Google Adsense Google Analytics Integration FINALLY available

Integrate Google Adsense with Google Analytics

Way back in October Google Adsense's blog officially launched integration for Adsense with Analytics so you'd actually know when your blog posts or pages are getting clicks and be able to optimize even more.  I don't know about you, but I found the Adsense channels not very interesting and sometimes more confusing.

The Problem with Adsense channels

Yes, if you set up a channel for a site you'd know that a site was getting clicks, but without knowing which URLs or URIs were getting the clicks, there wasn't much you could do.

One big question I have is if people are clicking just on product info pages, category pages, coupon pages, blog post pages, etc.?  If people are only clicking on ads on certain pages then I could perhaps use a larger format on them and remove ads from the pages that don't get clicks.

I'd also be able to compare the content and see if a certain writing style or a specific topic or category were getting clicks IF I could see those statistics.

From October my excitement turned to worries of vaporware. It is hard to stay focused and excited after seeing almost half a year go by without an update on the Google Adsense blog. In fact, I had forgotten about it until yesterday I saw the  link in my Adsense statistics telling me I can integrate... It took me a while to remember what that was about and I spent this morning adding Analytics code to my header and footer only loading when no Wordpress cookie is set since normally the logged in user is me 99% of the time.

The Google Adsense Analytics integration solution

Google Adsense integration with Google Analytics adds a new "Adsense" menu item under "content" in Google Analytics's sidebar menu.  If you click on that you'll see statistics on how much money was earned for that website profile and you CAN see which page was clicked on!

You can also see information about the people who clicked on an advertisement like the city they live in.  Perhaps you'll want to make a post just for that visitor next time.  Another great feature to the integreation is the ability to see clicks by referrer (website that linked to you!), so if you got a link from another blog or a forum and someone clicked through and then clicked on a Google Adsense advertisement on your website, there'd be a reference there. This can be useful because you could work more with those sites to get more traffic and hopefully make more money to pay those hosting & domain registration bills!

The Adsense report page is now very detailed with the common statistics to help you understand your CPC earnings. You get statistics per impression, per visit, per Adsense unit,  and Click Through Rate. The pages with the most earnings and the top referrers are listed right below.

I think the pages with the most earnings will be great. The usual pages with the most visits will not necessarily be the pages with the most earnings. I'm excited again! Thank you Google for finally making statistics available. I'll be checking it often.

Use Google's Section Targeting for better ads

If you are making money online, it is very likely that at least one of your web pages or websites is using Google Adsense.

Google Adsense is a great program however the way it finds keywords to determine ad presentation can be helped along by use of special codes, so that unrelated words are ignored and advertisements are better targeted to the reader.

Just add the following code to your web pages:
<!-- google_ad_section_start -->Your targeted content goes here between the HTML comments<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
If you are using static HTML pages just insert the two halves of the code between the body tags.
If you are using dynamic PHP pages like in a template, edit your index.php, home.php, page.php etc. and add the comments around where your main page content would go. One good strategy is to exclude the 'sidebar' code from the ad section target. Often unrelated content such as menus and advertising are placed in sidebars (side columns).

If you haven't yet signed up for Google Adsense,
if you are interested in advertising online,

Google Adsense program requirements (make money online)

Requirements for Google Adsense a program for monetizing a website.

Google Adsense is a great way to make money with an information or content based website. You get paid when others click on advertisements from Google that you place on your website or websites. You get paid one month after your account reaches $100 US and its reporting is pretty accurate.

If you haven't signed up for Google Adsense there is no time like the present. Here is a list of requirements for participating in Google Adsense.

• A website with content
  
  
  
  • A valid URL (address)
  
  
  • A live website (not just in-the-works)
  
  
  • With unique content (not pretend website kits with search results)
  
  
  • The primary language should be on the supported language list: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Hungarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
  
  
  
  


• A valid Payee name (so that you can get paid)


• A valid address (for confirming your account and for receiving checks)

Google Adsense cannot accept a website that pays people to do different tasks such as clicking on ads or links or to visit sponsors, or any similar activity. The idea is that people will click on the advertisements because they are interested in doing so not because of reimbursement or reward. Remember that you are not allowed to click on your own ads nor should anyone else who uses your computer or shares the same IP address in a local network.

