Christmas themes too!

ScratchBack has announced it’s new marketplace blog directory.

This will aid both publishers showing the widget and advertisers. The marketplace should provide a single location and increase the usefulness of the ScratchBack widget.

If you are using the ScratchBack widget on your site or blog make sure you sign up on the marketplace!

This will help advertisers looking for a place to advertise find you. I think most of my Text Link Ads advertisers came from the TLA marketplace. I think eventually many advertisers will be using the ScratchBack directory to find blogs and sites to advertise on.

If you are an advertiser, this directory will provide a great place to find places to advertise you site or product.

Right now, the list is small. I think this is because not too many publishers know about the site. I think this will fill up quickly with some very good advertising options. Don’t forget, links are just $1.00 on this site.

For more information about the directory or to get your site listed, take a look at the post on the ScratchBack blog.

Visit the directory and make sure your site gets on it.

We’ve sorta quietly launched our new directory, or marketplace, the other day. Check it out at www.scratchback.com/directory.

Are you a ScratchBack widget user? Feel free to add your blog or website to the free directory. Adding your site or blog allows advertisers/tippers to easily find your blog based on categories, so they can tip you.

ScratchBack Marketplace Blog Directory Now Open! | ScratchBack

The directory is a bit rough yet.

It seem like they have taken some kind of directory script and adapted it. It was not obvious to me where the URL was for the sites. But, it is a great start. It would be nice to see a specific place for the cost of an ad as well as some kind of traffic ranking for sites. Right now, you would have to visit the site and check everything out yourself.

ScratchBack announces Christmas themes for the widget.

If you would like to add a little Holiday spirit to your ScratchBack widget they have a few Christmas themes now. I like them. My only complaint is that they are still to wide to go in the column I wish to place it in here. I have been told that thinner widgets are in the works – I wish these were available in a thin version.

You do not need to change the code on your blog or site.

Just go to the ScratchBack admin and select the widget manager link. You only need to go through the steps. Once you get to the point it gives you the code you are done. No need to copy the code to your blog.

Courtney Tuttle has published a list of posts reviewing Blogging Zoom.

I have simply copied it here since there would be no point in retyping the list with with same links. I wanted to share a link with those that are helping to promote Blogging Zoom.

*Update – Bogging Zoom is no more. The domain is now being used for something else.*

If you have not taken a look at Blogging Zoom yet, read a few of these reviews.

There are some good reviews here and you will see both the good and bad about Blogging Zoom. Most of the posts I have read have seen some good traffic from using Blogging Zoom.

I think you will find that Blogging Zoom is worth the time it takes to use.

Take some time to read some of the posts there and Zoom a few you like. It is off to a great start and continues to improve.

