2 Rookie Google Adsense Mistakes to Avoid

So many of the Make Money Online bloggers like to talk about making money with Google Adsense, whether it be how they are planning to purchase a house with their checks someday, or how they're struggling to even earn the minimum for their first check. Some say it's the only way to truly make decent money online, while others will denounce it. You'll even read claims by some that Adsense isn't worth setting up, implementing, testing and re-testing until you get it right. I respectfully dissent.

There are people earning decent amounts and better on a monthly basis from the Google Adsense program, The Monetizer included, and you can be one also. You've seen the infamous checks of bigwigs like Jeremy Shoemaker (Shoemaker.com) and Markus Frind (Plentyoffish.com). While my checks aren't near that size, they are good part-time income from one of my recommended money making sources. When I first started out, I was a rookie with Adsense, and to a degree I still consider myself learning the ropes, but I am earning a decent amount. I won't lie as we all know making money usually takes some work or effort, and when it's coming from a publicly traded company like Google, you better believe they don't want to just give it away. That's where Smartpricing comes in, and my understanding is it's to basically protect the people buying ads on Google, so that they are getting "worthwhile clicks from potential buyers" rather than social media clicks or untargeted traffic clicks.

This past weekend The Monetizer decided to undertake a project based on several posts I read about "Google Adsense Smartpricing". In essence, there's been strong suggestions made that you should seriously consider removing Adsense from any site or blog where you're not getting a 2% click rate or higher. Some even suggest it should be 3% or higher, or else remove the Google Adsense ads from that particular page or site. I've had one blog site in particular which has had tons of traffic, but in recent months I saw per click amounts really plummet. Despite that, I've had other sites which had high clicks, making me question if I was smartpriced or not. I decided better safe than sorry, and why risk it happening if it hasn't?

One mistake I made was putting Adsense in too many places, that is on too many blogs and sites. Some topics just don't pay well for Adsense, so why have a site generating pennies, especially if it's not getting clicks? When you start out, your goal is always to make as much as you can, but don't get overzealous and put Adsense everywhere. Testing is good, but overdoing it can cause a headache later. In my case, I made this mistake and was using a free web host just to bypass buying hosting. That lead me to having a lot of html pages I uploaded, each with Adsense ads in them. You can imagine the work it takes to undo that mistake!

The second mistake I've made was I didn't track every single Adsense unit, ad or search box used. I realized now that I had placed a search box somewhere which is generating money and clicks, but didn't track it at all. When you've got a lot of sites and blogs with Google search on them, not knowing which is your top earner can be devastating, even if it's still bringing the money! From the get go, make sure you've put some specific identifying titles on each ad you use on your sites, so you can track each one's effectiveness.

So over this past weekend I ran an advanced report on my Adsense account, and took a look at the overall stats by channels for the past 2 years. Then I began the arduous task of removing Adsense from various pages where the CTR% was below 2%. I've fixed many pages, and if I notice my Adsense income shoot back up, I'll know I've discovered the culprit and hopefully fixed the problem. My goal was to see Adsense earnings continually increase, not hit a lull as I kept doing more work. As I wait to see if click rates increase, I will continue to remove the ads on sites which have low percents, and suggest that anyone else feeling this smart pricing effect do the same. Taking precaution now can help you on your way to those nice monthly income checks from Adsense that other bloggers blog to you about.

One final word: I read an interesting free e-book PDF this past weekend, which made a good point saying you should master one monetization method fully before moving on to mastering the next method. While it's ok to add in some other affiliate offers or ads on your site(s), consider making mastery of Adsense a priority if you truly want to earn those monthly checks from the Big G..

Recommended reading:

How To Get Worthless Adsense Clicks by Courtney Tuttle

Is Adsense Smart Pricing Killing Your Earnings? by Grizzly

Joel Comm's Twitter Power - Follow the Leader?

Once again one of the gurus of internet money making, Joel Comm, has released a book about you guessed it, making money on the internet. This time however, Joel has intelligently tapped into the Twitter craze with a book appropriately titled "Twitter Power". While I've yet to read the book cover to cover, from scanning the Amazon.com free preview "Surprise Me" sections and Table of Contents, it looks like a valuable asset. For some of us that is...

One thing I always recommend here at The Monetizer Blog is reading, but doing it as cheaply as possible. It's the best way to learn or research a subject you're interested. Others might tell you "no buy this special report or 100 page e-book, it's better". Many of the special reports and e-books that cost money are made up of information that's already floating around for free. You can find blogs about every subject, and while they aren't always expert opinion, you can gain all sorts of ideas. Libraries are free, unless you're late in returning books. It's good to be able to access just about any info you want these days for little money. Plenty of people have written about Twitter and Darren Rowse of Problogger has even created a site offering tips from himself and other Twitterers, called www.twitip.com.

Chapters of Twitter Power Include:

* An Introduction to the Social Media Landscape
* Getting Started the Right Way on Twitter
* Building a Following on Twitter
* The Art of the Tweet
* Leveraging Twitter for Team Communication
* Using Twitter to Drive Behavior

When it comes to Twitter, Joel covers the things that many bloggers are already talking about, such as making a professional looking background for your Twitter profile, linking to your blog or site on the profile, how to make your About Me memorable or descriptive in few words, and more about how to make Tweets that help you in marketing. Chapter 10 just by looking at the Table of Contents, may be a valuable resource but it lists out each of the various Third Party Twitter Tools you can use. Joel may offer insight into their uses or helpfulness, but you can also gain this through visiting the respective sites. Again, Joel is smart to capitalize off these topics by putting all the "ideas floating around" into book form and you've got to respect his business sense in profiting from the popular internet topic. It's always possible there are some "golden nuggets of info" in his book that make the book worth its current cover price, but I believe this book will be more valuable to those who are new to Twitter or businesses looking to gain an edge there. The rest of us have read these ideas on multiple blogs from John Chow to Problogger. So for the average Twitterer, we may already have the Power Joel is describing, without reading his book.