Sign up now, it is free!

If you are interested in placing ads contextually to display on the same service, check out Google Adwords.

Google launches Google Gadget Ads

Google launches Google Gadget Ads

Google gadget ads are a new way to advertise as well as monetize your website and company. The difference between Google Gadget ads and the other ad formats currently available is that the Google Gadget Ads are supposed to be interactive and function as mini-websites. They'll commonly have integrated games or other interactive content. Perhaps a contact form or info sign up.

Policy

Google Gadget Ads must conform to current Google ad design policy so no 'punch the monkey' ads (as mentioned on Adsense Blog) will be allowed.

Ad formats for Google Gadget Ads

Google Gadget Ads will be available in formats that are currently used for image ads. The most popular Google Gadget Ad formats are the rectangle, leaderboard, and skyscraper formats.

Here is a summary from the Google Gadget Ads page:

What are Google Gadget Ads?

Gadget ads enable advertisers and agencies to engage audiences on the

Internet's largest ad network with a rich and interactive new ad format.

* Beyond Rich Media Advertising with "Websites within Websites"
Think of gadget ads as mini versions of your website in any AdSense

ad size.

* Dynamic and Creative Advertising
Truly useful applications incorporating data feeds, maps, images,

audio, video, Flash, HTML or JavaScript in a single creative.

* Largest Global Advertising Network
Reach over 75% of unique Internet users in more than 20 languages

and over 100 countries with no serving or hosting costs.

* Community of Engaged Users Around Your Brand
Users can post and share your gadget ads anywhere.

* Full Interaction Reporting
Receive site-by-site interaction reports tracking dozens of actions.

Google Adsense now offers direct deposit for Mexico

Google Adsense direct deposit for Mexico

If you live in Mexico, you probably have been wondering if your check would actually arrive. Mexico's postal service isn't exactly safe and a letter sent from the US could take a week or more to get shuffled through the system and that is assuming that the person or company sending you the letter wrote your address completely. Then of course we have to consider the time and expense of depositing a check from a foreign bank. It can bring tears to your eyes. American companies are good at removing important information from your address since it doesn't conform to the standard US format.

So I was thrilled to see on the Google Adsense blog that they now offer bank deposit to your Mexican account. It is easy to set up using your 'Clabe'. Look at your bank statement and find the 18 digit clave bancaria called 'clabe'. That is your account number for receiving deposits. If your bank statement does not show your clabe, contact your bank to find out how to get it.

To set up direct deposit do the following steps:

1. Sign in to Google Adsense


2. Click on the My Account tab


3. Click on Edit next to Payment details


4. Select Add a new bank account


5. Click on Continue


6. Type an account nick name


7. Select your bank from the menu


8. Type your 18 digit clabe given by your bank


9. Click Continue

Wait a few days and check your bank statement or check your account online then go back to Edit your payment details and verify the account by giving the amount of the test deposit. If your bank account is verified before the 15th you will be able to get paid by deposit worry free!


Check out Google Adsense to earn money on your websites:

Check out Google Adwords to promote your website:

Thank you Google!

Google Adsense 'Allowed Sites' list added

Google Adsense Allowed Sites

Google Adsense which allows website publishers to make a few cents per click on advertising placed on their websites now has an Allowed Sites feature. This feature, when turned on, will only allow Google Adsense ads with your Adsense account number to show on websites in the list.

While many of us will wonder why this would even matter since clicks made using one's account number on any site should credit your account means you should make more money, Google has commented that they and received complaints.

