Yakezie.com - Topic: Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

The Passive Income Earner on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:52:04 +0000

I'll let you know, I have one coming out tomorrow. I am labelling it "Sponsored Post" up front to make it clear.

Invest It Wisely on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:53:43 +0000

I try to stay with relevant guest posts so they don't get pissed off too much. ;)

Car Negotiation Coach on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:54:56 +0000

I've been in the same camp and reluctant to sell text links for fear of the long term consequences. However, I'm curious, do folks here see the sale of text link (a keyword-rich link inserted into any post) the same as a sponsored post (an entire post from an adveriser with the keyword-rich link embedded)?

My thought is that they are slighly different, but I'd like to hear opinions. It seems to me that the sponsored post may be a little less dangerous to search rank and a quick way to earn a buck. Of course that may not be true if the advertiser is known by Google already as a link buyer. On the flip side, most of the sponsored posts I see have nothing to do with typical blog themes and can appear out of place and piss off your readers. But that can be mitigated by quickly moving the post from your front page, or post-dating it.

Any thoughts?

financialstudent on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:09:50 +0000

Not to derail the thread, but...

Smart On Money –

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of traffic are you getting to receive that kind of Adsense revenue? Do you feel that there's a certain "magic" number where Adsense really starts being worthwhile?

moneysmarts on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:30:21 +0000

This is definitely one of those tough questions that every blogger has to answer for himself - whether or not to sell text links. As I mentioned previously - on my first site, I sold text links for quite a while - and the income was nice for that first year or so. It helped me to grow my site, buy better hosting/etc. I don't really regret doing it. By the same token now that I've built the site up to be much more successful using other advertising means - ones that google doesn't have any issue with - CPM Ads, adsense, affiliate marketing/etc - I'm not willing to take the risk that google may start penalizing sites for selling text links - not only in page rank, but possibly in search rankings.

I mentioned before i saw my Page rank drop while I sold text links, but i dont' really think i saw much affect on my search rankings. But you never know when google might change that and start having that affect search rankings as well.

My second site - smart on money - I never sold text links and I feel like the site has shown quicker growth than the first site in some respects. At less than 1 year old it's already bringing in over $1000/month - mostly from adsense. Granted it helps that I've already built a successful site and know better how to do it, but I think not doing some things like selling a ton of text links has helped as well. My page rank for Smart On Money is at the same point my other site was when it was docked for selling text links - but it hasn't dropped like the other site did. Again, I'm assuming it's because of the difference in text links (but of course we'll never know for sure).

TightFistedMiser on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:36:50 +0000

I have actually had a couple of text link advertisers request their links be nofollow. I'm not sure what good the links do the advertiser but if they are willing to pay me for nofollow links I'm happy to take their money.

JT_McGee on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:58:15 +0000

@Wojo – No follow is worthless to advertisers in terms of Google, which is the point. Some people do buy links for the purposes of traffic, but in most cases, banners/buttons tend to provide better branding power as well as visitor numbers. Dollar for dollar, someone looking for visitors probably wouldn't care very much about a text link. And no one would for SEO.

Wojo on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:35:10 +0000

Wouldn't a "nofollow" link be useless to link advertisers? I thought the Google juice was the whole concept behind the deal...

The Passive Income Earner on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:00:01 +0000

@JT_McGee

Good point. That's what I did with the current one I have up.

Consequently, how different is a paid link versus a link to another blogger in a blog roll or somewhere else without the 'no follow'? Is linking to a blogger with lots of paid links now a negative for your blog? I think the jugement has to do with the site you are linking with as opposed to simply think whether it's paid or not.

In any case, if you can, just use the no follow attribute. That officially works.

The Single Saver on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:30:29 +0000

JT_McGee said:

@TPIE - Google is perfectly cool with selling text links with the "no follow" attribute.

Really? Good to know!

JT_McGee on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:09:32 +0000

@TPIE - Google is perfectly cool with selling text links with the "no follow" attribute.

JT_McGee on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:09:31 +0000

@TPIE - Google is perfectly cool with selling text links with the "no follow" attribute.

The Single Saver on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:09:20 +0000

I would think the key here is moderation - both in terms of paid sidebar links and in terms of paid posts/reviews. But I don't say that from Google's standpoint - I say that from a visitor's standpoint. I don't mind seeing an occassional paid post on sites I enjoy but I tend to feel disconnected if they happen too often. As for paid sidebar links, I see them no differently than I do ads and again, a few are okay but not too many.

Glen Craig on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:12:40 +0000

MJTM makes an interesting point. I remember when I sold my first few text ads, the income was like nothing I had seen before (on my site that didn't make much in adsense or affiliates at the time). That revenue helped me to grow my site as well and gave me push to keep doing what I did. I don't recall but it probably helped pay for my theme and logo.

Thing is though, I did too much, or had the wrong links up, and got knocked for it.

Do what is right for you and your long term goals. Be careful.

The Passive Income Earner on Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:31:14 +0000

Interestingly enough, today I received a request for advertising (text link) from a site that is PR4. Based on the discussion above, does that hurt me if I sell the link? I am PR2 and the site I would link to has no Google AdSense...

When I think about it ... Can Google penalize everyone else trying to advertise? I guess they could, it would make them the evil empire with a monopoly :) Would they is another question ... I guess that's partly why they are getting investigated in Europe for antitrust brought to you by none other than Microsoft (which consequently was put on antitrust with IE by Google). http://news.cnet.com/8301-3068.....9-265.html