Adsense - how do I know it's working?

That table is called "Performance reports" and it is in your Google/adsense account

How do I know if my ads are CPM or CPC?
Do I designate that somewhere?

I believe what you are referring to (CPM / CPC) is for the advertisers using Adwords.  Cost per thousand Impressions

Usually, businesses will set up their Adwords for specific websites, keywords, etc.  And then if your website contains those keywords, their ads will appear.

I thought it was cost per single click
and cost per single impression.

a few cents for a visit, a few cents for a click

?

I am getting the ads and banners I expect, but no actual money.
I have double digit visits on some pages, but no money. Will I have to wait until it is  (one thousand) clicks / visits? for a few cents?

What I mean is - I thought I can specify which ads on my pages make money for clicks, or impressions?
Or is it all impressions?

I t depends on what the Adword advertisers have set up.

I think I remembered that your mother using Adsense as well?  You might ask your mother to walk through everything else as well.  Some ads uses CPM to maybe help prevent using money on CPC.  Some use CPM that might help with their search engine rankings.

My mother is simply an artist / exhibitionist.
I volunteered to do her website, but there are companies that specialize in dong artist sites. It is not Adsense, just personal for her alone, so the company was perfect.
Her website just has her bio and personal paintings on it. I didn't have the time.
Thanks for asking.

I have a topic blog and I'd like clicks and visits to register in Adsense.
Not too difficult?

I understood that clicks and impressions translate to cents. I need 1000s of clicks / visits ?

Once your traffic grows, the clicks will increase.  But this is something that does not happen over night.

You need to look at your traffic, where it comes from wand maybe what they enter into the search engines.  Some advertisers use CPM, and some use CPC.  Right now, your site is new.  It could take a long time to get niticed depending on the content of the blog, etc.

I know I must be patient and all that, :)
but, must I wait for 1000s of clicks, visits before I see any money ?

Oh, the advertiser chooses clicks or impressions ? Don't they all choose clicks, then?

I never click on ads, really. I thought I'd be able to specify that I want impressions, not clicks.

1000 clicks for a few cents?

It is the advertisers who are paying to be on websites.  People who use adsense rely on those advertisers.  You kind of have it backwards.

Here are two images from one of my websites - the stats are from last month
And then here is what I can set up when someone wants to advertise on this site
 I can tell the advertiser that he get 1,000 impressions.  Or maybe advertise for one month.  Since the advertiser is paying for the service, it is up to him.  

It is just like buying anything else.  Maybe you (adword users) need to get gas - and let's say gas is $5.00 per gallon.  So you can only buy 2 gallons.  The gas station (adsense user) is not going to let you have three gallons.

Some choose impressions.  A lot of times, if a person has their URL in the ad, some people might write down the URL without clicking on the ad.   There are different reasons for choosing one over the other.  When I did adwords for a little bit, I chose impressions to help get my brand out there.  

Hmm, so I offer space on my page for an ad,

and the keywords alert possible publishers to vie for the spot, and whoever "wins" puts their ad on my page, and they choose to pay me for clicks or pay me for a view?

What impact do I have on the publisher? I can;t specify CPM or CPC? okay, I am just the venue provider and they choose to pay me for clicks or views...?

What is the range of choices that advertisers have? paying me for clicks or views, anything else?

Thanks

Are video ads now big game?
So, if my adsense account performance thing is registering views, it's all working?
And I only get paid for 1000 clicks, views?
Pretty harsh!

I read on an Adsense page that it only finds keywords based on the text on the page.

On my wordpress, can I tell it to put in, say, 8 of my own words, guaranteed, somewhere, to be on every page, so Adsense includes them, regardless of the actual page content?
I know URL, domain name  is one, but can I put them somewhere else? My URL name doesn't perfectly describe my site's content, like godaddy doesn't mean anything.

Gee, $200 a month is not too bad. I'd guess it's what my hippie friends at Wrightsville beach each pay for the rent in their slackers' compound. They're just acquaintances I met in my masters lab.
But, they have dropped me now. My main friend moved to do his PHD. I'm a sell out to society, cause I wear clothes 24/7 that aren't beach clothes and I own a house. I'm doing a website for the purpose of profit. Total sell-out.

Adsense keywords?

Advertisers pay Google to put their ads on websites based on content.  You can block some advertiser's URLs, General Categories, Sensitive Categories, Ad Networks.  But you cannot tell Google your website is about merchant accounts when it is actually about Wrightsville beach.  

I get one to two requests a day, asking if a company can advertise on my blog.  They do a search about specific keywords and my blog comes up.  They hope that by advertising on my blog will increase their sales.  

Sometimes, it takes Google a few days to understand the content.  I have tested it in the past - created a page re: merchant accounts on a domain that was geared to web design.  The ads that showed up were about web design.  A few days later, the ads were from merchant account providers.  

If you set up an Adwords campaign for your new restaurant and you want your ads to appear on local websites, you would not want someone to "override" that setting and have your ad appear to users in Antarctica.

Okay, thanks, so I should relax - Google will serve what's best for me.
What I'm getting so far are perfect ads for my site !

( Oh, no! We just got served !  ;)
Last thing is image skyscrapers on the background of my Wordpress blog border/edges, not in the text.

Last thing is image skyscrapers on the background of my Wordpress blog border/edges, not in the text.

I do not understand this.  Usually you don't have Google AdSense on the background.  

Or it sounds like your CSS / layout might have some issues.  

If that is the case, you might need to post a question re: code in CSS and WordPress

Hmm, so if my Wordpress rectangle is in the middle of the screen
and I want columnar ad images on the outer sides, I have to learn style sheets?
Will they still clock in impressions properly?

I do not use Wordpress and I do not have any knowledge of how it works unfortunately.  Plus that question relates to coding.

To answer the other question which is still somewhat similar to the main question, if you have the code on there, it should not matter.    (Of course, some people might block JavaScript on their browsers, but that is a different topic - for example Adblock FireFox Extension.)