When you think of an ad program, the first one that comes to mind is probably Google Adsense. It is, by far, the most popular advertising program for bloggers using the PPC ad model. When it was still new, Google Adsense wasn’t shy about accepting bloggers to their program. Pretty much any blogger with a decent website and a few dozen pages could get accepted.
Now however, thanks to its popularity, Google Adsense is far stricter about who they accept to the program. You have to comply with strict guidelines, have a professional looking blog and need to have a decent amount of content on your blog before you get accepted. Even then it is no sure thing since they also want quality content as well as quantity.
So what are some Google Adsense Alternatives?
If you keep getting rejected by Google Adsense, or if you just would rather try a different ad program you are in luck. There are plenty of other ad networks out there for you to try. These range from the standard PPC (pay per click) networks, CPM ads, text link ads, image ad programs and more.
For whatever reason you are considering alternatives, here is a huge list of other ad networks, most of whom are not as strict about accepting new publishers:
Recommended Reading: 50 Websites That Pay You to Write
Pay Per Click (PPC) Google Adsense Alternatives
If you want an alternative to Google Adsense then you are probably looking for a PPC ad network. If that’s the case then you have plenty of networks to choose from, some of which payout nearly as much as Google Adsense.
Image via media.net
1. Yahoo and Bing Network – Media.net
As far as alternatives go, the Yahoo/Bing ad program by Media.net is the most popular since it is a program by Yahoo and Bing. This network also tends to have a bit better of a CPC than many of the others on this list. Possibly best of all, since it is not nearly as popular as Google Adsense you are able to get approved a bit easier. Just make sure you still have a decent amount of high quality content before applying.
Alexa Rank: 5942
Methods of Payment: Wire Transfer, PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($100), Wire Transfer ($100)
Conditions: High quality content, have some organic traffic and receive most of your traffic from US, Canada and UK.
Sign up | Read FAQ
2. Chitika
Chitika is a PPC ad network that enables users to show ads on their blog, mobile website or even apps. While it is an extremely popular network with well over 350,000 publishers, Chitika has been criticized for having a rather low payout rate for their publishers.
Alexa Rank: 5212
Methods of Payment: Check, PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($50), PayPal ($10)
Conditions: Decent amount of content and some organic traffic.
Sign up | Read FAQ
3. Clicksor
Clicksor is probably right behind Media.net as one of the best Adsense alternatives that allows users to display ads related to the content of their blog. You can set a minimum price for your ads and choose what type of ads you want to display on your website including banner ads, text ads, inline text links and pop under ads. Payment for clicksor ads is up to 85% and like Chitika, you can earn another 10% for all of your referrals.
Alexa Rank: 7801
Methods of Payment: Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($50), PayPal ($50), Wire Transfer ($1000)
Conditions: Site can’t be under construction.
Sign up | Read FAQ
4. Bidvertiser
BidVertiser is another very popular alternative to Adsense which pays out slightly better than most networks. This is because the program always displays the highest bidder on your blog so you get the max amount possible.
Alexa Rank: 952
Methods of Payment: Check, PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($100), PayPal ($10)
Conditions: Blog has to have some organic traffic and a decent amount of content (more than a dozen pages).
Sign up | Read FAQ
5. Sovrn
Sovrn offers ad options such as banners, media ads, image ads, contextual ads and more. Like the previous options, Sovrn’s ads are based on your web content.
Alexa Rank: 29,382
Methods of Payment: Check, PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($50), PayPal ($10)
Conditions: Site can’t be under construction.
Sign up | Read FAQ
6. Superlinks
Superlinks is another ad network that offers several different ad options for their publishers. You can even add up to five ads per webpage, though this isn’t advised since it may sway visitors to leave your blog. They also offer five different ad types including mobile ads, with video ads in-development and advertise themselves as “the highest CPM rates in the industry.”
Alexa Rank: 78,590
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($100), Wire Transfer ($500)
Conditions: Website has to have at least 100,000 visitors per month.
Sign up | Read FAQ
In-Text Link Ads
Text link ads are great for professional looking and quality content websites. Text links will display as a hyperlink and publishers will be paid dependent on how many clicks that text link gets. Also in-text links can be used in conjunction with other networks such as Clicksor.
Image via Infolinks
7. Infolinks
Infolinks is one of the most popular in-text ad networks. With infolinks you are able to control ads from the dashboard and add tags to your ads. Whenever one of your visitors hovers over an infolinks link, a related ad to the content on the webpage will appear and you get money every time one of those visitors clicks on that ad.
