Is Adsense safe?

1. 67

   Stories Inc.posted 14 years ago

   Call me old-fashioned, but I'm not a great believer in internet + money, especially not for non-professionals, I don't have much faith in internet payment things, but reading how enthusiastic Hubbers are about Adsense, has got me doubting.
   Can any of you tell me about it? Your experiences? Are there any downsides? And how does it work exactly, on the practical level? Plus, would I even qualify for an account? What are the requirements for that?
   As you can see, I have a lot of questions. I hope some of you might be able to "shed some light into the darkness". Let me know.

   replyreport
   1. 68

      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      AdSense is pretty much the equivalent of a magazine selling ad space, where you are the magazine publisher and AdSense is the advertiser. It doesn't cost you anything and you could make money off of it. What else do you need to know?

      replyreport
2. 77

   WryLiltposted 14 years ago

   I totally know where you're coming from - I still have my doubts some days. However I'm looking at over $100 from hubpages this month, so my doubts are no longer fully justified.
   
   The only piece of advice I can offer for getting approved by Adsense is to try and write some non-creative hubs. Creative writing rarely gets hits off google, and google is where the money is from. You CAN make money off creative writing if you pick good titles like "Story about a cat and a mouse" or "Poem about a breakup". But if you use a title like "Mousey went to play" or "Lost forever" your title won't be matching search terms, meaning not many people will see it.
   
   To make money you need to write things that people are searching - but that doesn't mean writing really boring stuff. You can write recipes, how to guides, reviews, or just tips and hints. You'll be amazed how many things YOU know how to do that other people want to learn or understand.
   
   Adsense usually approves applicants from places that DON'T include India or Asia (those places breed a lot of spammers), fairly fast.
   
   You've got two choices - write LOTS of content or write OPTIMIZED content. Or a bit of both (that's what I do!)
   
   Check out the hub linked at the top of my profile - it has some information about keywords and helping you write hubs to earn money.
   
   And despite your doubts, I will say this - you CAN earn money here, but it isn't EASY. Don't write 10 optimized hubs and then complain because you've only made 10c in two months. BUT if you put in the groundwork, you can earn continuing income that grows month by month.

   replyreport
   1. 67

      Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, WryLilt, for your very useful comment. I'm not really here to earn money and it's not my priority, but if I could earn something, even if it's just a few dollars, with ads (which basically are already there, except I don't get paid for them), and it's risk-free, why wouldn't I?
      It's very comforting though, to hear that everything went smoothly with your account.
      Thank you for your advice!

      replyreport
   2. 57

      guccibagstarposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      of course, it is safe. There is no doubt.

      replyreport
      1. 67

         Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         

         replyreport
   3. 60

      SiddSinghposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      "those places BREED a LOT of spammers !!"
      
      Blame the warm climate - good for "breeding' mosquitoes and spammers!

      replyreport
      1. 77

         WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Hahahaha. That must be it.

         replyreport
         1. 60

            SiddSinghposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Somehow, I never the felt the urge to spam, though I grew up in some of the "hottest" parts of India. I don't know why!?

            replyreport
            1. 73

               Kangaroo_Jaseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Yes I remember the good old days when Spam used to be that adequately tasting ham in a can

               replyreport
            2. 0

               Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Must be your good moral character, intelligence, and national pride.
               
               http://www.spamhaus.org/statistics/countries.lasso

               replyreport
               1. 60

                  SiddSinghposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Aww, thanks WE - for the compliment!
                  
                  PS. - That was an instructive link - already bookmarked

                  replyreport
   4. 60

      Glosheiposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for this information, at first I thought it a dumb question to ask!  It's just wiht my last hub the popup came to sign up for this so I just wanted to re-assure myself I guess.
      I will certainly look at your hub about key words.
      
      Thanks again,
      Gloshei.

      replyreport
3. 0

   Website Examinerposted 14 years ago

   When opening an Adsense account, you will need to give them your personal information including your mailing address. You can receive payment by check or by electronic transfer; in the latter event they will need your bank information.
   
   I don't see why you should not qualify. However, the kind of writing you do is unlikely to produce any income for months to come. You need to generate the equivalent of $100, approximately, before reaching the payout threshold. It could easily take you one year or longer, unless you start focusing on product-oriented hubs, keyword research and the like.
   
   The main reason for applying for Adsense may be that otherwise HubPages will get 100% of all revenue from your hubs. If you have an account, you will get 60%. Also, you have your own blog, where you can use Adsense.
   