Allowed Sites set up

You don't have to do anything regarding this feature since it is by default disabled. If you are interested in enabling this feature do the following steps:

1. Log in to your Google Adsense account


2. Click on the Adsense Setup tab


3. Click on the Allowed Sites option


4. Select the Only allow certain sites to show ads for my account button


5. Type your website URLs one per line in the box that appears


6. Click on the Save Changes button below the text box.

If you are interested in monetizing your website or blog or advertising your website or blog, Check out Google Adsense and Adwords. Adsense sign up is free and Adwords allows you to cancel at any time.

Monetize your website experiment update: NewsRoom, Amazon.com Affiliate, Google Adsense

Here is a mid-month update regarding my experiment on using Amazon.com and Newsroom news videos on my websites.

The News Room

The News Room looked very promising. I wanted to add video to our main site, portallanguageservices.com, so it seemed natural to include their videos however I am so far very unhappy.

I'm unhappy with the news room for the following reasons:

1. Slow updates

The news feeds are updated very slowly. I had added a news feed for world news and I even had it on the front page of my site for 10 days. I only noticed one new video added for that entire period. I don't know if the feed system is messed up or not, but it isn't my problem. There should be an easy way to pick a topic and have that topic appear.

2. One-by-one

It seems that the only way to add text news is to go to their site and select them one-by-one.

Do I really want to spend 30 minutes everyday to go to their site to select news and then post it on my site when I could be working on adding my own content? Only if the compensation is high enough which it isn't.

3. The compensation is low

The idea is that you are sharing ad revenue, but even though there is a video ad, you get very little money. Even though the world news video feed was on my front page on my most important site, it only registered views for a fraction of visitors so I made less than half of a dollar for a third of a month.

I can make more with Adsense ads. They mention that you make money for referrals but there is no code to be found for having referrals. So how to I refer people to use it without a referral link or button?

4. Their reporting system is flawed.

If I have over 60 visitors to my main site on average and at least 20 of them go to my main site then I could expect that at least half of them 'saw' the automatically playing news video. The system didn't even register that many. Since there is no FAQ to explain how all this works I don't know what to think.

The revenue reporting option that appears after logging in only reports about one out of 6 or 7 days. The rest of the time it tells me that it is 'being updated'. I want to know if it is working or not. I have a sinking feeling that these 'being updated' days don't report when videos are being watched.

Because of the above reasons, I don't recommend trying TheNewsRoom even if Problogger.net is advertising it.

I removed the 'video feed' from portallanguageservices.com 's front page and I left it on the 'video activity pages' as a supplemental activity. I'm not giving it a prominent location anymore, since the videos aren't getting updated by keyword as they were supposed to. I will leave the system there for at least a few more months or until I find a better option for giving students and visitors videos for practicing their listening comprehension skills.

If TheNewsRoom improves their services, I'll let you know in another post.

Amazon.com's Affiliate Report

I haven't had much luck so far. I've gotten a few clicks but no sales. I haven't been pre-selling any books yet. I have only made them available.

A-Store advertisements don't work

One problem is that there was supposed to be a way to put advertisements on your site that would show products that you're offering in a blended way and that when clicked on, the visitor would be sent to your Amazon.com A-store. Well that system doesn't work.

I put the ad code on pages in my main site. I thought it would be a good fit since most people who are learning languages also need reading material. They need supplemental books. The ad code only shows a generic Amazon.com ad so I get no traffic and I lose potential Adsense clicks because the visitor has already left my site for Amazon.com.

The generic Amazon.com ad doesn't not blend well. In fact, it is a bit garish. I think it looks like your typical banner ad.

I of course tried e-mailing Amazon.com's Affiliate support. I e-mailed them twice.

The first time the answer was " I went to your A-store, and the links work". I had told them by e-mail that the ad links TO the A-store weren't working not that the A-store itself didn't.

The second time I e-mailed them was a reply to the first reply. I clarified that NO it wasn't the A-store but the ads that were supposed to be blended and referring to your A-store that didn't work. They replied that they were 'aware of the issue'.

If they were aware of the issue, then why didn't I see a warning on Amazon's Affiliate site next to the option for this kind of ad? They could have just posted a message in big bold letters saying. This service doesn't yet work so you'll see a generic ad instead.

