The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money With AdSense

June 9, 2008 in Business, How To, Nonfiction, Uncategorized by admin | No comments

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Author: Joel Comm

Genre: How-To, Business

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:

For those who don’t know, Google AdSense is a context-based advertising medium, through which website and blog owners can make money by showing advertisements on their sites. Google’s software reads, or “crawls” each page, figures out what type of ads are appropriate, and shows them in spots designated by the site owner. Site owners are usually paid per click, although some ads pay based on “impressions” – how many times they are seen.

The AdSense Code is exactly what the title suggests – a strategy book for optimizing your use of AdSense on a blog or website in order to make the most money possible. The author, Joel Comm, speaks from his own experience making hundreds to thousands per day with his own websites. Comm takes the attitude that the “AdSense pie” is big enough for everyone to participate, and that one person’s success with it does not in any way detract from his own.

AdSense offers a number of options for customizing your ads, including text and background colors, text vs. image ads, referral programs, and, of course, where you place them. The AdSense Code addresses each of these choices, suggesting exactly how to optimize them, and how to experiment with your own site for maximum success.

The AdSense Code does have one chapter on attracting visitors to your site, but it is far from exhaustive. Comm recommends consulting other sources if traffic is your main priority.

Excerpts:

“People don’t visit your website for ads. They want good content.

If you make the ads stick out with eye-popping colors, images or borders, that makes them easy to recognize as ads – and people work extra hard to avoid them. The same goes for ads that are tucked away in the top, bottom or some other far corner of the page. So easy to ignore! If you want people to click, make the ads look like an integral part of your content.”

*****

“Location is everything. The world’s best ad won’t deliver if it isn’t visible in the first place. But after much experimentation with Google AdSense, I know that the most visible ads aren’t always the most effective. In fact, they’re likely to get ignored as ‘blatant advertising’.

What does work is wise placement. Put them where your content is most likely to interest and engage your visitors.”

My Thoughts:

The AdSense Code is concise, full of useful information, and entertaining. A technical how-to book has the potential to be incredibly boring, but Comm managed to make it fun, which is one of the reasons I gave it 5 stars. Comm’s suggestions are clear and easy to understand.

The real test of a how-to book is how well the author’s suggestions work when implemented. I’m just getting started, so I can’t comment personally yet. I do know that Joel Comm has done very well from using the techniques outlined in his book, and that he is highly respected as an internet marketer. I had heard of him in that context long before I became aware of his book, so as soon as I found out about The AdSense Code, I rushed to buy it.

Don’t count on this book to help you drive traffic to your site, however. Comm himself says it is not intended to be that kind of book. If you need more traffic, you are better off going to other sources. The AdSense Code is an AdSense guide, not a traffic guide.

As with The Four Hour Workweek (reviewed here), I’ll post periodic updates about my own experience.