Google Sucks! Let's find something better than Adsense and Adwords!

[Ralf Skirr]

Have you noticed how many people run into trouble with google lately?
- Ads for adwords not being approved for weeks.
- Adsense accounts shut down for no reason.

Google has grown so big, they just don't care about the individual customer anymore.

And by the way: they have grown expensive too. Clicks that cost 5 cents a few years ago, may now cost a few dollars.

What are good alternatives for adsense and adwords?

Ralf

EDIT: Since view people responded to the main question (the bolded one above), I asked my assistant to research some sites to check. Here's what she found out, I have not checked the sites yet, just giving you the links.

www.adbrite.com –has a wide array of ad formats with competitive payouts. AdBrite has a subtler Terms and Conditions compared to AdSense and gives you more control (if you’re an affiliate) by giving you the option to display only the ads you have approved, set your minimum bid price, and lets you sell ads directly to your visitors, or (if you’re a publisher) allows you to set your ad rates, as well as approve/reject ads bought for your site.

www.adtoll.com – AdToll is a CPC-based ad program that sends payment through Checque, PayPal, wire transfer, and ePassporte. Currently, they promote Peel Away ads in which ads show a slight peel at the top right hand to arouse curiosity.

www.bidvertiser.com- Bidvertiser gives you the freedom to customize how your ad will look like and pays through 2 options: 1) $25 check or 2) $10 through PayPal. BidVertiser allows you to block ads, but they’re strict in who they accept and can quickly block members whose websites have valid irregular visitor behavior.

www.chitika.com – Chitika is the leader of impulse merchandising today. It’s not the typical text link advertising. It shows an interactive box where target products are displayed).

www.clicksor.net – Clicksor is the probably forerunner of small publisher AdSense alternatives that have competitive to high payouts, which can already earn you a decent income. They have a less strict Terms and Conditions but are strict when it comes to the relativity of ads to your site content.

www.exitjunction.com – ExitJunction is a complimentary ad program mainly focusing on showing ads when visitors hit the back button. They send payments through PayPal and Check for a minimum of $25 earnings per month.

www.infolinks.com – Infolinks focuses, and claims to lead, on in-text advertisements wherein they search your website for keywords and convert them into links. Setting up ads on your website is easy and fast, and you’re assured that their in-text ads are highly relevant with high conversion rates.

www.kontera.com – Kontera is a PPC advertising program that focuses on in-text adverts, displaying small popups on keywords in your text.

http://publisher.yahoo.com – Yahoo Publisher can simply be seen as a copy of Google AdSense. Of course it’s not as big as AdSense.

www.targetpoint.com – Basically, TargetPoint is more focused on publishers. With affiliates, they are quite strict when accepting websites.

www.valueclick.com – ValueClick is a good alternative to Google that supports text ads, image ads, InVue, Pop-under, and interstitial. However, it is good to note that they only accept big companies.

[Christian Fox]

- Ads for adwords not being approved for weeks.

I have been waiting a month.

Yahoo is good but prices are creeping up MSN is still cheap but low volume.
I am just starting CPV.

I'd still use the G content with images....If they would EVER get approved.

[grandstar]

I think banner ads may be the way to go

[BIG Mike]

Originally Posted by Ralf Skirr

Have you noticed how many people run into trouble with google lately?
- Ads for adwords not being approved for weeks.
- Adsense accounts shut down for no reason.

Google has grown so big, they just don't care about the individual customer anymore.

And by the way: they have grown expensive too. Clicks that cost 5 cents a few years ago, may now cost a few dollars.

What are good alternatives for adsense and adwords?

Ralf

Actually Ralf, it's always been like this with Google - it might seem like it happens more often these days, but that's because so many more people use them than ever before.

For Adsense, there are plenty of similar alternatives like the Yahoo Publisher's Network and other options like CPA and even Affiliate products.

On the Adwords side though, even though there are alternatives, I'm not too sure any of them have anywhere near the reach of Adwords.

[LMC]

Honestly, Independent Media Buys have been extremely profitable for me.

[RebeccaL]

You might find something "better" as in service, but you certainly won't find anything bigger and with such a massive pool of advertisers and users. That is why people stick with Google despite any negatives (nothing wrong with using other services at the same time though).

[Christian Fox]

Honestly, Independent Media Buys have been extremely profitable for me.

That's what I hear but a bad move and you can lose a ton of cash. Also pretty pricey to get things going from what I hear.

[LMC]

Christian,

Depends a lot on the market and budget, but yes it can be.

[mrnightowl]

Originally Posted by Ralf Skirr

And by the way: they have grown expensive too. Clicks that cost 5 cents a few years ago, may now cost a few dollars.

I run nothing but 5-7 cent max cpc on all my campaigns. I run about 5 ads for a few days with about 6 keywords in each ad some broad some not mixed up and after a few days I consolidate down to 2 ads with the best performing highest quality scored ones and keep that running for a couple weeks. No problems staying in that 5-7cent max cpc range.