I like that they did reply to my e-mails but I didn't like wasting my time configuring the blended A-store advertisements and adding the code to my site to later find out that they 'were aware of the issue'.

I'm not saying I wouldn't recommend Amazon.com but I think you'd either need thousands of visitors a day or you'd need to pre-sell books through reviews or other promotions.

Google Adsense update

So far it appears that I'll get 25% more from Google ads this month. Last month I made about 16 dollars in Google Ads. So far this month I've made $10.96. Yes I know it isn't much but it is increasing every month. I have been getting many many clicks but the money/click isn't very high. I do like Adsense though and I do recommend it. The ads blend with the content so they never look bad.

Check out Google Adsense to earn money on your websites:

Check out Google Adwords to promote your website:

Conclusions

I think that if you have a high volume of site traffic, Adsense could make you a lot of money. I also like Google Adsense because its reporting is pretty accurate and it updates frequently. I can check several times a day and see updates.

Amazon.com's Affiliate program reports once a day and you don't see the previous day's report until the next morning.

I've been waiting several days to see TheNewsRoom update its report.

Making Money online with an online business (and get rich?)

Here are different types of online businesses you could start with a blog and Wordpress plugins.

1. Be a critic!

Some people just love to criticize everything they come across. They don't like the new Harry Potter book while they rave about the last episode of Oprah... or was it Montel?

If you are a critic, you could set up a review site. Give the pros and cons for everything. Can you recommend it?

Even if you can't recommend it people can check out what you reviewed.

Just pick a topic: celebrities, health care, internet services, books, restaurants, etc.

How to make money by being a critic: One option is to sign up for affiliate networks. When you review a product, add a banner ad and a text link to it so people can see the product or service. If your visitor makes a sale during a specified time, you'll get a commission.

2. Be a buyer's guide

The difference here is that you don't offer an opinion. Just list the pros and cons of each product in your topic and provide links. Make a table comparing different features and let the reader form his or her own opinion. Text-based links would be great for this as well as Google Adsense. Ad some posts listing criteria they should use in selecting a product or service.

3. Be a consultant

By consulting online or in person for your area, you blog is just your PR representative.

Add pictures, a stunning biography, some audio clips, and provide links to related complementary services that will only indirectly compete. Use a contact form, and a newsletter to keep people informed about your changing services.

Put examples of your work online. If you are a writer, promote your book with a landing page and offer an excerpt.

If you are a photographer, put thumbnails of your work online beside your text.

If you are a business consultant, try to get some testimonials added. Can you get permission to mention a successful project and how it benefited your client?

4. Be a writer

The idea here is to write about your passion, your heart's desire. If you are passionate and knowledgable about your subject people will come. Your text should dominate the page, and any advertisements should only be secondary.

I think that if you write many pages of text you should consider contextual in text link ads. There are several programs available to do so. In text link ads will appear automatically after signing up and inserting special code in your website or blog. When a user's cursor hovers over a linked word, a pop-up-ish box appears with a mini advertisement.

Some programs pay per click while others pay commissions on sales. There are different requirements for each program.

An advantage to using in text link ads is that you will only need one sidebar not two.

This allows your content to take up more space. You could even select a Wordpress theme that has a larger text size, which is easier for those of us with larger monitors to read.

My current monitor is 19"wide which is natively at 1440x900, When not playing games, I drop it down to 1280x960. Why? Because everything just looks too tiny otherwise! If someone is going to read pages of your text and you only have one sidebar, consider increasing the text size in your theme's CSS file.

5. sell goods and services online

Some services like graphic design could easily be done online. Web hosting reselling also can be easily setup.

You could sell your homemade crafts, carving, crochet, knitting, carving, etc.

What about selling silk screened products? Profit margin is a little low but you could make them very personalized.

6. Sell digital downloads online

These could be your digital downloads or through a sales agreement you made with others.

Just make sure the agreement is written and signed.

