Google AdSense is undoubtedly the best advertising network out there that follows a pay-per-click advertising model. When Google AdSense was first launched they were accepting almost all websites with over 100 content rich pages and that comply with their basic program policies. So almost anyone was able to get an AdSense account (even with scraped content) in less than a week or two.
But today, your website must not only comply with Google AdSense Program Policies but must also comply with Google Webmaster Guidelines. It means that you they can deny your AdSense application if your website is selling text links or is hosting copyrighted content, etc. Even if your website complies with these program policies and guidelines they may still reject the application based on the content quality.
Is It Possible To Make Money Blogging Without Google AdSense?
In a word, Yes. But what you should know is that Google AdSense is almost unassailable when it comes to monetization simply because they have the largest ad inventory. Since pay-per-click ad networks determines the cost per click based on bidding, when more and more advertisers are bidding for the same ad position the cost per click increases naturally. That exactly is the reason why AdSense outperforms any other ad networks out there.
And that doesn’t mean that you can’t make more money that you used to make with AdSense from other networks. For instance, if you use the right affiliate program then its earnings may be more than all your ad revenues combined. But the problem with affiliate programs is that they’re not so reliable. For example, if your organic rankings drop then it will impact your earnings directly or if those affiliate programs reduce commissions or change their business model then it may affect your earnings. So it’s not a good idea to rely on affiliate programs alone in the long term.
So what are the options and alternatives to Google AdSense?
Luckily there are a lot of websites to monetize our content in several ways without using AdSense. Some of them are: banner ad networks (for CPM ads), affiliate networks (for CPA ads), alternate pay-per-click ad networks (for CPC ads), text links, sponsored posts, paid guest posts, in-text ads, in-image ads, etc.
You can consider these AdSense alternatives if Google – banned your account for whatever reason, denied your application, or if you want to try something else or if you don’t want to depend upon AdSense income alone.
Sell PPC Ads: The 7 Best Google AdSense Alternatives
I have reviewed few pay-per-click ad networks, in-text ad networks, CPM ad networks, and other ways to monetize your content. If you’re looking for Cost Per Action (CPA) or Pay Per Lead (PPL) networks then check out the Top 10 Affiliate Networks for affiliate marketing which is again an alternative to Google AdSense. You can place ads from almost all the below mentioned networks along with your Google AdSense ads.
1. Yahoo! Bing Network Contextual Ads (by Media.net)
Media.net is probably the best alternative to AdSense as it’s powered by Yahoo Bing Network. Bing has a search market share of around 18% and they also have a good ad inventory. I’ve tried Media.net few months back and the average CPM was better than any other AdSense alternatives. Also, if you’re from Russia or your targeted visitors live in Russia then then you can try Yandex Advertising Network instead of Media.net.
Alexa Rank: 2,374
Minimum Payment Amount: $100 (PayPal); $500 (Wire Transfer)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Cost Per Click
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2. Clicksor
Clicksor is one of the best Google AdSense alternative which allows publishers to display advertisements related to their website content by using their contextual technology. You can place Clicksor ads along with Google AdSense ads and can even set minimum prices for CPV, CPC, CPM and CPI ads. The ad formats include Inline Text Links, Text banners, Graphical banners, Pop-unders and Interstitial ads. You receive up to 85% of the ad income and can earn extra income by referring other publishers. Clicksor pays 10% additional income every time you refer a publisher or advertiser to Clicksor network.
Alexa Rank: 1,312
Minimum Payment Amount: $50 (PayPal, Check); $1,000 (Wire Transfer)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Cost Per Click, Cost Per Impression
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3. Superlinks
Superlinks is an ad network that offers a variety of products like — premium banner ads, full page ads, footer ads, tower ads, exit links, etc. You can create multiple ad units on a single page (up to 5 ad units per page). Superlinks has partnered with DoubleClick Ad Exchange, OpenX and other premium ad networks so that it can offer higher CPM than Google AdSense (because of higher ad inventory). It’s worth a try when your traffic quality is high and the AdSense earnings is low.
- Alexa Rank: 37,719
- Minimum Payment Amount: $100 (PayPal & Payoneer); $500 (Wire Transfer)
- Payment Method(s): PayPal, Payoneer, Wire Transfer
- Programs Offered: Cost Per Click
4. BidVertiser
BidVertiser is another top alternative to Google AdSense which pays you for valid clicks on ads placed on your website as well as for conversions generated from those clicks. You display ads on your website or blog and advertisers bid against each other so that you earn the maximum cost per click.
