On top of using the Google Content Network, targeting sites/pages in the search engines by utilizing keyword lists and using Alexa to target their site base there is still a lot of ways to go about buying up media placements. From now until the end of the month I would like to share a few places I have worked with so that you can test them out for yourself. I think you are going to be surprised at some of the sources too as I have seen a lot of them dogged on as 2nd tier Search Engines and notorious for click fraud. Hopefully by showing you my way of using them you can avoid that.

Today I want to talk about Adbrite. I will tell you that a year ago, Adbrite was absolutely atrocious. I mean seriously, they were in bad shape. Today though, they are shaping up to being a damn good resource ( at least in the last few months) of buying ads on some high traffic websites. Over the last year I’ve seen high profile sites such as the Huffington Post, Whitepages and opportunities to advertise within the Lycos Email Client. Upon joining Adbrite as an advertiser you have three options of displaying ads: Text, Banner and Full Page ads which is sort of their way of tapping into the Pay Per View Market (something we may discuss later). Dont underestimate any of these but I can tell you that in testing the full page ads feature I have been merked in every single vertical I have tried. That’s not to say it cant be profitable but I am being upfront with you now. I’ve done rigorous testing with large budgets and probably close to 60 offers and have yet to tap into a profitable campaign. I believe these full page ads are much better for large companies seeking branding over profit which basically sucks as an affiliate marketer. Text and banners ads have been where it is at for me.

Text Ads - Much similar to the Google Adsense program. One thing I would like to bring to light is that a lot of people believe that Adsense is the top tier of contextual ad programs. I agree to a point but I also disagree. Knowing some of the high profile sites that have come into the Adbrite Marketplace and the fact that Adsense payouts have become increasingly shitty gives webmaster more options to try out other ad programs and this is something that excites me because there are tons of opportunities not being taken advantage of everyday. The ads from Adbrite are Blue Link Headlines with black text followed by a green display url. You can create multi-variants of the ad for split testing but best of all is that you are not going to be crapped on by some dumb quality score. Although we are specifically talking about media buys and to most people that means “banner buying”, dont underestimate the power of text ads especially in markets where a presell excels such as bizopps and weight loss.

Banner Ads - Adbrite’s banner ads are dead simple. There are 5 formats and they are:

1. Banner (468×60)
2. Leaderboard (728×90)
3. Medium rectangle (300×250)
4. Skyscraper (120×600)
5. Wide skyscraper (160×600)

This gives you a good variety for testing and you should try every one of them.

Full Page Ads - This really just speaks for itself. All you need is the url of whatever you are showing. You are charged per view so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind, I’ve yet to ever be profitable in such a campaign.

Adbrite Site Directory

The Adbrite Site Directory is where the golden nuggets lay. I do not engage in advertising with Adbrite’s category feature advertising. Let’s face it, they aren’t Adsense or the Yahoo Publisher Network however they are on track to breaking into the market in a big way but for now they are just no there yet. I’ve gotten merked in category advertising because the amount of shit sites far outweighs the good ones. Yea I could have monitored them and cut them down accordingly but that’s a lot of work and I dont like a lot of work.

There is nothing complicated here so dont try to over analyze things. The best way to get started is to set up an account with Adbrite and find an offer you are interested in. From here it is as simple as finding sites with them and doing your own research to make an educated decision of whether you want to test it or not.