Text Link Ads

Advantages

The advantages of a system like Text Link Ads are three fold as you get a central website for advertisers to find such advertising opportunities, advertising on your site that isn’t intrusive, and a fairly high income from the ads, depending on numerous factors.

The central hub for advertisers to find advertising opportunities is why Text Link Ads takes a rather large cut of each sale. You could sell text links on your own blog, but an advertiser might never come to your site for such a thing, but they will check out Text Link Ads, if they are looking to buy text links.

Non-intrusive advertising will put those with ethics at ease. There are no pop-ups or other such annoyances with text links. They are just regular links. They sit quietly in whatever position you put them in, and people can click on them or ignore them.

You can earn a lot from the advertising revenue attached the advertisements that Text Link Ads sell, especially if your site is very popular. For a Google Page Rank 4 blog with a higher than one million Alexa ranking can easily earn ten dollars per link per month, and with the ability to have up to eight links, that could convert to eighty dollars you weren’t previously earning. Sites with higher Google Page Ranks and lower (better) Alexa ranks of course make more money per link. Some blogs listed currently make upwards of three hundred dollars per link, though that is quite rare. The average seems to be around the twenty-five dollar mark, which becomes two hundred dollars if all eight of your advertising spots are sold.

Disadvantages

No advertising system is without its disadvantages.

It won’t last forever because Google is a smart search engine company, and that is the largest disadvantages I see with Text Link Ads. With constant improvements to Google, the benefit to advertisers is going to continually be reduced, thus dropping the bottom out of such a system.

You might lose some of your Page Rank as it has been reported that Google penalizes sites that sell text links. This makes sense with the way Google works, as their Page Rank calculations are based on links and passing value through those links from one site to another, so really you are selling your Google Page Rank, and shouldn’t be surprised if your Page Rank goes down.

You may never sell a link. This is in part due to the huge user base on Text Link Ads, meaning much more competition. You have to stand out compared to other blogs in your niche, or advertisers will buy text links on their site, and not yours.

Is it for you?

Text Link Ads has to be one of the easiest advertising systems I have ever used. I picked where I wanted the links, and other than that, I didn’t have to worry about trying other positions, finding ways to maximize exposure, or other optimizations. The income generated off the links greatly outperformed AdSense on pretty much all of the sites I have tried it on. A word of warning though. If you want to use this system, keep yourself informed on what Google is doing in regards to text links, as it could greatly effect your site, and no amount of money is worth being knocked back down to a Page Rank of zero.

Originally posted on August 16, 2010 @ 12:16 pm

Hard Part of Problogging: Writing Content Constantly

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One of the hardest parts of my career has been the continual production of content in an almost conveyer belt style processing system removing a great deal of the creativity and enjoyment that goes into creating something.

It can be hard to produce enough content to make it full time because if you are paid a rate for each post, or for each word, or even a flat rate salary with certain expectations behind them, it can all come down to producing thousands of words each day, which for some people is easier than others.

What it all comes down to is that the more content you produce, the more search engines will have to find your site, as well as the more opportunities you create to build an audience, gain inbound links and build your brand.

From what I have been able to see, producing around two or three thousand words a day is the minimum of what it can take to propel your site into a success, and that isn’t easy.

As I have gone further in my career, I have found the raw production of content to become more and more difficult, especially if I am not well versed in the subject to begin with or can’t focus on my thoughts, opinions, and views.

If you are having problems creating content, then you have to understand that you are going to have a hard time being noticed, recognized, and gaining traffic.

The sites that become a success with one post a week are the exception, not the rule, and so find ways to put content together in an efficient way, and publish it to the world.

I would also recommend finding a balance where here and there you get to spend some extra time in writing a post so you can truly add in your raw emotions, but when you have to get a good three thousand words done each and every day, it can be quite difficult sometimes to give any more to your writing.

The biggest takeaway from this post that I want you all to have, is that you need to be persistent, and constantly producing compelling content. It isn’t easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

Originally posted on November 30, 2010 @ 11:47 am

Pros of Being a Problogger

Making Your Own Hours

Sometimes I get up bright and early and get to work, other days I lounge around and focus all evening. The flexibility in my work allows me to get many other things done, and removes a fair bit of the stress from my job.

I know I have to put in a certain amount of time to see rewards from what I do, but I can spread it out over the course of the day, allowing me to do bursts of high productivity times split up with times of relaxation, reflection and some gaming.

Writing About Your Passion

Most people that become probloggers make it to that level by writing about their passion, and to be honest, there is nothing better than spending all day researching and writing about the things you love the most.

Early on in my problogging career, I was able to write about technology all day, and so I was more knowledgeable in that area than I ever had been before, and it was a great feeling to be so well informed. It is like taking a class in something you’ve always wanted to know more about and getting paid for it.

Online Community

There is a diverse community of bloggers online who are looking to connect with other bloggers. If you can find a few people that your personality meshes well with, you will find your time online that much more enjoyable.

I have been fortunate enough to work with, meet and talk to numerous people online who have been an inspiration to me, as well as supportive in my online ventures, and a great sounding wall stopping me from making mistakes.

Low Cost Business

I put this last on my list because it is one of the least important “pro’s” I could think of, but it is worth mentioning that problogging is a low cost business. If you have a computer, an internet connection, and something to write about, you are pretty much set. You don’t need an office, expensive equipment, or tons of other overhead.

This means that whenever I want to start a new project, or a different project, I don’t have to empty my pockets, and that most of what I make through blogging goes right to paying my mortgage, food and other such things.

Conclusion

Blogging professionally, be it part-time or full time has many advantages over the traditional nine to five style job, and what I have listed here is only a small bit of what could convince you that this is the right job for you. But before you leap into becoming a problogger, check out my con’s list.

Originally posted on February 22, 2010 @ 2:10 am

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