Alexa Rank: 2673
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($50), Wire Transfer ($100)
Conditions: None. Large and small websites qualify, even websites with little or no traffic.
Sign up | Read FAQ
8. Built-in Text
Built-in Text has one of the largest varieties of ad formats (a total of 15 to date) depending on what your website layout is. Built-in text shells out 30% in revenue sharing and is an especially great program for web owners who do not want annoying looking ads on their website.
Alexa Rank: 1,580,030
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($50), Wire Transfer ($100)
Conditions: Blog has to be well-designed, have high quality content with a decent amount of readers and English and/or French have to be the primary language.
Sign up | Read FAQ (currently ‘under construction’)
9. Viglink
Viglink is a bit unique in that it works both like an in-text ad network and an affiliate program. What Viglink does is converts your in-text links into standard affiliate links. So your payout is not entirely dependent on clicks but instead on sales (which could be better since clicks average only a few cents per click), though depending on the merchant Viglink links may either be CPA (Cost Per Action) or CPC (Cost Per Click). The network is partnered with a lot of affiliate networks to ensure that your in-text link ads will direct users to relevant websites.
Alexa Rank: 5547
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: No minimum, payments are made at the end of every month.
Conditions: No stated conditions.
Sign up | Read FAQ
10. Vibrant
Vibrant ads, like the majority of ads on this list, are all tailored to the content of your blog so most ads will be relevant. All ads are mobile responsive and you can even customize and add tags to your in-text links.
Alexa Rank: 62,636
Methods of Payment: Direct Deposit, Check, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Direct Deposit ($5), Check ($50), Wire Transfer ($75)
Conditions: A registration form is required so site has medium-high standards for acceptance.
Sign up | Read FAQ
Sell Ads on Your Blog
This method is great if you are in the correct niche and if you are currently getting good bits of organic traffic. With ad sells on your blog you can reserve ad spots, mostly banners and sidebar ads, and have a way for advertisers to contact you in order to buy that ad spot for a certain period of time. If you are in the right niche with the right amount of traffic, selling ad space can be very lucrative. Simply add some type of “buy space” or “advertise” page on your blog and wait to see if any one contacts you. Or you can simply use the below networks to find potential buyers.
Recommended Reading: How to Sell a Website
11. Buy Sell Ads
BuySellAds is the network for those who want to sell ad space on their blog. With BuySellAds you can shift through thousands upon thousands of advertisers who want to find web space to buy. The network has support for mobile devices, allows you to set the details of the ad placement as well as the price and can review and approve or deny all advertisers.
Alexa Rank: 5484
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($20), Check ($50), Wire Transfer ($500)
Conditions: Have at least 50,000 page views a month, good quality design and post new content on a regular basis.
Sign up | Read FAQ
12. Sell Your Website Ads
SellYourWebsiteAds is a website that does just that. With this service you are able to sell pretty much whatever type of ad you want (including in-text link ads) and the payout keeps coming as long as the ad(s) stay on your website.
Alexa Rank: 16,554,342
Methods of Payment: N/A
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: N/A
Conditions: Seems to require some organic traffic.
Sign up
13. Beacon Ads
Beacon ads takes 5% more of your revenue when compared to BuySellAds (25% vs 30%) and is a bit less popular. Still it is a great alternative if you can’t get accepted from BuySellAds. Like with BuySellAds you determine things like how big your ad is, where it is placed on your blog and the price.
Alexa Rank: 154,140
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Check
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($20), Check ($50)
Conditions: Blog has to have a good amount of organic traffic.
Sign up | Read FAQ
14. Adengage
With Adengage you can choose from two ad types. The Weekly Ad pays you per week for however long the ad runs on your blog. The Targeted CPC is an ad that runs on your blog but you only make money based on how many clicks it gets. You only get cents per valid click. Ad types include Banner ads, Text ads, Media advertisements, Text and Image ads and ads for mobile devices.
Alexa Rank: 62,948
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($50), Check ($50), Wire Transfer ($1000)
Conditions: Blog has to have a good amount of organic traffic.
Sign up | Read FAQ
15. Blog Ads
BlogAds is another service that is a lot like BuySellAds. With BlogAds you can sell ad space to advertisers setting your own price along the way, customizing the way the ad looks and accepting or rejecting ads. Like with BeaconAds, BlogAds takes 30% commission on all ad space sales.
