I need an alternative to AdSense. (If this is heresy in this forum, please forgive me.) It looked like a great program. I spent a couple of days reading all I could about it, then signed up. I put it on a few pages, tweaked the colors and positions, and figured out how to make it work with PHP so I could stick it into existing articles with just one line, and then change all of them by changing one file. I was happy, and ready for the moolah to start coming in. The first ads I put up were on my blog. I got a bunch of blog related articles. Cool. I then added them to my podcast page. When I looked at the page on my PC, the ads were all for podcast stuff, but when I uploaded it, they were all for left handed guitars. I use the term "Lefty" twice on the page, as a political term, and it was picking up on that. I tried adding those URLs to the forbidden list, but more cropped up. I gave up and moved on. I added ads to my home page, and they were all for blog related stuff, which was fine. Now I was ready to add them to the busiest pages of my site. I run a sub-site called The Facts, which deals with the fact that the dangers of second hand smoke are hyperbole, a scam used to harass smokers. (No, I don't want to discuss that in this forum.) The pages on The Facts generates 90% of my traffic, and are listed on the first page of Google when someone searches on the term "Second Hand Smoke." I used the adsense IE tool, which told me that every ad it would place would be for stop smoking programs, which are woefully inappropriate for the site. I added them to the banned url list, waited a few hours for it to take, and repeated the process. Once I added all the sites that the IE tool identified, I put ad code on the page, uploaded it, noted which new ones have to be removed, added them to the URL list, and removed the ads from the page while I waited for the changes to stick. I thought I was making progress, as I started to get ads for smoker's vitamins, ashtrays, and some other miscellaneous stuff, but there were always stop smoking ads in there too. I've added nearly 100 URLs to the list, but there are always more unwanted ads to replace them. It's like sticking your finger in a bucket of water, pulling it out and looking for the hole. Google's support was friendly, if glacial. I asked if there was any way to limit the ads by content, perhaps filtering out words like "stop smoking" or "quit smoking" or "left handed." They were very friendly and polite and informed me that this was impossible. I'm thinking about adding another podcast that uses the term "lefty" in the title, and caught myself thinking about changing that to cater to the ads. Then I realized this was stupid – I shouldn't be altering what I want to say, and how I want to say it, to get a few clicks. (I did see a couple of ads for political bumper stickers on that page, but they didn't last long – now it's all back to left handed stuff.) Yesterday I added another article to my home page (not The Facts page), wondering what that would do to the ads that appeared there. The word "Nicotine" is the only word on the page that has anything to do with smoking, and it has been there for quite a while. The new text had nothing to do with smoking, but when I checked the page this morning every ad was for stop smoking products. ARRRRGH! I strarted writing down the URLs to ad to the list, and then said "to hell with it" and removed the ads entirely. I feel like I'm trying to fight off a hurricane with a battery powered fan. Keeping those ads off my site is evidently impossible. (I was thinking about changing the key words, but they're there for a reason, to attract specific kinds of readers.) I give up. I do like the idea of making some money off of ads, but it's got to be enough to justify uglyfying my pages, and the ads have to be appropriate if they're going to generate any revenue. Left handed guitars aren’t going to sell on a political podcast site. "Quit Smoking NOW!" ads are not only inappropriate for The Facts, they're unlikely to generate any revenue. (The ads that are still on a few pages have a pathetic CTR. Since I'm not allowed to be specific, let's say it's somewhat less than one.) So… Can anyone recommend any other ad affiliates that will a) give me the control I need and b) generate enough revenue to be worth it? I'd be interested to hear of both good and bad experiences. I'm looking at several now, but I might be missing some good ones. Plus, there's nothing quite like the voice of experience.
There aren't any services that can compare to adsense. Bidvertisers pays up to .4/click. But most pay around .008 (no joke) to about .2 The reason why the EPC is so low is because most of these contextual advertisers unknown and there isn't much bidding as a result.
Might be worth looking at related books from amazon or something similar or there are other context ad networks (bidclix) - but none pay as well - you could also wait for the Yahoo Publishers Network (due soon(ish))
Try: www.7search.com www.bidclix.com www.bidvertiser.com www.targetpoint.com www.cj.com has many banners you can run. www.linkshare.com " "
I documented some at What are some alternatives to Google AdSense? However, I have lost my zeal for this project because it is exactly as JohnsonSmith posted -- everyone but AdSense sucks.
I have a great alternative through RevenuePilot. It doesn't pay as much as per click (that's a given), but you can pick what keywords you want displayed. Also, the referral program is excellent. Probably 90% of my check comes from referrals and the clicks they get. For keyword rotation, I use about 15 different keywords on one of my sites. I hacked a quick and dirty php script that randomly picks one of those 15 keywords and inserts it in the RevenuePilot javascript. I've been using it for almost two years now. I noticed they have some new tools that may do this trick for me if I learn how to use them, but this works and there is a little pride in knowing it's my script.
It sounds to me like you need to target write with the keywords you want to hit with more keyword density. Adsense bots are pretty smart. I always have contextual ads, even though there is one occurence of a word. If you give up on adsense, you might as well give up on contextual advertising and stick with affiliate programs and amazon stuff.
Amazon is good. But you will need alot of visitors to make it work. Wat is the commision? I read it is quite low, but I don't have the exact numbers. Adsense can work very well with the right strategies. I used to be lousy at adsense, but now I earn thousands a month by imporving keywords etc. There is a learning curve to adsense.
Welcome to DP Hittman. I am sorry to hear about your dilema. My advice to you is work with AdSense. There are ways to infuence what ads display. You are looking for an alternative...the simple answer is there are none. Google's revenue share with the publisher is, by far, the most. Googles ads display the most relevant. Because of this CTR is great. Hang tough, be patient and experiment. AdSense is worth it
There is no subsitute, at least none that are as profitable. I've tested a few and nothing works as well. One that is free and easy to use is AffiliateSensor.com. AffiliateSensor.com generates ads that look like Google, but they are ClickBank product, so it is only when a product sells, not per click.
In my opinion there is no alternative to adsense. You will be leaving money on the table unless you are with adsense.
I realize that you have a particular idea of what your readers want to click on, but I've found that this is quite difficult to determine. It sounds corny and fake, but I've found that naturally written content attracts the best SE traffic, and highest CTR with adsense. The system does seem to work, for my sites anyways. It's in Google's interest to show the ads that will get the highest CTR and $/click. For example, even if all of your readers are pro-smoking, they may want to read what the competition has to say. Whenever I research a political/opinionated topic, I intententionally read websites skewed to the "other side". It might not apply to your site, however.
I have been throwing around the idea of getting an amazon account to compliment my content, has anyone had any successes with them? Steve