Text-Link-Ads Network: An Advertising Program For Complete Fools?
Posted on May 13th, 2008 by Jim under Blog Services, Make Money Online
This month alone, I have sold 4 text link spots on theNetFool.com through the Text-Link-Ads advertising network. To this date, I continue to be amazed that there are so many suckers out there in the advertising realm willing to penny up.
Consider first that I already sell text links on my website through my main advertising engine. They are the first text spots in my sidebar, and run for just $3 a month… a complete bargain in my mind. One person has bought one, and the other was won in a monthly contest…nothing special at any rate.
Now in comes Text-Link-Ads, my revenue for the month is now $16.51 from selling four slots, slots that are far down the page and lost in a mess of information. Now, I know that none of you are the ones buying these… so I’m going to let you in on a little secret: these buyers are complete idiots!
A text link advertisement sold through TLA on my website is somehow valued at $15/month, and four people have bought one despite the fact that you could get one for just $3 with a better placement through me directly. That doesn’t make ANY sense. What’s more, these people were buying the links with my outdated Alexa ranking and they were only being showed on the main page. This morning, I updated my Alexa rank and let them be displayed site-wide… heck… maybe it’ll be worth $40/month now!? 
This week, I’ve been waking up to friendly notices in my GMail inbox that read “Attn: Jim Re: Text Link Ad Sold,” and I get a big grin on my face… this almost makes my day. The fact that you could get a better ad for 1/5 of the price or a big 125×125 advertisement for the same rate amazes me that some advertisers simply do not care enough to explore these options.
Now let’s talk about the actual ads, because this is what really gets me. Link one is for “senior life insurance,” something I have absolutely nothing to do with… but hey, at least it has to do with money. Unlike the life insurance, the next two ads are about automobiles… wow. Who exactly buys an overpriced auto advertisement on a website about the stock market and making money? The best ad sold is for the “payday loans,” the most recent advertisement sold. I give these guys a round of applause because they seem to be the only advertiser aware of what this website is about, and who they can attract. At any rate, paying $15/month is out of line. I wish I had the marketplace like TLA does so I could get more of the profit! 
Bottom Line: If you want to advertise on my website, you can find the best deal by just dealing directly with me. If I can sell text link advertisements for $15/month on just one page, you should find the $3 links a complete bargain for a PR4 website with loads of traffic, subscribers and growth potential. If you want the bargain before I raise my rates, get on over to the “Advertise” page and have a look around. And remember, the people that buy through third-party advertising programs are fools!
Deal direct, and stay bullish on the net.
-The Net Fool
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TLA serves a good purpose. It brings advertisers to your site who would never find it otherwise. For the busy advertiser, it keeps things simple. Sure, it comes at a price, but they are willing to pay for simplicity.
From the publisher side, what could be easier? Sign up and you’re done. Advertisers find you through the TLA network and sign up automatically. You don’t have to negotiate terms, hunt down payments, or place links manually. Sure, TLA whacks you for 50% of the ad price, but again, that’s the price for simplicity.
Llama Moneys last blog post..Risk vs Reward
Very nice post lol. Love it how you call them idiots, I hope they didn’t see this post lol.
Also dude I have a question about one of your mods. The mod that sends a thank you message each time you post a comment, what is the name of it? I’ve been looking all over for it but I can’t find it.
Thanks.
Germzs last blog post..Profit from your 404 Pages
Advertisers are not fools but they are paying cost for convince and quality site.
also there budges are always large.
Very nice ost man. They really are FOOLS.
Klajdi Henas last blog post..Top Social Bookmarking Sites
@Germz, the plugin is called “Comment Relish”, just google it and you’ll find it.
@Jim, although I do agree with you, I also tend to disagree. You see, advertisers usually want to keep the process as simple as possible, and maybe they find the idea of buying links directly inconvenient for them.
I guess TLA users are paying a premium for finding the right sites to advertise on. Yes, I can find the Net Fool to advertise on, but I might spend some time doing it. On TLA, those users are willing to pay to save time. Of course, now that they know where they’re advertising, they should realize it costs less to deal directly with you.
Flimjos last blog post..Make Serious Money Online With TeamEarners
i don’t know if they are idiots or not, but if somewants wants to pay 15$ for a link then bring them on! lol
holy crap.. bloggernoob is showing as my link?? wow. something went wrong…lol
Hugo Santoss last blog post..Online Commercial Intent
Great post. They may have big budgets, but I don’t. You are offering an unbeatable value to advertise a text link on your site (at least at the current time). Well, I was happy with the 125×125 spot. The reporting was great – I knew exactly how much interest (and clicks) my ad got. I’ll be in touch about a link
Jacquelines last blog post..Hits4Pay Payout in One Month! Yessss!
Having bough advertising from TLA last year for one of my site, I can say that advertisers are not fools. I don’t do that anymore. Here are a few points:
- TLA don’t show first the site to advertisers anymore. So, they only know about the cheaper price after the fact and IF they visit your blog.
- It’s convenient for an advertiser and save them time. Imagine if they would have to deal with 100s of sites directly. Where would be the saving for them?
- They are buying anchor text links and PR juice not traffic
- Your new PR4 may turn in a PR0 because you are selling links and Google don’t like that. Remember late last year when people got slapped for paid post, selling text dofollow links? Cross your fingers they don’t see that.
About the marketplace:
I’m building a blog directory(free/paid)/marketplace because I see the need for that like you mentioned above. I’m a blogger too and want advertisers to find my fellow bloggers and offer them direct advertisement or paid review deals. More profit for the blogger.
Now, the problem is that bloggers need to register(free) but most don’t. I know submitting is not perfect(working on that). I still want real blogs. I even refunded a guy because he added splogs instead of real blogs. My point is that to have a real marketplace for bloggers, I need real blogs and they most register so that they can modify their blog info later on.
Note: I’m sponsoring one of the current contest prize.
Good luck on that to participants
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I think they are suckers, though, considering they aren’t even looking at the site they are trying to buy links from. Also, what plugin are you using to allow the purchase of links and such like that? I want to implement it into my blog. I also just bought a text link from you
TLA is not bad though wat you said in the post makes complete sense!!!
good post … i will also try out TLA and lets c how much it can get cash with some big budget fools out there … lol
good suggestion to MMO .. keep us updating with such real tips to MMO frd
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Not very kind of you to call those people who made you a few dollars richer, fools.
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@Zac Davis
You can use OIO Publisher (http://www.oiopublisher.com/)
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