Alexa Rank: 58,215
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($75), Check ($750), Wire Transfer ($750)
Conditions: You will need between 30,000 and 500,000 impressions a month depending on what niche you are in.
Sign up | Read FAQ
16. Ad Share Market
AdShareMarket allows you to sell ad space on your blog by way of either daily rates or by CPC and they offer real time tracking of how many clicks the ads on your website receive.
Alexa Rank: 296,791
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($20)
Conditions: No specified conditions
Sign up
Pop up and Under Ads
Pop up ads tend to be annoying to your readers and may drive them away from your site. However, if you run the right website such as some type of download or file share website, then Pop up and under ads may be a great option that won’t negatively affect your reader’s experience on your website.
Image via SEOinjection
17. PopAds
PopAds is by far the most popular ads solution for pop up ads that run at least 1000 unique ad campaigns a day. PopAds also has lenient withdraw policies that allow you to withdraw your earned money after as little as $5.
Alexa Rank: 159
Methods of Payment: PayPal, AlertPay, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($5), AlertPay ($5), Wire Transfer ($500)
Conditions: You will need some organic traffic if you want to earn money since rates are dependent on blog traffic.
Sign up | Read FAQ
18. Propeller Ads
Propeller Ads is another very popular Pop Under network. It is one of the fastest growing ad networks and runs ad campaigns by way of either CPL or CPA. With Propeller you can choose from several types of ads including post-roll ads, pop-up ads, pop-under ads and more. In addition, your ads have automatic real-time stats, professional support and 100% of your inventory is monetized.
Alexa Rank: 5515
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($50), Wire Transfer ($500)
Conditions: You will need some organic traffic if you want to earn money since rates are dependent on blog traffic.
Sign up
19. Edomz
Edomz has 1000s of advertisers with completely customizable ads to fit your blog perfectly. Edomz also has one of the least restrictive payout minimums of just $10 every 15 days.
Alexa Rank: 26,847
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($10)
Conditions: Website needs to have “fresh and quality content.”
Sign up | Read FAQ
20. Infinity Ads
Infinity Ads is one of the most popular popup ad networks on this list with over 30,000 advertisers. With Infinity Ads you are paid based on how many impressions you get (per thousand). The stated average payout rate according to the website is $1.80 for every 1000 impressions. In addition, Infinity Ads pays out ever 15 days and only requires you to have a $5 balance for payout.
Alexa Rank: 45,710
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($5), Check ($5), Wire Transfer ($5)
Conditions: Website needs to have good quality content.
Sign up | Read FAQ
21. PopOnClick
PopOnClick is another popular popup/under network for publishers. PopOnClick is similar to other networks on this list, you can view live statistics, choose which countries you want to see your ad and request payout after you get a $10 balance. They even advertise that you can obtain up to $30 per 1000 impressions.
Alexa Rank: 28,963
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($10)
Conditions: Website needs to have good quality content.
Sign up | Read FAQ
22. CPMoz
CPMoz is the fastest growing popunder network on this list. You can earn up to 70% in revenue and your earnings are dependent on what type of website you have, how much traffic it has and if there is quality content. You can also earn money through the referral program, earning 10% of all ad buys or 10% of all publisher earnings.
Alexa Rank: 19,013
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($5)
Conditions: Some organic traffic though there is no set traffic requirement for getting accepted.
Sign up | Read FAQ
23. PopMyAds
PopMyAds is the second most popular pop-under ad network on this list. All types of websites are accepted, ads are ‘clean’ since they are tested every day, realtime statistics are available on the dashboard and all types of traffic are welcome and paid for unlike other ad networks. In addition, publisher payments are processed one day after they are requested.
Alexa Rank: 2002
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Payza
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($5), Payza ($5)
Conditions: Some organic traffic though there is no set traffic requirement for getting accepted.
Sign up | Read FAQ
Sponsored Review Sales
One great way to make money and a way that many webowners often use is to sell sponsored reviews on their blog. With the right amount of traffic a popular blog can make $50 even $100 per review, just make sure to no-follow any links since selling reviews with do-follow links is against Google policy.
Recommended Reading: Top 4 Cheapest and Most Dependable Web Hosting Services
Image via SponsoredReviews
24. Sponsored Reviews
Sponsored Reviews is the main network for blog owners who want to advertise and build traffic and an even greater way for blog owners to make money by writing honest reviews on products and services. The service works both ways for publishers and advertisers. You can either search for advertisers (if you’re a publisher) or you can search for publishers (if you’re an advertiser). Sponsored Reviews advertises that you can make anywhere between $5 and $500 per post, depending on how much traffic your blog receives.
