A while ago, I intended to do a series of poss about making money online. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked and only ever managed to write one post, about using Context/Inline Ads to make money. In it, I covered the services which insert ads/links into your content whenever you use a keyword. It’s a relatively passive way to earn revenue and I continue to use it; however, I use less services now than I did before.

Today I’d like to talk to you about using text and banner ads services like those provided by Adsense, Bidvertiser and Adbrite. Of course, even if you never think twice about this type of advertising, you’ve heard of Google’s Adsense service and maybe of Adbrite, too. All of these networks allow publishers and advertisers to easily find one another. Generally, as a publisher (blog owner), you don’t do much besides submit your site and let the advertisers come to you. You can manually approve individual ads if you choose but I always set to automatically approve ads and, if I really find an ad offensive, can ban it from the site. That hasn’t been an issue, yet.

These ad networks typically have more than one form of ads. For example, Adbrite has full page ads, inline ads (as I’ve previously discussed) and the focus of this post, banner and text ads. You can see an example of both of these on my site, currently. In the sidebar is a block of text ads and between the posts, on the main page, are 468 x 60 standard sized banners. Of course, these are only two styles of many which are available from the different ad networks. The size and style of ads can be changed to best suit your site’s layout and content. The ads featured in these blocks generally change when your content does but sometimes the relevance is dubious.

Here’s a quick rundown of my experience with these services.

Adsense is, unarguably, the largest ad marketplace probably due to the force behind it (Google). This makes it a great option for both advertisers and publishers. It has a clean control panel which is similar to that of other Google services and allows you to easily edit account information, your ad zones, see your profits, et cetera. Good ads tend to look the best, in my opinion, with the little “Ads by Google” border around many of them. It’s also very customizable. Adsense widgets are also available through Blogger and perhaps even WordPress.

In terms of relevance, Adsense was pretty good. I remember posting a cat litter review and, for the next week or so, most of my ads focused on cat and pet products. Of course, some content just doesn’t seem to have as many relevant ads and sometimes I would see ads about things that I only touched on very briefly (like weight loss). Ultimately, I was pretty happy with the type of ads showing up.

The one big downside to Google’s Adsense is that they have such a high payout $100 (there are several payment options but check seems to be the best). This may not be detrimental if you run a large, well known site but smaller site owners and bloggers such as myself may find this to be more of a road block. I was nearly at the payout line, after almost a year, when Adsense suddenly terminated my account because they no longer want my site in the network. Unfortunately, all ad networks really get choose whether or not your site is acceptable but I am unhappy with Adsense nonetheless. All of the funds I had earned – and I was only a few dollars away from payout – were returned to the advertisers. Essentially, they got free ads. I can never join it again, no matter if I want to try to use the network on another site and they didn’t give me a specific reason.

Adbrite is the site I have had the most success with. It’s less known but still fairly popular when it comes to banner and text ads. It’s interface is a little more sloppy or, perhaps, web 1.0 compared to Adsense but it’s functional and easy enough to edit account information or your ad zones, including blocking specific ads as I mentioned before. The ads, in general, don’t seem to be quite on par with the quality of ads from Adsense but the payout is much less: only $10 in one month, I believe. Although I am not making as much as I was with Adsense, overall, I’ve already been sent two checks from Adbrite and one will be processed at the beginning of next month. Adbrite has been fairly consistent for me and it is currently the only ad network I use for anything. Unfortunately, check is the only option for payment and some people might prefer Paypal.

The relevance of my ads through Adbrite is rather hit or miss. Currently, I have many ads for making money online as well as some for a specific Facebook game. They don’t really relate to my comment; although, I suppose they will after I post this entry. ;)

Bidvertiser may be the least well known of all three of these networks. Like Adbrite, you can choose inline ads or a variety of text and banner ad sizes. I used to post text ads from them on the lower left sidebar of my blog. I found that Bidvertiser offered fewer links, probably because it is a smaller marketplace. However, the clicks were all worth more, individually, than clicks at either Adsense or Adbrite. Because of this, I think it would have taken me longer to reach payout – a minimum of $10 for Paypal. The option to use Paypal also boosts the credibility of the network, in my opinion. Bidvertiser’s site was a bit more confusing than the other one, but not so much that it was impossible. It’s also rather attractive. The ads themselves fall in between Adbrite and Adsense in terms of attractiveness.

Because the Bidvertiser network seemed so small, the ads were probably not as relevant or varied as I would have liked.

While there are more ad networks that are similar to these, Adsense and Adbrite likely make up the majority of ads you see on the internet and it’s little wonder why. For publishers or advertisers who have had issues with Adsense, I would recommend trying Adbrite or Bidvertiser, but not to expect as much possible revenue as Adsense might offer. While I am unhappy with how things turned out with Adsense, I do think it had the most potential of all the ad networks I’ve used whether it was text and banner or other ads. Given the reality, I am happy that Adbrite has been consistent and also has a lower payout than other sites.