Another Keyword

It shouldn’t really matter where you put your keywords, should it? As long as the right words are on the right page in the right amount of numbers, that should be enough to get you relevant ads, right? Wrong. One of the strangest results that people have had using AdSense is that putting keywords in particular places on the page can have an effect on the ads the site gets. The most important place on your webpage is directly beneath the AdSense box. The keywords you place there could influence your ads. For example, mentioning clowns in the space directly beneath the AdSense box could give you ads about circuses and red noses!
Keeping that in mind, you could play with your ads in all sorts of ways. If you had a site about camping for example, you might find that you’re getting lots of ads about tents and sleeping bags, which would be fine. But if you also wanted to make sure that one or two of your ads were about Yosemite or mobile homes, then mentioning those keywords once or twice on the page directly below the AdSense box could give you ads for sites with that sort of content too. Bear in mind though that you’ll often find that you get ads that try to combine the main thrust of your site with the words in that keyword space below the ad box. So if you had a site about gardening and you mentioned “cabbages” beneath the ad box, you’re more likely to get ads about growing cabbages than ads about cabbage recipes. Experimenting with the placement of the keywords could allow you to control at least one or two of the ads you receive and help keep them varied. That’s definitely something to try.

Keyword Frame
One of the reasons that websites don’t always receive relevant ads may be that all the navigation and other non-content words affect the way Google reads the page. If your links and other words take up lots of space, it could well skew your results. One way to avoid your navigation affecting your ads is simply to create frames. You put all of your content in your main frame and the navigation material in a separate frame. Only the “content frame” has the Google code (google_page_url = document.location), so your keywords won’t be diluted by non-relevant words.

Finding Keyword

We know that Google’s crawlers search websites for keywords, then reports back and tells the company what kind of ads to send to the site. If your site is about pension plans for example, then your keywords would be things like “retirement”, “401k” and “pension”. Getting the right keywords on your site won’t just make your ads relevant; it will also help you to make sure that the ads you get are the ones that pay the most. There are all sorts of tools available on the Web that tell you how much people are prepared to pay for keywords. www.overture.com and www.googlest.com let you see how much people are prepared to pay, and keywords.clickhereforit.com also has a list of keywords with their prices. On the more professional side, WordTracker provides a wealth of keyword research tools that unearth pure gold. You can check it out at www.WordTracker.com. Again, you don’t want to build a site just to cash in on a high paying keyword but if you know that “401k” pays more than “retirement” for example, then it makes sense to use the higher paying keywords more than the lower paying ones.

Keyword Density
You’ll need the right keywords to get the right ads. But you’ll also need the right amount of keywords. There’s no golden rule for putting the right number of keywords on a page to get the ads you want. You’ll just have to experiment. It also seems to be the case that keyword density is counted across pages, especially for high-paying keywords. If you have a site that’s generally about cars and you write a page for car rental, a higher-paying keyword, you might find that you need to produce several pages about car rental before you get the ads.
In general though, if you find that your ads are missing the point of your page and that your titles are all correct, then the next step would be to try mentioning your keywords more often and make sure that they’re all finely focused. For example, talking about “fire extinguishers” is likely to get you better results than talking generally about “safety equipment.”

<script type=”text/javascript”><!–
google_ad_client = “pub-X”;
google_ad_width = 120;
google_ad_height = 600;
google_ad_format = “120x600_as”;
google_ad_type = “text_image”;
google_ad_channel =”";
//–></script>
<script type=”text/javascript”
src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”>
</script>

would be copied to this location in the default style sidebar.php:

</ul>
</li>
<?php } ?>
<—–paste it there
</ul>
</div>

You can experiment with various places

If you want the ad right at the top of the whole page:

<body>
<—–paste the code there
<div id=”page”>

If you want the ad at the bottom of your posts:

</div>
<—–paste the code there
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

The above is all fairly basic.
But what if you wanted an ad to only appear under the first post and nowhere else ?
Open your theme index.php, and find this line:

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

Immediately above that, paste this:

<?php
$postnum = 1;
$showadsense1 = 1;
?>

That’s part one of the code – the value.

