Starting a blog is an exciting experience, right?
You are finally doing something to share your passion and make a living while doing so.
It is even more exciting when you get that first check after finally monetizing your blog. As a blogger, there is no better reward for your toil, than making a comfortable part-time or full-time living from your writing.
Most bloggers will attest to the fact that advertising is the first channel for revenue generation that they try.
If you are a new blogger, then you need to know which are the best advertising networks that you can use.
How do you earn money from advertisements placed on your blog?
- Cost-per-click (CPC) – When someone clicks on your ads, you get paid a certain amount.
- Cost-per-impression (CPM) – You get paid a certain fee for every 1,000 views that the advert gets.
- Cost-per-view (CPV) – It is the same as CPM but this time based on the number of views a video gets. This is what is used on YouTube
- Cost-per-engagement (CPE) – tis is paid out when viewers actually engage with the ads.
- Cost-per-action (CPA) – this is paid out when viewers perform the desired final action, like fill in a form or buy a product.
- Fixed/Flat Rate – this is a fee agreed upon for placing an ad on your blog pages, and you are paid whether your viewers engage with it or not.
Most ad networks use the CPM, when paying you for the number of impressions you get on your blog.
In this article, we bring you 10 of the best ad networks which you can use to monetize your blog.
We also share the pros and cons of each network, so you can make an informed choice as to which one best suit your blog.
We will be looking at:
- Google AdSense
- Mediavine
- PropellerAds
- Infolinks
- AdThrive
- SHE Media
- RevenueHits
- net
- Monumetric
- Ezoic
#1: Google AdSense
This is one of the oldest, albeit the first, advertising networks that bloggers sign up for.
It is run by the largest digital advertising networks in the world and is very popular.
Google AdSense does not have a traffic volume requirement which makes it easy for most bloggers to start monetizing their blogs.
Here are some of the things you need to know about the network
Requirements:
- A blog or website with interesting and unique content
- The blog complies with the AdSense Program Policies
- You must be 18+ years old
- The blog must be 6 months old.
Check on Google’s advertising rules and be careful to avoid the two-click penalty for publishers.
Make sure that your content is original, and that you have enough content on your blog to justify the placement of ads.
Google AdSense Payments
Google AdSense gives 68% of display advertising revenue to the publisher.
For every $100 that you generate on your blog, they pay you $68.
For AdSense for search, Google pays 51% of the revenue to the publisher.
Google AdSense Rates are consistent, no matter what your geographic location is.
All payable earnings are submitted once a month between 21st and 25th.
The payment method will depend on where you are in the world, but they commonly use:
- Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
- Checks
- Single Euro Payments Area
- Wire Transfer
- Rapida
Your payment threshold will depend on the payment mode that you choose.
Google AdSense Pros
Easy sign-up process – Many people who are new to the concept of using advertising networks, prefer Google because the sign-up process is quite simple. You go to AdSense and click on the “Get Started” button, follow the simple process, and then wait for approval.
One account fits all – With this network, one account is all you need to run ads on all your blogs. You can even use it to monetize a YouTube channel too.
Customizable ads – You have the option of changing the color, location, and size of the ads so they suit the design of your blog.
Google AdSense Cons
High payment threshold – To get your first check from Google AdSense, you must have generated at least $100 on your blog. If your site has low traffic, then this may take a long while to become a reality.
Approval is not for everyone – Although signing up for Google AdSense is an easy process, it does not guarantee that your blog will get approved. To avoid applying multiple times and being turned away, make sure that your site meets all their requirements.
Account shutdown – One thing that people complain about Google AdSense is that they can shut down your account without any warning.
If you inadvertently violate any of their policies, they will shut down your account, and getting back into the program, even after rectifying the violation is very difficult.
#2: Mediavine
Mediavine is promoted as an advertising network that does all the heavy lifting for you so you can focus on creating amazing content.
The network was created by content creators for content creators.
It started in 2004 and represents more than 7,000 blogs on their network today.
They do all the ad management for you including managing our ad server, optimizing ad placements, liaise with advertisers for you, and a lot more.
Requirements:
- Good standing with Google AdSense
- Long-form content
- Brand-safe content for advertisers
- Verified “whitelisted” content written by humans, not bots
Your blog must be having at least 50,000 sessions per month.
