Closed my Adsense Account, and here's why... Are there any good alternatives?

I was proofreading one of my articles where I wrote about a group of sites I thought were scams. So what happens? Google starts displaying contextually relevant ads to the very same sites.

I don't think it does much to my credibility to warn people of scams, only to have these very scams being advertised by Google on the same page.

I can filter these sites out, but since Google only allows you to blacklist at most 300 URLs, it's like trying to stop a tank with a peashooter.

I'd like to believe that whatever ad link gets shown on my blog will take people to a quality site that operates with some measure of integrity. Google won't do anything about it because these sploggers and scammers make them so much money through AdWords, and many of them operate within that gray area where you know it's a scam, but but it's not obvious enough that it would violate the TOS of the hosting service or of Adwords.

So I decided to drop Adsense. Even though it might prove to be the best moneymaker somwhere down the road, I think it's more important that I retain full authority on what gets displayed on my site. I don't want to have a scenario where a reader of mine gets ripped off because he clicked on one of the ad links on my blog, which later turns out to be a scam. I'd feel responsible for his loss, and it would hurt my credibility as well. If people trust me, they may trust the quality of what gets shown on my site too.

In the meantime, are there any other services similar to Adsense but where I have serious control over what gets shown?

 

Adbrite is a good alternative ...

 

You could also try adengage.
If you are getting decent traffic, you can also try selling ad space directly to advertisers at the DP marketplace or at this ad marketplace.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm also looking into Q-Ads (http://adgenta.com/) They allow you full control over context links, so I may check that out as well.

 

I heard ValueClick is a good alternative but they have not responded to my request yet

 

Your site would be a good candidate for Yahoo Publisher Network.. since YPn is absolutely incapable of delivering an ad that has anything to do with what's on your page, you'll never have to worry!

 

* 24-7 RealMedia
* Accelerator Media
* Ad Volcano
* adagency1
* AdBrite
* AdDynamix
* AdEngage
* Adgenta
* Adhearus
* Adify
* AdKnowledge
* AdPepper
* MIVA AdRevenue Xpress
* Adtegrity
* Advertising.com
* AffiliateFuture
* AffiliateSensor
* AffiliateSensor
* AllFeeds
* AVNads
* AzoogleAds
* BannerBoxes
* BardzoMedia
* BidClix
* Bidvertiser
* BlinkAds
* BlueFN
* BlueLithium
* Buds Media Network
* Burst Media
* Casale Media
* Chitika
* Claxon
* ClickBooth
* Clickcent
* Clicksor
* ClickThruTraffic
* ClickXchange
* ClixGalore
* Commission Junction
* contextWeb ContextAd
* CoverClicks
* CPX Interactive
* DynamiContext
* Enhance Interactive
* eType Europe
* eType USA
* ExpoActive
* Fastclick
* Federated Media
* FluxAds
* Hurricane Digital Media
* Hyperbidder
* IncentaClick
* Industry Brains
* Vibrant Media IntelliTXT
* Interclick
* Kanoodle Bright Ads
* Kontera
* LinkShare
* Mamma Media Solutions
* MarketBanker
* MaxBounty
* Mirago
* MSN AdCenter
* Nixie
* Oridian
* OutBout Media
* Oxado
* Paypopup
* PeakClick
* Quigo AdSonar
* RealCast Media
* RealTechNetwork
* Revenue Pilot
* Revenue Science
* Right Media
* Rydium
* Searchfeed
* Searchfeed
* Vibrant Media SmartAd
* TargetFirst
* TargetPoint
* TextLinkAds
* TMP Express (Traffic Marketplace)
* Traffic Marketplace
* Tremor Media
* Tribal Fusion
* ValueClick
* Veoda
* Yahoo Publisher Network

 

Do you think that any, lesser-quality ad-service would have better sites? AdSense is the best you are going to find man... I think that it is stupid you would drop them for a reason such as this.

 

Affiliate programs would probably be a good choice for you. Go with ClickBank or Commission Junction or something like that. You can pick exactly what you want to promote. Or try AdSense Referrals.

 

The way Google is heading I do think less prominent services can offer better quality ads. But more importantly, being able to accept and reject ads is what's most important to me.

 

ROFL Even if they didn't I still wouldnt be able to have much say in what gets shown.

 

BTW, thanks for the list Trichnosis!

I'm actually already a member of CJ, so I just have to decide what advertisers I want to go with. In the meantime I'd like to strike a balance between PPC and PPA types of income streams.

 

ad-sen-se referrals are a joke

 

That made me lol.

 

Personally, I applaud his integrity. Is clickbank the right way to go, though? There seems to be a lot of spammy type ebooks for sale on there.

 

Thanks, I appreciate that.

It's actually kind of fun (even if it is TIME CONSUMING) learning about all the alternatives out there. In the near future I'll probably write about the experiences I have with the other PPC networks out there and how they fare on my site.

 

Umm dude you could have just switched to image only ads you know?

 

I used them for a while, but they're pickier on the sites they allow...

 

What difference would that have made though? Scammers use text links and image ads alike. I think image ads don't pay as well as text links either if I'm not mistaken.

 

Nah as far as i've seen i have only seen site's in 4figure alexa to use image ads, so yea it does assure you 70% that its legit.