If you have written a web page that has some kind of desirable content - some kind of draw - people will flock to it like a herd of birds at feeding time. (If birds don't travel in herds - why do sheep travel in flocks?) Assuming that you have more than 3 hits a day (two of them being you), you might think about putting some ads on your page - for 3 reasons. First, it dresses up your page a bit, and you don't have to draw the picture (you aren't stealing other peoples graphics are you?). Second - it looks more professional, unlike the "this is my cat, isn't he cute" page. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it can earn you income on the side.
With all that in mind - it doesn't make sense to put content out there, and NOT put the occasional ad! But where do you find people who will do graphics for you, and pay you for the privilage of putting their graphics on your page? Below is a list of advertiser companies that do just that.
Google Adsense
AdBrite
Bidvertiser
Chitika
Infolinks
Pocket Cents
Kontera
Clicksor
Exit Junction
Dynamic Oxygen
AdBull
ATTENTION: The descriptions are not intended to represent any form of endorsement, but are simply here for your informational purposes. Any profits (or lack thereof) are usually a direct result of the public desirableness of the content you have put on your site, combined with the percentage of Click Through Rate dollars you would get from each click.
Google AdSenseGoogle AdSense is the current leader in content-based web marketing. Webmasters can place Ads containg JavaScript code on their individual web site pages. That javascript code allows Google's servers to show advertisement based on the context of your particular site.
Some people find Google's terms and conditions restrictive to the point where many web publishers can not use Google Adsense ads on their site (or on particular pages within their site). They may be denied permission to join the Google AdSense program, they may be have been banned from using Google, or alternately, they may be looking not to put all their eggs in one basket, or finally they may simply wish to not do business with Google.
In either case, many publishers are also finding their Adsense accounts are being disabled for reasons that are completely beyond their control. The problem is that many of the "alternatives" to Google's Adsense are worthless. Some of the better (such as doubleclick) are only interested in large volume customers, and want no part of the with his cat blog who hopes to earn a few pennies on the side. This page will give you the links to Google Adsense, as well as to 10 other sites that can be used to earn some additional income. Good Luck and Have Fun!
AdBrite
AdBrite is a very good alternative to Google's adsense. They may not offer the same large selection of ad formats (size/shape/color/etc) that Adsense and Clicksor provide, they do offer the ones most commonly used. The also offer inline page links with very good click through ratios. Their payouts are quite competitive, with a 75/25 split in your favor, and they have fewer terms and conditions than Adsense.
Furthermore, they give you the ability to set your own ad rates, and approve or reject ads on an ad-by-ad basis (immagine havine a Justin Bieber fan site with Alcohol and Lingeree ads on it), or alternately - they can auto select ads for you. They work well with smaller publishers as well, to include bloggers.
AdBrite also has a "Your Ad Here" link which enables you to instantly sell ads to your regular visitors, in addition to ads sold by their professional sales team. About 50% of AdBrite's sales are generated via users clicking "Your Ad Here" on your website, the other 50% are generated by way of their highly professional marketplace and sales team. They handle serving, scheduling, billing, customer service, and sales are all handled through a small piece of HTML placed on your site.
In addition, AdBrite has no problem playing with others. They provide ads alongside Google AdSense, which makes an excellent way to generate additional ad revenue by selling ads directly to your visitors. Ad Brite also lets you set your own minimum bid price for a given ad.
If you're using AdBrite on your website you also have the option to turn off AdBrite's "run-of-network ads" and AdBrite will only display ads that have been approved by you allowing you to prevent competitors ads being shown on your site. If you have no ads running, AdBrite will display nothing but "Your Ad Here" or your alternative ad provider.
Note: With AdBrite, it may take a day or so from when you signup and put their code on your website to when you begin to see relevant ads show up. So if you see the message "Advertize on this site", you'll simply have to wait it out you should begin to see the relevant ads show up.
Bidvertiser
Bidvertiser is another great alternative to Google Adsense and offers some interesting ad formats including what they call "Free Design". Free Design allows you to specify the exact dimensions and overall look of your text ads. While it sounds like a good idea, it could possibly result in lower priced ads, as some advertisers have "company colors" they would want. In short - Free Design may turn out to be a bad design. They also support Pop-under ads and XML feeds, but I do NOT recommend this. Why? What is the first thing you do whe a "pop up" ad appears on your screen? If you are like 95% of all web users, you ignore it and close it, because it is in the way of what you are trying to do. Bidvertiser also have two new features that can increase your possible earnings:
Conversion Bonus
As far as I know Bidvertiser is the first web marketing firm to offer this. In addition to paying the traditional CPC for each valid click Bidvertiser will now track those clicks and if they turn into valid leads will pay an additional bonus to the publisher. If your site refers a number of actual sales this could become a hefty monthly bonus.
Revenue Generating Toolbar
Another new feature offered by Bidvertiser is a special revenue generating toolbar. This toolbar add on to your visitor's browsers allows you to earn money when your users use the toolbar for searching. You can customize the toolbar, adding your website logo, links to your site and other useful tools. Note - their toolbar is not compatible with Chrome, Linux, or Mac based computers.
If you make $5 a month with your website - don't expect to get it all immediately as Bidvertizer only pays in $100.00 increments by check, or $10.00 increments by PayPal. Note - they do NOT take your tax and/or social security information - so if you are an illegal alien - GREAT. If however you aren't running from the government, you may be by the time you get some decent checks from them. target="none"
Chitika
Chitika - A Data Analytics company In the Business of Advertising
Chitika was founded way back in the year '03 and is the a leader in the "impulse merchandising" industry. "Chitika is a free service which displays revenue-earning ads to your website visitors featuring different types of ads for different types of traffic."