• CashQuests.com | Blogging Zoom Has Increased My Traffic.
• SuperBloggingTips | Do You Want Your Blog’s Traffic ZOOMING Through The Roof?
• Blograters | BloggingZoom.com
• Jason Clark | The BloggingZoom Backlink Participants 1-10
• Jason Clark | The BloggingZoom Backlink Participants 11-20
• NewsNotion.com | Zoom Your Traffic With BloggingZoom
• LocalRef | Get Your Prospects To Call You Using The BloggingZoom Tool
• MakingSalesMakingMoney | BloggingZoom New Social Network Increases Traffic
• Blendworx | Blogging Zoom for small to medium blogs
• EasyWordPress.com | Courtney Tuttle Launched Blogging Zoom
• Ejcross.com | New Social Networking Site Launched
• Ejcross.com | Pros And Cons of BloggingZoom.com
• JennyLens.com | BloggingZoom Empowers Bloggers Kudos Courtney Tuttle
• The Monetizer | Blogging Zoom – Explode Your Blog Traffic
• YourWebsiteProfit.com | Zoom It: A Blogging Zoom Review
• Ask The Admin | Blogging Zoom finally a social site for self promotion
• Rich Gilcrest | BlogginZoom – Very Cool New Blog Promotion Pligg
• TheNextPost | Is BloggingZoom Headed For Boom Time?
• MakeMoneyForBeginners | Blogging Zoom, A New Traffic Source
• Make Money For Beginngers | Blogging Zoom Stats – It Works
• Howtospoter.com | What Is Rocking Blogosphere?
• Zelixy | BloggingZoom.com-”Digg 2.0″?
• Tatraplan.com | Bloggingzoom – Bloggers Self Promo Paradise
• TheHonestWay | Shiny New Button
• Tellinitlikeitis.net | Blogging Zoom Launches New Social Networking Site For Bloggers
• StevenWilsonMarketing | Blogging Zoom
• Court | Blogging Zoom – The Blogger’s Coup Against The Mainstream Media Monsters
• Court | BloggingZoom Day One Recap
• EricSocia.net | BloggingZoom: Get Zoomed And See The Difference!
• FreedomIdeas | Never Got Dugg? Then Get Blogging Zoomed!
• Localref.com | BloggingZoom – Tool for bloggers
• BloggingNotes.net | BloggingZoom: I’m Going To Keep Using It
• PabloTheHat | BloggingZoom / User / Pablothehat / Submitted
• TheCaymanHost | Blogging Zoom First Submission Goes HOT
• TheConsumersCorner.net | BloggingZoom – A Blogger’s New BFF?
• Jason Clark | BloggingZoom – First Week Review
• Blackysky | A real blogger or a Bloggingzoom spammer
• Digitalkeyto.info | Using Blogging Zoom To Get Traffic To Your Blog
• Mcgrath.ca | Blogging Zoom: Did It Do The Job?
• HowToSpoter | BloggingZoom Sucks More Than BlogRush
• AllTipsAndTricks | How Much Is Your Blogging Zoom?
• Jasonaclark.com | Easiest Way Ever To Get A Backlink From A PR4 Website!
• Zybron | BloggingZoom
• Infektia | Getting More Traffic with BloggingZoom
• YourWebsiteProfit.info | Zoom It: a BloggingZoom Review
• HomeWithHeather | Awesome New Place to Display YOUR Content
• TheNextPost.com | Is BloggingZoom Heading For Boom Time?
• SlyVisions | Blogging Zoom Defines What Self-Promotion Is All About
• Court | Blogging Zoom Zooming
• JennyLens | Bloggingzoom by Courtney Tuttle
• CutieGadget | BloggingZoom : Blogger’s new best friend!
• MDailyDouz | Courtney Tuttle creates BloggingZoom
• Monetize-Your-Blog | Want Free Traffic To Your Blog? Try BloggingZoom
• Monetize-Your-Blog | Blogging Zoom – 5 Tips To Get Your Next Post Zoomed
• Continuing Adventures | A new type of Social Networking – Blogging Zoom
• Ageeksjourney | Blogging Zoom – New Kid On The Blogging Block
• TechnoMoney | How Effective Is Blogging Zoom And StumbleUpon? Take A Look!
• Technomoney | BloggingZoom: A Revolutionary Idea
• OnARidge | Blogging Zoom – A New Social Site
• BetShopBoy | Bloggers Of The World Unite!
• MyExtraBucks | Do you know Blogging zoom?
• Jason Clark | BloggingZoom – Week 2 Review: Traffic Surpasses Google
• BloggingNotes.net | BloggingZoom Sends the Traffic
• Digitalkeyto.info | Why I Am Saying Goodbye To BlogRush And Text Link Ads And Switching To…
• Blackysky | BloggingZoom Problems
• Monetize Your BlogspotBlog | BloggingZoom 5 Tips To Get Your Next Post Zoomed
• CarloSelorio| Want Free Traffic Try BloggingZoom
• SearchForBlogging | See How Easily You Can Increase Traffic
• TheWritersManifesto | BloggingZoom Review

The Ultimate List Of BloggingZoom Reviews | Internet Marketing | Strategy & Services

I think you will enjoy reading some of these reviews. I have really enjoyed using Blogging Zoom and look forward to its continued success.

