Attention, website owners!  If your website is awesome, popular, or even just started, you can make money with Google’s programs.  Whether or not your site is designed to generate income, you can still get a weekly check from it.  Here are a few good options for your online finances:

If your site is designed to make money (a sales or business site, for example,) then all you need to make more money is to get more viewers.  This means advertising.  It may be tempting to submit site to Google, since that service is free.  This is actually not a very effective program, however.  The problem is that you’ll still have to be popular enough to rise to the top of the result pages, once Google posts you there.  And if you’re that popular, you won’t have to ask them to post your site.  Submitting to Google won’t hurt you, but it probably won’t do you any good, either.  Use your time for something more fun.

While Google Submit may not help you a whole lot, you can get good advertising with AdWords.  With this program, Google will match up your site’s content with relevant search keywords, and post ads for your site on the sidebar of search result pages.  This means that the people who see your ads are those who are already searching for something similar.  Google will only charge you for the ads that are clicked on, which also means you’re only spending money on ads that actually work.

Another program to look into is Google AdSense.  This is designed for sites that aren’t really supposed to be making money – that is, there’s nothing being sold.  If you’re not really sure how to turn your site into a source of income, then this is the program for you.  Google will pay you simply for letting them post ads on your site, and they’ll match the ads to your site’s content.  You get paid for each ad clicked on, so your loyal viewers can actually be making you money.  Who knew you could be paid for popularity?