By Biz Stone
Inspired by chocolate bar tycoon Milton Hershey, Harry Reese set out
to make his own fortune in the candy industry. He came up with a few
duds including the forgettable molasses "Johnny Bar" and that big
loser, the "Coconut Lizzie" before inspiration struck like a sack of
sugar to the head. Peanut butter and chocolate, a divine combination.
In 1923, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were created and a candy empire
was born.
Inspiration, Without The Calories
You'll be happy to know that we at Blogger have recently had a similar
epiphany. One that does not involve butter of any sort. This may shock
you at first so steel yourself for the idea. Ready? We are going to
start paying bloggers. Soon you will be blogging for dollars. That's
right people, chocolate is to peanut butter like AdSense is to blogs.
Or is it the other way around? Either way, we've got something big
here folks.
You may have noticed that we recently removed our ads from Blogger
powered blogs. We were making money from those ads but you weren't
getting any of it. Now, we're inviting you to set up your own
Bloggerized AdSense account so that you make the money. What's the
catch? We're going to take some of the action. Based on what we have
learned from AdSense so far, this will work out very nicely for both
of us. Please note that this program is optional and that it is not
required for you to have a Blogger powered blog—all bloggers are
invited.
Understanding "BlogSense"
Google AdSense is a content-targeted advertising program. This means
that you do not select keywords or categories for your ads. Instead,
Google's servers determine what your posts are about and display the
most relevant ads to your readers. So, if you blog about baseball,
there might be ads for Major League Baseball memorabilia next to your
post. If you blog about painting, there might be ads for art supplies.
In fact, when you blog about something specific, there's a good chance
you'll earn more, as Matthew Haughey discovered when he put ads on
PVRblog. Haughey wrote about his experience in an essay called
Blogging for Dollars in which he included four of his own hints.
Haughey's Hints for AdSense Bloggers
1. Focus, and be as specific as you can.
2. Write content related to real products.
3. Don't start a blog just for money.
4. Use a professionally designed template.
See also: Learn by Doing
See also: Google AdSense FAQ
Haughey was also careful to point out that AdSense for blogs is not a
get-rich-quick scheme. "Don't just slap ads on your blog and expect to
get rich the next day. It takes time to build an audience and gain
links from people that find your content useful." Wise words from a
long-time blogger. Still, there is money to be made and if you're
interested here's how to get started.
Putting AdSense on Your Blog
Putting ads on your blog is pretty much the same routine as adding a
hit counter, a quiz, a guestbook or any other blog add-on. All you
need to do once you've signed up for an AdSense account is customize
your ads, copy some HTML code, and paste that code into your template.
You might want to think about where on your blog the ads would work
best or take a little time matching the colors and that sort of thing
but overall, it's not such a big deal. Later, you can sign in to your
AdSense account and see how much money you're making. It's like
checking your stats except its money instead of hits. It's pretty fun.
See: How do I put AdSense on my blog?
Welcome To Our _ool
Notice there's no "P" in it. Have you ever seen those signs people
post near swimming pools to prevent a few misbehaving kids from
messing up everyone's fun? Yeah, well we're putting up a sign too:
"Welcome To BlogSense, No Fraud Please." Okay, so it's not as
"clever." Nevertheless, the point is made. We want everyone to have a
fair shot at blogging for dollars but there's a few things we don't
allow.
Things Not To Do
* Don't come up with sneaky ways to click on your own ads or get
your friends to help you. This is considered fraud.
* Don't draw unnecessary attention to your ads. Even posting text
that says "please click on these ads" is against the policy.
* Don't share how much you've earned. That's going to be hard for
lots of bloggers but it is against the terms and conditions and will
get you kicked out.
* Don't fiddle around with the AdSense code. You've got to leave
it the way it is if you want to get paid.
If you want to participate in AdSense for bloggers, play nice. Just
pick your ad colors, paste the code into your template, then keep on
blogging. If you play by the rules, Google will mail you checks. For
more details, check out the Google AdSense Program Policies.
The Revolution Is Being Bloggerized
Once you get into it, AdSense is pretty cool. There is a WYSIWYG
editor to customize your colors. You can choose between image ads or
text ads. There are a variety of different shapes and sizes for your
ad format. Best of all, you can sign in to see how much money you're
making and keep track of your progress. So that's our bold new vision.
We're going to pay you for blogging. We're pretty excited about this
and hope you are too. Feel free to sign up now. Here's to your first
Adsense dollar!
