Using the content network is so much different than the search network. I can't really advise you without knowing details.

Couple of assumptions you made I want to correct. Your CPC may or may not be lower. You may or may not get more traffic. Your conversions may or may not be higher.

By the way, you don't "get keywords" in the content network. There are two ways to use the content network. First, bid on keywords just like the search network and Google will find pages that display Adwords that are appropriate for those keywords. What they do is "theme" your keywords and find pages with that theme. Obviously, the more sites matching your theme, the greater chance of exposure. However, you'll get lots of crappy sites which have nothing to do with your theme. As you find them, you can specify to not display your ads on them.

The second way is to target specific sites and pages. I prefer this way but you could use the first method to find those sites. Check them out and build a good site-targeted campaign.

You should also separate each campaign and not lump all in one. That is, have one search-only campaign, one keyword campaign for the content network and one site-targeted campaign.

I'd suggest starting with a search campaign and optimize it. Note however that ads that work well in search do not necessarily work as well in the content network. But at least it's a good place to start.

i made good conversion with Google content network. My method - collect as many visitors emails as I can.

Deliver good content and it should convert.

The content network is different than the search - there's no real use trying to compare them..

For the content your ads are going to need to stand out, as the user is not searching for your product/service - they are reading a page and your ads are on that page - so the more your ads stand-out in a positive way - the better chance you have on getting visitors..

As Lucid said, the content network operates on a keyword-theme basis. So you take 10-30 keywords that are related to your ad/offer and the content network will find related pages with adsense.

I found the key is also to get a maximum high CTR. So that is your goal if you have targeted with the right theme of keywords.
You can also use display-ads. If you make them "click-likely" I found that to be one of the best things to do. As ChrisBa said, your ads have to stand out, the CTR must be high to get impressions constantely (otherwise you will be "tested" and get some impressions and then the campaign will run out).

There is a whole agenda of things you can do to optimize: 1. select the best placements (with highest CTR/Conversions) by making a placement report and put them into an own campaign. 2. If you really have found a good combo of ads / placements you can bid on CPM basis per 1,000 impressions and raise your ROI if you have a good CTR.

I believe Google content network can be used as a great tool for branding.The good thing to add here is CPC's on the content network are really low and you don't pay anything for impressions, so its free branding in a way.

In fact if you use video ads you don't pay anything for a video impression(somebody seeing that video), you pay only when somebody clicks the URL in the video and goes to your site.