You might have seen in my blog income reports that one of my websites is monetized with SHE Media, an ad network suitable for bloggers that are starting to see some traction in terms of traffic. I am very happy with SHE Media overall, and today I will share my thoughts and results after almost one year since joining them.
SHE Media is a great option for those looking to monetize a smaller website. They offer a variety of monetization options from traditional banner ads to video and direct advertising, they are easy to implement and their platform’s interface is a breeze to navigate. The ad revenue is also better than other similar networks offer.
For example, for the site that I have enrolled with SHE Media, RPM’s (revenue per 1,000 sessions) are around 65% higher than what I got from AdSense, and they also seem higher than Ezoic’s RPMS, but with a lower impact on your site’s speed and fewer ads to plaster your website.
(Note: I did not run Ezoic ads on my SHE Media website, but I am making this assumption based on RPMs generated by other websites I have or had with Ezoic.)
Now let’s check out some numbers!
SHE Media RPMs: Here’s how much my site makes
I joined SHE Media in August 2023 with one of my websites which was on AdSense before. I briefly tried running Ezoic ads on that website some time before, and the earnings were – surprisingly, I would say – lower than what AdSense alone brought.
So I was reluctant trying a new Ad Network, based on this experience… but decided to give it a try nevertheless, especially since I wasn’t seeing any signs that my traffic would reach Mediavine or Raptive levels any time soon. I am happy I did.
In August 2023, my first month with them, ad revenue was only cents higher than AdSense. But starting September (and ever since), the RPMs stabilized and were surprisingly good.
On average, my sessions’ RPM with SHE Media was $26.47 (August – December 2023). So far this year (January – July 2024) the average RPM is $23.73. I expect it to increase in the second half of the year, with the higher Q4 RPMS.
That is a solid RPM which sure beats what I was making with AdSense, and I am very happy I switched, especially after the massive hits content websites took from Google.
Requirements to join the SHE Media ad network
The requirements to qualify for SHE Media are pretty straightforward, as listed on their website:
- 20k+ page views per month.
- Consistently publishing original, high quality articles.
- Capability to run their ads (any WordPress website meets this requirement).
- No issues with Google ad products (but you don’t need an AdSense account).
- Sites should be at least 3-month old and brand safe.
- High percentage of US traffic required (my site has around 70% US traffic, but probably lower values are accepted, especially if they are paired up with other high-value traffic sources like Canada, the UK or Australia).
- Exclusivity for your ad inventory (so you can’t run ads from other networks, but affiliate links are OK)
- Less than 5% invalid traffic (like bots/scripts)
- Additional editorial guidelines, like no hate speech and such
While the list of requirements is relatively long, your main challenge will probably be getting the required amount of page views. Depending on the niche getting a “high percentage” of US traffic could also be a challenge – but since there’s no number set in stone, as with other publishers, you should try nevertheless.
Once you apply and are approved, it should take around 2 weeks (up to 4) to see ads running on your website. The onboarding process is straightforward and simple and requires you to have no technical knowledge. Basically, you will install a plugin and ads will start running.
What I like about SHE Media
I am sure you will like these features too!
Great RPMs & Revenue opportunities
This is probably the main reason why I love SHE Media: my website is making more money with them. Even though RPMs are niche-dependent, I am still sure that you will make more than you would with similar-tier ad networks, like AdSense. In my case, after switching over, the RPMs grew by around 65%.
Extremely easy to start running ads
You don’t need any technical knowledge to start running SHE Media ads. They will handle most of the things – all you have to do is to install a WordPress plugin and activate it. That’s it!
They do have other options, but I found their plugin to be lightweight and perfect, without it affecting site speed as much as other plugins from other networks do. And there are no DNS changes or such. Very easy and straightforward.
Enough information in their reports
While their reports could’ve been much better (see the Cons below), you still have enough information regarding the most important things: traffic, ad revenue and RPMs, as well as various performance metrics (including both Session and Page View RPM, revenue by ads, platform, source of traffic and so on).
They also show you the top 10 articles on your site and how much money they made. The platform is easy to use, easy to navigate and takes just minutes to get used to.
Overall, a great support team
Over the past year, I had minor problems on a couple of occasions and their support team not only addressed them within 24 hours, but they were very polite and nice to work with. On other platforms, I was met by rude support team members, so it’s really nice to see that you are treated like a valued publisher – even though my website is a tiny one in their portfolio.
What I don’t like about SHE Media
While I love SHE Media as a whole, there are some non deal-breaking things I don’t like:
Not much control over the ad setup
While you can select what type of ads to show, you don’t have much control over the placement, number of ads or other things – at least not in an easy way.
Browsing their options for the purpose of this review, I saw that there is ad code for various ad formats that you can manually insert to probably control the number of ads and/or where they appear, but that is something I don’t think many of us would like to do.
You can, however, contact their nice support team and discuss things – they will surely help and even offer advice. But direct control (as in buttons to push to change settings) is not yet available, as is the case of MediaVine, for example, where you can control ad density.
However, even with the default setup I am running, I am happy with the amount of ads shown, so I didn’t really feel the need to change anything.
Limited reporting
Even though you get enough report types, one very important one is missing, in my opinion: performance of all articles (or at least more than 10).
Most established websites have a lot more than 10 articles delivering an important chunk of traffic, and noticing which ones perform best can help you create a better content plan for your blog. With SHE Media, you can only see your top 10 articles, which is not enough.
12-month contract
When you join them, you’re signing up for a 12-month long contract, which automatically renews after each term. This might be a con if you end up growing your traffic a lot and willing to test a different ad network.
However, I heard many people say that, as long as you give them a 2-month notice, they will let you terminate your contract early, even in the first 12 months. Take this with a grain of salt, as it might vary from case to case, but know that there is hope in case you want to terminate the yearly contract before your term runs out.
Verdict: worth it or not?
Yes, I would whole-heartedly recommend SHE Media to all bloggers and website owners who meet their requirements. They are, at the moment, the best choice for the 20k page views per month range and you shouldn’t delay joining them, especially if you’re only monetizing through AdSense.
They will boost your income by A LOT, helping you grow your website faster. I am not sure if they remain as competitive once you reach 50k sessions per month (when you can join Mediavine) or 100k page views for Raptive… but the jump from 20k page views to 50k or 100k can take a lot of time, if it ever happens.
So join them as soon as you can and enjoy the revenue boost they will provide. Again, if you want to check them out, here’s their official website (NOT an affiliate link).
Now you know everything about this ad network not many people are talking about, so it should be easier for you to decide whether or not to join them. I consider SHE Media the best choice for bloggers meeting their requirements, offering much better ad rates than their direct competitors like AdSense and Ezoic.
Are you a SHE Media publisher or are you planning to apply soon? Share your experience (and RPMs!) in the comments section below! Or, if you have any questions about this ad network, ask me and I will answer ASAP.
Thank you for talking about She Media.
My pleasure! I feel that not many give it enough attention – although it’s definitely worth trying!