Ad Network Reviews

Auction Ads

2007-07-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

Auction Ads - Increase the Bid on Your Site's Income

Auction Ads is an eBay ads network affiliated with Text Link Ads network that shows CPA ads on your site. When a visitor clicks an ad on your site, and buys the product or registers for an eBay account, you get a commission. You don't need a high traffic site to join.

Pros

Applying is fast and automated. Only takes minutes to get your ads up. You can select what ads to show by selecting keywords. Auction Ads can be run on a site with AdSense ads, or other contextual ads.

Their tracking system is adequate, and your can see your traffic and revenue data as a graph. You can customize how the ads look like, but as they feature images of eBay products, they will look like ads no matter what you do.

The revenue you get is the same as what eBay offers: 50-75% of eBay revenue on sales, and $25-35 on new eBay users, who register and buy a product within 30 days. They also have an affiliate program, where you earn 2% of referral revenue for 6 months. The link next to the ads works as a referral link.

Cons

At first the ads may show completely irrelevant products. If you have a low traffic site, this may continue so that visitors will only see relevant ads, if they make multiple clicks on you site.

Despite being able to customize colors, it is very difficult to blend the ads to your site layout. Therefore, they should only be used on sites with product images.

Overall

My Rating: 2/5

I recommend Auction Ads only if your site is about some products that are on sale, eg. digital cameras, or computer hardware. Then the ads are likely to show relevant content, and may generate sales.

If your site has low traffic, and won't benefit much from other ad programs, you can use Auction Ads, and hope you get lucky: that someone buys a car from eBay after following your link. High traffic sites may be able to generate steady income from Auction Ads, but middle sized websites are unlikely to benefit much.

Try AuctionAds

BidVertiser

2007-07-15T16:08:00.000-07:00

BidVertiser - Site targeted marketplace

BidVertiser is a CPC ad network. They show text ads, and optionally eBay ads, targeted on your site. Their advertisers bid against each other to give you best income and they have no minimum impression rate for your site.

Pros

Applying to BidVertiser is easy, as sites are first auto accepted into the program, and only removed if they break the rules. Sign up only takes minutes; you can have the ads on your site in less than 20 minutes. Customizing the ads to your website is easy with their ad editor. You can choose from various sizes, and select either text only ads, or allow eBay ads too.

They give you targeted ads - apparently through website categorization - and offer a filtering service to block unwanted ads from appearing on your site. All ads must also be pre-approved by their editorial team.

With your account you can also refer other publishers or advertisers, and gain revenue from ads that they buy of sell. According to their site, "When a user signs as an advertiser and first spends $10, we'll credit your account with $5. When that same advertiser spends $50, you will be credited with an additional $20." and "When a user signs as a publisher and first earns $10, we'll credit your account with $10. When that same publisher earns $50, you will be credited with an additional $40."

They have a tracking system with which you can view statistics for each of your ads, and see impressions and clicks separately. The impression and click statistics update a few hours late, so don't be surprised if they don't seem to work at first.

You can view the highest bids for ads from your account, and the rates are usually quite high compared to for example AdSense. The system automatically displays the best paying ads on your site. You'll see ads with CPC of $1-$2.5 even.

Cons

If you wish to advertise yous site with them you have to create another account, as 'Advertiser' and 'Publisher' accounts exist separately. They also have some rules that you have to know; read them from the How to avoid account termination link on the publisher section. The single most important rule is: never click your own ads!

A large share of the advertising money is earned by the referrer: $40 of the first $90. This means that to really profit you need to also run the referral program. Fortunately the BidVertiser account also works as a referrer account, and the link above your ads is a referral link (unlike in AdSense).

Overall

My Rating: 4/5

I highly recommend BidVertiser. Their rates are good, and it is very easy to set up. The ads can be customized to look like your site content. BidVertiser is also good for sites with little visitors, since their minimum withdrawal is $10 through PayPal. They also offer a free $20 for new advertisers, which you can claim below.

Monetize your Website or Blog with BidVertiser
Promote your Website with BidVertiser. Get $20 in FREE clicks.

Text Link Ads

2007-07-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Smart Link Marketing by Text Link Ads

Text Link Ads serve static HTML text link ads, that are priced at a flat per month rate. They accept high traffic sites, and allow their ads to be run along AdSense ads, or other contextual ads.

Pros

Text Link Ads are priced at a flat rate, regardless of the number of impressions, or clicks. This ensures a steady source of income - if the search engine rank of your site happened to drop for a couple of weeks, you would still get the same revenue, despite your lower number of clicks and impressions that month.