Anything that can be digital, can be sold online with good landing pages.

If you are a programmer, sell software. If you are a writer, sell e-books. If you are a photographer, sell photographs.

If you are a mechanic, make how to videos for repairs. If you love to garden, why not record tours of botanical gardens and sell it online? Record basic things that are hard to explain. How to prune a tree, how to repot a plant, how to plant bulbs, etc.

7. Build a community

Most people who blog are at a disadvantage since blog forums are not that good. You can hover make sure comments are turned on, use plug ins or links to a good forum that you've designed, invite guests and experts to guest blog.

Use Google Adsense with community sites and change ad positions and colors over time so that ad-blindness is reduced.

The advantage of community sites is that once you have visitors, new visitors make the new content for you.

You only have to keep the ball rolling . The disadvantage is that it is difficult to get those first few visitors to post so that your site will show up in Google searches.

Using Drupal after using Wordpress. Part II: Configuring a site for Google Adsense and posting to the 'blog'

I hope you are enjoying my posts about using Drupal as a new user after using Wordpress 2.2.

I am of course still using Wordpress for this blog. I am only crossposting the articles to make a valid comparison being a a relatively new user of Wordpress as well.

I want to clarify that I am doing this without first checking the help files on either site. Why? I didn't check first because almost no one will search for a help file except to handle the installation. We look for help when we get stuck or we'll watch a video tutorial.

Posting to the blog function of Drupal vs. posting in Wordpress

1. Posting to the blog was easy.... hey wait, where is the visual HTML editor?

I selected the blog function that was hidden in the big mess of management links that appear on the Drupal installation when logged in to my Drupal installation and stated typing...

So far so good, right? Well I wanted to set a few words as a header. Yes of course I could do <H3>This would be a subheader</H3> but it seems a bit silly that I shouldn't have an option do to so 'out-of-the-box', doesn't it?

In fact, Wordpress lets me set those basic functions and of course I can copy & paste basic html code into the text as well as edit html in the post I'm working on.

2. HTML editor for Drupal

The Drupal had a module for adding an editor which was two part.

A. install the module files, and

B. install the actual editor inside that

I did all that but it still isn't working right so I have to experiment more.

3. Editing my posts in Drupal compared to editing posts (and pages) in Wordpress

When logged in, and viewing my blog, I am able to see an option to edit my posts, but I don't see it as being as easy as using Wordpress.

With Wordpress, my most recent posts appear in the administration panel in the 'dashboard menu'. I can click on them, edit, and click on save. With Drupal it seemed like one extra step.

4. Inserting special code into Drupal's post.

In my previously post I added a button for Google Adsense like the following:



Only it didn't work. It mangled the script so it wouldn't show!

Check out Google Adsense to earn money on your websites:

Check out Google Adwords to promote your website:

With Wordpad, I can click on the 'code' tab in the post and page editor and paste my code. I can then either switch back to the visual editor by clicking on the 'visual' tab, or I can finish editing in the HTML.

5. Call them what you want, I can't easily see where the Categories are!

I still am not sure where they are if at all in Drupal. I can assign keywords using Drupal but it seems very inferior to the categories side menu that appears when editing a page or post in Wordpress.

6. How to use Wordpress categories

Wordpress categories are very simple to use. If I write a post about Startrek Voyager, which is only of my all time favorite series, I can on the right type in the text box, Voyager, and click on the Add button. The newly added category will be automatically checkmarked (ticked for the British). I can repeat the process for the term Startrek. Later when I write another post about Voyager, I only have to click on the box to the left of the category word to select it.

Lets say you write a post and you forgot to select a Category? No problem edit the post and select the category and click on save.

Sorry Drupal, you're not doing very well in part II.

Adding Google Adsense to the blog & pages in Drupal vs. Wordpress

1. I want to pay the bills!

I wanted, of course, to add Google Adsense to my new Drupal install. As I had mentioned in Part I, I installed the Adsense module from Drupal's website.  It is much easier to get someone to click on an ad than have them give a donation.

