Getting started with Raptive: Applying to join our network of creators

Linley Linley Mobley

We get it. Choosing an ad provider can be overwhelming! Whether you’re looking to run ads on your site for the first time or you’ve been running ads for years and want to increase your ad revenue, Raptive is here for you.

We’ve put together a short series outlining what you can expect when you get started with us. In today’s post, I’ll talk through our requirements and what happens when you apply. But first, I’d love to give you a little background about who we are and where we came from.

Who we are

We’ve been helping creators grow their ad revenue and make a full-time income doing what they love since 2013. Our founders were a husband-and-wife blogging team with a vision for supporting content creators. As Raptive (formerly AdThrive) grew over the years, we joined forces with digital media company CafeMedia, growing our ability to invest in the success of our family of creators. 

Now, we serve over 4,000 of the best creators on the internet across 60 countries, and our team has grown to over 300 people who are passionate about helping creators get the ad revenue they deserve!

What we do

With teams handling everything from ad auction optimizations to premium advertiser campaigns to personal suggestions for each creator, we help creators grow their businesses in countless ways. But it all boils down to one focus:

We take care of everything for your ads so you can focus on pursuing your passion and creating amazing content.

How we do it

Every ad provider has a different ad strategy—we focus on running a balanced ad layout on your site, with high-earning ads in optimal locations. It’s all about long-term goals: giving your readers a great experience and giving advertisers a great return on their investment so you make the most money possible over the long run. 

This strategy increases the competition between advertisers as they bid for space on your site, ensuring you end up with the highest-paying ad in each ad space. It also makes sure your valuable readers get the best experience on your site!

So who qualifies for Raptive?

If you’re a creator working hard to produce high-quality, original content that tells stories, solves problems, and makes the internet a better place, you are exactly our type of creator!

As a premium ad management company, our requirements are a little higher than many ad providers. When you apply, several team members personally review the application details and your website. The review process is rigorous, with only about 18% of applications moving to the next phase.

Why this intense screening? 

Advertisers trust the quality they’ll find in the Raptive creator network and are willing to spend more to advertise on Raptive sites as a result. Our vetting process helps advertisers have complete confidence in setting up exclusive campaigns for our network of sites.

Your domain can’t have any advertising infringements with major ad providers.

Beyond that, our requirements break down into two main categories: traffic and content.

Your traffic may qualify for Raptive if:

1. Google Analytics is set up correctly on your site.

While there are different services you can use to track your site data, Google Analytics is the industry standard and the tool we use to understand your site’s traffic. 

One of the first things we confirm is that you have Google Analytics installed on your site and it’s tracking correctly (not installed twice or miscounting pageviews). If we find any potential issues, we’ll let you know and share some suggestions to help you pinpoint the problem. 

Wondering if your Google Analytics is set up and tracking correctly? Check out Google Tag Assistant!

2. Your site consistently receives over 100,000 pageviews each month.

Next, we make sure your site receives at least 100,000 monthly pageviews—and that those pageviews are coming from high-quality, trustworthy sources. 

3. The majority of your traffic comes from the United States, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and/or Australia.

Finally, we make sure that most of your pageviews are coming from these five countries because our advertisers tend to focus on these audiences.

We understand that traffic ebbs and flows throughout the year. Posts go viral. Reader interests change seasonally. Platforms update their algorithms. If you join the Raptive community and end up falling below any of these requirements, don’t sweat it too much! We won’t kick you out — we see it as an opportunity to come alongside you and help you grow your traffic again.

What types of content qualify for Raptive?

The Raptive community is an incredible force for good on the internet! To become part of this network, your content needs to be original, engaging, and brand-safe (meaning major advertisers aren’t wary about their content appearing next to yours). 

When we review your application, we want to see engaging content in your own words, with your unique voice shining through, and content that provides value to your readers and our advertising partners.

While we work with lots of sites in the food, home, parenting, and lifestyle verticals, we also have a wide variety of creators in just about every niche, including travel, finance, sports, technology, video games, pets, and more.

No matter what you write about on your site, we’d love to talk about how we can partner together!

The first step is submitting your application

When you’re ready to hear how Raptive can help you with ad revenue, all you have to do is submit an application

Our application is a simple, two-part form that should take less than five minutes to complete. If you have multiple sites, please submit one application per domain.

1. Tell us about you and your site

The first page gathers some information about you and your site so we can create your account:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Site name
  • URL
  • The primary vertical of your site
  • Whether or not you’re currently running ads, and if you are, who your current ad provider is
  • How you heard about us

2. Share Google Analytics data with us

On the final page, complete a view-only Google Analytics authorization so we can verify some traffic basics for your site.

What happens after you submit an application?

Once we receive your application, our team will review it as soon as possible. We’re usually able to do this within one week, depending on how many applications we have coming through.

While we’re reviewing things, we also get a head start on all the different ad partner approvals for your site. 

Ready to apply to Raptive?

If you’re ready to apply today, just click the button below.

Have some questions before applying? No worries! We’ve got a great resource that’s all about getting started with Raptive here, or you’re welcome to reach out to our team anytime.

Next step, designing your custom Raptive ad layout

If your application is approved, we’ll reach out to start building a custom ad strategy for your site.