How To Get Accepted To Journey By MediaVine And How I Got Accepted In 4 Months
How To Get Accepted to Journey by MediaVine
How To Get Accepted To Journey By MediaVine And How I Got Accepted In 4 Months
I’m going to preface this blog post by stating that placing ads on your site isn’t for everyone. In fact, I would even argue that it’s probably not for most sites and you should take plenty of time to think about whether it makes sense for your site and your business.
To be honest, at the time of applying I still wasn’t sure. In just four months though, I managed to reach the threshold and secure a spot in this coveted ad network. In that time, I also managed to grow my site and my blog content substantially, making the addition of ads on my blog posts logical. And because of this, I accepted and started running some ads on my site. But still very carefully.
How To Get Accepted To Journey By MediaVine And How I Got Accepted In 4 Months
NOTE: As of Sept 27th, 2024, I’ve been running ads for just over a week, and will continue to update you regularly on progress, revenue and site impacts. Can’t say for sure yet, but the amount of ads on my site is minimal (that was one of my requirements as I didn’t want to bog down my site) I also didn’t want them to distract from my content because I’m service based provider. For some websites, conversion isn’t important as they are not selling services or products. But for someone like myself, just coming to my website isn’t where things end. So I’m being mindful and watching the analytics to see whether the ads actually detract from my content. Then, it’s a bit of a comparison game between how much you make on the ads and how much you might be potentially losing in conversions.
NOTE: As of Oct 7th, 2024, I’ve been running ads for three weeks, with my earnings sitting around $100 CAD. That might not seem like much, but I’m going to wait it out a bit longer as the RPM (revenue per mille) will look low before the first 30 days of reporting. Largely because it is averaging those initial days of onboarding and ramping up. This number will increase in about a week or so, and then I’ll be able to give you an accurate expectation of earnings per month.
As creatives, content creators, bloggers, or website owners, the ultimate goal for many is to monetize their work effectively while maintaining the quality of their site. That’s the ultimate goal if your business has the content naturally. What I mean by that is forcing yourself to create content strictly to monetize probably won’t work, especially if you’re business is primarily selling products of services. If you have a branch on your site where adding blog posts, tutorials or content that is helpful to read, it could be a great option. Mediavine is often considered one of the best ad network for smaller publishers and larger sites alike, thanks to its reputation for high earnings, user experience and support. However, getting accepted into Mediavine or its new ad management solution, Journey by Mediavine, can be a competitive process, especially for new or smaller sites.
If you’re currently running on-site ads through Google AdSense or another ad management service and are ready to upgrade to the next level, Journey by Mediavine could be a nice “upgrade”. If you don’t have any on-site ads yet, this guide will break down how to increase your chances of getting accepted by using best practices and meeting Mediavine’s new requirements.
What is Mediavine?
Mediavine is a premium ad management service that helps bloggers and content creators monetize their websites through strategic, high-quality ad placements. Known for its tailored approach, Mediavine focuses on optimizing ad performance to maximize your revenue while maintaining an excellent user experience. It’s a top choice for creatives with blogs seeking to grow their income without sacrificing the quality and integrity of their site.
So then, What is Journey by Mediavine?
Journey by Mediavine is a new ad management program designed for growing blogs with around 10,000 monthly sessions. To qualify, you must have their Grow plugin installed on your website for at least 30 days before applying. This premium service is tailored for bloggers and content creators looking to monetize their site more effectively as their audience expands. Journey offers access to higher-paying ads, personalized support, and additional tools to help you scale your blog and maximize its earning potential.
My traffic ranges each month. Sometimes I’m above and sometimes I’m below 10,000 views per month. Here’s a snapshot from my Google Analytics from the last 90 days. I hit around 25,000K views. This tells me that their 10,000 monthly session rule is flexible and really depends more on the quality of the traffic, engagement and bounce rate.
The Mediavine ad network continues to evolve with changing industry trends. Journey is designed to help both smaller websites and larger established blogs to scale their digital advertising efforts. Journey ads are dynamic and adapt to provide the best possible placements for your website, ensuring you make the most money from your ad inventory.
The good news for smaller publishers is that Journey opens up opportunities for those who may not yet meet the traditional Mediavine minimum traffic requirements but still produce high-quality content. Sites focusing on display ads, affiliate marketing, and even own digital products can find Journey to be a great way to start earning passive income.
Additionally, ad exchanges and ad partners help increase revenue potential while ensuring that ad management services are streamlined for site owners. For example, Journey offers a completely self-service offering, making it easier for smaller or new bloggers to monetize their content without a dedicated team.
