Our guide to creating a web portal is coming to an end. We raised several issues. The first one was a discussion on content management systems used to build web portals and what you should pay attention to when choosing one that would serve your purposes the best. Then we proposed some themes that might fit your type of online activity. The third part of our guide focused on plugins that might expand the content management system you’re using and be very useful while creating and to the functioning of your website. All those stages were aimed at creating a fully functional website. Now it’s time to think about the monetization of said website. The easiest way is by using an ad network. Let’s focus on the most popular ad network – Google AdSense.
What Is Google AdSense?
AdSense is a service provided by Google, that helps with displaying advertisements on the websites. The popularity of AdSense lies in the neat way it can be used and implemented of the landing pages. With this service, you can display ads on your website without direct contact with the advertisers.
Creating Google AdSense Account
If you want to use Google AdSense, you must have a Google account and an internet portal that complies with program policies. If you have a Google account, you may go straight to creating the AdSense service for your portal. First, go to the main page of the service. There, click on the ‘Register Now’ button. In the window that appears, enter the address of your portal, your e-mail address, and select whether you want to receive additional information and tips from Google.
After saving your data, you will have to log in to the previously created Google account. Then select a country you’re from or the territory, read the terms of service and once you’ve read them, accept them. Finally, click ‘Create Account’.
Google AdSense Account Activation
The account you have created now requires activation. This process will take several steps. You need to enter your billing address on the ‘Payment Address Details’ tab. If you have not verified your phone number before, you will have to do it now, if you have, this step will be skipped. Being the owner of the portal, you must now connect it to the service by entering the necessary code. You should paste it between opening and closing the site’s <head> tags. After completing this step, mark ‘The code has been pasted on the site’ in the service and click ‘Done’.
Once you’ll have completed the account creation and activation process, Google will verify your portal, which may take some time. You will be notified via e-mail about acceptance or any problems relating to the process.
Creating an Ad Unit
After your portal has been accepted in the Google AdSense service, you will be able to create ad units and display them on your page.
At your disposal you may find:
- display ads fitted for the place they appear,
- in-feed ads, inserted into the article lists,
- in-article ads, intended for placement inside the content of articles,
- tailored content that promotes our site, as well as advertised elements.
The placements of advertisement determine what type of advertising unit you want to implement on your portal.
For the purposes of this guide, we will show you how do create a display ad. You should go to the service menu and select ‘Ads’ and then ‘Overview’. Next click on ‘By ad unit’. From the available options select ‘Display ads’. In the unit creation wizard, you should specify the name, as well as the size of the ad. You may choose a fixed size of the ad, or a flexible size, which will then automatically adapt to the place where it will be displayed. Finally, save the ad and download its code.
Inserting Google AdSense Ads on Your Portal
The ad unit code you have downloaded from Google AdSense now has to be implemented on your website. You may use the AdFoxly plugin to make this process easier for you. After installing the plugin, you should go to the advert inserting wizard, which you may find in the ‘New’ tab. You should select ‘Google AdSense’ from the list of advertisement types. In ’Details’, enter the name of the ad and paste the code downloaded from AdSense service below.
In the next step, you need to select the place where your advertisement should appear on your website. You may select one of the places that are automatically added, for example in articles (Before post, Inside the post, After post), in a popup, sticky to the top or bottom edge of the site, or you may manually add placements via widgets or shortcode. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll show you how to create an automatically assigned place in the body of the article. To do that, in the ‘Where’ section of the wizard select ‘Inside the post’, and then ‘In the middle of post’.
Finally, you need to determine whether the new ad should be a part of any campaign, or it will exist without it. The advert creation wizard allows you to create a new campaign and assign the ad to it, or to assign this ad to a previously created campaign. Having selected the desired option, you should save your ad and verify if it displays the way you intended.
Summary
Google AdSense is the most popular service that allows you to place ads on your website, without the need for you to contact advertisers and directly sell advertisement places to them. You may easily create ad units, and to make placing them on your website easier, you may use the AdFoxly plugin. This way you may simply and effectively monetize your website.
