Bloggers Guide to Google Adsense Myths

I get a lot of interest in my articles about Google Adsense on Blogger Blogspot blogs. In this article I discuss 6 common myths about Google Adsense that will help you get real about placing Adsense on your Blogger blog.

Google Adsense Myths Every Blogspot Bloggers Needs to Know
There are a number of myths about Google Adsense which can lead new bloggers in particular into believing that they need only slap a few Google Ad units on their blog and they will become instant millionaires. The reality can be a lot different especially when you consider that 95% of all blogs receive less than 100 visitors per day. Adding Google Adsense to your blog can generate some income but there is a need to be realistic. Here are 6 myths about Google Adsense that every blogger needs to know:

Myth 1. Google Adsense is a Get Rich Quick Scheme
False. Only a small percentage of bloggers actually make a living from their blog. It is definitely possible to make some money from Google Adsense Ad units but bear in mind that making money from your blog is commensurate with many factors such as types of advertising, placement of advertising, quality of your content, regular posting, number of articles, SEO, backlinks to your site, number of visitors to your blog to name just a few. The more articles you write, the more posts indexed in search engines like Google and Yahoo which may lead to increased traffic but not necessarily. The bottom line is that for your ads to be effective your blog needs to receive traffic so concentrate your efforts in this area and make sure that your blog is worth visiting once your visitors get there.

Do Your Sums
As Google Adsense itself says it is difficult to predict earnings however there are some general pointers to guide you. For instance if your blog receives 100 visits per day your likely revenue from Google is probably about 10 cents per day assuming that 1 in 100 people click on some form of Google advertising on your site and the page CTR is about 0.20%. Over a year that equates to about $36.50. Not a fortune in anyone's book. Likewise if your blog is fortunate enough to receive 1000 visitors per day you are looking at an annual income from Google Adsense of $365.00.

100 Visitors per day = Earnings $36.50 per year

1000 Visitors per day = Earnings $365.00 per year

5000 Visitors per day = Earnings $1825.00 per year

10000 Visitors per day = Earnings $3650.00 per year

The above figures are an optimistic view. I have not allowed for the fact that many of your visitors will be repeats so the likelihood of a repeat visitor clicking on an ad unit is less than for that of a new visitor. On this basis your earnings could be much less.

Google Adsense and Affiliate Marketing
About 95% of Bloggers would have less than 100 visitors to their blog a day. If your blog is in this category then Google Adsense alone will not allow you to quit your job and become a full-time blogger. You will need to display other forms of advertising on your blog as well before your blog will start to pay. Check out my article on other forms of advertising that may be suitable for your Blogger blog including displaying Affiliate Marketing banners.

Affiliate marketing banners can work as a form of advertising. Consider that if 1 site visitor in 100 actually buys something worth $50.00 you will immediately earn $5.00 assuming you receive 10% of the sale as a commission. Even if only one in 500 clicks through to the merchant and buys something you will still be ahead of the revenue earned from Google ads for the same number of visitors. $5.00 from Affiliate Marketing versus 50 cents from Google Adsense. In many ways Affiliate Marketing is a more profitable marketing strategy than having heaps of Google ads on your blog. However, in my experience a good mix of both is the way to go


Myth 2. Displaying More Ads on My Blog Will Earn More Money
False. Some bloggers mistakenly believe that placing more Google Adsense units on their blog will yield higher earnings. Sadly this isn't the case at all. By putting more Ad units on your blog you may actually reduce your earnings. There is a risk that the highest performing Ad units will shift to positions that are less frequently clicked on. For instance while the top right hand corner is a prime place for an advertising banner because it gets viewed by the most eyeballs it is also a spot that tends to get disregarded by savvy visitors who recognise it as an advertising zone and avoid it. At the same time a 336x280 Ad unit with a higher CTR is likely to display Google Ad units which pay less because the highest CTR has been transferred to the 468x60 Ad unit.

Myth 3. More Traffic Equates to Higher Google Adsense Earnings
Not necessarily. Depending on your blog's content it might not always be possible to drive a lot of new visitors to your blog and you rely more heavily on your repeat traffic. However, due to the familiarity of the ad placement on your blog repeat visitors are less likely to click on your Ad units than new visitors. While you can expect more clicks on your ad units as traffic increases there is no guarantee that Google Adsense on your blog will deliver the kind of earnings you might expect.

