Google, sometimes referred to as the Big G, has once again proved to the world that it still is the dominant and greatly profitable leader in the Internet search market. Recent reports indicate profits are up 110% to $721m in the three months to June 2006. Much of these Google profits come from their clever and very successful advertising program called Google Adwords.

Google, essentially a search company, had gained market dominance through smart ranking technologies that provided the user with the most relevant search results ever possible to date. It's simple user interface, coupled with smart algorithms combined with a snappy name and logo has made it the most used search engine today, putting itself years ahead from it's closest rivals. A listing for a targeted search term in the first page or two of Google's organic listing is every webmaster's dream. This means huge success in terms of traffic, sales and hence money in the bank! But, unfortunately, it is not possible for every website to be listed on the first page or two. Google saw the potential for offering paid listings that will appear alongside organic results for a search term. In this way, a webmaster can still get his website onto the first page or two under sponsored listings but for a price. Google launched their pay-per-click program, an advertiser only pays when someone clicks their ad, called it Adwords and the rest, as they say, is history!

Google then followed up with a progam called Adsense which is linked to Adwords. Adsense is where any ordinary webmaster (called a publisher) can display relevant ads from Google's advertisers on their site. When a user to that site clicks an ad, Google pays them a percentage of that click cost.

Google, by it's very existence, has given webmasters a chance to earn money in ways that wouldn't have been possible. Currently, people make cash out of Google by using Adwords and/or Adsense. Thousands of ordinary people are sharing in on Google's success and profits, making for themselves nice checks every month in the process. Let's see how.

Adwords

Adwords are used by off-line and online businesses alike to advertise their products or services. But, for ordinary people, that's not where the money is. Thousands of people are combining the versatility of affiliate programs with the reach of Adwords, making themselves a lot of money in the process.

People search for products that they can promote and more people turn to www.clickbank.com for this. Clickbank, a large Internet company, acts as reseller, payment processor and affiliate commission payer all in one. It works like this. A publisher, wanting to sell his/her products signs up with Clickbank and enters Clickbank's marketplace. Affiliates wanting to promote the publisher's products, signs up with Clickbank first as an affiliate and obtains an ID which is used in a special link called a hop link.

The affiliate then markets the publisher's products by way of advertising, especially on Google Adwords (but can be by any other means although Google Adwords produces best results) in an effort to drive traffic to the site of the publisher. If the referral results in a sale, Clickbank processes the transaction, takes a percentage of the sale, allocates the commission to the affiliate and the balance to the publisher. Clickbank pays affiliates and publishers every two weeks.

This appeal and popularity lies in the fact that affiliates don't need to have a product or website of their own and the commissions offered are very generous, sometimes as high as 75% of the product price. Affiliates also have the luxury of marketing a number of products from different publishers all at once.

But, a word of warning. Adwords is a bit intricate and very few people understand the system fully. If you don't know what you are doing, you can lose a lot of money in a very short space of time. My advice would be to learn the system thoroughly, try a few small test campaigns and tweak as you go along. Never spend more than what you feel comfortable with and intensify your campaign only when you see positive results.

Adsense

Here, publishers on Google's Content Network receive a commission when someone clicks on Google ads on their site. When an advertiser advertises with Adwords, he is given a few options. He can advertise on Google Search ads appear as sponsored results alongside organic search results when users search using Google's Search Engine, Google Search Network ads appear on Google's search partners and Content Network independent websites that host Google ads ie. the Adsense sites we are talking about.

Participating in Google Adsense is relatively easy. You simply sign up for free at Google and when your site has been approved, you will be given Javacript code that you place on your website. Google provides publishers a range of options when it comes to ad sizes and colors in order to complement their site's design and theme.

There are numerous tips to increase your Adsense revenue too numerous to mention in this little article but I'll tell you the most important ones. Firstly, build a website for the user and not Adsense. Put quality, fresh content that is relevant to your website and not duplicate, trashy content. Google is clamping down on sites made just for Adsense that offer the user no real benefit. Secondly, optimize your web pages correctly. Lastly, concentrate all your efforts on getting good, regular traffic to your site - after all, if no one visits your site, who will click on the ads?

Yes, making money with Google is possible but won't happen overnight. Continuously research and test but most of all go slow, put in some hard work and keep up with it! All the best!