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A 6 month review of Monumteric’s ad network: what we like, don’t like, and whether we will stay with them
When Amy and I finally got enough traffic to start thinking about monetizing our Simply Awesome Trips with ads, I did a lot of research to find out which ad network would be the best fit for us. We had worked so hard on this blog and the last thing we wanted to do was spam it up with terrible ads placed everywhere.
While Mediavine and AdThrive are the 2 biggest ad networks in the travel blog game, we were not close to the traffic levels needed for applying there so we started looking at networks that would take smaller publishers in the 10,000- 20, 000 range. And also those networks that work with websites on Squarespace, like us. Enter Monumetric.
We have been super happy so far with Monumetric and plan to stick with them in the future. The customer service has been great, we have a good bit of control over ad placement, and most importantly, we are making money. Keep reading to find out all the details of our journey so far and any advice we have for fellow bloggers looking for a good ad network to join.
The Application And Onboarding
We applied to the Propel program for Monumetric, which takes sites with 10,000 -80,000 pageviews a month. You pay an initial $99 fee for set-up but most of the blog reviews I read said they made it back in the first month or two, so we thought it was a good investment.
We applied in August of 2023 and got an acceptance email in November so yeah, there was a bit of lag time there. I thought they had forgotten about us but once we got our assigned liaison, Jeff, things went smoothly and quickly. He was great walking us through the process and we are not super tech-savvy people.
The delay on acceptance could have been because we are on Squarespace and they typically require Wordpress or Blogger sites. I had decided to apply despite the explicit requirements on their website because the worst thing they can say is “No,” right? But they didn’t and they even had set steps to take to install the necessary codes on a Squarespace site. It was easy to follow and I don’t think it took me longer than 10-20 minutes to make sure we were ready to go.
We did already have a Google AdSense account because we use it for keyword research. We had never run any ads on the website before but already having the AdSense account approved and ready did make it go faster. Other than that, we had to add some script to the back end of our Squarespace account and an advertising tag. But the steps our liaison emailed to us were specific and easy to follow, which was great because we are not developers.
First Month
We did in fact make the $99 setup fee back in the first month so that was a win. Otherwise, we spent the first month tweaking the ads. They initially put a lot on the site, which we didn’t love but it was easy to email them and ask them to tone down placements, get rid of the video pop- up player, and other things we wanted to change.
You can also go onto the dashboard and opt out of some ad types as well as exclude certain urls (like navigation pages) from having ads. Between emails with the Monumetric team and using the Tools on our dashboard, we were able to get the ads to a level we liked pretty quickly.
Since The First Month
We have been very hands off with our Monumetric ads since the first month which is great. It just runs itself and we collect the ad money every month- hooray!
I find the dashboard pretty intuitive to use and to see what our totals for pageviews, sessions, RPMs, total earnings, etc. You can set this for monthly, weekly, or whatever custom time period you want.
It took just a month or so for the Monumetric RPM to get up to speed as advertisers became familiar with our site so be ready for that. And then of course, you have seasonal fluctuations in ad spending so there’s that too. We are excited to see what our Q4 revenue will be since I have heard that is the best. RPMs for us hover between $20 and $25 so far with around 13,000- 20,000 page views in the travel niche.
Installing ads hasn’t slowed our speed down really as they are definitely the last thing to load. So while they are waiting to load, all of the text of the blog comes through, just with some blank spaces occasionally where the ads will eventually fill.
I took this image from Monumetric's website because I think it kind of sums up their ethos as a company.
What We Like About Monumetric
Responsive Customer Service
Easy To Use Dashboard
Some Control Over Ads
Easy Set-up
Ads Don’t Seem To Affect Speed Much
No Long-Term Contract (just 30 days notice to leave)
What We Don’t Like About Monumetric
The RPMs aren’t as high as on Mediavine/ AdThrive (then again, we don’t get that kind of traffic yet). We are making $20-25 RPM currently in a travel niche.
The application process had a long delay.
Will We Stick With Monumetric?
Yes. We have no plans to change advertising networks at this time. If we get our traffic up to the threshold of the larger ad networks levels, then maybe we will look at changing ad networks.
But we have been very pleased with Monumetric’s customer service level so far so then again, maybe we won’t.
Are You Ready To Monetize Your Blog?
We recommend Monumetric to any smaller publisher looking to monetize your website. For a $99 set-up fee for the Propel program, it is a good investment that is sure to pay off in the first couple of months. It has allowed us some consistent revenue that has allowed us to take the blog to the next level.
We loved our family ski trip to Brundage Mountain in Idaho. Good terrain for any ski level and plenty of fun for the kids!