Earners Club

Smorty is a service which act as a middleman for both advertisers and bloggers. Advertisers will advertise on blogs to gain more exposure about their products, services and websites in the blogospehere. In addition for the direct exposure, it can also boost search engine rankings with quality inbound links from thousands of blogs, thus increasing website traffic which will eventually led to sales or simply an income. Advertisers will pay the bloggers who write the opinions about their products (services, websites, products collectively known as products) with links back to the advertisers site.

Since there are thousands of potential advertisers seeking for exposure and high rankings on their products, this creates an opportunities for bloggers to get paid to blog. As mentioned above, bloggers can simply get paid for blogging by just writing honest opinions or even reviews to the advertisers’ products. As a blogger, you can select which product you would like to post in your blog. You can view offers by the advertisers when you login to your Smorty account or sometimes you will be notified by an email.

The best thing about Smorty’s paid blogging service is that you will be paid weekly by PayPal and the amount per post in your blog is more higher than their competitors. Visit Smorty for more detailed information and to start making money online today with paid blogging.

written by Ramil Alcibar

WP Text Ads is a WordPress plugin that can let bloggers sell text links directly on their blog, thus there’s no third party text link brokers involved, cutting the middleman’s fee. WP Text Ads comes in two versions - Free and $127/license. The free version has all the features of the paid one except that it limits you to sell only two text link ads. In addition of using this plugin, you can also list your blog in his Marketplace to gain little exposure for potential advertisers. However, the listings in the marketplace uses the rel=”nofollow” attribute when I view-source the listings. Alex Choo from Singapore, the one-man developer of WP Text Ads, has already given details of this WordPress plugin and you can read more about it here.

Advertiser A buys a text link ad at your blog through Company T for $100. Company T takes a 30% commission. You are paid $70 after 30 days or later.

With WP Text Ads, you lower the price to $80 and Advertiser A buys it directly from you.

As a result, you earn $80 immediately ($10 more than before) and Advertiser A saves $20. It’s a win-win situation!

The purpose of this plugin is greatly beneficial for both publishers (bloggers) and advertisers alike. However, this is still only a dream for the small (like Earners Club) to medium players and may not work as it is supposed to be. For a blog to have direct advertiser(s), it must have large number of loyal readers and subscribers. Even though there is WP Text Ads Marketplace, I think it’s not enough to drive-in sales currently as I assumed that people who knew this marketplace are mostly bloggers.

written by Ramil Alcibar

DigitalPoint Forums (I preferrably called DP) is a popular and high-traffic search engine optimization and internet marketing forum - but it seems that this description is too little and may not actually fit compared to what actually DP is, because it goes far far beyond with it. At the time of writing, it is the 160th most popular site in the world according to Alexa, which has also a traffic rank of 156. In addition, if you go now to DP, you can see for yourself how popular it is by just looking the current active users. DP is 100% free to join and there’s no payment at all no matter where you would like to read or post, unlike other forums that offer subscriptions to access private forums. And the best part of DP which was not directly stated in any page of their site is that you can actually earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Listed below are some of the ways on how you can make money online with DigitalPoint Forums.

• Make Money With Your Services (Freelancing)
  DP has a dedicated forum category where everyone can offer or look for services - this acts like a freelance site. If you know how to read and write English then you may also be able to make money at the Services section. DP does not charge you any fees to offer your service, whether it is successful or not. Here are some of the services which you can offer to DP members:
  • Web Design
  • Programming
  • Scripts Installation
  • Article Writing
  • Article Submission
  • Posting (Forum Posting, Blog Posting, Blog Commenting, etc)
  • Submission (Directory Submission, Social Bookmarking Submission, Press Release Submission, etc)
  • Data Entry
  • Any job that you can think of

  

