I was curious as to why my banner ad reports don't match up with my google analytics visitors. For instance, my recent report shows 1200 clicks on banner ads, but the referring visits from the banners on GA only shows 500 visits.

I wanted to reach out to a local movie theater to see if they woud pay me a small fee to keep a banner ad for their films/theaters on my movie reviews site. Even if it's a few pennies I'd be ok with it ... better than nada. I have their pr contact for the ad divsion ... any tips on proceeding?

I am a big fan of both your blog and problogger, and both of you seem to be fans of the Chitika ad network, in addition to various other ways that you make money. Darren says that it's a big revenue stream for him, and you've written that minor tweaks in how you have things set up on your blog have resulted in some major bucks coming your way too. I'm in! But, how do I get started?

Hi Dave. I've been talking with some friends about how to make money as a blogger and they're split. Some say that Google AdSense is the way to go, while others wax enthusiastic about the Chitika network. What they all say, however, is that it's critically important to pick the right size ad and put it in the right place to get the best results. I'm skeptical, though: how important can that be on a Web page?

I am an HR person but right now I have given a task about marketing one of our websites for business. I am kinda new to it, I need to know what is pay per click and how website advertising works? Simply said, how do I market a website and make it sponsored link on Google, Yahoo and other search engines?

I have been experimenting on adding Google AdSense advertisements to my site and am not thrilled with the typeface they've chosen for the ads. Is there any way I can change the typeface in the text ads?

I've been looking at various options for my many registered but unused domains so that they could generate a bit of income for me and was psyched to read about Google adding AdSense for Domains to its many services. Don't know if anyone's seeing good money with it, but, heck, I'm willing to try!

I'm new to Google AdSense my website is a social networking. My page views of a single day is about 10000, but my Google AdSense impression shows only 4000-5000 impressions. Could you tell me why?

Social Media Networks like Facebook and LinkedIn offer businesses new channels through which to conduct marketing and advertising. But how effective are these, really? Ask any SEO or online marketing expert and they will tell you that it's an organic process and it takes time to develop real results. The key is to have good content that turns people into repeat visitors to your website - eventually they will buy.

Really? "If you build it they will come?"

I am just launching a new discussion forum that'll be only for people with valid account credentials (login, password, ya know) and I want to put Google AdSense ads on it. I have heard that's not possible, but I read that it is okay with Google now. But how do they know what's on those pages if the AdSense targeting engine doesn't have login credentials?

Like many people, I am fascinated by the idea of making money off my Web site, and have been reading up on all the different options out there. From information products to advertising, I'm pretty sure I understand most of them, except I'm still not quite clear how affiliate programs work. Can you explain?

I'm in the middle of an argument with a designer friend. I say that Google's AdSense and similar contextual ad systems work better if there's lots of text on the page, while my friend says that Google can parse anything, including Flash graphics. Which of us is right? (btw, please only post your answer if I'm right!)

Dave, I have a client who is considering using Kontera to insert keyword ad links. Our recommendation to them was to create internal linking, not keyword ads in the text. I remember you discussing removing the keyword ads. Was there a reason for this in regards to SERPs, or was that purely due to expert credibility?

I have a couple of blogs (using Blogger) that are monetized using Google. But, the ads that appear are often completely unrelated to the content - sometimes embarrassingly so. Is there any way of getting the ads to be more relevant? I do use tags, but that doesn't seem to help. Sigh.

Why do the terms of service prohibit AdSense publishers from sharing any of our account data, specifically click-thru rate (CTR) and per-ad value (eCPM)? I can sort of understand discouraging the wide dissemination of gross revenue, but even that seems like it'd naturally be something people would be private about anyway...

Hi I need to know how to change the target of the Google AdSense ads via script. I changed the background by using: google_color_bg = "E5EBF2"; but now I need to change the target of the hyperlinks to open in a new window. can you please help.

Just browsing your site and I noticed that some of your Google AdSense ad blocks have a link on the bottom that I haven't seen before, "See More Ads by Google". What the heck? Is this something that you want to have on your site, or is it some sneaky attempt by Google to lower your revenue?

As a faithful reader of your AskDaveTaylor blog, I noticed a few days ago that you have added a new graphical element on the sidebar, one that features a variety of different products for sale and is animated. Cool. What is it?

I have a small photography website J Layes Photography.com that has galleries and allows visitors to buy prints of my photographs. I have been approached by a company asking whether I'd allow them to post their advertising banner on my site and how much I would charge. Now, I don't have any idea about online advertising and the costs and what I could charge for it. Could you please advise?

