Cost Per Impression Ads
CPM Ads or cost per impression ads operate with you effectively leasing space on your niche website or web pages. Advertisers working with their Ad networks bid on the available spaces and the winning bidder's ads are applied to available sites via a wide range of factors that ultimately determine the CPM rate or revenue that one would receive from a site visitor viewing the Ad. The goal, of course, is to entice the site visitor to click on the Ad and ultimately take a step toward making or actually making a purchasing decision. The mechanics are interesting but that's not necessarily the purpose of those attempting to derive revenue thru the process.
So what is CPM? Literally, CPM stands for, the cost per impression, 1000 (Roman numeral M) impressions, via the CPM Ads. It is the most fundamental/basic method of advertising. The visitor literally just looks at the ad for some length of time. Again there are a lot of technicalities involved in what defines a look so I won't get into that here.
In searching for monetization opportunities for my niche website(s) I performed hundreds of web searches attempting to identify CPM ad networks that I could become associated with even though I had low traffic site(s). I need the ad impressions that I do receive to count. The information is out there but is in a very scattered form, hence the decision to provide it to you in a summarized manner. The table is developed with an ongoing work in progress focus and I will continue to develop it as time passes. As I completed the first pass at the table I identified some networks that I am not a part of but could definitely see fitting into future sites. More importantly, I noted how the mix of ad network conversion offerings could fit different website types that I developed and thus provide diversification. One specific example is that one of Google's policy updates (April 2017) states that their ads cannot run on sites using Pop Ads. So from a diversification standpoint, Pop Ads provide great revenue generation potential so those would need to be segregated or run on a site(s) where I didn't plan to have any Google Adsense advertising.
Additionally, affiliate networks provide monetization opportunities on a lead or acquisition basis, meaning that the publisher receives funds for the user taking action towards a purchase, essentially making you a partner with the advertiser.
In the tables you will notice some write-ups based on my own experiences with some of the ad networks/affiliate networks, take these into consideration along with any reviews that I link to in the table. I hope you find the information useful and of value.
Ad Network Table
| Adnetwork | Monetization Method | Minimum Payout ($) | Comments | Link to Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Adsense | CPC, CPM | 100 | The crème de le crème of Adnetworks. Consistent, high quality ads with good CPM levels. Only caveat is that you must pay heed to and abide by ad network policies. Currently no pops allowed on sites shared with Adsense Ads. See my full review for more information about Adsense. | MonetizePros Review |
| Chitika | CPA | 10 | Lower cpms than Adsense but high quality ads. The adnetwork also provides suggestions as to why your revenue or viewable ads may be below a certain threshold and offers suggestions to help you improve. | See my review for more details. |
| Clicksor | CPA, CPC, CPM, CPV, CPI, CPL | 50 | Compatible with Adsense, contextual Ads. This does not necessarily qualify as a low volume network as the minimum site views for admission is 50k per month. Does allow ads to appear on Adult sites. | Top Ad Network Review |
| Ayboll | CPA | 100 | I just signed up for this network it is similar to Adnow. I think the dashboard is much easier to read and understand. You could try both and see which results work best for you. | http://blognife.com/2016/08/02/ayboll-review-ads-like-content/ |
| Uber CPM | CPM | 10 | This certainly qualifies as an Adnetwork option for low volume or new sites as the approval is instant. I signed up with UberCpm but could not figure out how to navigate their system. I'll chalk it up to user error as opposed to their Adnetwork. | Adnetsreview |
| Propeller Ads | CPA | 100 | Stream-SEO Review | |
| MGID | CPC | 100 | MonetizePros Review | |
| Media.net | CPM, CPC | 100 | Arguably the best Adsense Alternative network out there. I was just approved for ads running on this site. Another one of my sites which gets 10 times the views as this one was not approved. Go figure. The ad set up was straight forward. Unlike AdSense however each new site must be individually approved before ads are allowed. I'll update my feedback as I begin to see results. | Stream SEO Review |
| Adnow | CPM, CPC | 20 | MonetizePros Review | |
| Spoutable.com | CPM, CPC | 100 | Need at least 1000 page views per month. I was kicked off for lack of page views. | Bloggers Talent Review |
| Criteo | CPM, CPC | Great review of this adnetwork, left out a few details about minimum payout but worth a read. | Fatstackblog Review | |
| PopAds or PopCash | CPM, CPC | 10 & 5 | Popunder be mindful of Adsense rules. No minimum traffic requirements. PopAds works for adult or non-adult sites. PopAds has been around the longest. Positive reviews for both. I've included two, one for PopAds and one that offers a comparison. | SEO Free Tips PopAds Review PopAds PopCash Comparison |
| Revenue Hits | CPA | For me, low quality ads. | MonetizePros | |
| Bidvertiser | CPA | low payout / low quality ads | Best Blogger Lab | |
| Skimlinks | CPA, CPC | 10 | Affiliate network similar to viglink, inline text is converted to product links. Difficult time finding reviews, most recent is from Aug 2016. | Blognife Review |
| Peerfly | CPA | 50 | Affiliate. Easy to join. The stated advertiser list seems impressive. Works for adult or non-adult. But like most of the affiliate networks you make money for clicks or purchases thru your site. So the offered / advertised product has to be compelling. CPM on the other hand provides revenue for views or clicks. | Root of Income Peerfly Review |
| PopTM | CPC | 10 | Popunder be mindful of Adsense rules. No minimum traffic requirements. Adult traffic accepted. | Monetizepros PopTM Review |
| Adhitz | CPC | 25 | Been around since 2009 but one review indicated only 900 publishers...seems low maybe not. | MultipleSideIncomes Adhitz Review |
| Yllix | CPM, CPC, CPV | 1 | Adsreview | |
| YesAdvertising | CPC, CPL, CPA, CPM | 50 | Extremely flexible ad network that let's you create ads and based on your own CPM threshhold. Numerous choices of ad vendors and ad types. A little confusing to initially setup. | Monetizepros Review |
| Ad Fly | CPC | 5 | This is an URL shortener Ad network. There's a little more strategy involved in using this service effectively. This is one of a few monetization avenues that pays you a referral fee for life. | Adnetsreview |
Affiliate Network Table
| Affiliate Network | Monetization Method | Minimum Payout ($) | Comments | Link to Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shareasale.com | CPA , CPL , CPS , CPC | 50 | Shareasale was the first Affilliate Network I applied to and was accepted as a member. I had no meaningful traffic at the time so it is available for those just starting out. I have only recently began focusing on affiliate related activity which led me to create this table and analyze other users feedback. They have a large number of merchants. And I've had no negative interactions. Shareasale has a referral program for leads that result in new publishers or merchants. | Affpaying Review of Shareasale |
| Commission Junction | CPA | 25 | This was my 2nd affiliate network acceptance. Again they accepted me on low traffic. CJ has a healthy number of companies who actively pursue the publishers based on your stated marketing interest. This is a plus since a number of the merchants are those that may not be well known but have sterling reputations in their niche. | Aff Paying Review of Commission Junction |
| Viglink | CPA | 10 | Viglink is a hybrid Adnetwork and Affiliate network. It creates in text links that provide affiliate opportunities based on the context of your blog post. See my full write up here. | ShoutMeLoud Viglink Review |