A Revenue for the Traveling Webmaster

By Roadjunky, Posted Oct 23, 2006

dollar sign

How to get by http://www.flickr.com/photos/21313845@N04/

So how does your site make money?

In a word: adsense. Adsense is a revolutionary program that finally made it possible for writers, artists and webmasters to make money online from the content they provide.

google money

You need only 10 clicks a day to fund a month in India http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghoseb/

It works like this: You install the code and Google’s little spiders come to your site, read your pages and decide what they’re about. Then the spiders scurry back to their vast warehouse of advertising partners and choose nice little text ads to go on your page that match the content. So a page about Brazil might show you ‘brazil flights’.

Now each time that someone clicks one of those ads you get paid – hooray! But before you order the champagne you should be aware that each click is only worth between 5-50 cents on average. Still, if you get lots of clicks in one day then it mounts up. Don’t get any bright ideas about clicking the ads yourself though – you can bet Google thought of that and it blacklists cheaters quicker than you can say ‘click-fraud!’

hidden ads

Use hidden ads to...er...surprise your readers with knowledgeable and friendly product recomendation http://www.flickr.com/photos/ballookey/

The real trick comes from working out what colour your ads should be and where to place them so that your readers click on them by mistake! A good policy is to try and blend them in with your content as much as possible and paste them below images. Don’t play with the code too much, though, you’re better off using your time to solicit links and develop content.

Another way of making money is via affiliate programs. This means that you don’t get paid for the click but you will get a larger chunk of cash if a sale is generated via your site. This can be a very lucrative way of making money from your website but it takes a bit more time and research to set up. Lazy webmasters stick with adsense.


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