Google Adsense

By | February 8, 2018

Dividend Portfolio began in late 2015.  Since that time, I’ve never published a guest post or ran an advertisement.  The most I’ve done was reference a few affiliate links here or there.  And, I’ve made a whopping $0.00 doing that.  Well, earlier today, I took a very small step towards achieving my goal of having multiple sources of income.  I decided to monetize by blog through Google Adsense.  I don’t expect it to make me rich, but I do hope it will help cover the cost of maintaining the blog.

Why Now?

Well, perhaps the better question is, what took me so long?  Google Adsense is a great way to add revenue to your site or blog.  It’s easy to use, and if do so responsibly, it can be financially rewarding.

In terms of why now, I was just looking for ways to make extra income.  I keep reading about side hustles and wanted to do something myself. Truthfully, every now and again I read about those bloggers who make a ton of money per month on their blogs.  Since I have a blog, I figure I could at least try to offset the cost of running Dividend Portfolio for the year.  My costs include not just the hosting fee every year, but for extras, such as the scrolling feed you see on the sidebar under, “Recent Post – Favorite Blogs.”

I don’t think I’m lucky enough to be one of those famous bloggers.  I’ve tried unsuccessfully for years to make money online.  I am really bad at it.  I don’t think in all those times I’ve made $10, or even $5.  This is the first time though where I’ve actually started and stuck to a blog.  Barring some crazy catastrophe in future, I fully expect to maintain this blog over the the next several years, or even decades.   Conceivably, during that time, my readership will have increased and hopefully so will the level of income I get from Google Adsense.

However, I wish to emphasize that while I would love to make money, the main focus on this blog is not to write posts so that you can click the ads.  If they are of value to you, great!  If not, that’s ok.  I will still be focused on documenting my journey towards financial independence through dividend growth investing.



Goal

I’ve updated my goal for 2018.  My goal is now to make $100 in Google Adsense by the end of the year.  I have no idea if this is realistic or too aggressive, but we will see.  In order to achieve this goal, I plan on doing more things that will help boost traffic to the site.  After all, I could have the greatest content in the world, but if no one is there to read it, does it really matter?

Also, I don’t plan on spamming my blog with ads.  If I write a short post, like this one, you can expect to see one Ad in the most.  If I write a longer post, which I sometimes do, I would only have at most two Ads in that post.  Finally, there will always be an Ad on the right side of the blog on each page.  I have no intention of doing much more than that.

Finally, I’m thinking about writing a set up guide.  I found that even with You Tube videos, I got stuck in the beginning part of the process.  But, I also want to ensure that all the kinks have been worked out before I do so.  We will see.

Help Needed

I do have a favor to ask.  After I placed the Ad where I thought it should go, I noticed that it doesn’t really show up in Internet Explorer 11.  And, when I use Chrome, sometimes it shows up in different places.  So, for example, even though I opted to have an Ad between the “Awarded Top 100 Dividend Blogs” logo and “Recent Post Favorite Blogs” feed, I sometimes see more ads on my screen.  When I check the site on my phone, I also see three Ads, sometimes separate Ads.

So, I’m asking you to tell me if you only see one Ad on the right hand side of the page?  This should occur right after the “Awarded Top 100 Dividend Blogs” logo.  If you have the time, could you also check it on your phone and tell me if you see one Ad or three?  Presumably, you should also see one Ad in the same place.

It may very well be that I’m not seeing mine correctly because of the computer cache, or because it just takes a while for Google Adsense to properly display on the site.  But, I just wanted to make sure.  I would ask my friends to do it, but I’m still very private with my blog.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it.  The last major change I made to the site was the transition from http to https, which I wrote about in my post, Dividend Portfolio Is Now More Secure.  Perhaps I should have titled this post, Dividend Portfolio Is Now More Profitable.  Maybe I will save that title for when I actually hit the $100 mark.

What do you think about my choosing to monetize the site?  Is the number of Ads I plan on using too much or too little?  Did the Ads show up in the right place on your computer and/or your phone?  Let me know your thoughts by commenting below?

24 thoughts on “Google Adsense

  1. Frankie

    Hi Div Portfolio,

    I see the ad exactly where you say it should be – also seems to work with internet explorer for me too! And I see three ads on the iphone throughout the post.

    Good on you for having a go at this – you never know how much money it might add up to 5 years from now! Personally, I don’t mind ads, but do find the ones posted in the middle of posts a little distracting. Look forward to hearing how it goes – good luck growing your traffic and making a few extra $$!

    Cheers,

    Frankie
    Frankie recently posted…Fund Investment #4: Monash IVF (Invest in Life!)My Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks Frankie. I’ve decided that I didn’t want to place the ads in-between feeds on the front page, but I think I’m good with ads in between posts. If it gets too annoying I might have to readjust. I’m glad though that it shows up where it’s supposed to be. It’s still a hit or miss for me.

      Reply
  2. p2035

    HI DP. I have tried adsence myself few times and this will not bring you huge profit. I donk know what is your website traffic but i managed to bring few hundered visitors / monts for one website and it generated only few $. You need to have thousends of visitors each month if you eant to earn good profit out of it. 100$/y its quite reachable goal 🙂
    p2035 recently posted…I’m getting a pay raise!My Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step. Even if I make a couple of hundred dollars, it would be worth it as that’s more than enough to pay for the site. But, I recognize it may take me a long time to get to that point.

