Opinions on Text Link Ads.com

I have worked with TLA since the beginning and really think they are a good company. I met with them at the Search Engine Strategies conference in February this year. Their customer service is good and they don't just sit around but they keep adding new technology to the site. If there was one down side, it is that they keep accepting more sites so whereas I was one of say in 1000 in Feb, now I am one of 10,000 today. But on one of my sites, I have consistenly filled 7 or 8 of the 8 total spots.

I just released a blog entry about the combination of advertising that has worked for me and it includes TLA. I think TLA alone won't suffice - you need a comprehensive plan of attack.

There is also a part of me that says that the TLA model of text links may not last for the long-term as "the man with more money wins" in this case. Google will eventually nix these types of links I am guessing. That is until they start selling them :)

Thanks, I'll check out the article. I agree with you that having a mixture of different forms of revenue to the blog is the best way to earn an income from your blog.

I've used;

TLA
Blogads
Google Adsense
AdBrite
Chitika
Affiliate schemes
Amazon
etc.

The only one I have stuck with is Adsense, but as the popularity of your blog grows through promotion, I've found companies coming to me to request advertising.

Has anyone used Yahoo's version of Adsense on their blog?

Darren

Amazon - boy this was great years ago - I was bringing in a few hundred dollars every quarter. Today its almost nothing. I created a shop on one of my sites, and that just made things worse! I am very disappointed about the performance of Amazon.

Hi guys,

Is it allowed to use TLA and Adsense on the same page??

@darren How did you get your sponsor for blogads???

regards

Yes TLA is not contextual and doesn't like like adsense so should be fine alongside

I also use TLA and find them to be very responsive and supportive of their publishers. Any problems or questions I have had have been answered promptly and in detail.

I also think their site is well laid out and easy to navigate as both a publisher and an advertiser.

Like allen047 noted, they are adding new technology. Their new RSS feed advertising was well thought out and seamless to install (for Wordpress anyway) Will be interesting to see if the advertsiers go for it.

On a lower traffic blog such as mine, Adsense can yield very little revenue while something like TLA an help pay the hosting bill. They aren't my sole advertiser, but are a key piece of my ad puzzle.

I use TLA on a few of my sites, and I have only good things to say about them, and their support. I make a decent amount of money on some of my sites with them. The only downside is that there are thousands of other small blogs and whatnot on the site, which makes it hard to stand out from the crowd unless you have a very large site. In which case, you could probably sell text links directly, and avoid handing TLA the 50%.

Either way, I would recommend listing with them in addition to other money-making methods such as adsense, or paid posts. Even if you don't make tons with TLA, it's better than a kick in the pants!

I've been using TLA for a few months and it is a good way to monetize a website that could be used without problems with adsense. It's easy to use and the efort to keep it running is small. So I recomend to everyone. you can easily have a monthly income to add to your earnings or to buy new links

Some sites' content just will not produce contextual revenue without huge traffic. But TLA can produce a nice bit for you.

Raj has hit the nail on the head. Some websites in smaller niches may not find it easy to monetize themselves if no relevant ads are showing. With TLA though, you can still make a handsome turnover provided you have a PR which advertisers will find attractive.

It's with disappointment that I give you this link: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-report-paid-links/

Matt Cutts is a Google search engineer, and is saying they want people to report any site that has paid links used by the purchaser for SEO purposes. How does one know the distinction? That's the subject of debate there. I've also written a piece at Search Engine Journal: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-to-go-after-paid-links/4713/

So if Google decides to somehow penalize both buyers and sellers, that's one source of income gone. Since AdSense makes peanuts for me after nearly 2 yrs, my ad revenue will cease to exist. Of course, at the same time, Google bought yet another ad medium by purchasing Doubleclick (for US$3.1B in cash, not stock).

But before you read my comment, let me say that I already have a work around for this for people that want to continue down this path. There is a way to do paid links with NoFollow comments and still boost up your blog under the rules currently allowed by the future monopoly known as Google. :)

That sounds like a great way to confirm antitrust claims by Microsoft and others.

hmmm

Step 1 Acquire DoubleClick so that Google takes a majority market share of the marketplace

Step 2 Compile a database of customers and competitors that do business outside of Google

Step 3 Act on database using the might of the largest internet advertiser in the world to squash competition

Step 4 Rake in the money for years

Step 5 Start fighting off the anti - trust claims in 10-20 years

Step 6 Buy off a presidential election and bring one of the Bush daughters to the White House to appoint an Attorney General that will provide a favorable settlement to Google

Step 7 Send the Bill Gates a Christmas card to his vacation home on the moon, thanking him for the business strategy advice

Step 8 Remove that line from the Google Cache and mission about doing no evil

_________

Now to be sarcastic, where do I report the sites (including my own) that are running Adsense again???

_–__–_-__

To go back to being serious. Have you run this concept by your legal department??? As a Google Shareholder I don’t like the smell of this and don’t want to see a devaluation from a class action or an anti-trust suit.

nuff said

I don't like the fact that TLA takes a 50% cut, but these are links I would not have if it wasn't for their Marketplace. None of those advertisers would have found my site to advertise on.