Many thanks to Courtney Tuttle for the list and to both him and his partner Vic for their incredible work on Blogging Zoom.

5 ways to make money with ScratchBack on your site and 4 ways to make money using ScratchBack on other sites.

What in the world is ScratchBack?

Maybe you have seen the widgets like mine around inviting you to be a Top Link or TopSpot?

That is the ScratchBack widget. It works a bit like a PayPal donate button. In this case, whoever tips you also gets a link on your site. That is what separates this from a typical donation to your site. I think it is a good idea.

The links are nofollow.

That should keep Google off your case. You do not have to worry about linking to a "bad neighborhood" as far as the search engines are concerned. You also keep complete editorial control over the links. You set it to let you approve links first or you can cancel links after they are up.

You can also offer small banner-like image links.

It would be nice to be able offer both,but you have to decide which you will have. I think that if you want to offer images this could discourage someone that does not have an image from buying a link. It would be nice to have a text only option for this.

My understanding is that a marketplace is in the works for ScratchBack users.

This should really help blogs sell a few links. I am hoping that it will work a bit like Text Link Ads system. I think TLA is missing a chance by not offering a nofollow option with them. They already have a huge market and I think many would welcome the options they could offer even with nofollow links.

I feel a little more comfortable knowing the links are nofollow versus the links with TLA.

I don’t have to worry about the quality of the site. While I would encourage anyone that might think their link would be controversial to check with me first. I don’t have to be too concerned. As long as the link does not lead to something obscene or a scam, I am most likely to let it stay.

Five ways for making money online with ScratchBack on your site.

1. Keep the cost low and let it bump off, using it as a tip.

The lowest you can set ScratchBack is $1.00. After PayPal fees and ScratchBack’s cut, you get about $.60. That will be a bit less when ScratchBack raises it’s percentage after the Beta.

2. Use it as a moderately priced tip.

Raise the price of a link as they get bought. In a way, you will be auctioning the links off till you find a bit higher price that still seems low enough for others to pay for. The more traffic your site has, the higher this will be. In this case, you may still want to allow newer links to bump off older ones as long as the price is not too high.

3. Use as a replacement for Text Link Ads.

With ScratchBack, you can also set the links to expire after 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. In this case you will need to set your price accordingly. Right now, it is unreasonable to expect the same amount for a nofollow link that you would have gotten for one that passed PR. Still, if you have good traffic, it should be as useful as CPC text ad on your site to an advertiser.

4. Sell image link ads for higher prices.

I mentioned the trouble with the image ads above. Right now, if you offer image ads, they are all image ads and someone who just wants to tip you will need to make and image that is the correct size first. Still, for the right market, this is a nice option. In graphic niche it should do better. Still it does limit your market. I would go with the monthly expiration for the advertisers. So I came up with a fifth way for making money online with ScratchBack on your site.

5. Offer image ads with a free graphic designed by you.

If you have any graphic experience, it is easy to make a graphic. You can do this very easily with Photoshop Elements. A free option is Gimp. The image size is very small so there really is no need for anything too fancy. I am planning to offer this service with ScratchBack advertisers for a while at www.photographybyjet.com.

4 ways of making money online with ScratchBack when it is on other sites.

1. Advertise your site!

There are many good deals right now since it is new. Find a site with some traffic that still has a low ScratchBack price. If the site is set to bump, you could have a link to your site for several weeks. The trick is finding a site with traffic. Manuel Viloria was the first blogger to buy a link here to his blog.

2. Advertise your spammy site.

Actually, my first advertiser with ScratchBack was a bit on the spammy side. It is a link to a page of different home-based businesses labeled Top Work At Home. While I would not want a full link to a site like this, it is no different than an AdSense ad for a home-based-business. If you have some type of site that would normally not be indexed by Google, this is a good option for getting traffic. Always check with the owner of the page first since they may not approve your link if they do not like it and you will be out your tip.

