I’ve been searching for an ad campaign to run alongside Adsense. All the pro bloggers emphasize that you should not rely on Google for your earnings. I have Text Link Ads set up at the moment, but as I’m busy building up content and not publicizing my blog, those haven’t sold yet.

I’ve seen a few blogs that use Auction Ads. Auction Ads is a simple ad service that advertises eBay auctions in an ad unit. You can choose your keywords, select what size ad unit you want, and customize the colors. I’m not convinced of the virtues of Auction Ads for a blog like mine because it’s isn’t based on being paid for the number of clicks you generate. You can have all the page impressions and clicks you like, but if you don’t score any conversions (ie if nobody buys anything or signs up) then you don’t make any money.

I haven’t seen many bloggers who have used Auction Ads to make much money. It’s difficult unless you’re blogging about a specific product-related topic, like mobile phones or computers, for example.

Pro Blogger had this to say about Auction Ads:

Traffic is going to be a consideration too. CPC programs like AdSense pay out each time there’s a click on an ad so there will be income even with small traffic. CPA ads like Auction Ads will payout less often because they require the reader to DO something (buy, register etc). As a result I’d expect to see less conversions with these ads - a lower percent of your readers will actually convert to dollars.

So if you have decent traffic on a product related site this might be a program to try. It could also be worth setting it up as the ‘alternate ad’ for your current AdSense and/or Chitika ads.

It doesn’t sound too promising, but Million Baby Boomers earned $75.56 in 33 weeks using Auction Ads. I like to think I could earn that and more with a clean layout and decent, uncopied content.

At first I considered running auction ads on my front page in between all of my posts. I implemented the ads in that way and didn’t feel convince that people would click, let alone buy something. For a start, the banner ads have images that are way too small to discern what the product on offer is. I took a note from Desi’s blog and added an Auction Ad block to each single page, just above the comment box.

By doing this I was able to have a big enough block so that people could see the image. I’d like to minimize the clutter on my front page, and having Auction Ad banners between all my posts just wasn’t cutting it.

I’m not expecting to generate big bucks from Auction Ads, but until I can get accepted by something like Chitika, and until my blog will be approved by websites like Pay Per Post and Review Me, I may as well try what I can.

 Like this post? Subscribe to the feed
Share:   Digg it for goodness sake!  Stumble your heart out!

Tags: Monetize your blog //