Alexa Rank: 1,364
Minimum Payment Amount: $10 (PayPal); $100 (Check)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
Programs Offered: Cost Per Click
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5. Chitika
Chitika is an online advertising network that allows publishers to display ads on their website, blog, app or mobile site. They offers publishers and advertisers user targeted, search targeted, mobile and local ads for websites, blogs, apps and mobile sites. As a publisher you can also refer other publishers to them and earn 10% of their CPC revenue for up to 10 months from their approval date.
Alexa Rank: 2,326
Minimum Payment Amount: $10 (PayPal); $50 (Check)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
Programs Offered: Cost Per Click
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6. Sovrn (formerly Lijit)
Lijit offers many advertising options like remnant banner ads, homepage takeovers, rich media ads, contextual ads, image ads, social engagement ads, etc. They say they have direct partnership with major ad agencies and networks to maximize your CPMs.
Alexa Rank: 2,326
Minimum Payment Amount: $10 (PayPal); $50 (Check)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
Programs Offered: Cost Per Click
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7. Yllix
Yllix is an ad network that supports CPM, CPC, CPA and even Pop Up ads. You can earn additional income by referring new advertisers and publishers. When you refer an advertiser, you get $100 bonus plus 1% of lifetime ad spend. And when you refer a publisher, you get $50 bonus plus 2% of lifetime publisher earnings.
- Alexa Rank: 8,455
- Minimum Payment Amount: $10 (PayPal); $500 (Wire Transfer)
- Payment Method(s): PayPal, Wire Transfer
- Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression, Cost Per Click, Cost Per Action, Pop Up Ads
Sell Direct Ads
If your website is in a competitive niche and is getting good traffic then you can sell direct ads. It works the best when you have banner ad spots on your website so that potential advertisers can contact you to buy those ad spots. For some big publishers, selling direct advertising is their only way of monetization because they can control the CPM and thereby their income. All you need to do is to create an “Advertise” page on your blog or website with your Google PageRank, Alexa Traffic Rank, Traffic Statistics (by Google Analytics) and the available ad formats with their rates per month. Or you can try the following networks to make selling easier.
8. BuySellAds
is an online advertising network where publishers can list their ad inventory. You get access to thousands of advertisers through their market place. The BuySellAds network supports web, mobile web, RSS, Tweets, apps (desktop, iOS, Android) and e-mail. BuySellAds is a good alternative to AdSense and is used by most professional bloggers.
Alexa Rank: 2,041
Minimum Payment Amount: $20 (PayPal); $50 (Check); $500 (Wire Transfer)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression, Fixed Rate Banner Ads, Sponsored Tweets
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9. Beacon Ads
Beacon Ads is an alternative to BuySellAds. In fact, the user interface of Beacon Ads looks just like BuySellAds. But the thing is…. Beacon Ads takes 30% commission, while it’s only 25% at BuySellAds.
- Alexa Rank: 127,420
- Minimum Payment Amount: $20 (PayPal); $50 (Check)
- Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
- Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression, Fixed Rate Banner Ads
10. BlogAds
BlogAds specializes in blog advertising and it’s comparable to BuySellAds. You can sell ads directly to advertisers, and can set the prices by yourself. You can earn an additional 15% revenue by referring new advertisers (they take 30% commission for all ad sales).
- Alexa Rank: 47,002
- Minimum Payment Amount: $75 (PayPal); $750 (Check & Wire Transfer)
- Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
- Programs Offered: Fixed Rate Banner Ads, Sponsored Tweets
11. DoubleClick For Publishers
DoubleClick by Google offers publishers a complete ad revenue engine and it helps you to manage your ads so effectively that you can capture the most value for every page view that your website receives. If you are unable to find advertisers by yourself then BuySellAds may be a better choice but they do charge 25% commission. DoubleClick is a self-serve ad platform that is so flexible that you can control your entire ad inventory using only this platform. If your website is popular then you get inquiries from potential advertisers and in that case DoubleClick gets you the best value for every page view.
Sell Text Links
If you have a good quality website then it’s super easy to make money selling text links because advertisers are willing to spend thousands of dollars to improve their organic ranking. But wait, selling text links is against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and they may even ban your website from its search results unless the links are rel=”nofollow”.
12. Matomy SEO
Matomy SEO (formerly Text-Link-Ads.com) connects you to high quality advertisers who are looking for relevant websites to buy text links. They place text link ads on your website so that your earnings don’t depend upon the clicks or page views of your website – you get a flat rate for a 30-day period.
