Should You Use Google AdSense on Your eCommerce Website?

By Adam  |  10 Jul 2015 12:00:00

When you run an eCommerce website, you want it to be a profitable as possible. Of course, most of the money you make with your website will be through your sales, but you might wish to investigate other ways that you can make money. You may or may not be familiar with Google AdSense, which is a service that provides websites with advertising. In this post I am going to give an introduction to Google AdSense and discuss whether or not it would be appropriate to use it on your eCommerce website.

Google AdSense is a completely free service and as you stand to make some money from it, I can see why you might be interested. Making more money will mean that you'll have more money to invest in the business (to help you make even more) and, of course, it also means that you'll have more money to spend on yourself. If you can make money without spending any, what's the risk? Well, you see, you actually have no level of control over what your adverts actually are and Google give every person different adverts based on what they've been searching for... and if they're on your website they've been searching for places where they can buy things which your business provides. That means that you essentially risk advertising for your rivals.

Can advertising for your rivals really be so damaging? Well, it depends. If you do a Google search you may well be able to find out which websites offer similar products and services to your own; are any of them providing really fierce competition? If the answer is yes, then you should probably not use AdSense; if the answer is no, and your business is very niche with little to no competition, then go ahead use AdSense! It would be a dreadful shame if somebody saw an advert on your website which then lead to them finding another business and not returning to your own.

In the end, it's your call. If you think you stand to make a bit of money with Google AdSense, maybe give it a try, if you're concerned about the risks, don't do it, because you only stand to make a small amount through the service anyway. Whatever you decide, I wish all the best with your eCommerce business.