At Some Web Sites, ‘Tipping’ Is Encouraged

Scott Karp has discovered he’s going to need help collecting any of the revenue he earns participating in Google’s AdSense advertising program.

So now his site has joined the growing number that encourage tipping.

Karp and other AdSensers get a few pennies deposited into their accounts whenever someone clicks on any Google-placed ads on their site.

But they can only cash in after their accounts exceed $100. For sites that aren’t well-trafficked, that’s never going to happen. So accounts build ever-so-slowly, but seem to stagnate. In Karp’s case, it’s around $23.

Some of those sharing Karp’s frustrations about the Google $100 rule are pointing Internet browsers to a compatriot’s Web site, where they click on all the AdSense advertisements. It’s like leaving a tip, they explain, just as you’d leave on a bar or restaurant table.

In Karp’s case, he’s asking for tips. A note left on his Web site encourages people to click on all the Google AdSense ads that interest them. Read more about it here.

For Google, it would seem reasonable to assume that all those tiny AdSense accounts add up to nice little profit. After all, that’s pure profit. The practice is also likely to contribute to the battle Google must fight against click fraud, in which nefarious means are used to inflate the number of times an ad is clicked upon.

However, Google wasn’t immediately saying what percentage of AdSense participants never exceed the $100 threshold, how many dollars all their accounts add up to, and just what Google does with the money.