In this post, you will learn how I activated and verified my Adsense account in Zambia. Creating and verifying an Adsense account in African countries and non-developed countries is a big struggle. Adsense has strict guidelines and verification requirements.
Why did I create an Adsense account?
Well, I am a web designer and developer in Zambia. I started freelancing two years ago but I have not been able to get clients who want websites because they all ask for previous work because of trust issues. As of me, I have no time to prove to people that I am capable of that and this because that makes you desperate and my skills I possess, I cannot offer them in such a way. Therefore, A year past was never getting any projects, even now I still not get any. So I came across Adsense, Google platform to monetize content on your website. Well, when I found out about Google’s Adsense, I was happy because I was going to start getting paid by Google. So I applied for Adsense.
How does Adsense work in Zambia with websites?
Adsense is a platform by Google that places ads or advertisements of your website. I am sure you have seen some ads on this page, these ads are from Google Adsense. This is what happens, When someone clicks on the advert, I earn money. The money I earn per click varies. This is called the CPC or cost-per-click. The cost per click depends on the following
- type of advert (insurance, finance, crypto etc, these pay more)
- location of the person who has clicked on the advert (If someone from USA clicks on the advert, I get paid between $0.6 to $1.5. Whereas in if a person from Zambia clicks on an advert, I get paid between $0.01 and 0.5 per click.
So to summarize, clicks from developed countries, pay more than from non-developed countries.
Apart from clicks, I also earn from impressions. What are the impressions?
This is the number of times advert is viewed or seen. This depends on traffic. If 1000 people see any ads, it will be counted as impressions, and this also depends on the website niche and Google pays from $0.1 to as high as above $5 per 1000 impressions. So this is how Adsense works.
How I created an Adsense account
I visited the Adsense website and applied, I added the code to my website and within a month, my website was approved in the monetization.
Adsense has two types of verification and many people only talk about one. After my website was verified, I was told I needed to make a minimum of $10 for me to add a payment method and verify my account again. By that time, my website was not getting the traffic like I get now, I took long to make my first $10. After some time, I was able to make $10. I added my payment method which is Western Union and was asked to verify my account.
Adsense verification
This is the most painful thing about Adsense verification that many people do not talk about. This is where Adsense mails you a PIN sent from Adsense to your country EG. Zambia. When this PIN arrives, you enter it in your Adsense account and your account gets verified and you can now make money and withdraw your earnings.
Unfortunately, this is not as smooth as it sounds to be. These PINs barely or never reach at all to non-developed countries. When Adsense mails you a PIN, you have to wait for 30 days to receive it, if it does not reach you, you request again after 30 days.
The PIN never reached me in Zambia and I waited for 90 days which is 3 months, meaning I requested for the PIN for 3 months and it never reached.
What happens when you request for the Adsense PIN for 3 months and it does not reach?
Well, Adsense suspends your account. Haha, but do not be scared. As a Zambian, I even reached this stage of giving up. So since I failed to verify it by PIN. An option came where it asked me to upload my NRC of which I did and BOOOM, my Adsense account was fully activated. Was happy and from there I became serious in blogging, wrote many posts, shared posts of Facebook to get traffic.
How long did it take me to make my first $70
After my account was fully activated it took me 3 months to make my first $70 of which I withdrew last month on 21st of July 2020. Adsense pays on 21st and 22sd of every month.
So this is my Adsense journey.
I mainly get traffic from my YouTube channel because YouTube does recommend videos to people, thereby people now click the links in descriptions. It is so easier to get views on YouTube than on the website. Since I already have an Adsense account, I am now working on my watch time so that I can get monetized there too.
And lastly
Website monetization with Adsense requirements for Zambians
YouTube demands a lot of requirements but here it is different, you will be shocked. here they are
- Minimum traffic: 20 visitors per day( mine got approved like this)
- I had only 22 unique posts.
Conclusion
Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Many people have difficulties when choosing either YouTube or website, but only yourself can give a better answer, for example, myself, I don’t like the camera, so I prefer writing, YouTube is free, but for the website, you pay monthly fees for the website, but now, since my website is making money, it is now able to pay for itself. So to reach this stage, let me say it has taken me a year and some months, within 3 years am sure I will be a 3figure dollar earner.
If you need help with any of this, WhatsApp me +2609777702002
