New Adsense Application Process

As we all know, Google is committed to their advertisers. So here's another step to improve the quality of the publisher network. Now, the Adsense application process is different from the one we used to have till last week.

This is what they have said on their blog

Starting today, we’ll begin adding a new step to the review process and sending notifications at two key points. After a new application is submitted, we’ll begin with preliminary checks on the site and the applicant’s submitted details. If the application passes through this first stage, we’ll notify the applicant by email, grant them account access, and provide them with ad code to place on their submitted site. It’s essential at this stage for the applicant to place the ad code on their site, as the review process can’t be completed until the ad code is implemented.


However, live ads won’t immediately appear once the ad code has been placed on the submitted site. Since the application hasn’t been fully approved yet, temporary “blank ads” will be shown instead. These blank ads will blend in with the background of the page, so users won’t see them and the user experience won’t be impacted. As a result, there’s nothing to click on and thus revenue can’t yet be generated. If the applicant logs into their AdSense account at this stage of the review process, they’ll see a reminder that their account is still under review.


Soon after the ad code has been added to the submitted site, a final approval decision will be made and the applicant will be notified by email. Newly approved publishers will see live ads automatically appear in the existing ad units on their pages.

Google Launches PlusOne (+1) Buttons for Websites

Google has finally made the +1 (read as Plus One) buttons available for websites. Website owners who has earlier signed up to receive an alert when the buttons become available has got the following email today.

At this point, I'm not sure if the Plus One network would be a competitor for Facebook's Like button. Anyway, I have copied the code and added it to few of my sites to give it a try. Hope this one remains useful for mare days than the buzz!

==

Hi there,

You asked to be notified when the +1 button code was available, and today's the day!

The +1 button makes it easy for visitors to recommend your pages to friends and contacts exactly when their advice is most useful -- on Google search. As a result, you could get more and better qualified site traffic.

You'll need to add a small snippet of code on the pages where you want a +1 button to appear. Ready to get started?

Get the code!

To stay current on updates to the +1 button large and small, please sign up for the Google Publisher Button Announce Group.

If you have questions when adding the code, check out the Google Webmasters Help Center. Thanks for your interest!

Sincerely,
The Google Webmaster Central & +1 button teams

Google's April Fool 2010

Google's has come up with yet another April fool's joke. This time it's a name change drama. Have a look at it here: Official Google Blog: A different kind of company name

Google Adwords Promotional Code

Pavan asks:
I got google adwords promotional code letter (via post). I didn't create adwords account till now. Promotional code says I may use Rs. 2500  free advertising. But when am trying to create adwords account it asking for billing info. My problem is - should i have to pay for activation for this account, iam not willing to do any sort of payment to adwords? Is there any way to use this google adwords promotional code worth of 2500rs without paying for adwords? plzzzz help me...

Answer:
Congrats on receiving the promo code. You can start your Adwords journey with this.

Coming to the answer, you will have to make an initial payment for activating your account. The activation fee is just Rs. 250. However, the minimum payment you are allowed to make through net banking is Rs 500. This is done as part of verifying your bank details. You may not be able open an account without making an initial payment.

Here's a break down of what your billing summary would look like after you have made the minimum payment.

What you pay: Rs 500 (min)

Activation Charge: 250
Service Charge: 46.69
Balance: 500 - (250 + 46.69)
= 203.31

Your account balance: Balance + Promo code
= 203.31 + 2500
=2703.31

Hope this helps.

What Kind of Content Attract Traffic?

Sachin Asks: I am beginner in Google ad sense but am bit familiar with it and hence interested to go further. I have my blog site created recently and wanted to incorporate ads on the same. Have couple of questions in this regards thus request you to help me in solving these queries.

1. What are the steps to get your site register with Google for ad sense?
2. What is the amount you get per click? if it differs from ad to ad then how do u find that clicking on which ad gives u more amount?
3. What kind of content attracts more users to your site?
4. After how much span we should update content for maximum hits


Answer:
That's a long list of questions Sachin! Here are some pointers that would help you in finding answers to your queries.

1. Registration for AdSense would require your site to comply with the program policies and the eligibility criteria.

2. Cost Per Click varies across keywords and verticals. It can also change significantly between sites. You may use tools like KeywordCountry to get an idea of how much a keyword would likely pay.

3. Content that people would want to read, ie; the content that they would search would attract more traffic to your site. You may use keyword tool to find search volumes.

4. You should fix a posting frequency based on your convenience rather than pushing yourself into unrealistic schedules. Posting daily will normally give something to your daily visitors to read and keep them bonded.

You may also read  100,000 a month from Adsense? and How to earn from Adsense?

Hope you would find these useful.

Adsense Impressions vs Analytics Page Views

Ali Wasim asks:
The problem with my adsense account is that it doesnt records the impression and clicks(i Guess with clicks) properly. Coz I have analytics installed on blogs. So i can see impression more than 100 also visitor count is more than 30 each day but for the past 4-5 days it shows me only 10 or sometime 30 impressions. Which is wrong. Even i didnt get paid for 1000 impression. My current impression count is more than 2000 . I got paid for first 1000 then I didnt get paid . I dont know wats happening.

Answer:
There can be variety of reasons for the difference in numbers between Analytics and Adsense. You may find this post useful.

Regarding the second part of your question, you get paid for impressions only if CPM based ads are served on your site.

Further, for CPM based ads, you get paid each time a CPM ad is served to your page and NOT after it has been served 1000 times.

Video Ads Gone - YouTube In...

After retiring the video units back in March, Adsense have now come up with a new idea - showing promoted videos from Youtube through adsense ads. This can go a long way in increasing the exposure of promoted videos on Youtube. However, at this point, the feature is only available in English, for US publishers only.

Promoted Videos feature a thumbnail image with three lines of text, and when clicked, will bring the user to watch a video or view a channel on YouTube. They're contextually targeted to your pages, and you'll earn from these ads on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. In addition, they can appear in the following ad formats, as long as you've opted these formats in to displaying both text and image ads: 300x250 Medium Rectangle, 336x280 Large Rectangle, 728x90 Leaderboard, 250x250 Square, and 200x200 Small Square. Just like other ads, Promoted Videos compete in our standard ad auction, so they'll help drive up competition among advertisers bidding to appear on your pages. When a Promoted Video wins the ad auction, it'll be shown alone in one of the eligible ad formats.

Read the original post here.

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?
• Adsense Account Disabled?

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.

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.