I’m probably late in jumping onto this particular bandwagon,
but I’ve started playing with Google AdSense and
I am astounded at:
- How great the content matching is
- The amount of revenue it generates
The webmasters participation in the whole thing is quite minimal, AdSense gives
you a piece of Javascript you embed on
your page, and that’s all you have to do. Every time that page is display, Google will
scan the contents of the page, and present a collection of ads based on the keywords
it identifies on the page. So, for example, if a page have text content talking about Games,
the ads displayed would be based on that subject. It’s extremely efficient, with no
delays in page loading perceived by the user; and also extremely accurate. I’ve also
added it to this blog, just to watch the ads changing every time I view a particular
blog entry in detail. The main page ads, seem to be around BizTalk
Server, even though the content is mixed, so Google must
use some sort of ranking system for the keywords.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of revenue it generates. Granted, that $5
a day will probably be eaten up by hosting and bandwidth costs, but compared to the
effort this is phenomenal. When I had started The
Only Network 4 years ago, I would spend hours signing up for affiliate schemes,
placing banners on relevant pages; then sitting back, and watching the site making
$10 a month. For the amount of effort expended, Google
AdSense is definitely the way for for people making a living on their websites.
So, why is the program so successful? It’s intuitive when you think about it. People
browsing a particular page will so because they are interested in something that page
offers. Being able to target these individuals with something which is DIRECTLY relevant
to them, has the dual effect of enhancing their experience, and generating the impulse
behavior that advertisers pay the salt of the earth for. It’s all about context.
As Woody Allen put it, “90%
of success is showing up” and Google is providing
a pivotal role in putting buyers and sellers on the same page.