Nada Collar

BlogRush is a new traffic referral widget which is similar looking to blog referral widgets (ie MyBlogLog), but links to posts rather than people. Its been done before, and its nothing really new. But it has had some attention from the likes of ShoeMoney, so I expect it will take off.

The site itself seems reasonably well implemented, the widget looks ok, and the javascript code is nice and simple (so hopefully we don’t see to many security issues of the likes of the BlogLog ones).

BlogRush basically works by giving you credits for page views and using credits when you get a listing on someone else’s blog. You can also get credits by signing up new users. The referral credit goes up to 10 levels deep in a pyramid type scheme, so some people could potentially get huge amounts of credits by being at the top of the tree.

They have a few nice features like spreading credits amongst multiple blogs. Nice help for people with successful blogs that want to start another.

I’ve added the widget, so I’ll see how it goes.

Text Link Ads is a simple concept. Sign up and put good old static html links on your site for 30 days. You get a flat rate per link, and can put up to 10 per page. It is suggested you slowly build up to 10 if your site doesn’t change often.

Whay would I use this?

Some sites just don’t have the content to make money by some of the normal means. Take a software code website… There’s not much to sell so most ads just don’t cut it. But text link ads let you sell a chunk of your Page Rank to let others get better search results. And if properly directed they might also give the seller some traffic.

Thats not revenue sharing.

I know, but its making money from your website and it seems like it should be something I should write about. I’ve been really interested in Widgets/Gadgets/Badges recently and I keep seeing this around, and people keep saying its working for them.

Referrals

Text Link Ads also pay for referrals. So give me a break. Now that you know what they are all about and are really excited about making some dollars from you site, click on that there badge over to the right and get on with it.

Text Link Ad pay $25 for new paying clients and publishers. I got my account by clicking on a badge at Techcrunch cause it seemed like the right thing to do after all the information I have attained from Techcrunch. Not sure if it was an affiliate badge though. Maybe he just gets a flat monthly fee old school style.

Referral revenue is beginning to become more common place as sites struggle with the rest of the world for users. When content is generated by users and revenue is generated from content, it makes sense for everyone.

Google arguably don’t need users (unlike say… ME!) However they have competition and they want to stay ahead and keep that share price moving up.

Google offers about 5 different referrer programs:

• Google Adsense - placing Google ads on your site
• Google Adwords - buying Google ads
• Firefox plus Google toolbar
• Google Pack
• Picasa - picture organisation software

The google programme policies allow you to place up to 4 of these links on any page, but only one per product. Always make sure you read and understand the policies. It would be devastating to start making money and accidentally break a rule and lose it all.

Log into your google adsense account, go to Adsense setup tab. Select the referrals product and step through the wizard. Its nice and easy. Drop the java script onto your page and tada, you have your button of choice, just like those 4 over there on my right hand sidebar.

Or create a link and use it like any other link. Just remember:

• Only one referral per product, up to four on a page.
• Don’t click on your own links (referrals or ads).

Don’t have an adsense account?

Read the next two sections and then click on my button over there to the right to go get one.

Its fairly straight forward. Things to watch out for?

• Read the programme policies
• In general your site needs content, they don’t want spam.
• Make sure they can tell you really own your domain. Use an email from that domain, or make sure your whois says your name. Or send them a fax with the details as a last resort.

How to be sure to get an adsense account?

Worried that your site doesn’t have enough original content?

1. Setup a blogger page.
2. Setup a gmail account and use it for a month or so.
3. Use both to sign up.

How to do add referral buttons in Blogger?

Its simple really. Find the area in your template that you want the buttons to appear and drop the javascript. You probably want it in your sidebar. So find the begin #sidebar section, follow the code and compare it with your page, drop it between the sections where you want it. For example you might have a “Powered by blogger” button, it should easy to find that and drop the code right above that button.

In blogger its even easier. Select the page element you want (or create a new one), select the javascript option, then drop it in. Drag the page element to where you want it.

While I’m on the subject of blogger and adsense. If you are using the new blogger beta note that Google will send you an email asking for your approval for blogger.com to access your google account.

How much do they pay?

Depends on the referral and the actions of the person who you referred. Short answer, anywhere from $1 to $100. Long answer.