Alexa Rank: 11,337
Minimum Payment Amount: No Minimum (PayPal, Payoneer); $25 (Check)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Payoneer, Check
Programs Offered: Fixed Rate Text Link Ads
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13. LinkWorth
LinkWorth is another popular text link ad network and it’s alternative to Matomy SEO. With LinkWorth, you can monetize your website using text link ads, paid blog reviews, in-text ads, in-content pay per click ads, rotating text ads, hosted content pages and many more.
Alexa Rank: 17,066
Minimum Payment Amount: $25 (PayPal); $100 (Check, Wire Transfer, EFT)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer, EFT (US Only)
Programs Offered: Text Link Ads, Content Ads, Banner Ads, Sponsored Reviews
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14. Text Link Brokers
Text Link Brokers makes selling links easy because they find link buyers related to your website that you actually want to link to. They also have a Hosted Marketing Pages program similar to a sponsored review in which you host a new page on your website with unique content and embedded links.
Alexa Rank: 10,595
Minimum Payment Amount: N/A
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
Programs Offered: Text Link Ads, Sponsored Reviews
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15. Adbeans
Adbeans is a text link ad network that works with publishers who want to sell text links on their website or blogs. When you sign up for Adbeans you will get text link ad offers in your account so that you can accept or deny it. When you accept an offer they pay you a fixed rate for each text link that you place on your website.
Alexa Rank: 56,057
Minimum Payment Amount: GBP 20
Payment Method(s): PayPal
Programs Offered: Text Link Ads
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16. TNX.net
TNX.net is a text link marketplace that connects advertisers and publishers. You can sell links on your website and get payments every month in advance by adding their codes on your webpages. The pricing of text links are based on your website’s Google PageRank, topic, link profile, etc.
Alexa Rank: 29,581
Minimum Payment Amount: Unknown
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Webmoney, Check, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Text Link Ads
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Sell Sponsored Reviews
Once again, selling sponsored articles without rel=”nofollow” is against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. But it’s the easiest way to make money blogging as you can earn at least $50 per sponsored review if you have a good quality blog.
17. Sponsored Reviews
Sponsored Reviews is a blog advertising network that allows you to build backlinks, increase traffic and improve search engine rankings of your website. If you’re a blogger then you can make money by reviewing advertiser’s websites.
Alexa Rank: 6,055
Minimum Payment Amount: No Minimum
Payment Method(s): PayPal
Programs Offered: Fixed Rate Sponsored Reviews
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18. PayU2Blog
PayU2Blog is a a blog network that pays you to blog. When you become their member you will get writing assignments. Basically you will be asked to review a product or a service. And you have to write only your honest opinion about a product or a service and don’t have to endorse it.
Alexa Rank: 8,591
Minimum Payment Amount: N/A
Payment Method(s): PayPal
Programs Offered: Fixed Rate Sponsored Reviews
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19. Blogsvertise
Blogsvertise allows you to monetize your blog in several ways. You can make money by displaying banner ads, selling text link ads, or sponsored posts. The ad rates depend upon the pricing set by you and the demand for that ad spot.
Alexa Rank: 10,029
Minimum Payment Amount: N/A
Payment Method(s): PayPal
Programs Offered: Fixed Rate Sponsored Reviews, Banner Ads, Text Link Ads
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20. ReviewMe
ReviewMe allows you to make money by reviewing products you find interesting. Price is determined by the reach of your blog. Reviews can range from $40 to $500 per review and it will be a one time fee.
Alexa Rank: 62,596
Minimum Payment Amount: No Minimum (PayPal); $25 (Check, Prepaid Card)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, ReviewMe Prepaid MasterCard
Programs Offered: Fixed Rate Sponsored Reviews
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Pop Under & Pop Up Ads
I’m not a fan of pop up or pop under ads and I never tried those on any of my websites. But I feel that it’s a good advertising option for traffic heavy websites like downloads, image hosting, file sharing, etc. Why? For those kind of websites showing a couple of pop-under or pop-up ads won’t affect the user experience in a big way but if you place these kind of ads on your blog then it will affect user experience and your visitors may never return.
21. PopAds
PopAds appears to be the best advertising popunder ad network as the average revenue of their publishers for 1,000 U.S. visitors was never below $4. If it’s true then I think it can deliver better results than AdSense itself. You can request payment anytime you want or may use that money to buy advertising for your own websites.
