Google Ads: Why I prefer Google Adsense for Blog Monetization – Explaining why Google Ads are my preferred way to earn income from blogging.
I’ve been blogging on RTC for more than 4 years now.
And, it’s probably not a secret that I’m aiming to become a professional blogger.
That’s why I accepted a high paying part-time job in the first place—I want more time for blogging. When I accepted the part time job, ideally, I figured it would cover the bills and hopefully provide some savings. Then I could use the extra time to grow blog income. It seems to be working out…
But even at that time, I wasn’t completely certain about how I wanted to earn income from blogging.
I experimented with sponsored posts, Google Adsense, affiliate marketing, and freelance writing. However, I achieved only moderate success with them up until recently.
This is because I have become intentional about how I want to earn money from blogging.
After more than 4 years of blogging, I have decided that I prefer to earn income from Google ads by Google Adsense. Here’s why:
Free up time for Content creation: I would Blog for Free so Income from Google Ads is basically Passive Income
I truly enjoy blogging for many reasons: I enjoy writing, design, photography, marketing, social media, and I have fun putting a post together like it’s my very own magazine. I am even beginning to enjoy the SEO and business side of blogging.
But imagine if you were paid for your favourite hobby. Imagine the more time you spend on it, the more you were paid. I mean, it’s ridiculous.
“It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower.” – Paul Graham
If there is a topic you are interested in, I personally think everyone should start a blog about their topic. Within 6 months or less, you could apply for Google Adsense and start earning money for blogging about your topic.
Easy to Set Up
Once you have been approved by Google Adsense, you can begin including Google ads on your blog.
In order to display Google ads, you must visit Google Adsense and login to choose your ads.
You can choose to insert your own ads in posts by placing the HTML code in your posts or on widgets.
Alternatively, you can opt for Google Adsense’s Auto Ads feature, which is discussed more below.
Google Ads can be set to Auto Ads: No work required after set up
For years I was creating my own ads and inserting 2 of them into each blog post.
I’d have success with certain posts, and income has been steadily increasing. In fact, last month was an all-time high for Google Ads income.
Of course, after noticing this trend, I decided to be more intentional about earning income from Google Ads. So I searched for a plugin that would allow me to display more ads automatically. I ended up finding a plugin called ‘Advanced Ads’.
To get automatic ads set up, I had to input my Google Adsense ID into the ‘Advanced Ads’ plugin. I also had to enable Auto Ads within Google Adsense.
Within a few hours I began to notice Google Ads displayed all over my blog.
At first it was a bit overwhelming, but Google automatically optimizes it over time, and I can confirm that income seems to be increasing.
Once auto ads are set up, all I have to do is create new content and work on marketing the content. The money will get deposited to my account every time I hit a $100 worth of advertising income. The more page views, sessions, and e-mail subscribers gained, the more income you can receive from Google Ads.
I don’t enjoy my experience with sponsored posts as much.
I have been fortunate to have worked with multiple clients on sponsored posts in the past. Some of my experiences have been great.
I have been paid anywhere from $100 to $275 for sponsored content. But I have since increased my rates because I’m not really interested in doing sponsored posts unless it’s a perfect fit.
As I mentioned in my post about my experience with sponsored content, most of the offers are low ball offers from shady individuals trying to insert links to their high interest rate lending options. Frankly, that is not something I want to support.
Hence why I prefer Google Ads over sponsored posts. Plus, there is no e-mail exchange, research, or guilt for including a questionable link. Because Google Adsense shows ads based on the content and based on the users individual search history. The ads are supposed to be relevant. Further, there is some control available for what ads are shown.
I haven’t experienced consistent success with affiliate marketing.
Another reason why I prefer earning income from Google Ads is because I have seen progression with it.
Each year, income seems to be higher than the previous year. It’s now to the point where it feels like an online business, as there is an opportunity to work harder and earn more money.
However, when it comes to affiliate marketing, I have not experienced a similar progression.
In total, I have had 3 Questrade affiliate sales, which pay $70 each, and only a few Bluehost sales. Amazon doesn’t make enough to pay out as of yet. So overall, my most successful income streams from blogging have been sponsored content and advertising.
Since sponsored content and Google Ads are my most successful income streams, it makes sense to focus on those two. But since I prefer to earn income from Google Ads, it makes sense to focus even more on that.
It’s easy to monitor
Another advantage of Google Ads is that they’re easy to monitor.
You can use the app, or you can just login to your Google Adsense Account to check performance daily.
