I was wondering what your recommendation would be for a blogger who wants to try out the best alternatives to Google Adsense.This is a popular question among bloggers and webmasters. Some of them will have a hard time getting accepted into Google’s AdSense program, while others will get banned for one reason or another. After that that remain looking for alternatives.
First of all keep in mind that Google AdSense is still the best CPC network on the web. Some people don’t like, some claim to make more money with other networks, but the vast majority of website owners agree that Google AdSense is the best CPC advertising option, period (this does not mean it is the best monetization strategy, as affiliate marketing or selling your own products could beat the earnings of AdSense easily).
Considering this fact, I would highly recommend you to play it safe with your AdSense account. If you are not sure about the program policies and guidelines, take some 30 minutes to read them and to make sure your sites respect all of them. Getting banned from AdSense is a bad thing for anyone working on the Internet, because the ban is for life.
With that out of the way, what are the alternatives to Google AdSense?
If you are looking for CPC alternatives, I would recommend two networks. The first one is Chitika. They used to run product based ads only, but recently they have expanded to a wide range of categories, in which they call “Premium Ads.”
The second alternative is BidVertiser. This network works like AdSense, but they have a smaller amount of advertisers, so the CPC rates you’ll get will be smaller.
Apart from using CPC ads, however, you could also try CPM based ones. This means you’ll get per 1,000 impressions rather than per click. Tribal Fusion is one of the best networks in this segment, but your site must receive over 500,000 unique visitors monthly to qualify. Networks that will accept smaller sites include Casale Media and AdBrite.
The third option would be to use affiliate marketing offers that will pay you when you either when you refer a paying customer (called CPS offers) or when you refer a lead that will perform a specific action like subscribing to an email newsletter (called CPA offers). Two very large affiliate networks you can try are ClickBank and Commission Junction.
Finally, you could also try to sell your advertising spots directly. This means you would manage the ads and interact with sponsors directly. I talk extensively about this method on the article How to Find Advertisers for Your Website: The Ultimate Guide.
