Joining an ad network and placing ads on your blog is an excellent way to earn passive income. Generally speaking, the more traffic you have, the more money you’ll make with ads.
Ad networks will typically pay you based on Cost Per Thousand (CPM) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC). Cost Per Thousand means you will earn a certain amount of money for every 1,000 impressions (views) the ad receives. For example, if your Cost Per Thousand (CPM) is $4.00, that means you’ll earn $4.00 for every 1,000 views the ad gets.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) means you will receive a certain amount of money whenever the ad is clicked on. For example, if your Pay-Per-Click rate (PPC) is $0.80, that means you’ll earn $0.80 whenever the ad is clicked on.
Be careful not to click on your own ads, or to have friends and family click on your ads. This is grounds for being removed from an ad network.
Revenue Share
Ad networks can keep anywhere from 5-50% of your earnings. Before joining an ad network, you may want to find out what their revenue share is.
Should You Place Ads on Your Blog?
I’ve heard some bloggers say that ads are pointless if you aren’t getting at least 100,000 page views per month. I have to disagree. If you plan on making money with your blog by using ads, I think the best time to start is now (regardless of your page views). Here are my reasons why:
- Your readers will be used to seeing ads on your blog. So you won’t be surprising them with ads once you reach a certain number of page views.
- If you have a blog post that goes viral, trust me when I say, you’ll be glad you had your ads already in place.
- Even if you’re not making much from your ads, something is better than nothing. The money you are making can be used to pay for your hosting or a number of other blogging expenses.
If you feel nervous about putting ads on your blog because of what your readers may think, consider this. Ads are everywhere. I’m not saying that because everyone else has ads, you should too. What I’m saying is that we are all used to seeing ads. Whether we’re watching TV, or browsing the internet, ads are all around us. I don’t believe that you should worry about upsetting your audience, or losing your audience because you have ads on your blog.
*This page contains affiliate links to products I recommend. If you purchase something from this page, I may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
Top 5 Ad Networks for Bloggers
Google Adsense is great for new bloggers because it’s easy to join, and doesn’t require a minimum number of page views.
- $100.00 minimum for payment
- Paid monthly around the 21st of the month.
- Paid via electronic funds transfer (EFT) and Check
2. Mediavine
This is the ad network I use, and I highly recommend them. They don’t overload your site with ads, their ads don’t slow down your site, and they have some of the best customer service I’ve ever received.
- Requires at least 30,000 monthly page views
- Net 75 payment – paid 75 days from the last day each month
- Paid via PayPal
3. AdThrive
- Requires at least 100,000 monthly page views
- Has a waitlist
- Pays monthly via direct deposit
4. Media.net
- Pays monthly via PayPal
- $100.00 minimum for payment
5. Monumetric (Formally The Blogger Network)
- 4 program levels based on your montly page views
- Payments made via ACH or PayPal
Tips For Applying to Ad Networks
Before applying to any ad network, you want to make sure your blog is attractive and a valuable resource.
Here are my recommendations:
- Have at least 15 well-written blog posts published, with at least 500 words per post.
- Make sure you have an “about, contact, and privacy policy page. Here are some helpful policy generators: Disclosure Policy Generator | Privacy Policy Generator.
- Install a premium WordPress theme.
Do you have a favorite ad network that isn’t listed above?
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Will definitely be checking these out, thanks for sharing!
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by Mar.
Very helpful! I’ve been looking for somwhere to apply.
I’m glad this post helped!
This is great! I just had one to reach out to me (not on your list), but I read some pretty bad reviews about them so I passed. This is very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
It’s so important to do your research first. I hope you find a network you like!
These are really great ad network for bloggers! Very helpful!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
Thanks Belle!
SUPER interesting post – I’m still torn on ads for myself. I had them before but cut them after thinking it wasn’t worth cluttering my site with any advertisement outwardly, but I’ve heard they can be SO profitable for some people!
Coming Up Roses
If you receive a lot of traffic, ads are very profitable! If you’re thinking abut trying them out again, go with a network that lets you control how many ads will display on our site.
All fantastic ideas! I know people aren’t fans of display ads, but they’re the lifeblood for smaller blogs trying to cover costs. I’ve been using Adsense almost a year and have zero complaints. 🙂
Depending on how much traffic you get, I would consider switching to a different ad network. Typically, you’ll make a lot more than you do with Adsense.
This is a great breakdown. I have been wondering about this and the thoughts on this from other bloggers. Thanks for putting this together!
Thank you Elizabeth!
I’ve gotten rid of ads over the past few months but I used to use Adsense. I may start using another network once I get my pageviews up again.
I definitely recommend checking out other networks!
This is very informative. Definitely will be checking some of these da networks.
Thanks Bev! 🙂
This is incredibly helpful!! I just got started blogging so I’m still trying to figure out how everything works and ads were one of my biggest headaches!
I’m so glad you’ve found this post helpful Stephanie! 🙂
These are super helpful – It’s a bit overwhelming when you first start out adding ads to your blog. This makes it easier and a little goal for me to strive for. Totally pinning this for further reference.
Thanks again!
I haven’t decided whether I want ads or not. I’ll have to check out some of your sources, thanks!
Tiffany, your post was very helpful and straight to the point!
Wish I knew the policies before applying Ad on my website got declined once as I was merely having 5-6 posts.
You can always reapply Jenny! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
This is great thank you!
http://www.nikkisplate.com
Thanks Nikki!
Nice list of ad networks. I want to mention that Popads,Media.net and Infolinks works best for me while Bidvertiser, Chitika and RevenueHits are bad for Indian bloggers.