3. Advertise a product.

Almost like the previous way to make money online with ScratchBack, this is another case where you would not normally get a link from a website or blogger. Jim Kukral (who is behind this whole ScratchBack thing) is the first one I saw using this. Think of it as running an AdWords campaign without a CPC. Jim used a link ad here to send readers to a site selling a cool flip digital video camera that plugs right into your USB port to send the video to your computer.

4. Set up a business creating ScratchBack graphics for advertisers.

Similar to method number 5 of making money online with ScratchBack on your site. In this case set up a page with fees and some design ideas for designing graphics for others who need buttons to advertise on ScratchBack. Yep, you need a little know how and software, but it could be handy. You may be able to work out a deal for a discounted ad with sites using ScratchBack with images. It will help them get more advertisers too. I may start to do this myself.

I hope I have given you some ideas on how you can be making money online with ScratchBack.

There are so many ways to make money online. This is an exciting time to be a blogger. Those who are successful are the ones who will take advantage of opportunities as they come along and use them to full advantage.

No one noticed what was really going on while Google was penalizing PageRank

I’ll start this post about paid links with a quote from one of the finest pieces of science fiction ever.

As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition.

-The Vogons at the start of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

This of course would cause a reaction on earth since no one had ever had communication with another planet. This prompts the following statement:

There is no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri…so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Blogosphere and Webmaster world, the debate on paid links ended years ago.

Way back when the nofollow tag was introduced. Remember? Oh, yeah, we were supposed to start putting nofollow on affiliate links and stuff like that.  Doing so was supposed to keep your site from being penalized from linking to sites that should not be linked to. At least, that is what we were told.

This was supposed to be a standard for the Web.

Just like <h1> headings and other html code that is standardized. Yep, those same people that check their site to make sure their page code is validated may be the same ones complaining about being penalized for paid links.

We were told to start using nofollow long ago to keep our page’s ranking and reputation in order.

It was added to WordPress comments because it was hoped that this would discourage spam commenters from taking advantage of blogs. It did not work and we now have more effective comment moderation plugins so now we remove the nofollow on comments on blogs.

That was not the only reason for nofollow.

There was a bit of a fuss as major affiliate networks changed their links.

Some complained when Commission Junction switched. Java links are now common because they do not transmit PageRank or link authority. So is flash.

What do you mean, you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri?…I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that’s your lookout.

Energize the demolition beams.

Google has just kind of fired the gun into the air.

As far as I understand, none of the pages hit by the PageRank slap were actually penalized in the search rankings. We could consider it a wake up call. Laying in front of the bulldozer is not going to stop it.

Worse things are coming and may already be here.

I did not realize or remember any of this till I read on a forum that someone found some of his Websites had been removed from MSN/LiveSearch completely. The only thing in common with the delisted sites was use of paid links.

MSN and LiveSearch may already have started to penalize paid links.

I don’t know..

…apathetic, bloody planet, I’ve no sympathy at all.

-Vogon Leader

While all the focus has been on the Google PageRank slap, MSN and LiveSearch may already be moving farther along. Eventually, Yahoo probably will too. This is the way it was decided long ago.

Many think that soon Google will start to penalize in the search rankings for bad links out from your site.

If you do not have a nofollow tag on a link to a commercial site or affiliate link, you may be looking at a penalty. It is not just Text Link Ads. Microsoft has the patent for link strength cancellation in link lists. It will not just be Google.

What bloggers need to do.

Check your links to see where you are linking to. Should you be promoting that site with a link? Or, should it be a nofollow link? Your link reputation depends on it.

Do I like this?

NO! I think it goes a bit too far. I think it is even possible that some of those who were in on the nofollow tag did not see it as being used in this manner. I have made my feelings clear about the situation on my post about the Google PageRank slap.

However, it is really too late to do anything about it.

Other options to paid links will come out. Good content will still be valuable. We will just have to figure out how to replace the nice income from paid links.

If you found this post useful, please bookmark me at your favorite social site.