• Google Adsense Revenue Sharing
  As stated on Making Money In Google Adsense Without a Website, DP is listed as #1 for Adsense Revenue Sharing program. If you are a regular poster and create threads that can catch attention and replies, you will be able earn with this program. Your Adsense ads will be used 50% of the time when your thread is viewed. A detailed infomation can be found here.
• Maximize Adsense Earnings
  If you are new to Adsense or just simply want to improve your Adsense earnings, just read or ask a question in their Adsense forum and for sure you will get replies of useful information you need.
• SEO, Marketing, Link Building
  Real traffic is your source of income for your website(s), but how can you get traffic? Simply read a lot of stuff in their Marketing forum - believe me that you will find information not found on eBooks you bought.
• Drive Traffic To Your Sites
  Again, traffic, traffic and traffic is one factor to make money online. At DP, you can drive traffic into your website(s) by advertising it in your signature and participate regularly in the forum. DP has also a Link Exchange section if you are seeking link exchange. If you want instant traffic, you can exchange other members with Stumbles, Diggs, Netscape votes and other similar things - please take note though that this seems an unethical method of getting traffic and may not also allowed by the terms of each site such as Digg.
• Sell Your Websites
  If you have website(s) that you cannot manage anymore or you just simply want to sell it, then offer it here.
• Resell Domain Names
  If your into a domain names business, you can find some cheap domains at DP for sale, which of course you can resell. Or maybe you have some domains for sale, then offer it at their Buy/Sell Domain section. Please don’t get so addicted on buying domains like me
• Sell eBooks, Softwares & Other Digital Products
  Do you have eBooks with resell (or master resell) rights? Or do you have a software recently developed and want to make some money with it? Or do you have some images, photos, wallpapers, etc.? Make money from that stuffs by selling it in the main Buy/Sell/Trade section. Or if you’re so nice,
  you can give it away for free but with a hidden price. What I mean is to offer it as FREE but let potential users of those products register first (& let them opt-in to subscribe) before they can download. This way, you will be slowly building a list - and remember the phrase “THE MONEY IS IN THE LIST“.
• Sell Your Content
  If you have PLR articles, databases (preferred is in MySQL format) you can also sell it on DP. Hundreds of potential buyers are waiting for your contents.
• Sell WordPress Themes & Other Web Templates
  If you are good in web design and you can make WordPress Themes, phpLD templates, proxy templates, portfolio designs then you can earn hundreds of dollars or even thousands from it. From my own experience, it is very rare that designs cannot be successfully sold at DP.
• Get Sponsors With Your Free Themes
  If you put yourself in a worst situation where no one will buy your pre-made designs, then just give it away for free. You can still make money with your free themes by selling text links in your theme. Usually, the text link(s) will be embed in the footer of your themes. Even with the issue of WordPress sponsored themes (this and this), many are still eager to buy sponsored links on your free WordPress themes. However, we are not talking only WP themes here, you can create others such as free VB skin, free phpLD templates, etc. and sell text link(s) on it.
• Sell Advertisements & Links In Your Site Directly
  If you have website(s) and would not like to use text link borkers such as TLA, you can find customers at DP by posting your offer in the Link Sales forum. Most users preferred sites with high PageRank.
• Sell Signatures, Location and Avatar
  Yes, DP allow you to let others rent your signatures, location, avatar and even recent blog section. If you are a regular poster and make thousands of posts, you can really profit on that arena.
• eCurrency Exchange
  “I need $100 in YourProcessor and I’ll pay you $110 via MyProcessor” - this is an exchange in eCurrency. If you have a lot of funds in your payment processor which others don’t have (let’s say e-gold for example), you can also offer this at DP. Just be careful with scammers (though there’s an iTrader system) and most importantly, this may not allowed on the payment processor you used. For example, PayPal does not allow this type of exchange. Do this type of business at your own risk. THIS IS VERY RISKY, REMEMBER IT!
• Offer Your Affiliate Programs & Other Business
  Do you started your own affiliate program? Or do you have web hosting business? Or even a new web directory? Announce this at DP in an appropriate forum category and you can have partner/customers for sure.
• Join Contests
  Unfortunately, contests at DP are usually for designers. Logo, banner, header and template design contests are among those that are available and are always in demand. In a rare occassion, members post easy contest such as Slogan Contest. Usually you will get money if you are choosen as the winner, others just offer eBooks, text link, etc.
• Discounts on Vouchers & Coupons
• Sell MySpace Bulletins / hi5 Comments

All of the lists above, the most profitable for me until now is on Web Design. What’s yours?

Those ways does not sum up to 101 ways to make money online with DigitalPoint Forums as the title says. I intended it to be just a short list because I will let some DPers share some thoughts on how can they make money online with DP until it reaches a total of 101. To start with DPers interactions, I would like to add one to the list I created above: Make Money To Digg, Stumble, etc. There are still ways that I knew of that can add up the list but it will definitely fall under the Services (freelance) forum.

written by Ramil Alcibar

About 4 months ago, I launched a WordPress plugin called WP Text Ads. It’s goal is to let bloggers sell text link ads directly to advertisers, so they don’t have to pay commissions.

Benefits of WP Text Ads

1) Lower prices for advertisers.
People who have heard of WP Text Ads know that bloggers will earn more since they do not pay commissions. But few realize that advertisers benefit from that too. For example, if text link ads rates fall to $70 from $100, advertisers save $30, but bloggers do not lose out since they don’t pay 30-50% in commissions anymore. It’s a truly win-win solution.

2) Substantial traffic metrics
The WP Text Ads Marketplace provides plenty of traffic metrics for each site listed. It does not require any login or registration, and takes only 5 minutes to join. It is also free.

3) Active development and customer support
Believe me, when this is your livelihood, you work really hard to make your clients happy Enough said.

4) API
The WP Text Ads API allows any developer to write plugins to offer greater value proposition to advertisers. I have created 2 such plugins for free download.

5) It is free
Some have the idea that WP Text Ads costs $127. That is partially correct only. When you install it, it is free to use. If you sell so many text link ads that you need to remove the limitations on links, then you upgrade. Otherwise, the free version stays free forever, and it has all the features of the licensed one.

