Over the years, I’ve tried a few ad networks. It’s been a while since I did a report on how they all work for me, so here goes.
- TextLinkAds. Unbeatable. Sell direct ads to websites (carefully screened to weed out porn, gambling, etc.). Takes up very little screen real estate, loads quickly, sells well. Great source of income for even low-traffic sites.
- AdBrite. Doesn’t offer payment by PayPal. They sell ad slots for you, but fill the slots with PPC when no one’s buying. I used to do well with them - keeping all the slots on this site sold at all times - but I think some of my advertisers went to TLA once it became available. Their formatting options have been a little limited, but getting less so.
- BurstMedia Direct. I got into this program a year ago. I’ve made about $8. It’s ridiculous, IMO, because there are so many rules about where you can place ads, and how they have to be above all other ads. Then every advertiser wants a leaderboard, making that the only practical choice, and half the ads you can choose from at a given time will be popups or other objectionables. Of course, if that’s all fine by you I don’t know how they’ll perform. I had a leaderboard for a while, and I still wasn’t impressed.
- BidVertiser. Not sure. It’s a slow earner but then I’m only using it on my directories. Pure PPC, which I just don’t love. But it’s a lower payout than AdSense, which I’ve never had much luck with.
- AdSense. I just hate the look. Hate the pure PPC. Hate chasing clicks. But a lot of people love ‘em.
- AdEngage. Too soon to tell (started days ago), but I really like the formatting.They sell adspace and fill empty slots with PPC, just like AdBrite. And they pay via PayPal.
- BlogAds. Made mine real cheap, still no buyers. I don’t think I have the slightest idea how to set this up - what’s all that "create an adstrip" crap? I can’t find instructions at their site or anywhere else on the web. Maybe no one’s going to pay $10 for ads on my site, and that’s the minimum I’m allowed to set. We’ll see. I think I’ll let some friends run ads on it for free and see if that generates interest.
- Azoogle. Can’t say I’ve given it a fair chance yet. Not a nibble, though.
- MaxBounty. I think you have to have a very specific kind of site for this to work. Not any of mine.
- Pheedo. Do a search for them on this blog and you’ll see the problems I had and why I gave up. Plus, pure PPC.
- CrispAds. Ditto for Pheedo. They took off with people’s money, and then someone was going to buy the site, and then… no idea, but it’s still just sitting there with my earnings listed but not forthcoming.
- PayPerPost. Not precisely an ad network, but another perfectly decent way to earn some money blogging. Better fit for some people than others: you’ve got to like writing about an assigned topic and not minding a bunch of requirements that may or may not warp your style.
- Chitika. Well, I got $10 out of these guys and quit. They once posted a comment on here saying they really work best for shopping sites, which explains a few things. If you’ve got a site where you’re trying to sell stuff, you don’t want traffic leaving via Chitika. And if you’ve got a non-shopping site, apparently it’s slow going.
Believe me, I’m not particularly talented at getting these things to work. Some people report excellent earnings with some of the networks I’ve had no joy with. The point of this site is just to report my own experience, so take it for what it’s worth.
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