Submitted by mattwan on
An old post from our old site, it may or may not be our current view on the topic.
Following from our Guide to Ad networks for Publishers, we review the more popular In-line Text Ad networks for you so you can decide which to sign up for to increase your revenue.
In-line Text ads are CPC links that appear in the text of your content. The links are contextually targeted to keywords in the Ad Networks’ database of advertisers to show relevant adverts. Mouse over of these links will cause a small pop-up to appear showing basic details of the advert and a click from your visitor will take the visitor to the advertiser and reward you with revenue.
In-line Text Ads usually have good CTR as they appear to be in content links and have the additional benefit in that they do not take up any additional prime ad space. A common webmaster compliant for them is the in content links negatively affecting the visitors experience, especially when the contextual engine is not done well by the Ad network.
Here are the reviews listed alphabetically: -
Adbrite
Adbrite is a well established Ad marketplace that offers publishers with a number of ways to monetize their websites. These include CPCs, CPMs, In-Line Ads, Video Ads, Full Page Ads and also an option for advertisers to buy a link on a website for a period of time.
Their In-line text ads compliment their Text Link or banner Link Ad Zones, being an option that you can apply for via a check box in the Ad Zone preferences.
Ads Rating:
Adbrite has a lot of advertisers but their contextual engine seems random and shows their network ads seemingly from random.
Views:
Easy set-up if you are using Adbrite already or want to use Adbrite’s other options. Being In-line text, you are bound to get clicks and revenue especially with Adbrite’s large advertiser base, sometimes clicks at over USD1 are not unheard of.
Their contextual engine has room to improve to make their ads more relevant to the text which will improve visitor experience and also CTR.
Payment:
Check – monthly – min USD5
Chitika
Chitika has is a newcomer to the in-line text links networks with its Linx programme. Personally so far, its been giving me the best results for my test site.
Clicksor
Clicksor is a contextual ad network with a popular following. Less strict on restrictions than Google allowing Mature content sites a contextual alternative, proxy sites are not allowed though.
Publishers meeting the requirement can apply to be a Premium Site partner and have access to more options and reporting.
Clicksor offers In-Line Text Ads along with its other ad types.
Ad Rating:
We ran the In-line texts with a skyscraper banner. The loading seemed a bit slow but we did not further investigate whether this was due to the banner or the in-line text ad.
Views:
We believe that the CTR of the in-line text ads shows how well the engine works and Clicksor ran in at quite a low ratio for in-line text ads. Whether this was due to the relatively short period of time we had the Ad code on our site or maybe they have not optimized their ads for our sites yet, we are not sure but CPC did not seem high neither.
Payment:
Paypal, check – bi-monthly – min USD50
Kontera
Kontera is a well set up Ad Network that specializes on in-line Text Ads.
Ads Rating:
Their contextual engine, ContentLink is the best out of the networks we have reviewed here as their partnership with shopping.com and Dealtime means that if they do not find a relevant keyword, they will use keywords and apply them in a partner ad ..
For example :
‘Sausages’ at DealTime
Millions of products, Get the best deals at DealTime!
This gives the impression to your visitors that the ads are relevant to the content and increases the CTR and experience.
Views:
Kontera is one of our Favorite In-Line Text Ad Networks due to its ads and also steadier revenue. For our sites we average around 4% CTR and USD3 to USD3.5 eCPM.
Payment:
Check – monthly – min USD100
