Whether you’re tired of sharing your visitors stats with Google, want to increase revenue or simply want to try another platform, this list will give you the best AdSense alternative to monetize your website content.
It has now become a common thing for anyone who creates a blog to automatically sign up to Google AdSense, but little do they know that there are other alternatives all over the web. At the end of the article, I will also sum up whether it is worth swapping over from Google – or not.
After AdBrite, Smowtion has to be one of my favourite alternatives. Payouts aren’t as high as AdSense, but ads are flashy, contextual and relevant. In a week of testing all ad platforms on one website, Smowtion had the highest payout by 37%. Smowtion also offers ads in many shapes and sizes – some not even available from AdSense. Plus you earn more if one of your clicks turn to a conversion! Use this affiliate link to signup and get 80% revenue share instead of the standard 60%.
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Second to Smowtion only because it is primarily an in-line text advertising platform, Infolinks is one of the best AdSense alternatives for content based websites; in terms of payouts. Infolinks offers you to have in-line advertising which is very clean and tidy, tag clouds and sliding banners. Their primary function of in-line advertising is the most well established, and it simply shows a small Javascript popup (nothing distracting) when a user hovers over a highlighted word. Payouts of $50USD a month are very easily achieved by new webmasters with the right content-based websites.
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This is where the list suddenly becomes very controversial. In my opinion, the next four options are no way near AdSense levels. With Bidvertiser the publisher puts the code on their site, the advertisers look through the available ad slots, and then they can bid against one another for the most desirable locations. It’s a bit of a win for everyone involved. Payouts start at only $10, so it shouldn’t be too hard to see the money start to come in. But – if no-one buys your ads your income will probably be Zilch!
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The most well-known, and possibly the most heavily advertised, alternative is Chitika. For me, it just doesn’t cut it. Chitika provides a lot of alternatives to the usual “context advertising.” If someone enters your site via a search engine, they will be shown ads based on the terms they used to find your site, all the while your regular visitors won’t see a thing. This is a great way to monetize to the casual server without driving away your most loyal readers. The company also provides local-focused and mobile ads to help you earn money in new and interesting ways. Payouts start at $10 for PayPal and $50 if you’d like to receive a check. But from experience, click rates are incredibly low – even on Silver, and you don’t get paid a penny for impressions!
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While Clicksor is a contextual advertising solution like so many others, it is also a bit more versatile than most in that it offers not only the usual ad units, but also inline, rich media and more. Think of it as one stop shopping for all of your advertising needs. Payments start at $50 be either PayPal or check.
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UPDATE: This article was updated on January 29 2013 to remove AdBrite from #1 as it ceased all operations on 1st February 2013. This article will continually be updated to ensure the very best Top 5 AdSense alternatives are listed.
Honestly? No. If your site is performing well with Google AdSense – I don’t see any logic in switching. Every network above will never pay you more than AdSense and the ads will never be as targeted. With Google, all you do is choose a theme colour, ad size and voila – Google will do the rest for you! But if you have been banned from Google, I found it best to stick to Infolinks and Smowtion.
If your website is text-rich, you could double your earnings with in-line contextual advertisements. Check out our Top 5 In-Line Text Monetization Platforms.
