Decent alternatives to AdSense?

[James]

Whilst I am very happy with AdSense, I often wonder if there is a more lucrative advertising programme. I have been looking at http://www.adbrite.com this week and have signed up, although I am yet to take the plunge and try it.

I have been thinking about trying CPM (cost per mille) - you get paid a flat rate (eg $2) for every 1,000 banner impressions. If I could get $2 CPM then that would definitely exceed my PPC income. But is $2 achievable?

With AdBrite you can also run AdSense at the same time but I imagine the CPM banner ads have to be at the top of the page to qualify for payment.

I guess I'm reluctant to risk losing income but perhaps I should bit the bullet for a couple of weeks and see what's possible.

Any thoughts?

[David]

James, I've been wondering the same thing for a while now and I've decided that I will run my own ad campaigns using something like Openads (http://www.openads.org/). That way, I can have more control of who advertises, what the ad formats are and what I charge for a campaign (and no one takes a cut). There is a reasonably good model for me to follow in the CAD world at www.tenlinks.com (http://www.tenlinks.com). If you take a look at their advertising details (http://www.tenlinks.com/MEDIAKIT/banners.htm), you can even see what they charge.

Now, according to Alexa, the CADTutor traffic is higher than TenLinks, and FreeDigitalPhotos about twice that of TenLinks. Makes you think...

22

[James]

Thanks David. I think tenlinks rates are probably too high. I notice they have some advertisers but wonder if they are really paying those rates?

Selling ads direct is a good idea in principle, because let's face it, Google gets most of the advertisers money with AdSense. So it would be good to get 100% of the revenue. But not sure how we would attract potential advertisers going it alone? Guaranteeing payment would also be a concern.

[David]

I think the proposition may be more difficult for you. I'm in the fortunate position of having a relatively small niche and most of my potential advertisers are already known to me. I've also received a number of requests recently from advertisers, that I have had to decline because I just haven't got things together.

I also think Tenlinks rates are high but the fact that they are making them public means they are serious about it, unless they sell space by offering massive discounts.