Is Blog Advertising Network Going By the Wayside?

When I first got into blogging it wasn't long before I discovered the 480 X 60 and 125 x 125 blog advertising networks.  This really was a nice concept.  Essentially your banner or badge was displayed on other blogs for a low advertising fee and/or active participation.  As someone who was very active in Entrecard but not longer am in any way, shape or form but am still active in CMF Ads, Adgitize, and Project Wonderful I can't help but wonder if the advertising networks are going by the wayside.  Some have already gone like 125exchange and the beer widget.  Spottt was quite popular for awhile but I seldom see it anymore when blog hopping.  The last three mentioned were more of traffic exchange networks rather than ad networks.  The first one is a glorified traffic exchange while CMF Ads, Adgitize and Project Wonderful are ad networks.

Ad networks offer exposure across their network so essentially you are advertising to other bloggers but if you have a nicely designed badge a visitor to someone's blog in that network might click on it to visit your blog.  It costs money to use an advertising network although with active participation you can recoup some of that cost there is then a cost in terms of time.  You can get excellent exposure via other methods like social networking that reaches a much broader audience without having to pay a penny and at the same time you get a bit of entertainment out of the process.  

Any blogger can sell private ad space on their blog in any shape, size desired or design at any price desired without  paying anything to the middle man (advertising network) and not only is  there coding to aid in this but you can easily set it up yourself.   An example of this is OIO Publisher that costs $47 but you have full control of your advertising space without paying anything extra (eg. fees, commissions) afterwards.  Direct advertising means you deal directly with those wanting to advertise on your blog and with bloggers on whose blog you want to advertise on so there is  bit more involved but it is more profitable.  Each of the advertising networks make some type of commision either by a form of taxation and/or charging you to cash out.  If you put things in perspective I can sell an ad privately on one of my blogs for $5 or more for a month.  If I go through Project Wonderful I have to pay $1 to cash out.  I can/have sold a link on my blogs for $100 per year.  If I sell through LinkShowOff I have to pay $3 each time I want to cash out.  So these companies are getting money for something I can do myself but more importantly I can control entirely.  Another problem with ad networks is if their widget goes down and they do from time to time although some have less down time than others you are left with a blank spot or service unavailable spot on your blog.  

Despite the fact that selling private ad space on your blog is always an option and buying advertising on other blogs the same way I don't see the demise of blog advertising networks anytime soon.  As long as these networks continue to perform as expected bloggers will continue to use them along with other available methods for gaining exposure to their blogs.  I think though that if they do not perform as expected I like many other bloggers would not hesitate to move on to something else.

Garden Gnome
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