How to Monetize a Free Website

For some time now I have been aggressively marketing my Geocities website without the prospect of any financial return. The site is content based so I did not expect to generate any product sales and neither was I able to lure potential sponsors.

But that has quietly changed. Google has decided to reward webmasters with quality free websites the chance to rake in some cash for their hard work.

Google's contextual advertising program Adsense has been around since June 2003. Back then the program was open only to webmasters with their own domain names and many quickly took up the opportunity to cash in on their labor of love sites.

When the Big G announced that they were expanding Adsense to accommodate free sites, some people scoffed at the idea because they believe that freebie sites are full of junk.

I first learnt of this move while browsing around a few webmaster forums and to my surprise some persons were against this move by Google. I believe that Google's intention is to bring in as much as possible quality websites under the Adsense umbrella.

My first application for Adsense was rejected and I got an explanation stating that my site was still under construction. I thought that this was a mistake so I reapplied the same day and got accepted. Right away I was able to log in to my account and start putting the code for the ads on my pages.

The control panel is easy to understand and Google provides stats and figures in order for you to track your performance. You can also add Adsense for search where visitors can search the web or your site and you get compensated everytime someone clicks on the ads displayed.

Developing content sites is key to success in Adsense. Why? Because Google's technology uses the content of each page to guess which ads are most suitable. The higher the quality of the content, the higher quality and paying ads you will attract.

Please note that getting accepted into Adsense does not guarantee that you will receive a check from them. Your success depends on many factors.

Some of them include the number of visitors, the placement of the ads, the value of the keywords on the page where the ads are shown and how many persons who will clickthru on the Adsense ad panel.

For those with unscrupulous minds, Google has ways and means to find out where each ad click is originating from. Therefore no click spamming.

Adsense is a win-win situation for all the players involved. It benefits the visitors with additional information, the search engines because of higher quality websites and you with a check every month.

It makes perfect sense to make dollars with Adsense. With this source of revenue, you can upgraded your website and take it to it's full potential.

Copyright © Nicholas Dixon

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Nicholas Dixon is a Jamaican webmaster, writer and affiliate marketer. Find out
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