I wonder if anyone can help a newbie, please?

Well over a year ago I joined the Adsense program and got duly fired within a week! My crime was that I had ‘foolishly’ had the temerity to click on a few links that appeared on my site!

At the time of joining, there was no clear reference to this being forbidden.

I have just tried to sign up again and noticed a very clear check-box to tick confirming that one understands this is forbidden. [Well done, Google - make the rules clear!]
After 6 days I also got a standard patronising refusal!

When I was originally ‘fired’ I complained but my attempts at introducing logic and reasonableness failed and all I received were the usual stone-walling replies. I explained the if they are able to track the site-owner’s IP, then surely they can merely disallow these from the logging?

I also pointed out it was wholly naïve for them to think that a site owner isn’t going to instinctively click on an interesting ad that appears on his/her site. We click - end of.

So, the question is – how does one get back onto Adsense – and is it really worth it?

I meant to add....

As my sites are now moving in a new positive direction, I am [was] considering Adwords, but at the moment fail to see why I should pay money to Google for a mere gamble and no guarantee. I don't think they can have it both ways.

I don't think Google suddenly had an epiphany that their policy was not explicit enough... it has always been their policy, and not just buried in the fine print. Most people simply don't bother to wade through the 2000 or so words.

As to the value of AdSense, we have yet to hit the $100 mark in commissions after 6 months, but we have a low traffic site, so that would be expected. Essentially, it is of value to high traffic sites, and probably minimal value to low traffic sites.

I think what some folks do (those with traffic and financial resources) is trade off their commission revenue for AdWords of their own, which makes perfect sense, provided you're not having to bid too high on each keyword/phrase. This is my (uninformed) take on it, anyway.

Now as to them banning you from the program, you may have to speak to a human to resolve this issue, assuming you still wish to participate.

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Thanks for your comments. I think you are quite right that most people don't bother to wade through the small print. I have to admit guilt and indeed, only after I was fired, did I carefully check the small print and true enough - there was the rule - no self-clicking [Will it make me go blind, Doctor?]

Obviously this has been an issue, otherwise Google will not have changed their sign-up page to clearly force applicants to check four boxes, one of which stating "I agree not to click ads which appear on my own pages".

I still think it is a mindless rule.

This is actually an strange anomaly, for we are actively encouraged to click on our affiliate links when engaging in purchasing on-line for one's self.

Regarding the revenue generation, one does hear of persons displaying Adsense on especially niche sites and allegedly generating large revenues, but could these be apocryphal, maybe? We hear similar tales of affiliate site owners spending in excess of £6M per annum on Adwords and generating a vast return. One wonders why they seem to devote so much time telling everyone about it.........

It only makes sense to buy from your own store; on this point I think we will all agree. So in this sense, it does appear as a strange anomaly, until we consider that AdSense advertisers are not our affiliates, they are Google's customers.

My wife asked the same question when I advised her not to click any links in sites that I work on from home. I rather flubbed my way through a half-assed explanation owing that the reasoning Google uses is somewhat abstract. The number one reason would be the artificiality of our clicks, and the possibility of misrepresentation and fraud.

My suggestion to her was to right click the link and select properties, then copy the url to the site of interest and paste it in the address bar.

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It's not just right-click-copy-paste the url... you have to go fishing for the destination url within all that mess - sometimes not so easy to do.

There have been times I've clicked on my own ads. The words, "Oh crap" usually follow. Later I see the click shows up in Google's reports but with no earnings, so I know they know it's me.

It's funny though, sometimes really interesting ads will show up and the head shaking folows:
"Ooh, neat! What's this?" - CLICK - "Ahh, damnit!"