Has Text Link Ads Thrown In The Towel?
Has the Google-slap had it's intended effect already?
The Text Link Ads calculator seems to be showing some very interesting results now.
If you were thinking of using TLA on your site, they had a calculator that could tell you what you might expect to make on your site. It would calculate what you would make depending on how many ads you wished to run.
It seems that TLA is now telling us that you won't make any money with them anymore.
The calculator now gives some very odd results.
Where you used to get a $ figure, you will now get one of several results.
While they might have been comical, they show the effect of the Google-slap on it's competition. The paid link market has crashed.
Here are some screenshots from the calculator.
I am not sure when TLA made these changes to the calculator, but it sure shows the market since the Google-slap.
DigitalKeyTo.info's calculation:
How about John Chow's site?
Same result. It is not just my site-it is the paid links.
Here are two more results you will get:
I find it sad to see this.
Text Link Ads has been a favorite advertiser for many blogs. It provided an excellent option to AdSense. It gave a consistent income that could be fairly reliable as long as you had the Alexa ranking needed to attract advertisers.
You can also see for yourself at the Text Link Ads site.
The link ad calculator is here.
It looks like Google has accomplished it's goal of crushing their competitor.
Perhaps TLA's parent company saw this coming when they purchased AuctionAds.com. At the very least, it was a wise decision on their part to add another income stream.
I think having a second plan in line is a good idea for anyone.
The good news is that there are some new alternatives coming up for bloggers and Internet Marketers.
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Comments on Has Text Link Ads Thrown In The Towel?
I wonder if maybe they aren't in the process of updating the scripts that calculate the ad value and rather than prevent anyone from using the calculator it just spits out these comical sayings rather than nothing at all?
It is interesting, though. I somewhat hope that is not the case, as I had hoped to begin using a system like TLA soon, whether Google likes it or not.
Consider it ZOOMED!
In the long run, the TLA model which heavily relies on Google PR may be in trouble. Google obviously is trying to be the "link police". I don't see much of a change yet in my TLA earnings even after the whole PR fiasco.
Zybron – I don't know, I was seeing if there were any changes in the estimates and these were the results it gave out. Not encouraging.
Hock – Thanks for the Zoom. It is a real can of worms right now.
I just signed up with them, but must admit, beyond installing their wordpress plugin, I'm mystified as to what's next.
Jayne – You wait till someone wants to buy a link. One suggestion is to make a fake TLA link so that others will buy one. No, I've never done that. While the whole talk is about PR, I have found that TLA ads seem most dependent on Alexa rank. The higher your Alexa, the more likely it is you will get TLA advertisers.
Hmmm, well I doubt my Alexa rank is too high so I expect I could be waiting awhile.
Sounds like either TLA or Google need to get in touch with David Boies. There's an anti-trust suit in the wind.