relevant. But it can certainly be used while you plan your next site. CTR is one of the important things when it comes to earning with Adsense or any CPC based ads for that matter. CTR differs across verticals. Sites on certain topics get high CTR while some others doesn’t. For example sites that cater to technically oriented visitors gets a lower CTR when compared to sites having general public as visitors. This because the techies are very much aware of ads and tend to ignore them. Similar is the case with forums. Forums are infamous for their notably low CTR. So, plan sites around topics that get a high CTR.

You Niche
Certain keywords pay more per click. If your site is built around such keywords, you will make money with the same number of clicks. Choosing such a topic to build a site can earn you heavy sums (if executed well). That said, it is better to go for a topic that interests you if you are thinking long term. Such a topic would keep you glued on.

Your visitor type
While adsense determines the pricing of clicks from your site, it takes into account “how useful the leads generated from your site re to the advertisers”. This is shown in the form of smart pricing. If a decent percentage of the leads you generate turn out to be useful to the advertisers, they deem your clicks valuable and you get paid well for every click. Generally sites that have visitors capable of purchasing (like grown up people) are on the safer side. The geographic location from where you get visitors can also judge the earnings.

High CTR
CTR is something that can alter your earnings almost instantaneously. There are a number of factors affecting CTR – ad placement, colors, ad format and so on. We have a set of article for improving your CTR. It’s called the CTR Wednesdays. A post on increasing the CTR is made every Wednesday. Have a look to improve your CTR.

Proxy server killing Adsense?

Abhishek Bafna asks:
I got a mail on 28th July 2008 from Google Adsense with Subject "Google Adsense Account Disabled". I was really shocked seeing it as I didn’t know what possible reason could be for disabling. I read in a forum and got to know it can be caused by invalid clicks. It’s strange for me to see these clicks, where those come from and if I publicize my site how can I protect from some users who purposefully do this?
I have made an appeal though and hope to get my queries answered and get my account to normal state.
I am IT employee working for ____ Company, whenever I update my blog I used to send email to friends to review and comment on it as it’s about technology updates or some useful information related to IT. To my dismay I see that my account is disabled for which I am not aware what possible reason could be.

My company uses proxy servers to connect to the internet making it seem to the outside world that all traffic is coming from one IP. Can this be the reason?

Answer:
Protecting Adsense
Google has sophisticated ways of monitoring each and every adsense account. These systems are aimed at maintaining the advertisers’, publishers’ and Google’s own interests. But when it comes to protecting your adsense account, you need to be vigilant and be aware of what is going on. You can read this answer -a solution for click fraud and this post on making adsense competition safe.
Your case may be due to invalid clicks. As for the source of the clicks, we need to have a deeper look at your logs. It may be that your peers might have unknowingly clicked regularly too.

Proxy Server vs Adsense
All traffic from within a proxy server supported network would seem to be from the proxy’s IP. But Google’s systems, I believe, are sophisticated enough to know this. How monetizing the leads (visitors who click on the ads) generated from your site are. Are they of any good to the advertisers? Advertisers have access to numerous reports on Adwords by which they can easily spot the site which sends good leads and the ones that are not. Even if a site sends leads from a proxy supported network, it can’t harm you adsense if the leads it send can do what the advertiser want’s them to.
All said, always think long term and go hand in hand with the Google ToS.

Are article directory submissions really helpful?

Deeksha Paliwal asks:
You have done a really nice job on your blog and it is also very much helpful for SEO and adsense purpose. I am a new comer in this field and I started my work at home and have so much financial problem that I m not able to take any kind of own domain and hosting service. Are article directory submissions really helpful to get visitor on blog and site and is this the best way of SEO?

I have an adsense account since 1 and half months and till now I earned only 3$. I am not getting enough visitors to my blog based on online shopping. Please have a look of my blog: www.onlinebabyproducts.cc.cc and please provide me feedback and what should I do to promote my blog.

Answer:
Thanks Deeksha for the feedback on this blog. Glad that you found the info helpful. Before we go into answering, I would like you to read this post where I wrote about creating a website with zero investment.

Article Submission for SEO
There are a lot of article directories out there and the numbers are ever growing. People are flooding them with well written (and not so well written) articles. What might be the reason for this trend?

