End of the Adgitize Era

In July of 2009, my blog was coming up on its first anniversary.  At the time, I was posting periodically and struggling to get any kind of regular traffic coming to my site.  During that first year, I probably average 300-400 visitors per month.  In a very good month, I might crack 1000 visitors.

During those early days of blogging, I started to notice that some of the other blogs that I had discovered were advertising and displaying ads from various blogging communities.  One of the first ones that I signed up for was Entrecard, primarily because it was free.

I tried Entrecard for a while, but quickly grew tired of the results I was getting from them.  It was in July of 2009 that I started to notice some display widgets for another network called Adgitize.  Adgitize billed itself as "World Class Advertising on a Blogger's Budget."

I started to check out Adgitize to see what it was all about.  There were a couple of different options available with them.  You could sign up to be an publisher only and display their ads, you could be an advertiser and buy an ad for $14 per month, or you could do both.

One of the things that I liked about them was that they had a sort of revenue sharing platform.  You could earn points by performing various activities such as visiting other blogs, publishing posts on your own blog, points for traffic, and points for being an advertiser.  The more points you earned, the more cash you could receive.

Now, one who participated in the Adgitize network would not be able to quit their day job and just Adgitize, but a little reward was nice.  I started off as a publisher only in early July of 2009.  In those early days, I was probably earning a couple pennies each day.  I realized that it would take a long time to hit their payout threshold of $10.

So, after a couple of weeks, I decided to take the plunge and bought my first ad with them for $14.  I noticed two things almost immediately after placing my first ad; first the traffic to my blog increased tremendously to the point where I was receiving at least triple the visitors prior to advertising.

The other thing that I noticed was that my total points and therefore the amount I was earning also increased significantly.  On days that I did not write a blog post, I went from earning a couple pennies to earning $.15-$.20 per day.  When I published a post, my earnings went up to $.50-$.60 per day.

It didn't take me long to figure out that if I participated in the various activities in the network and published a blog post most days that my $14 advertising fee could perpetuate itself in revenue from the network.  Most months, I would earn enough from my points to pay for the next month's ad.  I have been an advertiser with them ever since.

That is, until now.  Like a great many of us bloggers who have faithfully been a part of the Adgitize network and know full well the awesome benefits that being a part of their network, I was saddened to receive an email from Ken Brown, who started and runs Adgitize, informing us that Adgitize will be closed for business when the year ends.

Like any business, Adgitize needs revenue in order to survive.  For a while, it looked like Ken and crew had a winning formula.  The number of advertisers was growing pretty steady for several months.  Eventually, it peaked and came down a bit.  Unfortunately, over the last few months there has been a steady decline in the number of advertisers until it reached the point where the business could not be sustained.

Judging from some of the comments on the Adgitize blog from my fellow bloggers that are part of Adgitize, we all hold Ken Brown in high regard and are saddened to see Adgitize close.  Ken did a tremendous job of creating a community on Adgitize where we could share blogging tips and get to know one another.

In a day where customer service is somewhat lacking, Ken was very attentive in addressing concerns that any of us had.  Ken and his service will definitely be missed by those of us who have interacted with him over the last three years.  I wish him much success in all his future endeavors and hope to be able to work with him again.

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• 65 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog (problogger.net)

Adgitize

Image by clintonjeff via FlickrAdgitize is my favorite method of advertising my blog.  I first signed up with them and started advertising with them two years ago.  An ad with Adgitize costs only $14 per month.  However, due to the structure within Adgitize, your actual net cost each month will be much less.  If you are a very active blogger, you could even make enough each month to pay for your ads.

The system is set up to earn points for various activities within the network.  As an advertiser, you would earn 100 points per day for running an ad in the network.  Each day that you write an article and publish it on your blog, you earn another 100 points.  You can also earn up to 100 points by clicking on ads within the Adgitize network.  Advertisers get the added bonus of only having to click on 51 ads to earn 100 points versus having to click 100 ads if you are not an advertiser.