It used to be 25,000 sessions per month but the recent spike in interest made them change this requirement to narrow down on the people they represent.
Mediavine Payments
Mediavine uses NET 65 terms when paying publishers. This means that they pay you 65 days from the end of the month when your ad revenue was generated.
All payments are made on the 5th of the month unless it is on a weekend, and the payment is pushed to the next business day.
They have a wide range of payment platforms such as:
- ACH USA
- ACH International
- PayPal
- International wire transfer
- S wire transfer
The minimum payment threshold is $25, except for ACH International which is $200.
For every year that you use their network, they reward you with a loyalty bonus, which means that your revenue rates increase annually.
Mediavine Pros
Made for content creators by content creators – this has made it a popular choice for bloggers since it focuses on content creators.
Higher earning capacity – Mediavine pays out more to publishers than any other network.
Guaranteed payments -Mediavine will pay you’re the ad revenue that you generated even if the advertiser has not yet submitted payment to Mediavine.
Fast load times – ads from Mediavine load 200%fasterthan ads from other advertising networks.
Account Management – they manage everything about your account so you can concentrate on creating engaging content.
Mediavine Cons
High exclusivity – this is the major issue that bloggers have with Mediavine. Getting accepted by the network is very hard.
If you have just started blogging and you do not have a high volume of traffic on your blog, then you will not be accepted.
Narrow niche focus -Mediavine is willing to work within any niche as long as you have quality content. However, they tend to prefer certain niches.
It was initially created for food bloggers, but they widened their circle.
They prefer to work with bloggers in travel, education, fashion, personal finance, hobbies, home gardening, parenting, fitness, style. Food and drink, arts and entertainment niches.
Long wait for payments – The fact that you have to wait for 65 days from the time you start generating revenue on your blog can be a setback for new entrants into the blogging industry.
#3: PropellerAds
PropellerAds started in 2011 and today, reaches over a billion people with their adverts.
They work with over 150,000 publishers and have 25 million monthly tacked conversions from over 70,000 advertisements per month.
Requirements:
PropellerAds is perhaps one of the most relaxed advertising networks when it comes to the requirements to join.
They don’t have any traffic requirements and you can start a blog today and begin earning money on their network immediately.
Their signup page is very simple. You simply choose to join as an advertiser or publisher, follow a few simple steps and you are ready to go.
PropellorAds Payments
From 2018, PropellerAds started making payouts every week. A new user will get paid 14days after they get their first impressions.
They have a minimum payment threshold of $5, which allows bloggers to start earning money within a short period.
They have an automated payment system, so you will get your funds every Thursdays as long as it is above $5
The payment platforms that they use include:
- PayPal
- Payoneer
- ePayments
- WebMoney
- Skrill
- Wire transfer.
For PayPal, Skrill, ePayments, and WebMoney, you must have $5 for the payment to be sent, for Payoneer, it is $20 and for wire transfer, the threshold is $500.
PropellorAds Pros
Easy signup process – You don’t have a minimum traffic requirement to sign up with PropellerAds. This makes this network preferable to entrants into the blogging world.
Worldwide coverage – PropellorAds is available all over the world even if the bog is not written in English.
Google AdSense compatibility – PropellorAds works quite well with the Google AdSense platform.
Quick Payments – They have a low payment threshold and pay every week. There are no long waiting periods for you to start seeing some money in your account.
PropellerAds Cons
Low payment for vernacular websites – If you have a website that is written in your local dialect, or languages such as Swahili, Spanish, French, etc., you will get a lower payment rate.
Has a bad user experience – ads from this network can be of low quality, intrusive and annoying to users. This could make you lose traffic to your blog.
No header bidding – this is the process where publishers allow advertisers to bid to get space on the blog. This is competitive and enables you to earn more money if you have a high-quality website.
The fact that they don’t allow header bidding means that you don’t get the best prices on the market.
#4: Infolinks
Founded in 2016, Infolinks is the third-largest advertising network in the market. Their strength lies in matching publishers with advertisers and this has made them quite popular among niche bloggers.
