You may have noticed, oh you lucky few who subscribe to this blog, that some adverts have discretely appeared (way down on the side and the bottom of pages and posts). I’ve taken the plunge, inspired by my middle daughter’s aspirations to become a YouTube “channeler” like many of her contemporary heroes, and decided to try to work out the mine field that is Google Adsense. I hold no false pretentions that this site will generate much (if any) revenue, and all of that will go to my excellent mentor and patron Paco, over at http://gmsmagazine.com/, who has been paying for this site to exist for a while now; he’s an excellent fellow, who just wants to boost the number of people writing intelligently about board and card games, etc. So, this isn’t about planting moneytree seeds, or a desire to wear moneyhats. It’s an experiment and an adventure.

For example, there are several “do”s and “don’ts” in using Google Adsense:

• Firstly, to get Adsense approval in the first place, you must have content. Fortunately, I have blog posts going back ten years, and a good few YouTube videos on my channel. Nothing groundbreaking, but enough to show that I’ve been around for a while and am likely to be so in future. Imagine what this must feel like to a new and enthusiastic teenager; Sorry, daughter, but you are going to have to consistently make content for a while before you can think of these ways to even try to break even, let alone make a self-sustaining blog.
• Secondly, you must never, ever click on one of your own ads – it’s the fastest way to get your Adsense account banned forever; and unless you remove ads from your site, Google will continue to post them there long after they have decided that you will not get paid. Google has a LOT of excellent material for helping you out, such as the Chrome plugin “Google Publisher Toolbar, which can overlay Adsense ads on your site, preventing accidental clicks.
• Finally, expect the whole process to be a steep learning curve. All of a sudden I need a privacy policy, probably a disclaimer of some sort, and Terms & Conditions for using the site. This is all heavy stuff for a blogger, especially a first timer like my daughter. This is, apparently, one of the easiest ways to fall foul of Google’s T&Cs meaning that you might miss out on ad revenue, because you didn’t abide by those long conditions you agreed to when you applied for an Adsense account.

So, it’s already been fruitful. I know that I need to actually read the T&Cs to make sure that this site is all set up in the next few days. I am, after all, doing this to aid my daughter in her quest for Social Media stardom. Remember who will be footing the server bills otherwise!