The SEO Hobbyist

PPC Ad Networks can be a great way to monetize your website, but their value really varies depending on your content. If your blog or website is about asbestos removal, then you can average 10$ a click – but for the rest of us its much more of a struggle. On my golf blog I can sometimes get 2$ a click on golf lessons and equipment, but on some of my media sites I regularly earn less than 10 cents per click. Those numbers are regardless of the PPC network. (Adsense, Adbrite, Smowtion, Etc…)

When I realized my payouts were so slow, I wanted to find other ways to monetize my site and take full advantage of the traffic I was getting with a more balanced advertising approach.

Commission Junction:

The first alternative I found was Commission Junction. These guys are a gigantic online advertiser that specialize in affiliate marking. My favorite part about this network is that within a few minutes you can get ads from top-tier companies and websites.  My Google Adsense’s ads were frequently irrelevant – but with CJ you get to chose which companies ads to display.  I personally feel my site looks more professional when my banners are from well known companies, and way more relevant than the ads that are auto generated.

No one knows your audience better than you, and using CJ gives you the control you need to target them.

The only downside of affiliate marketing is that it can be very frustrating that after 200 clicks you still haven’t converted any sales. You have to pay close attention to your web stats and focus on the affiliate partners that are getting your highest click through rate (CTR) and adjust as necessary. As with many SEO ventures, patience once again is key.

AdvertiseSpace:

The concept of this website could not be more simple. There are NO impression requirements, eCPM, PPC, CTR, or any kind of analysis involved. All you do is set the price of what you think a banner on your site is worth and this partner helps you sell that ad space. Consider it like a web banner REALTOR®.  You register your site,  select a banner size, and a monthly price. They give you some HTML code that you insert into your page that acts just like a ‘For Sale’ sign. AdvertiseSpace makes it easy for advertisers to get their banners on your page without the headache of chasing all your third party clients for payments. The setup is very easy and they just send you payment via paypal every time you make a sale.

I am not recommending that you get rid of PPC ads all together. What I suggest is a balance of Direct, PPC, and Affiliate Ad Networks.   Personally, I kept the PPC banners in tight areas of my site that were more likely to attract clicks.  Conversely, I put the direct sale and affiliate banners in less condensed areas to increase readability.  If your content isn’t returning acceptable earnings per click – give direct sale and affiliate marking a try.