I love your site. I learn a great deal from you. But I am stumped and need some help: I publish a small blog that I hope to monetize. With blogs I subscribe to, I like to read the content in a feed reader and rarely click through to a site. I would like to insert my own banner ads in my feed but have not figured out a good way to do so. I use typepad for my blog. (An arrangement similar to what self-help guru Steve Paulina does in his feed with product recommendations is what I would like to do.) Can you help?

My request for Adsense membership was turned down -- rejected! -- twice. Please suggest me what should I do? Should I remove some content?

I'm involved with a local woman's shelter, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and we're constantly struggling to gain visibility so we can get more donations and help more women. Recently someone told me that Google offers non-profits free advertising on their huge AdSense [she means AdWords --DT] network but I can't find any info?

I've been a long-time user of Google AdSense and pretty much have it all figured out, I think. Except for a new tab that's shown up: what is the "Allowed Sites" feature and when would I want to use it?

I've been an AdSense publisher for over a year and have been very pleased with all Google has to offer. I'm now thinking of starting a new site and again incorporating AdSense. Here's my problem ... as with many things in life, I took the 'learn as you go' approach with AdSense. When that specifically applies to 'channels' in the AdSense program, things are disorangized to say the least. And now that I want to add a new site, things would get even worse. Is there any way to clean things up or start from scratch? Thank you.

I have some affiliate websites and use adwords. I was paying 5 to 10 cents a click for most keywords. I just checked online and see that almost all keywords are not showing due to low quality score. My click through rate has been 2%-5%. I see they are now asking between $.50 and $10. Is there anything I can do? Do you know what factors go into a quality score?

I notice that you run Kontera's contextual advertising network on your site, Dave. I've heard good things about the network, but am curious: how much do you actually earn off this program, and is it worth it? If so, how can I get started?

A person named Kavita posted a comment elsewhere on my blog that stated: "my site is activated from google adsense i m unable to paste code in website i tried many times but i failed can u help plz?" It's a much bigger problem than a bad cut and paste, however, and something critical for people running AdSense to realize...

A friend of mine was telling me how he's making a ton of money doing what he called "adwords arbitrage", but was very coy when I asked him what it was all about and how it worked. Can you explain it please?

I work with lots of companies, setting up their shopping carts, and just learned that there's an affiliate program for Google Checkout where I could make a few extra bucks while pointing my customers to one of our transaction services of choice. Can you tell me how to find it?

Just logged into my Google AdSense account and notice that there's a section for messages from the AdSense team itself. Very reminiscent of eBay's internal messaging system, actually. But what kind of messages are they going to be sending me, and how often should I check for new info from AdSense? By the way, THANK YOU for getting me started with AdSense! I now make over $100/month with my ad spots thanks to your great getting started with Google AdSense tutorial!!

Looks like you've switched from IntelliTXT to Kontera in-line adverts, Dave. But your implementation of Kontera seems to be more targeted than I'm used to seeing on sites. How did you change the link color? How did you avoid having Kontera's ContentLink ad links in the titles of your articles? Do share!

I have a google adwords campaign. When I look at my keywords in each adgroup, they all say active, yet most of them carry zeros in every other column. When I do a search my ad is not appearing and often there is only one or sometimes no other sponsered ads. Why is this happening, and why would it still say my keyword is active?

I've been having a hard time getting the Google AdSense engine to properly target its advertisements to the content on my pages, and have been digging around for solutions. I came across a few cryptic references to "google_hints" as an additional variable you can add to your AdSense code block, but there's nothing about it on the Google site itself. Can you explain?

I'm a bit confused: I'm seeing a different set of numbers for the referrals I've sent to Google for people who want to sign up for their AdSense program. I've never seen a $5 payout before, I thought that it was a flat $100 when they earned $100 on AdSense (not that I've ever seen any of those payouts!) What's up?

I'm a long time interaction designer and web usability consultant looking to move more into web publishing to generate revenue. I have number areas of domain expertise that I'm considering writing about. I'd like to prioritize these based on AdSense value, but am not sure how. Can you offer any tips?

Would you mind explaining my stats below, please?

This is my Adsense for content and I enabled it few months back, if i read your post correctly it seems that my eCPM is $13.79 is what I can ask for people placing their Ads on my blogs (where my Adsense is running) and charge them per click? or what is the measure?

