Link Idol

There is an existing thread in one forum which I am a member about how bloggers monetize their websites. It is so amusing to know that there are bloggers who are too active in writing and creating fresh original content but have little knowledge or strategy in monetizing their content. Some of them are still depending on Google Adsense which I am personally do not have the same luck as far as making money online is concerned.

So what do I recommend? Link selling is definitely on the top of my list!

One of the preferred link broker programs is Text-Link-Ads. It is one of the top money makers for link sellers and continues to grow in terms of market share and income generation. Much has been written about the program but for the purpose of providing would-be link sellers and those like the bloggers I mentioned above, I will be writing this post to describe what Text-Link-Ads is and what you should do in order to be accepted in their system.

Text-Link-Ads is a system where you can sell links on your websites. These links may be in the form of a sitewide link or a homepage link. But that was before. They now offer a variety of link options for advertisers and at the same time a variety of income opportunities for webmasters and bloggers.

When your site is accepted in Text-Link-Ads, you’ll set how many ads your site will serve. These ads are text links and mostly contain word or phrases that advertisers want their sites to be optimized in the search engines. These ads usually reside on the sidebar of websites particularly blogs. Other put them in the footer but links are less marketable if it is located in the footer.

If the site is a blog and is powered by Wordpress, it may also opt to accept text ads that will be located after blog posts. In this way, ads will naturally appear as part of the post. Sites can also offer InLinks, or links that are located within the blog posts. In this type of link selling, advertisers will look at existing blog posts and choose words or keywords relevant to their site. When they buy that word, that particular word will be linked to the advertisers’ site and the blogger will be paid for that link. This is very popular among link buyers since links are contained in blog posts and search engines will see it as natural links. Imagine if your blog hosts hundreds if not thousands of posts, the income potential is limitless.

In addition to the aforementioned options, if you have a substantial number of feed subscribers, you can configure your sites to accept RSS advertising. I personally don’t have this type of advertising on my sites but I believe many are making money out of this. Number of subscribers is the key here.

If you do already have a site, is it worth submitting to Text-Link-Ads for consideration and acceptance in their program? Before you begin filling up the forms and hitting the Submit button, please read along then decide whether it is worth the risk

Work on your site first. As the cliché goes, content is king. I mentioned that it doesn’t have to be original, but it should not be scraped or spammy. This claim of mine needs another blog post and it will not be elaborated here. But for regular bloggers, this should not be a problem since most of them create enormous and original content on the niches they have chosen. Text-Link-Ads is not an ordinary text link broker where your site can be easily accepted. If you have been a member of Text Link Ads before, you’ll agree with me that they are more meticulous in accepting new sites to their system at present than they were last year. You even have to maintain good site rankings. In fact, one of my sites was removed from their system for having very low traffic. This site used to earn $100++/month for heaven’s sake, but it was not spared. Don’t suffer the same fate. Work on your site first.

Other important factors that I consider are PageRank (PR) and Alexa Ranking. In my experience, a site with a PR of 3 has a greater chance to be accepted than those without PR. In addition, web traffic is now an essential measure, like what I have mentioned that happened to my site. I recommend having a <200,000 Alexa Ranking before you submit your site. In short, at least a PR of 3 and an Alexa Ranking of <200,000 must be met first.

What if your site, particularly your blog, is not accepted? Is there a way where you can resubmit your site after it has improved its overall ranking in terms of PageRank, Alexa rating, and other considerations?

When your site is not accepted and you resubmit it, the system will show a message that it had already been submitted. It will also say that they are doing monthly assessment of websites previously submitted and your site may be approved if it has met their minimum qualifications. Is there a way to get around with this? Yes there is, but that will be another story.