In 2006, some paid links market websites like Text Link Ads (TLA) started to grow. Many webmasters/bloggers received easy money by selling paid links on their blog. Me too.

Then, Google started penalizing those websites which buy/sell paid links. I quit selling paid links that time.

However, there are still many websites are buying/selling paid links. Reason because, for advertisers, it is a fast way to improve search engine rank for their selected keywords. For publishers, it is a easy money that does not require you to do anything but only putting a few links on your website.

People ask Google again and again whether the paid link consider as SPAM or not. Google has reconfirmed by replying using their Google Webmaster Twitter account that they are considering links via sites like Text-Link-Ads as SPAM.

“Since we hear this question again and again: Yes we de consider buying links via http://tinyurl.com/39epw3 and similar services as spam.”

The tinyurl URL links to Text Link Ads homepage.

[via Thats SEO]

My two cents

Regardless of you are advertiser or publisher, if you are still with Text Link Ads or similar services, you should quit it now. I believe Google will keep on working an algorithm to detect all the paid links.

Don’t let paid links buriyyour website in search engine results.

Instead of paid links, now you should work on the social media marketing. The social media is the Internet now.

Learn Facebook marketing from the book “Facebook Era” available at Amazon.com.

Over to You

Have you bought/sold paid links before? What do you think of paid links? Should search engines ban it? Do you think Google can detect all the paid links?

TLA publishers are advised to update their TLA affiliate links immediately because the old affiliate URLs will no longer work after August 2007.

If you only have TLA affiliate links on your website template, it is easy to update the URLs. However, if you have a couple of posts with TLA affiliate links in the post body like me (Text Link Ads Tips, it could be troublesome to dig them out and edit one by one.

Here I show you how to update all the old TLA affiliate links in one shot (WordPress only) using Mass String Replace in MySQL:
[sql]UPDATE `wp_posts` SET `post_content` = REPLACE(`post_content`, “OLD_TLA_AFF”, “TINYURL_TLA_AFF”)[/sql]
OLD_TLA_AFF — your old Text Link Ads affiliate URL.
TINYURL_TLA_AFF — the new Text Link Ads affiliate URL using TinyURL.com you received.

Using the MySQL query, I updated all the posts containing TLA affiliate links in 1 minute. Fast, clean, and easy!

By the way, here I assume you know how to run a MySQL query. Contact me if you need help.

advertising, mysql, text link ads, TLA, tips

TLA price is fixed

For your information, the sale price of TLA is fixed and cannot be modified for the life of the order. Meaning, you still pay for the same price even the TLA publisher increased the TLA sale price.

Free $100 coupon in Text Link Ads »

text link ads, tla, money, coupon

For every Text Link Ads (aff) members, if you are not an AuctionAds member yet, you can get a bonus $5 if you sign up AuctionAds now through TLA promo! You will get the bonus $5 in 24 hours after sign up AuctionAds, placing the code on your website. But note that the minimum payout is $10.00.

By the way, you might interested to read the AuctionAds Tips to Make Money from eBay Ads

TLA, text link ads, AunctionAds, money, tips

The three posts with post level text link ads sales are: ImPhone USB VOIP Phone (PR3), Calendar (PR4), and World of Warcraft Tops 5 Million Players (PR2).

Here is the screenshot of Post LeveL Text Link Ads on my page:

Image: screenshot of Post Level Text Link Ads

Note that the Calendar post is a WordPress PAGE. It means Post Level Text Link Ads not only sell links on blog posts but also on independent pages.

The Pricing of Post Level Text Link Ads

According to John Chow’s explanation, the pricing of Post Level Text Link Ads is based solely on Google PageRank. Now you see why you should care PageRank.

• PR2 – $5
• PR3 – $6
• PR4 – $8
• PR5 – $10
• PR6 – $25
• PR7 – $50

Note: Pricing for PR8 and PR9 blog posts are unknown. (Tell me if you found such a high PR “blog post”!)

According to my TLA inventory posts, LiewCF Tech Blog has 720 post level TLA for sales, from PR5 to PR2.

My two cents

Post LeveL Text Link Ads is easy money. It is a reward for your good writing in the past. But, the revenue share is lower than I expected. Not good.

Anyway, I am surprised that I have 720 pages with PR2 or more. Maybe we can consider private post level link sales for PR4 and PR5 pages?