Alexa Rank: 207
Minimum Payment Amount: $5 (PayPal and AlertPay); $500 (Wire Transfer)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, AlertPay, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Cost Per View
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CPX24 is a leading media company founded in 2007. With over 10000+ active members it offers one of the most competitive eCPM in the market. Payment terms are flexible with several payment methods and virtually no minimum.
22. InfinityAds
InfinityAds (or Paypopup) is another Pop Under and Pop Up ad network that pays you for every thousand impressions shown on your website. The average payment rate according to their website is $1.80 per 1,000 impressions. All the websites gets auto approval and the minimum payout is just $5.
Alexa Rank: 26,412
Minimum Payment Amount: $5
Payment Method(s): Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Cost Per View
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23. CPMoz
CPMoz is a pop under advertising network that shares up to 70% revenue. Your earnings depends upon the traffic quality of your website, and you can also earn additional revenue by referring other advertisers (10% of their ad spending) or publishers (10% of their earnings).
- Alexa Rank: 22,200
- Minimum Payment Amount: $5
- Payment Method(s): PayPal
- Programs Offered: Cost Per View
In-Text Advertising Networks
In-Text advertising can’t be considered as an alternative to Google AdSense but you can use it along with AdSense or any other contextual ad networks like BidVertiser or Clicksor.
24. Infolinks
Infolinks is the leader in in-text advertising which offers 70% revenue share even if you’re a newbie blogger. Infolinks follows a pay-per-click advertising model. Whenever a visitor hovers over one of these double-underlined words, an ad related to what they’re reading appears and you get paid every time a reader clicks on one of those ads. They offer advertising options like: insearch ads, intext ads, intag ads, inframe ads.
Alexa Rank: 1,127
Minimum Payment Amount: $50 (PayPal, eCheck); $100 (Wire Transfer, WU)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Wire Transfer, eCheck, Western Union, Payoneer
Programs Offered: Cost Per Click
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25. Kontera
Kontera discovers the best editorial content and dynamically delivers brands’ advertising, content and social assets for optimal results. Their In Text ads are a highly effective and profitable online advertising solution for websites and blogs.
Alexa Rank: 20,403
Minimum Payment Amount: $50
Payment Method(s): Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Cost Per Click
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In-Image Advertising Networks
If your website or blog is image heavy then you can turn your images into ad inventory with the following in-image advertising networks. They place targeted ads over images so that you’ll make money on a cost per view or cost per click basis.
26. GumGum
GumGum is one of the largest in-image advertising (In-image advertising is a term used to describe targeted ads overlaid on images) platform, reaching over 150 million unique users worldwide. GumGum doesn’t require any minimum number of visitors but they require at least 500,000 monthly page views targeting U.S. based audience.
Alexa Rank: 21,430
Minimum Payment Amount: $50
Payment Method(s): Check, PayPal
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression
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27. Luminate
Luminate makes images interactive. They offer an Image App Platform, which enables consumers to conduct their favorite online activities such as shopping, sharing, commenting and navigating directly from a picture. Luminate publishers can offer innovative consumer features that increase audience engagement, website traffic and drive incremental revenue.
Alexa Rank: 30,969
Minimum Payment Amount: $10
Payment Method(s): Check, PayPal
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression, Cost Per Click
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CPM Ad Networks
CPM (Cost Per Mille) stands for Cost Per 1,000 Impressions. A high paying CPM advertising network is actually the best alternative to Google AdSense. As you probably know, Google AdSense (or any other pay per click network) pays for only clicks so it means that your monthly income varies a lot as AdSense CPC/CPM is very volatile. A CPM network pays you for every 1,000 page views you generate. So it means that if the CPM set by your CPM Network is $1 then you will earn $30 per month (if you generate 1,000 page views daily or 30,000 page views per month). High traffic websites and blogs rely on CPM networks than CPC networks since it generates guaranteed income.
28. Technorati Media
Technorati Media is one of largest social media advertising network which accepts sites with great original content and deliver targeted campaigns from top brands at high CPMs.
Alexa Rank: 10,575
Minimum Payment Amount: $50
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression
- Technorati Media: Sign Up | FAQ
29. Yes Advertising by Clicksor
Yes Advertising is a new ad network by Clicksor that allows you to make money through their CPM program. They say their publishers are currently earning an average of $5 CPM.
Alexa Rank: 11,064
Minimum Payment Amount: $50 (PayPal, Check); $1,000 (Wire Transfer)
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression
- Yes Advertising: Sign Up
30. Burst Media
Burst Media gives you high CPMs, quality campaigns and full control of which ads run on your site.