Requirements:
Infolinks does not have a minimum page view threshold which makes it very good for new entrants into the blogosphere.
However, they do not allow any content that has any of the following:
- Violent messages and images
- Discriminatory content
- Content that promotes illegal activities
- Pornographic or obscene content
- Online gambling content
If your blog content does not have any of the above content types, then you will be accepted into the network and you can begin making money on your blog.
Infolinks Payments
Infolinks gives publishers 65% of the revenue generated from ads placed on their blogs.
They give out payments 45 days from the end of the month when you reached the minimum payments threshold, depending on the payments platform that you opt to use.
The payment platforms that Infolinks uses are:
- Wire transfer
- PayPal
- ACH for U.S. bank accounts only
- eCheck
Their blanket minimum payment threshold is $50 across all the above platforms.
Infolinks Pros
Easy application and acceptance – This is perhaps the easiest advertising network to join when you want to monetize your blog. They do not have a minimum traffic requirement and the signup process is quite simple.
Works well with other ad networks – You can have ads placed by Google AdSense together with those from Infolinks without any problem.
Numerous ad options – There are various ad options, such as in-tag, in-fold, in-text and in-frame ads. You may also customize the ads on your blog.
Cover a wide range of niches – Infolinks boasts to work with a wide range of industries. This means that they can accurately match your blog with advertisers no matter what you are blogging about.
Infolinks Cons
Low payment rates – Infolinks does not pay out as much as other advertising networks.
Low earnings for non-US bloggers – They prefer to work with US-based traffic. If the traffic you get on your blog comes from non-US regions, then your rate will even be lower.
#5: AdThrive
AdThrive was started in 2013 by a couple, who worked in the blogging industry. They wanted a way to work with other bloggers and offer them a way to make a substantial income from their blogs.
All you have to do to join AdThrive is go to their main page and hit the “Apply Now” or “Join AdThrive” button.
Next, click on “Start Application”, fill out the form and check your email for more instructions which they will mail to you.
Requirements:
AdThrive does have a few stringent requirements that you must meet if you want to be accepted in their network:
- You must have 100,000 monthly page views which have to be proven using Google Analytics.
- The majority of the traffic on your blog should come from the United States.
- You should have no penalties meted against your blog by other advertising networks.
- Unique, original, and engaging content, which is what their advertisers are looking for.
- Your blog must have Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protection.
- You must have a minimum of 3 ads placed in highly visible locations on your blog.
AdThrive Payments
AdThrive pays out 75% of the revenue generated by ads to their publishers.
The network also has a NET-45 payment mode, which means you have to wait for 45 days after the end of the month when you met the minimum payment threshold.
The payment platforms that AdThrive uses are:
- PayPal
- Paper check mailed to you
- Wire transfer in the US
- Non-US wire transfer paid in US dollars
- Non-US wire transfer paid in other currencies.
- eCheck or local bank transfer
- Direct deposit (Domestic ACH) only available in the US
The payment threshold for AdThrive is $25 for all the above payment platforms, except for wire transfer which is $100. All payments in other currencies will attract a conversion fee.
AdThrive Pros
Guaranteed payments – whether the advertiser has paid AdThrive or not, the network guarantees that you get paid for the revenue you generate.
High ad revenue – Due to their higher rates, AdThrive comfortable boasts of a 73% increase in earnings for all blogs that have joined their network.
This means that you can earn more money, whether you have the same ads or even fewer.
SEO support – AdThrive offers a free SEO course to bloggers who join their network, thereby ensuring that all their publishers can earn high rankings on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Google Publishing Partner Certified – AdThrive boasts of being the biggest GCPP advertising network in the world and their practices have been vetted by Google.
They work intimately together to give high-quality features and information to publishers.
AdThrive Cons
US traffic preference – AdThrive prefers traffic from US users, which can be a great downside for bloggers whose main audience resides outside the US.
100,000 qualification views – The requirement to have 100,000 monthly views on your blog makes it very difficult for bloggers who are just starting out to join the network.
Exclusivity – AdThrive also chooses certain niches to work with. This means that you may have the 100,000 minimum visits per month, and they will still turn you down based on the niche that you are working in.
