AdMoolah News and Views

There is a program called AlternateURL that puts replacement ads on you site when Google would put a PSA on your site. I joined this program and tried it out on several sites. They also have a referral program which allows you to get 10% of your referrers earnings.

I am now removing the AlternateURL ads from my site and taking the referral ads off of my site. The CTR and CPC rates for this program were horrible. In case you want to try it for yourself my affiliate link is: AlternateURL.

I apologize to anyone who signed up for this program based on my ad and was disappointed with the results.

Here is the note I sent to AlternateURL today:

Update: I received a response from AlternateURL which I have copied at the bottom of this post.

---

Your program sounds like a great idea but I am getting terrible results. My referral network is seeing about a 0.0025% CTR with less less than $0.02 CPC.

I would suggest 2 enhancements:
1) Allow custom color palettes for the ads. Right now the ads look ugly because they don’t blend in with sites. Having ugly ads also reduces CTR.
2) Better targeting of ads. You should allow at least a general category of ads to display. Your off-target ads are not doing well.

I’ll be removing AlternateURL from my site until I hear that you’ve made these improvements, then I’ll consider putting them back on.

---

Response From AlternateURL
The rates are improving. We share 1/2 of revenue with our members, and the
average CPC is now at 9.5 cents. We are confident this will continue to
rise.

You are right. CTR can be improved with color customization. We are working
on this now.

The categorization is another area that can be improved. Additional
back-end sponsors will ensure that the relevancy improves over time.

I appreciate you taking the time and for your honest evaluation. I hope you
will come back when the next ad code customization has been completed.