You also have complete control over what links to display on your site: you can set all ads to be accepted or denied by you.

Publishers get 50% of ad price. This is payed out the first of each month. PayPal payments can be of any size - there is no minimum. They also cost nothing to the publisher. Check payment minimum is $25.

TLA also has an affiliate program, where you earn $25 for each referred publisher or advertiser. Referred publishers have to publish ads for a minimum of 7 days. Referred advertisers earn the commission as soon as they purchase advertisement.

Cons

Becoming a publisher requires a high traffic site, and the process of being accepted and getting ads may take 1-3 days. The ad script is in PHP; having a server that supports PHP is a requirement.

Referral earnings are a flat per referral fee. Referring a high traffic publisher or an advertiser with a large campaign will only earn you $25, unlike in other programs, where you earn a percentage commission.

Overall

My Rating: 4/5

If you have a high traffic website, Text Link Ads is a very good alternative for you. If not, I suggest you take a look at the other networks reviewed. If you are planning an advertisement campaign, take a look at the offer below.

Monetize Your Site with Text Link Ads
$100 in FREE Links for new advertisers

Obeus.com

2007-07-10T04:08:00.000-07:00

Obeus.com - The Democratic Ads

Obeus is a newish ad network, which is still in some kind of beta stage. The number of advertisers is still limited, but should not stop you from becoming an Obeus publisher. They offer CPC contextual text ads and CPM banner ads.

Pros

It is easy to sign up, and applications are processed in a matter of hours. All site that contain legal content are accepted. They have no minimum number of visitors, like some networks. Their use agreement is also clear compared to for instance that of AdSense. Their minimum withdrawal is $1.

Their payment rates are very visible, so you can see how much the advertiser is paying for each ads, and calculate how much you'll earn. They also clearly state their commission (20%), which is lower than on many other networks.

There is no difference between advertiser and publisher accounts, so you can allocate a portion of your revenue to advertising from the same account. Also support for referrals is included.

Their ad blocks also work as traffic counters, so you'll have an easy way of viewing your site traffic. Also numbers of clicks, click through rates and revenue are all visible for each ad block separately.

Cons

Obeus is still a small network, and you shouldn't expect very high revenue for now. Their number of advertisers is quite small, so don't be surprised if you see the same ads rotating from day to day on your site.

The only currency they currently support for withdrawals is e-gold, but they are going to add more options later. For deposits, other options are already available.

Overall

My Rating: 3/5

I suggest you at least try out, since joining is free, and you have no obligations. You should sign up to e-gold first, though. If you are convinced, join now.

Obeus.com
e-gold.com

Google AdSense and AdWords

2007-07-09T03:47:00.000-07:00

Because of its great popularity these days, it is only natural to begin with a review of Google AdSense.

AdSense is the complement of Google's AdWords. AdSense pays for publishers to show ads that are bought by advertisers through AdWords. Google negotiates pricing with advertisers, and pays a share of this to the publisher. They use site analysis to provide highly targeted ads.

Pros

Applying to AdSense is very easy, only a matter of minutes. Applications are usually processed in a matter of hours. Also customizing the ads to your website is easy with Google's wizards. You can choose from various sizes, and select either text only ads, or allow image banne ads.

The site analysis ensures that you get highly targeted ads, and that using AdSense on a site with different topics will result in different and relevant ads on each page.

With your account you can also add a search box on your site, and gain revenue from ads that the search results show. A referral system also exists, through which you can refer visitors to AdSense and other Google products, and earn a commission. All this is as quick and easy as the normal AdSense system.

The tracking system is quite good: if you create a separate 'channel' for each of your ads, you can see impressions and clicks separately; and easily compare which pays best.

Cons

The policy your accept at registration is very thorough, and ensures that Google can terminate your account whenever they want - regardless if you do nothing wrong. You have to be careful to follow all the restrictions or you'll quickly lose your account. Most importantly: never click your own ads!

Google seems to keep a majority of the money they get from advertisers, so you may easily find networks with better average CPC prices. However, well targeted ads generate more clicks. Also, the minimum sum to withdraw is $100, so small sites will not be able to withdraw money often. All the more reason to avoid any illegal clicking.

The worst thing when thinking about starting an account is that Google does not reveal any of their rates. You cannot know how much you will earn without signing up and trying it.

Overall

My Rating: 3/5

Overall I do recommend you at least give AdSense a try. Even if it is not the best paying network, it is very easy to set up. And the ads are not very disturbing, so your visitors are probably happier with them.