If you've given any thought to an online income plan, then Google Adsense must have crossed your radar. I wasn't too sure what it was all about, but decided to give it a  try on my wife's site - she hires Bouncy Castles for children's parties, etc.

When I put the adsense code into her site, she was horrified, saying "You're advertising the competition!", but she calmed down when I pointed out that the adverts displayed, while connected to the words "bouncy castle" were not for direct competitors.

   Cut a long story short, even with the trickle of visitors the site currently attracts, we're seeing a few pounds dribble into our adsense account. Not enough for a family holiday yet, but it will pay for hosting fees and a few more sites!

   It really is simple to set up an adsense income. Just get an account at adsense.com, and decide where you would like to display the adverts. They look something like this:

Google selects the advertisers based on the criteria you supply when you sign up, and over time they will become more appropriate.

    As I explained to my wife, this has immediate benefits. Let me explain:

Picture This - you want to buy a bouncy castle, so you google a related term and arrive at www.kastles4u.co.uk (My wife's site - go have a look!). Unfortunately, you soon realise that we only HIRE castles, not sell them. Back to Google it is, then! but wait...

  At the top (and bottom) of the home page is a box with text ads in it. One (or more - they're random for each visit) of these is for a bouncy castle SALES firm in the area, so you click through to their site, which is what you were really after. You're happy, the sales firm is happy, even we're happy, because we get a payment for every ad clicked. It's not much, but we weren't making anything from you to start with, so Thank You, Adsense! I don't get anything from google for promoting Adsense, but it does give you an income for minimal (and I MEAN minimal) effort.

    The more astute of you will realise that this system also benefits the advertiser, and I'll be revisiting Adsense when I've looked into the other side of the coin.