Making Money from our blog is something we all aspire to selling links and advertising space are two great way to earn from our blog. The advertisers we accept can they be detrimental to our blog? Though provoking is it? One thing I came to realize is that we need to be careful when accepting offers for placing links on our website or blogs. Don’t get me wrong here advertisers are generally normal and genuine but there are websites that sell links for and behalf of others link Seo companies who tend to use black hat techniques to boast their Seo campaign.
I strongly believe that it is okay to sell links on your website and it is and can be a good source of income but because of the nature and competitive business cause Seo it is know that there are website out there acting as agents and buying links space either through sidebar ads are articles to boast clients’ website to get a better placement in the Search Engine Results Pages. How does this affect your website you may ask? It can just cast your mind back to the saga with Google and BMW a few years back.
The effect that this can have on your website could be the same as that of BMW your website or blog disappear from the search results. As i mentioned before advertisers are not the problem here but the ones that act on their behalf as we all know money can influence most things, i would love to sell lots of links from my blog, a passive income is great but we should not sacrifice the credibility of our blog for a few dollars. Before you decided to place those links on your blog make sure that you check where the link will be pointing to don’t get caught out.
Selling links are advertising space is a good source of income for your blog but make sure that you vet every links that has been offered to you check the seller’s reputation and the agent who sells the links as it is reveal that they bulk sell links for advertisers and some of these brokers are seen as spammers. Would you want to get caught up in this? No I don’t think so. Selling links is not something you should fear just be conscious and you bear these things in mind and as the saying goes if it sounds good then probably it is too good to be true. Remember it is your blog your business don’t ruin it for a few dollars, share your thoughts. Have you ever reject and advertisers?
I completely agree with you. I think so long as you disclose your advertising policy, selling links is really no different than simply having a banner ad on your page. As with any publisher you should choose your advertisers wisely. I personally wouldn’t sell a link to a product I didn’t personally believe in let alone a product that has a bad reputation.
That is the point mixing with a product that has bad reputation can also harm the reputation of your website Thanks for taking the time to add your voice to the debate.
We should choose are advertisers with carefully.As long as links are related to your niche there will be no problem however, we can make a link no- follow.
After Google Panda algo we need to really careful.
Google Panda update seems to change the way we view everything we do in order to be seen on the web however it benefits some of us and so far the change seems to have a positive effect on most website.
It all comes down to taking a little extra time to research everything you place on your blog or web site. I have rejected quite a few advertising/affiliate links because I feel it’s important not to expose my visitors and subscribers to anything I feel is underhanded.
Excellent post my friend. 🙂
This was the same for me Robert i had some weird request from some sites it is unbelievable but as you have mentioned we need to take the time and research before we place this links on our blog. Glad to see you around again.
Very useful and informative. Honestly, I have also sold few links from my blog for few dollars but then again something is better than nothing. Very recently, I was approached by someone who wanted me to place his links in bulk on my blog, for at least 3 years and he was ready to pay me around $200 for the same. I was really tempted to give him those links but then I decide to go against it finally. It could have been a big foolishness had if I agreed to place those links. And one thing to note – All of those links were genuine and were numbered around 10. So there was absolutely no such problem with the theme but yes, 10 links…that’s quite a lot for anyone and just for $200!
In my opinion, quick and easy money is one of the major reasons why we are tempted for these activities. Of course, one must look for every possible opportunity to make money online but then you also need to put your brains inside each and everything. Accepting to sell links blindly can really prove costly in the long run. I have met many people till date who either had to compromise with their page rank or had to face a drastic drop in the rankings and thus overall traffic because of the same. Finally, its all your wish.
Hi Aswani that is what i believe in we need the cash but really is it worth it sometimes we compromise the integrity of our own blogs for a few dollars but as you rightly said is it worth it? i don’t think so.
although affiliate links can get you a lot of money, they also can harm your site if you’re not careful. sadly, sometimes this happens despite our best efforts and we lose a lot of hard work.
I think we should do what Robert suggest and that is takwe some time to research before going ahead and accept those links we should never compromise our blogs integrity for a few dollars.
Hi Lawmacs,
It is a good idea to personally visit the URL, that you are going to link. Also check its Page Rank and Alexa Rank to know the credibility of that website.
That would definately be the sensibly thing to do but somethings our only aim is to get the cash and nothing else. Thanks for your input nazimwarrich much appreciated.
I was a links broker and found that almost 80% websites/blogs that accept links is a bad blog (low quality) or even the autoblog. So, I suggest do not ever try the link buying as your building link strategy.
Thanks for that lovely insight in the other side of you we did not know as you rightly said most of the website are not up to standard Thanks for your support.
I do not believe getting links done by any advertiser, as they will never care for my interest as I can do it myself.
However, I am not as advanced in it as I can become, I prefer to do 75 % on Inbond links and the rest external.
Good discussion here, gave me some insight to add. Thanks for the post and comments.
Fran A
Selling links is fine if they are nofollowed and thus, not passing pagerank. If they are dofollow however, it’s not OK as it is used to muddy search results and WILL Get your site penalized.
Lawmacs,
Do you have any opinion on Commission Junction (or any similar program)? The reason I ask is that I use them to find companies to promote on my blog but from time to time after I post the link, the company goes out of business. Do you or any of your readers have additional tips on picking a good site to work with besides checking their Alexa rank and visiting the site? Any help would be appreciated. As always, great article!
Justin
It would be best if you will check the legitimacy and credibility of the url that you are going to link.
I definitely agree with you, I believe this is one of the best ways to prevent linking to horrible low quality websites, do a proper check. Nice write up by the way
However, I am not as advanced in it as I can become, I prefer to do 75 % on Inbond links and the rest external. So there was absolutely no such problem with the theme but yes, 10 links…that’s quite a lot for anyone and just for $200! I think so long as you disclose your advertising policy, selling links is really no different than simply having a banner ad on your page. I completely agree with you.
I am completely niaive, all the years I have been reading blogs and seen advertising space, I dont know why but I never thought about people paying for it and the owner making money. This has been an insight for me and I now feel blonde! (I’m not)