Yes! This is one of the best ways to some quality back links, better rankings and better traffic. In addition to the search engine dominance of these articles, you also will get a decent flow of traffic (from the RESOURCE BOX) if your articles are well written and some ezine publisher chooses it to be published in his ezine (or web site). While this is one of the ways in which SEO is done, this is just the tip of the SEO ice berg! This is one of the many steps involved.

Promoting your Blog
You are a very new publisher and you blog is new too. During the first few months of blogging, you shouldn't look at your income. Build content and income will follow.

I guess there’s something wrong with the URL. Pls leave a comment with the right URL. I don’t review blogs here SEO wise, what I can offer are some quick tips on your ads.

For promoting your blog you can read this article on making your blog better.

Make a website with ZERO spending?

Dr Sachin Goyal asks:
Is there anyway to make my own website online without spending anything?

Answer:
This question is part of a set of 5 question asked by Dr. Sachin Goyal. You can find all of them here.
Yes, there is! There is in fact a hand full of methods to start your own website without spending a dime. Let’s look at the most popular ones.

Blogs
Most blogs available out there are free to join. Start a Blog and start posting. A blog provides all what is required to get started and start earning. Once you feel that you have got what it takes to make money online, you can always upgrade to your own website / domains. The advantages of blogs include:
1. Simplicity and easiness to handle
2. Search engine friendliness
3. Connecting with readers using the comment option.
4. Returning loyal visitors.
5. They provide unlimited band width
5. They are free.
Examples: Blogger, Wordpress

Free Sub-domain Sites
Some sites freely allow you to make sub domains on them. A site made on a sub domain from Google pages would look like yoursite.googlepages.com. Such sites too have their share of advantages that include:
1. Highly customizable
2. Provides file (other than images) uploading
3. Most provide unlimited band width
4. They are free too.
Examples: Geocities, Google Pages

Free Hosts
You may use the 000webhost [affiliate link] for free hosting. They provide you get 350 MB of disk space and 100 GB bandwidth and there is no any kind of advertising on your pages. Their terms and conditions say that they may suspend your site at any time. That said, I haven’t used their service and can’t give you my personal experience with them.

Make good use of them and get started to make your online presence felt!

What is Link Exchange?

Dr. Sachin Goyal & Rajpal asks:
What is link exchange? Is it legal and can I use it on my blog with Adsense?

Answer:
This question is also part of a set of 5 question asked by Dr. Sachin Goyal. You can find all of them here.

Link Exchange
Link exchange is a widely used method for getting traffic, search engine rankings and high page rank (PR).

Consider two websites A and B. Now if website A has a link on it that points to website B and website B has a link on it that points to website A, then this is called a two way link exchange. Similarly, there is also a three way link exchange.

The most valued links are one way links. In this case the website A gets a link from website B, but doesn’t link back.

Google Engineer Matt Cutts recommends a webmaster to make other sites in the same industry aware of their own site. This can be achieved by link exchange. However take care not to do it extensively with a motto to push up your PR, you may be flagged as spam. Also beware of linking to bad neighbours, this can do mare harm that not linking at all!

Is Googlecashcow fake?

Dr Sachin Goyal asks:
I have some queries about Google adsense. I will be really obliged if u could answer them.
1. What is the difference between Google adsense and Googlecashcow?
2. Some people say that Googlecashcow is a "fake" product, is it true?
3. What is the meaning of link exchange?
4. Is there anyway to make my own website online without spending anything?
5. How is all this connected to making money?

I am sorry for putting so many questions here. I tried a lot of internet search but couldn't find to the point answers and ended up getting totally confused.

We also have Mathi asking a similar question on Googlecashcow.

Answer:
First of all don't feel sorry Sachin, for asking so many question! I'm here to answer what you ask!

Let’s split the answer over a set of posts as you have more than one question. In this post I will answer the first two and the last one. You can find the answers to the other two by clicking on them.

Google Adsense vs Googlecashcow
Google Adsense which is the most reputed advertising program on the internet today an advertisement serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image, and video advertisements on their websites. These advertisements are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. Adsense is free to join and website / blog owners (publishers) can use it to monetize their site’s traffic very well. Once you join Adsense, you can get a small piece of adsense code that when used on your website / blog will display ads that are served by Google. When a visitor (at a publisher’s web site) clicks on these ads, the publisher gets paid.