      Reply
  3. Tom @ Dividends Diversify

    Hi DP, I am viewing on my desktop with Google Chrome right now. There is one ad in the side bar under Div-Net and one ad in the post. I think it looks fine and you deserve to make whatever you can make. I’d like to share my experience…

    I put Adsense up immediately when I started my blog in Sept 2017. I also went live with Media.Net ads from Yahoo in January 2018. They provide just a trickle of money (about $12 in January). Based on my early experiences, I think it takes a lot of traffic to make money with banner and click ads. Which leads me to blog promotion. I spend 90% of my blogging time on promotion and networking to try and drive traffic (4,000 page views in January in my 4th full month of Dividends Diversify).

    Everything I read before I started blogging was it can take about 3 years of producing consistent quality content to build traffic before one can make any meaningful money blogging (yes their are exceptions). I knew this going in, but I feel a bit burned out from promoting my blog. I like the writing, but it is the smallest part of the time commitment.

    One final thought. Keep doing what you are doing with your finances and dividend stock investing. That’s what’s going to make you real money over the long term from my experience.

    Hope my experience helps. I look forward to seeing how you do with the ads, sharing our experiences, and cross promoting our blogs.

    Tom
    Tom @ Dividends Diversify recently posted…My Only Regret In Life: Speed To A MillionMy Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Awesome experience Diversify. I’m sure your promotions will be paying off. I could definitely do more in the promotion department. I’m typing this close to midnight having just recently gotten home from work. It’s not everyday that I get home this late, but a lot of times I just do other things besides blogging. However, I really like this outlet and plan on sticking with it for the long haul and every now and then I slowly do things to promoting the blog. So, I recently made a Facebook page dedicated to the blog. I’m not good with social media, but I guess that was a start. I’m also looking into the possibility of creating a twitter account and maybe pursuing other social media platforms. We will see. Thanks for sharing your experience and it does help.

      And finally, I do plan on maintaining and increasing over time my contributions to my portfolio. Google Adsense and anything else I do are just icing on the cake.

      Reply
        1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

          Thanks. I got to make sure I have the time for it, but if I do dive into another Social Media platform, that will likely be the next option.

          Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Apparently it just varies from computer to computer.

      Reply
  4. brian @ singledadmoney

    I’m using firefox and see 6 ads on this post, which I don’t mind at all. Any site I go to normally has ads, and they are usually no bother. I’m seeing the one ad where it’s supposed to be, 2 in the same bar after “recent post – favorite blogs”, another in the same bar at the bottom, a banner across the whole bottom, and another midway through your main body right above your “GOAL” section.

    I wouldn’t mind seeing a post from you on how to set this up.
    brian @ singledadmoney recently posted…January Dividend Income – $1.93My Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      OMG six seems crazy. I definitely don’t want to spam people with ads. I might get rid of them if it gets annoying. And I might just create a how to guide, but we will see.

      Reply
  5. Dividend Daze

    I believe adsense just recently changed how they display ads. You can choose to put a specific ad in a specific spot. But the easier way is just to put their code in the header of the theme. Once that is in place, it will create ads for you and place them in the spots they feel will be most beneficial to the readers or have a higher chance of conversions. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t believe it ever puts ads in the middle of my posts. Just top, bottom, side bars, etc.

    I agree, the main reasons I blog is to document the journey and so I have a record. Also helps me be accountable for my goals. The second reason is to provide value to others and act as a creative outlet for myself to network and interact with like minded individuals. But nothing wrong with trying to monetize. If I were to break even to pay for blogging costs, that would be fine in my book. Takes some to build up enough traffic to be meaningful, but gotta start somewhere. Good luck!

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Wow thank you for this post Daze. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. So, now it appears that I’m not doing anything wrong, and it’s all just Google. I have so much to learn.

      Although I thought one of the three options you now have was to be able to place the ads in the middle of the post (which doesn’t seem to work for me).

      Reply
  6. Sarah De Diego

    Ads happen. I don’t pay any heed to them unless they jump out in my face. Then, I usually leave the site and never return 🙂

    I see three ads in the right hand column. All are below the “Top 100 Dividend Blogs” badge. P.S. Congratulations!

    See you next post.

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks Sarah. If it gets too annoying, let me know. And looking forward to seeing you on my next post.

      Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Appreciate it Geek. I’m definitely going to take things slow without much expectation of how it will do.

      Reply
  7. MrSLM

    Good luck getting into the whole ads game! One thing I’ve noticed on some of the more profitable blogs I visit is that adsense actually seems to make less than various affiliate links, if you’ve looked into those.
    MrSLM recently posted…Financial Update – January 2018My Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      I have. I have a few affiliate links on my resources page, and on the last link on the right hand side bar, but have made absolutely zero dollars with those.

      Reply
  8. RichestManInLondon (@RichestManInLDN)

    I may be late but the ad shows up fine for me 🙂

    I think it’s cool that you’ve decided to try and monetize your blog. Blogs can be costly! You’re giving your time to put the blog together & others find it useful so why not 🙂 It’s something I’ll consider once I get some decent traffic.

    I look forward to seeing you hit $100 of adsense income!
    RichestManInLondon (@RichestManInLDN) recently posted…Side Hustle Summary – January 18My Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks RMIL. I’m looking forward to hitting that $100 too!!!

      Reply
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