Working with AdSense - Part 2

Yeah!  My blog has been approved for showing AdSense ads.  Though, I'm a little confused at the email I received.  It says ads will start appearing at this URL:

http://meloramawrites.blogspot.com/2014/02/experimenting-with-adsense.html

This is my post and not my blog.  I'm sure it's nothing.  I've checked other posts, and the ads are appearing there, so I assume any post in this blog is now "monetized."

I've already seen two different ads: #1) Something about slow macs; and #2) Something about Adwords (a Google tool).  But I'm not clicking on them.  It's against the rules!

The email also provides a link to where I can follow the performance of the ads. Let's check it out...

Okay, first there's an Online Terms and Services page.  Blah blah blah.  Lots of legal speak.  Section 5 is about payments.  I'll receive payments each month as long as I meet a threshold.  $100 is the threshold. Though it seems if I make any earnings less than $100, I still need to report those on taxes.  And if I cancel before earning $100 and if I make more than $10, then they will pay me whatever balance they owe.  Hmm ... can I make $100 in the first year?  That seems like a lot of clicks!

After $10, they'll send me a PIN to my home address, and then I can set up steps toward getting paid.  Payments appear to be by electronic transfer or by checks.  I don't see any PayPal.  Interesting stuff.

The rest is boring stuff that I can read later should any strange event occur.  They have to cover their butts.  Okay, I've read the agreement ... continuing ...

Hey, I'm at the dashboard.  It says I've earned $0.00!  Awesome!  I've caught the stats before anyone has even clicked on any of the ads!  Hopefully this will be a rare event.  Will I make a penny on the first day?

Here's a screenshot:

Zeroes are pretty!

Okay ... up at the top, there's "My ads."  I'll click on that.  This gives me a list of all my ad units.  I only have one ... the one off to the right side of this blog.  Here I can control different aspects of the ads like font color, background colors, etc.

Under "Allow & block ads" I can choose what ads to allow and block.  I can even give specific URL's if I find them particularly annoying.  For example, I really don't want scantily-clad women dancing next to my writing blog, or iffy gambling sites. I'll have to watch (and please let me know if you see any ads that seem out of place with my blog).

I can also allow or block categories.  Okay ... sensitive categories: Gambling & Betting is already blocked.  I can't even turn that one on unless I mark my blog as being 18+.  I see a couple of sex-related categories: off and off.  Get Rich Quick? Give me a break!  Off.  Black Magic & Astrology?  Sounds interesting, but I don't use that stuff in my sci-fi.  Hmmm ... or do I?

Oooh ... I can reject specific ad networks.  And there's something called "Ad review center" that isn't quite turned on yet, but says it'll be available within an hour.

Okay.  This has all been fun.  In the time I've written the last few paragraphs, I've had a 4th page view, but still no revenue.  I'll check back later.  We'll see how this goes.