I do not have any personal experience with Googlecashcow. Their website is down at this time too. Many people think that this product is from Google, if you thought that too, then you have seriously mistaken it! Googlecashcow is from some local vendor and is in NO way affiliated to Google.

Adsense on Software Crack Website?

Rock asks:
I want to create a blog for software and games which will contain some the full version software including some cracks / keygens or serials. So I want to know if Google allows adsense along side cracks / keygen or cracked software. Because when I first applied for adsense, I made a site for software with lots of full versions software in it, but my application was rejected. But later on I have seen lots of sites which have software with cracks but still use adsense. I hope you understood my question. I will be hoping to get my answer soon…


Answer:
Though placing ads on software / game review sites are perfectly accepted, Google prohibits the use of Adsense on sites with hacking / cracking related content. Also using adsense with copy righted content for which you do not have permissions to host is a strict no-no. Providing serials or key gens can invite other burdens too.

The fact that some other publisher is using it on such sites is not in any case an excuse for violating the TOS. It’s a matter of time before Google flushes out these sites from the Adsense program.

Hope that answers your question and brings an end to your long wait!

Also have a look at other things that can get you banned from adsense.

Would I be paid anything? Or simply nothing?

Clement asks:
My doubt may sound a bit odd. But I need an answer. Will I get money only if my visitors click on the ads? Shouldn't I be paid for publishing those ads in my site? If a million people visit my site and none of them click, would I be paid anything? Or simply nothing?

I'm anxiously waiting for your answer.

Answer:
You have asked this question at the right time, I just answered a related question on CPM based ads. You can go through it to aid better understanding.

There are two kinds of ads that Adsense serves:
CPC based ones (Cost-per-click)
CPM based ones (Cost-per-1000-impressions)

The CPC based ads will pay you only if your visitors click on them. With CPM based ads, you get paid (though small) for just displaying them on your site. So if you have CPM based ads and a million hits, you will get paid!

Pls comment for any clarification.

Distinguishing CPC based ads from CPM based ads

Sidharth asks:
1. How do we distinguish between cost-per-click ads and cost-per-1000 impressions ads?
2. In case of cost per thousand impressions ads, how do we get paid? I mean, after 1000 impressions do we get some money into our account automatically?
3. What if I want to select only cost per 1000 impressions type of ads?

Answer:
Here are your answers.
1. You can’t distinguish (at least by documented means) between CPC / CPM based ads. Thinking that only image ads are CPM based is not true. There are also text ads that are CPM based. Advertisers are given the choice to make there ads either CPM based or CPC based.

2. CPM based ads generate revenue when ever they are displayed. The revenue generated would though be very small.

3. In order for a CPM based ad to appear on your site, it has to produce an effective CPM (perform) greater than the sum of the individual text ads that would otherwise appear. Google has an ad serving system that serves the maximum performing ads. So if you ads are not getting clicked by your large traffic, the ad serving program may try switching your ads to CPM based ones.

Alternately, you can mail the adsense team to serve you CPM based ads only.

$3 Keyword paying 50cents?

Adeel asks:
Few days ago I found a keyword paying more than 1 us dollar per click (if clicked by visitor it should have given 3 dollars) but it’s giving me half a dollar when clicked by visitors. The blog is new and has only 4 posts till now. Can you tell me why it’s not paying me maximum?

Answer:
The $3 that was shown against a keyword is what advertisers are willing to pay for that keyword and not what you will get when someone click on an ad (related to that keyword)

Advertisers will be bidding for the first position for a particular keyword. When the number of advertisers bidding for a keyword increase, the bid values increase too, pushing it (the keyword) into the high paying league.

When an advertiser pays $3, you should be aware that a portion of it will go to Google and only what is remaining is paid to you. As for now, Google hasn’t published the percent that they take.

Again, there is something called smart pricing that comes into picture in this case. This depends on how useful (to the advertiser) the leads you send to the advertisers’ sites are. If you can send more visitors who buy (or does something that an advertiser wants) to their site, they will be willing to pay more for each of your visitors. This will highly increase you earnings.
Stay tuned while we come up with an article on smart pricing!

Time taken for relevant ads to appear?

Ajith Reddy asks:
I have created some posts related to Adsense keywords.
How much time will it take for the ads related to that Keywords to appear?