Myth 4. The Ad Format of Google Adsense Ads is Not Important
False. The ad format you display on your blog is very important. You can earn more from some ad formats than others. For instance it is generally considered that the wide Google Adsense ads (336x280, 300x250 or 250x250) perform best. I like to position one of these directly above my first post.

Link units can be profitable too if strategically placed. One of the best locations for link units is in or just below your blog header as many people are used to looking there for a navigation menu. A 728x15 linked ad unit just below your horizontal navigation menu will very likely yield good results.

Myth 5. Placement of Google Adsense Ad Units Doesn't Matter
On the contrary where you place Google Adsense can be critical to earning revenue from your blog. One of the best places to position Adsense is above what's known as the fold. The fold is the top area of your blog visible to your visitors without them having to scroll down. A 336x280 ad unit in this space works well because on arrival at your blog the visitor sees what they are looking for and clicks on it. For instance if your blog is about mountain biking then Google Adsense will very likely serve up ads about cycling equipment, cycling tours etc. For the visitor seeing exactly what they are interested in on arrival is a definite bonus which may lead them to click on your Ad unit.

Myth 6. To Make Money from My Blog I Need to Add Google Adsense
False. While Google Adsense is by far the most popular Advertising Network it is not the only advertising option. There are some good alternatives like AdBrite and Chitika. Let the type of blog you have govern your decisions around which advertising mix you employ rather than just going for Google Adsense because its the easiest.

In this article I have explored 6 common myths about Google Adsense that every Blogger Blogspot blogger needs to be aware of when placing Google Adsense on their blog. This article will hopefully help you do a reality check and help you recognise that while you may be one of the 5% of bloggers sitting on a goldmine Google Adsense won't transform you into a millionaire overnight.

Related Articles
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Blogging to the Bank 3.0 - The Best Blogging EBook on the Net!

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Add a Welcome Message to Blogger Blog

Would you like to welcome visitors to your Blogger Blogspot blog with a simple welcome message? In this tutorial I will show you how to add a short welcome message to your Blogger sidebar using the text gadget. This tutorial is aimed at beginner bloggers and those new to Blogger.

How to Add a Welcome Message to the Blogger Sidebar

1. Login to Blogger if you are not already signed in

2. From the Dashboard select the link to your blog. If you have more than one blog you will need to choose from a list of your blogs displayed on the dashboard

3. Navigate to the Layout > Page Elements page by clicking on the Layout tab and then the Page Elements link.

4. Click on Add a Gadget in the sidebar of your blog


5. Choose the Text gadget from the list.

6. Paste the following into the content box of the gadget:

To Your Blog Name. Add your own welcome message here. Write something that will tell readers about your blog

7. Bold Your Blog Name by highlighting the Your Blog Name text and selecting b from the formatting options


8. Type the word Welcome into the Title box

9. Click on the Save button to save the gadget

10. Click on the Save button in your template to save your changes

11. Click on View Blog and admire your new welcome message which will appear at the top of your blog's sidebar


12. Now you have an idea of what it looks like click on the back button of your browser to return you to the Page Elements screen

13. Click on the edit link of your new gadget

14. Change the text to whatever you wish and save changes


15. Save the changes to the template

16. Click on View Blog to see the changes you have made



To Edit the Content of the Text Gadget
Select Edit by clicking on the edit link of the gadget in the sidebar and changing the contents or title and saving the changes


To Remove the Gadget
Select Edit by clicking on the edit link and choosing the remove button

In this tutorial for newbies and beginner bloggers I have outlined the steps necessary to add a text gadget to the sidebar of your Blogger Blogspot blog. By way of example I have shown you how to add a welcome message to your blog sidebar

Submit Blogger Blog to Blog Directories

This article discusses the benefits of submitting your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories and provides a comprehensive list of some of the best blog directories on the internet. This is an introductory article aimed at the new Blogspot blogger but is suitable for any blogger who wishes to build site traffic quickly.

Benefits of Submitting to Blog Directories
By adding your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories you are likely to increase your site traffic expotentially. If your site has been languishing in the doldrums and not getting the kind of traffic you were expecting it could be that you haven't generated enough inbound links to your site. Signing up to some top performing blog directories will create quality backlinks and expose your site to many potential visitors.

I have signed up for each blog directory in the recommended list below and in all cases have found that they have generated at least some site traffic. A few have boosted traffic considerably and have helped me establish new blogs quickly by generating an audience. One or two blog directories have more than exceeded my expectations. TopBlogList and Blog Catalog fall into this category attracting 10 or so unique visitors within a day of sign up.