I have been to a couple of Web sites lately that have put images immediately next to their AdSense blocks and when I talked to the Webmasters, they said that adding the seemingly related images significantly increased their clickthru rate. But I dunno. Is it legal and within the AdSense terms of service?

On my blog I have Google AdSense on it. My question is the ads that are displayed are not about the content that I'm writing about. I don't get it. my blog is on knife defense (unarmed against a knife attack). My ads are showing emergency notification and automated notification. Here is my blog site: knife self-defense

Dave, I'm a big fan of Google and really like Google Earth and Google Desktop. So much so that I've been blogging about how to use these two products. A few days ago someone emailed me saying that I could be getting paid by Google to promote these products on my blog, which sounds awesome. How the heck do I do that, though?

I have lots of content behind a password screen for our customers and want to know if I can use Google AdSense to help make a few bucks off that traffic. My friends say "no", but I thought you might have a definitive answer for me?

I have a problem with my Google Adsense, I have placed it on my blog as per your directions [see Get Started with AdSense]. The thing is when I place the code in my template and preview it, is all ok, but when I publish it I get the PSA adverts instead (I changed it now to a white fill). The strange thing is that when I click on the individual posts the adsense adverts appear all ok.

Dave, I'm thinking of joining a few programs and becoming an affiliate. Are there categories of products for newbies that are "easy" to sell? What categories should I stay away from?

Dave, what's the best way to find out what competitors are paying on Google AdWords for specific keywords or related? I don't have an AdWords account, however, or I could just use that to find out, I imagine.

I signed up for Google AdSense and included AdSense on my new Web page, with the tweaks you recommend [see Getting started with Google AdSense]. Problem is, all I'm seeing is PSA's (Public Service Ads) from AdSense, I'm not seeing real advertisements, so regardless of what I do, there's no way to make a nickel off the program. Dave, please, why the heck am I trapped with AdSense PSAs?

I noticed that you're currently running the Vibrant Media IntelliTXT system on your site and am curious: I'm also hooked up for my own weblog to their system, but I can't figure out how to exclude certain blocks of text from their processing. Is there some trick you use? Also, generally, how have you found Vibrant Media to work with?

Should I enhance my relationships with affiliate managers, and if so, what are the advantages of keeping in touch with them?

Hey Dave, I've been told that Google doesn't like squeeze pages any more and that that is why my clicks now cost about 100 times more than they used to. What gives? How do I get my cheap clicks back?

Dear Dave, can i change the format of my Adsense layout? I went to Digg.com and I kinda like the layout of their adsense that they had (at the top). If so, how would I do that on my Moviebuff site?

I've been an Amazon Associate for years and have been wondering when they might offer some sort of context-sensitive ad box a la Google AdSense. It appears my wishes have finally come true with the beta release of their new Omakase Links program. What can you tell me about it, Dave, and how hard is it to get working properly?

Dave, I'm freaking out! I was just looking at one of the pages on my website and saw an interesting ad placed by the Google AdSense program and clicked on it without thinking. Oh man! I don't want to get kicked out of the program because of a fraudulent click, so what can I do to avoid getting into trouble?

I've just started blogging and am fascinated by the recent announcement of PayPerPost.com, a site that appears to offer me money to write favorably about products from specific advertisers. Even without any traffic to my weblog at all, I can now make at least a few bucks to pay for hosting and perhaps even a nice dinner once a month with my g/f. What's your take on the service, Dave, and are you going to sign up?

Q: I see lots of sites like the milliondollarhomepage and 500words and all this jazz. What the heck? What's the basic premise of these, and do they really bring traffic to your site? How would I determine if they're a good advertising investment too?

There's a domain name up for sale that claims to make 10-30 dollars a day in ad dollars, given an average of about 1,000 hits a day. The web site targets Unix. Is this a valid claim?

I can't believe this, but I just heard that Google AdWords is going to be extended to allow us advertisers to slip video snippets into our advertising? Can that be true, and if so, when can we try it out? I'm really excited as my product is perfect for little video demos...

I purchase Adwords on Google and when I look for myself I often don't appear. Google says I have set my cap at $30 and I have used up most of that by the time I check it out. Is that true? How does that work and how can I best optimize my return and appear more often in my selected words?

In light of Yahoo's move to ban trademark bidding, how long before Google follows suit? And how will Google's "quality score" component impact that decision?