Answer:
You will start getting ads that are related to your content soon after your sites gets crawled by the Google bot. After you place ad code on a page, the bot will crawl it as soon as it is free. This can be instantaneous or may take up to a couple of hours.

You can also use Section targeting for giving emphasis to certain areas on your page. Knowing how adsense works will prove to be an added advantage.



How to Contact Adsense?

Mohan asks:
Please tell me if I am banned for invalid click activity or not. Where should I contact and what should I ask them?
Will they ban users for having multiple advertising programs like adsense? As soon as I pasted the code of a different advertising program (Pay per play) I got banned immediately the day after. Quite amazing! And all of my sites were genuine sites with 0 invalid clicks and spamming.
P.S: I didn’t receive any emails regarding the ban as well.

Answer:
I would like to know if you are able to see Google ads on your site. If yes, you are not banned. Also, they will send an email to users getting banned. Since you haven’t got that either, you probably may not be banned. Anyways, I CANNOT confirm this, only the Adsense guys can!

You need to contact them (Adsense Support) through this form or email them at adsense-support AT google.com with your query. You may tell them that you are not able to log into your account (as you told in the scrap).

And using other programs that have adsense-look-alike ads is against the ToS and this may get you in trouble.

Pls tell me if your ads are still visible (as comments)

Solution for Click Fraud?

Robert McDaniels asks:
I don’t want to worry all time thinking of getting banned due to click fraud. I have in mind to program a server side script that after a click on the adsense, remove the adsense for the user that generate the click, but it requires that I change the Google Adsense code! (And this, I know, is a violation of the TOS). So, is there a solution for click fraud?
If my competitor makes a cache of my page and makes 100 clicks, how I can defender myself?
Why doesn’t Google change the TOS introducing, simply:"from an IP, only the first click in a day are considered"!
Thank you and congratulations for your blog!


Answer:
Thanks Robert, for your feedback on this blog.

If you already know that your competition is clicking on your ads for getting you banned, it’s high time that you closely follow your stats (reports in adsense). Keep an eye on your CTR and watch out for any unusual activity. If you find that something is wrong, inform it to the adsense team through this form.

Google is well aware of this and they are doing there best to protect the interest of their advertisers. These clicks will not be counted in your earnings. However you can report it using the above form.

And finally, if Google had introduced such a phrase in their ToS, many valid clicks would not have been counted and would have brought loss to Google and publishers alike.

Tip: You can read also read How to get banned without even knowing about it?

What can I do to make my blog interesting?

Kumaran asks:
1. What can I do to make my blog interesting?
2. If I click my own ads what will happen?
3. How do I place high paying ads on my website?


Answer:
You can follow the tips mentioned in this article on making your blog shine. Write on something that interests you and naturally what you write too will become interesting!

I assume that you mean to ask about accidental clicks that happen on your own ads. We had answered a question on accidental clicks earlier. Pls go through it. And if you meant to click your own ads for inflating your income, that would mean to be a violation of Google ToS and invite a ban!

Writing about some topic that can have high paying ads is what you should do to get high paying ads. We have whole article on how to make use of high paying keywords here. Also you can find some high paying keywords here.


Earnings: One Ad Unit vs Many

Adeel asks:
I have heard if we have only one Ad in our blog we earn more per click. Is it true??


Answer:
This is a tricky question so I thought of posting it separately from the question with which it was asked with. Hope the answer is tricky too ;)

Google Adsense shows the ads with maximum earning potential on the ad space that you provide on your site. When I say earning potential, I do not mean earnings per click.

Total Earnings = no. of clicks x Cost per click

For some ads, the number of clicks (CTR) may be high and Cost per click (CPC) may be low but still can manage to have a high earning. For some other ads, the CTR may be low and the CPC may be high but still won’t have high earnings! Now Google brings up ads that will deliver you the maximum earnings.

Now into the question, let’s take this case. You are having a long page, requiring users to scroll down the page. Now it will be always better to have ads at both ends of the text. Another example is a Forum or message board pages. It’s better to have ads between posts. All this requires you to have multiple ad units to gain maximum visibility.

Google advices to place the ad that appears first in your HTML code in the most visible position so that they can deliver the ads with maximum earning potential to it.

So in effect if (that is a big if) you can manage to place a single ad unit that is visible enough such that you have a healthy CTR, you will have a higher earnings.
Again, remember that placing 2-3 ad units will have a better chance to be visible!

