According to popular marketing analysis from the beginning of 2010, one from every two online ads comes from Google Adsense. This shows how powerful Google Adsense is but also that there are still other alternatives. There are reasons to choose an alternative to the almighty Google service either when you are a publisher or advertiser. Such reasons include:

  • Higher revenue for publishers / Lower costs for advertisers

It is common for larger sites to manage their own advertisement campaigns, find advertisers / publishers directly and negotiate better deals. Naturally, with such larger sites Google Adsense has the least ads market share. An alternative for higher revenues are the so called affiliate programs which is suitable even for less popular sites as long as they are strictly specialized in one area. In this case it is feasible to find relevant subscriptions in which your visitors might be interested in and get a share of the subscription fees. We should mention here the popular service from the leader on the affiliate marketing – Commission Junction (CJ). It manages a huge number of affiliate programs for third parties. With CJ publishers have unmatched choice to find the best offers which may interest their visitors. Naturally, publishers’ revenues rely on real sales generated from their site and not on impressions and clicks. A great feature is that publishers have the option to choose the advertisers, their offers and even the exact banners which will show on their sites. They also know what revenue (share in %) to expect per sale. These are very profitable features which Google Adsense lacks but it is not for every publisher. It requires marketing skills and knowledge about what visitors might be interested in purchasing. CJ has also great benefits for advertisers. First, it manages entirely their affiliate programs which is not an easy task. Second, the number of attracted publishers depends on the competitiveness of the ads. That’s why if you are a publisher and believe your offers are competitive this is definitely the choice for you.

  • Noncompliance with Google Adsense policies – important for both publishers and advertisers

This point should not be underestimated because Google has very strict policies which exclude publishers / advertisers with sites with violent and/or illegal contеnt, gambling, sales of alcohol, tobacco-related products, and last but not least adult content. For more information please check this link. Once web site owners find their sites are not complying with Google Adsense policies they have the option to use similar pay-per-click and pay-per-view alternatives such as:   Adbrite – while they lack some of Google ads restrictions they also have some unique features such as full page ads, BritePic (show sads over your pictures) and others.   Clicksor – much less restrictive policies which are suitable even for adult sites. In conclusion, we believe that Google will remain the leading online ads provider in future because of its competitive advantages. Though if you are not satisfied with its effectiveness or you can’t comply with its policies there are very good alternatives.