How do Blog Directories Work?
Most blog directories require that you place their button somewhere on your blog. In some cases the button's function is to track visitors from your site to the directory. Some buttons may reflect the ranking of your blog in relationship to other blogs in your chosen category within the directory. If you see a number appear on the button it denotes your blog's position.

Get Organized Before You Begin Submitting to Blog Directories
To add your blog to a blog directory you first need to register. The sign up process will run more smoothly if you get a little organized before you begin. I suggest that you take the following steps first:

Craft a description for your blog of around 400 words

Check your feed details as you may be asked to provide the URL of your feed. This is especially important if you have burned your feed at a feedburning service like Feedburner

Make sure you know the exact URL address of your site. If in doubt navigate to your home page and check the the URL in the address bar

Decide which email address to use. Blog directories tend to create a lot of mail so unless you want to have your mailbox clogged up consider carefully which email address would be best. You may decide to start a new email address specifically to handle this kind of mail.

Decide on a username and password and stick to it throughout as it will make life a lot easier than trying to remember twenty different usernames and passwords

Determine your top six keywords and keyword phrases as most blog directories ask you to provide these tags

With such a big choice of blog directories to submit to I have found it pays to be systematic. Keeping a list of where you've signed up in Notepad or similar will help guard against double ups.

How to Add a Blog Directory Button to Your Blogger Blog
Most blog directories send out an email on sign up. Once you click on the link you membership will be confirmed. In most cases you will then be directed to a menu where you can begin adding your blog or blogs to the directory. Once you have entered the details of your blog the directory will generate the button code which can be copied and pasted into a HTML/Javascript widget. It is a good idea to place all buttons together in one widget for convenience and to reduce loading time. If you are uncertain how to add this widget to your Blogger blog please refer to my earlier post about Adding third party HTML/Javascript code to a sidebar widget.


List of Recommended Blog Directories to Get Started
All of the blog directories listed below I have personally signed up for as mentioned above. The blog directories are in no particular order except that I have put Blog Catalog and Top Blog List first because I have found them good.


Blog Catalog
BlogCatalog is a social community for bloggers and one of the largest blog directories on the internet. It is a good option to begin promoting your own blog and to connect with other bloggers. BlogCatalog offers lots of linking options. You can add a button, a link to your blogroll or verify your site using a meta tag and dispense with a visible site link altogether. In addition you can add a Blog Catalog Readers widget to your blog like the one you see here.

Top Blogging
Easy sign up. Only one keyword phrase permitted so make it a goodie. Ranking is based on unique visitors

TopBlogArea
This blog directory tracks unique visitors. No option for visitors to vote. Every month statistics are reset to zero to give everyone a chance of being highly rated

TopBlogLists
Ranking of pages is done according to the number of unique visits each blog brings in to Top Blog Lists

Blog Top Sites
A nice control panel for site management. Ranking of pages is done according to the number of unique visits each blog receives in a month.

Top of Blogs
Ranks blogs according to the number of visits a blog receives in a certain amount of time (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.).

BlogTopList
Requires two buttons to be placed on your blog. One is the tracking button which tracks number of visitors and displays the rank of your site. The other button is the voting button. If a visitor votes for you it is equal to 100 unique visits .

BlogPulse
Tracks thousands of blogs. Submit yours. Try doing a check first though as you may be surprised to find your blog has already been located automatically.

BlogFlux
Over 140,000 blogs in the Blog Flux directory. Nice Control Panel interface.
Sign up is immediate although all blogs added are manually checked so there is a time delay before your blog will be included.

Blogorama
Top 100 most popular section. Score increases depending on variables like users ratings, incoming traffic and outgoing traffic.

My Blog Directory
Blog of the day feature chosen on the basis of the number of unique visitors directed by the blog to the directory per day. The blog of the day gets the whole of the site traffic fof that day. Blogs are listed randomly so that every blog gets equal exposure.


Other Blog Directories You May Be Interested In
I have not necessarily submitted a blog to these blog directories but I am providing a link if you want to follow it up. Not sure about overall chances of an increase in traffic with these ones though.

Bloggernity
Free Blog Directory
Blog Rankings


Lists of Blog Directories
For a longer list of blog directories try:
Great Blog Directories for a list of free directories

In this article I have discussed some benefits of submitting your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories. I have suggested ways to get organized to make the process less daunting and I have recommended some blog directories which I have personally signed up for to get you started. Adding your Blogger blog to these blog directories should result in an increase in site traffic. Good luck!


