Advertisers Beware: Why CMF Ads Sucks and You Should Avoid It

If you’ve been a member of Entrecard for very long, you’ve probably heard of the advertising system called CMF Ads (aka Changing Marketing Forever). CMF Ads is an advertising system made specifically for Entrecard publishers.

The advertising network is made up of 20 of the “top” Entrecarders with their widgets above the fold. Each member has roughly around 20,000-30,000 page views per month.


Advertising costs $2.50/1000 page views. The owners say it is a prime condition and highly sought after since it is located directly beside the Entrecard widget. This means it should, at least in theory, contain a higher CTR than other ad placements.

Whats the problem with CMF Ads?
If you have marketed your website for any amount of time, you would know that $2.50/1000 page views is rather high, especially for run of network ads. In some areas, this may be seen as OK. However, not all page views are created equal.

1. Medicine, technology, and automotive industries generally have high CPM rates, but when you include personal, romance, and other areas the value is diluted.

2. Most traffic comes from Entrecard, a very low conversion type traffic. The traffic isn’t inherently bad, but it contains a large amount of unrelated visitors which may or may not come to the blog due to its content. This will inflate the page-views dramatically without any real benefit to your advertising efforts.

3. The huge array of differing categories makes advertising to a specific group impossible.

4. The ad space is unconventional (123×125). You have to create an ad specifically for them.

5. Advertising on blogs notoriously has a low CTR rate, which results in advertising costs being lower than traditional websites. Even in niches where $2.50/1000 page views is common, the price is cut dramatically.

Although the value of advertising changes depending on a sites category, a general run of network ad traditionally sells for $0.20-$0.50/1000 page views, which is usually for a 300×250 or 160×600 ad. Entertainment, political, and personal blogs are lucky to receive $1/1000 visitors for advertising directed specifically towards their visitors.

Honestly, you will receive a much better value for your money from other networks and through direct advertising. Even blogs like JohnChow.com sell advertising for $0.25/1000 page views ($500 for a 30 day 125×125 ad block at 2,000,000 page views). So why spend 10 times more to advertise on a blogging network which offers untargeted traffic? And to be perfectly frank, most websites within the CMF Ads network offer direct advertising at a more reasonable price.

Advertising through them just doesn’t make sense. Save your money and send it elsewhere. Don’t buy into the Entrecard hype.