So many denials...

It's hard to diversify if you can't get accepted. :(

[Ducain3]

I'm really pleased with my earnings from Google and ValueClick on my site (around 60 bux a day), but I've been trying to find some other companies to use so that all of my 'eggs' aren't in two baskets.

However, I've been turned down by Fastclick and Casale Media. Both of them give me generic responses to why I wasn't accepted.

I WAS accepted by realtech media, but I'm very displeased with them. I've also heard some bad stuff about the company.

This is a bit discouraging. I always thought that a site getting a good bit of traffic (over 10 mil pageviews monthly) wouldn't have any trouble being accepted to ad companies.

I have now been educated.

:(

[conroy]

Try running some affiliate programs instead of the big networks. Pick something related to your audience. Sounds like you probably have a general interest site. Try Amazon's affiliate program. Ads for ipods or other electronics may work well.

[Ducain3]

What really burns me is that I KNOW what would work, but I have idea how to make it happen.

My site is a 'super-niche'. It's console gaming. Most of my visitors are teens and young adults, although I do have an older crowd as well.

I KNOW that I could make money selling video games and accessories that were correctly targeted. It burns me as well that I could even DO the targeting, but I can't find any company that does this sort of thing.

What I really need:

1. To find a company that will provide me with highly targeted ad banners for video games and accessories that I could sort through and choose from.

OR

2. A company that would allow me to make my own ad banners for their game products.

I feel for certain that I could make something like that successful.

Another killer is that I've seen ads running on some gaming sites that are amazing, and perfectly targeted to my audience, but I have NO EARTHLY idea who serves those ads, and haven't had any luck finding out.

I thought that Ebay affiliation might be my answer, but as it is, their ads are generalized and unnactractive, and my question as to whether I could create my own banners was met with, "Well, you can try to run those banner images by our approval department, but it will take two to three weeks for a response." What the heck is that about?!

Sorry about the frustration. It's just amazing to me how hard it is to get people to allow you to sell their stuff.

When I first started out, I sent very nicely written letters to about 10 gaming companies asking for an ad contract. I quoted them a price that is laughably low (I make twice the amount per day with Google that I was asking per MONTH back then), and I only got a response from one company.

Ugh. I better stop. ;)

[FourDegreez]

Have you tried cj.com? I know there is at least one online game seller that lets you search through and link to exact products. 5% commission.

[hunderdown]

Amazon. You can link to the games, the consoles, whatever you want. If you don't want to set up links one at a time, use their AWS, which you can have deliver what would amount to an Amazon "department" about console gaming on pages of your own design.

And Amazon converts well because so many people know them already.

[ShantiShunn]

I would definitely look into cj.com. They have some good offers in the video game arena (i.e. gamefly). Also, look into performics.com, they actually do the true niche offerrings it sounds like you would prefer.

They allow you to very easily drill down to the 'per product' promotion level. I'm not a 100% sure of what offers they currently have in your arena, but they may be a good resource to check in to.

Also, you should look into other types of products that would target your audience. Music, Videos, DVDs, etc. that may be relevant to the young audience that you have. Try to capitalize on the demographic as a whole, not just the 'super-niche' of your site.

[Ducain3]

See, that's why I come here. All very good ideas. I'll check out all of these. =)

[ShantiShunn]

Glad to help.

[gamiziuk]

You can also try Linkshare. They have Walmart as one of their affiliate stores - Walmart will allow you to link to individual products. I'm sure they have a gaming section with all sorts of goodies you can use.