I started my blog, Homes of the Rich, in June of 2008. I was new to the whole blogging thing and didn't know anything about making money online. I came across Google Adsense and signed up. I placed the ads on my blog and waited to see what would happen.

I placed google adsense on my blog on July 27th, 2008.

Here is what I made during my first week:

July 27th:                    $2.02

July 28th:                    $1.50

July 29th:                    $8.98

July 30th:                    $3.22

July 31st:                    $2.99

August 1st:                 $3.49

August 2nd:                $6.03

So, I made $28.23 in my first week! I couldn't believe it. I was so excited, because I used to hear everyone say that they struggle to make just $1 a day. During this time, I had a three column blogger template. In my opinion these templates are the best to make money with. My CTR and Ecpm were very high.

The best ad spots are:

1. Top Left Column (3 column blog) - Very high clickthrough rate, one of the best positions
2. above the blog posts - its the first thing your visitors will see 
3. below your blog posts - in the footer

Ad Colors

1. I always leave the "description" black
2. I always have the "title" set to my blog background color

Border or No Border?
- From my personal experience, NO BORDERS work best. It makes the ad seem more blended in. In return, visitors will mistakenly click on your ads. When visitors come to your website, and they see a bright blue bordered ad, they automatically know that it is an ad. Most of the times, they won't click it, because they owner that you will get money from it. It is better to blend you ads in with the content and writing of blog, so it will be less intrusive.

So far I have made $1,577 with Adsense over the course of one year, which equates to about $4.30 a day. Although this is not bad, I still want to increase to earnings to possibly $100 a day. I know, it will take a very long time, but I'm willing to work my ass off.
-Kenny