Optimizing Site Quality and User Experience
When applying to Journey by Mediavine, the quality of your website plays a huge role in getting the green light. Mediavine places a strong emphasis on high-quality content and user experience. I believe I was accepted into the program because I’ve built a solid website that is full of helpful content and attracts the right customer. Creating content rapidly and just to reach a number will likely get you denied, not to mention the disservice you’re doing towards your business. Here are a few things to consider:
- Original Content: Make sure all your blog content is original, well-researched, and offers value to your audience. Mediavine has a high bar for content quality, and duplicate or thin content could result in your application being rejected.
- Site Speed: Speed is essential, not just for ranking higher in search engines but also for improving user experience. Mediavine looks at Core Web Vitals, a set of Google metrics that measure the speed, responsiveness, and stability of your site. Ensure your website loads quickly, especially on mobile, and reduce the use of third-party tools that could slow it down.
- User Engagement Toolkit: Mediavine offers tools to enhance user engagement, such as Grow, which helps collect first-party data and grow your email list. Running Grow on your site before applying could not only increase user interaction but also demonstrate your site’s readiness for advanced advertising solutions.
Nail Your Application Process
Applying to Journey by Mediavine is more than just meeting traffic thresholds. The application process also evaluates your website’s identity solutions, user experience, and overall content strategy. Here are the steps to make sure your Mediavine application stands out:
- Submit Google Analytics Reports: Your Google Analytics account should be in good standing and accurately track your traffic. Mediavine’s support team will review your monthly sessions, page views, and other metrics to ensure your site meets the minimum traffic requirement.
- Focus on Organic Traffic: Organic search traffic from Google and other search engines is often weighted more heavily than traffic from social networks. Mediavine prefers traffic that is sustainable and not reliant solely on social media spikes.
- Improve Website Quality: Clean up old blog posts, ensure that your design is user-friendly, and add any missing meta tags. The better your website performs, the more likely you’ll get accepted.
- Use of Affiliate Links: While affiliate links can be part of a monetization strategy, balance them with your overall site content. Mediavine looks for websites with valuable information, not just sales pitches.
- Compliance with Third-Party Cookies: With the move toward first-party data solutions, Mediavine publishers are encouraged to prepare for a world without third-party cookies. Show that your website is proactive by running Grow or other first-party data tools to collect and manage your audience data.
Why I Chose Journey by Mediavine
Mediavine is renowned for its high RPMs (Revenue per Mille), allowing you to earn more from the same traffic compared to other ad networks. Their focus on user experience (UX) was also a perfect fit for my goal of keeping a clean, engaging website for my readers. While Mediavine typically requires 50k monthly sessions for acceptance, I was thrilled to learn about the Journey program, which offers access with 10k monthly sessions.
How To Get Accepted into Journey by Mediavine
Getting accepted into Journey by Mediavine within just four months might sound like a trick, but it was the result of a lot of strategic planning, focused effort and a lot of trial and error. We don’t believe in overnight miracles in business, it all takes a lot of planning and hard work. The ultimate timeline from applying to getting accepted took four months, but the growth of the business took almost a year. Here’s how I did it:
1. Do your keyword research
The first step was thorough keyword research, which became the foundation of my content strategy. I used tools like SEMRush and RankIQ to find keywords with low competition but high search volume. These keywords had to align with my blog’s niche and overall vision. I then cross-checked that against a few things; whether this is something my audience wants or needs to read, whether it’s helpful, whether it’s relevant and whether it aligns with my business. This is the same thing we do for our clients!
The key here then wasn’t just finding any keywords—it was about uncovering topics that both my audience and search engines cared about. I made sure the topics were authentic to my brand while also being discoverable through organic search traffic.
When I started building my website and creating long-form content (blog posts) I kept all of those things in mind. The better consistent and niched your content is, the more likely ad agencies want to work with you because your messaging is clear and they can apply their own metrics and to know which ads to place and where.
2. Write for your audience, not for Google.
Once I had a solid list of keywords, I focused on creating quality content that was evergreen and valuable to my readers. I write blog posts that I believe are helpful to my visitors and not just what is solely a great keyword. I try to always stay in my niche and build my industry authority by doing so. This type of content tends to perform well over time, continuing to bring in traffic long after it’s published, not just when it’s trending. And again, for agencies this is very appealing.
You should always take into account SEO best practices, keywords and writing content that people are actually searching for. Don’t just write a post about what you cooked for dinner last night because that will just confuse Google and where they should place your site in search results. Even thought it was next-level delicious.
3. Bring traffic to your site from a range of sources
I believe this is key to my site being accepted into Mediavine. I don’t have a TON of traffic by any means. But the traffic that I do have is consistently engaging with my content and comes from a variety of sources – Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Google and organic search traffic.
