In the mid 1990’s websites used to earn income by receiving money from advertisers by publishing or allowing companies to deploy a banner ad campaign on your website. Usually these banners would be brilliantly designed to catch the eye of the consumer along with a short message. The website in turn would receive a tiny profit from a click-through, which was when a customer actually clicked on the banner and went into the website and purchased the product. This was considered traffic-driven income. It was the industry standard until Google came along.

Google has since revolutionized the click-through market by using an innovative approach to advertising, Google AdSense. The beauty behind getting involved with Google now more than any other search engine is due to Google’s straightforward approach to a banner/content-free home page. You would sign up your website for affiliation with Google and upon approval your site would be given special code to place the targeted ads on your website. Basically saving Google the space and inconvenience of having to deal with banner ads.

You still may be wondering what Google AdSense actually does. AdSense is a program in which you get paid for targeting your readers to another websites product or service.

A click through is measured when someone actually clicks on the hyperlink. Many web sites now have Google AdSense ads employed. Google AdSense uses Google Adwords content and services in a display box that you place strategically on your website. Google Adword customers pay Google a determined amount

Other sites like Earthlink and Ask.com also employ the same technologies through click through methodologies. The more people that visit popular sites and see your name or hyperlink associated with a product the better chance your site will be seen. Remember, you will be paid a small amount per click for some websites and much more for others. What determines the amount is how much the Adwords advertiser places on each click.

Advertisers can pay as little as .50 per click in upwards of $5 (even more). Often campaigns are budgeted for a period of time. The amount budgeted will be rationed over a period of days, the less days involved or the higher price per click the higher the ranking. The more traffic you receive will increase the possibility of a sale and a click through fee in your account.

In short, Google’s idea to market itself from the inside out has changed the way websites are doing business. Starting as an AdSense affiliate is a practical approach to making money using one of the hottest tools on the Internet today.

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.