My last post explains what Google AdSense is and how it works. This post is a kind of sequel that provides more insight into using Google AdSense. It tells how and when AdSense pays.
It all begins with little commissions
Let’s say you correctly inserted your AdSense code onto your website, and ads now appear there. Your visitors are clicking those ads and you start to earn commissions. Yes commissions.
But how much are those commissions? Quite minimal. In fact, they’re generally cents. Or fractions of cents. Think that’s better.
So don’t imagine that you gonna make thousands weekly or even monthly because you signed up for Google AdSense. No, it’s not that way.
Though it is true that every source of income online counts, AdSense earnings are most times like droplets of water attempting to fill a bucket. Or should I say a barrel? And you need the barrel to fill up before it is paid out to you.
So your concern should actually be how to get much traffic as that will increase the likelihood of you getting paid fast.
Reaching Your Account Verification Threshold
After you start to earn commissions, the next step to getting paid is reaching your account verification threshold. Your AVT is the amount your account needs to reach in order for your address to be verified. It’s 10 dollars or 10 euros, and when your total commissions earned reach that amount, it’s time for you to confirm the address you indicated when signing up for AdSense.
If you did not (correctly) provide information about your physical address while signing up, it’s going to make the address verification process even harder.
Verifying your Account Address
To verify your address, AdSense will mail a PIN to you by way of the post office. Once you receive the PIN, you must enter it – as will be indicated – on your AdSense account Information page.
If you do not receive the PIN after a couple of weeks, you can request that it be sent to you a second or third time. After three unsuccessful attempts at getting the PIN to you, you will be required to scan and send a copy each of your government- issued ID card and a utility bill or tax document to get the issue resolved.
Meanwhile, ads will stop appearing on your website (your earnings will thus not increase) and a payment hold will be applied to your account (meaning no payment) until the issue is resolved.
Choosing a Payment Method
After verifying your address, the next step on the road to getting paid is to choose the means whereby you want to get paid. Included among the means of payment are:
– Checks
– Wire Transfer
– Bank transfer
– Western Union Money Transfer
– Rapida payment
However, not all payment methods apply to all places. So your choice will actually be from among the methods available to your region/location.
Reaching Payment Threshold
Depending on your AdSense account currency, there’s an amount your account has to reach before you can actually get paid. That amount is referred to as the payment threshold.
For AdSense accounts in dollars (United States, Canadian or Australian), the payment threshold is 100 dollars. For Euro, it’s 70 euros, while for British pounds, it’s 60. Meaning the small commissions you earn from visitors clicking on ads on your website will have to accumulate to 100 dollars (70 euros or 60 GBP) in order for you to get paid by AdSense.
Getting Paid
At the end of every month, AdSense checks your account balance to see whether it has accumulated up to the payment threshold. In the first few hours of the new month, verification will be carried out – involving possible adjustments to the amount – to determine the actual account balance. During that time, your account balance will not show your commissions from the month just ended. Do not panic; that’s quite normal!
Once your account balance shows that the payment threshold has been achieved, the payment process gets underway. But you’ll not get paid until at least much later in the new month.
For example, if at the end of the month of May, your balance reads at least 100 dollars (70 euros or 60 GBP) having hit that amount during that month, you will not get paid until toward the end of June or perhaps in July.
Depending on the traffic to your site, it could take as little as under a month, but may even be as long as several months or even years for your commissions to reach the payment threshold.
Receiving the funds
When your account reaches the payment threshold in a given month, AdSense issues payout for the amount in your account by the 21st of the following month. When you’ll receive the payment depends on the payment method and – quite often – your location. Western Union and bank transfers are the fastest means of payment.
The other methods largely depend on your location. For users located in the developed world, that could mean around two weeks. And for those who are located in further places, it could take up to a whole month counting from the date the payment is released.
It’s a cycle that never stops
Once you’ve gotten paid, your account balance returns to zero, and the process of accumulating commissions resume until the next time your account reaches the payment threshold – for you to get paid.
Setting up your payment scheme once means you will not have any part to play in the payment process afterwards – unless perhaps you wish to change your payment method.
Or else, for subsequent payouts, you’ll just sit back and watch the system do its work: from counting your minimal daily commissions, to verifying if they’ve reached the payment threshold, to paying out on the 21st of the following month. And then you receive it depending on the payment method and where in the world you’re located.
Have you started using AdSense yet? Let me know your experiences with the Program in the comments below.