Growing business online has never been an easy mission. But we believe there should be no barriers to HOW you can earn on your efforts. The Smart Direct Link by Adsterra breaks the last of them. It’s an intellectual URL that automatically selects the most relevant landing pages for your traffic. How much can you make and where to place the Link? We packed the most asked questions about Smart Direct Link monetization and turned to our expert, Victoria, for help. And here you go! The updated 2024 guide to how you can increase earnings with just one link.
To begin with, let’s explain all whats and hows.
What is Smart Direct Link monetization?
Adsterra Direct Link (also: Smart Direct Link) is a monetization ad unit for publishers and webmasters. It does not have any visual format, only a URL.
You request this unique URL from Adsterra and then put it anywhere: on your web page, mobile app, or use it for making money on social traffic.
How does Smart Direct Link work and make you money?
We said that it is a simple URL, but how does it monetize your traffic? First off, it’s an intellectual link. You put it on your web page, and when a user clicks on it, the Link leads them to one of the advertising pages. There are thousands of ads behind; our smart algorithms will select only those with high CPMs and high relevance to your traffic.
Let’s take it step by step:
- A user comes to your website, landing page, or social network account.
- They click on Smart Direct Link.
- The user is redirected to one of the multiple relevant advertising offers (or landing pages).
- You get paid either for ad views (CPM) or target action (CPA).
Eventually, you make money exactly as with popunder ads. Moreover, you can use the Link as a complement tool along with CPM-boosting Popunder or Social Bar ads.
To Contents ↑How much does Smart Direct Link pay?
Website or social media audiences can view multiple relevant offers, so you get more chances for these users to buy something from advertisers. And your earnings grow drastically when users perform such actions: buy, order, sign up, install, etc. Adsterra is the highest-paying ad network because it also pays for conversions. Therefore, if you hear about a publisher who earned $1,000 daily, that’s true 🙂 Here are some case studies with payment proofs from bloggers who apply a high-CPM Smart Direct Link monetization.
* CPM and payouts you get depend on several factors, and if you learn them, you will be able to manage your revenues. We’ll unlock these top factors a bit later.
Who and how uses Adsterra Smart Direct Link?
A universal tool, the Link is widely used by publishers who don’t have any website and want to monetize social traffic (TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube) or by those who want to earn on mobile app traffic.
Those publishers who own websites generally use Popunder ad format as it shows impressive CPM and revenue level. But they can add the Link, too, so as to get the combo effect from paid advertising.
Whether you will capitalize social traffic or web views, it is important to get clear instructions on how to get the ad code. Let’s proceed with this now.
How to get Direct Link for app or social traffic monetization
STEP 1. Register/Log in and generate the Link
- Sign up or log in as Adsterra publisher.
- Find the Direct Links tab on the vertical toolbar.
- Click the CREATE DIRECT LINK button.
- From the pop-up window, choose your traffic type (or link category), check ads you want to remove from your feed (if needed).
- Click ADD when all is done. From this moment, your request is on Approval.
- Give us a couple of minutes to check if everything is OK. You will see the Link’s status change from Pending to Active.
STEP 2. Get Direct Link code from Adsterra
Now you can pull the script/code from Adsterra and place it inside your app or use it in social traffic capitalization.
Please find it on the Direct Links page of your Publisher’s account. Open it and make sure the status is Active. If you see the Pending status, the code is still on verification.
We also send you an email with every ad code you request. So you can check the inbox and find your unique script there.
How to get Direct Link to monetize websites and landing pages
STEP 1. Register/Log in and request the Link
- Sign up or log in as Adsterra publisher.
- Find the Websites tab on the vertical toolbar.
- On the Websites, page click ADD NEW WEBSITE.
- You see the pop-up window where you need to fill out the fields: the website URL (preferably, HTTPS), the traffic category (what your website is about: Movies, iGaming, Sports, etc.), ad unit (Direct Link), and some exclusion filters.
- Click ADD.
- Your request has gone for Approval. It’ll take 2—10 minutes to verify it.
