Once you’ve been accepted into the AdSense program, proceed to the Google AdSense home page shown earlier. Log in using your Google account information as shown in Figure 8-4.
Once you’ve logged in, your first step should be to verify your initial settings and enter some more information. Start by clicking the My Account tab. The My Account tab has four main pages:
Account Settings
Account Access
Payment History
Tax Information
You’ll find that you can modify your initial account options using the Account Settings page, as well as set some significant options, namely your payment preferences (and what could be more important?) and your global ad display preferences.
To change your payment preferences, on the Account Settings page click the edit link that follows Payment Details, as shown in Figure 8-5.
The Choose Form of Payment window, shown in Figure 8-6, will open. The choices are:
Electronic Funds Transfer to your bank account
Check by regular mail (free but it takes longer)
Express delivery of your check (there’s a $30.00 processing fee)
Arranging to have your AdSense payments electronically transferred to your bank account is an attractive option because there are no delays and there is less chance of a paper check getting misplaced in the mail.
In order to have funds transferred by Google, you need a verified bank account. In the bank account verification process, first you enter your bank account number and bank routing number. Next, Google deposits small sums of money (less than a dollar) in your bank account. Once you see these deposits in your account, you must go online and enter the amounts. Once Google sees that you have access to your account records, your account is considered verified.
Note
Not all payment options are available in all countries; the options available to you will depend upon the physical address associated with your account.
You can also elect to have your payments held (and accrued) indefinitely rather than paid monthly by clicking the edit link in the Payment Holding section on the Account Settings page, shown in Figure 8-7.
Ad Display Preference, on the Account Settings page, sounds like a big deal, but it’s really used to set the default for one thing.
This preference is used to set global preferences for whether you want to display text ads only or both text and images. This Ad Type Preference option sets your global default; you can override your default global choice on a page-by-page basis when you specify options for a block of Google ad code that will be placed on a particular page.
The Account Access page shows you the email address of users with access to your AdSense account. Generally, this will be the email address associated with the Google account that you used to open your AdSense account.
Note
Multiple users can be associated with a single AdSense account if you use Google Ad Manager, explained later in this chapter, or Google Analytics, covered in Chapter 13.
In addition, you may need to set software access to your AdSense account on the Account Access page. For example, Blogger, FeedBurner, and YouTube all need to be authorized for account access on this page so they can serve ads with your AdSense codes (assuming you are signed up with these other programs, and have integrated your content offerings on those sites with your AdSense account).
The Payment History link on the Account Settings page opens a display of your earnings and payment history as shown in Figure 8-8. Using the Payment History window, you can determine the amount of recent payments and get a ballpark sense of when and how much your next payment is likely to be.
Although it’s reasonable to want to know how much money one is owed, the information in this display is quite sketchy and not very useful for tracking your account activity. See Chapter 9 for information about better ways to monitor the activity in your AdSense account.
Filing appropriate tax information forms with Google is really part of the account application process, and your account won’t be activated until you file these forms. If you are a United States resident, you will need to file an IRS form W-9 with Google; residents of other countries will need to comply with the legal requirements of the tax authority in their domicile.
Note
If you are operating under your name—or, to put this formally, as a sole proprietorship using your own Social Security number (SSN)—you will need to file an IRS form W-9 with Google that lists your SSN. Depending on your situation, the income that Google reports to the IRS for your SSN will likely be reported on a Schedule C with your next income tax filing.
For instructions and forms, with the Account Settings page open, click the Tax Information link. Most likely, you will be able to file the appropriate forms online. Once your form has been filed with Google, when you click the Tax Information link you’ll see a message stating, “Our records indicate that you have already submitted the appropriate information.”