Blogging Zoom and ScratchBack, the wave of the future?

After several weeks with BlogRush, I am going to let it go in a couple days.

BlogRush has actually done better for me than I thought it would. However, that is not good enough. It has been a net positive gain in visitors versus those leaving by the widget. I have not complaints. It has brought a few visitors.

I seem to be getting less traffic even though I am giving more pageviews to the widget.

BlogRush actually seemed to work better for me before the quality improvement a bit ago.

I wonder if it was because visitors on poor quality sites were looking for somewhere else to visit? Either way, visitors from BlogRush since have been even less. Very few visitors that I know of have left here through BlogRush.

Would I recommend BlogRush to others?

Maybe. It does add another method to getting visitors to your site. It does not require any effort on your part. It is free. You can even leverage your traffic when other blogs sign up under you. It is not a bad deal.

The reason I am removing it is I want to use the space for something else.

There are more productive uses of the space. Even a larger MyBlogLog widget seems would be more productive. I do get more traffic from MyBlogLog than BlogRush. I am contemplating another widget and I think it is getting a bit crowded. So, BlogRush goes because it has not proven to be a performer.

3 Readers with over 14,000 syndications?

If you really want traffic, spend a bit of time with Blogging Zoom.

Blogging Zoom takes more work, but sends infinitely more traffic. Don’t forget to Zoom this post if you find it useful. *Update-Blogging Zoom is no longer and the domain is used for something else.*

What About Text Link Ads?

I am going to be telling them I do not want new TLA ads after the currently paid ones have ended.

As opposed to BlogRush, Text Link Ads has been a performer.

I have made many times more money with Text Link Ads on this site than I have with AdSense. I really hate to say goodbye to them. I have nothing but good things to say about TLA as a source of income. It is every bit as good as it claims to be for the blogger.

Everyone knows the situation with Google and paid links.

I really feel the situation is unfair. Not only to TLA but to bloggers. I do not like the idea of being told what to do with my site. I sincerely hope TLA continues to create new services that bloggers can work with.

I am replacing Text Link Ads with ScratchBack.

The widget in the sidebar that says Top Links is the ScratchBack ad. This system uses nofollow so Google can’t complain. I also realize that a nofollow link is not as valuable as one that does not have nofollow tagged to it. In other words, I won’t make as much money because the links are not worth as much.

Right now, the cost of a ScratchBack ad on this blog is $1.00.

When the 10 link spots are filled, they begin to bump off the older links. Once the 10 spots are close to being filled, I will raising the price. Once filled, I will raise the price again. I will be doing this to give value to those who have already paid for a link. When (not if) the cost of a link gets close to the price that TLA charged for a link, I will switch from bump off to a monthly or bi-weekly pay for the links.

Why would you want to pay for a nofollow link?

Because I will be working hard to have good content that brings traffic to the site. That traffic should bring traffic to your link.

Why use Scratchback instead of doing it myself?

It would be easy to set up something like this just by doing the links myself. ScratchBack does take care of the maintenance end of it. They will also make you a custom widget if you want them to right now. I am using them mostly because it looks nice. They are working on a marketplace that should help get more buyers.

Note that ScratchBack considers it a tip and I retain editorial control.

If I reject your link, you still pay. If there is any question about if your link might be rejected, contact me before you pay. I will let you know if I would reject the link before you pay. But hey, it’s only a $1.00 anyways right now. You can get your own widget at the ScratchBack site.

I can honestly say PageRank is not the reason I am not going to be using Text Link Ads.

If it were just the PageRank from Google, I would probably stay with TLA. It is profitable.

The real reason I will stop having paid links on the site will be the subject of my next post.

If you are not subscribed to my feed, subscribe now. My next post may surprise you. It may scare you. You do not want to miss it.

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.

If you find this post useful, why not zoom it at Blogging Zoom? Also, subscribe to my RSS feed. RSS is the best way to keep track of my posts.