Finally, open the Websites tab and find the website you were requesting the Link for. Now we will walk through how to get the code from your account to place it on a website or anywhere else you need.
To Contents ↑STEP 2. Get the code from your Publisher’s account
Navigate to the Websites page and find the domain you requested the code for. Click the downwards arrow next to the domain name and find the code you need in the list. Its status must be Active. If the status is Pending, please wait a couple of minutes and refresh the page.
We also send you the code snippets by email. Check your inbox for the email from the Adsterra Support Team. Click the button Get the script and copy your unique Direct Link code to the clipboard.
Where to place Smart Direct Link
The Link fits all platforms and CMS, and placing it is as easy as adding text blocks to a blog post. Here are some common instructions to putting the code snippet to HTML pages, WordPress websites, and Blogger (Blogspot) pages.
HTML pages and websites
As the Link is an URL, you will only need to use the standard “<a>” tag for hyperlinks:
<a href="your direct link URL">link text</a>
And here is how to make any of the website images/GIFs bring you money:
<a href="your direct link URL"> <img src="https://adsterra.com/_nuxt/img/logo_extended.fddf2fa.svg" alt="Adsterra"> </a>
Another way is to create a button and add a Link to it:
<button onclick="window.location.href='your direct link URL';"> Click Here </button>
See all three ways of placing Adsterra Smart Direct Link on an HTML page.
WordPress pages
The principle is the same with simple HTML pages, but we will examine some standard WordPress editor tools.
First off, you choose any post or page and click Edit from your Admin panel.
When you open the post, select a piece of text, a button, an image and hit the 🔗 icon or press Ctrl+K (Windows). Paste the code snippet from Adsterra and choose “open in a new tab” and “no-follow.” The “no-follow” parameter is for the search bots, it disallows them to follow links and index them. It is better to add this option to all advertising links.
Blogger’s (Blogspot) pages
Monetization of a Blogger website with Smart Direct Link is also pretty easy. You can add the ad unit to texts, images, GIFs, and buttons.
Open the page or post and select the phrase in the text. Click the 🔗 icon and paste the code you got from Adsterra earlier.
Social media accounts and mobile apps
On mobile apps, the flow is universal: you put the link anywhere where it will be visible and clickable: text, images, custom banner, etc. But be cautious not to add the Link to core navigation buttons or too close to them as you will get a lot of dull, accidental clicks. People will get annoyed and close ads. This will signal that your traffic produces lots of false actions, and the CPM rate will drop.
Social traffic monetization requires more effort. If you grow revenue with white-hat tactics, you will need an intermediary page to lead your followers to. And there, on this page, you will place a Direct Link! You can’t put a third-party link in your Instagram Bio or TikTok profile; it may result in a ban.
To Contents ↑Top website spots for faster Direct Link monetization
Adsterra Smart Direct Link differs from banners and push ads as it doesn’t have any visual component. On the one hand, it’s super-easy to use it on any website; you don’t have to look for ad space. On the other hand, you should know the hacks on where to place the Link to maximize profits. That’s what we’re going to learn right now.
The first and the main recommendation is to create text links on the most visible part of a web page. Still, it’s not the only tip. Here are some more ideas you can try:
- 404 pages. Add the Link to your 404 Error page template, so to monetize 100% of traffic.
- Buttons (Download, Play, Subscribe, Get Bonus, etc)
- Images and GIFs
- Full-size images previews (those that zoom in on click)
- Special links next to the CTA buttons (it’s when you offer free content in exchange for watching advertising).
Factors that affect your Smart Direct Link monetization:
1. Traffic quality
At Adsterra, quality comes before quantity. Average time on page, bounce rates, number of pages per session — these are vital metrics for estimating your traffic. Even with under 1,000 users daily, it is possible to make some $300-500 in 5 days if traffic converts great on CPA campaigns.
But if you get your traffic from bot farms or use any other artificial way, the CPM will be zero.
