How To Start a Google AdSense Account and Make Money Blogging

Starting a new account with Google AdSense is one of the easiest ways to start monetizing your blog. While Google AdSense might not make you rich, it's a simple and useful tool. In fact, it's usually the first step bloggers typically take to earn an income from their blogs because it is so easy to get started.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 10-15 minutes to open an account. Additional time to research the options to monetize your blog.

Here's How:

1. Read the Google AdSense program policies.
   Familiarize yourself with what you can and cannot do as part of the Google AdSense program to ensure you're prepared to start your new account.
2. Visit the Google AdSense home page.
   Click on the 'Sign Up Now' button in the upper righthand corner of your screen.
3. Complete the online application.
   You will need to provide your blog's URL and primary language as well as answer some questions related to the rules of the Google AdSense program. You'll also need to provide your payment information to receive the money you generate on your blog from Google.
4. Access your new account and review the ads available to you.
   Google AdSense provides a wide variety of advertising options to bloggers from text ads to image ads and more. Take some time to research everything that's available to determine what will work best for your blog.
5. Select your ad design choices.
   Once you've decided which ad opportunities are best for your blog, select them. Google will provide a snippet of HTML code to you after you make your selection.
6. Insert your Google AdSense HTML code into your blog.
   Copy and paste the HTML code provided by Google into your blog's template. One of the easiest ways for a beginner blogger to do this is by inserting a text widget into his or her blog's template and pasting the code in the widget.
7. Let Google do the rest.
   It may take a few hours or a few days for Google to start serving ads on your blog. Google will search your blog to determine the predominant subjects of each page. When readers visit your blog, the HTML code you pasted into your blog from Google will activate and relevant ads will be displayed based on each page's content.
8. Collect your money.
   Remember, Google AdSense typically pays based on click-throughs (the number of times people click on an ad). Therefore, Google AdSense is unlikely to generate a large income for you, but every bit helps!