Blog Advertising thru Entrecard, Adgitize and CMF Ads: A Comparison
Posted by
eli
on 9/03/10• Categorized as Consulting
As a blogger I believe in blog promotion and advertising, to generate readers and visitors to my blog. 
After all, what is the use of publishing content without readers? A reader is to a blog as water is to a plant. Each is useless without the other.
For the past month I tried advertising my blog in Entrecard’s Sponsor Ads, CMF Network Ad, and Adgitize. The three are the popular and major ad networks in blog advertising. How do they refer visitors to bloggers-advertisers? Which is the most effective ad firm among and between the three?
My Experiment
I purchased a 31-day network ad in the Adgitize from August 1 to August 31, 2010 for $ 14.00. My ad runs on about 5,000 Adgitize publisher-member blogs on random rotation 24/7 for 31 days.
I also bought a 30-day network ad in CMF Ads for the same period for $ 10.00. My ad runs on about 800 publisher blogs, also on random rotation 24/7 for 30 days.
At the same time, I purchased a full network ad (Sponsor Ad) from Entrecard for $ 10.00 on August 19, 2010 and it ended on August 30, 2010, upon reaching 40,000 impressions or views on EC’s 40,000 user blogs, also on random rotation.
Traffic, Page Views and Clicks
After the expiration of my adverts on Adgitize, Entrecard and CMF Ads, the following are the statistics provided by the three ad networks:
1). Adgitize: 1541 clicks $ 0.009 cost per click —-
2) Entrecard: 197 clicks $ 0.04 cost per click 40,169 impressions or page views
3) CMF Ads: 434 clicks $ 0. 02 cost per click 331,971 impressions or page views
Google Analytics Stats
However, my Google Analytics stats for the period August 1 – August 31, 2010 has different report, as follows:
Top Traffic Sources:
1). Google / organic 2,234
2). Adgitize.com/referral 1,181
3). CMFAds.com/referral 714
4). (Direct) /(none) 330
5). adn. Entrecard.com/referral 144
Could there be clicks or visitors that Google could not track but, however, Adgitize, Entrecard and CMF Ads were able to record? Even then, it is not disputed that my respective advert in the three ad networks has brought visitors to my blog.
Value of Advertising
To my mind, the value of putting advertising in Adgitize, Entrecard and CMF Ads is blog promotion and branding. In the face of countless millions blogs in the blogosphere, advertising aims to promote your blog and make it stands out from the rest, and enabling your avatar or ad image recognizable.
In addition, advertising brings in readers, as proven by the stats from the 3 ad networks.
Which of the 3 Ad Networks is Best?
It depends on your objective in advertising. Adgitize, Entrecard and CMF Ads have their own respective strengths and weaknesses. In my case, I can say, based on the results, that Adgitize is best, followed by CMF Ads, then Entrecard, in that order. This is from the yardstick of cost-effectiveness, cost per click, per thousand impressions or page views and in generating visitors.
*source of image: blogwealth.net
14 Comments
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thanks for this experiment. It gives another validation to my report too.
I always prefer Adgitize among the 3.
Adgitize drives more traffic than the two mention. The only problem is that it increases your bounce rate. That is why I switch to CMF ads’ spikes for traffic.
How about Project Wonderful? I’m having reasonable results, 320 visitors for $1.30. Plus I can target traffic by region, perfect for my new venture
I bought a one-month long advertisement at Adgitize although I’m also a member of the CMF network and Entrecard. Thanks for sharing your experience with the three networks. I felt like I had made the right choice.
Thanks for this post, I’ve wondered how these ad networks compare head-to-head. Like some of the other posters here, I’m a Adgitize publisher, and also a member of the CMF network and Entrecard. I’m still learning though, and perhaps it’s time to try advertising on Adgitize.
Interesting figures there Eli! Good report.
The fact that quite a few blogs have all three networks may also be a factor to consider, though I’ve no idea how that would affect things either way!
Thanks for the heads up on the FBC btw, I hadn’t been there for a while as I’ve been ridiculously busy at work. Not even done many blog entries lately. Sigh.
There should be specific reason that why two system shows two different statistic.I my case i was too confused when sit to compare different traffic sources.Though I haven’t bought any sponsored ads ,I still stick with free network ads.I have seen a viewer came from facebook drops on entrecard advert or coming from adgitize drop on entrecard advert,then both entrecard,adgitize or face-book showing one traffic from them.But at the end I was able to divide unique traffic .Anyway thanks for this lovely post,it will help lot of advertiser who are intending to advertise through these sites.
So, is it worth it to advertize in all those three at the same time? In my observation, most Adgitize members are also CMF Ads members which leads to not having a unique traffic. About Google Analytics’ report, I think they don’t report the bounce traffic (eg. a visitor came to your site, Drops and clicks the adgitize then leave – a total of 2-5 seconds) to your site that is why you don’t see it.
Thanks to your great input on this matter. As for me Adgitize and CMF Ads are the best too and respects to EC as well.
That’s a very insightful experiment. Judging from the results, AdGitize delivered the best value for the buck. Also, Adgitize 5,000 blogs have better quality than those of Entrecard’s 40,000 blogs. Even if you get better impression, the clicks are not showing it since most of those 40,000 blogs are like dead blogs. Entrecard should seriously start cleaning themselves up.
Very interesting information. I’m also a user of the 3 traffic sources. For free traffic, I can say the more effective is Entrecard.
With Adgitize, aren’t users forced to click on the ads so they can earn their money ($14) back? If that is the case, no wonder you get more clicks with them. If users get incentives for clicking on ads on cmfads or entrecard, i’m sure their numbers will be a lot higher.
Economically, Adgitize is worth the money