I have collected my first Google AdSense payment!
At the end of this post is a guide on how I received AdSense payment via Western Union at Pos Malaysia.
The payout amount was USD 240.63, which converted to RM772.
I always feel a bit ashamed to reveal my blog earnings, because it took me 3 years to get USD 240, and it’s probably going to take three more years to get the same amount.
I altered my screen shot somewhat to show the peanuts I’m earning.
I suspect some of you can get this amount in a week.
But how do I feel? My hands were trembling as I took the cash. It is finally in my hands. All those numbers on the screen finally turned into physical money in my pockets!
I feel happy and very satisfied.
What will I do with the money? Most of it will go to BlueHost. Web hosting will cost me around USD 160 for the next two years.
The remaining will help to buy some diapers and milk powder. Not so glamorous eh?
Some of you might ask me how you could also get AdSense income?
My answer is, don’t ask me because obviously I haven’t got it right yet. Ask me again if I earn thousands.
The only things that worked for me are: targeting keywords, strategically placing ads for specific post (instead of display for every post), and generally trying to get search engine referrals.
Some will also ask me if it is easy to earn money blogging. My answer is no. It’s not easy thinking about things to write, and finding the time to do the writing. It’s extremely difficult to get visitors and readers.
And there’s a fine line between writing for your regular readers and writing for search engine visitors. Hard to please both.
I have to thank Vedis for sharing with me the steps to receive Western Union payment.
While she usually does it at her bank, I chose to receive my payment at the post office.
Here are the steps to receive AdSense payment via Western Union at any Pos Malaysia branch:
- Go to your AdSense – My Account – Account Settings
- Make sure your payee information (name and address) matches your IC.
- Under Payment Details, choose Western Union Quick Cash. Make sure the Payee Name matches your IC. You may want to play around with the first name/last name until you get it to look the same.
- Once you cross the payment threshold, Google will release payment after 30 days.
- Go to My Account – Payment History.
- Go to the line where it says Payment Issued, and click the ‘Details’ link.
- Note down the MTCN number, payment amount in USD, and Google’s address.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
- Remember to bring your original and photocopy of your IC to the post office
- Take a Pos Malaysia – Western Union Receipt of Money (Penerimaan Wang) form from the counter. It has a yellow header and the Western Union logo.
- Get a number for Kaunter Pelbagai (at my post office, it was button B)
- Fill in your name, address and phone number. The form didn’t have enough boxes to fit my address so I just wrote over the boxes.
- Then fill in Google’s name and address
- Fill in the amount in USD, sender country (USA) and the MTCN.
- Finally, sign the form.
- Give it to the counter, and if everything is ok you will be paid in cash.
P/S: Outside the post office I was interviewed by a Sin Chew reporter regarding the postage rate increase. See if anything appears in paper tomorrow. Just hope I won’t get flamed for my remarks hehe.