Alexa Rank: 23,438
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal (weekly)
Conditions: Blog has to be at least 3 months old and indexed by the search engines, blog has to have (at minimum) 10 backlinks pointing to it, blog has to be submitted in the appropriate category, has to have at least 10 posts with a minimum word count of over 3000 words combined, all posts must be unique and can’t be “spun” content, too many ads is not acceptable and completed blog posts must be kept on the blog for at least one year.
Sign up | Read FAQ
25. PayPerPost
PayPerPost is similar to Sponsored Reviews. Publishers of PayPerPost (who are called “posties”), after joining the network, can search out review opportunities that their website qualifies for and after the review is secured, can write based on the requirements and get paid based on the terms of the advertiser.
Alexa Rank: 77,652
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal (monthly)
Conditions: Blog has to have some organic traffic.
Sign up
26. MatomySEO
MatomySEO (formerly ReviewMe) is another popular sponsored review network that works a bit different than most. Instead of giving you the option to search for advertisers, MatomySEO only allows advertisers to search for publishers that best fit their requirements.
Alexa Rank: 35,464
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Check, MatomySEO Voucher
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal (none), Check ($25), Voucher (none)
Conditions: Blog has to have some organic traffic.
Sign up | Read FAQ
27. Blogsvertise
Blogsvertise is more than just a sponsored review website, it also allows bloggers to display banner type ads and text links. The rate you make depends on the pricing you set and how much traffic your blog receives. When writing product reviews they need to be at least 100 words and either contain a link to the product’s website or the phone number of the advertiser.
Alexa Rank: 66,141
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal (monthly)
Conditions: Blog has to be over 30 days old and has to have a decent amount of quality content.
Sign up | Read FAQ
28. Payu2blog
PayU2Blog is the last sponsored review network on this list. When you sign up and become a PayU2Blog member you will begin to get blogging work, usually consisting of being assigned to write a post about some type of service or product. Like most sponsored review networks you do not need to endorse the product or service.
Alexa Rank: 43,047
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal (Bi-monthly)
Conditions: Blog has to be over 90 days old and has to have quality posts.
Sign up | Read FAQ
Image Ads
If your blog has lots of images then you can make money off of them by turning them into ads. These in-image ads are placed over images and, depending on the advertiser and network, you will get paid based on how many impressions they get or how many of your visitors click on them.
Recommended Reading: 20 Awesome Websites for Free, High Quality Stock Photos
29. GumGum
GumGum is the best network when it comes to image advertising. GumGum will turn your image inventory into in-image ads, they also have in-screen ads for mobile devices. They boast over 600,000 million unique visitors a month and have partnerships with major websites like The Daily Beast, Wet Paint and US News.
Alexa Rank: 48,974
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Check
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($50), Check ($50)
Conditions: Blog has to have at least 500,000 page views per month and attract a primarily US audience.
Sign up
30. Imonomy
Imonomy is an impressive in-image network, having over 10,000 advertisers including partnerships with huge websites like Apple, Nike and Lego and over 600,000 million monetized images. All image ads are tailored to your content so they will be relevant to visitors, there are several different types of image ads to choose from and you can choose what features to include in your in-image ads.
Alexa Rank: 115,185
Methods of Payment: PayPal
Conditions: Blog has to have some organic traffic.
Sign up
Cost Per Impression or (CPM)
Cost Per Impressions or Cost Per Mille (CPM) ads are a great alternative to using a PPC network. Since PPC’s only pay for how many clicks your ads receive, a Cost Per Impression network may end up earning you more revenue. With a CPM you are paid for every 1,000 impressions that you get per day. In other words, say you have 2,000 impressions a day and a CPM of $2.50, you will end up earning $5 a day. Many of the bigger websites use CPM networks because they guarantee revenue every day, unlike PPC networks.
31. Exponential
Exponential, formerly TribalFusion, is one of the best CPM networks but is only applicable for sites who generate huge amounts of traffic and page views. The network is so popular that it has a 500,000 visitors a month requirement for bloggers wishing to apply and pays out 55% in generated revenue to publishers.
Alexa Rank: 27,649
Methods of Payment: Check
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($50)
Conditions: Blog has to be its own top-level domain, has to have an active readership, has to look professional and has to generate at least 500,000 unique visitors a month.