How can I get highly relevant ads?

Adeel asks:
Thanks a lot for guiding me till now. I have 2 more questions:
How can I get highly relevant ads? (as the ad code is automatically placed on clicking page element (in Blogger) and then adding the adsense element)


Answer:
You are welcome Adeel. I'm looking forward to answer more of your questions here.
I’m splitting your question across two posts due to its relevance. This post has the answer to your first question. Pls find the second question on placing a single ad here.

Back to your question: Getting highly relevant ads!
Adsense relies a lot on your content for bringing you targeted ads. While you may already know this, it’s also to be noted that you need to have text based content for better targeted ads (as the crawlers are not as smart as you in understanding the images in your site!) So add a lot of content to the pages and you will get relevant ads.

You can also use section targeting to give emphasis on certain sections of your text that you find more important.

Again I would like to remind you that Google Adsense will automatically bring targeted ads to your site. That is a built-in property of Adsense and is the force behind its huge success. If you place the same piece of code on two different web sites: one about cars and the other about gardening both will still have targeted ads! Ie; the site about cars will have ads related to cars and the one about gardening will have ads about gardening!

If Adsense Account Gets Banned ?

Punit asks:
Can I make another acct. with same name & address if I get banned once? Can I have a second acct. with same address but diff name? Can I get my back banned acct?


Answer:
As per Google ToS, a person is supposed to have only one account. Once banned, the ban holds for a life time and you may not apply for a new account.

You may go for an appeal here if you get the email telling that your account is disabled. You can find the appeal form here.

In most of the cases a disabled account would NOT be reinstated. If banned, you may try some of the Adsense alternatives on your site. You can also try this work around when your adsense account gets banned.

As always, prevention is better than cure. So you may go through this article on things that can get you banned as well.

Got $1.58 a Click?

Adeel Akhter asks:
I have few more questions.
1. A net friend showed me his adsense account (by print page) he had 1.58 dollars in his account and only one AD click. I am shocked! Can you please tell me how it is possible to earn 1.58 dollars by only clicking 1 ad?
2. Please also guide me exactly what are keywords. Should we post them in our posts or are they keywords for searching?


Answer:
Welcome back Adeel. I think we have recently pretty much covered these questions. Always feel free to go through other questions asked here too.

Regarding your first question, it’s very much possible to earn $1.58 per click by using a high paying keyword. We also had a hand full of high paying keywords published here a few days back.

Now, to your second question. Keywords are those buzz words around which a page is written. For example, if you have a page written about ‘body building’, your keywords are body building and words relating to it. You can find this article on using high paying keywords useful.

If you can do it right, you will be sky rocketing your income!

Clicks with ZERO Earnings?

Rock asks:
Today when I checked my adsense account I see there were 37 page impressions with 2 clicks, but no earnings (but those clicks count) Pls tell me why these 2 clicks did not generate earnings but they were still count as clicks? This thing has happened with me before also 2/3 times.

Answer:
Welcome back Rock. This question has been asked quite a few times to me. Here’s your answer.

Google closely monitor all adsense publishing websites manually as well as with their sophisticated programs. Their systems can figure it when an invalid click occurs and it does n’t allow earnings for those clicks to be credited to your account. But you will still see the clicks being shown in your reports.

Although I don’t have proof, I believe that a click on a PSA can also make this happen!
Again, stay tuned for a post on How to avoid PSAs!

Launching CTR Wednesdays!

Announcing the launch of CTR Wednesdays! - a series of articles on increasing your CTR

Find the very first post in the series on Increasing your CTR through Section Targeting.

Stay tuned for more articles in this series every Wednesday!

Made For Adsense (MFA) Sites

Vinoth Thompson asks:
Hi Rakesh,
I have been really tracking you in the orkut. And I used to read all the forums, and I learnt everything from you. Thnx A Lot. Keep the Good Work.
Q 1: I read in a Forum about MFA ads (Posted by You), and I used Competitive Ad Filter. But I think I am still getting the MFA ads. Pls assist http://vinothompson.blogspot.com/

Q 2: My CTR is as low as 3% - 4 %. My visitors never click Ads. I will be Satisfied If I get around 7 % - 10 %. What should I do?????


