So you just created a blog or website and want to add Google Adsense ads. Obviously the purpose of this is to generate some extra revenue. Because I have a full time job, I tend to look at it as extra pocket money (if you actually make any money )

Now, most people tend to just add the special Javascript code that Google Adsense gives you to their pages after choosing the ad format, colors, and size they want. Many blogs have a homepage, then a set of internal pages. In my case at LifeHut, I have a homepage and then the pages where individual postings occur. My original format was placing Google Adsense code in certain places (i.e.; on the homepage, I have 1 ad on the left column and an ad on the right. The internal pages have an ad at the top and an ad at the bottom of each posting). None of these were setup as custom channels, so when I viewed my results in the Google Adsense summary, it merely told me what I made for the day and what domain it came from. In my case, www.lifehut.org because I setup that account previously.

What if?

What if you want to find out how each individual ad spot is doing? Maybe you make $50/day with your ads (oh I wish one day) and you have 5 ads total spread across your site. There is a good chance 1 or 2 of them is generating that $50 and the other 3-4 generate 0 clicks. It’s possible. By adding custom channels, you are allowing yourself to track how each individual ad placements are doing so you can then alter their placement at later dates.

I am going to use LifeHut as an example of how to create custom channels. In my opinion, Google doesn’t do a great job of explaining how to create them or what to look for, and I want to cover one important mistake I made early on in trying custom channels.

First, make an account

If you haven’t already, Sign up for a Google Adsense account. It’s been a long time, but I think there is a waiting period to make sure your website and your information is legit

Ad Placement

Determine where you would like to place ads on your website. There are restrictions, such as a single page can only have a total of 3 regular ads and 1 set of ad links, like you see at the bottom of each of my individual postings.