Join the conversation: Getting to know our Top Contributors

As we mentioned in our post last week, we’re working on ways to introduce you to our Top Contributors to the help forum. A Top Contributor (TC) for over a year, Gracey tells us about why she became a TC, shares some of her experiences as an AdSense publisher, and provides some tips for all of you. We hope you enjoy getting to know her, and continue to visit the help forum with any questions you may have!

What does it mean to be a Top Contributor (TC), and what do you like about it?
Being a TC gives me the ability to call on an AdSense Pro to help out someone who really needs help; for me, that's one of the main reasons I accepted the invitation. The other thing I really enjoy about being a TC is the ability to call on other TCs for help when a situation has me stumped. All of the TCs are good people, each with different areas of expertise. I believe in 'paying it forward' or the old adage 'what goes around, comes around,' so in helping others, I believe that someday when I need help, there will be someone there to help me.
What it doesn't mean is that I'm any smarter than the next publisher -- most of what I know came from the AdSense Help Center and from my own experiences, and these are things any publisher or volunteer in the help forum can learn. I like that being a TC, I learn something new every day. Helping others to resolve issues often means searching for answers I don't already have.
Being a TC also doesn't mean that any of my sites are exempt from being disabled. Just like any other publisher, my sites must meet quality standards and follow all the AdSense program policies and Webmaster Guidelines.

Are you a Google employee?
No, I'm not employed by Google in any capacity. I'm simply a publisher -- one who ran into her own problems a while back and came to the help forum for guidance. I stuck around the forum because I started learning things that I didn't know before.

What is your experience like as a publisher?
I've been an AdSense publisher since 2005. I have about 13 blogs and 3 websites, with AdSense ads displayed on only two of my blogs and one of my websites. I’m careful to only use AdSense on sites I feel would be acceptable to AdWords advertisers. It's important to me to maintain the quality of my sites, and at this point in time my schedule is busy enough that I can only reasonably maintain 3 or 4 of my sites on a regular basis. One of my sites (without AdSense ads on it because it's about AdSense and Blogger) has been helpful for many new publishers.

What's the most important piece of advice you can give a new publisher to help them make the most of AdSense?
I think the most important thing new publishers can do for themselves is read. Read everything available in the Help Center that relates to the products you are going to use, and do that before putting ads all over your website.
One other thing I'd tell a new publisher is to ask for clarification in the help forum when he or she doesn’t understand the meaning of a policy. AdSense provides a great deal of information to help publishers, but many of them run full tilt to the ad code and never look back at the policies and guidelines.

How can publishers best utilize AdSense for content?
AdSense for content requires some work and diligence. Rather than just grabbing ad codes and plastering them wherever you can on a site, take the time to set up test ads on your site pages. Setting up a different ad size, format, or color combination on various pages throughout your site can help you discover the ones that may be the most effective for you. Use custom channels for each ad on each page during this simple test and give it some time. After a month or so, when you view the reports for each of these ads you should have a good idea of what ad formats and colors work best on your site.

Posted by AdSensePro Chris - AdSense Forum Team