I will try to keep this PG but this post does have some references that make me feel uncomfortable.

Is Google Your Pimp?

Are you just a prostitute doing what Google tells you to do?

One of the things that attracted me to making money online was freedom.

Freedom to find something I enjoyed and make money doing it. Seems simple enough. I just had to do something and find someone willing to pay someway for doing it. Freedom. I think this dream is dead. If not dead, it needs some serious help fast.

The recent Google-slap reeks of racketeering.

Google is specifically threatening sites that are using ads that compete against them. Not much better than a gang threatening a local shop. “You will deal with us, or we will drive your customers away.” I no lawyer, but that sure seems like what is going on. It seems like racketeering to me.

Reader benefit, my foot.

An AdSense linkbar looks just like a column of Text Link Ads. The linkbar provides no more benefit to the reader. The difference is Google makes the money. You make less.

There have been many bloggers who have stated rumors that the recent pagerank slap was targeted at sites selling links.

In fact, many sites whored themselves and got rid of the links and were given back their PR (at a loss of income to the site). I think it shows how Google owns them.

Just like the relationship between a pimp and a prostitute.

The pimp tells the whore what to do. She has no choice. She disobeys – SLAP! When she does what he tells her, she gives him the money.

Mike at 20 Steps used a term “nofollow condom” in a comment on Courtney Tuttle’s blog.

Mike also mentioned in the comment:

“that if you’re running a link campaign in the New Year without wearing your Big G prophylactic (ribbed for their pleasure, incidentally)”

I think this is a very good description of the situation and the analogy fits the theme of this post so I am including it.

Notice how all the big blogs did what Google told them and now they are happy?

SLAP!

“Please don’t hit me again, I do whatever you want.”

Owned.

Yeah, after all those posts on how PageRank doesn’t really matter. They put the condom on for whoever Google says to put it on.

The trouble is, the rest of us are going to have to bend over and take it from Google also.

We have found ourselves suddenly without anyone to help us get off the street. No one to turn to. Stuck living the life of a prostitute. If the blogs and sites that have a large readership built already cannot stand up to Google, we the smaller siblings that are with them will just be prostituted along with them. Just realize the smaller ones get abused worse. We have no choice.

I really would like to work with Google.

It would be nice to be treated like a partner. To be respected. To have my freedom to find sponsors that will pay me and decide if I want to work with them. It looks like I will be forced to follow the herd into slavery instead.

But.

Google, I resent the fact that you are telling me who to work with and who to link to and how to link. Google, your treatment of both advertisers and publishers has often gotten the term “slap” and for good reason. While it is great to say you are concerned about reader experience, you need to consider the experience of those who deal directly with you also.

Google, I am not your whore.

Don’t treat me like one.

Should you become Google’s stoolpigeon?

Are paid links a real problem?

In Part 1 of Google’s Tangled Web I looked back (maybe too fondly) of the way the web worked before Adsense and Pagerank. Links were free and freely given, for the most part.

Why would anyone want a paid link to their site?

Well, the obvious answer is the hope the link brings traffic. This is the primary reason people are always trying to get on the front page of Digg and other social networks. The link to their site brings traffic.

A second reason someone would pay for a link is to increase Pagerank or PR.

This is for SEO purposes. The more links to your site, especially from high PR pages, the more PR your page or site will get. A link from a PR7 page will not make your page a PR7, but it will get you started on the way. It can take a lot of low PR links to build a high PR. Of course, you’ll need fewer links if they are from high PR pages.

Why does Pagerank matter?

Pagerank is a measure of a page’s authority in Google’s search engine. The more links a page has to it the higher the PR and the more trustworthy it should be. Not too complicated.

A higher PR should move you higher in search engine standings. That will bring more traffic. Higher PR will also increase advertising income. Some advertisers will also consider PR before they will accept your site as a publisher.

Finally, if you have a high Pagerank, others will pay you for it.