2. GEO and type of traffic you send us
For many years, desktop traffic was king of payouts. But the evolving mobile internet and apps, paired with the lockdown of 2020, pushed mobile ad views forward. Today, you can enjoy $25, $45, $75 CPM for, say, mobile Android users from social networks.
iOS traffic is traditionally more expensive, but on Adsterra, Android seems to close this gap. Multiple advertisers run VPN, Utility, Cleaners, and Boosters campaigns targeting Android users.
Users from Tier-1 countries (US, UK, AU) are always at the peak of demand. But may it never stop you because you can harvest even bigger payouts with South-African (ZA) or Korean (KR) traffic.
To Contents ↑3. Traffic volume
Of course, the number of impressions matters a lot if you intend to lift up your revenues significantly. Building your traffic muscle will always be the No1 priority, so make sure you read our special blogpost series on SEO and Traffic Boost.
4. Your niche
Not every website visitor will welcome ads. Even if your blog readership is numerous, users may react negatively to, say, popunders. It is better to run tests before massively placing ad codes.
Smart Direct Link monetization benefits for publishers
- Monetize any type of traffic: organic, social, mobile, desktop.
- Put the link anywhere on the web page.
- Each user gets the best offer among those with the highest CPM.
- Ads perfectly combine with any other Adsterra formats.
- You can earn more if you allow niche and explicit ads.
- Smart Direct Link is an excellent means to start monetization, even with a one-page website or no website.
What to learn when you monetize with a Smart Direct Link?
Does Smart Direct Link suit any website?
Generally, it does.
However, if your audience is sensitive to ads, it’s better to use less invasive formats like in-page push (Social Bar) format.
If you’re blogging in a specific niche, say, religion or parenthood, Direct Link won’t be the best solution as users’ expectations are narrowed to this one topic. Consider Native advertising, instead.
You should be cautious adding Smart Direct Link to navigation buttons and avoid misleading your users.
How does Adsterra count CPM for Direct Link?
We have 50% ad campaigns running with CPM pricing and 50% with CPA pricing. That is to say, we consider both the number of ad impressions and their further conversions. Therefore, the more conversions your users make, the higher your eCPM is. But if you stream massive traffic with few conversions, you can also receive high CPM rates winning by traffic volumes.
Shall I purchase and drive traffic to Direct Link?
You know, it’s a short-term story, and you must be a skilled digital marketer to profit from it. Sending paid traffic to Smart Direct Link is a good idea if you are good at purchasing traffic and creating highly converting landing pages. This way is mostly for affiliate marketers and those publishers ready to balance expenses and profits.
If you decide to buy traffic, first, get in touch with Adsterra managers. They will recommend which traffic you should buy to get maximum profit with Smart Direct Link. Our Support team is online 24/7 in the live chat.
What happens after a user clicks on the link?
After users click on the text, image, or button with the Smart Direct Link they are redirected to an advertising page. Over 20K advertising campaigns are rotating on Adsterra simultaneously, but the algorithm picks one that matches your traffic best.
Can I create my own banner or pop-up and put Adsterra Smart Direct Link on it?
Sure! It’s a good idea when you are skilled in making catchy images and pop-up windows. Or, you can check with this guide on adding images to a website.
Moreover, some publishers whose CMSs don’t allow for placing ad scripts, use this trick. They design a static banner with a heading and image and attach the Link to it.
Can I choose which advertising offers my audience will see after they click?
You can always get in touch with Adsterra managers and ask to exclude ad types that you think are irrelevant.
From your account, when adding a new website, you also can use ad types’ filters to switch off unwanted advertising.
Is it possible to mix Adsterra Direct Link with other ads?
Of course. You can get one code for each ad format available on Adsterra. Placing all of them on one page is not a brilliant idea — ad overload is a notorious website monetization mistake; it scares your visitors away at the blink of an eye.
As for mixing ad formats, you are absolutely free to combine Smart Direct Link with:
– Popunder,
– Native or classic banners,
To Contents ↑Conclusion
“Easy money” is a concept that most publishers don’t believe anymore. Yet still, easy monetization is a must-have opportunity that every publisher should have. With Smart Direct Link, you have this opportunity. Don’t hesitate to earn more because you deserve this!
