Adsense by Google

I started this blog so that I could share my thoughts and experiences with others. When I found out I could have ads on it that would be relevant to the subject matter that readers could could check out if interested, I was a little excited. The thought of earning a little money on the side from it was a bonus.

I can usually figure things out eventually, but I am not a computer wiz by any means. It took me about 5 hours to sign up, set up and read the very long and confusing "how to" instructions for AdSense (by the end of it I didn't know if I had to enter source code or it it would be applied automatically).

I had to wait a few days before getting approved. When the approval came I have to admit I was a bit excited. I logged in and noticed only a few of the ads had anything to do with motorcycles, the whole theme of this blog. Things like "get your degree" and "Ford truck" ads were popping up. I thought, "OK I will give it some time and the ads will get better".

Meanwhile I was set on getting the word out about my blog to get more readers aware of it's existence. I posted on Facebook, Google+, V rod forums and by word of mouth. At first it was slow going.

Fast forward a month. Now I am getting a few regulars visiting the site. I am getting feedback from friends on what they think. I have gotten new friends on Facebook through the blog. And even though the ads never completely adjusted to motorcycle content like it was supposed to (about half or less were motorcycle related) I had started to build up a little money in my AdSense account. About $32 over the month.

On Wednesday night I decided I would fill out the tax information so that AdSense could send a check to me when it was ready. I filled out everything except the PIN number because I wasn't sure where I put it and everyone was sleeping, so I decided to wait to finalize it. The next morning, only a few hours later, I logged in to finalize the account only to find out I my account is disapproved!

I am normally a level headed guy, but when I read that I got a little fired up. What did I do wrong? How do I remedy this? Where do I go for answers? Here we go with the automated "how to" again. I looked around to find out what I had done wrong, I was unable to find the answer. Filled an appeal, and received and automated email saying my appeal was denied. The only explanation was that they cancelled my account to protect their customers, the owners of the ads, from fraudulent exposure.

Now, if Google wants to suspend me for a given time for something I did wrong, I am fine with that. Just let me know what I did wrong so I do not do it again. I understand protecting the customer, but shouldn't they be willing to work with the content providers that create the content that draws potential customers?

You get one chance to get it right. It would be like you get your driver's license, but if you do one violation (and no one tells you what the violation was) you lose your driving privileges for the rest of your life. No explanation other than "for the safety of the other drivers, we no longer feel you should have a license".

Or taking a test that has two answers to each question. As long as you keep answering correctly you can move to the next one. One wrong question and you get kicked out of class for life, except in this situation you would at least have a clue what question you got wrong.

I am not upset about the money. I am not upset about the pulling of the unrelated ads. When an ad was motorcycle related I was happy for my readers (one ad was for Ghost Rider Customs and another was for Bell Helmets and another was for saddle bags) because it gave them new resources. What does bother me is automated responses. What bothers me is there is no effort to help new people understand how this stuff works. What bother me is that AdSense hides behind secrecy to protect their spy software that they use to monitor what we do.

I may have violated the regulations, but honestly, I have no idea what it would have been. If I was allowed to know what it was, I would learn and adapt so that it didn't happen again. If it was something one of my readers did, I would make an effort to keep it from happening again. But that does not happen. Google AdSense make no effort to explain the violation and when I try to get answers, the automated responses are so general you just go in circles, getting no real information, just the explanation that they can tell you nothing so they do not compromise their spyware.

Since this has happened on Thursday I had expressed my frustration to a few people. I was surprised at how many other people had the same thing happen to them or someone they know. Of the people I had talked to that knew what AdSense was had nothing good to say about it.

The above is my personal experience and my personal opinion of AdSense. I you feel differently, please feel free to post a comment. If you or someone you know has had a similar experience, I hope you too will post a comment.

I know this is a long post and a long rant. Thank you for making it this far. To sum it up, I would like to say the theory of AdSense is a nice one, but the way it is set up and handled, it is not friendly to the average Joe who is new to this kind of stuff. I feel I waisted a lot of my time with AdSense. If you try it, good luck. You will get very little if any help from Google AdSense and if you mess up once, you are done for good.