   Adsense is not infallible. I have not read reports of them compromising personal data. However, there are regular reports of people who had their accounts disabled for TOS violations; in most, but not all cases, this is due to their own fault.

   replyreport
   1. 67

      Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, Website Examiner. Maybe I'll wait a year, there's no rush. I do intend to write other things, non-fiction articles etc. once I get the time to, which is not going to be before February, I think. I would hate to get my account disabled though, but I would like to have some more control over the number of ads on my Hubs, some of them get in the way. Maybe I should contact my bank, they are always boasting about 'personal approach' and counselling and the sorts in their own ads, and ask for their advice on a more practical level. Perhaps I can keep the revenue from the ads separate from my normal account or something, I would be really upset if my bank information is leaked and abused. I don't have much experience with banking, I prefer to work with plain old-fashioned cash where I can...
      Thanks for the advice!

      replyreport
      1. 77

         WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Two notes:-
         
         You can change the levels of adverts in your hub by going into the settings on the right side bar and clicking the 'this is commercial' off and changing adverts to low or none.
         
         You can have a cheque sent to you, if you prefer, instead of a bank deposit.

         replyreport
4. 76

   kirstenblogposted 14 years ago

   I think it is worth trying, nothing ventured nothing gained right?
   I do also think its a case of, write, have fun, write some more, have some more fun, make some friends, gain a readership, write some more, have some more fun, and then check to see if you have had any ad sense income. This is not a get rick quick thing, its slow and to some extent unpredictable. Write here for fun and you may find it pays for a nice dinner out with a loved one, not really to shabby if you like writing anyway.

   replyreport
   1. 67

      Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      My views exactly, why no make something, however small a sum, while doing what I'm, you know, already doing. I'm not looking for an online professional career or something, I just want to be a better writer and improve my chances of getting published while I'm at it. The feedback and "pressure" to write for HubPages is very useful for making the novels I work on on the side better. And I always write for fun.
      However, you're quite right saying "Nothing ventured nothing gained." I guess it's losing things that I'm most afraid of. I'm not a risk taker in these kinds of matters. Guess I'll just inform and question and see how traffic goes for awhile until I'm absolutely sure this is the right step to take. So far, I haven't heard all too many cons... I had expected horror stories about bank accounts being emptied and lawsuits and who knows what. Those might still surface though. We'll see.
      Thank you for your advice.

      replyreport
      1. 77

         WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Google is a huge company that basically runs the largest web search on the planet. It's not some backwoods guy with a laptop.
         
         Just like when you pay for your groceries at the local supermarket and they don't steal your credit card details.
         
         Yes, some smaller sites are ripoff artists but google and paypal I are ones that I trust.
         
         And as mentioned above, I believe you can have a cheque sent to you instead.
         
         Another option is to just open a separate bank account just for those deposits.

         replyreport
         1. 67

            Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I trust in Google alright, but I've had some email-accounts stolen away right after I made them (I wanted a separate address for my 'Stories Inc.' activities) and linked to Google a few weeks ago, so I'm not very trusty and see hackers everywhere at the moment. Having a check might be interesting, but I don't live in the States, I don't know if that's a further complication or something. Oh, and I don't have a credit card, so I'm not afraid of it getting stolen when I do the groceries I do worry about my electronic passport though...
            Ah, well, troubles of the modern age.
            Thanks for the info.

            replyreport
            1. 77

               WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               I just checked on my bank details in Adsense - my BSB is not shown and my bank account number is shown as ***** with three numbers on the end. So even if you were hacked, chances are they'd need to be pretty impressive to figure out the rest of the bank details.
               
               Hopefully that helps!

               replyreport
               1. 67

                  Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  It does, thanks. From the looks of it, I'm not going to make the treshold of $ 100 right now, I don't have much traffic yet (I joined only a few weeks ago), but once I have a stable readersbase and more inflow, I might very well try, if there's nothing to lose.
                  Thank you very much, I'm starting to feel more at ease with the whole thing.

                  replyreport
                  1. 0

                     Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     Adsense earnings begin as soon as your account is activated. The longer you wait to apply, the longer it will take for you to start accruing earnings towards the payout threshold. The money you have earned in Adsense does not "expire," it simply stays there until you reach the threshold.

                     replyreport
                     1. 67

                        Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                        Hey WE, darn, just when I thought I could just get a comfortable excuse to put the matter off and stop worrying about it.
                        It's great to know that the revenue accumulates though, I thought there were time spans or something.
                        If your hubs generate nearly nothing, can Google decide to cancel your account for not being profitable enough?
                        Thanks for the info.

