Should I Put Adsense on My Website?
By Matthew Bredel
Launching a website takes a lot of time and energy and, in some cases, money. Every for-profit site owner has the dream of being able to reap the rewards of a money-making website to make up for all the blood, sweat, tears poured into it. Whether you are selling products or services or both, it is can be important to have other ways to monetize your site. Finding free ways to bring in money is ideal, and Google Adsense has provided one very popular option to do just that. However, Adsense may not be the best fit for every site. There are pros and cons to consider as you ask yourself, “Should I put Adsense on my website?”
The potential pros to Adsense are relatively clear: you receive payment each time a visitor to your site clicks an Adsense ad. More visitors= more clicks= more money for you. Obviously, many people are making money from this pay-per-click program, because Adsense is indeed everywhere you turn online. It may seem like every website in the world utilizes Google Adsense. Still, it is possible that this program could be more of a deterrent than benefit to certain types of sites.
For example, if a visitor comes to your site and clicks on a Google ad, there is a chance they will move on to where the ad takes them without returning to your site. Although you made a few pennies from the ad click, the visitor will no longer be purchasing from you.
There is plenty of competition out there for your site; so it would seem an advertisement placed on your site competing with your own products might not be the most lucrative situation.
Perhaps the best use of Google Adsense is for sites that are simply informational. In this way, there is no product competition-only an ad to enhance your informational articles and give your site credibility. What is the best way to determine if Google Adsense is for you? Consider the goals for your site and decide whether the pay-per-click ads will add to your site while adding to your income, or if it will only redirect your potential customers, leaving you with some pocket change from the click as well as the loss of a sale.
Matthew is the developer of TheWebReviewer: Legitimate Home Based Business Reviews, and NetWebVideo: Mastering SEO, Adwords, and Affiliate Marketing. Matt currently lives in San Diego, CA and is married with two children and has been an online marketer since 2006.
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February 26th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I have used adsense on my site before and found it to be not very helpfull because my site has not been around long enough to have a lot of traffic. Without a lot of traffic clicking on the ads, there is no money going to your site. Also, if you sell a product, do you want people clicking on outside adds and leaving your page. I have found google usually puts ads that are related to what sell. So in essence, you are letting other people who sell the same thing as you in some cases advertise for pennies on the dollar. Just my opinion. If i ran a blog, or a community site instead of selling t shirts, I might like it more.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 am
You can keep competitor’s adds off your site if you want. You just need to keep on top of it and block the ones you don’t want. You could use their referral service and select specific and high paying ads when people click on them to make it worth your while. I particularly enjoy getting $30-$50 per lead on some of those. Much better than the normal stuff I sell.
September 14th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Hi,
Besides quality content which in my opinion is the most important thing, the kind of theme treated by the blog is somewhat influent in the number of visits, I think.
Although the more popular the theme the bigger the competition.
Best regards,
José