I had also done the same for a plug-in that I downloaded from Wordpresses website.

2. Both seem to work.

Both modules/plug-ins seem to work but I like the Wordpress one more since I can do all of my ad configuration in one page.

Then I can use the Widget function for sidebars to place the ad. (advert for Britsh :-) )

In Drupal there are currently no widget options, but I was able to select in which part of the screen I wanted to place the ad.

I can place an ad in the header, footer, content area, or in one of the sidebars.

3. Disadvantage of placing Google ads in posts and pages in Wordpress.

Here is finally a point for Drupal. While adding an ad to Drupal doesn't have widgets I AM ABLE TO put them in the content area without having to edit the template files. In Wordpress you can insert them in your posts using simple code but there isn't a way to automatically have them appear in your content area unless you ad simple PHP code into the template.

4. Disadvantage when inserting Google ads in Drupal.

Since Drupal doesn't have widgets which allow you to precisely place the ad before or after other widget items (Wordpress), Drupal has a less elegant, weighted approach where you have to choose a weight for the ad and the system compares the weight value with the others. It makes it more complicated and I'm still trying to use it.

In Wordpress using a sidebar widget I just drag and drop the ad before, after, or between the others and I know exactly where it will appear.

Earning money online, monetizing the web: Testing with Amazon.com's program, Google Adsense, Paypal donations, and The newsroom

Hello everyone!

I have been trying to pay for my hosting, registrations, and other expenses through Internet programs. Why?
I have always wanted to help others and I want to have many activities online to help my students practice and improve their language learning and business skills. That is why I currently have two websites. http://portallanguageservices.com for people who want to learn English, and http://crucialbusiness.com which is for business and personal finance issues.

I want to mention that I got many of the ideas for this article from problogger.net.

I recommend visiting that site if you are interested in someone who has been making money online for several years.
I'm at the other end. I've been teaching English classes and going Spanish-English translations. So If you'd like to to follow my progress please do so here.

I am currently testing the following programs:

1. Google Adsense

Most people seem to be advertising using it but the returns are low unless you have your ads optimized and many visitors. If you only have a few visitors don't expect to make more than a dollar a day if even that much. It should however with minimal effort pay for the costs of an inexpensive web hosting account.

I signed up in mid-May and earned a few cents.
I made less than 5 dollars in June,
I made a little more than 16 dollars in July.
This also corresponds to an increase in visitors as reported by Google Analytics.
I currently have an average of 60 visits per day for the last 30 days.
You don't get paid until you have $100 dollars or more in your account.
You also have to be careful not to accidentally click on your own ads.

Click the link on my page for more information.

Check out Google Adsense to earn money on your websites:

Check out Google Adwords to promote your website:

2. Amazon.com A-Store

After reading a post on problogger.net I decided to sign-up for Amazon.com's Associates program.

The good thing is that there are many options. The bad thing is that if you choose to receive your payment as a check they'll charge you a fee! They also have an option for getting paid in Gift certificates.

I signed up at at the beginning of August and I added an a-store with books. So far I haven't had any sales.
You can also place advertisements on your web pages but they only pay you for sales not per click or per impression.

3. Paypal donations

You can get paid online using Paypal but you can also setup a donation button using Paypal. Just go to your Paypal account online and follow the instructions. There are also many modules and plug-ins available for the Blog or CMS of your choice that make it easier to accept paypal.

4. The Newsroom

I got this idea from problogger.net

I have http://portallanguageservices.com a website for learning and practicing English as a second language.
I have been in the process of adding many different activities including sound, reading, vocabulary games, etc., but one thing I didn't have was video! Problogger.net mentioned that not only do they distribute free news videos but that they also share the ad revenue with you!
So now my students and visitors can enjoy the listening practice but they also can help me support my site and the time it takes to put everything up!

Update:  You won't be buying your Dell computer any time soon with the Newsroom. I only made about 50 cents in a month with it!

Go to http://www.thenewsroom.com/ to sign up.