Follow the Monetizer at Twitter

Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time is currently available at Amazon.com

Make Money Online - Up Your Twitter Status!

(Become a Twitter celeb!)

Months ago The Monetizer was a member of Twitter but didn't quite see its value or have much reason to use it. However, the more I read about those who are successfully using Twitter to their advantage, the more it makes sense to "go with the Twitter flow". Let me give you some new ways to look at Twitter and some things to do to increase your Twitter followers, which in turn will help you attract new blog readers, contacts, networking opportunities, site visitors and money spenders!



1) Pimp your profile - Like many say, branding yourself is the way to make the big bucks with a blog. If you've already got an Entrecard logo, great! Use that as your small Twitter icon, or use a really, really good picture of yourself. Try to make it professional or catchy.

Also consider getting yourself a free Twitter theme background, or modifying one/creating your own. If you see someone else's Twitter background you like, do a right click on it and "View image". You can always save theirs and use it as a reference (don't steal!) To upload your new background, simply go to the "Settings" tab on your upper menu for Twitter, then go to "Design", if you scroll down on that page you'll see a button that says "". Click that and you can upload your new background, then click "Save".

Also make sure you have a link to follow you at Twitter somewhere on your site(s) and blog(s).


(Monetizer follows Guy & some of his followers)

2) Follow the followers of top gurus - I picked up this tip at NickMarks.com's blog post, but it has worked well for me so far. Within a day I've been able to move from around 200 followers up towards 500. My goal by month's end is 1,000. Consider following the followers of John Chow, Problogger, Guy Kawasaki and John Reese, just to name a few with a lot of followers who are in similar niches as Moneymakers. Even if you're not in the IM or Moneymaker niche, they can still potentially bring you people so don't discount the followers!

Check out this recent post about 20 Celebs on Twitter. Use them to get followers as they might relate to your niche, or even if they don't!



3) Use these Twitter tools - Twitterfeed, Twittercounter.com, Twitter Karma, TweetDeck, and TweetLater. Twitterfeed allows you to plug in your RSS from your blog so anytime you post a new blog, it will be Tweeted to Twitter for you, with a link to your blog post and a line of intro from your post. TweetLater is a great automator tool where you can set up your Twitter account so that you automatically follow and direct message anyone who follows you. You can also set it so if someone unfollows you, you unfollow them! The Your Twitter Karma site is helpful in that it allows you to import your list of Following and Followers, and then unfollow any of those your following who don't follow you back. Great for management purposes. Tweetdeck will allow you to see what's being said about anything, including you, your blog, product, etc!

4) Check out this insightful blog post by Guy Kawasaki. He details exactly what you need to do with Twitter and why. Great stuff.

5) Follow The Monetizer on Twitter, I follow back :)

Twitter is becoming the "It" tool of the times, so if you're not on "Twit", get on it, and start Tweeting!

Here's to your success!
The Monetizer

PS - Got any cool Twitter tools, tips or stories? Feel free to share em in the comments section below!

20 Celebrities Who Use Twitter

These days if someone asks "What's Twitter?" the other person might ask them what rock they've been living under. Everyone's on Twitter these days from your roommate to your neighbor to Team Obama. The following is a quick list The Monetizer generated over at twittercounter.com. It's a nifty site where you can enter your twitter username and it predicts how many peeps will be following you on Twitter by a certain date. The site also has a top 100 list, which lists Barack Obama at the #1 Spot. There appears to be several celebrities on Twitter who you may be interested in following in addition to our current president. Some of the following include politicians, athletes, internet entrepreneurs, musicians, internet celebs and comedians.

Here's a look at some of the famous people Tweeting:

http://www.twitter.com/kevinrose
http://www.twitter.com/britneyspears
http://www.twitter.com/lancearmstrong
http://www.twitter.com/algore
http://www.twitter.com/The_Real_Shaq
http://www.twitter.com/ijustine
http://www.twitter.com/MCHammer
http://www.twitter.com/jimmyfallon
http://www.twitter.com/JohnCleese
http://www.twitter.com/coldplay
http://www.twitter.com/leolaporte
http://www.twitter.com/rainnwilson
http://www.twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain
http://www.twitter.com/TonyRobbins
http://www.twitter.com/problogger
http://www.twitter.com/DaveJMatthews
http://www.twitter.com/brookeburke
http://www.twitter.com/TinaFey
http://www.twitter.com/StephenColbert
http://www.twitter.com/guykawasaki


Several names might not be of the household variety to everyone so here's some extra info on them... Kevin Rose is the founder of Digg.com, iJustine is a famous video blogging chick who just brought cupcakes to Twitter's office, Leo Laporte hosts technology TV shows, Guy Kawasaki is an entrepreneur and author of enlightening books such as "The Art of the Start". If you don't know someone else on the list, please consult Google.com :)

(Source: TwitterCounter Global top 100)

** UPDATE:

Check out this recent blogger's post about Shaq on Twitter. Yes it's the "Real Shaq"!