Just got an offer to sell a text ad on my website...what do I do now?!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maureen Jenkins on April 7, 2010 at 8:57pm

Hi there. Renee --
I was approached months ago by a Berlin-based text ad company called Linklift. I did some investigating, and they seem legit. I'm not making much money from each link (about 10 British pounds, or perhaps $15-$16), but I always check out the sponsor first to make sure I don't have to change my current text AT ALL -- and that the product (in this case, a cruise line) doesn't offend me or my readers.

If not, go for it!

Maureen (www.UrbanTravelGirl.com)

Permalink Reply by Renee King on April 8, 2010 at 8:53am

Hi Maureen!

Thanks for responding. Yes, I did check out their website which seems very informative, has updated entries and seems legit. I'm wondering what is the process to get this new relationship started exactly?

Permalink Reply by Jody Halsted on April 8, 2010 at 10:16am

I have yet to write a contract for a text ad. As for cost- what is that space worth to you? And how long are you willing to let them rent it? But foremost- is the advertiser relevant to your site? Are they reputable?

I'm not going to list my rates here, but if you want to email me I can walk you through what I offer. jody @ familyrambling.com

Permalink Reply by Renee King on April 8, 2010 at 11:10am

Thanks so much, Jody....email on the way!

Permalink Reply by Dan Haneveer on April 21, 2010 at 6:41pm

Hi Renee,

How did you go? You can roughly base a monthly rate of the PR of your blog but traffic is significant too PR3=$30 PR4=$40mth, etc.

All you really need to do is email them back with the rate you hope to get and see if they accept. If they accept first your first offer raise the rate for the next request and when the original ad expires explain that you are raising the rate because of increased traffic.

There is no real legal contract for simple text ads, you just agree a price and length, put the ad up and they pay you.

Dan

Permalink Reply by Renee King on June 4, 2010 at 3:24pm

Thanks so much for your advice, Dan! I may have undersold myself....but it's ok. I'm still learning!

Renee

Permalink Reply by Josh on June 8, 2010 at 3:45am

Google doesn't like selling links and they can drop your PR if they detect you doing it. I think even a couple hundred dollars per month isn't worth it, but it depends on short term and long term goals...

Permalink Reply by Durant Imboden on June 21, 2010 at 3:30pm

Tell them you'll be happy to sell them a text link, which will have the "nofollow" attribute. If they balk, you'll know they really aren't interesting in buying an ad: They're looking to buy a link for SEO purposes, which (as Josh points out) is frowned upon by Google.

Permalink Reply by Ant on June 28, 2010 at 6:30am

Absolutely right. You'd think the TBEX crew would earn enough to not do it either, but they do (just scroll down to the bottom right!)

The thing is, Text Ad Links don't just drain your Google PageRank, they can drain your integrity as a blogger as well. Selling out for $10, $20 or even $50 a text link is just not worth it in my opinion.

TravelBlogAdvice.com covered the topic of paid links recently.

I've left a couple of comments there about the practise too.

What people should/need to realise is that ('rel follow') text ad links are a way to manipulate Google SERP, usually by companies that are desperate to get to the top. Getting to the top means that potentially there's a better — and more honest — vendor who loses out. As a traveller, I'm all about giving my business to honest businesses around the world.

I HATE it when someone tries to rip me off, so it infuriates me to see SO MANY proponents of travel, selling out so cheaply for such small, and selfish gain.

Permalink Reply by Travel Blogger on August 14, 2010 at 10:50am

Durant is correct. To explain it in more detail. I have several travel related websites and I've been approached dozens of times with similar offers. If in the initial email they don't ask you what your traffic is then they are trying to buy a link, not place an advertisement.

A link on your site makes search engines think that your site is linking to theirs based on the quality of the target sites content. This link, and links from other sites doing the same, improves the target sites authority on a topic, such as travel. And in time this "may" cause/help the target site to come up higher in the organic search results on a search engine such as Google.

But if your target site gets "banned" by a search engine like Google for buying ads it can effect your site because you have a link to them.

Best bet for ads are via Affiliate Programs such as the ones from www.Amazon.com, www.cj.com and www.linkshare.com .

Permalink Reply by Renee King on August 27, 2010 at 8:26am

Hi guys,

Thanks for continuing to add your thoughtful insights into this critical question. I wanted to update everyone about what has happened since my original post and hopefully, this will be food for thought for other bloggers who may be considering text link ads. I ended up selling two text ads and unfortunately, my google rank took a hit. One of the text link ads is coming up for renewal and I have informed them that I will not renew the ad.

The other is not up for renewal yet, but I am going to contact them to let them know that a partial refund is on the way. I know that it will take awhile to undo the damage (page rank 3 to 2) but I am willing to work to get things back on track. My immediate goal is to turn things around and aim for a page rank of 5 or higher. This was a great learning experience for me though and I do not regret having gone through it. You live, you learn...right?

I hope this helps a new blogger especially, who WILL receive inquiries like I did and may be excited at the prospect of earning income without knowing that there is a price to be paid. I was naive and didn't realize why I was getting the inquiries, I was under the impression it had more to do with (what I considered) to be my great content. Nope....big mistake. After reading the comments above, I realized it was really a scam where the advertisers were gaming the system. I was inexperienced and that lack of experience worked against me. I am willing to do the hard work that will help me to improve my ratings and would welcome any insight anyone may have on how I can get back on the right track regarding this.

Regards,

Renee

Permalink Reply by Daniel on September 15, 2010 at 12:05am

Hi everyone,

Just came across this website for some more monetization ideas and saw this post, thought I'd give my two cents worth.

I don't believe selling a few links here and there hurts you at all, I should know as I've done it for years! And my PR had not dropped, had gradually gone up in fact.

The fact is, people link to external sites all the time out of their own free will, without any financial incentives. Say if I had a really great experience staying at such and such hotel and want to blog about it and link to their website, that is a completely legitimate link. It would be very difficult for Google to distinguish between that and a paid link. If they did punish people for linking out then no one would link to anyone and the internet as we know it would not exist!

What you should be wary of are what's called "link networks" such as text-link-ads.com These are organized link networks who buy and sell links on behalf of thousands and you never know whose link will end up on your site. By studying patterns it is possible for Google to reverse engineer these networks and identify the culprits.

If it is a one on one basis, dealing with individual websites directly I think you'd be quite safe. Was it a network you sold a link to Rene? Could it have been any other factors that caused your PR to drop? Maybe put the nofollow tag on your links and see if your PR goes back up?

At the end of the day, selling links is a way to monetize your site. You put all the hard work into it, so may as well make some money out of it.

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