A while back, I came across a picture of Shoemoney with this check from Google Adsense for $152,000+. According to the post that Shoe wrote to accompany his picture with the check, Shoe was doing some arbitrage from different ad networks so his “take home” was probably a lot less than the face value of the check, but I digress.
I myself have received my very own check from Adsense. I was ecstatic when I got it. No, it was not for $152,000 it was for significantly less than that. A decent amount, in my opinion, but nothing like Shoemoney’s check.
What does it take to earn a check?
Here are some things that you probably want to know about what I went through to get my check: I can tell you that I opened my Adsense account in 2006, but I didn’t really start “working it” until the summer of 2009. All in all, it took about 6 months of on and off effort to earn this check. Not a “make money fast” plan at all.
Specifically, this is what it took:
- It took some testing of content
- Some testing of ad placements
- Some website creation etc.
- It also took some writing
- Some keyword research
- Some article writing
- Some content creation
I now know, first hand, that it is possible to earn money and get paid for “placing tiny classified ads” on your website.
It’s a lot of work
Anyone that tells you differently, is lying or trying to sell you something. I did try to channel the TV infomercial guy “Don Lapre” with that statement about tiny classified ads by the way.
I don’t know that I’ll earn anymore of these checks, but I’ll certainly let you know if I do. I just don’t have the time nor the inclination to do the work that it takes to get the clicks that make these checks. I may change my mind, but I’m earning money doing other things, so my focus is not on adsense.
Which is the other thing that it takes.
It takes a lot of focus
Focus on content creation, on driving traffic to your adsense sites/ pages, focus on creating relevant keyword rich pages that aren’t spammy. Did I mention the part where you have to somehow convince people to click on the ads without actually saying “click on the ad?”
If no one clicks the ad, you don’t earn any money. So even after you’ve done all the right things, you still need people to click an ad to make money.
Basically, to earn that check it took hard work, perseverance, patience, and educating myself in the dark art of click persuasion.
