It used to be social network websites. Then there was the video uploading sites. And now, apparently, we are witnessing the rise of the advertising networks, of which BuySellAds, a project undertaken by Todd Garland, is one of. But is it any good?
Just Googling BuySellAds (BSA, to those already familiar) results in a couple a’ million different reviews, all of which with a different opinion on whether the latest incarnation of a tired formula is worth your time. Regrettably, in an age where one good idea leads to a thousand second-rate copies, it’s often difficult to weed out the godawful from the genuinely good. So where does BSA fit in?
BuySellAds, as the name indicates, is essentially a service for both advertisers (a.k.a. you’re advertising a product) and publishers (a.k.a. people are buying the advertising space on your website), allowing the sale and purchase of advertising space through a sophisticated, well-rounded system that takes the hassle out of advertising.
the advantages
BuySellAds separates itself from other networks first and foremost through an incredibly intuitive and simplistic user interface. It’s clear that the aim of BSA is to simplify the process of buying and selling advertisements, and it certainly succeeds in this area.
Everything about BuySellAds is just easy, from listing your website’s advertising space (publishers) to buying advertising space (advertisers). The whole process is as easy as breathing, which is a huge plus for anyone who finds the process of selling and buying ads frustrating and time consuming.
A fully-fledged analytics program as well as support services are also a click away for both advertisers and publishers, again another huge advantage. At the moment banner ads seem to be the way to go, although BuySellAds is undergoing private beta testing of pay-per-click advertisements, which will allow both advertisers and publishers a bit more freedom in the future.
For publishers, your website is listed in the BSA directory, allowing advertisers target-specific searches to help find a compatible website. A gray place holder box that’s become a somewhat recognisable icon sits in your advertising space, potential advertisers just a click away to purchasing that space in monthly subscriptions.
We found that payouts were quick and seamless, the PayPal system very efficient. Wire transfers and cheques are also available as payout and payment options if PayPal is not your thing.
the drawbacks
Too good to be true? You know the saying, and yup… it is. Well, sort of…
Let’s start with the publishers. By using BSA, you are paying for the simplicity, and you’re paying for it big time. The BSA system will take away 25% of your earnings – for those who failed second year maths, that means BSA will take 25 cents in every single dollar you earn. Compared to the major ad networks out there, or to selling advertising space privately, the cut is unusually high, and can be quite damaging for higher earning websites.
The circumstances change depending what your website focuses on, but another aspect to consider regarding BSA is the fact that it is a very niche-specific network, meaning only websites focusing on tech, web design / development or freelancing have a chance of succeeding in this system. While this will probably change in the future considering BSA is relatively new on the scene, at the moment it’s a fairly limited community of websites all focused on specific areas. In other words, if you blog about the nutritional value of capsicum, you haven’t got much of a chance.
And because no one cares about the nutritional value of capsicum, and therefore you have no visitors, you will again be rejected because BSA requires a base impressions level of at least 100K per month, although we’ve found this figure to be very flexible. BSA is not all that welcoming to websites with little traffic and no reputation – you need to have a solid foundation of steady traffic to stand a chance of being “accepted” into the BSA system.
The Verdict
Publishers
For startups and smalltime blogs and websites, BuySellAds is unsurpassed as a well-rounded easy to use advertising network, so long as you can be accepted. BSA really does remove the stress of selling advertising space like no other service can, and for small time websites BSA is the ideal solution.
For websites commanding larger amounts of traffic (and consequently a bigger income) BSA may not be the solution you are looking for, only because of the steep 25% cut, which when you are earning thousands of dollars will severely eat into your profit. BSA provide a good service, but no one likes a company THAT much to give them a quarter of our earnings…
BuySellAds takes the pain out of selling advertising space and is certainly a service that should be considered for all web startups and small time websites focused in the design and web services area. If you don’t fit into any part of that previous sentence, Google Adsense, or privately selling your advertising space may be the smarter option.
Advertisers
For ease of use there is no service quite the same. We have yet to compare click through / impression rates compared to the other major services, but as long as you are advertising a product relevant to the design, tech or web services industry, BSA really is a no-brainer for driving targeted, specific traffic to your website. Stay tuned for the site-wide release of PPC advertising.
ambarish kumar
i have registered with buy sell ads and they approved me. but m not getting any ads to display. Do u m ay refer me any reason?
DT
It’s a pretty good site. I have been using it since 2009 and earning decent from them.. I have mixed them with adsense..
Matt
I’m using them now. Haven’t got one interested advertiser from them.
Sorta disappointed.
Patil Makarand
Excellent Review, I will try to mix both BSA and adsense in my blog. Thanks a lot !
