The Truth about Google Money

I get email frequently asking about specific “Google” programs or if it’s possible to make money from Google in general. While it is possible to make money from Google, many of the “Google Money” systems are deceptive.  Here are some of the deceptions and truths about making money with Google.

Deception 1: Google is hiring people to place ads.

Truth: Google simply offers tools that allow you to advertise (Adwords) or make money placing ads (Adsense) on your website.  It’s not a job.

Deception 2: Top name companies are hiring people to place ads on Google.

Truth: Top companies aren’t hiring people to place ads. Instead these “top” companies have affiliate programs and will pay you if you help them sell their goods and services. Google Adwords is a tool you can use to help sell your affiliate items. However, it’s not the only way. I don’t use Adwords and I still make money with affiliate programs.

Deception 3: All you need to do is “data entry” or “type” ads into Google to make money.

Truth: This is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to offers about Google money. Done incorrectly, using Adwords can cost you a fortune with no return on investment. Adwords is an advertising tool in which you can Google to run your offer (they show up on the right hand side of a search page) and you pay only when people click. Sounds simple but if you don’t understand keywords you can be paying for clicks made by people who don’t meet your target market and that’s wasted money. If you pay 10 cents a click and get 100 clicks a day, you’ll be paying $300 a month in Adword advertising. You need to know keywords, your market and how to write an ad that has buyers clicking otherwise its wasted money.

It is possible to make money using Google’s programs. But you aren’t simply going to sign up and type ads. Like any other work-at-home venture, you need to study and understand how it works and how to market. You need to develop a plan and stick to it.

So how do people make money using these programs? Here’s an example I just started. This month I launched a blog/site called BusyMamaWeightLoss.com. In a keyword search I knew that weight loss was a popular search term. Because it’s important to niche and I know moms struggle to find the time and energy to work on weight loss, I focused on the mom target market. The site offers free information about weight loss and is monetized using Adsense (banner at the top of the first post and within the post itself). I use Clickbank affiliate products in the box under “More Resources” and rotate other affiliate offers under “Great Offers. Right now the site is marketed using SEO (search engine optimization), articles, and social networking. Because it’s new, the traffic and income is low. These things take time to build up. Adword advertising could speed things up, but the best keywords are expensive and since the site is free I’m not sure that is the best use of advertising money. One exception is that in the past I have used Adwords not to sell stuff but to help build my email list.

WorkAtHomeSuccess.com is also supported by affiliate programs and paid ads. I used to run Adsense but recently removed it because so many scams and questionnable programs were being offered, which brings up another point. It is important to choose your affiliate partners carefully. I screen all ads and have personally used the affiliate products I offer so I can be sure they are safe and viable work-at-home tools and resources.

Do people make LOTS of money using Google resources and affiliate programs? Some make obscene amounts of money. Most hardly make any at all. The success of such a venture is up to you and how well you understand and implement what’s required. If you think you can just post a site or blog and make money, then you’ll likely fail. But if you take time to research your keywords, set up a good marketing plan, implement and maintain your site, then you can make good even great money.

If you’re interested in learning the details on how to make money using Google Adsense and affiliate programs, there are a couple of resources I can recommend. I have used all of them so I know they are good.

Super Affiliate Handbook – This is a great resource on all the aspects of finding a topic, picking keywords and getting online. Plus it offers tips on using Adwords if you’d like to take a try at that. I bought this eBook several years ago and saw a big increase in my affiliate commissions once I implemented a few of its ideas.

The Niche Blogger – This program was put together by a mom who paid of over $70,000 in debt using blogs and affiliate programs. Many online entrepreneurs, myself including, have starting using blogging platforms (Wordpress) to run their sites because it’s so easy and search engines love them. Niche Blogger is an online course that takes you step-by-step through the entire process of picking a topic, searching for quality keywords, knowing the competition and more. I also like that it uses videos to show you how to set up a Wordpress blog…for the technically challenged, the videos are great! Plus she sets up in a day-by-day fashion so you can pace yourself and not get overwhelmed. Plus there is a forum to ask questions, get feedback, and read about the success of others.

Super Affiliates This is a huge program that also takes you step-by-step through the process of choosing topics and keywords, and getting online. But there is so much more. Almost too much. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by how much there is… eBooks, videos and more.  What I like most about this program is that each month it offers a “Business in a Box” that includes everything you need to get a site online including the squeeze page, keyword rich articles to use in marketing, PPC ads, autoreponder emails and more. It’s basically all the prep work done for you. You just need to implement.

Affiliate programs and Google Adsense are two of my favorite ways to make money online. But as I said before, there is nothing automatic about it. Like any good business you need to know what you’re doing and do the work. But it can be fun (you can have a site on any topic of your choice) and it’s so flexible that you can do it around any schedule.