netmeg - 5:42 pm on Aug 27, 2010 (gmt 0)

That's the thing - AdSense is what it is, and in trade for that simplicity, you give up a lot of control and transparency. Only you can decide if it's worth it to you.

There are other ad networks, but as far as I know, none pay as well or consistently as AdSense. I've never been able to get any traction in the MSN adCenter publisher network (in closed beta)

You might take a look at the item that's tacked to the top of this forum. I personally increased my AdSense earnings mightily this year, partly from adding a mobile version of one of my primary sites, and partly by consistently driving traffic from a blog fed to a Facebook fan page. On another set of sites, I'm pushing to get direct advertisers. Yep, it's a lot more work then 'set it and forget it' AdSense. But that's just the way it is.