"Tell you what, Stef," I continued, "since you're an AdSense expert now, why don't you take over? You can demonstrate things with my AdSense account, if you want." She said that was fine, so I opened a browser window to www.google.com/adsense to access the AdSense login page (Figure 7.1).
Figure 7.1. The AdSense login page.
As I logged into my account, I gave them a warning. "Google uses a secure Web connection for AdSense account management, so if the Web address shown in your browser toolbar doesn't start with 'https:' and there's no lock icon in the browser status bar, don't log init's probably some kind of scam site looking to obtain your AdSense password."
Avoid Scams
Want the latest news on Internet scams and how to avoid them? Log on to www.scams.net/.
"And always keep the password confidential," Claude added.
"Absolutely!" I said. "You don't want to let anyone access your account. Treat it like an online banking account. There, we're in. Your turn, Stef. Give us a tour."
Stef switched places with me. "OK," she began, "this is the AdSense management console. Right now it's showing the default page, the Ad Performance page." She pointed to the report displayed on the screen (Figure 7.2). "Normally, it shows you how much money you've earned today using AdSense."
Figure 7.2. The Ad Performance page.
"That's what I really want to know!" Claude said.
"And it's updated throughout the day, as you pointed out," Stef continued, glancing at me. "But you can also generate reports for any range of dates. Of course, I only have a couple of weeks of data. How far back does it actually go?"
"To the day you displayed your first ad," I said. "In my case, that's August 8, 2003. Stef, do you see that message just above the report?"
"You mean the one in the box with the little arrow?" she said, pointing to it (Figure 7.3).
Figure 7.3. An AdSense announcement.
"That's how Google makes most of its announcements about AdSense," I explained, "so always be on the lookout for those. New features get added to AdSense all the time, so read them carefully. The management console was actually a lot simpler back when I first started with AdSense."
"Does Google ever send you email?" Anita asked.
"Sometimes," I replied, "for new feature announcements or when there's some kind of problem with your account or your Web sites. But I'll tell you about that later. Stef, please continue with the tour."
"Right," she said. "So at the top of the page are the tabs to switch between the major functions of the console." She clicked each tab in turn (Figure 7.4). "Reports to see how much you're earning. Ad Settings for creating ads, ad channels, and ad filters. Search Settings for creating search boxes, search channels, and search filters. My Account for managing your payment and tax information." Stef paused for a moment. "Huh. The My Account tab is different than it was last week, but I didn't actually notice it until just now."
Figure 7.4. The management console tabs.
"I told you," I said, "AdSense is always changing. Sometimes it's subtlethey add another reporting option. Sometime's it's majorlike when they added AdSense for search. You can usually tell when a major change occurs because Google updates the AdSense Terms and Conditions. When that happens, you're asked to agree to the new terms before Google lets you access your account."
"And if you don't agree?" Claude said.
"You're kicked out," I said, pretending to cut my throat with the side of my hand, "so you don't really have a choice but to agree if you want to stay in the program. But so far it's not been an issuethe Terms and Conditions have actually gotten more flexible as time's gone on. With Yahoo!'s entry into the game, I think you can expect even more features and flexibility."
"Where do I find the Terms and Conditions again?" Claude asked.
"I think there's a link to them in the online help," Stef answered, clicking the Help link at the top of the page and causing a new browser window to pop up (Figure 7.5). She scrolled the help page. "It's there at the bottom of the help page."
Figure 7.5. The AdSense help page.
"Looks like there's a lot of help available," said Anita.
Stef agreed. "I've read through a lot of these items to help me understand AdSense."
"This is also where you can access the AdSense Preview Tool," I pointed out. "The Preview Tool lets you see what kind of ads AdSense would display on any random Web page."
"But only with Internet Explorer on Windows, though," Stef said.
"I couldn't use it on my Mac."
"But I have it installed, Stef," I said, "so why don't you open an Internet Explorer session and go to a random Web site. Now right-click the Web page and select the Google AdSense Preview Tool." A small window popped up. "You can click those ads if you want," I continued, "even if you're using the tool on your own site's pages, because the advertisers don't get charged for them."
"But why would you use this tool?" Anita asked.
"It lets you see what kind of ads will appear on new pages," I explained, "before you actually show ads on those pages. You see, it's a bad idea to add the code prematurely, before the page is finished, because AdSense may mistarget the ads. You can use the Preview Tool to see if the page is correctly targeted."
Stef was playing with the tool. "Or you can use it to see what kind of ads people in other countries see," she said, changing the tool to show us ads for Japanese visitors (Figure 7.6)
Figure 7.6. The AdSense Preview Tool.
"And that," I said, "concludes our initial tour of AdSense. Now we can"
Claude interrupted me.
"What's that 'Invite a Friend' link at the top of the console?" he asked.
"It's for referring AdSense to your friends," I answered. "If you know anyone who has a Web site, you ask Google to send them an invitation to join the program."
"Do you get paid if they do?" Stef asked. "Friends of mine are always trying to get me to join things because they'll make some money if I do."
Google Referrals
For up-to-date information about Google's referral program, see www.memwg.com/google-referrals.
"While a lot of commercial Web sites have referral and affiliate programs that pay money, so far Google doesn't," I said. "But who knows? That might change in the future."
Be Proactive
The AdSense customer service representatives are happy to answer any questions you have about the program, so contact them for clarification before you do anything that might contravene the AdSense program policies.
"So why didn't you send us referrals?" Anita asked.
I laughed and said, "Because I was dumb! You're right, I should have, in case it's worth something later. Oh well85.The referral program is one of those features that was added later, so I've not paid too much attention to it. I'll certainly keep it in mind from now on."
No comments:
Post a Comment