Monetize your web content using ad Networks.

How do ad Networks Work?
Advertising on an advertisement network involves three parties or people; the advertiser (the person wishing to advertise),the network, and the publisher (the website or blog owner who is ready to publish advertisements on his/her website). The advertiser submits all his advertisement material, such as banners and links to the network and pays it the the money to advertise. The network passes this advertisement to publishers that join the network and then shares the advertisement profit with the publishers according to the performance of each one of them.

This system provides the advertiser with instant reach to a massive number of publishers on the web. Leading advertising networks like Google AdSense also offer advertisers powerful controls over where and how the advertisement is displayed, such controls include geographical targeting, specific website targeting, and date and time scheduling features. Publishers also benefit from almost unlimited flow of advertisements waiting to be published, they are saved the hassle of looking for advertisers and are guaranteed to have their payments made to them from the network.

Payment Conventions:
The cost of advertising through a network is calculated using a performance convention. This is unlike the traditional and more basic approach in which the advertiser risks the payment of a certain amount of money for displaying ads on a website for a specified period of time without taking into regard the actual performance of the advertisement in that period.

Nowadays, the networks charge advertisers and pay the publishers according to the performance of the ads without taking regard to time. The performance is measured by either the number of times the ad is displayed (Cost Per Thousand (Mega) Impressions- CPM), the number of times somebody clicks on the ads (Cost Per Click- CPC), or the number of times the advertisement made the the visitor take the action intended by the advertiser (Cost Per Action- CPA). Depending on the payment convention of the ads, the publisher would be required to implement them in a different manner on his website to optimize their performance.

Publishers of CPM ads will get paid for the mere display of ad banners on their websites without the need to have the visitor click on the ad or buy the advertised product. This sort of payment convention requires the publisher to have a significant amount of traffic for the advertising campaign to become commercially successful, but the publisher is not required to put any effort into optimizing these ads in terms of layout or content placement. All he needs to do is just have them displayed on his website!

On the other hand, publishers of CPC ads ill only get paid when a visitor clicks on the ad. The number of times the ad is displayed is usually irrelevant to the question of whether the advertiser should be charged. Utilizing this sort of ad requires more effort than CPM advertising as the publisher will have to integrate the ad in a manner that allows the ad to get noticed by the visitor in the hope that he clicks on it, while at the same time making sure that the ad does not obscure the actual original content of the website. This could involve a redesign exercise that takes advantage of the 'hot spots' in the page layout and the visitor's navigation approach, which is not an easy task to do due to the vulnerability (new word learnt at school=)) of repeated visitors to advertisement blindness.

The last type of payment convention is Cost Per Action (CPA). In this case, for which the publisher only gets paid when the visitor clicks on the ad and then makes the intended action, (e.g. Purchase a product, download a program, or register for a service). This is a more challenging form of advertising that requires the publisher to have a certain level of persuasion skills and it usually works best at websites with very specific content and very well targeted traffic.

The distinction between the different conventions for ad payment make s some of them more appropriate than others for different websites depending on the nature of the content served, the size of the website, and the amount and type of the traffic received by the website. It is also natural for publishers to use a combination of these ad types in different sections of a website to optimize their performance.

Contextual and Non-Contextual Advertising:
In addition to the distinction between ads on the basis of the payment convention, ads can be categorized on the basis on which aspects of the content is selected. Contextual advertising is a mechanism by which ads are automatically served to match the content of the page displaying the ad. Networks that serve this sort of ad provide the publisher with a code script to implement in his website so that each time a page is displayed the network searches the content of the page looking for keywords that match the ones the advertiser attached to his ad. For example, a web page that has textual content containing the word 'music' could trigger a contextual advertising unit to display any ad that had been tagged with the word 'music', for example, one of the advertising 'sale of concert tickets' if the advertiser tagged it with the keyword 'music'. This could be compared to a non-contextual advertising program under which the publisher choose before hand a certain category of products to be displayed in the ad units published on his website. The ease of use and flexibility of contextual advertising makes it the primary option to go for when looking for advertising solutions on the web. But the system is not totally free from faults, as the contextual nature of the keyword scan in a page containing a lot of different keywords could lead the ad unit to display a totally irrelevant ad. However, experienced publishers can minimise the chances of error by repeating more relevant keywords or emphasising by using various techniques to insure that they are picked when selecting the ad.

