Google’s Referral Programs

9. Google’s Referral Programs

Fig. 9.1 Google’s Referrals let you add another revenue stream to your Web page.

One of the biggest changes that Google has made to the AdSense program since the last edition of this book came out is in its referral programs. Initially, these were pretty poor. The products were Firefox, Picasa, Google Pack — a collection of different programs — and the AdSense program itself.

If you had users that included publishers interested in signing up for AdSense then you might be able to make some money. (The AdSense referral pays $5 for a publisher who makes the same amount within 180 days, another $250 if the publisher makes $100 and a very nice $2,000 bonus if you refer 25 of these kinds of users).

Most publishers though, don’t write content for other publishers. They were left hoping to earn a dollar a download for Firefox. Most found it more costeffective to use that spot on their page for something else.

It turned out that those early referral products were just filling space.

Today, Google offers referral products in more than 26 categories, from animals to travel. Those products come in every format you can imagine and pay different amounts for different actions.

It’s a whole other way of making money on your website