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Is Selling Links a Good Idea?

UserPost

6:06 pm
April 4, 2011


Wojo

SW Florida

Member

posts 57

MyJourneytoMillions said:

 What does that 66% of traffic bring you? Do you make money with affiliates from that traffic (a la my blogging buddy FreeFromBroke)? If so then you know your answer…and why even start this thread? 

 

However, if you are making $0 from affiliates (I make next to nothing from affiliate marketing) and if you are making $0 from adsense (you didn't indicate either way) then what does your 66% bring you? Maybe income isn't your thing and that is cool…I didn't start my blog with the intention of making cash

 

I started the thread out of curiosity. :) I know what *I* would do, I wanted to see why it made sense for other people. As to your other question–the 66% brings in a. fair AdSense income, b. potential readers, c. 66% of my pageview count, which will start to matter a lot to me more once I target direct advertisers. Basically, if I didn't have Google, my blog would be 1/3 the size, hence 1/3 the price I can charge. That's the risk I'm not willing to take.

"Wojo" Kulicki

Fiscal Fizzle (site/twitter/facebook)

7:09 pm
April 4, 2011


financialstudent

Member

posts 86

I just wanted to add a quick thought. A few people have mentioned not accepting TLA because they care more about long term growth/revenues. I'm not sure it's an either or type of decision. If you sell TLAs, you can always stop. I doubt Google is going to continue to punish you after the links are removed. If I recall, some of the bigger PF sites used to sell TLAs back in the day and they (obviously) are still/now are successful sites. 

7:27 pm
April 4, 2011


The Passive Income Earner

Member

posts 152

moneysmarts said:

Truth is, i don't think any of us really know how google figures it out, or how they use the information.  It's all proprietary stuff – but my guess is that they may be able to figure out what sites are paying for links, and by extension, look at what sites they have links on to see if they have a pattern of having links to other sites who are known for paying for links. Whether it matters if it is in content or sidebar – i don't know.

It's clear on their adsense forum that one of their goals is to protect the advertisers. I would assume that what Google tries to prevent is not advertisement (like progressive.com insurance) but having paid links to sites attempting to take advantage of Google AdSense (A site with little content outside of Google Ads).

How does Google figure out it's a paid link versus a free link? I really don't think it matters to them since they don't know. What they probably do is flag sites with negative behaviors towards AdSense. If The New York Times was going to sell you a link, would Google all of a sudden penalize you for it?

I'll admit that I am all new to this but there is a whole lot of speculations around what goes on in their algorithm …

8:31 pm
April 4, 2011


The Passive Income Earner

Member

posts 152

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

5:12 am
April 5, 2011


Glen Craig

Member

posts 1087

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.

8:09 am
April 5, 2011


The Single Saver

Member

posts 689

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.

 

 

The Single (and Small Family) Saver

Offering practical, money-saving advice in a fun and interactive format.


9:09 am
April 5, 2011


JT_McGee

Member

posts 723

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

 

JT McGee – MoneyMamba

URL: MoneyMamba.com 

Twitter: @JT_McGee

Recent Post: Are We Halfway Through Our Lost Decade? (4 Charts Inside)

9:09 am
April 5, 2011


JT_McGee

Member

posts 723

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

 

JT McGee – MoneyMamba

URL: MoneyMamba.com 

Twitter: @JT_McGee

Recent Post: Are We Halfway Through Our Lost Decade? (4 Charts Inside)

9:30 am
April 5, 2011


The Single Saver

Member

posts 689

JT_McGee said:

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

 

Really?  Good to know!

The Single (and Small Family) Saver

Offering practical, money-saving advice in a fun and interactive format.


4:00 pm
April 5, 2011


The Passive Income Earner

Member

posts 152

@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.

4:35 pm
April 5, 2011


Wojo

SW Florida

Member

posts 57

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

"Wojo" Kulicki

Fiscal Fizzle (site/twitter/facebook)

4:58 pm
April 5, 2011


JT_McGee

Member

posts 723

Post edited 4:59 pm – April 5, 2011 by JT_McGee


@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.

JT McGee – MoneyMamba

URL: MoneyMamba.com 

Twitter: @JT_McGee

Recent Post: Are We Halfway Through Our Lost Decade? (4 Charts Inside)

8:36 am
April 6, 2011


TightFistedMiser

Member

posts 361

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.

9:30 am
April 6, 2011


moneysmarts

Member

posts 240

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).

 

10:09 am
April 6, 2011


financialstudent

Member

posts 86

Post edited 10:10 am – April 6, 2011 by financialstudent


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?

6:54 am
April 7, 2011


Car Negotiation Coach

Member

posts 125

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?

Geoff (aka The Car Negotiation Coach)

Check out my free ebook: How I Tripled My Affiliate Revenue without Adding Traffic & You Can Too. Or learn how to save big money when buying a car

 

8:53 am
April 7, 2011


Invest It Wisely

Member

posts 2019

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

8:52 pm
April 7, 2011


The Passive Income Earner

Member

posts 152

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


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