What AdSense Is Not

So AdSense is an advertising system. It’s a program that matches ads
submitted by advertisers to publishers who have signed up to receive them.
It’s the matching technology that ensures users see ads they’re interested in
that has made AdSense such a huge success.
But AdSense is open to everyone. Google will check a site that applies to join
the AdSense program but as long your site isn’t pornographic, hateful,
violent or generally nasty, Google will give you the chance to earn from
AdSense.
And that’s the best description of AdSense: it’s an opportunity.
It’s an opportunity that anyone can take and anyone can make the most of.
You don’t have to be a website developer, a technology geek or the neighbor
of someone who once went to school with a leading venture capitalist to use
it. You just have to be willing to create a website, place content on it, add
AdSense and bring in the visitors.
Anyone can do it, and anyone can use it to earn money with a website.
But AdSense is not a get-rich-quick scheme. As we’ll see in Chapter 1, you
can be online with a website in minutes. You can have ads running on that
site a day later. But you won’t be making a lot of money yet.
You might make a few cents as your friends and relations take a look at the
site and click an ad. But that’s not going to be enough to make a difference
to your life. Clicks from friends and family won’t be enough to let you give up
the day job. And as you’ll discover later on, having friends and family click
your ads can cause your AdSense account be permanently closed.
It will take time to produce enough content to attract visitors.
It will take time to build a reputation that will keep visitors coming back.
It will take time to optimize your ads and figure out all of the best ways to
turn your site into revenue.
It will take time, in short, to start generating significant income.
And how much you get will depend on how much work you’re willing to put
into earning that money. Once the site is up and running, it can become apassive revenue stream. You can go on vacation for a week, come back and
find that while you’ve been lying on the beach, your site has continued to
bring in money.
But when you’re just starting out, that’s not going to happen. You’ll have to
keep posting content, keep looking for new traffic sources, and keep testing
ad options if you want to keep your income rising.
It’s work. It’s work that’s enjoyable, and it’s work that pays. But AdSense
won’t make you rich quickly and it won’t make you rich effortlessly.
It can start paying some bills and much, much more though if you’re willing
to invest time into learning how to use it, and putting it to work for you.