When a new business comes online and begins to look for ways to monetize its website, one of the most common questions they ask is, "What is AdSense?" or, "How do I get a Google AdSense Account? AdSense is the simplest form of paid advertising available to a website owner. While AdSense is a viable monetization strategy, it is not appropriate for every website. Small business websites typically have thirty or less pages. The site is more like an online brochure. Unless the website gets a lot of traffic, AdSense will only produce a few pennies per day. Other forms of advertising may provide better monetization for sites that are small or that are not yet getting enough traffic.

Informational sites, such as those provided by nonprofit organizations, would benefit more from AdSense. Even if the information they provide is not massive, their sites typically draw enough traffic to make AdSense profitable. The income, even if small, would be one way to pay for the cost of sustaining the site. I have also noticed some government sites using AdSense, as well as sites that promote or provide information about a particular City or locality.

Mega sites, on the other hand, are perfect for AdSense. It can be the main sources of income for sites such as article directories, share cooking recipes sharing sites, and any type of site that has a large database of information.

Obtaining a Google AdSense account requires that you already have a website and that you already have enough content in the site for Google to judge its quality and appropriateness for their advertising clients. I recommend that you don't request a Google account until you have at least twenty pages on your site.

Once your Google AdSense account is approved -- a process that takes a couple of days -- you can begin inserting the code in your pages. This is where the art begins. Placing ads on a page without having them screaming that they are advertisement is an art in itself. Many books have been written about the subject, but the best training there is available on the subject is a series of videos produced by Michael Cheney, who spent a whole year researching and testing AdSense on his websites. His obsession resulted in the most lively and profitable training available on the subject.