“Adsense Code” by Joel Comm was published in April 2006, and covered many topics related to Adsense. The book claims to reveal the “secret” of Adsense.
When I first read this book, I didn’t have any expectations. After all, I have been using Adsense since late 2003, and have pretty much seen all the techniques being discussed. However, I was in for a pleasant surprise: I actually found the book to be quite good. There are several reasons:
1. The book does a good job of filtering out “noise” and consolidates and presents good information. One thing that always bothers people when looking for information online is whether the information they see is trustworthy. So, while one can spend time browsing online to find all the information in “Adsense Code”, I find it worthwhile just go ahead and read the book. All the information presented there related to Adsense are solid.
2. The tune of the book was solid: There was little hype, which I was glad to see, especially considering the author. Joel did have some self-promotion towards the end of the book, but it was not excessive at all.
3. The information presented in this book, although in the context of Adsense, is also applicable to other types of ads displays. So, as long as you are interested in website monetization (even if you have no interest in Adsense), this is still a good book to read.
The most valuable parts were Chapters 2, 3, and 8. In Chapter 2, Joel talked about all the different Adsense formats and how they could fit in to your site. In Chapter 3, Joel talked about the optimal strategies for color matching. In Chapter 8, Joel discussed how Adsense ads may be displayed in a page. If you already have some experience with Adsense, start with these 3 chapters.
“Adsense code” also touched on topics somewhat related to Adsense, like SEO, visitor analysis, and marketing. My feeling is that these chapters were good introductions, but they didn’t go into enough depth. If you really want to understand these topics, you’ll need more material than what’s presented here.
Overall, this is a solid book on Adsense, and definitely worth a read for anyone — even someone who has been doing Adsene for a long time. Will you instantly know the best Adsense layout for you to earn the maximum? No. However, it does consolidate all the useful information in a single book, which makes it a good reference. Regardless of what your level of sophistication of Adsense is, you will learn something new (or remember something that you have long forgotten) from this book.
You can get Adsense Code at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com.