                        replyreport
                        1. 77

                           WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                           I'm sure that if you had adverts showing on absolutely no pages and were earning not even a cent, you may have your account disabled.
                           
                           However you can earn 1 or 2 cents per 100 views. And you also earn anywhere from 10c through to $1-$2 per click.
                           
                           I've heard of hubbers who've written a handful of hubs in a sudden rush of excitement upon joining then leaving for six months or more. A few of these have posted in the forums about coming back to a nice surprise of $20, or in some cases $100 or more.
                           
                           And as WE said, it accumulates. And I'm course I'm sure you know that watching the pennies can add up to dollars.

                           replyreport
                           1. 67

                              Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                              That's nice. So right now I'd be earning a wonderful number of half a cent a day, on the good ones Somehow, that's hilarious. But I understand much better how it works now, thank you for all your help, WE too. It was very informative, and encouraging. I'm going to figure out how to do this best, probably open a separate account and see what happens.
                              Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated!

                              replyreport
                        2. 0

                           Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                           There have been reports of people claiming their Adsense account was canceled just as they were nearing the payout threshold. It defies intelligence that a company like Google would want to "profit" by ripping off small-time publishers like that. I think that more likely, people have clicked their own ads or encouraged others to do so as they were impatient to reach payout.
                           
                           If I recall correctly, Adsense TOS does contain a deadbeat clause, they can shut down people due to insufficient earnings. But as long as you are planning to be active and do what you can, I wouldn't start worrying about that in advance.
                           
                           I think this is all about getting the big picture, getting the proportions right. There are plenty of negative stories, but the number of Adsense publishers is vast.

                           replyreport
                           1. 77

                              WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                              Just to add my 2 cents worth (if you hang out on the forums long, you'll notice I do that A LOT), I believe the reason many people lose accounts before their first payment is because Adsense doesn't do an indepth check of your content until you reach payment level (probably because there are so many Adsense accounts that never earn, making it a time consuming and pointless process).
                              
                              Once you reach payout level they figure that you're actually getting somewhere and do a check at that point.
                              
                              This hub may help if you're worried about adhering to the rules:
                              
                              http://hubpages.com/hub/TOP7REASONSWHYY … EDBYGOOGLE

                              replyreport
                              1. 67

                                 Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                                 Thank you WryLilt, I'll take a look. And I can understand Google's reluctance to check every single smaller account, they've got better things to do.

                                 replyreport
                           2. 67

                              Stories Inc.posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                              I see. I've seen the current ads on my hubs, and I sure as h*ll wouldn't want to encourage anyone to click them... I wouldn't.

                              replyreport
5. 67

   Stories Inc.posted 14 years ago

   I just stumbled upon a hub about exactly this topic, so I'm going to put the link here for all of the people on this forum with the same kind of question, hope it helps:
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Is-it-safe-to-b … fortable_1

   replyreport
6. 60

   C.V.Rajanposted 14 years ago

   Google is reliable. I have cashed out several times (but I am yet to cash out from Hubpages. I earned well from another site earlier).
   
   But be careful about fraudulent clicking of ads. Suppose any of your friends or known persons repeatedly click ads in your blog, Google has means to detect it. Suppose you have earned some 90$ and when you are hoping to reach 100, by any chance if some fraudulent / suspicious ad clicking is noticed by Google, they will immediately suspend your account and withhold all your hard earned money.
   
   You have just one opportunity to appeal to them and if you are very lucky, your account may be reinstated. But not all are lucky. But Google seems to have a very smart mechanism to detect such ad clicks and they penalize the member.
   
   If nothing of that sort happens, you don't have to worry.

   replyreport
7. 59

   great-adviceposted 14 years ago

   Adsense is safe but here is the deal and can be somewhat profitable.  But here is the deal.  It depends on what you are trying to achieve.  If you have a website that the main focus is affiliate marketing than you should consider Adsense.  If your website is all about your brand than adding Adsense will devalue your brand and make it look cheap.  For example big name companies don't have Adsense on their website.  The point is to maintain strong brand which is the most important marketing strategy.  On my website <snipped - no links in the forums, please> auction I decided to keep it clean and have a focused look.  Hope this helps.

   replyreport