I'm thinking about using Google AdWords, but I have the following
question. When someone Googles the name of my business my link come up as the top search result. If an ad for my site is also displayed, and someone clicks on that ad instead of the search result link, do I pay for that click? It seems like I might be paying for click-throughs on ads that aren't actually generating business. Can I prevent this?

On your recommendation, I've signed up for AdSense and added a simple search box on my pages so that I can also profit from AdSense for Search. I haven't seen much money from the search component, but all of a sudden I'm wondering if there's any way that I can at least see what searches people are doing when they hit Google through my search box?

I have an online shopping website in which I have setup google's Adwords Conversion tracking mechanism at two places, namely, Signup Confirmation and in the Payment page. In the Signup Confirmation page, I wish to track the number of signups occurring as a result of google adwords. While in the payment page, I wish to track the amount of the order.

Accordingly, while generating the conversion tracking code for payment page, I have entered value for the (Advanced option: conversion value) field to be equal to the order value. This Advanced conversion value helps to measure how much each conversion is worth to you.

In the Create Report screen while generating a customized report, which of the Conversion columns will help me track my order value if a conversion has occurred?

I have an "advertise on this site" link on my site as you do, Dave, but I'm wondering: is there any way to know if anyone actually is advertising on my site, and if so, can I figure out what percentage of revenue I'm getting from that advertising?

I've been reading a lot lately about affiliate link hijacking and link cloaking. Do you recommend any particular link cloaking software or technique and/or are there any particular ones to steer clear of? I saw one 'Covert Affiliate' that in addition to cloaking affiliate links puts a tracking cookie on the visitors computer even if they don't click on the link. They talk about having the 'unfair advantage'... that concerns me that if you're doing something 'sneaky' that it could actually bite you in the butt down the road.

I just signed up for Google AdSense after hearing about how much money some people are making on their websites, and now I read that I should be using "channels" to allow detailed traffic analysis. What are channels and how do I add them to my AdSense code?

I've been keeping track of the various options for pay per click and was pretty startled when I saw that Amazon.com, of all companies, was testing out some sort of Google AdSense competitor! What's the scoop on this?`

I've been getting more and more traffic to my site and am now wondering whether instead of just being a Google AdSense publisher I could move into the world of "AdSense Premium Publisher"? What are the criteria and benefits?

This is a big question, but I'm hoping for a small answer: what's your #1 favorite recommended technique for having a successful online advertisement?

Much to my surprise, Google's suddenly started including an "advertise on this site" link on my Google AdSense blocks. I don't so much mind, but I would like to know how to customize or tweak the page that Google is showing when someone clicks on that link. Is that doable?

Dave, I've become a convert! I am now featuring Google AdSense on my Web site and actually making some money from my site, rather than just paying a monthly hosting bill. Imagine, a profit center for my little one-man shop! :-) One question I have, though, is whether it's possible to get my Google AdSense reports via email rather than having to constantly log in to their site to find out how I'm doing?

I've been really happy with my earnings through the new Chitika eMiniMall system, thrilled that it was even exceeding my Google AdSense revenue, but now that it's time to get paid out, I'm suddenly notified that the projected payment was "audited" and that a whopping 39% of my commission was invalidated as being fraudulent. What the heck? How could I have that high a fraud level??

I have one site that is currently running Google Adsense. If I start another different site do I have to submit it to Google for approval? Or once you are in the program is that good enough?

Dave, as per your suggestion and encouragement, I have taken the plunge and signed up for Google AdSense. Now I've added it to my site and am getting some traffic and an occasional clickthrough. But I really don't understand the nuances between all the data shown in the report; can you walk me through the overview report in AdSense?

I've been reading your book Growing Your Business on Google but you did not answer one question I have. Is it kosher to present Google ads on your site AND present ads from Yahoo or anyone else? Do they insist on exclusivity or can you mix and match?

I've been reading a bit about how people can make money off their Web site by joining up with the Google AdSense program, but I really don't understand how it all works. Do I need to find advertisers? Do I bill them for showing up on my site? Or does Google do all this? Thanks a million (hopefully!)

Dave, I've been dabbling with Google AdWords with mixed results, but I have found a few Web sites that I think are just perfect for my ad campaign. What I'd like to do is run ads just on those sites. Is that possible, and if so, how do I do it?

I'm just getting started on a research project on alternative forms of pay per performance advertising such as pay per click or pay per call. I'm trying to identify companies or business models that have successfully built (or are trying to build) on pay per click/call/acquisition, etc. and would like to ask for your advice and opinion on this business segment.