#6: SHE Media
As you have probably guessed from the name “SHE Media”, this is an advertising network created for women by women. The network also runs its own blogs, BlogHer and SheKnows.
This does not mean that the publishers must necessarily be women, but the content on the blogs must be directed at products and services for women.
Requirements:
SHE Media has a lot of eligibility requirements for publishers wishing to join their network:
- Brand-safe sites that are updated regularly and must have been running for 3 months.
- Strong adherence to their editorial guidelines.
- You need 20,000 views per month
- You must have an exclusive digital ad relationship that gives a comScore to SheKnows/Penske Corporation
- A minimum of 70% female audience
- A minimum of 80% US-based traffic
- A minimum of 60% visibility
- A maximum of 5% invalid traffic (IVT)
- 2 standard display ads on every page
They manually review your website and get back to you within 2 weeks.
SHE Media Payments
SHE Media uses a NET-60 payment mode. International publishers are paid via PayPal and US publishers and paid through Direct Deposit/ACH or check if the ACH option is not available.
SHE Media Pros
Site speed enhancement – SHE Media understands that site speed is a ranking factor on the search engines and makes sure that they work on their cod to make sure that your pages load quickly.
Their Boomerang code allows your content to load before the ads, which means people start reading your content before the ads come up.
Certified Google Publishing Partner – She Media has been certified as a Google Publishing Partner.
Female-centric content – This is an advertising network that allows female bloggers to earn while blogging about issues that affect women only.
This way, advertisers who target women first are plenty within the network.
Social media monetization – You can earn money from writing sponsored posts on social media platforms. However, this option is only available to publishers already accepted to the network.
SHE Media Cons
Limited payment options – They have few payment options even for US-based publishers, and bloggers who live in regions where PayPal payments are not accepted are locked out.
Not for every blogger – Although the fact that they concentrate on female-centric content can be considered advantageous to women, it can also lock out many female publishers whose audience is not strictly female.
SHE Media also has a reference for bloggers who write about lifestyle, parenting, wellness, and food.
Focusing on US traffic – If your blog audience comes from outside the US, you may not be eligible.
High traffic threshold – SHE Media has a high traffic threshold which locks out most bloggers, especially those just starting out.
#7: RevenueHits
RevenueHits was founded in 2008 and is a self-service blog ad network that is run and owned by Intango.
Intango is a bigger advertising technology company and has worked with over 20,000 publishers to date.
Requirements:
RevenueHits has a simple one-click signup process. This makes it very easy for you to join the network.
You simply need to fill out your URL, Name, category, and other small details.
There are no minimum traffic requirements which is great for newbie bloggers. However, they still need to manually approve your site and also monitor the quality of traffic you are bringing to advertisers.
RevenueHits Payments
RevenueHits uses a NET-30 payment mode.
They work with the following payment platforms:
- PayPal
- Payoneer
- Wire transfer
The minimum payment threshold for Payoneer and PayPal is $20 while that for wire transfer is $500.
RevenueHits Pros
No minimum traffic requirement – This is great news for newbie bloggers who can start earning money right from the get-go.
Global coverage – you can earn money no matter where your primary traffic comes from.
100% fill rate – The advertising network guarantees a 100% fill rate. This is because they have a unique optimization engine that allows you to display the most profitable ads, no matter which region your traffic comes from, and promptly.
Safe and Clean advertisement – They ensure that only clean and safe ads are displayed on your blog which is great for the brand safety of your blog.
RevenueHits Cons
An outdated dashboard – Although the RevenueHits dashboard is more competitive compared to that of most advertising networks, it could do with a much-needed interface design upgrade.
Cost Per Action focus – With RevenueHits, you can earn money through user actions and impressions, but they do have a penchant for Cost-Per-Action (CPA).
This works for and against you in that you will make more money through CPA, but you will not be earning money from your traffic unless your audience makes purchases after clicking on the ads displayed on your blog.
#8: Media.net
Media.net has been servings ads to bloggers for quite a long time, with a database of over 500,000 publishers from all over the world. It is one of the top 5 advertising technology companies in the world.
They boast of building products with AI earning capabilities, which optimize the display of relevant ads and offers, which strike a balance between revenue generation and user experience.