Answer:
I’m glad that you had been tracking all my posts. Thanks a zillion for the feedback and suggestions (He had given me some suggestions on template and subscriptions) While you have already noticed some changes, you will soon find the subscription box too.

Now let’s get into the answers.
I tried loading your site; it was taking a bit too long to load. I would suggest making your home page a bit lighter.

Made For Adsense (MFA) Sites
Sometime back there were a set of people who used to make a killing by adsense-adwords arbitrage. They used to bid small at Adwords to get traffic to their sites which in turn had high paying adsense ads and very little useful / original content.

Then something better happened. Google put them below the iron hammer. Google calculated a Landing Page Quality Score for all landing pages. As you can find here, MFA sites would not be have a good score and they will have to increase their minimum bid for displaying ads. This has wiped out most MFA sites from the Adwords / Adsense network. And I didn’t spot any when I visited your page as well.

They were made to make a minimum bid (threshold) to qualify to pay more for Adwords ads as their Landing Page Quality Score was low.

Increasing your CTR
Your CTR depends on a variety of factors. This include
  • Ad position
  • Ad size
  • Ad colour
  • Type of content

Most often, many people overlook one thing that influences CTR. This one thing is the main reason behind the success of Adsense. You guessed it right!
It is the contextual nature of ads. You need to have highly relevant ads to get your users click!

A way to increase the relevancy of ads is to use section targeting. You can make the number of posts that appear on the main page limited and direct users to your individual post pages so that you get better targeted ads that gets clicked.

We will very soon have articles on Increasing the CTR, and [edited] using section targeting.

Stay tuned!

How do I use keywords?

Sidharth asks:
I have a blog registered on blogspot.com
My questions are:
1. How do I use keywords and put them into my blog. I have come across some good keywords and have a good knowledge of keywords and competitions and all... but where do I put them in my blog?
2. I keep modifying and viewing my site too often, as a result of which some impressions increase automatically. Is this ok or it violates Google TOS?
3. How do I know my Google page rank
4. Is pinging by pingomatic safe?

Answers:
Let’s start with your last question and them move up.
4. Ping-o-matic
This is a service to update different blog search engines that your blog has been updated. Using Ping-o-matic to ping the different services is perfectly ok if you use it reasonably. Never over use it or you will be flagged for spam by different servers.

3. Knowing your Page Rank
You can use the Google toolbar to know your Page Rank. In fact, Google toolbar is a must have tool for any Blogger / webmaster. It can be of great use when finding possible link partners.
You can download it here for free. There are also a lot of web based tools for checking the PR.

2. Viewing my site too often
We recently answered a similar question on “increasing your impressions”. Please go through it.

1. How do I use keywords
Write plenty of articles relating the keywords you found and then post it on your blog.
Take care to mentions these keywords once or twice per paragraph and through out the article body. But be cautious not to use it too often, this can be considered as keyword stuffing by certain search engines. Once done, you can post these articles (rich in keywords) the same way you do with other posts. Don't forget to go through the things to know while using high paying key words.

You may also want to give a post title that has the main keyword(s) in it. Keeping in mind that each post is a separate file, you only need to mix 2-3 keywords in a single post or you can dilute the keyword density. Make sure to write more posts so that you can cover more keywords.

Tips:
You may also be interested in how to make your blog shine.

What are channels?

Aditya Agarwal asks:
What are channels? How do I use it?


Answer:

Channels are a great way to track the performance of your ads. They come in handy when you got to identify where exactly the clicks that paid you came from. They are really easy to set up too. As you know, one of the things that determine your adsense success is how much you tweak your ads. Keep on experimenting to know what works for your site.

How do you do it?

It's through channels. You can make channels for separate ad units in such a way that their names can be used to identify the ad unit it corresponds to, it's colour and position. Typical channel names can be like 'site1_blue_bnr_top', 'site1_ash_link_right'. Now you can keep displaying these ads for a week or so, till you gather enough data. This will give you a better idea of which ad unit performs for you.

Try changing the colour, position and size of your ads units. Create channels for each changed unit and gather data from your adsense reports. Figure out what works for you and stick to it.

Channels can also used to do A-B split testing. I'm coming up with an article on performing A-B split testing with channels easily.
Stay tuned for it!

Accidentally Clicked Your Ads?

Harish Babu asks:
I have clicked on my own ads accidentally.
Will Google ban me? What do I do now?