Dave, rumor has it that Google's introducing a new "advertise on this site" feature for the top performers in the AdSense program, but I can't seem to find any specific information about it, and when I go to the AdSense site, there's no information about it. Do you have any information about this?

I logged into my Google AdWords account to explore the possibility of tying my advertisement to a few new keywords, but I can't figure out how to ascertain how much it costs to get to the #1 position for a given keyword. Can you help me out?

I've been working on getting my AdSense revenue to improve ever since I started reading your (awesome) book Growing Your Business with Google, and today a pal told me that I needed to immediately implement section targeting. Can you offer some insight?

Hi Dave. I know you haven't included AdSense in your own RSS feeds (yet?) but have watched the space closely. My question to you: I am interested in adding Google AdSense to my own RSS feeds and am wondering if there are any best practices you might suggest?

Dave, I finally signed up and have a Google AdSense account, but I'm confused by all of the terminology in their reports. For example, what's a Page Impression versus an Ad Unit Impression? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Dave, it's hard not to notice that tons of sites on the Web now have Google AdSense adverts on them. You could say that those little 3-line text ads are becoming ubiquitous. But my question is: does anyone make any money with them? I mean, even enough to pay for a nice dinner every month? If so, man, I could sure use some tips on how to make some money off my Web site. Do you have any recommendations?

Dave, I've been reading about various tricks that marketing folks use to gain more traffic for their Web site through paid advertising and just came across deceptive keyword bidding, but I'm not clear what that really is. Can you clarify for me, please? For that matter, I don't fully understand how keyword bidding is done on Google AdWords anyway.

Dave, how do I remove the "white" background color from the Google Adsense Search toolbar since it isn"t a gif or jpg picture as is your "Ask Dave" icon? Thanks!

If you were lucky enough to be with me here at Gnomedex in Lake Tahoe, California, then you already know that Paypal's Dave McClure moderated a panel entitled "The Future of Online Advertising".

While many of the conclusions in the recent research released by the Poynter Institute where they analyzed how people view Web pages based on tracking eye movement are so painfully obvious that it's embarrassing to read the article, the overall set of tips are well worth considering nonetheless.

Before we get to the tips, though, take a step back and think about the English language. It's a left-to-right, top-to-bottom language, so after a lifetime of learning how to read and process information, it should be no surprise to you that Web pages are assimilated top left to bottom right, and that people only view the page until they ascertain the gist of the content and/or the information they were hoping to glean from the page. Therefore, it should be obvious that the top left corner of a page is viewed the most, while the bottom right corner is, you guessed it, viewed the least.

if you haven't yet plugged in, then you'll want to immediately read the article Partner with Google and Make Money!. Back? Good. Let's talk about a whole new facet of Adsense that you can utilize to generate additional revenue from your site: search.

In previous articles, I've written about the terrific Google Adsense program (see Partner with Google and make money! for a good starter on the subject), but after the Internet bust of the late 1990's, I never realized that I could be actually selling advertising space on my Web sites, and making a tidy revenue stream off the deal. But I am, and here's how...

If you run a weblog (aka "blog") you've probably already figured out that you can add Google Adsense to all your pages and make a few bucks from visitors (though don't forget to read some of the many articles on Free Web Money that talk about ad placement, etc. Start with Improving your Adsense Click Thru).

What you might not have realized is that there's sufficient traffic in the world of Weblogs that some new networks are popping up targetted specifically to the weblog-reading crowd.

In a previous article, I talked about the importance of tweaking your Google Adsense adverts, specifically issues of size and placement. If you haven't read that yet, I suggest that you start by reading Improving Your Adsense Click-Thru before you proceed with this, the second part of the topic.

You're back now? Great. Let's keep talking about this interesting topic.

The leader in the pay per click (or PPC) market is Google, with its Adsense program, but if you're already an Adsense subscriber, with adverts on your own pages, you might not realize the importance of the design of your advert and the placement of the advert on the page.

Imagine you were a really big company and walked into the offices at Google, saying "I'll offer you a deal: I'll add your advertisements to my Web Pages, you sell the ad space, and we'll split the revenue." Sound too good to be true?

It's not. It's Google's Adsense Program and it's the basis of thousands of different sites currently earning money each time someone clicks on an ad. Some of these sites earn just a dollar or two each week, but others are earning over $500 each day. Without doing anything special, without managing ad inventory, and without worrying about collecting payment from advertisers.