adflipAdsFlip?  As described in the AdsFlip.com FAQ: “AdsFlip is the latest most easiest and fastest way to market your website. Newly launched in 2008, one of AdsFlips main target is to help users promote their website and allow users to publish their adverts across our AdsFlip network for absolutely free. “

Here’s the quick and dirty how it works.  You put an ad on your site that you have no control over.  You can even put the code on 10 sites.  Any type of blog or site qualifies.  Each time the ad is shown you get some credits.  Bigger ads earn more credits.  The company also gives you 1000 credits to start.  You then take these credits and spend them on your own ads.  Create an ad, choose categories, then how many impressions to use per day.  Basically, it’s a traffic exchange where you get free advertising for showing ads.

First the good points: 

  • You can see the synergy with Entrecard.  Entrecard drives traffic to your site.  With Entrecard delivering 350 uniques a day between my sites, that’s 350 Adsflip credits.  It’s free advertising to use as you wish, just for adding a single banner.
  • The company running it answers questions promptly by email.  I asked if I could run the same Adsflip code on multiple sites and domains.  Answer: “You may place the AdsFlip Banner on any pages (that includes sub-domains), you can even place it on a complete different website that we not aware of.”  My second question was if I could run Adsflip in an I-frame.  Answer: “You can insert the AdsFlip banner code inside a frame. That would not cause any problem to the ad. Our system will recognize the frame and attempt to look outside the frame to match appropriate banners.”
  • There are many banner sizes, so finding the right one for your site is no problem.  You can choose text only, image only, or both.
  • They have no issue running affiliate ads.

Now the bad points:

  • They mysteriously banned the turnipofpower logo you all know and love.  Here’s their explanation:
    • Dear Turnip of Power,
      Thank you for joining AdsFlip! We have reviewed the following ad and it appears to be against our Terms and Conditions.
      Ad Name: Turnip
      Ad URL: http://turnipofpower.com/
      Has a result, we have removed this ad from your account. If you have placed this ad on our network, we have cancelled the placement and refunded any credit remaining back to your account.
      In future, please remember to abide by our Terms and Conditions before creating an Ad. You can view the policy here:
      http://www.adsflip.com/help/view_29.html
  • My only guess is that you need some identifying text on the logo. Still, that’s pretty damn weird.

  • The scammers have already arrived.  No sooner had I placed my first ad, when I saw a click on it.  I followed the link to a blank page containing nothing other than AdFlips ads, with the page set to auto-refresh.  I reported the site and it was gone within the hour, requiring a password to log in.
  • The non scamming, high traffic, crap sites also arrived.  Like the sites that target anything and everything you type as a keyword on Google.  Hard to get excited when you see your cleverly crafted ad on a directory page.

Bottom line:  There is nothing to lose from trying Adsflip if you use Entrecard.  I suppose there are two concerns here. One is the lack of control you have over the ads on your site.  All ads shown so far have been decent quality.  The other concern is potentially being banned because of Entrecard driven traffic, though I strongly doubt that.  Advertisers value uniques, and you scan their ads looking for the Entrecard.  Either way, who cares.  Blow through the thousand credits and see how many clicks you get.  Then decide if having someone else’s ad on your site is worth the clicks gained.  On the other hand, if you run high traffic crap sites, then you might do well.

For my test, I ran a Bluehost Hosting Ad.  I tried all available sizes, and set them to run 200 impressions each.   For categories, I selected “home & garden”, “internet”, and “recreation & hobbies”.  In the end I had 6 clicks from my 1000 impressions, 4 on the 234×60 ad and 2 on the 100×600 ad.  In my opinion this was terrible.  Not one click from a blog.  What I learned is never to pick the “internet” category ever again for any reason.   So I cancelled my ads and will try again in 2 days using different categories.  After all, trial and error is how you find what works.   Unlike AdWords, AdsFlip is free.  Give it a try and share your results here.

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