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While I’m doubtful that I will have a part II until there is a seriously updated version, I thought I’d leave it open anyway.

So, anyone who has read my previous rants on why I hate Google AdSense part I, and part II might be more than a little surprised that I’m writing this post.

Is there anything really to Love about AdSense? Sure…

1. Anybody is welcome. Yes, if you are super small have almost no traffic you can still get in. It’s like a nightclub that has no bouncers, no age restriction and no dress code. Anyone can get in.
2. No discrimination. All international traffic is A-OK. A lot of advertisers and ad networks are not interested in certain countries, especially 3rd world countries where the value of a visitor or click is sometimes virtually useless. Google wants it and can monetize it.
3. Set it and forget it. Probably one of the lowest maintenance things you’ll ever have to do to make at least some money off any blog. Even if you only do a few blog posts, and give up blogging completely for the rest of your life and never go back to you own site, it still might generate some traffic and money for you.
4. They Pay on time. If you ever have enough traffic on your site to reach that $50 minimum you will get paid, and it will show up each month like clockwork. (Which makes me also ponder…How many millions or 10 of millions of super small publishers never hit that min payout? Where does all that money go…Google Vault?)
5. It gives you a benchmark. I use AdSense as a floor benchmark, I kind of always see it as one of worse case scenario if you can’t monitize your banners any other way. Pubmatic also now has an AdPrice index that gives you guidelines of what you should be earning, and it breaks it out depending on your blog size.

So I know there are tonnes of raving fans…What do you love about AdSense?

1. Don’t hijack the page. Full page takeovers are even more obnoxious and intrusive than pop-ups. At least most pop-ups can be blocked. Never force someone to view an ad. Everyone should have the choice to view or ignore any advertisement, anywhere.

2. Don’t use sound. Banners should for the most part not make noise of any kind. Unless perhaps it is a movie trailer ‘AND’ the user has initiated the action. This means that they have either rolled over it and/or clicked on it. If not, don’t play sound. EVER. If you site using flash embedded with sound, remove it. Nothing makes a user close a site faster than music blaring. (Except maybe un-intentionally opened porn at the office)

3. Don’t go NASCAR. Pick a set number of banners and stick with it. Don’t just keep adding banners because you can sell them. 6-8 should be max. If you have to make more money, up the price instead of adding more.

4. Don’t sell pop-ups! These should have been wiped from the web years ago. They fucking piss everyone off. They are visual spam. They suck, bottom line. Don’t use them. Period.

5. Don’t pretend they’re not ads. Doing a paid review on your site is an advertisement. If you were paid, it is an ad. Disclose it.

More reading:

Top 5 most annoying Internet ads of all time

The world of annoying ads

Ok this is still one thing that really irks me. Every person that I’ve ever met from any ad network has the exact same pitch. “We have the best CPM’s in the industry” Wow, how is it that everyone has the highest rate? There can be only one number one. Give us a real CPM. What is a real CPM you ask? $10. Now that is a CPM. $1 is not. One dollar is what crappy remnant house inventory sells for. Zwinky quality. Don’t give me a buck. Give me at least $5, or don’t bother pitching me. Even AdSense has you beat if you want to pay $2 and then request frequency capping and/or pass backs on non-US inventory.

OK so what is the solution for these ad networks who all copy each other and all claim the same thing?

- Come up with a different model. Stop following everyone else and innovate.

- Pick a niche space and own it. “Go Green Ad Network” (Doesn’t exist, at least I don’t think so?)

- Raise your qualifications. Increase the quality of your publishers and you can charge a higher CPM’s. Stop accepting anyone into your network, just to raise you ComScore numbers and inflated fluffy reach.

- Sell ads at real CPM’s and then actually pay out a good percentage to your publishers. (Casale Media is doing 70% at the moment)

So who is actually at the top? That’s what I’d really like to know. Which ad network constantly out performs all others? Leave a comment if you’ve had any success and got paid real money from anyone.

3rd party services like Pubmatic and Rubicon will eventually answer this questions for all of us and settle the score once and for all and the cheap networks will fall…