Forum Moderators: martinibuster
1. Being in uk, is it worth getting google ads and is changing it up into pounds easy?
2. Being 15 (16 in march), will I be able to sign up as myself or as mum (I do have a Barclay card but its just a savings account and I cant actually use it use it online/shops etc).
I had a lot more before I started but will probably remember them soon, thanks.
The amount of money you'll earn depends on the traffic you can drive to the site, the click through rate of your visitors and how competitive the market is, i.e. how much an ad costs (hotels better, fresh fruit less good). But it's virtually no effort to set up and maintain so you've got nothing to lose.
You'll get sent a cheque in US dollars. You can pay this into a UK bank account and they do the conversion for you. It costs about nine pounds to pay in the cheque, but you'll only receive one when you've earnt $100 so you'll still be in profit. So long as the cheques don't go out of date, you can save several up, pay them in together and only pay the fee once, rather than for each cheque.
Read all the details on google.com/adsense to see how the system works. :)
Just keep a note of how much she pays into her bank account :)
Good luck,
Chris
As I say, my mum has given full permission for me to use her name in the google adsense account and I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed. I have tried applying before but I understand why I wasn't accepted (was a personal site site). But a site I've spent ages working on and will release once I've perfected the php back end behind it all and expect it to do well, it would be nice to earn from my efforts.
Cant I simply use parents credit card and money earned gets paid to their account?
The only way Adsense pays at present is by mailing US$ paper cheques (very quaint).
So a credit card isn't needed. The cheques would have to be paid into a bank account with the same name used for the Adsense signup, and would be counted as taxable income for that person (expenses could be offset against that, but hardly worth the paperwork for small amounts).
Having said that, it's still worth running Adsense if you are in the UK, the ads are partly targetted to each country so even if you have a mostly UK audience there should still be some clicks and income.
even though money out of what I earn will be taken for different reasons, there will never be a time when money is actually taken?
Adsense never need to know your bank account details, credit card, or anything like that. The money you see as earnings from Adsense is what you get after they've already taken their cut. So, it's never less than zero (although sometimes not all that far above!).
Edit: One other question and sorry for asking so many, but. Is there some kind of google adsense validator which will have a quick search through a site and point out any obvious things google would not accept you for and saves the time of going through the sign up process. For example, pointing out words which they do not except, topics I shouldn't mention or even links I shouldn't have. I'm pretty sure my site is completely following the terms but after being turned down before I want to ensure my current site is fine. Thanks a lot. :)
Is there some kind of google adsense validator which will have a quick search through a site and point out any obvious things google would not accept you for and saves the time of going through the sign up process.
No, you need to go through your site and check for these things manually.
For example, pointing out words which they do not except
If Adsense is on a page where there is a not allowed word it'll just show the alternative ad as far as I know. Nobody really knows what the wordlist is. However some that have been mooted have been terrorism, death, murder etc.
topics I shouldn't mention
To find out this you need to check the Program Policies and Terms and Conditions. Things like for instance gambling or casino-related content are not allowed. Also see above answer on wordlist.
or even links I shouldn't have.
See above answer.
but after being turned down before I want to ensure my current site is fine.
It is purely at Google's discretion as to whether they accept your site or not. If they do turn you down ask them why - it may be something that you can change and then re-apply (remember when you re-apply to mention the previous application and the changes you've made).
So the cheque received could easily be taken by my mum into an account and changed up?
Do make sure your mom knows she will be paying any taxes for receiving this money for you (ie. income tax) since it will be considered part of her income. Someone from the UK can probably explain how this works in UK-specific terms ;)
I want to make sure is that my mum won't actually ever lose money from this.
She shouldn't lose out, providing she pays only you what is left after the bank and taxman have taken a cut, AND that she/your family don't have any means-tested income which drops if income goes over a certain level (things like children's tax credit, supplementary benefits etc), AND it doesn't cause problems with her National Insurance contributions.
To clarify, if you get a $100 cheque (in her name), she pays it into the bank, gets around 48 pounds after exchange and the bank take their cut. She is then liable to declare that on her tax return, and pay tax on it (eventually) at up to 40%.
The other complication is National Insurance. She might be treated as being self-employed in a business (even if for that business she gets you to do all the work!). That might involve paying different types of NI contributions, such as 2 pounds a week self-employed contribution plus a percentage of profits etc. There are all sorts of conditions and exemptions on this, especially when it involves family members, I don't claim to understand it at all, just pointing out it could be a cost.
Basically if it's a small amount of money (under 1000 pounds a year) I wouldn't worry too much. Over that it's worth asking for advice locally.
Simplest thing to do is for her to give you just half the money after the bank has taken their fees, then if anything is left after she's worked out the tax/NI she can pay you that later. Realistically, especially for a new site, the income might be very low and not a problem.
still confused on it all though.
So are most of the country, and probably even most accountants.. :-)
In summary, for small amounts of money don't worry, but do realise that what you see is not what you get - the exchange rate, the bank, maybe the UK taxman, and possibly even UK national insurance will want chunks.
If it gets to be serious money (which again for a new site is very unlikely), you can get some advice locally at that time.
Edit: Another little newbie question, will I get accepted when using a subdomain url? .... such as: www.computing.username.example.com?
as the url for my site is username.example.com.
As an income it will be classed as your mam's personal income. If you get some good cheques, it may be worth setting up a Ltd company with your mam as the director and yourself as the shareholder...this way you pay yourself dividends and pay no tax until you earn £6K in one year, plus you will pay no NI, health insurance. The downer is the accountants fees, but if you make anywhere near £6K in one year it will be worth your while.
Doug
Edit:
Please people, this is an important google adsense related question I hope someone can answer. My site domain is:
myusername.ashst.com
but my new sites domain is a sub domain of that so:
computing.username.ashst.com ....
^^^^ Will the above username be acceptable for google?
1) Why should your income be classed as your mum's income?
2) You have a personal allowance of £4,615 for the tax year 2003-2004 before you have to pay any tax (although you still have to declare it).
3) You could have the Google Adsense cheques payable to yourself and paid into your bank account - paid in like any other cheque.
4) For amounts this small - it would hardly be worth setting up your own limited company (and you're too young to be a company director anyway).
Lastly foreign currency cheques come under part 11 of the Barclay's customer agreement - part of which I've copied below:-
"11.5 We may accept foreign cheques and other items on terms available on request. Cheques payable abroad which may be received for payment into your account will be negotiated at our discretion or collected at your expense. If any cheques are returned unpaid for any reason we will debit your account even if the return takes place after we have advised you of payment of the cheque . Negotiation and collection of cheques shall be subject to the current International Chamber of Commerce Uniform Rules for Collections."
3) You could have the Google Adsense cheques payable to yourself and paid into your bank account - paid in like any other cheque.
He can't do this. You have to be over 18 to have an AdSense account. He is NOT over 18 so his mother needs to do it and since the check is in his mother's name, it's her income even if she gives him the check.
Good luck!
Donny