They also claim to have the best user privacy protections in the market.
They offer sustainable value in the long term, gives a high ROI to advertisers while maximizing your revenue generation.
Requirements:
Media.net claims that you can get started on their network within 10 seconds.
They have a long list of requirements that you must fulfill, and we shall only mention those that are of importance to you as a blogger.
Their network only accepts blogs that:
- Do not infringe on third-party intellectual property rights, and regularly updated, original content.
- The majority of traffic should come from the US, Canada, and the UK.
- The content must be primarily written in English.
- Although there is no minimum traffic threshold, they do require your blog to have a reasonable amount of traffic.
- Do not display too many adverts.
Media.net Payments
Media.net uses a NET-30 payment mode.
All payments are made through Payoneer or wire transfer and the payment threshold is $100.
Media.net Pros
Free to join – You can join the network without paying anything.
Contextual ads – these are ads that their platform deems to be relevant to your readers based on the topics you blog about, which leads to a higher click rate.
High Revenue Per Thousand Impressions – Media.net has the highest RPM rate when compared to that offered by other networks including Google AdSense.
Works well with other networks – You can run Media.net advertisements at the same time as those from Google AdSense.
Fantastic Customer Support – Media.net assigns you a particular customer support agent when you join their network. This person will help you set up your ads and answer any questions that you may have.
Media.net Cons
Delayed Revenue results – Media.net does not show real-time results on their dashboard when it comes to the amount of money you have made. You must wait for 24 hours to get updates.
Does not fit everyone – Some niches claim not to make as much from Media.net as other niches within its network.
This means that you have to choose your blog topics and name very carefully when you want to join their network.
Traffic exclusivity – Media.net requires that the majority of your blog traffic must come from the UK, US, and Canada.
The content must also be written in English, which essentially cuts out bloggers who come from non-English speaking countries.
#9: Monumetric
Monumetric is another huge advertising network that was founded by bloggers.
They aim to provide a transparent advertising network for their bloggers to facilitate better data analysis to see how best to increase your revenue as a blogger.
They say that most advertising networks do not have transparent information on performance and other metrics which a publisher would like to know.
With Monumetric, you know exactly how well your blog advertisements are performing.
Requirements:
Monumetric has a 4-tier program for bloggers based on the number of visitors that you receive per month.
- Propel – 10,000 to 80,000 visitors
- Ascend – 80,000 to 500,000 visitors
- Stratos – 500,000 to 1,000,000 visitors
- Apollo – Over 1,000,000 visitors
NOTE: during the Covid-19 pandemic, Monumetric increased the minimum traffic threshold from 10,000 to 35,000 visitors for 6 months, due to the high number of bloggers who applied to join the network.
They also have a stringent set of eligibility requirements that you have to meet:
- You must have a good standing with Google AdSense
- You must have a minimum of 10,000 visitors per month
- You must have original content that is not offensive
- The blog must be run on the WordPress and Blogger platforms
- Must have a minimum of 6 ads on each page
- The sidebar for your advertisements should be 300 pixels wide
- You must have 50% of your traffic coming from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia
Monumetric Payments
Monumetric uses a NET-60 payment mode.
They give you 75% of the advertising revenue generated on your blog.
Monumetric pays out only through PayPal and bank transfers.
Monumetric Pros
High payment rate – at 75%, Monumetric offers the highest payment rate in the industry.
Manage your ads – You have the option of placing the advertisements on your blog, or they can do it for you on the backend.
Choose pages to run ads – Monumetric allows you to decide which pages you want to display ads on. You do not have to run ads on every page of your blog.
Offers greater control – You have the option to decide which advert categories should appear on your blog.
For example, if you don’t want ads that deal with gambling to be shown on your blog, then you can blacklist them.
This gives you more control to protect your blog brand from showing ads that you consider sensitive and those which could tarnish the good name of your blog.
Offers great support – Monumetric has an excellent customer support team. They can answer your questions at any time and with a lot of efficacies. Their responses are fast and helpful.
Monumetric Cons
Startup fees – Only bloggers with more than 70,000 visitors per month can join the network for free. If you have less than these, you will have to pay a $99 setup fee, when suing the Propel tier.
