One of the best ways to monetize a high-traffic site is by selling ads. However, it can be frustrating and time consuming to contact potential advertisers directly, especially as rejection rates can be very high.
Enter ad networks – an easy solution. Using an ad network, you can place ads on your site and get a check straight from the network without any hassle. In return, the network takes a percentage (ranging from small to large) of the profits, before sending the rest to you. Ad networks can be a great way to dip your toe into advertising without having to source advertisers yourself, but there are a lot of different ones to look at. Here’s a list of the most popular ad networks, and their pros and cons.
Google Adsense
Pros: On a very high traffic site, a blogger can make a good amount of money using Google Adsense. It’s very easy to sign up for and easy to put on your site, with a plethora of free WordPress plugins designed to do just that available.
Cons: On a low traffic site, a blogger might not make much from Adsense. Also, the ads can be ugly and not integrate into a site very well, leading for an ugly outcome.
Resources and More Information: Google Adsense, Simple Changes Doubled My Adsense Revenue
Project Wonderful
Pros: Most ads are 125×125, which means that they’ll fit in any blog sidebar. You can control exactly what gets posted on your website, vetoing ads that you’re not comfortable with running. Having a Project Wonderful widget in your sidebar gives your site the appearance of already having several advertisers, and looks better than having a simple “Advertise Here” button.
Cons: Most of the time, the paycheck doesn’t amount to much compared to other methods of monetization.
More Information: Project Wonderful
BlogAds
Pros: BlogAds is known for paying on time and having great customer service, as well as having a variety of advertising sizes and options to choose from.
Cons: BlogAds requires a certain number of page views a month before accepting blogs into their network – the current number is 10,000.
More Information: BlogAds
Buy Sell Ads
Pros: Buy Sell Ads prides itself on being an efficient, well run ad network. After potential users are improved, the ad code is automatically available and bloggers can be up and running in minutes. Plus, there’s no minimum payment requirement, and you can cash out whenever you want.
Cons: Before accepting new members, Buy Sell Ads requires that your website get a base amount of web views a month, to the tune of 100,000.
More Information: Buy Sell Ads
Chitika
Pros: Chitika has a huge variety of options, their search query ads being the most popular. Chitika works so well because it can be set to show up only to readers arriving from search engines, and then show relevant results to whatever their search engine query was. Chitika is also one of the first advertising networks to offer mobile ads.
Cons: Sometimes, due to an error with readers’ cookies or their browser, regular readers will see the Chitika ads that are only meant for search engine visitors. Also, customization of appearance is limited.
Resources and More Information: Chitika, Chitika Mega Units – Publishers Reporting Massive Increases in Earnings, Chitika eMini Malls Tips
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!