Last week, I shared my experience as a member of BlogHer Publishing Network, a collection of 3,000 blogs that run advertising supplied by BlogHer, the (mainly) women’s online community.
In the two-plus years I’ve been on the network, it’s brought me a steady trickle of ad revenue, and indirectly, more lucrative work.
But BlogHer isn’t the only ad network around. In fact, if you start digging, you’ll quickly find dozens of other companies that sell advertising on blogs. Some are big. Some are small. Some specialize. Some are DIY efforts that bloggers have teamed up to create.
I can’t possibly list all of them here. But I am sharing 8 (keep reading) to give you a sense of what’s out there, along with some resources you can use to see what else is available.
A few tips to keep in mind as you start looking at blog ad networks.
- Most ad networks refer to bloggers as “publishers” and advertisers as “advertisers.”
- There are many different types of blog ads – banner ads; contextual ads; inline text ads (where the ad is linked to a word or phrase in a blog post), and a lot more.
- There are also different ad payment schemes, including ads that pay based on click throughs, impressions or how many people subscribe to or buy something from the advertiser.
- To find out about an ad network’s requirements, look for a “Publishers” or “FAQ” page. Some only work with blogs that have a minimum amount of monthly page views or traffic or have other requirements that bloggers need to meet.
- Some ad networks won’t work with blogs that run adult or other content they find objectionable – make sure you read the fine print.
- Some ad networks require that their ads be placed in a specific position on your blog – if you’re running ads from more than one network, you’ll need to make sure you don’t run afoul of any of their placement restrictions.
- If the ad network’s got a blog read it – it’s a good way to get a feel for the culture of the business.
- Before joining a network, find out what other bloggers think of it by reading comments on the company’s website or blog, asking bloggers you know for their feedback, or doing a search on Google, Bing or Twitter.
Blog Advertising Networks
Here’s an alphabetized list of some advertising networks that cater to small, mid-sized and big blogs:
1. BlogAds – This ad network works with niche blogs that have as few as 30,000 impressions per month, or “sites with a broader focus (ie gossip or humor) typically need at least 500,000 to 1 million monthly impressions before they start attracting advertiser interest.”
2. Chitika – The company says it places 4 billion ads a month on more than 200,000 sites, and specializes in search targeted, mobile and local ads.
3. Federated Media – This San Francisco digital media and marketing company got started selling ads on big blogs such as Dooce, Boing Boing and Apartment Therapy. The company has added other business lines since, and continues to work with mainly well-trafficked blogs. The company splits its publishers into three main groups: living, business and technology.
4. Google AdSense – What many bloggers think of when they think of ad networks. AdSense offers display, text, video and mobile ads as well as link units. Find out more in this AdSense program policies page. AdSense is one of several publisher solutions that Google offers.
5. Lijit – The formerly independent ad network acquired by Federated Media in October 2011. A blogger friend recently referred to Lijit as “Federated Lite” because the network works with blogs with much lower monthly page views than its big brother. In addition to advertising, Lijit gives publishers audience analytics and “reader engagement tools.”
6. Izea – This social media marketing company offers sponsored blog posts, sponsored tweets and display advertising to blogs with a minimum of 2,000 page views a month. Apply to Izea’s network through SocialSpark.
7. Living on the Cheap – I included this network of cooperatively owned frugal living blogs to show that you don’t need to sign up with a big company to run ads on your blog – sometimes all you need a little help from your friends. This collection of 32 city-based blogs “help readers find ways to not merely survive tough economic times, but to enjoy themselves and not feel deprived.” Find out about opportunities to start LOTC blogs in other cities by writing editors@livingonthecheap.com.
8. Sway Group – Launched in June 2011 as a sort of talent agency for mommy bloggers, this advertising network now represents “some of the most well-known and rising star bloggers across multiple categories,” including five of the top 10 women bloggers in the United States, according to this May 18 Deseret News story. According to a note on Sway’s website, the company is only accepting new bloggers on a limited basis.
More on Blog Ad Networks
Here are a couple more helpful resources on blog advertising:
List of ad networks – Empower Network’s list of more than 100 online ad networks offering display ads, contextual ads, inline text ads, banner ads, self-service ads on Facebook and other social media, media buys and more. Includes mobile ad networks. Updated on May 6, 2012.
13 options for bloggers to make money from advertising on their blogs – ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse explains the meaning of terms such as CPM (cost per impression) and CPA (cost per acquisition) and how bloggers can make money from non-traditional ad opportunities including sponsored posts, job boards and newsletter ads.
If you run ads on your blog, which ad network do you use and how’s it working out for you? Let other bloggers know by leaving a comment.
I like that term — publisher. Sounds better than saying “blogger” and seems to garner more respect.
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and
wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts.
In any case I will be subscribing to your feed and
I hope you write again soon!
Thanks, glad you liked it.
Michelle
Hi Michelle, thank you for this good information. BlogHer is my holy grail but I’m new to the ad network game, and this is really one of the most useful articles I’ve found. I’m giving IZEA and Ligit a try right now, so thank you for that!
