Making money from your blog with Google AdSense

One of the best things about working at Google is hearing stories from individuals around Australia who have used our products. We often hear how someone has used Google to research a car purchase, plan their dream holiday, or find a new home. But Darren Rowse's experience just blew us away - he didn't just search for those things, he partnered with Google to attain them. Darren first discovered blogging in 2002, and thought he'd give it a try. He started writing about his observations on spirituality and pursuits with digital photography, and gradually built up a loyal readership. In 2003, he placed his first ever advertisement on his blog using Google AdSense.

Google AdSense allows website owners to earn money by serving relevant and useful ads to their web pages. From that first month, Darren started receiving earnings from Google's wide range of Australian and international advertisers. At first, Darren expected that the money would be enough to cover only small things; as he told us, "I added that first advertisement to my blog on a whim, with the lofty dream that I might be able to pay for my blog's hosting costs". But as he started to devote more serious time to his hobby, Darren was soon earning more than he ever thought he could. As he told us recently, "Over five years later those little text ads have paid my mortgage, fed my family and enabled me to move my blogging from a hobby, to a part-time job, to a full-time job and beyond".

These days, Darren runs a number of successful blogs, his most successful being Digital Photography School. He has become known as one of Australia's pre-eminent blogging experts, and posts regular tips and advice on ProBlogger.net, a highly respected and immensely successful resource for bloggers around the world. From his evangelist role in the blogging community, he has even co-authored a book, and set up his own blog ad network.

We recently caught up with Darren at his Melbourne home office, and asked him about his experience with Google AdSense.



Google Australia is proud to partner with Darren and other Australian web publishers through the Google AdSense program. You can read more of his story, and that of other successful AdSense publishers on the AdSense Blog.

Posted by Mel Ann Chan, Google Australia AdSense Team