Answer:

Hi friends,

I was on travel during the weekend and couldn't post. Hope you all had great weekend too!

I would like you to take care not to click on your own ads. But then, while testing your site, it can happen accidentally and Google is well aware of it. They have told in their [link: show link to Google post]blog[/link] that they are aware of this and there is no need to mail them for such an accidental click.

Google monitors your account continuously and can flag out invalid clicks. Though you may not see it in your account, the credit for such clicks are reduced. This is done so that their advertisers would not have to pay for such clicks and hence to protect their interests.

I would also mention the Adsense Preview tool here. You can use the adsense preview tool to have a look at what ads you will get on a particular page. Through the preview tool, you may also check out the sites to which your ads link to. This is a free tool from Google and you can download it here.

Suggested reading:
14 Easy ways to get banned from Adsense!

Clicking Your own Ads from Different IPs ?

Abhishek asks:
1. What if I keep on clicking ads thru diff IPs, but the same computer? Actually I have a dial up connection, so my IP address changes every time I disconnect.
2. If you have your own site, then how do you earn? I mean just through adsense or is there any other way too?

Answer:
1. I would advice you not to click on your own ads. This is against the Google TOS and you can get banned by doing so. Once banned you are banned for ever, although there are some work-arounds. There are complex algorithms that are employed to track the click patterns. Simply, it’s not worth the risk to click your own ads. Always think long term and it’s easy that many people thing to get a decent traffic. Go through this article on how to make your blog better.

2. Once you have a web site with decent traffic figures, the monetizing possibilities are endless. The simplest and quickest to set up is adsense. Keep experimenting with your ads and figure out what works best for you. Believe me; work works for another site may not work for you. But then, there are certain things like, size of the ad unit that may work well in most sites. There are a handful of similar programs, but the best one is Adsense.

Another way to monetize is through affiliate programs. You can join some affiliate program that sells stuff that would interest your users. Do a little up selling on your site and send users to the sellers sales page. When your users buy, you get a commission.

Yet another option to monetize is by selling your own products. The easiest of them is information products like ebooks. You may be an expert in your own field and if you come up with some ebook, your users will be more than eager to buy.

Hope that would help you in monetizing better.

FREE! 20 High Paying Adsense Keywords - 2nd Anniversary Special

Hey friends,

It has been exactly two years since we started off with our Orkut community for Adsense. On this occasion, I personally thank all of you for being active in the community. I also thank Syed Sinofer who did a great job as a moderator there.

Of late, I've been getting a lot of queries on high paying keywords and thought of giving away some of them here today! As promised, here comes your 20 High Paying Adsense Keywords. These keywords were randomly picked from a big list (we will post the whole list soon) and varies from 2$ to 38$.

Asbestos lawyers
Auto insurance quotes
Bankruptcy
Boat insurance
Buy email list
Car insurance rates
Direct marketing
Family law attorney
Insurance agent companies
Marketing by email
Mesothelioma attorneys
Microsoft email marketing
Opt in email list
Small business marketing
Student health insurance
Target email marketing
Term life insurance
Unemployment insurance
Web design
Work at home

TIP: Here's an article on How to Use High Paying Adsense Keywords
Stay tuned for the big list soon...

Make the best of it!
Rakeshsgk

Adsense Application Rejected ?

Nitin asks:
I'm a newbie to Adsense. I applied for an account (that was about a month ago) and my application was rejected. Reason given was

*********
We did not approve your application for the reasons listed below.
Issues:
- Page type
---------------------
Further detail:
Page type: We're unable to approve your AdSense application at this time
because we feel that your site does not comply with the Google webmaster
quality guidelines. More specifically, we believe that your site does not
add value or provide unique content.
*********
Since then, I've made many changes to my blog. But still I want to be sure of success this time around. My url is: it-jobs-careers.blogspot.com
Please suggest what exactly they are looking for to approve an application.

Answer:
As you have made many changes to your blog after you got this mail from Google, I’m not able to see anything particular that could have turned you down. They always look for content, original content (and much more) But if you have original content, then you are almost there!

One you apply for adsense, your site is first visited by a bot (an automated Google program). The bot crawls your site and reports if your site can be accepted for Adsense. If the bot gives a green chit, then you are in. Otherwise, your site will be reviewed by a representative from the adsense team. It will be them who come to the conclusion if you should be accepted or not.

