Over the years, Clicksor has changed a fair bit and our old review was irrelevant by now. This review was completely rewritten on April 9, 2016.
Contextual advertising network for publishers and advertisers.
Introduction to Clicksor
Clicksor has been around for the long haul. Over the past few years, it’s grown from relative obscurity into one of the most popular contextual advertising networks available today. If you want an alternative to Google AdSense, Clicksor is well worth a look.
The advertising network works by placing ads on a website that are deemed to be relevant to the website’s content. Its automated systems display these relevant ads in an effort to encourage more users to click through.
Advertisers register and pay Clicksor to display their advertisements on relevant websites. Publishers, on the other hand, earn a small commission each time one of these advertisements is clicked on their website.
The problem with alternative contextual ad networks, including Clicksor, is Google AdSense. These small networks simply can’t compete with Google. The limited number of advertisers using these services means that the relevance of the advertisements is often weak.
With that said, Clicksor is still one of your best options. Despite being plagued with criticisms in the past, the Toronto-based sister site of YesUp Media Inc., has improved by leaps and bounds over the past couple years. Unlike many companies, they actually addressed customer concerns to provide a service that is better than ever before.
Simply put, there is a reason Clicksor is so popular. And that reason is that the company is dedicated to providing its numerous worldwide customers with the best contextual ad network possible.
No matter your reasons for seeking an alternative to Google AdSense, there is no denying that Clicksor will help you boost your advertising earning
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
- What We Like: Quick sign up and approval, fast payouts (Net-15), wide selection of ads, excellent customer service.
- What We Don’t Like: History of ads with malware (note: Clicksor has recently improved its ad verification system to reduce/eliminate this problem), clunky user interface.
Publisher Requirements:
- Publisher Terms: http://www.clicksor.com/publisher-agreement
- Traffic Minimum: None.
- Publisher Language Requirement: None.
- Websites Accepted: Most websites are excepted as long as all content and activities are legal. Types of content that are prohibited include pornography, zoosexuality, libelous and defamatory sites, gratuitous violence, hate, spam, piracy, warez, illegal activities, and under construction. Also prohibited is any other type of content that the public deems inappropriate.
Advertisers & Offers
- Advertising Types: Display.
- Offer Types: CPC, CPI, CPM, CPV.
- Verticals: All.
- Network Size: Unknown.
- Sampling of Publishers: Unknown.
Tech Implementation
Clicksor Tech Implementation Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
- Creating an Ad Unit: Much better than it once was, setting up an ad with Clicksor is still a little bit difficult.
The Clicksor user interface takes some getting used to. Once you’re over the slight learning curve, you’ll be able to create new ads with ease.
The first step is to select between Regular Setup or Premium Setup. Regular Setup is the most popular option. It gives you the choice to select layer banners, inpage banners, inline text ads, pop-under ads, or interstital ads.
Figure out what you want and click “Get Code.” Numerous customization option follows. The variety of these options is one of the Clicksor’s best characteristics.
- Display Ad Unit Sizes Available: 468×60, 728×90, 120×600, 160×600, 125×125, 120×240, 300×250, 250X250, 336X280, 180X150, 300X50, 216X36, 168X28, 120X20, 390X95, pop-under ads, interstitials, inline text ads.
- Compatible with Google AdSense: Yes.
- Mobile Ad Units Available: Yes.
- WordPress Plugin Available: Yes.
Publisher Reporting & Admin Control Panel
Clicksor Publisher Reporting & Admin Control Panel Rating: 4 out of 5.
- Control Panel: The Clicksor control panel takes some getting used to. It’s not as intuitive as most but requires a short learning curve. Once you spend a few minutes with it, it’s easy to use effectively.
Creating new ad units is particularly easy. The process is simple, straightforward, and takes only a few minutes to complete.
The Clicksor control panel has tabs for “My Account,” “Ad Setup,” “Reports,” and “Support.” This makes it very easy to find the information you’re looking for.
- Reporting: Clicksor reporting is one of the service’s best features. You can view daily reports, broken down by a number of categories, including by site and ad zone. This allows you to identify your top performing zones.
You can select any time period in Clicksor reporting. You can display the requested statistics in CPC, CPM, CPV, or CPI. You also have the option to display them all at once.
- Control Panel URL: http://admin.clicksor.com/publisher/index.php
Payment
Clicksor Payment Rating: 4 out of 5.
- Publisher’s Share of Revenue: Clicksor states this is somewhere between 60% and “up to 85%.” In our experience, it’s closer to the 60% to 70% mark. While this is competitive in the industry, we always prefer a service (like Google AdSense) that specifically states the publisher’s share of revenue.
- Payment Methods Available: Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer
- Payment Terms: Net-15 Schedule.
- Minimum Payout Threshold: $50.
Account Help
Clicksor Account Help Rating: 5 out of 5.
- Knowledge Base URL: http://support.yesup.net/index.php?_m=knowledgebase
- Personal Account Manager: No.
- Easy to Contact Support: Contact Clicksor 24/7/365 by phone at 1-866-708-1666 or 1-416-499-8009. Live chat support and email support are also available.
Solid customer support is one of the best things about using Clicksor. Though they don’t provide personal account managers, it’s very easy to get in touch with a friendly and knowledgeable support representative.
