Ads Suck. But Theirs Don't.UPDATE: WidgetBucks is no longer recommended by this blog!!!
WidgetBucks is now distributing October earnings to publishers - nearly 10 days ahead of schedule. The initial wave of PayPal payments went out on Monday, while the remainder will go out over the next couple of days. Checks are being processed and mailed early this week as well, including those that are being sent to international publishers.
If you haven't yet tried WidgetBucks you might want to give it a look-see. I've been using them in a couple of different places on the Web and am happy with the results I've seen so far. On average, the RPC (revenue-per-click) has been almost double what I'm used to getting with Google Adsense, so that's a pleasant surprise in itself.
When you sign-up with WidgetBucks, you'll automatically receive a $25 bonus into your account, which is pretty cool. And WidgetBucks offers a referral program as well. WidgetBucks affiliates earn a 10 percent referral fee based on the commissions earned by the people they refer. Affiliates receive the 10 percent referral fee for the full 12 months after the new member joins.
WidgetBucks Offers CPM Ads
WidgetBucks will also be offering CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) ads sometime early this month. This will allow bloggers and site owners to monetize their international traffic.
"At the time a user visits a page containing the widget, we will sense the geographic location of the visitor. If they are in the U.S. and/or Canada, the user will see the normal WidgetBucks widget. If the user is outside those two countries, then our system will determine a country- specific CPM ad to display. We are currently working with advertisers covering 100
countries and offering thousands of creatives to ensure that site visitors will be monetized for your benefit."
And that's certainly good news considering the recent policy change to stop paying on clicks that resulted from international traffic. The change was implemented due to non-converting clicks (to sales) by users geographically outside the U.S. and Canada. Some website owners were upset over the change, but in the end, the bottom line is this: An ad network must maintain its network quality. If it doesn't, no merchants will advertise on it.
So the CPM route is the perfect way to go. It's a win-win, both for merchants and for site owners. The clicks that merchants pay for will have higher sales conversions, and the international traffic that sites receive will earn them guaranteed revenue, as opposed to nothing at all. In addition, higher sales conversions should also translate into higher RPC (revenue-per-click) as time goes on.
All in all, it looks like some pretty good things are taking place at the from the WidgetBucks camp, and I'll definitely keep my ears open for anything new.