One of the biggest traffic drivers to my site is Pinterest. Ideal for content that provides short and long tail, solution-based content, and it proved to be one of the biggest traffic sources for me. I focused on Pinterest SEO, creating visually appealing pins for each blog post and ensuring they were optimized with keywords to increase their visibility on the platform.
In just six months of consistent posting, my Pinterest account grew to over 2.67 million impressions and 700+ followers. Pinterest gave me a much faster growth trajectory compared to Instagram where gaining traction often takes much longer. For smaller publishers or new bloggers, Pinterest can be a powerful tool for scaling traffic quickly. To learn more about Pinterest and how to create Pins, here’s a great resource to get you on your way!
4. Be consistent and adapt to analytics
Like anything in the online business world, time is your best friend. While the title of this blog post suggests that things happened quickly, it’s been almost a year of consistent, weekly posting and almost daily website updates to get my site to a point where I could get accepted by an ad agency.
5. Ensure you have a privacy policy and terms and conditions page
One of the requirements to qualify for Mediavine is to ensure that your page has a privacy policy and terms and conditions pages. In general, it’s good practice to have these pages on your site from the get-go, so if you don’t yet have them be sure to spend some time and write them out.
6. Google Analytics (GA4)
Make sure your site is Indexed by Google (instructions on how to do that here!), and you have a Google Analytics Account set up for your domain. This is what ad agencies will ask for when you apply. They’ll take a deep dive into how people are coming to your site, what they’re looking at and how long they’re staying. If some of those factors heavily outweigh say something like sheer traffic volume, that gives you a bit of an edge.
Working Towards Qualifying?
If you’re not quite there yet, using best practices to grow your monthly sessions is key. That means focusing on increasing user engagement, boosting social shares, and optimizing your site for search engine optimization (SEO). By meeting these core requirements, you’re one step closer to joining Mediavine’s brand-safe portfolio of sites.
Whether you’re an artist, photographer, a writer, or focus on lifestyle, ads can help you add another income stream to your business. However, success isn’t just about applying and being accepted; it’s about creating a sustainable business model. And since many of you reading this aren’t bloggers in the traditional sense, having content on your site that can be monetized is key. Here’s how:
- Leverage Email Lists: Building and nurturing an email list can provide long-term traffic and engagement beyond social media platforms. Use the Grow software to capture emails, which will allow you to stay in touch with your readers and send traffic to new blog posts.
- Diversify Traffic Sources: While SEO and social media are key drivers of traffic, adding affiliate links, working on social shares, and promoting via Facebook groups can all help boost visibility.
- Optimize for Display Ads: Ads are a great way to earn passive income, but they must be well-placed. Mediavine offers dynamic ad placements that are designed to maximize earnings while maintaining a positive user experience.
- Install Grow: Installing grow on your website now is a smart way to start building your audience and traffic analysis early on and get on the Mediavine map.
Concentrate on producing high-quality content, increasing your traffic, and growing your audience. With consistent effort, you’ll get there.
Should You Consider Working With An Agency And Running Ads On Your Site?
How do you know if ads are right for your business? Well, I guess it depends on a few factors. First, your customer. Who is coming to your site and what are they coming for? If you’re predominately selling products like artwork or goods, ads might not be that helpful to you. Also, if your site is currently primarily bringing in direct traffic, it’s probably not enough to justify running ads on your site. You also need to have a solid monthly traffic flow, I’d say at a minimum around 5000 visitors per month before considering on-site ads.
Second, your content. If you’re branching out into creating content that is helpful and resource-based, ads might be a great choice because of the traffic that is coming to your site. Websites offering guides, tutorials, or educational resources often attract a consistent flow of visitors, making them a good fit.
Third, consider how working with the agency fits into your long-term marketing strategy, not just short-term gains. Research what your revenue rate is. Publishers receive 70% of the ad revenue with Mediavine, but it varies per agency. Is it a nice complement to your business plan? Is there room to grow or expand? Does it complement your product or work, or does it take away from it?
Want to talk it through some more?
Book a free discovery call where you can have any of your remaining questions answered!
Helpful Links and Downloads
How To Get Accepted To Journey By MediaVine And How I Got Accepted In 4 Months
- SEO For Artists – FREE Beginner Guide To Getting Discovered Organically
- Pin Creation and Pinterest SEO For Artists
- How To Index Your Website With Google
RELATED READS
- Email Marketing For Artists And Our Free Email Welcome Sequence Templates
- Why Artists Who Have A Blog Are More Successful At Selling Art
- What Is An Art Certificate And Why You Need One – Here’s Our Free Template.
Liked This Post And Want More Artist Tips? Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for up-to-date tips and tutorials, free resources and guides and studio updates!
Should You Hire Someone to Build Your Website or DIY it?