Staying in index.php, scroll down to this part:

<p class=”postmetadata”>Posted in <?php the_category(‘, ‘) ?> | <?php edit_post_link(‘Edit’, ”, ‘ | ‘); ?>  <?php comments_popup_link(‘No Comments »’, ’1 Comment »’, ‘% Comments »’); ?></p>
</div>
<—– Note this gap !
<?php endwhile; ?>

Into that gap, you paste this:

<?php if ($postnum == $showadsense1) {
echo ‘
Your adsense code goes here
‘;
} ?>

<?php $postnum++; ?>

You put ALL your code, plus the bit at either end, into the gap I pointed at.
The ‘value’ is where to show the post. The bottom part checks to see what the number is and when the number matches, it puts the ad on the screen. So if you made $showadsense1 = 3; in both locations, the ad would appear only after the 3rd ad.

Want 1 ad after the first post and 2 after the second ?
Copying from above, you would use this instead:

<?php
$postnum = 1;
$showadsense1 = 1;
$showadsense2 = 2;
?>

which would go at the top.

Again copying from the above, you already have this:

<?php if ($postnum == $showadsense1) {
echo ‘
Your adsense code goes here
‘;
} ?>

<?php $postnum++; ?>

and you would add another block below the first ad, but above the counter at the bottom. Here it is all together:

<?php if ($postnum == $showadsense1) {
echo ‘
Your adsense code goes here
‘;
} ?>

<?php if ($postnum == $showadsense2) {
echo ‘
Your adsense code goes here
‘;
} ?>
<?php $postnum++; ?>

The first bit says the values, then the values are checked each time WP goes through The Loop.
If the counter matches what your value is, the ad is shown. Changing the numbers lets you change the placement.

Lastly, maybe you want an ad ONLY when people are looking at a single post.

If you are using the default theme, open single.php (or any theme that has such a file), put the adsense code right below this line:

<?php the_content(‘<p class=”serif”>Read the rest of this entry »</p>’); ?>

If you are not using such a theme, you need different code.
Decide where you want the ad to appear, and paste this code in that location:

<?php
if (is_single()) { echo ‘
Your adsense code goes here
‘;} ?>

You can ads anywhere and make them appear under certain conditions only. So you could ads just for pages, others in the sidebar on the home page with different sidebar sizes on archived posts, no ads at all on the main page but scattered throughout the blog on other views.
It’s the conditional if (is_single) or if (is_home) and other template tags that you need to play with.

A bold and vital book that asks and answers the most urgent question of today: What Would Google Do?
In a book that’s one part prophecy, one part thought experiment, one part manifesto, and one part survival manual, internet impresario and blogging pioneer Jeff Jarvis reverse-engineers Google—the fastest-growing company in history—to discover forty clear and straightforward rules to manage and live by. At the same time, he illuminates the new worldview of the internet generation: how it challenges and destroys, but also opens up vast new opportunities. His findings are counterintuitive, imaginative, practical, and above all visionary, giving readers a glimpse of how everyone and everything—from corporations to governments, nations to individuals—must evolve in the Google era.
Along the way, he looks under the hood of a car designed by its drivers, ponders a worldwide university where the students design their curriculum, envisions an airline fueled by a social network, imagines the open-source restaurant, and examines a series of industries and institutions that will soon benefit from this book’s central question.
The result is an astonishing, mind-opening book that, in the end, is not about Google. It’s about you.

Download ebook

1. You own your time.

The greatest contention of freelancers is the time flexibility that they can afford to enjoy while doing freelance projects. Most freelance jobs are given as time-bound projects with a specified deadline. It becomes the freelancer’s prerogative as to how he or she will manage his time to finish the project within the period set by the client. Nonetheless, a freelancer owns his time and can choose to work on the project in broad daylight, or at night in the case of artsy, nocturnal beings. So, it is a great opportunity for you to make money at home.

