Starter Advertising Networks for the New Blogger

I’ve read hundreds of guides and reviews for advertising networks (sifting through a LOT of self-promoting garbage) so I thought I’d share some of the valuable stuff I’ve picked up.

If you’re new to the publishing world, i.e. blogging or you own a web site providing a good or service, there are some networks which you should sign up with.

This guide will focus on starter ad networks for new publishers. So ignore people who say “ZOMG Tribal Fusion, Advertising.com is better for X reason and they pay X much more”. The fact is, if you apply to those networks they may reply ROFLaughing at you, because one of their many requirements is having hundreds of thousands of visitors per month or per day. So save that for when you’ve become a high roller.

Also, I’ve been emailing PayPal for years but to no avail. Paypal isn’t available in a lot of countries for receiving payments. This means all publishers from all these countries are immediately ineligible (unless you want to show ads for random companies pro-bono) for all advertising companies which pay only through Paypal. For this reason I’m only reviewing advertising companies which have the option of being paid by Check.

The sites reviewed will also focus on those which accept beginners, new bloggers or small-time bloggers. It will save you a lot of time to stick to these companies rather than be rejected by the other hundreds out there with strict regulations and high requirements for site content and traffic.

Firstly its important to understand the type of ads out there.

Formats of ads usually include banners, leaderboards, half banners, pop-ups, interstatials, pop-unders, instant messaging windows, etc. Leaderboards, banners and half banners are just the traditional space of text or a picture on your web page. The others involve separate windows opening up behind, between or under web pages of your site. Its up to you which you think is best.

Then there is the method of payment

PPM – Pay Per Mile – The advertising network pays you an amount every 1000 impressions. Typically between 50c to $5.00 depending on the type of user and their revenue sharing policy. Revenue sharing refers to the amount the network gains from advertiser’s which they share from you. So if an advertiser pays the network $1.00 every time an ad is clicked, and revenue sharing is 50%, you get 50c.

PPC – Pay Per Click – The advertising company pays you every time an ad is clicked.

PPA – Per Per Action – You get paid when a user clicks a link, goes to a site, and performs a certain action such as buy an item or signup for a newsletter

PPP – Pay Per Play – You get paid each time an audio ad is served

PPI/PPD – Per Per Install/Pay Per Download – You get paid each time someone downloads or installs a program

Then there are the companies :

Google Adsense – you can’t really go wrong with the big G. They pay by check, they pay PPC (and PPM in some cases), they offer contextual ads in a wide variety of formats, and they have no high restrictions in accepting sites. Best….or worst of all, depending on how you look at it, there are hundreds of success stories with Google Adsense. I saw on a forum a copy of a check for $900,000 paid to like, just some guy, from Adsense, so the sky is the limit.

Adtoll – I really love Adtoll for their unique ads and customer support. They offer all sorts of creative, unobtrusive ads such as the “peel away” ad at the top right or left of a web page or the stripe ad which is like a moving banner at the top of your page.

Their customer support is the best of all companies I’ve worked with. They assign you an account manager who give you prompt, helpful, human responses to your questions. They are PPC and pay by check. Highly recommended. For more info, check out the ad above.
Exitjunction – Exitjunction is the probably the easiest way you can make money online. You don’t have to show their banners, but you should because its just that cool.

ExitJunction.com - Make Money From Your Exit Traffic!

Exitjunction uses absolutely no space on your site. You simply put in their code, and everytime someone clicks the “back” button on your site upon entering, you get paid. In other words, you’re getting paid for having a high bounce rate. Now thats just lol. You get paid CPM.

Bidvertiser – Bidvertiser is PPC with a twist, the rates at which you get paid are “bidded” on by advertisers, so you can just choose the highest.

Bidvertiser allows you to have more control over who you advertise for, and how as well, as they have a number of different ad formats including a “free design” option. They pay be check and overall is good.
Xapads – I haven’t heard much about Xapads before I signed up with them but they are really good as well. They pay by check, their support is really good, they offer a decent amount of banners and pop-ups, and they are PPC and PPM. I’m not sure if they are contextual, so far I don’t think they are, but their ads are good looking, and should give you a decent CTR. Xapads also isn’t too picky with the sites they accept.
SCAM. PLEASE READ : Xapads Review

WidgetBucks – highly recommended, their support is great, I had an issue with signing up at first and they worked it out for me in no time. According to their site they pay very well ($1-$2 CPM!) and they offer CPC and CPM payments. They aren’t picky to accept sites and they pay by check. Great site.

Exoclick – Exoclick is another PPC, offering alternative ad formats such as web portals and search boxes. Nothing negative I can really say about them.

LinkWorth - certainly one of the best, they offer in-text PPC ads, (certain words on your site get converted into PPC links which are displayed when a user hovers over them or clicks on them) among a bunch of other stuff I’m yet to understand or explore. They pay by check, support is good, 70% revenue share, overall they are decent. Good way if you’re looking for other unobtrusive ways to monetize your pages other than using Adtoll.
InLinks – also like LinkWorth, InLinks offers in-text CPC ads, which is great in my book.

They seem pretty cool. Check them out.
Chitika – great contextual ads in a variety of formats. They pay by check, they pay PPC and PPM. They also have plugins if your site uses WordPress to ease up insertion of the ad code. Support is great. Their ads use a “minimall” format where if a user enters your site via a keyword, ads relating to that keyword are shown to them. This makes their ads very targeted and perhaps even more contextual than Google. You don’t need a lot of vistors to be accepted by Chitika.

Kontera – similar to Linkworth, Kontera offers “in-text” ads meaning certain words on your site get converted into “links” which are ads displayed when a user hovers over them or clicks them. You get PPC and by check as well.

Global Interactive – very similar to Xapads, hence I have no problem with them. They offer pretty much the same ads and the same type of ads, they pay by check, and they are PPC and PPM. Their rates are good, support is a little slow I must say however, and the only major requirement is 3,000 impressions per month which isn’t bad.

So there you have 12 companies willing to hear you out in your quest to make money online blogging even though you’re a beginner. I just saved you a lot of time. I’ll add more to this list and also do another post about top companies which pay by check. Till then, happy blogging.