[eric w]

Originally Posted by RebeccaL

You might find something "better" as in service, but you certainly won't find anything bigger and with such a massive pool of advertisers and users. That is why people stick with Google despite any negatives (nothing wrong with using other services at the same time though).

try facebook and cell phone advertising

i'm testing facebook now..over 350 million accounts...about 1 million new accounts each day

you can target by demographics and keywords (to some degree..not like google, yet..but i'm sure it's coming)

also with facebook you can direct link..i just ran a direct linking campaign on facebooks ppc adv.for about 17 hours..i had to stop it because i made a mistake setting it up and i was getting quite a few clicks (over 100)

anyway, i could go on and on, with what i've discovered about advertising on facebook with just my first 2 facebook ppc ads,....... but, anyway, facebook is definitely up there with google and cell phone adv. is growing extremely fast

[BIG Mike]

A couple of other things - I find it hard to believe that Adsense accounts are shut down for "No Reason"...it makes no sense for them to arbitrarily terminate accounts generating revenue for them.

While I am sure that, like any large company, mistakes do get made, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that in the majority of cases you'll find all sorts of TOS violations/fraud taking place, despite the cries of "I'm innocent".

As far as them getting more expensive, its because the more folks using them, the more competitive each keyword potentially becomes.

Who are Google's real customers? The advertisers - and in so far as not caring about them, their diligence in identifying and terminating accounts that defraud advertisers demonstrates the opposite.

Those promoting Adsense are NOT their customers - they're affiliates, paid for their efforts. Google does provide the tools, support and other information for Adsense promoters to get the biggest bang for their buck.

Google is in business to make money just like the rest of us. They also do what they need to do to protect themselves and remain profitable [especially for their shareholders], just as any of us would do.

That's not to suggest there aren't good alternatives out there that might be more effective for different business models, but all things considered, I don't think Google just outright "Sucks".

[Ralf Skirr]

Originally Posted by BIG Mike

A couple of other things - I find it hard to believe that Adsense accounts are shut down for "No Reason"...it makes no sense for them to arbitrarily terminate accounts generating revenue for them.

The problem here is shutting down accounts that have been ok for years and not giving a hint about the reason. They point to the tos, and if you can't see what is wrong, then you're lost.

In earlier years they sent a message saying 'this and that is not ok on your site' and you could fix it. Now they just shut down the account.

Originally Posted by BIG Mike

Those promoting Adsense are NOT their customers - they're affiliates, paid for their efforts. Google does provide the tools, support and other information for Adsense promoters to get the biggest bang for their buck.

I don't see it this way. Actually the site owners are business partners and without them Google would not earn 1 single cent of ad income.

Google would be dead broke in 1 day if the site owners would stop showing their ads.

So, shouldn't google also treat them in a decent way?

I don't think Google just outright "Sucks".

Okay, I can agree with that...but the thread headline sounded so much better with that.

And in general I do think that it sucks when the really big companies stop to respect the individual customer, affiliate or whatever. And that is what we see happening increasingly wiht the big guys.

[Intrepreneur]

I don't think Google suck, I actually think their advertising system is one of the best but I do reckon wedding out some just as good networks is on the right track.

Tell more everyone.

[Major_Lazer]

You can always try a Google alternative like Clicksor. They offer a variety of ad formats and good customer service.

[feldo202]

Yes, I have to agree in that Google has been extremely to get up.

My suggestion is Facebook and run CPA offers in the short form lead gens area. I have many friends that are successful on it. Also Myspace display is not to shabby either.

If you are looking for how to be successful in Facebook, the 202 team conducted an amazing webinar a couple of months ago that is worth watching.

Please PM me if anyone is interested for the link.

Cheers!

[Ralf Skirr]

I did not expect to get several recommendations for facebook as google alternative.

Interesting.

Who's actually using it?
What results are you getting from it?

Ralf

[mjbiel]

Yes I to would like to know more about facebook advertising. Sounds interesting.

[Kay King]

Have you noticed how many people run into trouble with google lately?

Sure - those would be the ones complaining.

Question is - How many people AREN'T complaining? Could it be they haven't run into trouble with google???

[Ralf Skirr]

Originally Posted by Kay King

Sure - those would be the ones complaining.

Question is - How many people AREN'T complaining? Could it be they haven't run into trouble with google???

That is true, actually it is true for any business.

But still: is it good practice to disable accounts from business partners and not telling them why?

Are we really sure that 100% of the disabled accounts are bad sites from bad people?

[GeorgR.]

i have an ad on content "pending review" for almost two weeks now The target site is pretty high quality, not some spammy trash. Sometimes you can just shake your head.

[GeorgR.]

Originally Posted by Christian Fox

I have been waiting a month.

Yahoo is good but prices are creeping up MSN is still cheap but low volume.
I am just starting CPV.

I'd still use the G content with images....If they would EVER get approved.

this is a fricking joke. This was NOT the case about 6 months ago, i never had to wait weeks (months???) for a text ad to run. Banners, yes, maybe a few days. What's going on there?

[Ralf Skirr]

Since view people responded to the main question (What are good alternatives for adsense and adwords?), I asked my assistant to research some sites.

I added her list to the first post above.

Ralf

[Justin Lewis]

I'm definitely going to have to say clicksor is my #1 choice of alternatives so far.