When you visit some of the blogs, you might have noticed few ads served by ProjectWonderful (PW). Even I have also placed one on my sidebar. When we compare PW with the other ad networks, it is undoubtedly one of the unique & innovative ad networking service. In an era dominated by Google Adsense, except few, most of the Adsense alternatives available in the market have almost failed to compete against Adsense. Adsense publisher policy can also be one of the reasons for the failure of its alternatives. As per Adsense policy, publishers are not allowed to use Google Adsense along with the other Ad networks that deliver ads based on the content of the site. As the main source of income for most of the publishers is Adsense, not many will be ready to give-up Adsense just for the sake of trying a completely new content based ad network. So, Companies are coming with ad networks that can be used by publishers along with the traditional Adsense. ProjectWonderful is one such ad serving program, which allows the publishers to use any other ad network along with it.
Advantages of PW over other Ad networks
1) Unlike CPC (Cost per Click) Ad networks which pays the publishers only when there is a click, PW relies on a model called CPD (Cost per Day), where the publishers get paid daily irrespective of the clicks. This model doesn’t provide any room for fraudulent clicks. This can be a great relief for the advertisers.
2) Advertisers can select blogs of their choice based on different criteria’s like page views, site name, tags & bid value. On other hand, publishers can also choose to disable certain ads if they feel irrelevant.
3) Boosts the confidence level of the amateur publishers by giving them an opportunity to earn even with their little traffic. Though the amount of money they can earn is small, they might not be in a position to make even this small amount of money with other ad networks.
4) The ad space of the Publisher will be put in an infinite auction. So, always an ad with highest bid will be displayed on the page.
5) Publishers can instantly withdraw their money without any pain to their PayPal account once their earning reaches $10. They can also utilize that money for their advertising needs, if required.
Whatz wrong with PW & how it can be improved
1) Though they have a powerful concept, they seem to have failed in marketing their product. Many in the advertiser & publisher community are not aware of this ad network. Just like their main concept, they need to come with some innovative marketing strategies to take this product to a larger audience.
2) Most of the advertisers in the PW network are start-up bloggers. They may not be in a position to spend more money on advertisement. As a result, the quality of ads served on the network will also be of low quality. This can compel lot of professional bloggers & other quality publishers to stay away from the network. This can be avoided by bringing in more quality advertisers to the network, which can add more value to the publishers.
3) By default, anybody, even a non registered user can view the page views & some other statistics of the sites in PW network. This may prevent some publishers from joining the network. The stats should be made available only to either registered users or registered advertisers.
4) The existing process involved in creating a new ad unit is bit confusing for the new bees. The process can be made simpler by taking out some of the unwanted options.
Is it Wonderful?
Well, in my view, the innovative concept of infinite auction model is really wonderful. But, the PW team seems to be not completely successful in implementing their concept. Still, they can make it wonderful by increasing the quality of advertisers & publishers in their pool through innovative marketing strategies.
I am forwarding this post to ProjectWonderful team. Let’s see how they react. In the mean time, if you are also using this service please feel free to share your thoughts.