Does Project Wonderful Live Up to the Hype?
Posted on March 18th, 2008 by Jim under Blogging 101
In the age of affiliate networking and social bookmarking through programs like EntreCard and AdSense, the so-called “Project Wonderful” has been making a splash as one of the best in its class. Made primarily for use by low-budget bloggers looking for some added traffic, the Project Wonderful system really does work well… despite its tedious flaws.
After using Project Wonderful to advertise my link to this blog, I feel that it is a great idea to let all of you know about the great ad prices you can get by using this network. A lot of the participating websites are somewhat small in the amount of traffic received daily, but I think that there is just enough around to get that added level of exposure we are all looking for
.
What is Project Wonderful?
First things first, just what is this system? Primarily, it is an all-in-one ad management program. By installing a code on your website, you make it possible for Project Wonderful users to bid on that area constantly… the highest bid wins, and this winner can shift by the minute. What do I mean? Well if a 125×125 space on my website has been calculated to be $0.20 per day and I bid over this, my ad is immediately forced into that position until I am outbid. If AdSense and eBay got into a bad car wreck, the result would be Project Wonderful
.
What is the advantage of using Project Wonderful?
Plain and simple, advertising space that is cheap. While many of the websites employing the service have little to no traffic, I have found some great buys and have been placing my ad (and getting hits) for
no more than ten cents a day. The advantage comes in the fact that it is essentially an auction for ad space that is ongoing, and always gives you the best price possible. Using the system can be a great way to get some extra readers to your website.
Who should use Project Wonderful?
Small bloggers only. This is a new system, and as such, few people have actually signed up as producers. When you go to the “place a new bid” option and search out sites relevant to your own, you will typically come across only a small number of sites that are actually in your focus area. Because of this, I think that this ad network can really help out small bloggers by both giving some extra income on the publishing side, and gaining some cheap traffic on the advertising end of things. Bigger competitors might find the exposure very limited, and not worth the trouble.
Issues/Concerns with the PW System
My problems with this system lie in the auction-type configuration. While it may be an advantage in getting dirt-cheap ad space, you frequently get “outbid” by other members and all of your ads get bumped out of the system. This means that you really need to be checking all of the time to see if all of your slots are still active. On this note, if you are publishing other people’s ads, you are probably going to be giving away your valued ad space at a considerable discount to what you should be fetching.

My Experience
So far, Project Wonderful has worked out very nicely for me. Not only is it easy to advertise on the cheap, but they track all of your views and clicks automatically. Lets use my advertisement on Blogging Mix as an example. My current bid is just $0.13 for this great ad spot right on the top of the page. I just signed up for this last night, but have already seen 12 unique clicks at a “Cost Per Mille” of $0.22. So essentially, I am already raking in more traffic than my advertising is worth!
The ability to track how your ads are doing makes Project Wonderful, well, wonderful!
“If AdSense and eBay got into a bad car wreck, the result would be Project Wonderful.” - The Net Fool
Bottom Line: Project Wonderful is a great (and thrifty) option for upstart bloggers like myself. Bigger contenders will typically be losing out on discounted advertising rates, so I would encourage only those looking to expand on some affordable traffic to use this system. The tracking allows you to check up on how you are outperforming/underperforming versus how much you are paying. Project Wonderful is a great new spin on advertising, and the ease-of-use makes them worth checking out
-The Net Fool
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!









Great post! I had never heard of Project Wonderful and will definitely check it out. As a new blogger, I don’t have much to spend so this post is right on time. I took a look at your spot on Blogging Mix. You are getting a great value there. And, BTW, your banner is so cute - you should get lots of clicks
Again, thanks for the info.
Jacqueline’s last blog post..CafePress Plus Creativity Equals Your Very Own Store
@ Jacqueline: Thanks! It is really hard to get a value like that on bloggingmix, but once you do.. it really make it worth it. Great positioning
What is Cost Per Minute? Are you sure you don’t mean Cost Per Mille (where Mille is latin for 1,000)?
Options Strategery’s last blog post..JP Morgan (JPM) buys Bear Sterns (BSC) and Fed cuts rates
Good catch
Updated!
Nobody actually uses the term cost per mille. It’s commonly accepted slang for cost per impression.
Bill’s last blog post..Make Money Blogging Secret - Make the Money Find You
@ Bill: That’s exactly why I botched that one, haha. Regardless, its a solid measure of traffic
Hey nice post.! Very informative
Tanbir’s last blog post..VDownloader 0.7 NEW
Hi Jim,
I’m glad you’re receiving some clicks from the ad you placed at Blogging Mix. Thanks for bidding.
Cheers,
Rocky
Blogging Mix’s last blog post..What To Tell A Newbie Blogger
People may not say Cost Per Mille, but they do use CPM. If you own property, property tax is called millage (also from mille).
Hey, I am ok with liberal usage, just not something completely wrong. Maybe I was too tired at the time but I was seriously confused.
Options Strategery’s last blog post..Beware of Cramerica - Wachovia (WB) price action
I have just signed up after reading this post..
Check out the PW ad price on entrecard, they are fetching more than $5 daily!
BobbyT’s last blog post..Chipping in with a late late contest entry
Although I’d never consider selling PW space on my site because of how cheap it is, I might consider buying some ads through their network some time.
Zero and Up’s last blog post..Could RealRank be a selling point?
[...] Does ProjectWonderful Live Up to the Hype? - Read the post from TheNetFool.com and find out what Jim has to say about his experience in using Project Wonderful to drive traffic to his blog. [...]
I use ProjectWonderful… i really like it…. it helps me to advertise on a budget….. i think it will really start growing….
I also really like your site and I’ve bookmarked it!
Link Building Bible’s last blog post..Link Building Tip: Guest post on blogs to get backlinks and traffic.
Well thank you
Some websites offer very affordable advertising through Project Wonderful, some don’t. It’s all about getting that value you want at a discount!
PW is definitely a good idea and everything, but I agree that it’s mainly for smaller blogs. I took it off my site quite sometime ago because it simply wasn’t consistent enough for me.
Jay
DatMoney.com
Jay’s last blog post..March Madness for Blog Contests!
Sounds like a great idea. I am trying to get traffic to my blog.
Mike
[...] http://www.thenetfool.com is an up and coming John Cow/Chow blog with some quite in-depth reviews of marketing and advertising products, see his post on Project Wonderful [...]
Well done. You really got your point across. I have been tempted to use PW for sometime but couldn’t find the time to do so. Leave out selling ad space.. I think it’s wonderful for buyers..
Cheers!
MindBlogger’s last blog post..Google Exposed - Is Google toolbar PageRank a fake?
Wow, thanks for the advice. Now I’m definitely giving advertising in Project Wonderful a try instead of just being an ad publisher.
nepspeed82’s last blog post..Get the most out of entrecard in a short period of time
Great, if we’re lucky we can advertise on good website at low cost.
Mac’s last blog post..Microsoft Virtual PC 7 for MAC
i just signed up with Project wonderful, they still need to approve my blog.
Backlink Builders last blog post..How to build Backlinks Properly on Forums
Very good article, congrats! Project Wonderful work good with me too. It is a nice choise for a low paid pay per click niches.
devs last blog post..One annoying problem with jquery, ui.dialog plugin and Firefox
Did you know that you can set your bid so that it keeps bidding up to an amount that you can determine? At the moment I only use PW to make money but when I used to advertise it was just as great!
Shireens last blog post..Header Design Finished
[...] and new revenue streams for my various blogs and websites I recently came across a post by Jim at The Net Fool, where he referred to advertising broker Project Wonderful in some interesting terms: “If [...]