Super exclusive and much coveted ad network Mediavine threw a lot of bloggers and other content creators for a loop this week when it announced that it will be increasing the minimum number of page sessions a blog must have before the blog can be even considered for acceptance by the network from 25,000 to 50,000.
While there are plenty of other ad networks out there like Ezoic, AdMaven, Media.net and more, Mediavine boasts the best ad rates and is the most exclusive of all, rejecting 72 percent of its applicants. Still, it has a substantial roster of 7,000 bloggers while still being known for top customer serivce and network/blogger relations. Mediavine explained that its decision to slow the flow of new blog properties to join its network is to maintain its premium. It wrote of the new threshold in a blog announcement on its website:
We have the industry’s leading CPMs. Our ads pay the most, and we win the most customer service awards.
The goal of that award-winning service is ultimately higher earnings. So Mediavine ads pay the most and we are the best at helping publishers make the most using them.
There’s a very real (and large) staff behind Mediavine and a community inside Mediavine that’s started to feel a bit bigger than … well, a community.
By raising our minimums and dialing back new applications, we can better focus on improving website performance for our existing publishers.
We are forever grateful to this community you helped us become, and don’t want to sacrifice all that Mediavine has come to mean to so many.
So now what?
Keep on plugging away. If you are one of the smaller and newer bloggers caught in this conundrum and wondering what to do, my advice is for you to keep on keeping on. What ever you were doing to get to that magic 25,000 sesssions, keep doing it. And if possible, dedicate a little bit more time and effort to give that extra push. You may have been blogging more, doing more keyword search or being better at SEO and social media marketing each post. Whatever it is, keep at it.
Look elsewhere. There are plenty of other ad networks out there. I have had success with Ezoic and recommend it as a new affiliate for the network (Sign up for Ezoic here). You are assigned a designated blogger liason to help you with all the set up you need after you’re approved. It doesn’t require 25,000 sessions either to get in.
Increase Your Pinterest Marketing. By now, a lot of bloggers know that Pinterest is one of the best platforms for driving traffic to websites. If you’re not already active on that site, take some time to explore some Pinterest or YouTube videos on how to optimize your page and shift some focus on mastering it. My YouTube channel is newly dedicated to Pinterest Marketing.
The news about Mediavine’s shift come just as Pinterest is making it harder for bloggers to automate their social media marketing. Pinterest now requires fresh pins therefore it is no longer useful for bloggers to use tools like Tailwind, Pinterest Tribes, PinGroupie and other add on services that helped them loop evergreen content.
I have a formula and have cracked the algorithm for overcoming this change. I can also help any blogger who is interested in driving traffic to get to that new magic number of 50,000 to be accepted by Mediavine. As many bloggers are aware, Pinterest is a great driver of organic traffic to blogs. I have receive over 7.5M impressions to my pins quarterly and can help you strategize to elevate your pins so you get more traffic, clicks to your ads. Contact me for a consultation at JayJayGhatt.com!
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