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Burn Blogger RSS Feeds at Feedburner

In this tutorial I will guide you through the step by step process of burning your Blogger feed at Feedburner, updating your blog settings to reflect the new feed and adding a RSS icon to the sidebar of your blog so your visitors can subscribe to your new RSS feed. Although redirecting your blog feeds through Feedburner is relatively straightforward I will be including some tips to simplify the process. This tutorial is suitable for all levels of technical knowledge but is particularly aimed at those readers new to blogging with Blogger.

There are lots of good reasons for burning your Blogger feeds with a free service like Feedburner. Among the advantages are better feed presentation, detailed tracking statistics and access to the large choice of feed readers available. For a full discussion of the benefits of burning your Blogger blog feed at Feedburner including an explanation of Blogger RSS feeds please refer to my article Blogger RSS Feeds and Feedburner.

How to Burn Your Blogger RSS Post Feed at Feedburner

If you want to add Google Adsense at the same time as burning your feed at Feedburner I suggest that you refer to my article on Adding Google Adsense to Your Blogger Feeds as this includes an explanation on how to do this. Otherwise follow the steps below to burn your post feed at Feedburner

1. Go to Feedburner and click on the Get Started link

2. Sign in to your Google Account if not already signed in. This will take you to your Feedburner Account page.

3. Enter the name of your blog in the Burn a Feed This Instant box and click the Next button

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com

4. A message will be displayed that you have more than one feed and asking you to choose. Select the RSS radio button for the RSS feed and click next


5. Feedburner will now display the proposed Feed Title and Feed URL. Unless you have a reason to change these accept by selecting the next button



6. You will now see the confirmation screen letting you know your feed has been burned. Select the Next Button to set up Feedburner Statistics options

7. Check the I want more statistics box to give you access to additional tracking statistics. Click on the next button


8. Feedburner will now inform you that it has successfully updated the burned feed you have just created.

9. Click on the Feedburner Analyze Tab at the top of the page and you will be taken to the Analyze Feed Stats Dashboard. At this stage you will receive the message: Your feed is so new, we’re still playing with the bubble wrap. It can take about a day before you will be able to see much action on your feed


10. Under the title of your blog's feed in this screen click on edit feed details. This will give you the new name and URL for your feed. Copy the full feed address into Notepad or similar. Care needs to be taken as you will need to copy this in two parts. The new feed URL should be something like this:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/YourBlog

11. In a new window login to Blogger.com and navigate to the Settings > Site Feeds section of your blog

12. Click on the Advanced Mode to switch from the basic mode.

13. Make sure that the Blog Posts Feed, Blog Comment Feed and the Per Post Comment Feed are all set to Full.


14. Paste the URL address of your new Feedburner feed in the feed address box provided. This is the URL address that you copied into Notepad previously

15. If you don't already have a copyright notice in the Post Feed Footer it is a good idea to enter one. I tend to use something like the following:

Copyright Your Blog Name 2009 at yourblogname.blogspot.com

16. Click on the Save button

17. Return to Feedburner and click on the Publicize tab

18. Follow the friendly graphic link to chickletize your feed. This will provide you with the code to place an RSS icon on your blog with a link to your new burned Feedburner feed

19. Choose the large orange icon entitled "Subscribe in a Reader" as we will be placing it in the sidebar of your blog.



20. Copy the code at the bottom of the page by right clicking the mouse and then select all from the menu followed by right click the mouse and then select copy

21. Return to your blog and navigate to Layout > Page Elements

22. In the sidebar select Add a Gadget and then HTML/Javascript. Paste the code into the content box by right clicking the mouse and selecting paste

23. Enter a title if you wish. I like to use Subscribe for Free myself as for a lot of people subscriptions often mean there is a cost involved.


24. Save your new widget

25. Use the drag and drop feature in the sidebar to position the widget in your desired location. Click on Save

26. Click on View your Blog to see your new RSS icon in the sidebar. If you now click on the RSS icon you will see your new Feedburner post feed in action



This tutorial has shown you how to burn your Blogger Blogspot Feed at Feedburner, update your Blogger settings to take account of the new feed URL address and add a RSS icon link to your blog's sidebar which points to your Feedburner post feed.