How Do I Get Paid?
When you've been accepted by an ad network or program, put up the ad and made conversions, the important question is now "How do you get your money?" Depending on the network, different payment options could be available to the publisher. Almost all networks provide a cheque option to be sent by mail, certain networks offer a paypal payment option, and larger ones such as Google offer and Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) option to publishers holding bank accounts in qualifying countries such as the US, UK and Canada. The payment is usually made on a monthly basis upon the cumulative achievement of a certain amount of profit so that a payment is only made, for example, if the publisher manages to gain $100 or more, otherwise the profit rolls over to the next month and is only sent when the publishers reaches the minimum amount of money required for making the payment.

Disadvantages Of Advertising:
Publishers must always take into consideration the impact of placing ads on the visitors' experience of the website. Improper an excessive implementation of ads could easily render the website messy or confusing in a way that could repel visitors from returning to the website. Rich media ads such as flash and video could also significantly reduce the time required to load the pages and can in extreme cases make your website inaccessible.

Another point that could be raised here is the fact that not all publishers realise instantly that they ate getting paid to redirect traffic from their website into the website of the advertiser. All major networks prohibit the publisher from altering the advertisement code script, which usually forces the advertised link to be opened in the same window, rather than in a new blank window as the majority of publishers will prefer. A possible affect of this is reduction in the number of page views made per visit, as visitors will be leaving the website through the ad. This is an aspect of advertising that publishers need to understand and accept before joining an ad program, as it is their driving traffic that they are getting paid for.

Note: I would like to say that there is no such thing as easy money in the Internet. Creating a website that is capable of generating a steady stream of income will take a great amount of effort and time. To be able to attract the traffic you need , you will have to create new, interesting and original content worth consuming. Monetization through advertising is essentially a reward for those that contribute in enriching the content of the web. Good Luck=).

Making Money With Adsense

What is Google AdSense?
Google AdSense is a fast and absolutely ridiculously easy way for people with websites of all types and sizes to put up and display relevant Google ads on the content pages of their site and earn money. Because the Google AdSense ads relate to what your visitors came to your site to read about, or because the ads match up to the interests and characteristics of the kind of people your content attracts, you now have a way
to improve your content pages AND make some serious bucks off of them.

How to get started with Google AdSense?
You can sign up with Google Adsense at https://www.google.com/adsense. After your application is approved you have to get a code given to you by Google Adsense into your web pages. The code creates relevant ads based on the content of your site. When a visitor clicks on an ad, Google pays you per click.

Free Google AdSense Optimization Tips?
1-There are specific areas in your web pages that are recommended by Google which have been found to generate more clicks.

2-Ads placed above the fold tend to perform better than those below the fold. A 728x90 ad under your title or header graphic is a good place for a google adsense ad.

3-Ads placed near rich content and navigational aids usually do well because users are focused on those areas of a page the most.

4-Google Adsense Ads that are merged within the content, like the ads you see on the right hand column, perform very well.

5-You should make your Google Adsense ads look as a part of your web page. They shouldn't look like an advertisement. Users search the internet for content, not ads.

6-In order to know how effective a specific website or ad placement is use distinct channels. This will allow you to discern what performs best on a specific website. Using channels will tell you what sites are making money, what advertisements are making money and what ad position is the most profitable on a specific website.

7-Adjust your font face and font size to look similar to the Google Adsense ads. Adsense advertisements are usually in Arial, 11px.

8-Test Test! Only by tweaking your ads, changing the sizes, colors and locations, can you actually see what works best for your specific site.

