This is a paid review and is entirely of my own opinion. The fact that I am paid for it in no way biases this review.

 

I’m going to take a break from the social media series today to give you guys this review I was paid for. Recently my buddy Tyler Cruz contacted me to have me review PublisherSpot.com for him. Now, I’m very excited for this review because PublisherSpot is a site I have read in-depth before and as a result I feel very qualified to share my knowledge about it.

  

What is it

PublisherSpot is a ad network review site. It’s sole purpose is to help you decide which ad network to use by reviewing them. It reviews all types of ad networks and currently boasts 38 reviews including reviews of many popular ad networks.

 

It is a great tool for a new webmaster to decide what to use to monetize for his/her website. It has a lot of powerful tools and features built in to make your choice of the right network as painless as possible.

 

Before we go any further I want to emphasize the importance of testing out multiple networks to tell what works for your website. This is where I feel that PublisherSpot really helps out. Using its search features and reviews you can find a few networks that might fit your website and test them out to see which is the best fit.

 

How They Do It

How do you know that these reviews are of a high standard of quality you may ask. Well they have a very specific process by which they review websites. They sign up with a new account, ask customer support a few questions under a fake name to gauge response time. They then conduct a thorough review of the website that can take anywhere from six to twelve hours from start to finish. I say the time only to illustrate that this is no two bit website that is there simply to garner affiliate signups. It is a quality website with great content on it.

 

Features

PublisherSpot has a few features worth mentioning. One is their search feature. I can say with confidence it is one of the most powerful search features I’ve seen on a review site for a long time if ever.

 

It allows you to search for networks based on very specific criteria like what ad types they support, their payment methods, minimum payments, category, and by the types of features they boast. To me this is extremely useful when searching for a network to use. It can quickly limit down their list of 38 to a few networks for you to look at and read the reviews as it will find the ones that correspond to the data you selected.

Their other noteworthy feature is their glossary. To me this is a huge bonus for any review site. I know all the terminology but many do not. This glossary explains many affiliate marketing and network terms that aren’t universally known. This will allow new webmasters to understand the reviews but also pick up some of the industry language from reading the website!

 

Besides that their right bar giving the top networks is useful for figuring out things quickly at a glance. It lists the top overall networks, top ad networks and top affiliate networks.

 

Additions

PublisherSpot has a few additions to it besides reviews. It has a blog which is fairly new. It tells you about all the new additions and updates about PublisherSpot as well as the general happenings and going ons around the website.

They also boast some forums hanging around. These forums are brand new and as a result they have almost no posts in them. In these you can discuss networks, ask for networks to be reviewed and talk about various aspects of site monetization in general terms. The one thing I would say about your participation in these is that they are so new that now might be a great time to jump in and establish a profile but you may want to wait a bit before seriously investing anytime into these fledgling forums (in terms of gain from posting in them).

 

Suggestions

After all my praise there are a few things I feel Tyler should change with PublisherSpot to make it a better website.

 

A huge problem I had with publisher spot is flipping through their reviews is that they do have some dead networks in their reviews. The one that stands out is AGLOCO. This is a company that is now dead and as a result should be removed from the reviews. I feel this illustrates that the company is not keeping tabs on the already reviewed networks and needs to do so. While this may not actually be the case, it is all about appearance and by having a dead network in your reviews you are signifying just that.

 

Another feature I would add is allowing users to add input to their reviews. If you are a affiliate and have been using a website for a long time you may have a different perspective about a network than what Tyler and his team think. As a result, I feel adding an option at the bottom of posts allowing you to submit your take on parts of the post to an administrator would be a powerful addition that could bring the already stellar reviews to the next level.

 

I also feel that the forums need to be seriously worked on. By worked on, I mean they’re empty right now which turns people away. I would advise Tyler to seed the forums or at least get a core group of friends to start building up the forums to show some life. This will not only build a better community on PublisherSpot but help with visitor retention (keeping visitors coming back).

 

Finally, I have a few small points about the look of the website. On the top networks, it took me a minute to figure out what the orange EC star meant. I would change this to a blurb bubble to have its significance explained to users more clearly. Also I feel the glossary should be emphasized a lot more as I feel it is a great perk of the website.

 

Wrap-up

In conclusion, it has been a pleasure to review the PublisherSpot website. If you are new or old to the webmastering world I would recommend checking out PublisherSpot and reading about a few networks from the great reviews they have on there. Who knows you may just find a company that will make you a bit more for your current website traffic

 

Click here to check out PublisherSpot, if you haven’t already.