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Blogger RSS Feeds and Feedburner

In this article you will learn about Blogger Blogspot RSS feeds and about the benefits of burning your Blogger feeds at Feedburner.

What are RSS Feeds?
Your Blogger feeds are a means of distributing your blog content to the world. Feeds make it possible to maximise exposure of your blog's content beyond a few visitors browsing your blog. Feeds can be subscribed to via a web portal, news reader, or email. Feeds allow your blog content to be packaged into all sorts of widgets and gadgets and mobile devices that can be displayed just about anywhere.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a standardized web format used to create a document containing your blog posts, blog comments or any other content on your blog you choose including images, music and video. As Blogger has built in RSS feeds, everytime you publish a post Blogger automatically adds your post to the default feeds. How much of your Blogger post that is displayed in your feed depends on whether you have chosen your feed in full or short format. To check this setting in Blogger navigate to Settings > Site Feeds of your blog.

Blogger automatically produces your blog's feed in both Atom and RSS. RSS is becoming increasingly popular as the preferred format for feeds. Both Atom and RSS were developed to enable people to receive automatic updates of their favorite blogs and websites. While the format of each is different they do pretty much the same job which is to output updated content from your blog in a format that can be easily read in a feed reader.

The URL of Default Blogger Feeds

Default Blogger Post Feeds

Atom 1.0:
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

RSS 2.0:
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Default Blogger Comments Feeds

Atom 1.0:
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default

RSS 2.0:
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss

Default Blogger Label-Specific Feeds

Atom 1.0:
http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default/-/labelname

RSS 2.0:
http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss/-/labelname

Encourage Visitors to Subscribe to Your Feeds
Whenever you see the familiar orange icon on a website that denotes a RSS feed. By adding this RSS icon to your Blogger blog and setting up a link to your posts feed or other content visitors will be able to view your feed on click. If you have enabled the Subscription Links widget in Layout > Page Elements > Add a Gadget visitors are given the option to subscribe to both your posts and comments feeds in a reader such as Google Reader, My Yahoo or Bloglines. Alternatively you can burn your blog feeds with a free feedburning service like Feedburner.

Feed Readers Make it Easy for Readers to Keep Up-to-date
Your readers don't have to worry about manually saving your blog to their browser favorites anymore as Atom and RSS feeds make it easy to subscribe to a feed reader instead. Rather than visitors manually checking back on your site and trying to manage a bunch of bookmarks they can choose to subscribe to a reader. Subscribing in a reader means they will get up-to-the-minute content automatically without fear of missing any new entries.

Burn Your Blog Feeds with Feedburner
To make it even easier to get subscriptions to your blog it pays to burn your feeds with a feed burning service like Feedburner. The Feedburner service is now owned by Google and can accessed from your Google account. If you do intend to include Google Adsense on your feeds it is a good idea to burn your feeds. Please refer to my article Adding Google Adsense to Blogger RSS Feeds for help in setting up Google Adsense for your Blogger feeds. For assistance with burning your feed at Feedburner please see my article Burn Blogger RSS Feeds at Feedburner.


By burning your blog's feeds at Feedburner you will be redirecting the Blogger default feeds to the new Feedburner feeds. When placing a link to your blog's feed visitors will have instant access to your feed. If, for example, there are 15 posts in your posts feed they will be able to browse all of these in chronological order complete with images.

You can choose to burn label feeds too if you find you have a lot of articles in one particular group. For instance if you blog is about fishing you might choose to have separate feeds for deep sea fishing and freshwater fishing.

Visitors also have the option to subscribe to any of your burned feeds in a large number of feed reader applications such as Google Reader, My Yahoo, Bloglines, Net Vibes, Newsgator to name a few. The advantage to the visitor of subscribing in a reader is that they do not have to keep visiting your blog to keep up with your latest posts. Instead they can read the most recent posts of all their favourite blogs from their reader which collects all their feed subscriptions into one central place.


The option to get updates via a web-based feed reader is becoming increasingly popular with visitors. Even though the visitor may not be returning to your blog your feeds extend your blog's reach. Feedburner can provide accurate statistics about the number of subscribers to your feed and what type of reader they are using.

You can also place a Feedburner Feed Count button on your blog which displays the number of these subscribers. Adding a Feedburner Feed Count button isn't a bad idea if your blog is attracting a decent readership. The purpose of adding such a button isn't so much to brag about it (although it is gratifying to see your readership climbing) but to lend some added credibility to your blog.

Why Burn a Blogger Feed at Feedburner?