What Kinds of Ads Will I Get on My Site?
There are some kinds of ads you wouldn't want to have on your site, such as pornographic ones or ads for multi-level marketing schemes that say, "Make $30,000 a month just for watching TV!" In big red letters.
Well, you can put your mind at ease. Google has an ad review process that checks the ads they send to your site. This process ensures that the ads that you serve up are family-friendly and that they comply with Googles strict guidelines.
Googles ad-checking team combines sensitive language filters, input from site owners like you, and a team with good common sense to filter out ads that could be inappropriate for your content. And if thats not enough, you have the capability to block competitive ads and choose your own ads. Thats another nice feature: Google kind of lets you run your own show.
Now, another thing you might be concerned about is whether the ads will clash with the look, feel, and color schemes you've got going with your site. Don't worry. You can customize the appearance of ads and choose from a wide range of colors and templates. Same thing goes for your search results page. And reports are customizable, too. Google provides flexible reporting tools that allow you to group your pages any way you want.
That means you can view your results by URL, domain, ad type, category and more so that you can figure out where your earnings are coming from.

What are Users Saying about AdSense?
Here are a few of my favorites:
• We're seeing this impressive new revenue stream without incurring any costs. We're maximizing our previously unsold inventory, and our revenue per page figure continues to grow..
- Scott Zucker, Executive VP and COO, Intelligent Content Corp, PetPlace.com

• It took no time at all to copy and post the code on individual pages, and it fits well with our content management system and with the look and feel of all our pages..
- Steve Larson, Founder of Our-Hometown.com

• Instead of spending money to hire an additional sales rep to sell ad banners, Google ads have become a virtual sales tool for us. Now we're able to get hold of thousands of dollars in additional advertising revenue each month that we would very likely have missed without Google AdSense..
- Robert Hoskins, Editor and Group Publisher, Broadband Wireless Exchange.

• Google shows targeted ads reflecting the sorts of information and services SeatGuru visitors want. For a small business like mine, this is the best approach to advertising. You set it up easily, it automatically serves relevant ads, and it takes very little of my time..
- Matt Daimler, Founder, SeatGuru.com .

• At the beginning I was very concerned that I might lose traffic to competitors. I only used AdSense on a limited number of the sites pages, and I watched the stats very carefully. If the traffic, pages per visitor, or conversion rates dropped I knew I could easily pull the ads...Since implementing AdSense, our ad revenue has increased more than tenfold, and 100 percent of my available inventory is now sold through AdSense.. - Vik Kachoria, Entrepreneur, Real Adventure.

Am I Going to Make a Lot of Money Off of This?
While you can't guarantee results, of course, since a lot of your success lies in your own hands. A lot of webmasters are making a lot of money off of AdSense, and there's no reason you shouldn't be one of them.
The amount of money you can make with Google AdSense mainly depends on what users need your Website fills. For instance, a site about women's issues can make some serious bucks on AdSense because of the high level of competition for related keywords.
The CPC (cost per click) is the amount you get paid every time a user clicks on one of those ad banners. CPC rates for competitive keywords can be more than $1, which translates directly to your sites earning potential within the program.
However, if you're in a less competitive market, you'll make less money.That's just a fact of life. Still, it's unusual to see anyone using Google AdSense report earnings of less than an $1 CPM (cost per 1000 impressions), and the average runs in the range of $4-$5 CPM. Some people are making an effective CPM of $15 or more with AdSense. Oh, and best yet, this is all after Google takes its commission.

About that commission.Commission is definitely one thing that's a little bit not stable with AdSense. Google doesn't publicize it's cut, and only displays the publisher's cut in member reports, so getting good, accurate information on this has been difficult.
Till today, comparisons of AdWords rates with AdSense earnings add up to commissions of between 40% and 60%. People chew over all the time on user boards as to why Google refuses to publish its commission rates, but no one has the answer. It might have something to do with legal reasons or it could just be that Google wants to retain the ability to change rates without having to send out an announcement about it each time, which costs money.