"In line"
pay-per-click programs refer to ads that pop-up as a
person puts his/her cursor on a word embedded in the
content of a website. Some
webmasters don't like this form of advertising as they
think it is distracting. Overall, however, in-line
ads have a higher click-through rate.
Following are the main
"in-line" pay-per-click campaigns available on the Web:
Kontera
Vibrant Media/ IntelliTXT
InfoLinks
MediaText
MIVA
Depending on whether you view yourself as a
publisher or an advertiser, the factors you will
consider when choosing the appropriate
pay-per-click program will differ:
Vibrant
Media has the strictest requirements in
terms of content and traffic. In order to
qualify as a publisher in their network, you
need at least 500,000 page views a month (last
updated July 20, 2008).
In addition, your website needs to be content
rich and cater to a North American or European
audience.
Kontera
Kontera
offers the most popular in-line program.
The requirements to become a publisher with
Kontera are flexible and overall easy to meet.
If you have a decent website
in English that is content rich, you should be
able to qualify in Kontera's publisher program.
In terms of how people at Kontera interact with
publishers, they are
very responsive and professional.
InfoLinks
InfoLinks
is a newcomer in the in-line pay-per-click
advertising field. They actively recruit
websites to enter their network and have easy-to-meet eligibility criteria. In order to
induce publishers to join them, they offer a
very attractive revenue-sharing package as high
as 80/20 (last updated July 20, 2008).
General Requirements to
Qualify
Most companies offering in-line
advertising have stricter criteria than traditional
pay-per-click companies (such as Google Adsense or Yahoo
Publisher Network). In order to qualify, your site
has to:
Meet a
minimal threshold of content/ be content-rich, since
the ads appear in the content itself, so unless
there is content, there won't be ads.
Use
English as the primary language. In-line
pay-per-click programs are not as developed
(international) as the Adsense program and are
targeted mainly to an English-speaking audience.
Have a
decent traffic.
Thumbs Up?
In-line
pay-per-click programs for publishers offer some
advantages:
they offer
another source of monetization;
they are a
good alternative for webmasters that have been
banned from Google Adsense or Yahoo Publisher
Network;
they allow to fully utilize
the space on a site, as
opposed to banner ads; and
they have
a higher click-through rate.
Thumbs Down?
Sounds all
good, but why aren't these programs more widespread?
Because:
many
webmasters view these ads as spammy and make a
conscious decision to avoid putting these programs
on their sites;
these
programs don't pay a lot per click, as opposed to
Google Adsense, because their advertiser base is
still limited; and
the ads
that are displayed are not as diversified/ targeted
as Google Adsense.