2. You can exercise your expertise—and explore other skills.

And because they own their time, freelancers have the freedom to explore other activities may it be related to work or not. As long as a project is done and finished on schedule, freelancers can travel and bring their work, without necessarily harming their livelihood. Freelancers of many expertise can also take on a variety of projects in one time.

3. You can earn more.

Freelancing allows you total control over the number and kinds of projects that you accept, including the rates to which you agree to do them. Freelancers can maximize opportunities form a number of employers offering freelance projects, thus enjoy the opportunity to earn more than an ordinary employee does.

You have probably heard about that guy from your friend’s friend who makes a fortune online. If you’re not into computers and internet, that may seem a little strange to you – but if you think about it, it’s really not. Many people earn money on the internet all the time. Some make enough to cover some extra needs they have, while some work full time online.
Let me tell you some basic steps what you need to do to start earning money online.

1. Learn how to earn money online – Everyone wants to start earning right away, but it’s just not how this works. You have to take the time to read some good articles, tutorials and how-tos before you start.

2. Make a blog – Today, almost everyone has a blog. There are many free services that allow you to open a blog for free, and write. You should pick a topic that interests you (so you don’t lose interest in the future) and just write. Don’t think about the money primarily right away. It will come, believe me.

3. Affiliate programs – When your blog gets going, and you acquire some regular visitors, register for an affiliate program. There are various programs out there (use Google to find the best ones for your niche). Put them on your site, and just wait for the money to come in.

4. Sell advertising space – If your blog becomes successful, people will contact you and buy advertising space. You just put their banner on your site, and you get paid.

Of course, while doing all this, keep on reading. Don’t ever think that you know it all, because things change all the time on the internet. Follow as many informative blogs as possible, get a membership on a reputable forum and chat with other webmasters, etc.

In the end, let me say one thing that you need to remember. You need to have patience in order to succeed. Success doesn’t come overnight. You have to wait, and the time will

If you have questions – and I know you will – then please use the comments rather than emailing me. This will allow me to answer for everyone’s benefit and save me a lot of time. Also – please give me as much info as you can when asking questions. Don’t ask why your site is getting 2 cent clicks. I will need to know what the niche is, where your traffic is from, how much traffic, what your keywords are etc to make an informed opinion. Please try and include as much relevant info when asking for help.

Rule #1

If you are going to make money with Adsense then you build your site for that purpose. You don’t slap Adsense on an unoptimized site and expect to make much money with it.

Rule #2

Adsense works best when you drive targeted search engine traffic to your site and the visitor clicks an ad targeted to the term that the user found your site with. Or a related term.

ie. John is searching for “Adsense Tips” using a search on Google. He finds your site listed for that term. He visits and at some point he sees an Adsense ad on your site for “Adsense Tips” or “How to make money with Adsense” or “Adsense for beginners” and clicks one of the ads.

That is a targeted click. You will receive the best CPC. (cost per click or in simple terms this is the amount of money Google will pay you for the click)  In this case let us say you get paid $0.50 for it.

Now Bob drops in on your site because someone (maybe you if you don’t know any better) stumbled your post on stumbleupon. Bob isn’t looking for anything – he’s just aimlessly surfing the stumble sites. He doesn’t see much that interests him but clicks on an Ad just out of curiosity. He doesn’t convert for the advertiser – why would he (but sometimes it can happen) as he is just checking things out. He spends two seconds on the advertiser’s landing page and leaves.

Bob is an untargeted click. Google will pay you $0.01 for the click.

Do not get hung up on all the variables at work here. Just understand that you want to drive as much targeted traffic to your site and avoid as much untargeted traffic as you can. You want to rank well in the search engines for as many keywords as you can that are related to your niche and you want to avoid driving traffic to your site from untargeted sources. No stumbling, digging, reddit, etc. If others do it you have no control so don’t get in a flap – it happens. Just don’t chase that traffic yourself.