How WP Text Ads Could Do Better

1) Marketing
I’ve done a bad job marketing WP Text Ads. In fact, I wonder if it could get any worse.

2) Affiliate Program
Up to now, I’ve not released an affiliate program. I forgot that WP Text Ads exists to help bloggers increase their revenue, and an affiliate program will help them achieve that cause.

3) Better Interface
WP Text Ads appear as an Options page in WordPress. It’s currently too long and slightly unwieldly. I’ve added a quick links menu to help users navigate around, but that’s not an excuse.

4) No integration with PayPal
IPN is not used for PayPal payments. I’m a little nervous about integrating that because of security concerns. That’s something that needs studying, but clearly, advertisers and bloggers are not benefiting as a result.

As a one-man operation, I can’t do everything at the same time. Some of the problems will be rectified in the next version. I’d love to get feedback if you have comments. Please write to me at alexchoowk at wptextads dot com.

This is a guest post by Alex Choo. He is the developer of WP Text Ads, a free WordPress plugin that lets you sell text link ads directly to advertisers.

written by Alex Choo

To build quality backlinks, which is very crucial for SEO success, website owners usually do submission to directories, article submissions, posting in forums and many more techniques as mentioned by Andy Hogans and Aaron Wall’s 101 Link Building Tips to Market Your Website. In that great post, they have also mentioned about renting some high quality links directly from web sites. In reverse, this gives website owners (in this case, bloggers) an opportunity to make money from blogs by selling text links.

Direct Text Link Sales
You can directly sell text links in your blogs if you want a total control of your ads. Selling text links directly also cut off the middleman’s share and therefore you keep 100% of your sales, plus, you will have direct relationship with your advertisers. However, there are also some disadvantages with this type of selling text links. First, this is not an option for low traffic blogs or those that are new, thus only popular and high-traffic sites may used this method. Second disadvantage is that your potential advertisers are very limited - that is, only your visitors.

Bloggers usually put an “Advertise” page on their blog and put some details such as prices, traffic stats and other useful informtion that could catch attention to potential advertisers. Others also advertise that they are selling text links by posting on various webmaster forums such as DigitalPoint and SitePoint or placing it on classified ads sites. JohnChow has also a nice article on How To Make Direct Ad Sales.

For WordPress users, there are two plugins that could automate your direct selling of text links. These are OIOPublisher (free) and WP TextAds (free or $127/license - more review soon). You will also be able to get listed on the marketplace of these sites.

Text Links Brokers
If your blog is not so popular, you can use text link brokers which act as a middleman between you and a thousands of advertisers. This is a preferred method by most of the bloggers even if they received huge amount of traffic everyday. It’s because if they used these text links brokers, their blog will be listed in the marketplace of these sites thus it will be exposed to thousands of potential advertisers. Even if there will be a cut of your sales (you will not received 100% of your sales), the exposure it brings would outweigh the disadvantage. Listed below are some (there maybe new one that is unknown) of the popular text link brokers:

• Text-Link-Ads
  Sell relevant text link ads on your website. You can approve or deny the advertiser links that appear on your site. They pay you 50% of the sale price for each text link sold on your website. Additionally, earn $25.00 for new paid client or new publisher referred.
• LinkWorth
  Sell text links and other form of ads and make money. Earn up to 70% of ad revenue recurring monthly in most situations, suggested is 50/50 split. Earn more by referring advertisers to LinkWorth. You can earn $10.00 for each new advertiser signup and 5% of each recurring transaction amount for the life of the advertiser account.
• BackLinks
  Monetize your web site by selling text links to related web sites. Unlike most text link brokers, they DO NOT CHARGE any fees or commissions. You decide what to charge for your text links and you keep 100% the revenue. As usual, you have the control to choose what sites you would like to be advertised on your site. But, BackLinks only accepts sites with PR3.
• Adbrite
  Approve or reject any ads purchased for your sites. You also have the ability to sell direct ads with “Your Ad Here” links. Unfortunately, they have no option to pay your commissions via PayPal.
• Direct Link Ads
  You can earn 75% of the revenue of the link ads sold on your site. You may use your earnings to purchase links from other sites, or you may withdraw the funds at any time if your account balance is more than £50.
• LinkAdage
  Already teamed up with Text-Link-Ads.
• Buy-Sell Text Links
• Text  Link Brokers
• Live Customer

Empty/Looks-Underconstruction/Seems-Inactive/Beta Stage Text Links Brokers?

• Permanent Links
• LinkMonsters
• TextLinkAdvisor
• Text Link Ocean
• Buy Sell Trade Links

If you knew any other programs not listed above, please let us know by posting in the comments area. Additionally, you may share your experiences with us which among the programs above perform well with your blog.

Part 3 of monetizing your blog is coming soon next week. You can read Part 1: Making Money In Your Blog - Contextual Advertising here.

written by Ramil Alcibar