Hey... I was browsing around on Adsense's "Success Stories" and I stumbled upon a guy who opened a site called "Grownupgeek.com", he stated that his main source of income was from Google Referrals. So I checked it out and apparently google have REMOVED the service (as of August 2008), so I was just wondering if anyone knew if there are any plans (Google's Plans that is...) to somehow return the service? (It sounded pretty neat).
the site in question belongs to DP member Tearabite who was making pretty decent money with the referral program. and the referral program has been retired some time ago
Google acquired DoubleClick earlier this year, and that is the program they are now promoting. See the information about the "Google Affiliate Network": http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/
The main reason why Tearabite was making quite a bit with adsense referrals is that his site is mainly for newbies on computer related stuff and he was recommending firefox download (referral) as it has better security features. I remember him saying that a substantial amount of money was gone when adsense took out the referrals program but the main thing is that he was already diversifying his income with Kontera and other products. Conclusion: Don't rely but diversify to be safe. Tearabite - correct me if i'm wrong
So you mean to say...that he started with google AdSense...then moved to Kontera?...does that mean Kontera is better than google AdSense somehow? Please explain xD
no, he started with adsense, and now is still using adsense but also earns money from other sources such as kontera, and that should be done by everyone, that way if one day adsense earnings dry up, you won't be left without any money at all.
That man is here - http://forums.digitalpoint.com/member.php?u=24997 Don't start bugging him without any reason As of now, there is no news from Google about re-starting the referral program.
I thought google AdSense don't allow you to "Mix Companies"...for example, I can't use Yahoo advertisements on the same page as AdSense...so he just split his site 50% adsense and 50% Kontera?
not mixing contextual ad network is an old rule by adsense which is now outdated. you can now mix them on a page but don't make them look exactly the same, change colors.
Exactly and as kontera only adds links to keywords on your page, it is vastly different to adsense and is allowed.