It will show you how much you earn for the day, impressions, clicks, and RPM. They even offer optimization tips.
At the end of the day, though, if you want to earn more money, your website needs to attract more users. That’s the way to increase advertising income.
They offer multiple payment options
One of the main reasons I prefer dividend investing over real estate is because how simple it is. It doesn’t require me to visit the apartment at 3:00 a.m. when the water stops working. I just open an account, buy stocks, and payments start coming in.
I have the same taste for other income streams—I like to keep things simple.
Google Adsense offers multiple payment options, including by cheque or direct deposit.
They pay each time your Google Adsense account reaches $100 worth of income.
Since it’s a simple direct deposit, I can easily transfer the Google Ads income over to my brokerage account to earn dividend income off of advertising income forever.
Anyone can make money with Google Adsense
I truly believe that anyone can start a blog and earn income from it in 2020.
It just requires persistence, hard work, an interesting, valuable topic, and a willingness to research how to complete certain tasks when it comes to blogging.
After six months of blogging, you can apply for Google Adsense and set up auto ads to begin making money online.
Google Ads actually look good and are valuable on blogs in 2020
In my humble opinion, Google ads actually look good on blogs in 2020. They have become the norm.
They fill up the white space and break the writing down into sections, which is a key differentiator of reading online compared to how we read books.
At this point, a blog or website without ads is like the Super Bowl without the commercials. It’s become part of it.
Not to mention that Google Ads are relevant and valuable now. They cater to the users own interests and the content on the page.
Furthermore, most ad networks offer customization options to indicate the type of ads you prefer your readers to see.
I enjoy the hustle
Frankly, I enjoy the hustle required to earn an income from Google Ads.
In order to earn an income from ads, you must generate a high enough amount of blog traffic.
It’s the process of creating new content and sharing it on social media that gets me.
I enjoy the challenge of trying to increase page views and trying new marketing tactics.
I am thrilled to be passionate about blogging and to always have something to work on. It’s even better that the hustle earns money.
How Much Does Google Adsense Pay?
In short, how much you make depends on how much blog traffic you generate.
The more blog traffic your site generates, the more money you will make.
Of course, it’s not exactly that simple. Each Google Adsense user will have an RPM, which stands for revenue for 1,000 impressions. RPM estimates the earnings you accrue for every 1,000 page impressions you receive. Source: Google Support
And I’ve even noticed that certain pages have different RPMs.
But to give you even more detail, years ago I would make pennies per day from Google Ads. But the odd day would be $1.43 or something. In 2017, I began to see the odd day of $2 and $3 plus. The high day during the year was $4.96. Then in 2018, I began to see highs like $6.62 and started to think there was potential. 2019 continued to see new highs, only it started to become more consistent and I got paid.
And this year so far has indeed been another record setting year for Google Adsense.
This is because I am achieving all time highs in page views, and since I have better optimized my website and the Google Ads.
I won’t tell you exactly how much I’m making yet, but I will tell you that I saw 169% growth over the previous month in February. Income seems to be growing again this month. I am beginning to see this is a viable income source that could really boost my overall income. It would be a dream come true to earn a living from blogging this way.
Other advertising network options
Although this post is properly about Google Ads, I’m not tied to them if they don’t make me enough money to achieve my goals.
Frankly, I want to become a full-time blogger. I’d like to earn an extra $500 a month minimum from blogging to have more money to grow dividend income.
As such, I am willing to consider other advertising network options to achieve my income goals. I just need to achieve the requirements to move on, which I nearly did last month for one of them.
There are ad networks such as Monumetric and Mediavine that could be considered to increase income down the road.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall, I prefer to earn money from Google Ads for Blog monetization because it’s similar to dividend investing.
I can track it and do things to increase it, such as work more to have more money to invest for dividend investing, or work more to attract more page views for blogging.
Moreover, it allows me to focus on content creation, social media, and the parts of blogging I enjoy most. The Ads just automatically work and send me money every time I reach the threshold.
Google Ads fill up the white space on a blog and are a relevant way for anyone to earn an income online in 2020.
In conclusion, Google Ads are my preferred way to earn an income from blogging as of now. However, I may be open to different ad networks and different product options, such as an online store or ebook, down the road.
I am not a licensed investment or tax adviser. All opinions are my own. This post contains advertisements by Google Adsense. This post also contains internal links, affiliate links, and links to RTC social media accounts.
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Annual Dividend Income Projection – Q1 – March 2020
