I have had success with textlinkads. I also managed to get 3 affiliate signups within the first 250 clicks. Since then I have not had any more signups and I now have nearly 1000 clicks. I guess it's because it has become much more advertised on the Web just like Google.
You'll likely make more money per month selling links on Text Link Ads (even after the 50% cut) than you will here on DP. To answer your questions: The one who buys the links chooses the site they want their link on. The publisher can then approve or reject the link. Google analyzes all the words surrounding links. For example, if a link appears right beneath a text header that says "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements," then that link may not be factored in for PageRank purposes. If you're going to be a publisher on Text Link Ads, you might want to place your text ads beneath a simple "Links" header, so as to hopefully get more business from people who want to avoid being placed beneath an "Advertisements" header.
Another thing is you do not have the hassle of dealing with people complaining once you have been paid that they didn't receive the traffic that was expected and things. TextLinkAds deals with all the customers.
Agreed. It's definitely a no-lose situation. Text Link Ads takes care of all the "business stuff." Plus, if your site is accepted into the TLA inventory, buyers will be pretty confident that you're a trustworthy publisher. Whereas buying text link ads on a forum gives no guarantee that the seller won't take the money and run, or that they won't remove the link before its time is up, etc.
Also with textlinkads you just sign up and put their code on the site and then you can just forget about it. If you do it yourself and have no software to track the impressions and things then you have to keep a record of when the advertiser needs to pay you again, when you get advertisers you have to edit your page every time, etc.
I make money from them so if I were I would use them, but.... You can read my frustration with them here http://www.erikvossman.com/2006/12/19/text-link-ads-why-arent-they-selling/ I guess I shouldn't be frustrated, cause I do make money from them. But I actually had to do the marketing and bring in the buyer of one link (wish they would have bought through me directly) and all TLA did was provide the security that their link would be up or they wouldn't have to pay for when it wasn't up. Their search isn't good, their directory isn't good, and I don't think they do anything but exist. Just my opinion.
One question about the $100 worth of links free, whats the best way to take advantage of this offer? I was thinking of buying one high priced link for a month but it doesnt seem worth it. On the other hand if I buy a few lower priced links and then after one month see which is generating the most traffic and stick with that one, will the SEs penalise me for having links back to my website for just a single month? Will this highlight the fact that they are bought links? Thanks
I'm currently having an issue with them. I've bought several links from them lately. One link I just purchased was on a local media site for my brick & mortar business. TLA said my link would appear on the "money" section that has a "link popularity" of 5/10. I bought the link and it shows up on the pages off of the money page. For example, the way they advertise it you think you'd be getting a link on a PR 5 site at www. thelocalmediasite.com/money. This is not apparently the case. I just received an email from TLA, ONE THAT I SENT 4 DAYS AGO regarding this issue. Their reply was "Link popularity is not the same as Page Rank, but very similiar. The links are on the story/detail pages of that section. Funny, they never mentioned that on the pop up where you select the sites you want to advertise on. Also, my account even says my link will appear on "www.thelocalmediasite.com/money." But it doesn't, it appears on the PR0 article pages off that section. A little misleading. I don't think they would sell links on that page if they were truthful about the "popularity" of those pages. I have another site that I bought a link for, every thing is as advertised. However, I'm paying much more for that link than the one mentioned above. This isn't over, I'll keep you updated. Just something to watch for if you're buying links from them. Watch where your less expensive links show up. Don
If you can, you can rename the html page to php, change links and navigation and place the code. If the links are to place sitewide, then there is a lot of work...and has some problems...
I have used TLA as a publisher, advertiser and as an affiliate. I would say it is a good service overall, they pay which is good. The 50% is a bit steep but they do get results. Compared to many other services I have used they are among the better ones. My advice would be to sign up, take the 20 mins to set everything up and then leave it for 3 months. If you get no joy you can always remove the code. One point I will make is that you need the right type of site, quality seems to attract advertising.