I’ve been updating my own advertising blocks recently with a variety of different means. I’d like to present a short summary of my impressions of what advertising works or doesn’t (this is third party advertising not advertising sold directly through my own page).
Here are some notes. I’ve accorded each a status out of five points to help you consider if you should try them on your website:
* works poorly or doesn’t work
** works but unsatisfactory
*** works satisfactorily
**** works well but have some reservations
***** works very well and is recommended.
1. Google Ads.
Setting Google to display images instead of text ads is improving my clickthroughs. I’m displaying three ad boxes on the columns on auto-rotation. It’s improving from running traditional google ads. Even if no-one clicks, it’s a little more eye candy. I’ve still to decide whether Adsense will be a permanent feature on this blog or not. Image Ads are saving their skin at the moment… but… So it’s still generating income, much to my surprise.
Status: Works OK. (***)
2. Real Traffic Exchange
Real Traffic Exchange is producing some nice clicks but my own ads aren’t converting at all. So I’ve got to tweak them. I haven’t decided to keep them permanently yet. Also, updates are very slow if you make any changes to the text. Very SLOW.
Status: Works. (***)
3. TopSpots
TopSpots isn’t an expensive way to advertise on my blog, and I’ve seen several new purchases this month. I had a fake transaction that showed up that wasn’t paid for, so I quickly removed that. I would also like a thinner widget as it is a little wide for this theme.
Status: Works well. (****)
4. TTZ Media Ads
The TTZ Media ads are causing a bit of a headache, not displaying properly at times, but things seem fine right now. Generally, they’re not producing any clickthroughs in the sidebar at the moment. I think they’ll perform better in the post or between posts.
Status: Oh, well. (**)
5. TLA – Sell Ads for Traffic
I’ve recently had two new advertisers show up on the right sidebar. If you’d like a special offer to buy advertising here or sell your own advertising, check out Text Link Ads. This generates a fair amount of the monthly income from this blog. But it’s not without risks and penalties.
Status: Works fine but some hesitancy to recommend this due to the nature of the advertising. (****)
6. SocialSpark and PayPerPost
Blog Sponsorship: I’ve added the Blog Sponsorship at the bottom and on the first visit. The service is provided by SocialSpark. I’m only running it to see what would happen, if it adds to the blog or detracts from it.
(***) Status: seems okay, but only from a lack of information.
Other than that, I’m not currently doing any advertising for either of these due to limitations on my blogs’ presentation and ranking and segmentation. You can read more about this in other posts. Search for Payperpost articles. There’re lots.
Status: (****) – I do have serious reservations about this kind of advertising, but it works.
7. NetAudioAds
Earlier this month I removed the NetAudioAds software from the blog, after being strung along for months by their always coming notice. Though my account is still active, I have all but given up hope that this will turn into a viable long term income source.
Status: Works but unsatisfactory due to lack of real ads to show. (**)
8. Voxant
TheNewsRoom is a video based website that provides feeds that can be shared and can earn money for your blogs. The videos I found present a number of problems: the new code is difficult to place in posts, I find; the videos aren’t current to begin with; the videos get removed (leaving ugly big gaps in your older blog posts); and payout rates are well… poor to say the least.
Status (*) I’ve not added this to any posts of late. I would remove them from older posts but I can’t find them.
9. Affiliates: Dreamhost vs. BlueHost
Although this blog has been hosted by Dreamhost for as long as it’s been online (and I love them, they’re great MOST OF THE TIME!), their affiliate program has not worked for me at all. I’ve had thousands of clickthroughs and not a single sign up in more than two years. So I’ve switched one of the text links to BlueHost to compare the results. The difference: I can track exactly where links come from to see what performs and what doesn’t.
Status: Works but not effectively (**)… Let’s hope that it gets a three-star, soon.
10. Amazon: Still successful.
I’ve been selling books on Amazon for quite some time now, and I’m still surprised to see anything sell there, but they do. Since January 2007, I’ve sold over $379 and earned a whopping commission of about $15. So affiliate marketing does work. But I don’t know how.
Status: (****) – definitely needs more work to make this profitable. But if you can sell $300, $3,000 shouldn’t be so hard, right?
I’ve also tried AdToll which is still active, but not being used here right now; Adbrite which was a waste of time; PayU2Blog (which don’t do customer service well, and bloggers who advertise for clients are as much customers because they provide the adspace); and a whole bunch of others that I can’t remember.
I’m always heartened by doing a post like this as it reminds me what I have been able to do with such knowledge as I have. Do check through the sites I’ve linked to (affiliate codes are included for most). Let me know how’re your money making efforts going with these vendors? Let me know.
This post has already been updated.