Overall you will get both kinds of traffic – as long as the majority of your clicks come from targeted sources you will average a decent CPC. They will never all be perfect clicks. If the majority of your clicks end up coming from untargeted sources of traffic then eventually you will be smart priced and all you will see will be the 2 cent CPC. If that happens then pull Adsense off the site and leave it off until you can change the traffic source to more targeted visitors.

Now, before you all ask, yes you can get direct traffic from other blogs linking to you or from people bookmarking you. In general these people are interested in your site’s niche and probably have related niches. Whether they are targeted or not is usually not a concern as they will be readers and are not likely to click your ads anyway. You can have a million stumblers show up too as long as they don’t click your ads you will be fine. I am not telling you that you can’t have untargeted traffic – you can – you just don’t want them clicking ads. There are programs available that allow you the option to only show ads to search visitors. If your site has a lot of untargeted visitors then use them. I am too lazy to go find the links but I am sure some of my readers will supply them in the comments. If you are new here then you may as well learn this now – I yak a lot and my friends roll in to do the leg work. I encourage it because it gives them a chance to introduce themselves and they are people you should get to know – they help me, I help them and they will help you. If you have no online friends then make friends with some of mine as they will be your best resource. Just be sure to give as much as you get.

(Don’t be shy – get involved. You will notice by the abundance of comments that I belong to a growing community of like minded folks who all help each other and are far more knowledgable than any other group you will meet online. We were all beginners at one time and we don’t mind passing along our knowledge to others – take advantage of it and pay it forward when you can.)

Rule #3

Do not click your friends ads and discourage them from clicking yours. You will get banned. Google can tell when multiple clicks come from the same IP. It is un-natural and sticks out like a sore thumb. Never ever get involved with click fraud. It is not worth it and yes – you will get caught! Yes you will… you beginners had better listen to me as you are all going to try and think of a way to inflate your clicks. DON”T!!!

Rule #4

A successful Adsense  site is a site that doesn’t look like an Adsense site. No splogs. It must contain legit information and serve some purpose other than simply displaying Adsense. It is against the Adsense Terms of Service to create a site for the sole purpose of slapping Adsense on it.

How you create an Adsense site for the purpose of making money with Adsense without looking like you have just created an Adsense site for the sole purpose of making money with Adsense will be discussed in the next post. (say that 5 times fast)

Rule # 5

Everything you think you know about Adsense and SEO that you read about elsewhere is crap – even if it isn’t crap. Just because some dude wrote an ebook on either subject doesn’t mean they know jack. It just means they wrote an ebook. The people you want to listen to rank on top of the search engines and don’t write books about making money online.

They make money online.

They don’t need to make money writing an ebook.

And why should you listen to me?

Because I rank on top of the search engines for just about every “make money online” keyword you can think of. Go look.

and… I’m not selling you anything.

and… I’m just a swell guy!

Why am I telling you this for free? Because I need content in order to rank on top of the search engines for even more terms and It is easy for me to write about stuff I know a lot about. I also know that only 1 in 10 of you will follow my instructions. Only 1 in 100 of you will become adept enough to knock me off my perch and when you can you won’t. You will become an ally and together we will kick more ass in more niches and make even more money. In short I want and need more friends who do what I do so that we can all help each other.

Rule # 6

The best business model I know online is to provide free information for any niche that is dominated by sites that sell the info. By providing free and legit info you will bury the competition – the traffic will come to you. And you pay for it all with… yup – Adsense.

Next post I will talk about how to set up a site, how to structure your posts, how to use adsense on the site and how to get people to click on your ads without violating Google’s terms of service.

In the meantime you should re-read rule number 6 and find a niche that meets that requirement. You can also observe how I structured this post. It is perfectly optimized for the keywords I want traffic for.