Basics Needed to Make Money on the Internet

There are basics needed to make money on the Internet. If you already have a computer and Internet connection (those are two basics needed) it is quite possible to make money on the Internet at no further cost to you other than your time and effort, but there are a few other basics needed too, like how are you going to be paid?

It's no good getting all excited about the big online adventure you're going to undertake, without being able to receive the money you earn!

Using Google Adsense to make money on the Internet is one of the most popular and easiest ways to find your footing in your new online adventure, but to do that your Adsense account application must be accepted and you need a bank account to deposit your first Adsense check into, and all the other Adsense checks you receive after that first one.

Just a usual savings account is usually fine for you to deposit Adsense checks into, so if you don't yet have a bank account, go and get one! (Just finish reading this article first!)

Next, how to get your Adsense account application accepted?

Fill in all your details carefully and you're going to have to give the URL (website address) of one website, that Google then checks through to see if it meets all the requirements to allow you to have your Adsense account.

What? I need a website? I thought I could start out making money online with the only expenses being having a computer and Internet connection?

That's correct.  You can start out making money online with only a computer and Internet connection, a bank account, and/or PayPal account, but you have to give the URL of a website you plan to put Adsense ads on when you sign up for a Google Adsense account - that does not have to be a site you've paid money for - you can use a free blogging platform like this site you're on right now, a Blogger blog.

Now another problem that may arise while waiting to see if your Adsense account application is approved is that your site needs to meet certain guidelines, some of the basic ones to remember is that it should be a family-friendly site, be fairly neat and easy for visitors to it to read what's there, and that the site should already be receiving quite a bit of daily traffic (visitors) - at least 50 a day should do it.

But I don't yet have 50 visitors a day, and I want Adsense! Boo Hoo!

Do not despair!

Some writing sites like Xomba (free to join) allow you to use the URL of your profile on their site when you sign up for an Adsense account.  They sometimes have a page of instructions on their site on how to do it, or a forum where you can ask questions of the writing site staff or other members. Obviously most writing sites are getting far more than a mere 50 visitors a day.

If you do not yet have a website or blog that is getting more than 50 visitors a day, I would suggest joining a site like Xomba to help you try and get an Adsense account application approved more easily.

But I want the Adsense ads on my own website, blog, or free Blogger blog!

Hang on!

Once you have an Adsense account application approved (like if you tried through a site like Xomba and the application was accepted) you can put Adsense ads on your own site too, even if the site is not yet getting a lot of traffic - but I would encourage you to make an effort at increasing traffic to your site first, rather, or at least as soon as possible, even if you have already added some Adsense ads to your low-traffic site. One way to start trying to increase traffic to your site is by being active on a writing site like Xomba. (Don't just join a writing site with the sole purpose of trying to get an Adsense account application approved!)

On Xomba you can link to your site on your profile, beneath your comments on other people's articles, and in short bookmarks where you describe the content a visitor to your site will find on a certain page (and you link to the page.)

I would suggest get to know your way around a writing site, like Xomba, post a few articles, maybe even just 3 or 4, comment on the articles of others, then only apply for an Adsense account.

When you do have an Adsense account application approved, whether the URL you gave when you signed up was for Xomba, another writing site, one of your own paid for sites, or your totally free site like this site, a Blogger blogspot site, you do not need to give Google Adsense another URL when you want to add Adsense ads to a second and third site etc. - you just add the Adsense ads coding containing your Adsense publisher id - you create the coding for these ads within your Google Adsense account, following simple instructions. 

For writing sites that you join you don't even have to create coding in your Adsense account first, you just submit your publisher id in a section in the writing site, and you get to share in the money the writing site makes from displaying Adsense ads, or the ads are rotated, sometimes showing ads with your publisher id number in them, sometimes showing ads with the writing site's publisher id number in them - or some ads on the page are the writing site's Adsense ones, and one or some are your Adsense ones.

With a Blogger blogspot blog like this one, you don't need to create coding within your Adsense account either - you just submit your Adsense publisher id in the "monetize your blog" section of your Blogger blogspot dashboard, you can just add an Adsense gadget (in the "design" section of your Blogger blogspot dashboard), choose colours for it within the gadget settings, save the settings, and publish it.

Another "basic" needed to make money on the Internet related to Adsense is that once you have an Adsense publisher account, and display the ads on your site or blog, you need to have a privacy policy in place on your site or blog, or you can risk having your Adsense publisher account shut down and get yourself banned from ever using Adsense again.  There are other terms of service, terms and conditions, policies to abide by, about Google Adsense that you should check out and make sure you do everything right.  Apparently getting banned from Adsense, even if it was just a mistake on your part, is an extremely difficult thing to sort out, and you may never get your Adsense account back again. 

See this site's privacy policy by clicking the tab that says "privacy policy" at the top of this page next to the "home" tab. Google Adsense Publishers (you) can create a free similar/same privacy policy for your own site here.

Oh, and one more very important thing - Never click your own Adsense ads! On your own site or on your own content pages of a writing site you belong to.  It's a big no-no.

Okay, let's move onto PayPal.

Get a PayPal account.

In South Africa, we need to link our PayPal account to an FNB cheque account. I didn't yet have an FNB cheque account, as I banked elsewhere, but I went and applied for an FNB cheque account at an FNB branch, and it was all relatively easy.  Then I went online and linked my FNB cheque account to my PayPal account.

The steps I took to apply for an FNB cheque account and link my FNB cheque account to my PayPal account may help people from other countries too, not just residents of South Africa.

You don't need a PayPal account to receive your earnings from Google Adsense; you only need a PayPal account if you've joined sites like some writing sites that pay only via PayPal.

I hope my blog post here helps people get started with an online adventure of  making money using the Internet!

It may seem all a bit overwhelming if you're just starting out - it was for me too - but take it slowly, go through the steps of setting up the basics that you need in place, always do a lot of reading about sites that you join or plan to use as your own, join the sites, get set up with your own site, even a free Blogger blogspot blog, and then move on from there, paying attention to writing well, and getting lots of traffic to your sites or to your articles on writing sites.

You'll be fine - just take the first step, and get started making money online.

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011