Minimum traffic requirement – Your blog must garner at least 10,000 visitors per month (at least 35,000 in 2021). You cannot use the network with this traffic volume.
Secondly, 50% of this traffic should from Canada, the US, UK, and Australia to qualify.
Long approval time – Monumetric does take a long time to get back to your after you apply, so you are left in limbo as to whether you have qualified or not.
Long payment period – you will wait for at least 60 days to get paid after your first month of running ads served by Monumetric.
#10: Ezoic
Ezoic was founded by the former CEO of the first Facebook advertising network, Dwayne Lefleur, in 2010.
It was created in a manner that allowed content creators to earn more money from the advertisement placed on their blogs.
It has a database of over 10,000 publishers and has helped them earn more money by developing a better user experience with their advertisements.
They however claim that they are not defined as an advertising network, preferring to been seen like Adobe, in that they provide several products that publishers can choose from.
Requirements:
There are a few requirements that you must fulfill before you can be accepted into the Ezoic advertising network for bloggers.
- You must adhere strictly to Google’s Ad Policy
- You must have a traffic minimum of 10,000 visitors per month.
- You must have original content that does not infringe on the property rights of others.
- You must have a good reputation with Google Ad Manager or Google AdSense if you have ever worked with them
- You must have a record of your traffic.
Ezoic Payments
Ezoic uses a NET-45 payment mode, even though they proclaim to use a NET-30 payment structure.
Ezoic has a payment threshold of $20.
Ezoic uses the following payment platforms:
- PayPal
- Check
- International wire transfer via Payoneer
- Direct Deposit
Ezoic Pros
Simple setup process – By answering a few questions on their application form, you can join the network very fast
Offers ad testing services – Ezoic allows you to do A/B testing among others, to see which ads will generate the most revenue on your blog.
There are various ad combinations to choose from and see which one is the best for you.
Affiliate program available – They allow you to earn money whenever you refer someone to join their network.
Fantastic Analytics – There is a lot of information displayed by Ezoic on their dashboard which enables you to see how well your blog is performing.
The dashboard shows you your page views, average engagement time, bounce rate, and the earnings per thousand visitors (EMPV)
Global traffic allowed – unlike other networks that seem to focus on US-based traffic, you can join the network as long as you meet the minimum traffic threshold, no matter where it is coming from.
This means that you can qualify even if you don’t have a single visitor from the US.
Excellent customer service – Eozoic’s customer service is hailed for being useful and fast in their response time.
Ezoic Cons
Puzzling ad placement – When you join Ezoic for free, then they will place an ad at the bottom of your page and they will keep all the revenue it generates.
You can choose to pay a commission of 5% to 10% so they can remove the ad from your blog pages.
However, this is not so bad in the end, because they allow you to keep 100% of the revenue generated from the other ads on your blog pages.
However, a fee of 5% to 10% of the revenue generated by that one advertisement location is still quite high, especially if it has the highest revenue generation rate on your blog pages.
Minimum traffic requirement – With a minimum traffic volume requirement of 10,000 visitors per month, newbie bloggers and blogs with lower traffic volumes cannot be accepted.
Steep learning curve – given that they offer a lot of information about the ad performance, it will take some time to master how to optimize advertisement revenue generation on your blog pages.
In Conclusion
At the beginning stage of a blogger’s journey, revenue generated from advertisements is the lifeline that keeps them motivated to keep on blogging.
Working with the best advertising networks for bloggers, you can generate a sizable passive stream of income to keep you going.
It also helps bloggers understand how they can find other ways of making passive income on their blogs.
The best thing about using ads on your blog is that you do not have to create content that is directly promoting the advertisers displayed on your pages.
You can be blogging about parenting and find an advertisement for diapers placed on your blog, even when you do not mention diapers in your blog.
The way to benefit from using these advertising networks is simply to keep people coming back to your blog – crate high quality and engaging content and you will earn a tidy sum when working with these networks.
If you are a newbie and want to start earning money right away, then simply try out those that have no minimum traffic requirements and see these systems work.
If your blog has been in existence for more than 6 months, has a high volume of targeted traffic, then you can try out those with minimum traffic thresholds and begin making money.