Sign up
32. Cpmonly
Cpmonly is like many other advertising networks. You have to wait to get approved and when you do the account managers will find an ad solution that best fits your blog. Also the rate you get is a flat rate that is dependent on your website’s available ad space, traffic and site demographics.
Alexa Rank: 249,359
Methods of Payment: Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($50), PayPal ($50), Wire Transfer ($50)
Conditions: Blog has to be its own top-level domain, has to have a privacy policy page with original and regularly updated content and has to have at least 100,000 page views a month.
Sign up
33. Advertising
Advertising is one of AOL’s partners that is known to pay out higher than most CPM networks. The network is also probably the most popular in the industry with over 140 billion impressions a month, but like the previous CPM ad providers, Advertising.com requires you to have quite a bit of traffic before they even consider your application. Once you do get accepted you can earn handsomely with this ad network since they have such good rates.
Alexa Rank: 17,833
Methods of Payment: Check
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($25)
Conditions: Blog has to be its own top-level domain and has to generate at least 500,000 impressions per month.
Sign up | Read FAQ
34. BurstMedia (RhythmOne)
BurstMedia is another CPM network that is known for paying out a bit more than other networks (it has a 70% revenue sharing). In addition, Burst Media is especially great for medium level websites since they only require you to have 5,000 unique visitors a month or 25,000 monthly page views.
Alexa Rank: 319,603
Methods of Payment: Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($50), PayPal ($50), Wire Transfer ($50)
Conditions: Blog has to have at least 5,000 unique visitors a month or 25,000 monthly page views.
Sign up
35. Adcash
Adcash is a CPM network for those who don’t have thousands of visitors a month as Adcash, unlike the previous CPM networks, don’t require you to have tons of organic traffic to get accepted. They are also one of the few, good alternatives to those who live internationally. With Adcash you can choose from well over 3500 campaigns, showing your visitors only relevant ads from leading advertisers. You can also choose from multiple ad formats, these include banner ads, slide-in ads, footer ads, background ads, in-App footer ads and more.
Alexa Rank: 53
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Wire Transfer, Payoneer, Webmoney
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal (€100), Wire Transfer (€100), Payoneer (€100), Webmoney (€100)
Conditions: Blog has to have some organic traffic.
Sign up
36. Qadabra
Qadabra is a great CPM network for blogs that have little traffic but want to start making money through ad programs. They accept all types of sites and don’t have a minimum traffic requirement but still require you to have good quality content.
Alexa Rank: 15,800
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Wire Transfer, Payoneer,
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($1), Wire Transfer ($500), Payoneer ($20)
Conditions: Blog has to have some organic traffic.
Sign up | Read FAQ
37. Adversal
Adversal is one of the strictest CPM ad networks, having quite a few requirements before they even consider accepting you. To name a few, you need to have a professionally designed website, have your own top-level domain, have to be operational for at least a month with original and quality content and have to generate at least 50,000 page views a month.
Alexa Rank: 15,800
Methods of Payment: Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: Check ($20), PayPal ($20), Wire Transfer ($250)
Conditions: Blog has to have at least 50,000 page views a month, has to be professionally designed, have quality content, has to be a top-level domain and operational for at least one month.
Sign up | Read FAQ
38. Pop Cash
If you have a newer blog and want fast approval then PopCash is probably the ad network to go with. Not only are they a reputable name in the industry, they also accept almost any website, even websites that have little traffic. In addition, PopCash approves websites fast and pays out after only a $10 balance.
Alexa Rank: 233
Methods of Payment: PayPal, Payza, Paxum
Minimum Amount Needed for Payout: PayPal ($10), Payza ($10), Paxum ($10)
Conditions: Very easy to get accepted, blog needs some organic traffic to make money though.
Sign up | Read FAQ
Conclusion
As you can see there are an overwhelming amount of ad networks to choose from and it’s extremely difficult to say which one is the “best.” Honestly since Google Adsense is so popular and has so many advertisers bidding against each other it is probably the “best” in terms of how much they payout per click. Still since there are so many networks out there, Adsense, given its somewhat strict process of getting approved, isn’t necessary for bloggers.
In addition, different ads fit different blogs so Adsense may not even be the best option for your particular blog. If your website has lots of traffic then nearly any one of these networks are available to you, but a CPM might be the best money making option. However, if you have a newer blog then something like PopCash is probably your best bet since they accept almost anyone.
I know I’ve probably missed a few good networks so comment away below with some of the other ad networks that you think deserve a shoutout.