Feedburner Provides Tracking Statistics of Subscribers
There are many reasons to burn your blog feeds at Feedburner but the main one is the facility to track your feeds to gain a better understanding of your blog's audience. Blog publishers who redirect their feed can monitor their growing readership.

It is useful to know how many people are opening and reading your feeds and how they're being used. Feedburner provides an easy method of tracking feeds that would be difficult to track otherwise. By redirecting your Blogger default feed to FeedBurner, important feed statistics such as the total number of subscribers, feed reader (aggregators) used, live hits, items used, uncommon uses, item views, item link clicks and item enclosure downloads for podcast can be recorded and analysed.

Feedburner Encourages Greater Reach
Attracting more readers to your blog and plugging into a wider network of eyeballs than you might have on your own account makes Feedburner an attractive option.

Feedburner Offers Improved Presentation of Your Blog Feed
Another advantage of Feedburner is that it allows for clean visual foramtting of your RSS feed for improved browser friendliness and presentation. Once burned your feed will be far more visually pleasing to readers. Improved presentation of your RSS feed is a powerful reason to begin redirecting your blog feed through Feedburner. Plus your readers can select their reader directly from the feed.

Feedburner Provides a Range of Services
By burning your blog feeds at Feedburner you get access to a range of services like Podcasting and the choice and flexibility of participating in the Feedburner Ad Network. Feedburner allows you to easily analyse, publicize, optimize and monetize your feed. Feed burning allows readers to subscribe regardless of what feed reader they happen to be using,


This article has discussed Blogger RSS feeds. It has outlined some of the benefits of burning your Blogger feeds at Feedburner. For instructions on burning your Blogger RSS feed at Feedburner please read my tutorial entitled Burn Blogger RSS Feeds at Feedburner.

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Add Google Adsense to Blogger Header

In this Blogger tutorial you will learn how to add Google Adsense to the header of your Blogger blog. This article assumes no knowledge of Blogger and provides a walkthrough of the steps involved to add Google Adsense to the header of your blog.

This is the third Blogger tutorial in a series on adding Google Adsense to a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog).

Place Google Adsense Below Post Title in Blogger
Better Placement of Google Adsense on a Blogger Blog

1. How To Add Google Adsense to the Header (Above the Title)
   If you want to add Google Adsense to your header for instance above the title you can by adjusting your template to give you the option of adding more than one widget to the header area.
   
   
   1. Login to Blogger and navigate to Design > Edit HTML
      
      
   2. Back up your template as a precaution by downloading the full template to your computer
      
      
   3. Using CTRL + F to bring up the search box find the following line of code. For default Blogger templates - Layout (2006) such as Minima, Thisaway and Sand Dollar and for many custom templates find <div id='header-wrapper'>
      
      For new Blogger templates such as Simple and Awesome Inc find this line <div class='region-inner header-inner'>
      
      
   4. Replace the following code in red:
      

      <div id='header-wrapper'>
<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='no'>


      
      with
      
      

      <div id='header-wrapper'>
<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='3' showaddelement='yes'>


      
      
   5. Save Template
      
      
   6. Navigate to Design > Page Elements (previously Layout > Page Elements) and view the new option to add a gadget to the header area
      
      
      
      
   7. Click on Add a Gadget and select the Google Adsense gadget.
      
      
   8. Choose the type of ad unit you want. For this example I chose a new linked 728x15 ad unit from the dropdown format menu for an Adsense ad that would sit above the blog title. Configure colors if necessary. Color blending is usually done automatically by Blogger according to the color schema of your template.
      
      
   9. Click Save
      
      
   10. Click View Blog to see your new Google Adsense unit in place. All going well your new ad unit should appear look something like the image below
       
       
   
   
   
2. How to Add Google Adsense to the Header (Below the Title)
   To have your new Google Adsense linked unit appear below the title the steps are the same as above. The difference is that you will need to shift the ad unit into position by using the drag and drop feature to move the widget below the header title in the Design > Page Elements page.
   
