Making a living online is quite a challenge. Even the thought of monetization is enough to send first timer bloggers into a blind panic. But there is help at hand.

Whilst most bloggers tend to gravitate towards the tried and tested Google AdSense platform for their monetization needs there are some fantastic alternatives out there. Some of which, depending on your traffic could well work out significantly more profitable than the likes of AdSense.

So today we’re going to run through 5 alternatives to Google AdSense that you might not have heard about. All of the below are ideal platforms for bloggers and all offer ad formats suitable for your WordPress install.

Of course your potential earnings (on any network) are going to be primarily dependent on your traffic levels and quality of that traffic. As a guide, even with the best ad placements and optimisation you’re still only going to achieve a click through rate of < 10%. Maybe even <5%. So you need to keep that in mind and not become too disheartened if your network of choice doesn’t seem to be yielding much of an income.

So let’s dive in.

Media.net

This network will appear at the top of any AdSense alternative list as it is literally the second best one in the market both in terms of revenue and overall market share. It is the brand for the PPC advertisement offerings via Yahoo/BING and just like with search, they are Google’s number one competitor.

As expected, the offerings are extremely similar to the likes of AdSense with both banners, keyword blogs and contextual ads all available. However, you will be limited to one ad block per page where as with Google AdSense, you’re allowed 3.

Payments are sent via PayPal on a monthly basis once you’ve generated more than $100 in revenue. On the plus side however you can have an account approved in as little as 48 hours where as AdSense could literally take weeks.

PropellerAds

Whilst PropellerAds do cater for the traditional banner ad market their primary focus has to be on pop unders and if you want to combine such formats with your traditional advertisements then PropellerAds is the way to go.

Now I know what you’re thinking, pop unders, it’s not the 00’s but they do still have a place in the market. The ones you’ll see featured via Propeller are also of an extremely high standard. They’re effectively landing pages in their own right and if you’ve got traffic you’re unable to monetize via traditional methods they could well be a god send.

Payment is made via PayPal on a monthly basis once you’ve generated $50 or more. You can also be paid via wire transfer ($500 minimum) and via Payoneer ($100) minimum.

One thing worth noting is that Propeller have lots of advertisers and subsequent monetization options lower tier traffic such as that from India etc so if this is something you have a lot of it might be worth checking them out.

Amazon Associates

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Amazon. Well, Amazon Associates is their affiliate network offering. As you’d expect, like with any other affiliate network, Amazon Associates allows you to earn a sales based commission on sales as a result of customers you refer. The percentage you’re able to earn varies depending on product/seller but the options and opportunities available are vast.

Now I realise that if you’re looking for AdSense alternatives that you probably don’t want to go down the affiliate route and simply want to make your money on a click by click basis. This is fine but if you do have any product pages, even minimal mentions of products across your site then you’re likely able to earn significantly more across the board than you would be limiting yourself to being paid for each click.

Amazon is a highly respected and trusted market place. The sheer amount of products available in tandem makes it a great network to earn money from. Especially when coupled with a traditional paid click network.

BuySellAds

Most people like to place the management of their sites adspace in the hands of a third party such as AdSense or Media.net but you can actually make significantly more money by selling the advertising space yourself.

The likes of Google do not run AdSense for the fun of it. It’s a business like any other and the percentage cut they take out of your click sales are huge. So why not cut out the middle man?

BuySellAds offer exactly that, even though they’re a middle man themselves they provide a platform you to sell your ad space directly to advertisers. You’ll typically sell the space on a month by month basis as you see fit.

BuySellAds will advise you on what pricing tiers you should consider primarily based on your websites niche and overall traffic so if you’re struggling to get a significant amount of income in from the likes of AdSense, selling the entire block for a fixed month to month fee might be a better option.

Infolinks

Whilst infolinks can be a great source of income in their own right, they most definitely work best as a 2nd tier form of advertising. Using this network in conjuction with typical ad blocks from the likes of AdSense and Media.net is definitely the way forward and can provide you with a great earning secondary income stream without sacrificing any of your current ad space and inventory.

Infolinks works best on websites that have lots of textual content. So blogs etc are ideal. Once setup, it will place highlighted links within your content that match certain keywords specified by advertisers. The visitor can then hover over the link and see the advertisers information such as URL or banner. If the visitor were then to click the ad you’d be credited with a payment for the click just like you would with AdSense.

Infolinks have over 200,000 publishers running ads across more than 1,000,000 websites. And they’ve been around a while. You’re paid on a monthly basis once you generate $50 or more and they offer a whole bunch of highly customisable ad inventory options which can be styled to suit your content perfectly.

More

There are several more lesser known networks in the market currently which we’ll run through in a post at a later date but as AdSense alternatives go, the above should be more than enough to fit your needs.

One thing I will say is don’t be afraid to chop and change your setup either. All networks are only as strong as the advertisers paying to use them and they’ll come and go day by day, week by week. Your site may perform great on AdSense one week and then dire the next for example.

You should also not be afraid to mix and match networks. You don’t need to use a sole monetization source. Whilst some networks such as Media.net do limit you to one ad unit per page. There is nothing stopping you placing that one unit in conjunction with some contextual links from Infolinks for example.