Join Text Link Ads now and start making money from text links. Don’t forget to read my Text Link Ads tips!

advertising, money, text link ads, TLA

Image: Example of Post Level Text Link Ads

Publishers still have the editorial control for each post level link purchased. The pricing is set automatically and lower price than the Text Link Ads placed on homepage.

For advertiser, a post level link means you can advertise on popular posts to get the traffic. The post level links will have higher click-thru-rate than existing TLA on sidebar. Sign up now and get $100 free coupon » (aff)

My two cents

I installed the new TLA plugin but nothing changed because it has yet opened to advertisers. Compared to other post level paid links, I would prefer Post LeveL Text Link Ads because it is not one-time payment permanent link.

The new TLA added a few of WordPress hooks that will notified Text Link Ads when a new post/page is published, edited or deleted.

off-topic: I noticed Text Link Ads changed their cheques again.

Image: Text Link Ads Payment Check (new look)

Read also: Text Link Ads – Make Easy Money from Text Links

advertising, check, money, text link ads, TLA

Two less known Text Link Ads tips

• Update category listing — now you can update your site’s categories in TLA marketplace. Choose only the categories relevant to your site content. I updated the categories to “Technology” and “Blogging Tips”.
  
  Images: Set up category listing in Text Link Ads
• Put TLA in upper fold — TLA advertisers count their ad clicks. Putting TLA in upper fold of your site will increase the text link clicks and make advertisers happy. I moved my TLA block a few higher in sidebar.

Have you signed up for Text Link Ads(aff) and start making money from the text links on your website? It is one of my main income source. I get a couple of hundred bucks from TLA every month.

Oh, I just received another $100 TLA affiliate payment. Yes, you get paid by referring TLA to your friends as well.

Sign up for Text Link Ads now!

advertising, money, text link ads, tips, tla

Image: PayPal address on Text Link Ads Check

Well, it was my fault. I changed TLA payment method from PayPal to check but forgot to update the PayPal address to my full name as well. As a result, I received a check with my PayPal address.

I emailed TLA to cancel the check. It will take $50 stop payment fee to cancel the check. In order to avoid the fee, I have to mail the check back to TLA. Once they received the check, they will send payment to my PayPal address(my current payment method).

So, the check came to me and flew back to New York (TLA head quarter is in NY) just a day after.

Lesson learned: Avoid changing payment method. Or, remember to update receiver information after changing any details.

tld, text link ads, check, money, paypal

The formula

The formula of Blog Juice Calculator is: number of Bloglines subscribers(40%) + Alexa rank(15%) + Technorati rank(30%) + Inbound links(15%)

As you see, the Blog Juice is depends on Bloglines, Alexa and Technorati (inbound links pulled from Technorati as well). This can’t be an accurate value. Don’t treat it too serious.

Here is the current Blog Juice for LiewCF.com:

What is your blog juice?

blogjuice, tla, textlinkads, bloglines, alexa, technorati

Feedvertising sample ad

How does Feedvertising different than other feed advertising programs?

Unlike other feed advertising programs, Feedvertising does not insert graphical banner into your feed. It adds only a text line, and you can have your own ads(promotion, affiliate programs, etc).

The Feedvertising payment is not based on CPM or cost-per-click. It use a flat rate pricing, which is good in my opinion.

Sign up Text Link Ads to join Feedvertising.

My two cents

Currently, I have feed advertising in my feed, and get paid. I would love to try Feedvertising but I haven’t upgrade my blog to WordPress 2.0.

Have you tried Feedvertising? How is the result?

blog, feed, feedvertising, money, ads, advertising, textlinkads, TLA, wordpress

Simply enter “october” into the promotional field at the bottom of the checkout page. You will then save 15% off the entire order for the life of the order. Buy text link now at TLA.

TLA, textlinkads, text, link, ads, advertising, money, discount

I received my first Text Link Ads(TLA) check in August 2006. It was not my first TLA payment. I have been receiving TLA payments in the past few months.

“Payment by check” is a new TLA feature that I discovered last month. TLA payments were made via PayPal only.

I changed the payment method from PayPal to Check. Like other U.S check, it took the check two weeks to arrive Malaysia.

My two cents

Payment by cheque is a good news for people who cannot withdraw PayPal funds locally. I have changed my TLA payment back to PayPal because I can withdraw PayPal funds in Malaysia (free ebook).

TLA has became my second source of income. I am getting few hundred dollars per month.

