Google AdWords & AdSense - an introduction
Necessary Evil
Google's informal (infernal?) motto is 'Don't be evil'. Opinions vary as to how well they're doing.
Though this benevolent dictator has deemed me terminally evil for one purpose (AdSense), I've lately found I'm not too evil for another (AdWords).
Like Dante, therefore, I'm qualified to give some morality tips.
Google AdSense comprises ads you permit on your blog or website.
When a visitor clicks one, you get a tiny commission.
LOTS of clicking makes you modest money.
I was so entranced by this passive income concept, I exhorted friends and family to click themselves numb on the ads assigned to my Surreal Short Stories blog.
This was unwise. It was also prohibited by the Google rules I didn't read in my excitement.
Revenge was swift and total. Just as I reached Google's US$50 revenue payment threshold, my account was cancelled.
For life.
My subsequent confession, apology, blog rework and entreaties for Google mercy came to naught. I was officially evil.
No more would my three years of blog content generate AdSense loot.
Fair enough too! Each time someone from my mob had clicked an ad to glean me a cent or two, some poor AdWords punter had to pay up to several hundred times that amount for the faux visit.
I was most surprised, therefore, when Google approved my AdWords account (and stopped addressing me as Paul 'Significant Risk' Hassing in their emails).
AdWords are phrases you 'bid' for to make your ad/URL appear prominently in Google searches.
Keen to galvanise sales of my job ad writing ebook, I set bids of up to $1.24 for 'job ad', 'perfect job ad', 'can't find good people', 'attract and retain staff' and many more.
Within an hour, my Google account was reeling from deductions that would take decades of AdSense action to recover.
I paused the campaign to learn that my words were too generic and my bids too high.
I'm now working my way very carefully though the help system and running a very very timid campaign.
I've had clicks, but no sales.
I plan to report further findings in a later post.
For now, if you plan to sortie in Google Land, ALWAYS read the instructions.
And if you've already been deemed evil, don't despair.
With Google, it's better the devil you know!
Links
- The Feisty Empire
Paul Hassing's high-end blogging, copywriting, editing and proofreading services website.