Live chat is our favorite way to communicate with Clicksor support. It’s available 24 hours a day and is unobtrusive. Visit the website and you’ll see the chat box available at the bottom left-hand corner of the page.
Though Clicksor doesn’t provide an extensive knowledgebase, they do have some information that covers the basics. The FAQ answers basic questions. It’s a good place to start further research if you’re still unsure whether or not this service is for you.
Editor’s Clicksor Review
We’ve used Clicksor extensively over the past few years. During that time, we’ve seen the service grow by leaps and bounds.
We mean two things by that. First, and most importantly, the actual service itself has improved dramatically. It seems that Clicksor listened to criticism and took customer complaints to heart. New changes have fixed the majority of old issues. Not only is Clicksor better than ever before, it’s now one of the best online ad networks around.
The second thing we mean is that Clicksor has grown into one of the most popular alternative choices to Google AdSense. Whether you don’t qualify for AdSense or just want to use another program alongside it, the company has you covered. Thousands of people around the world are happily using Clicksor.
The popularity of Clicksor means that it has a huge list of both publishers and advertisers. While not nearly as long as Google’s, it’s much more impressive than the vast majority of other alternative ad networks. Clicksor is able to provide a 100% fill rate and a high click through rate.
Multiple ad formats are available for publishers to choose from. The vast variety of options is nice as it allows you to customize your approach. Contextual targeting is used to provide relevant ads to visitors. This directly results in maximum benefits to both Clicksor publishers and advertisers.
Signing up for Clicksor is simple. Fill out the short registration form and submit it. There is no minimum traffic requirement. Almost all websites will be approved, except those with illegal or inappropriate content. Clicksor also accepts sub-domain websites.
Creating an ad with Clicksor is likewise simple. Start by making a choice from 4 different ad formats. These are in-text ads, banner ads, intersitital ads, and pop-under ads. Each ad type benefits a different type of website.
While the overall control panel isn’t the most attractive, it gets the job done. As we mentioned above, it’s a bit tricky to figure out, but once you do, you’re in the clear. It’s easy to find all the information you need thanks to clearly labeled tabs.
As we also mentioned above, Clicksor’s customer support is top-notch. Phone, email, and chat support are available 24/7. In our experience, each Clicksor phone representative was friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. Our questions were correctly answered in record time.
Finally, it’s very important to note that this is a recent (2016) review of Clicksor. Online reviews from past years (specifically before 2014) tend to dwell on the fact that malware used to get through Clicksor ads. Fortunately, the company made fixing that issue a top priority. It isn’t a problem anymore. The updated verification system has resolved the malware issue.
Pros of Using Clicksor
The pros of Clicksor are numerous. They include their quick sign up and approval, fast payout, wide selection of ads, and excellent customer support. We look at each of these pros in more detail below:
- Quick Sign Up & Approval: Complete the short registration form – that’s all it takes to sign up with Clicksor. You’ll receive an approval email shortly after if you qualify. Open this approval email and click the activation link.
Clicksor employs a 24/7 support team that monitors the sign up and approval process. When we reviewed the service, our account was approved in less than an hour.
- Fast Payout – Receiving payments with Clicksor is quicker than most. They use a net-15 schedule.
- Wide Selection of Ads – Clicksor pulls through with a lot of different advertising options. These include layer banners, inpage banners, inline text ads, pop-under ads, and intersitital ads. These ads are available in a variety of sizes and can be further customized to your preferences.
- Excellent Customer Support – We’ve touched on this several times already, but it’s worth mentioning again: Clicksor’s customer support is top-notch. It’s available 24/7/365 by phone, email, or live chat.
Cons of Using Clicksor
Like any and every service, Clicksor comes with a few cons. Yet as the team has shown with problems in the past, they really do care about fixing these.
Perhaps the biggest problem with Clicksor is their history. Most customer reviews dated before 2014 highlight problems with malware bugs. It seems as though Clicksor didn’t have a solid ad verification system in place, letting malware slip through. Indeed, our first experience with Clicksor in early 2014 was less than stellar for exactly this reason.
However, our extensive testing has eliminated any need to worry. Clicksor has updated their ad verification process to weed out spam, malware, and unscrupulous websites from using their service. You can rest assured that your computer will remain safe when you use Clicksor.
Beyond their past reputation, the only con to using Clicksor is their clunky interface. The design just doesn’t stack up with much of their competition. Luckily though, the interface is easy to get a hang of with a little experience. It’s more of a slight annoyance than an actual hindrance.
Final Thoughts
So what’s the verdict? How does Clicksor stack up against the competition? All in all, we firmly believe this is one of the best contextual advertising alternatives to Google AdSense.
The benefits of using Clicksor are numerous. High approval rates, fast payout, and a variety of ad options are only the tip of the iceberg. After a small initial learning curve, you’ll be able to effectively use this service to improve your earnings.
Of course, Clicksor’s past has made some users hesitant to use them. Like any ad network, the occasional shady advertiser might slip through, but Clicksor is doing all they can to prevent this. And they’re doing a good job. They’re currently one of the safest ad networks available.
We’re looing forward to the future because it’s all but certain that Clicksor will continue to improve. And as it does, their already impressive user base is sure to grow.
We encourage you to check Clicksor and their contextual advertising network out if you’re looking for alternatives to Google AdSense. At the very least, it’s worth testing out for yourself on your website.
0 comments:
Post a Comment