Choosing the right pay-per-click advertising company for your web site can be an important part of the strategy to monetize your online publishing efforts. Google Adsense is by far the most popular and successful pay-per-click program for web publishers. However, Adsense is not perfect. Payment rates per click may vary and rules and regulations seem to favor the advertisers (and Google) rather than webmasters and bloggers. Overall, Adsense is one of the better choices, but there are some different options.
- Adbrite – Adbrite is a pay-per-click company that allows advertisers to use banners and even full page ads, as opposed to the text-only ads usually offered by many of the other major pay-per-click players. Support for webmasters is decent, though the profit made per each click can be quite a bit lower than Adsense. Some savvy webmasters, however, say that the extra display options make Adbrite a good choice either instead of Adsense or in addition to it.
- Kontera – This company provides in-text advertising. A lot of readers don’t care for this type of advertising because ads pop up when you hover over a keyword in the article. But some publishers find this a useful program because it does not require any extra space on the page for banners or side-bar text ads. Depending on the type of sites that you run, this can be a good option to supplement other forms of advertising, though it is probably not profitable enough on its own.
- Chitika – This is a smaller ad network that has a loyal following, especially amongst bloggers. When Yahoo!’s Publishers Network shut down, they transferred their users to Chitika. Chitika scans searched keywords to display relevant ads. Unfortunately, many publishers claim that their profits per click are low when using Chitika. Chitika’s mini-malls offer relevant products for display on site sidebars. These can be a useful additional money-maker for consumer oriented sites. Some users claim that Chitika’s search-centered focus for ad placement brings more click-throughs than Adsense.
- Infolinks – the program is a competitor for Kontera. According to publishers, Infolinks has better profits per click, although it is definitely not as established as Kontera. Like other in-text advertisers, the profits are not going to be enough for most webmasters to abandon all other forms of advertising, but Infolinks is a good way to supplement revenue earned by other PPC programs or affiliate programs.
- MIVA – MIVA is a well-respected PPC “second-tier” ad network that also offers other features to advertisers and publishers. There is a service that allows e-store owners to market products directly to consumers. MIVA also offers in-text advertising.
- Looksmart – This company was one of the early players in the pay-per-click game. They were considered a second tier program in the early 200s, but are still around, unlike many of their came-and-went peers. So they must be doing something right. The company connects paid-search advertisers with publishers.
- Amazon – Amazon’s affiliate program is not a pay-per-click option. Web site publishers can act as affiliate marketers for the giant bookseller by placing a number of different ad options on their site. The thing about Amazon is its world-wide notoriety. Readers will be more likely to click through because they recognize Amazon and know that it is not some fly-by-night operation. Also, they most likely know how to navigate the site and therefore feel comfortable going there. If you can put relevant titles or even Amazon products on your site, you should get a decent amount of conversions. This is an ideal supplement to one of the PPCs above.
In the modern online environment, there is no magic bullet for webmasters looking for the perfect PPC program. But the companies above are all worth a look if you are looking for a PPC program or two to be part of your overall revenue earning strategy.
Nicole Rodgers has been blogging about online marketing for 3 years, currently she blogs about ways to companies can use a heat map for their sites and how qr code can help expand a brand’s presence.