   
   

Tips and Troubleshooting
By default Blogger will left align these ads so if you want to center the Adsense unit then use the <div align='center'>


How to Center a Google Adsense Unit in Blogger

1. Once you have created your Google Adsense unit go to Design > Edit HTML
   
   
2. Check the Expand Widgets Template box
   
   
3. Find the code you replaced in Step 4
   
   

   <b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='3' showaddelement='yes>

   
   
4. Directly below you will see lines of code that resemble the following:
   
   

   <b:widget id='AdSense2' locked='false' title='' type='AdSense'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<data:adCode/>
<b:include name='quickedit'/>
</div>

   
   
5. Add the following code shown in red
   

   <b:widget id='AdSense2' locked='false' title='' type='AdSense'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<div align='center'><data:adCode/></div>
<b:include name='quickedit'/>
</div>

   
   
6. Save template and view your Adsense widget which will now be centered

In this Blogger tutorial you have learnt how to add a Google Adsense unit above and below the blog title in the header section of your Blogger blog (Blogspot Blog). I have also demonstrated how to center the Google Adsense unit. As always any questions please ask.

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Make Money Add Banners Ads to Blogger

One of the things that makes Blogger such a great blogging platform is the facility to add advertising to your Blogspot blog and make money from it. In this article I will be discussing how banner advertisements on your Blogger blog can make money for you. By banner advertising I mean advertising in addition to Google Adsense or Adbrite that you may have already added to your Blogger blog. For information on adding Google Adsense to your blog please read my articles on Google Adsense.

Banner advertising is FREE. And Banners Do Make Money.
It is no secret that banners make money provided you choose your merchant program carefully and have enough traffic accessing your site. In my experience once you reach around 100 visitors a day is a good time to add a few banners to your blog.

How Do I Make Money from Banners on My Blogger Blog?
Affiliate marketing banners make money for the publisher - that's you. When you place a banner on your blog the affiliate program gives you a snippet of code to add to your template which makes the banner display and identifies you as the publisher. When a visitor clicks on a banner on your website that click is recorded as originating from your site and you make money as a result of that click. Depending on the merchant program that you have signed up for you can earn a commission for providing a lead, or receive a percentage of the sale.

An Example of How Banners Work
After having placed your banner ad on your Blogger blog your site gets 100 visitors in a day. Out of that 100 people 5 people click on a banner which takes them through to the merchant's website. From those 5 people one person makes a purchase of around $100.00. Assuming your commission is 10% of the sale you have just made yourself $10.00. It's that easy.

Making the Most Out of Advertising Banners
To make money from banner ads you need volume as only a small percentage of your visitors will take any notice of the advertising on your blog and only a much smaller percentage of that pool will actually buy anything once they click. That's why it is really important that you focus your energies on building site traffic. If you need to grow your traffic read my articles on tips to increase traffic to your Blogger blog.

Of course you do need to choose your affiliate banners carefully as obviously some advertising will have more appeal than others. To some extent this is a matter of trial and error as you can never be completely sure how a banner will perform until you try it. You can increase the odds of success however, by choosing merchant programs that are related to your blog in some way. For instance if your blog is about cars then advertisers of car accessories like audio units would be a good place to start.

How Do I Add Affiliate Banners to My Blogger Blog?
Adding affiliate banners to your blog is pretty easy. Pretty much copy and paste stuff which anyone can do. Please read my article providing step by step instructions on how to Add Affiliate Banner Ads to the Blogger Sidebar of your Blogger blog if you are unsure. If you want to place a banner in the header of your blog please refer to Add an Affiliate Banner to Blogger Header

Disadvantages of Banner Ads
Too many banner ads can give your visitors the impression you are just in it for the money. So make sure you don't go overboard with too much advertising that will overshadow or detract from the content of your blog. Remember less is more so place your banners ads strategically on your blog. I like a small cluster of about 4 banner ads usually 125x125 somewhere fairly close to the top in the sidebar and a 468x60 banner in the header. The header is a prime position for an effective banner advertising campaign. Read more about how to place a banner ad in the header of your Blogger blog in my adding banners to Blogger series of tutorials.


The other main problem with banner ads is that they encourage visitors to leave your site and as we all know one of the hardest jobs is to attract the visitor in the first place. Do you really want them leaving your site before they have had a chance to look around? I don't think so. Only place banner ads on your blog that you are confident will reap you some rewards otherwise forget it. You might actually lose traffic if you provide too many inducements to leave your site.

Banner Ads Make Money

In this article I have discussed banner advertising as it relates to Blogger Blogspot blogs. You have learned a little about how affiliate programs work and how you might use banner ads on your own blog to make extra money. For tutorials on adding banner ads to your Blogger Blogspot blog please refer to Add Affiliate Banner Ads to a Blogger Sidebar and Add an Affiliate Banner to Blogger Header.

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