Content rich sites can earn additional income, instead of or in addition to the use of traditional affiliate banners -- by using Google AdSense. Adsense serves up contextually targeted text and image ads that are targeted to particular pages of your site. They are designed to give ongoing, appropriate product purchase opportunities to your site visitors, with a minimum of effort by the site publisher. Once approved for the program, the site publisher places one link per site page, and is served up to three ads when pages are opened.

Google creates the relationships with the advertisers and only delivers the most appropriate ones to your web pages. Based upon keywords, a real time auction takes place as a visitor opens a page on your website. Based upon bids placed by advertisers, Google AdSense places relevant cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-perthousand-impressions (CPM) ads on your page.

Publishers need to carefully read the conditions for participating in the AdSense program. They include not obscuring the ads in any way with color or graphics, not launching a new browser when the ads are clicked on, placing the links only on pages with content, not displaying them on pop-ups, pop-unders or email, and not changing the code provided by the program for pasting into your web pages. Bringing unnatural attention to the ads by advertising on other websites or mass mailing is also prohibited, as is labeling the ads with anything other than sponsored links or advertisements.

It may seem like a daunting list of nos, but upon inspection they make sense because they protect you, your site and the advertisers, to prevent misuse and fraud. If you read the rules carefully, use common sense, and dont try sneaky maneuvers, the upside possibilities are certainly worth a try.