Chitika, like Adsense, Adbrite, and Bidvertiser, charges advertisers to be featured alongside your site's content. At the end of each month you are paid based on earnings from the previous month. Payments are sent after your account earns at least $10.00 (USD) for PayPal payouts or $50.00 (USD) for checks. Chitika ads can be used with Google Adsense ads without a problem, becauseChitika ads are non-contextual and do not look like AdSense units.
Chitika
Recently added new features from Chitika include:
List Unit
The Chitika List Unit (CLU) automatically adjusts its height, so that you have no more ugly white-space. This helps in optimizing web page space. It also has rotating ads. This comes in handy for dynamically rotating screens on things like android/iphone, ipads, etc. The ad will automatically adjust itself to fit the empty space on the screen.
Mobile Code
Ads designed specifically to be used on mobile devices.
Chitika's search based ads units allow you to display targeted products based on what people searched for to get to your page (as opposed to what the text and info on your page actually shows). This has an added advantage - as if they got to your site accidentally, they may see a link that takes them to what they want, and by following it - they pay you. Chitika pays via PayPal (minimum $10 payout) or Check (minimum $50 payout).
Infolinks
A fairly new player in the game Infolinks indexes your web page looking for keywords and phrases that are not currently links andconverts them into advertizing links. When a site visitor places their mouse over the word, a box opens up showing the ad. Assuming they click on the link you get paid. The nice part is that you can seemlessly use Infolinks in addition to any existing ads running on your website. For example you can show banner ads with AdSense and text ads with Ad Brite and still have the text links withInfolinks, and your page doesn't look cluttered! Now THAT is how to maximize your possible revenue stream!
Infolinks is one of the industry leading in-text advertising links agencies, with highest the relevancy to the advertiser (and revenue share to you). Infolinks automatically parses and converts your page to find the most relavent links. Viewers who see your page think these are part of your site, and when they click on them - you get paid. It is a very good way for you to post ads without your viewers being bombarded with annoying pop-ups, pop-unders and flashing banners.
In addition, Infolinks has recently added to its arsenal a feature called Related Tags, which allows you to increase your clicks (and subsequently your cash flow) while it adds informational tags, based on keywords already within the page, to your already existing website content.
Payment from Infolinks pays you either by PayPal ($50 minimum), Automated Clearing House (ACH) ($400 minimum), refillable prepaid The monthly Mastercard payment may be of peaked interest to international customers who want to avoid US banks for some reason.
Their agreement conditions are easy to get along with:
I will not place the Infolinks ads on websites that include incentives to click on ads.
I will not place the Infolinks ads on websites that include adult content.
I agree that I will not click on the Infolinks ads displayed for my account.
Pocket Cents
Another newcomer to the game is Pocket Cents. Pocket Cents was designed as a provider of Click Banners. Their specialty is focussing on the local community market which presents local advertisers with an inroad to the big game. Local sellers are more apt to buy an internet ad that will sell to their local community than one that will be advertised in Singapore when all their customers would be local walk-ins from Chicago (think local pizza shop).
According to Pocket Cents,"Location based advertisements generate precisely targeted traffic to your website increasing internet sales and decreasing advertising costs."
Exactly how effective this method of advertisement is will yet be determined, however, as it may not work out well for either the publisher or the local vendor. At least from the publisher's point of view, if it t gives you a better click through rate, you're going to make more money.
Kontera
Kontera uses a method similar to Infolinks. When using Kontera, you add a few lines of code to the END of your webpage and within 24 hours additional links begin to appear on your page. Note that Kontera> should not completely replace all your ads, because they do not have banner ads, etc., however it does give an alternate method to increase the cashflow your site can generate.
Kontera is very limited in their payment schemes as payment is only available via Kontera uses PayPal once you've earned the $50 minimum.
Clicksor
Clicksor has a high payout rate, upward to 85%, and in addition the CPC values are high enough that you can actually make some money. One advantage of Clicksor over a the competition is that Clicksor don't hone in on your keywords, but on the exact verbage of the page itself! Because of this, your viewers see ads that are more relavent to what they were searching for, which can make writing your web pages easier. The search engines look at your site context, and place it in the search engine by what content is on the page more than what is in your keywords. If you use "generic" keywords for your site on every individual page in your site - this can cut your keyword writing in half!
As a bonus, if you have a small site, the payouts come much sooner, as they only need you to exceed $20 before they begin payment by Paypal, or $50 by check. Also, the pay period is based on a 15 day schedule, instead of a 30 day schedule, so you get paid more frequently. In addition, Clicksor does not require the use of a Social Security Number or Tax Identification Number, so it can make it easier for non US citizens to work with.
Exit Junction
Exit Junction isn't for everyone, as it differs from other ad campaigns, in that they focus on showing their ads to viewers as they leave your site, rather than during their browsing. In my HUMBLE opinion, this is a no-no, as much as a pop up ad is. If you have a content based page that you are hoping to have your customers return to - this is quite annoying and can run them off. If however, you do not plan on having repeat clientele then this might be just the "trick" for you. Once they arrive at your site (by accident), and they try to immediately leave, it will direct them to the ad that will really make them never want to come back. It may not be customer friendly - but it does put the ads in the customer's face!
Dynamic Oxygen
Dynamic Oxygen supports worldwide traffic and keyword targeting, making it ideal for international publishers.
DynamicOxygen provides payment options via PayPal, Check or Wire Transfer, and has a $50 minimum payout.
AdBull
Finally, AdBull offers an interesting feature called the "cursor ad unit", which follows the visitor's cursor, and an AdBull advert gently fades in near the for about 10 seconds. It triggers off the exact wording of your website and takes into consideration that users tend to "hover" the cursor over where they are reading. Once the ad fades out, the cursor returns to normal, and the same ad will not appear again for 12 hours for that particular viewer. Definately worth a look.