You’ve made the decision to host ads on your WordPress website. Congrats!

After installing a plugin into your WordPress website to host ads and getting everything set up, it’s time to make your next major decision – Ad Network or Self Hosted Ads?

Don’t worry. There’s no right or wrong answer here. Both have pros and cons, and your decision will ultimately come down to personal preferences, potential advertisers you have lined up, the strength of your site, and a few other factors.

In today’s article, we’ll help you weigh the choices, diving into the pros and cons of each option so you can make the best decision for your needs.

Self-Hosted Ads

Do you want complete control over the ad experience on your website? Long ago, self-hosting ads on your WordPress website was how everyone did things. You needed to know how to wrangle a bit of code and reach out to individual advertisers separately. It was a time-consuming process, but for those who stuck it out, a fantastic source of extra income.

Thankfully, many of the early pains involved in self-hosting ads have been ironed out over the years. There is still a bit more work compared to ad networks, but thanks to plugins like AdSanity, it’s easier than ever to self-host ads on WordPress.

Pros:

• Higher Revenue Potential – Because you don’t share a portion of your earnings with an ad network, self-hosted ads offers better revenue potential.
• Total Control: You have complete control over ad content, placement, and design on your website, ensuring the ads you run match your website’s theme and audience’s preferences.
• Better User Experience – Self-hosted ads offer a better user experience since you control the number and types of ads displayed – leading to higher user engagement and satisfaction.

Cons:

• More to Manage: Running self-hosted ads can be time-consuming, and you’ll need to handle ad creation, tracking, and payment processing yourself.
• Locating Relevant Content: Finding advertisers and maintaining relevant ads can be challenging, especially for smaller websites.
• More Technical Knowledge Required: You’ll need technical know-how to self-host ads, including inserting ad code into your website’s HTML (or using a plugin like AdSanity).

Ad Networks

Are you too busy to run everything alone, or are you interested in tapping into wider networks than you could find on your own? Ad Networks developed over the years to help with precisely that. Website owners had ad space but struggled to find companies wanting to run ads.

Today, an entire industry has evolved around Ad Networks. They are available for almost any niche you could imagine, from topic-specific to premium to targeted and more. For those willing to forgo some revenue, a world of options is available.

Pros:

• Ease of Use – Ad networks, such as Google AdSense and Media.net, handle most of the heavy lifting, from ad selection to revenue collection.
• Diverse Advertiser Pool – Select from a wide variety of ad types and content, which will help keep things more engaging for your audience.
• Automation – Ad networks often automate the ad placement process, ensuring that ads are optimized for your audience. Some even use algorithms to display relevant ads based on user behavior, increasing the chances of higher click-through rates (CTR) and revenue

Cons:

• Lower Revenue – Ad networks typically take a significant percentage of your ad revenue as a service fee, reducing overall earnings compared to self-hosted ads.
• Limited Control – You have less control over the types of ads displayed on your website, sometimes meaning ads might not align with your content or brand, affecting user experience.Performance Impact: Ad network scripts can sometimes slow down your website’s load times, reducing user experience and search engine rankings.
• Strict Requirements – Ad networks often have minimum traffic volumes. This can mean accepting less on-topic ads until traffic meets the requirements.

Or Use AdSanity and Get Both

Thankfully, with AdSanity, you don’t have to choose. Well, you still need to chase down something, or you won’t have any ads to run on your site. But with AdSanity, you can run both types of ads from your website. Want to self-host on the main page and run ad network ads on subpages? Done.

AdSanity makes it easy to insert ads into your WordPress website, providing many valuable benefits, such as:

• Ad Management: AdSanity simplifies ad management, allowing you to insert ads easily into your website’s content. You can use it to display both ad network and self-hosted ads seamlessly.
• Control: Retain complete control over the types of ads displayed and their placement, ensuring a better user experience and alignment with your website’s content.
• Statistics: Gain valuable insights into ad performance, allowing you to optimize your ad strategy for maximum revenue. Note that if you’re using ads from an ad network you do need to use the Google Analytics Tracking Integration Add-on to track ads.
• Flexibility: Schedule ads, set expiration dates, and rotate different ad creatives, providing flexibility and keeping your website’s ads fresh.

In Conclusion

TL;DR: Ad networks offer simplicity but come with revenue-sharing and control limitations, while self-hosted ads provide greater control and revenue potential but require more effort to manage.
And with AdSanity, you can enjoy the benefits of both approaches.

Only you can choose which is better for your specific goals and preferences – ad networks or self-hosted ads.

So, if you’re thinking of running ads on your WordPress website, consider AdSanity as your go-to tool for ad management and take your monetization strategy to the next level.

Get started with AdSanity Today!