Which CPM ad Network to Use for a Relatively New Blog

One of my readers asked me the following question regarding CPM ad network and I thought I would write an article on it:
“What CPM ad network would you suggest for a relatively new Blog that doesn’t have a lot of traffic?”
Before I answer the question and reveal what I use myself, I would like to cover a few other related topics in this article that I think will add value to a lot of other readers.
The following topics have been covered in this article:

• What is CPM ad?
• Why use CPM ad?
• List of the  popular CPM ad networks that I know of
• Which CPM ad network do I use and why?
• A simple trick when using ADSDAQ CPM ad network

What is CPM ad?

According to Wikipedia – “CPM is frequently used in advertising to represent cost per thousand (where M is the roman numeral of 1000). When used in online advertising it relates to the cost per thousand page impressions.”
An impression is a single instance of an ad appearing on a Web site. A blog generating 20,000 page views monthly displaying an advertising banner with a $2 CPM, will earn $40 monthly from that banner ad unit.

Why use CPM ad?

CPM ad gives you another means to make some money from your blog using ads. CPM ads are really good for blogs that have high page views but low click through rates. This is the scenario for most tech blogs as the tech savvy folks don’t usually click on ads.
You can use CPM ads as an alternative to your Google Adsense Units. Google Adsense is really good but if your site doesn’t get a lot of ad clicks or the payout per click is really low then replacing the Adsense units with CPM ads could result in an increased monthly ad revenue. Let me give you a simple example to illustrate this point.
A site’s total daily page impressions = 2000
Google Adsense Page CTR (Click Through Rate) = 0.11%
Total clicks = 2
Earnings = $0.50
So, on an average running this ad unit will result in a total of ($0.50 * 30) = $15 per month (roughly)
Now, if you replace that PPC(pay per click) ad unit with a CPM ad that pays $2 per thousand impressions then your average daily earning becomes $2 * 2 = $4.
This results in a total of $4*30 = $120 per month (roughly).
I am sure you can clearly see the difference it makes when you choose the right ad unit depending on your blog traffic. In case you are wondering how realistic these numbers are…  I have used one of my own blog’s ad revenue figures in the example.

List of the popular CPM ad networks

Below is a list of the popular and bigger CPM ad networks that I know of:

• Casale Media
• Burst Media
• Value Click
• Tribal Fusion
• Right Media

It’s reasonably hard to get into these ad networks when your blog is new and you do not have a lot of monthly page views as most of them require a high number of minimum monthly page views as an entry requirement.

 

Which CPM ad network do I use and why?

I use ADSDAQ ad network. ADSDAQ is a reasonably decent CPM ad network and it’s entry requirements are achievable by a new blog. The other great thing about ADSDAQ is that it lets you set you own CPM rate. A while back when my blog was new and I didn’t have thousands of page views, I signed up with them and found their service to be good so I stayed with them ever since.
 
The main drawback of ADSDAQ is that it has a low fill rate for the ad units. So, most likely 30% – 60% of your total impressions will be filled by ADSDAQ but the good thing is that ADSDAQ allows you to use other ad programs in conjunction with its own without breaking any rules. So for example you can use Google Adsense as your backup ad for the impressions that do not get filled by ADSDAQ ad.
 
So using the data from the previous example:
A site’s total daily page impressions = 2000
ADSDAQ fills 50% of the total impressions at $2 CPM = 2000@50% = 1000 = $2
Use Adsense ad for the remaining 50% impressions @0.11% CTR = 1 click = $0.25
Total daily earnings = $2 + $0.25 = $2.25 (roughly)
Total monthly earnings from that Ad unit = $2.25 * 30 = $67.5 (roughly)!!

As you can see the total earnings from that Ad unit is 4 times more than if you were only using PPC ad (eg. Google Adsense). This may not be true for all blogs though as it higly depends on the type of traffic you get on your blog.

I would recommend getting an account with them even if you don’t use it right away as their entry requirements may get harder later. I remember a few years ago when “Text Link Ads” first came out, it was so easy to get accepted but then in the later years it got higly populated and was extremely hard to get into. The scenerio may have changed since Google now penalizes any site using Text Link Ads though.
Here is the golden advise that you have probably heard a million times already and I am going to tell you again… write quality content, offer value to your readers and build up your blog before you go chasing for the ad money. Also, when you do get approved, it’s a good idea not to plaster the ads everywhere on your blog. Read the how many ads should be use per page on a website to learn more.


Disclaimer: My main blog income does not come from Ad revenue (Only less than 20% of my total blog earnings come from ads). If you pay attention you will see I do not use many ad units on my site as it slows down the responseness of the site. I know a lot of people make a lot of money from Adsense and CPM ad but I beleive that to make good money quickly from a new blog you need to sell your own unique products or services and I follow that model. So take my advice on which CPM ad network to use lightly.