I recently revamped my eBay Coach blog to try and take advantage of the passive income associated with Google Adsense. I will admit, I just kind of threw it out there last year and didn't spend a lot of time fine-tuning how Adsense works on my blog. I put the word out last week on my business groups for tips or helpful hints regarding Adsense. Boy, do I have a lot to learn! Rachael Towle of WAH Station was kind enough to spend some time explaining some basics to me, and critiquing my blog.

1) Create the ad units so that the blend in with your blog. You will need to go into your Adsense control panel and enter the hex color codes from your website or blog. Make sure the text color, back ground color, and link colors all match your blog.

2) Don't use borders around the ad unit boxes. Again, you want the boxes to blend. Just color code the borders to match the backgroud, and they become invisible.

3) Utilize all 5 ad units on every page. You are allowed 3 text units. Use those. Always put one at the top below the header of your page. It is imperitive that this one match your page.

4) Use different kinds of ad units that will appeal to your target market, and for products or services that you can cross-sell to your visitors. For example, on my eBay Coach blog, I have 2 referral ads. One is for the eBay Video Professor, the other is for Stamps.com. Both of these services are directly related to eBay selling, so my visitors may be interested in them.

5) Don't put an ad unit at the very bottom of the page. Chances are, no one is going to see it.

6) There are oodles of programs, eBooks, and kits you can buy regarding Adsense. I have not gone that route yet. Be careful what you buy from “experts” regarding Adsense, there is alot of fluff out there.