Despite the rise of ad blockers, plenty of websites still rely on advertisements for a sizable portion of their incomes. While Google is still the big man on campus thanks to AdWords and AdSense, it’s always smart to explore your options. That’s why we’ve put together a roundup of our favorite Google AdSense alternatives for WordPress.
Each of these platforms provides you with the tools to turn your traffic into money, using slightly different methods in each case. Each solution also enables you to employ different types of ads, and could potentially give you far more flexibility than Google currently does. Best of all, their smaller user bases mean these companies can take a more personal approach with their publishers.
Let’s take a deeper look at these Google AdSense alternatives for WordPress to find out how (and if) they can give Google a run for its money.
Google AdSense alternatives for WordPress compared (in a nutshell)
In case you don’t have time to read the fine print concerning each platform, here are the most important details:
| Adsterra | Revcontent | Media.net | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Types of ads | Banners, interstitials, and pop-ups | Widgets | Contextual |
| Payment cycle | Bi-weekly | Net 30 | Net 30 |
| Payment platforms | Paxum, PayPal, WebMoney, ePayments, wires, and Bitcoin | PayPal, ACH, and international wires (for payments over $1000) | PayPal or wire transfers |
| How difficult is it to join? | Most sites are accepted | Only sites with high traffic originating from the US, UK, and Canada are accepted | Reserved for sites with massive amounts of traffic |
Google AdSense alternatives for WordPress (in full)
1. Adsterra
Adsterra is a relatively young ad network. It first opened its doors in 2013 and has since grown to display over ten billion impressions per month. It claims to provide some of the highest Cost Per Mille (CPM) rates in the industry. They pay publishers quickly and through a wide variety of platforms, which makes them an attractive option.
Main features
- Enables publishers to choose between CPM, Cost Per Action (CPA), Cost Per Lead (CPL), and Pay Per Impression (PPI) campaigns.
- Provides advertisers with advanced geo-targeting features.
- Lets you track campaign performance in real time, whether you’re a publisher or an advertiser.
- Enables you to choose from a variety of ad formats including banners, pop-unders, direct links, sliders, push-ups, and interstitials.
- The Adsterra team manually checks each campaign for malicious code.
- Protects advertisers against fraudulent traffic.
- Comes with multilingual support.
Payment information
Adsterra offer a bi-weekly payment schedule via Paxum, PayPal, WebMoney, ePayments, wire transfers, and Bitcoin. A minimum of $100 is required to withdraw your earnings.
When to consider using Adsterra
Adsterra will be ideal if you’re looking for an advertising platform that provides you with flexibility when it comes to ad types and payments. Adsterra enables you to pick and choose which types of ads and campaigns you want to run.
Furthermore, a bi-weekly payment schedule is almost unheard of when it comes to advertising platforms. Although to be fair, few users will be able to take advantage of it right away due to the $100 threshold.
2. Revcontent
Revcontent is quite different from other ad networks. It features a surprisingly thorough screening process, and relies on custom widgets to deliver its ads. These widgets are quite similar to a related posts section, except in this case they include campaigns approved for your site.
This unique approach results in an ad experience that is less intrusive than usual, as long as you don’t pick campaigns at random.
Main features
- Unique widget-based ad system.
- Multiple responsive widgets including galleries, streams, infinite scrolls, and customizations thanks to its API.
- Enables you to customize the image to text ratio for your widgets, as well as their layout.
- Lets you customize how your widgets look on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones.
- Ability to add custom Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) elements to your widgets.
- Enables widgets to display over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
- Lets you preview how your widgets will look before inserting them into your website.
Payment information
Revcontent pays its publishers on a Net 30 basis, as long as they have a minimum of $50 in earnings. The platform sends its payments via PayPal, Automated Clearing House (ACH) in the US, and international wires for payments over $1000.
When to consider using Revcontent
Revcontent’s widget system is as close to unobtrusive as ads can get in our opinion. This makes it a good fit for publishers who are concerned that placing ads on their sites might negatively impact user experience.
On top of choosing which campaigns to display, you can customize your widgets from top to bottom to ensure that they reflect the design of your site.
The downside of using Revcontent is that – as we mentioned earlier – they are pretty strict about admitting new publishers. We would recommend you don’t apply until you’ve built up a solid content base to maximize your chances.
3. Media.net
The last pick on our list of Google AdSense alternatives is Media.net, the home of the Yahoo! Bing ads network. Media.net enables its publishers to pull campaigns from both search giants. In practice, this means that Media.net is very picky when it comes to its publishers, which includes renowned names such as Cosmopolitan and Forbes. Yes, they are the company behind the notoriously annoying Forbes interstitial ads.
Main features
- It boasts one of the most massive selections of advertisers in the world.
- Its robust targeting features mean that you’ll always find relevant ads for your pages.
- Provides in-depth ad customization options.
- Includes mobile-optimized ads.
Payment information
Payments are made on a Net 30 calendar, and publishers need to accumulate at least $100 before requesting one. You can choose to receive yours via PayPal or wire transfer.
When to consider using Media.net
If you’re the owner of an established site that receives lots of visits from the US, UK, or Canada, Media.net will be your go-to choice. Media.net also favors sites that are regularly updated with original content.
We won’t beat around the bush: Getting accepted into Media.net is far more difficult than with other ad networks, but it’s also one of the most established ones around. If you manage to get in, you’ll be in great company.
Conclusion
Online advertisements may not be a sure bet anymore, but these Google AdSense alternatives for WordPress are still worth considering. After all, an additional income stream is always welcome – as long as you keep your earning expectations grounded in reality.
In this piece, we’ve offered three alternatives to Google Ads. Let’s recap:
- Adsterra: A good starter network with various ad types.
- Revcontent: Great for sites that want to display ads without bothering their users, with tough admission criteria.
- Media.net: A premium ad network for high-traffic sites, with strict entry requirements.
Are there any other reliable Google AdSense alternatives for WordPress you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments section below!
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