Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of Google’s advertising network, AdSense. What started as an innovative little way to allow web content publishers to earn some extra money has grown into one of Google’s most profitable divisions for Google and millions of individual publishers. According to Google’s announcement they now have over 2 million publishers, and in 2012 alone they paid out more than $7 Billion to those displaying their ads.
Google also highlighted three individual publishers who earn a living from AdSense. Anniversary’s are often a time to not only look back on the successes, failures and learning experiences of things but also a time to look forward. Many marketers today are looking past AdSense toward other revenue generating strategies, and while that is often smart and profitable it is always good to keep this earnings gem tucked away and ready to pull out when needed.
AdSense can be a great way to make money from a site which didn’t perform as well as expected. Many people make the mistake of working hard to develop a site, get a steady stream of traffic in an attempt to sell their product or promote an affiliate product only to sell it off or disregard it if it doesn’t perform as well as expected. Instead it might be a better idea to try placing Ads from AdSense (or another network) on the site for a few months and see how it works. In many cases it will be more profitable than expected, and with very minimal work it can turn into a site which generates a steady stream of income month after month.
This is an excellent way to turn what could have been a waste of time and effort into a success for the future. There are also some sites which simply perform well using AdSense. With sufficient traffic and high paying keywords it is possible to generate hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month year after year.
So, when you’re done singing AdSense “Happy Birthday,” make sure to stop and take a minute to see how it might be able to benefit you and your earnings to use AdSense.
Do you use AdSense on any of your sites? If so, what made you choose it to generate revenue for your pages? You can see the post from Google about their tenth anniversary HERE.