Cheers,
Maggie
Great post. I’m wondering if I can use multiple networks at the same time – e.g. ads from BlogHer and Lijit on the same blog post.
Tracey:
The answer is – read the fine print. All ad networks have terms and conditions that bloggers agree to if they want ads from that network to run on their websites. BlogHer, for example, doesn’t care if you run other ads as long as the BlogHer ad unit appears above everything else; in fact, it HAS to appear above everything else. I’m not as familiar with the ins & outs of other networks, you’ll have to do that homework yourself. If you can’t find the information online without applying first, write and ask for the information or a sample copy of the contract.
Michelle Rafter
Thanks for this post, I didn’t know some of these networks. I giggled a little at the “as few as 30,000 impressions per month” – I would like to have that 🙂 But I know what you mean, and my blog is only couple months old.
Good Article!!
🙁 But I have not so much visitors per month. 😉 But I have approved adsense account from 1.5year. But earned only 35$ 🙁 waiting for reaching threshold
Great content! I’m just getting started and have studied the BlogHer model and figured there were others out there. Thank you so much for a clear and concise guide. It gives me hope (I’m getting 6000/mth and steadily climbing) that there are avenues available for those of us who aren’t Dooce.
Glad you liked it. I will be updating this sometime in 2013 to include other ad networks that I’ve discovered since first writing this.
Michelle
Thanks for the info. I’ve been with Federated Media for the past 3+ years and they were GREAT until they dropped FoodBuzz and added Ligit. With Ligit, I’m only earning 10% of the revenue I used to earn with FoodBuzz. The only good thing about the change is that third party advertising is now an option; it used to be exclusive.
I’m hearing reports that BlogHer is not as lucrative as it used to be. With 60K+ monthly pageviews, my best source of revenue to date has been Google Adsense. I do work with IZEA’s Social Spark for sponsored posts, but I’m very selective. I’m looking forward to your update on what is available to blog publishers.
Thanks for this! Now I’m using IZEA Ads on my blog.I hope the earning is good here
We just launched http://www.fittyads.com which we plan on being the “go-to” for blog advertising. It’s a self serve ad network that allows you to set your own pricing within our Ad Marketplace.
Check it out and hit me up with any questions. Blake
For WordPress blog publishers, prosperent has a nice plugin http://goo.gl/wPxkgQ
Thanks for sharing.
which blog network best fit our products-oriental design,hand painted women dress?
Hi Guys,
Some of the networks that were mentioned above are good but i recently spent some time looking for a site with offers that converts for real. I.e. sites that filters the offers and provide us with quality and not crap.
Let me recommend advertising network where you will find that they also have good payouts and account managers that seems to care about keeping you happy.
I’ve been recently looking for effective means in blog advertising, glad that I’ve found your great list!
There have been a various networks of online advertising today, but have to make sure to use those effective ones and have high positive reviews. Anyway, thanks for sharing this post. Got an idea to which ones to choose.
Great list for bloggers or publishers.
i’m wondering if your list has grown in the last 3 years – have any new blog advertising networks come up besides onmyminddailycom – and if so, which ones would you recommend as of january 2015 ?
I’m currently struggling with growing my audience and raising my visitors numbers…it’s not as easy as it sounds. *ha* I have an issue with AdSense…I’ve blogged off & on for over 10 years, but never publicly and never with the aim to earn any income from it. I applied for AdSense YEARS ago, when it was brand new, not understanding what it was and of course, I was denied. When I tried again after starting this new public blog (in March 2016!!) I was denied again. I followed the “tips” advice that came with my email denial and set up a new account and applied again. Same thing. Denied. At one point, I accidentally signed up using my husband’s gmail account (he’d been using my laptop and I didn’t realize he hadn’t signed out!) and WAS ACCEPTED?!?! The man barely knows what a blog is!! Argh. So now I don’t know what to do. The best I can tell, you must have AdSense to monetize on YouTube? (is that even right?) but I don’t want to have to use his account to create a YT channel and stream vids to my blog from there!
Can anyone help me understand this mess? Google is no help whatsoever.
🙁
I am using some of the ad networks you list, but my numbers just aren’t high enough to matter yet. YET! I realize I’m terribly new, so I’m being patient. I wondered though, does the fact that my blog doesn’t fit neatly into one niche cause a problem? My tagline is “living with diabetes, depression and HOPE!” but I also post about our years of homeschooling and family life and also I share the story of our 30+ year marriage that has survived in spite of a horribly dark, painful secret that is at long last, being healed. So I post a lot about marriage and dealing with certain issues successfully. My initial reason for going public with this blog, besides earning a bit of income, was to share this story after all the years of suffering in silence so that hopefully others won’t go through the same thing, thinking they are the only ones. It is linked to a medical office’s facebook page & website because of this story.
Thanks for any insight! (if you want to read our story, click “the dark secret” at the top of my blog. 🙂 Please leave your thoughts too!