Do you think CPM networks are the way to go?

now that adsense earnings are spiralling downward...

[whitenoise]

Hi everyone,

Since Friday I have noticed a large decrease in adsense earnings =( It could be because of adwords changes (?) or it might just be smart pricing being particularly mean this week.

The question I have been pondering for a while is, should I be using CPM ads instead of Adsense? I get about 3000 unique visitors a day, and get anywhere from 5,### impressions to 4#,### impressions on some pages. Adsense was in the middle $xx.xx but have now dropped to the low $xx.xx. Do you think CPM banner (well rectangle ads probably) would pay better? Do I have enough impressions?

The next question I would like to ask is who is the best CPM network out there? Tribal Fusion look ok, although there was talk about them not being able to fill the ad inventory. I was a member of Fast Click but from what I can remember, default ad showing was very high with poor epc. As a general question, if you are not based in the US do the ad networks geo-target like Adsense does? So that non-us visitors get ads that are not us related?

Many thanks to all who can help =)

[Zygoot]

Unless you are really getting a very low CPM it may not be worth it to replace AdSense with banners from CPM networks.

I've used Tribal Fusion in the past and they couldn't fill much of my ad inventory. Their CPM was mostly about $0.80 to $1.20.

[blairsp]

can't see you getting a huge amount more with cpm. You are going to have to set up a default chain and whilst your first tier may pay you $3-5 you will probably only get a 10% fill, then 2nd tier rates drop dramatically and you may even end up using a 3rd tier which will pay 10c per 1000.

Suck it and see is the only option here

PM me if you want to know the rates I am getting and a suggested default chain -of course I can give you my referrer codes as well, so don't sign up for anyone yet :)

[gsurface]

Not worth it. The top CPM ad network from my experience is Tribal Fusion, giving me about $1.50 CPM, but still, you would need to have atleast 20K - 30K uniques/day to pull what Adsense will pull for you with half that traffic. Stick with Adsense, or maybe try Chitika.

[jetteroheller]

Stick with Adsense, or maybe try Chitika.

I try now since 6 weeks Chitika as PSA replacement on my english sites.

So far 1 click, what means a CTR of 0,07%

As soon as I have more sites translated to English,
I will replace Chitika with ads for my own sites.

I use on my German sites only ads for my own sites as PSA replacement.

BTW my EPC increased 26% compared to November and Octover. In my oppinon, no other ad network can reach on my sites more than 10% of AdSense performance.

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I think "spiralling" is a bit emotive.

TribalFusion works well for me with an ePCM > $1.

AdSense generates the most income for me.

Rgds

Damon

[gsurface]

Have you tried Vibrant Media? I get pretty good numbers with them especially if you place the code in the forums and play with the colors to make it resemble actual links.

[sallam]

Can we use vibrant media's IntelliTXT in same pages with adsense?

[NoLimits]

I don't believe so... "contextual" based ads are a no-go on AdSense pages I believe.

[fearlessrick]

I've had great success with FastClick CPM ads as a SUPPLEMENT to AS. I get about 1/3 more income with no decrease in AS.

As I have always maintained, to the dismay of many a writer, "your copy is only there to take up space near the ads."

Some of my other quotables from my days as a newspaper man:

"We're in this business to make money, not friends."

"Freedom of the press means that I can print whatever I want since I own the press."

"Without advertising and circulation we're nothing more than typists."

[alika]

Why not run both CPM ads and Adsense ads? If you are using skys for Adsense, then use banners for CPM ads/banner ad networks. Your earnings from Adsense can then be supplemented by your earnings from CPM networks. It's not an either-or situation as you can have them both (just make sure that no Adsense banners or Adsense-looking banners are in rotation)

[GoldenHammer]

Try your best effort to subscribe with TribalFusion. They are giving better CPM rate than Adsense (after the SmartPricing discount) in my case.

They probably has a rich inventory, more effective and very likely to give a co-related growth of income as the growth of your site traffics.

[whitenoise]

Thanks for everyones replies - I wasn't expecting as much feedback as this! I have made a few changes to adsense on the site to see if I can claw back previous totals. If not, I may consider implementing CPM ads alongside AS to test the water. If there is no improvement over the next month or so, I might have to look to CPM ads all together.

Let the experiment begin!

[GoldenHammer]

Follow the AS publisher guide may help to make some improvement, however, the critical part that affects your earnings (exclude user traffc), is the EPC (direct relevant to the SmartPricing) and Ads distribution alogrthm given by Adsense.

There is not much we could do further on the AS optimization because the lack of statistics and controls over the AS Ads, but to enrich the site with more contents and include new income sources from other Ad agents.