How to Use AdSense to Your Advantage

Of all the ways to earn money on the Internet (and there are many), Adsense is probably the most popular and ubiquitous. Google Adsense is an advertising system that, much like Google itself, works with keywords buried in your website to deliver appropriate advertising materials to your readers. The system is not universally loved however.
Some people say not to bother with Google’s system or at the very least to arrange for other forms of advertising on your website. The argument is that they don’t pay very well and that Google can easily cut you off for almost any reason. While the second issue is definitely true (though it’s usually with cause), the first one is just a function of poor SEO choices.
Target Specific Keywords
Just like when you’re trying to rise in the SERP rankings, working with Google Adsense means picking the right keywords for your particular niche. However, I am of the opinion that the keywords for Adsense need to be fundamentally different than those for Google.
In other words, get them there with lesser keywords, but put in bigger keywords for Adsense to play with. This means having both lesser known keywords and more popular keywords on your website (which-h makes sense anyway since the LSI functions of Google’s web crawler will want to see the most popular keywords as well).
It also pays to keep in mind that advertisers pay more for certain kinds of keywords. For example, while ringtones may be extremely popular, they aren’t very expensive so it’s harder to make good money from such keywords.
Placement
Just like with newspapers, where “above the fold” is valuable, the most valuable real estate on your website is going to be the part that’s visible before any scrolling takes place. Therefore, try to put ads in that area in order to maximize profits (while at the same time avoiding saturating your website with so many ads that it’s unappealing to visitors).
Place Ads Naturally
Another great way to get more click throughs with AdSense is to make the ads blend into the site so they are not just at the top while at the same time making the links for the ads a different color scheme to make them more noticeable. Consider as well rotating the color scheme in order to avoid ad filtering by regular visitors.
Remember RSS Feeds As Well
If you run a blog or any kind of website that lends itself to RSS feeds, remember to consider using Adsense for RSS. This service will place text ads into your RSS feeds at appropriate places and is even offered free and fully integrated if you use Feedburner to prepare your feeds (Feedburner is also free).
Size Matters
Finally, when it comes to making money with Google Adsense, size matters – try using 336×280 rectangular ads and 160×600 tower ads for the best click throughs if you can (i.e. they should still look natural on your site). Of course, your results may vary, so be sure to do your own research, checking the stats regularly, to get the best results.