WidgetBucks - Worth Considering As An Adsense Alternative

February 6th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under


Earn $$ with WidgetBucks!The CPM of the google adsense unit that was below my posts has recently fallen to below the $1.50CPM threshold I have set for banners, so I have removed it.

Removing poorly performing Adsense units quickly is very important, as they will drag down the earnings of your better Adsense units due to Google’s Smart Pricing. This is where Google will serve higher valued ads on sites with the best earnings potential, so removing poorly performing ads will in most cases mean that you will make more money overall, even though you are displaying fewer banners, as your better positioned ads will get higher value ads served and thus higher CPCs.

Choosing a replacement for the Adsense unit though has been difficult. I’ve already maxed out on my Tribal Fusion ads, so I needed to find another ad network. After some experimentation with some awful networks like AdBrite, I have settled on WidgetBucks. Their ads are performing so well, I might even switch out some of my Tribal Fusion ads as I think WidgetBucks will make me more money.

Earn $$ with WidgetBucks!

Approval is required to join. I don’t think WidgetBucks have a min traffic requirement; I think the gating is more about maintaining quality and keeping the dubious sites at bay. Once accepted setup is very quick and a $25 bonus is paid, which is a nice touch.

WidgetBucks serve both pay-per-click ads and CPM ads. Creating code is very simple and rather than having to scroll through dozens of pages, new code can be created in around 4 clicks. The ads can be targetted to specific product categories e.g. Technology, or you can allow WidgetBucks to serve contextual ads to try and maximise earnings. MerchSense evaluates your editorial information daily, so, as your content changes, WidgetBucks will dynamically offer the highest-yielding products.

Not only are the payouts from ads very good, there’s also a decent referral program that pays 5% of the earnings from any referral for 12 months. Not quite lifetime earnings, but 5% is a decent amount, particularly if you hit the jackpot and refer a big site.

If you haven’t tried WidgetBucks and you have some poorly performing (<$2CPM) units on your site then I highly recommend giving WidgetBucks a trial.

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About the Author

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Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 7 News.

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There Are 9 Responses So Far. »

  1. #1

    Comment by 360gamr on 6 February 2008:

    Your link is slightly broken, you’ll need to remove the extra “http://” to make some money!

  2. #2

    Comment by Everton on 6 February 2008:

    @360gamer

    Thanks-I always do that!

  3. #3

    Comment by shashank on 6 February 2008:

    For majority of the publishers widgetbucks sucks too badly
    most of my friends have removed it …i ll be removing it soon.

  4. #4

    Comment by Everton on 6 February 2008:

    @Shashank

    Why does it suck?

  5. #5

    Comment by nithin on 6 February 2008:

    yes widget bucks is worth trying. until now,I have earned round $20. Still five dollars remaining to the payout.

  6. #6

    Comment by Micah on 7 February 2008:

    I’ve heard of some decent earnings using WidgetBucks. When they added the CPM option for non North-American visitors, I think that really helped earnings.

  7. #7

    Comment by Martin on 8 February 2008:

    I did apply two weeks ago but have not heard from then ever since.. Did you try Bidvertiser ? They CPC is higher than that of my best Adsense units. Unfortunately though their CTR is worse - and I mean bad bad bad - in comparison to Adsense.

  8. #8

    Comment by Everton on 8 February 2008:

    @Martin

    Don’t bother. Their policy for non-US traffic sucks, so international publishers like us don’t get paid.

    I’ve just signed up with casale media who look interesting. Their ads should start this afternoon in my sidebar skyscraper - at the moment their default ads are showing until they’ve confirmed they are happy with the positioning.

  9. #9

    Comment by Gurji on 23 February 2008:

    I have used Widget Bucks and Adbrite - any comments on the two guys?

    The WidgetBucks banners are on the sides and Adbrite after each post.

    Dont have to click on them (though it would help) just check them out and tell me what you think, please.

    Cheers and great article

    http://ronaldo-r9.blogspot.com/

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