Earn Extra Cash with Your Journal!
As many of you may have alraedy seen, LiveJournal announced the Your Journal - Your Money feature today in news. This feature allows you to link your Paid or Permanent LiveJournal account to a Google AdSense account to display ads on your journal. You keep all of the proceeds from the display of these ads once Google takes their cut; LiveJournal does not keep any portion of the generated revenue.
Now, before getting into any of the technical details at all, let's cover the most important point right up front: this feature is completely opt-in. If you choose not to use Your Journal - Your Money, nothing will change about your LiveJournal experience. You will never see any ads from this program on LiveJournal while you are logged in. Only those users who use this feature will see these ads.
So, those of you who know you'd never be interested in using Your Journal - Your Money can skip the rest of this post if you like and continue on down your Friends page. For those that want to know more, dive behind the cut for all the details.
Your Journal - Your Money is a pretty straightforward program -- the only options beyond whether or not you want to participate are:
You can activate this feature on the My Ads tab of the Settings area. After selecting that you want to participate, you then specify whether to create a new AdSense account or use one you already have.
Fill out the fields as prompted (they're slightly different for each option) and then click the Submit button to continue.
If you are creating a new AdSense account, you'll see a message stating "Your request to associate this LiveJournal account with the Google AdSense account you chose is pending." You'll be sent a verification email from Google, that will then lead you through to the actual setup of your AdSense account with them. Any questions about the specifics of AdSense itself, its policies, or Google's setup process should be directed to Google directly, as they will be best equipped to answer such questions.
In the meantime, you can continue to set up your preferences for Your Journal - Your Money even before completing the AdSense registration process.
Controlling Ad Placement
Once you've selected your existing AdSense account or created a new one, you can then select how many ads you'd like to display and where they should appear on your journal page.
There are four possible placements of ads on your page:
1) A narrow horizontal banner across the top.
2) A narrow vertical banner placed at the upper right.
3) A block ad placed in the middle.
4) A narrow horizontal ad across the bottom.
You can display up to three of these ads on your page. As you select a checkbox, the small graphic to the right of the checkboxes highlights in red the ad placement you've just activated. Note that even though you can select all four checkboxes currently, only three ads will actually appear on your page -- the bottom ad placement will be hidden on your page if you've selected all four.
Also note that the Minimalism journal style will only allow the placement of two ads. If you want to display three ads, you'll need to select a different style. (Sorry about the not-quite-right grammar on the My Ads tab in this area -- we'll get that fixed up as quickly as possible.)
Types of Ads and Helping Out Your Friends
The last section of the My Ads tab lets you choose the type of ads you want to see and also select whether you want to opt-in to seeing ads elsewhere on the site to help other LiveJournal users earn more money from their participation in Your Journal - Your Money.
First, select whether you want to view all types of ads, just text ads, or just image ads. Then, select whether to view ads from this program throughout the site. If you don't opt-in to this viewing preference, you will only see the ads that are placed on your own journal.
Where Do I Learn More About AdSense Itself?
The Google help forum regarding its AdSense program is where you should go for answers to your questions on the details of how AdSense itself works. A few specific topics you might want to check out are listed below:
Google AdSense Program Policies
How much will I earn through this program?
When will I get paid?
How are ads targeted?
And That's It!
Pretty simple, right? Just a few clicks and you're on your way to untold riches, we hope!
If you don't already have a paid account but now you'd like have one to participate in this feature, please visit the Gift Shop to purchase paid time. You can test drive a paid account for as little as two months, if you're not sure you want to commit to a full year. And if you need it in the future, this FAQ also has information on this program.
Thanks, and we wish you happy (and profitable) journaling!
Now, before getting into any of the technical details at all, let's cover the most important point right up front: this feature is completely opt-in. If you choose not to use Your Journal - Your Money, nothing will change about your LiveJournal experience. You will never see any ads from this program on LiveJournal while you are logged in. Only those users who use this feature will see these ads.
So, those of you who know you'd never be interested in using Your Journal - Your Money can skip the rest of this post if you like and continue on down your Friends page. For those that want to know more, dive behind the cut for all the details.
Your Journal - Your Money is a pretty straightforward program -- the only options beyond whether or not you want to participate are:
- The settings for your AdSense account, whether you are creating a new one or linking to an existing one.
- How many ads to display and where they appear on your page.
- What type of ads to display and whether or not you want to view ads site-wide to help others earn money.
You can activate this feature on the My Ads tab of the Settings area. After selecting that you want to participate, you then specify whether to create a new AdSense account or use one you already have.
Fill out the fields as prompted (they're slightly different for each option) and then click the Submit button to continue.
If you are creating a new AdSense account, you'll see a message stating "Your request to associate this LiveJournal account with the Google AdSense account you chose is pending." You'll be sent a verification email from Google, that will then lead you through to the actual setup of your AdSense account with them. Any questions about the specifics of AdSense itself, its policies, or Google's setup process should be directed to Google directly, as they will be best equipped to answer such questions.
In the meantime, you can continue to set up your preferences for Your Journal - Your Money even before completing the AdSense registration process.
Controlling Ad Placement
Once you've selected your existing AdSense account or created a new one, you can then select how many ads you'd like to display and where they should appear on your journal page.
There are four possible placements of ads on your page:
1) A narrow horizontal banner across the top.
2) A narrow vertical banner placed at the upper right.
3) A block ad placed in the middle.
4) A narrow horizontal ad across the bottom.
You can display up to three of these ads on your page. As you select a checkbox, the small graphic to the right of the checkboxes highlights in red the ad placement you've just activated. Note that even though you can select all four checkboxes currently, only three ads will actually appear on your page -- the bottom ad placement will be hidden on your page if you've selected all four.
Also note that the Minimalism journal style will only allow the placement of two ads. If you want to display three ads, you'll need to select a different style. (Sorry about the not-quite-right grammar on the My Ads tab in this area -- we'll get that fixed up as quickly as possible.)
Types of Ads and Helping Out Your Friends
The last section of the My Ads tab lets you choose the type of ads you want to see and also select whether you want to opt-in to seeing ads elsewhere on the site to help other LiveJournal users earn more money from their participation in Your Journal - Your Money.
First, select whether you want to view all types of ads, just text ads, or just image ads. Then, select whether to view ads from this program throughout the site. If you don't opt-in to this viewing preference, you will only see the ads that are placed on your own journal.
Where Do I Learn More About AdSense Itself?
The Google help forum regarding its AdSense program is where you should go for answers to your questions on the details of how AdSense itself works. A few specific topics you might want to check out are listed below:
Google AdSense Program Policies
How much will I earn through this program?
When will I get paid?
How are ads targeted?
And That's It!
Pretty simple, right? Just a few clicks and you're on your way to untold riches, we hope!
If you don't already have a paid account but now you'd like have one to participate in this feature, please visit the Gift Shop to purchase paid time. You can test drive a paid account for as little as two months, if you're not sure you want to commit to a full year. And if you need it in the future, this FAQ also has information on this program.
Thanks, and we wish you happy (and profitable) journaling!