Then there is the main reason to advertise with Adgitize; the traffic.  Prior to joining Adgitize, I was averaging well under 1000 page views per month.  Since joining, I average over 3000 page views per month.  If you publish Adgitize ads on your blog, you have the additional benefit of earning points for the number of page views and ad views your blog produces.  The increased from advertising also increases the points you earn there.

This month, I have been particularly active in the network.  I have posted a blog post every day but one this month.  I always manage to earn my 100 points for clicking on ads.  Consequently, I have already earned enough this month to pay for my August ad in the Adgitize network.  In fact, because I have been more active than usual in posting on my blog, I will probably earn a couple extra dollars this month.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but back in May I purchased a Samsung Galaxy tablet through my wireless carrier.  I picked this particular tablet because it is small enough to fit in my pocket and was fairly inexpensive with a data contract.  One of the benefits of the tablet is that it has 3G and I can do my ad clicks wherever I happen to be.  Sometimes traffic is so bad on the beltway that I can sit in the car and get all my ad clicks done before I get to work.  Don't worry, I am never moving when I am clicking ads.

If you have not tried Adgitize yet and are an active blogger you really ought to give it a shot.  It is fairly easy to earn enough money each month to pay for, or nearly pay for your ad.  Since I have been a member, I have discovered a lot of great bloggers.  I have also managed to get a few regular readers who comment regularly on some of my posts.  It is by far the best blogger network I have ever been involved in.

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Promote Your Blog or Organization

As a pizza delivery driver, I tend to lose a lot of pens.  I can't tell you how many times I have handed a pen to a customer to sign a credit card slip and ended up not getting my pen back or having to ask to get it back.  Around the house, I never seem to be able to find a pen when I need one.  That is one of the reasons I like when banks or other businesses have promotional pens available for their customers.

Businesses are not the only organizations that can benefit from having promotional items.  Charities can help build awareness of their cause with a wide variety of promotional items like magnets, tote bags, coffee mugs and just about anything else imaginable.  Schools can get personalized pencils printed up for their students and teachers.  My fellow bloggers can even promote their blogs with various promotional items for every budget.

The promotional products business has changed a lot over the years.  It used to be you could only get a basic pen or pencil with just the name of your organization stamped on it.  Now, companies like Amsterdam Printing can provide much more elaborate items with graphics on more upscale items.  You can find a lot of graphic resources for backgrounds on line.  This month, Amsterdam Printing has a promotion to give you 20% off of your order.  Check them out today. 

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Adgitize

I have been blogging here for a little more than a year now. In my efforts to build traffic to this blog I have tried a few different methods. The first blogging community that I joined to build traffic was Entrecard. I also signed up for BlogExplosion. I was able to build some additional traffic using these communities, but nothing consistent.

After seeing their ad groups on several blogs, along with some reviews, I decided to sign up for Adgitize in July. When I first signed up, I started out by just displaying ads on my blog. After a week and took the plunge and decided to advertise with Adgitize. My traffic has improved dramatically. August was my first full month of advertising on Adgitize, and my traffic was 3-4 times my monthly average prior to advertising. So far, in the first week of September, I have had as much traffic as I had been averaging for an entire month.

The best thing about Adgitize, is that you build points for different blogging activities in their network, such as writing posts, advertising, and visiting other sites in the network. Each day those points are calculated and you earn money depending on how many points you earn. I received notice this morning for my first payment in the amount of $23.77 through paypal. Part of that payment included July when I first joined, but my earnings for August was $16.22, more than enough to pay for another month of advertising with a little leftover.

So, if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive method of building traffic that can pay for itself, I highly recommend giving Adgitize a shot. It has worked well for me so far. The other good thing about Adgitize is that you do not have to advertise to reap some of the benefits. You can still earn points, and money, by displaying ads, writing posts, and visiting other blogs.