Book Review: Google Advertising Tools, Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google APIs

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: July 22, 2006]

Google has made a practical impact on all of us. From getting latest news to communication tool, it has changed the way we work. Google have changed the way the world publishes content and the way the world advertises. Everyone can be a webpublisher. On the other hand, everyone can earn money with Google adsense and adwords. The book Google Advertising Tools explains the business and technology behind making money with content and advertising on the Web. This is a practical book for new people or technically inclined people about how to use the Google advertising services to make money. Harold Davis has done an extraordinary work to put together Google Advertising Tools and services. The entire book is divided into four parts.

Part I: Making Money with Your Web Site
It has total six chapters, which explain how to make money from a content-based web site, how to build a site that will get traffic, how to get your site noticed, and the many ways to make money with advertising on your site. It also explains how to profiting from adult web sites. It discuses following points:

Understand your site; define types of content and why people visit content sites.
Simple plan to build community on your site.
How to find out a quality content source
Design a simple site that highlights content.
How to separate content from design
Tips on how to keep your content fresh forever
Finally experiment with ad positioning to monetize your site.
Lear how to driving traffic to your Site
It even explains how to create a site architecture that uses includes, templates, or content management software to facilitate flexibility.

Part II: Getting the Most from AdSense
This part has total three chapters. It server as dummies guide to AdSense, it explains how to work with Google's AdSense to monetize your site. However, chapter failed to mentioned few other techniques, which can boost your site performance at AdSense. Anyways those topics are for advance user. It covers following topics:

How to think about the queries users is likely to use to find your products or services or your site
Create a custom search results page and site pages that echoes the look and feel of your site in order to improve performance
How to monitor your AdSense Content and Search performance
Using Custom or URL channels to display results to get a better handle on performance on different parts of your site
Learning to use the web log analysis programs available to you to get a better understanding of how your site is performing in relation to the AdSense program

Part III: Working with AdWords
Yes, you can even sell your own site and products using Google AdWords or even drive more traffic to site and earn more via AdSense. This part has total three chapters. It explains how to use AdWord, technical terms used by AdWord program. It has nice coverage of improving campaign and ad group performance. It also covers AdWords reporting and conversion tracking.

Part IV: Using the AdWords APIs
This section is strictly for advanced users who are computer programmers. You can write applications that take advantage of the Google AdWords API web services. The chapters in this section explain what these web services are and how to write code that interacts with them. You can create systems/application that using the AdWords API to automate the creation and modification of ad campaigns.

A perfect book for all new web publishers out there who is dreaming to make money online as well as build online communities. I highly recommended this book for three simple reasons:

If your motto is turning your web site into a profit center with AdSense then it will help you to understand process.
However, without traffic no one will come to your site so it explains how-to driving traffic to your site
Finally optimizing sites for search engine placement is cover very well.

Sure, you can find all of above information freely on net but not on one site or place. So just, go grab your copy and turn your dream into reality.

Summery

Book title: Google Advertising Tools, Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google APIs
Author: Harold Davis
Publisher: O'Reilly
Pub Date: January 2006
ISBN: 0-596-10108-2
Pages: 366
Level of experience needed: Beginners/Intermediate web publishers
Who will find useful: Webmasters/Web publishers
Additional goodies included (such as CDROM) : No
Sample chapters:

Chapter 8: Working with AdSense (PDF)

Our rating: ****+ (4/5)
Purchase online at Amazon

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Discussion on This Article:

Kevin Says: February 6th, 2006 at 2:37 am
I’ve never heard of that book. I’ve been fooling around with adwords for about two years now as an affiliate marketer. Its a lot harder than what most people think. I’ve bought several books on adwords, but most contain the same old information, but the book you mentioned seems more detailed so I think I’ll give it a try.

Kevin Emswiler
Google Adword Tips
Anonymous Says: February 6th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
I must agree with Kevin.

It look like lots of stuff in it. It is like a systematic guide go Google services. I am also going to get it
–
Rk
PS: nice two links at bottom
Kirt Says: July 4th, 2008 at 1:40 am
I’m been using Google Adwords for a long time and this book has gotten me interested to purchase one

AdwordScience