Alexa Rank: 10,174
Minimum Payment Amount: $50
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, Electronic Funds Transfer (US Only)
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression
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31. PulsePoint
PulsePoint (formerly ContextWeb) is one of the top CPM (Cost Per Mille) Network that exists today. With PulsePoint you can set your own prices. Set your current eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) so that the advertisers compete to beat your current eCPM. If they don’t beat your current eCPM then it will show backup ads from other networks like Google AdSense. So, you’ll always make the maximum money when you work with PulsePoint.
Alexa Rank: 15,863
Minimum Payment Amount: $50
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check, Electronic Funds Transfer (US Only)
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression
- PulsePoint: Sign Up
32. Vibrant Media
Vibrant Media have over 6,000 premium publishers, reaching over 250 million unique users per month. Some of the products are Vibrant Image, Vibrant In-Text Ads, Vibrant Display, Vibrant Related Content and Vibrant Lightbox.
33. Gorilla Nation
Gorilla Nation sells advertisements on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model to advertisers and agencies around the globe.
Premium CPM Ad Networks
If you have a high traffic website or a blog then you can apply for the following programs. They’re premium ad networks that offer maximum CPM.
Content Platforms
Forget pay-per-click ads, banner ads, affiliate programs, and everything else as there are even more ways to monetize your website. The earnings from the following content platforms primarily depends upon your website’s authority and not necessarily page views (unless it’s CPM).
34. Taboola
Taboola helps advertisers to acquire traffic to their website using content recommendation service. So if you’re a publisher then you can monetize your content by recommending content people may like, using Taboola personalized recommendations. Taboola monetizes your website with a premium CPM by inviting your users to discover high-quality articles and videos from Taboola’s marketplace.
35. PostJoint
PostJoint is a content blogger network that connects marketers and bloggers. You can mention the topics you blog about and can even set a minimum budget spent so that they will send you notifications when an advertiser is interested in buying an article on your blog. You will be paid $10 – $500 (or even more) depending upon your monthly unique visitors.
36. Content.ad
Content.ad as the name suggests monetizes your website with premium ads that look and feel like content. Ads by Content.ad links to a variety of high-quality sponsored content with user friendly images and headlines. And they offer high CPM guarantees for top publishers.
Alexa Rank: 15,468
Minimum Payment Amount: $50
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
Programs Offered: Content Ads
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37. Content BLVD
Content BLVD is another content platform that connects brands and publishers. Advertisers submit quality sponsored posts or guest posts to a relevant blog and if it’s accepted then they will get paid. You will be paid $50 – $425 per sponsored blog post depending upon your website’s Moz Domain Authority. There’s no payment for guest posts but you will get a placement fee based on your domain authority.
Alexa Rank: 45,234
Minimum Payment Amount: N/A
Payment Method(s): PayPal
Programs Offered: Sponsored Posts & Guest Posts
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38. Written
Written helps brands to increase their visibility and also helps bloggers to monetize their best content. Written.com licenses your content to other brands for a specific period of time and you’ll be making money on a monthly basis. It’s like you’re renting your content to someone else on a monthly basis so as long as they’re using your content you will make money.
Alexa Rank: 109,222
Minimum Payment Amount: N/A
Payment Method(s): PayPal
Programs Offered: Content Syndication
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Ad Networks For Women Bloggers
Yes, the list is not over yet and the next list is for the women bloggers out there. If you’re a woman blogger then you can try the following ad networks as they’re looking for blogs written by women or blogs with female audience.
39. BlogHer Publishing Network
BlogHer Publishing Network is an ad network for women bloggers. They accept only high quality bloggers and are accepting new applications periodically so you may be on a waiting list when you apply. With BlogHer, you can make money by showing CPM ads and also by accepting their sponsored posts and reviews.
Alexa Rank: 4,154
Minimum Payment Amount: $25
Payment Method(s): PayPal, Check
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression, Sponsored Posts
BlogHer Publishing Network: Sign Up | FAQ (unofficial)
40. Foodie Blogroll Ad Network
Foodie Blogroll Ad Network is for the food bloggers or blogs with 75% food related content. You can make money from your blog by showing CPM banner ads and also by using your social media influence. If you’re an active social media user then you can accept sponsored posts and other sponsored content to make more money.
Alexa Rank: 83,203
Minimum Payment Amount: No Minimum
Payment Method(s): PayPal
Programs Offered: Cost Per Impression, Sponsored Posts
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