Hacking Universe
Great review! I have been looking for a good service to set up ads on my site and this may just be the solution!
Conzz
Great info, I now know what the benchmarks are for taking my site to the next level. Thanks!
Heart Hackerzz
This is nice review I am going to apply for it
Jane
Hi,
Thanks for the review. I noticed you mentioned “BSA requires a base impressions level of at least 100K per month”, yet I thought I read on the website that only 10,000 are necessary? I might have misconstrued.
Bollywood
Interesting review, Thinking, to give a chance to BSA
Hosting Best
Good review, can see why this is top of Google for ‘buysellads review’
Borat
Very good information about very good company! for me no possible to go to BSA since size of blog are to small. so i like to tell about KOMOONA free tool, it gives possibility for advertiser and site reader to create and upload and pay for the ads… and very good interface for publiher!! i will also try BSA one day but i like to tell many people about the free tool also! good luck and thank you for good article!!
Eric
Thought I’d throw in my 2 cents in regards to Google Adsense vs. BSA (this is based on experience)
Use Google Adsense if…
– you have a tech/web related website and you get less than 100k – page views per month
– you have a small to mid sized non tech/web related website
Use BSA if…
– you’re website is tech/web related, and you’re site is getting over 100k page views per month (You’ll make more money than Google Adsense)
Sell ads directly if..
– You’re website is getting millions of page views per month, and it’s cheaper to build your own internal advertising system than it is to use a 3rd party like Google Adsense or BSA
cheers!
John
(disclosure: I founded http://www.isocket.com, the 0% commission sales tool)
@Rebecca – traffic matters in this context, and “small” is relative. To be successful with direct ad sales you need to be large enough to warrant the advertisers time. This is why AdSense et al were so valuable – you could get lots of little sites without the hassle.
We typically reject sites with under 50,000 page views per month from joining isocket. We just don’t want someone paying for our product if we think its very likely they won’t be successful with it =(
Rebecca
So now, a blog is considered “small” when they have 100k unique monthly visits?
*facepalm*
To me, small is the blog that gets a couple hundred hits a week – and to others, even that may seem big. Are there any ad networks for us?
PublisherMedia
They have done a great job in their niche . The large sites that run their platform do very well. I also like their reporting features.
Siju George
BuySellAds seems to be an alternate idea for bloggers who are earning via traditional ads serving systems like Google adsense or Chitika. The major advantage I see is we can set our price by our self as long as advertisers accept it. 25 percent cut seems to be not much high as even Google pays just 68 percent of advertisers bids. The main problem with BSA is to get approved by them. They need 100k unique monthly visits and that seems to a Herculean task for small bloggers.
Shash
A very good review indeed. As others have mentioned their cut 25% isn’t too much but if your website is quite famous then you can sell your ad space directly
Trevor
miss the good old days of the pay-per-click system. $0.01 lol
I didn’t knew that adsense cuts 30-35%
my website has been reject by BSA, not enough content…
Ivan
When you say “25% … is unusually high,” I would have to disagree, it sounds pretty reasonable to me. Google takes about 30-35% and many ad networks I’ve used take 30%. Can you tell me which networks you know of that take less than 25%?
Davin @ My Gamer Diary
Thanks for the info, seems like BSA is indeed quite niche in terms of advertising. I will pass for now.
Samuel
I am developing an adnetwork like buysellads. I want to know what you guys think of how i can improve it and make it better.
Avio karte
Information I was looking for. thanks
joycle-online
Por que no:)
Buysellads: l'examen définitif
[...] Auparavant, les sites Internet de réseau social. Puis il ya eu les sites téléchargement vidéo. Et maintenant, apparemment, nous assistons à la montée des réseaux de publicité, dont BuySellAds, un projet réalisé par Todd Garland, est l'un. Mais est-il des résultats any good? Just Googling BuySellAds (BSA, pour ceux qui connaissent déjà) dans un couple d'une «[. . . ] URL article original: http://zavose.com/web-resources/buysellads-the-definitive-review [...]
web hosting company review
what a great post, i like it
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BSA Reviews & Interviews « Online Advertising Blog – BuySellAds.com
[...] There is also a verdict for both publishers and advertisers. And lots of arguments. Check them out here.A Good Way To Spend on AdvertisingOn Daw Web Hosting Blog there’s another review about BuySellAds [...]
Michael Aulia
I got accepted but it’s so hard getting an advertiser in. I guess the market is too saturated to make you special (there are too many other sites on the same nich on the marketplace)
Been weeks now and one has bought any ad yet
todd
thanks for the nice review
Chuck Lockhart (Zavose)
thanks for the great product! We wish you the very best for the future.