Join Text Link Ads

Sign up for Text Link Ads now

ads, advertising, check, cheque, money, revenue, text link ads, TLA

TLA announced two great savings for advertisers this month:

$100 in FREE Text Link Ads

Every newly sign up advertisers get FREE $100 coupon for links buying. This is a great for TLA beginner to try out TLA. Get your $100 worth of FREE Text Link Ads

September Offer

For every new TLA order in September 2006, you will get 15% off for the life of the order. To cash in on these savings simply enter: September in the promotion field at Checkout.

Visit Text Link Ads

advertising, SEO, textlinkads, TLA

New Code or Old Code?

I tested the old TLA code, it works. However, I recommend all TLA publishers to update to the new coding to ensure future TLA compatibility.

New Text Link Ads banners

Text Link Ads added new graphical affiliate banners that are bold. The new banner looks really outstanding, just like the following.

White text on red background is very catchy, but it hurt my eyes.

Text Link Ads does not approve your website?

I received emails from readers that Text Link Ads did not approve their applications. I should note that your website should have at least Google PageRank 3.

PR3 is not hard for existing websites. Just get a few more incoming links from other websites (e.g. link exchange). However, TLA is not for new websites. Please spend more times to improve your website and increase visitor traffic.

Text Link Ads earning update

I got a few more TLA sales on my gadget blog, Ideal Gadget (recently upgraded to PR6). Currently, money earned for June 2006 is over USD300!

P.S. Can’t withdraw PayPal fund in Malaysia? This e-book, Chapter-M, can teach you how withdraw PayPal funds.

ads, advertising, money, textlinkads, TLA

After troubleshooting for sometime, I discovered that it was caused by Text Link Ads(TLA) code in the sidebar.

Text Link Ads plugin error?

I was using TLA wordpress plugin and it was working fine. Maybe they updated the coding? I downloaded the TLA wordpress plugin again and discovered that there were some code changes in the file, although the plugin version is still same. The new plugin use unordered list for links, instead of tables.

However, applying the new plugin file did not solve the problem. I was still getting blank pages.

Text Link Ads code error?

Ok, if wordpress plugin did not work, how about PHP coding? I disabled TLA plugin and applied TLA PHP code on my template. It did not solve the problem either.

I had no choice but to disable TLA for the moment. I have already sent an email to TLA team about the problem.

Received TLA Payment (May 2006)

On the bright side, I received TLA payment for May 2006. The total (publisher and affiliate payments) is over USD200. In May 2006, I added my another two websites to TLA, that’s why the revenue was increased.

Text Link Ads

ads, advertising, money, textlinkads, TLA

You only need to fill in a simple form and select the text links position, then it will calculate the monthly value of a single link. The position map is a clone of the Google AdSense heatmap.

Calculating factors that contribute to how much a link is worth:

• Traffic of your website based on Alexa ranking
• Number of incoming links (and quality links)
• Website category
• Number of links
• Sitewide or single page placement
• Link location on a page

Text Link Ads Calculator

My two cents

The link worth calculator is fun. It is not limited to Text Link Ads, but you can also use the calculator for private text link sales. Of course, the link value is for your reference only.

ads, advertising, calculator, textlinkads, TLA

I received my first Text Link Ads payments! It was delayed because my account’s PayPal address was incorrect. TextLinkAds (TLA) support team was very helpful and re-send the payments.

I joined TLA at end of March 2006. I didn’t tell you about it because I was not sure about the program’s performance (revenue).

Now, I highly recommend you to join TextLinkAds as your another source of Internet income. Take a look at my TLA payment history.

TextLinkAds payment history from end of March to April 2006

I made $141 in April 2006. The text link ad slots for May 2006 are already full, and it will be $150. Not bad, isn’t it?

How does TextLinkAds work?

TextLinkAds sell only text links on your website. You only need to insert TLA code on your website and it is on.

The text link is sold at a monthly basic. For each text link sold, TLA share 50% of the sale price with you. No clicks and no page impression required.

It’s simple, right?

Plus, TextLinkAds is not contextual ads. It can be displayed on the same page as other contextual ads or pay per click ads (e.g: Google AdSense).

Meaning, Text Link Ads may be your extra income source! TLA makes payment by PayPal or Check (USA and Canada only).

Bonus tip: What sites work better with TLA?

Websites with high Google PageRank and high Alexa ranking would sell better than others. TLA advertisers are there to buy incoming links from high ranked websites.

Join TextLinkAds

Sign up Text Link Ads now to get FREE $100 coupons!

[Text Link Ads]

money, text link ads, textlinkads, tips, TLA