Earners Club

Selling ad space is one of the many ways of how to make money online from website(s) aside from using third party service ads such as Google Adsense, Kontera and among others. However, finding direct advertisers (or let’s say “sponsors”) is a tough process unless a site is very popular and receive much amount of traffic every day. For advertisers also, it’s hard to find which is the suitable site to advertise their products and services. This is one of the reason why almost all site owners, especially bloggers, choose to go with the middlemen (ad networks) such as the popular Text Link Ads and LinkWorth to sell ad spaces. Though using these ad networks ensures to gain exposures for the site that sells ads, it is also a fact that they take commissions, thus it may result to the overpricing of ads which in turn the advertisers pays more. Plus, a site owner cannot earn 100% of the sales - however this can be outweigh by the exposure it brings.

Today, I just found a website called For Sale By Publisher, a directory of websites that sell advertisements on their websites directly to advertisers. If you have a website and want to sell ad space on it, try to join now - it’s FREE. Once you setup your profile, you can add your site details in the directory that includes description, pageviews, unique visitors, tags, contact method, and the type of ads that are available (text ads, image banners, interstials, email, or RSS). Alexa, Google PR and Compete stats are automatically added. Before your site will be finally addded in the directory, it must be verified by uploading a blank xxxxxfile.html in your server. Advertisers can then browse the directory and contact you directly for an advertising deal.

For Sale By Publisher concept is very beneficial for both advertisers and publishers (site owners). Advertisers can now easily locate which site(s) to advertise. Publishers can reduce the price of their ads since there’s no cut on the sales which in turn the advertisers will only spend less money. Reduce price on ads can help attract more advertisers and make more money. As a publisher also, one backlink to your site is also assured - take a look this one.

Visit For Sale By Publisher now, add your site (while still free) to the directory and start making money. Please don’t forget to spread the word about this great service.

written by Jane Alcibar

I have already covered Zlio, a free hosted service that let you build your own online shop and start selling thousands of products from their merchants. In addition, I also mentioned Shopify, an e-commerce solution (also hosted) to sell your own products online. Both of them have disadvantages - to named a few, the fees and order limits with Shopify and the choice of products with Zlio.

To run an online shop (not hosted) to sell products with total control in all aspects, an e-commerce application is needed. The most popular free e-commerce applications that are available today are osCommerce and Zen Cart.

Varien, a Los Angeles web development firm, has also its own open source e-commerce platform called Magento. Magento is currently on early beta stages, BETA 0.6 at the time of writing, thus it is not recommended to be used on production environments. Though it’s still in beta, it already comes with the usual e-commerce features plus more that looks promising and somewhat follow the new trends. Listed below are some of the nice features of Magento that I like, some are currently not implemented:

• Multiple Websites
• Content Management System (CMS)
• Marketing features - Multi-Tier Pricing and Coupons
• Search Engine Friendly URLs and Meta Tags
• Product Tagging
• Product Comparison
• Permissions
• Multiple Payment Systems & Shipping

One thing I would like to have in this rising ecommerce platform is to integrate a complete affiliate program into the system. Affiliate program does not only boost sales for shop owners but it can also help others, that cannot build online shop, to make money from online shops powered by Magento.

Check out Magento for a detailed info. It will be a great application in the near future and it might help you if you are planning to build your online shop. I suggest to subscribe to their newsletter to stay updated with future releases.

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