Tip: Original content is the holy grail of search engines. Start a new blog at blogger, write 2-3 good articles. Keep the blog clean, Do not include words that go against the TOS and apply for Adsense. This is a sure fire way to get your Adsense application approved.

All the best
Rakeshsgk

Adsense Account Disabled?

Pratik asks:
My account was disabled. If I take a new broadband connection, can I create my account again?

Answer:
[Answer edited as per the comments below]
Your broad band connection has got nothing to do with disabling of your Adsense account. You won’t be able to re create the same account again.


A ban from Adsense holds good for a life time! So you won't be able to re-apply for Adsense. The only thing you can do is to partner with someone who already have an account and allow them to display ads on your site and get a good share of the revenue.

You can also tell some relative of yours to start an Adsense account and use it on your site! The point here is, add value to your advertisers. Do not pose a risk to them! Stay away from anything that violates the ToS.

Tip: Learn the reason for which Google disabled your account. It might be due to some TOS violation. Refrain from doing things that violate the Google TOS. Always think long term, work on getting more traffic. More traffic means more money (if you monetize them well)
Hope that answers your question.

All the best!
Rakeshsgk

Using Two Adsense Accounts on One PC ?

Rock asks:
1. I just wanted to know if 2 people using the same ISP can use adsense with 2 different adsense accounts with different PCs? And also, does the IP also play the big role in it ?
2. My cousin and I are using same ISP, both of us got our own Adsense account. We want to know if it will be a problem for us if we use the same ISP / IP for Adsense? And also, can we use same PC too?

Answer:
That’s really a volley of questions from Rock! Let’s start with the answers and then know a bit more on the topic.

1. The answer to your first question is a simple YES! IP’s have got nothing to do here! [continue reading till the end]

2. Your cousin and you can continue using the same ISP and your own personal accounts without any harm. If you prefer, you can use the same PC too.

Now let me give you my bit of advice! All what I have said is on the assumption that you are not indulging in anything that violate the Google TOS.

Hope that answers it. Get back with more queries.

All the best
Rakeshsgk

What is Page CTR and Page eCPM ?

Sarath asks: What is Page CTR and page eCPM ?


Answer: Hi Sarath, thanks for your time here. Here’s the answer to your question.

CTR stands for Click thru rate and eCPM stands for effective cost per 1000 impressions. I have written an article on this and also other terms that an adsense Publisher should know. Pls find the article here.

Violating Google Terms of Service (ToS)

Amarpreet asks: If I open my website several times a day, will it give me a loss?
If I click Google ads for my own interest, will Google ban me?

Answer: Hi Amarpreet, The show begins with you!

Let me start with your second question. Clicking your own ads is against the Google ToS. Clicks must result from genuine user interest. I advise you to refrain from using any other method to generate clicks or impressions. It's like killing the goose that lays golden eggs.

Google introduced such a rule so that the interests of advertisers in the Adwords Program (Adsense ads come from Adwords) remain high, as ever. This is one of the reasons behind the huge success of Adwords that then moved on to Adsense.

Onto your first question now.
That would depend on what exactly you mean by ‘several’. If you have CPM ads and you keep on loading your page continuously with an intention of increasing your impressions, then that can cause a problem, for this can also be treated as a violation of the TOS. That said, it’s ok to open your site a decent number of times and that’s not going to bring you any loss!

But then, when you test ad placement (or design) on a new website, it’s almost necessary to load the pages several times. Though Google is aware about this and is not likely to show you the red card, it’s always better to follow certain things that can help you test your new website risk-free. I will soon come up with an article on ‘Testing your website risk-free’. Stay tuned.

About

Rakeshsgk is into adsense since 2004. He has been running an Adsense QA community in orkut since 2006.

He's shifting focusing to this blog for it's ability to better illustrate solutions with images when compared to Orkut. You can post your queries here.

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Ask Rakeshsgk

Hi there,

I've been into Adsense for quite sometime now and have been running an Adsense Community on Orkut. The community is goin good. Of late, I feel that we can make things clearer by using images. Orkut doesn't support this at communities. And the answer was this Blog!

You can continue posting queries to me as you did at the community. I'll try to answer all of them and post m here.

Thanks for your time
Rakeshsgk