Getting a link from your PR7 page can help another site gain PR and get indexed by Google. So, why not just link to everyone who asks? The more links from a page, the less PR is transferred per link. While Pagerank is not a limited resource, building it takes time and the ability to transfer it is limited. Money is a good motivator in getting something someone only has a little extra to give. Buying a high PR link can save time and be very profitable with the traffic it can also bring.

So why does Google care if you are paid for a link on your page or not?

It messes with the naturalness of their algorithm. You see, an unmarked paid link looks just like a paid link. They can’t tell. At least the bots can’t. Unless a link is tagged with a no-follow there really is no difference. If the link is paid, there is the question about if the link would occur naturally. Google is now concerned that the link would not be there if you were not getting paid.

At least, that is what we are told to believe.

Of course, if no one cared about PR or being penalized for too many links, it wouldn’t really matter anyway. Back in the old days of the Web, you linked if you liked the site. There was no worry about diluting the site’s PR or even messing up your search ranking. If someone asked for a link and you liked it, why not. It was your decision if it fit the page or not.

Now, putting a link on your site can be a major consideration.

Will it penalize your site? Do you need the PR for your own pages? Do you have too many links already (Google has stated that too many is bad if you want a good ranking and PR)?

What about your cost in placing a link on your page?

This is where Adsense comes in. If you want to make money with your site or blog, you want them to click an ad to leave, not a free link. The made for Adsense spam sites are even worse. They do not even want you to read the content (usually there is not much in the way of readable content anyway). They just want you to click on an Adsense ad and leave that way. Any non paying link someone may leave your site by, is actually a possible loss of site revenue.

Paid links are also a competitor to Google’s Adsense.

Google has a near monopoly. They want to keep it. Google makes its money from selling advertising. Text links are starting to become a real competitor with Adsense. When you place a paid link on your site, Google is not getting paid when a reader leaves through it, even though you are paid. More and more publishers are finding this a good solution to lower paying Adsense rates. Advertisers are liking too as well as publishers looking to increase PR.

Here’s what Aaron Wall of SEO Book had to say about this:

The more I think about it the more I realize why Google doesn’t like the various flavors of paid links. It has nothing to do with organic search relevancy. The problem is that Google wants to broker all ad deals, and many forms of paid links are more efficient than AdWords is. If that news gets out, AdWords and Google crumble.

Source: The Real Reason Google Doesn’t Like Paid Links : SEO Book.com

He is not alone among Webmasters and bloggers that see Google as starting to dictate too much. Is it right for Google to tell you how to monetize your site? Is it right for Google to tell you how to mark your links?

Right now, Google really can’t tell if links are paid or not without human intervention.

So Matt Cutts posted easy instructions to rat out your competitors:

As far as the details, it can be pretty short. Something like “Example.com is selling links; here’s a page on example.com that demonstrates that” or “www.shadyseo.com is buying links. You can see the paid links on www.example.com/path/page.html” is all you need to mention. That will be enough for Google to start testing out some new techniques we’ve got — thanks!

Source: Matt Cutts: How to Report Paid Links

Google wants you to work for them – for free.

They get paid very well at Google. They just do not think this would be profitable for them to do, so they are asking you to do this time consuming job for free.

There are some bitter people who will do this for Google.

Not because they believe the garbage about this making the Web better. They will do it because they assume that if someone is making money it must be wrong. Especially if they are not able to get a text link themselves. They will talk about how it evens the playing field. Meanwhile, their successful competitors will simple go back to beating them using Adsense, Google’s version of paid links.

And that is truly evil, on so many levels.

Why Google wants tattletales on paid links. Why they are completely wrong.

In the beginning, there were links.

Hyperlinks, to be precise. Search engines that searched the Web for you did not provide anything close to a useful result. The best way to find a good site was to follow links to get there.

Nearly every site had a favorite links page.

Often, this was the first page you went to. Unless the site you were at already had what you were looking for. If not, you followed the favorite links on each page till you found what you were looking for. Or, at least something interesting. It was called surfing the web. Oddly enough, if you are into Web 2.0, you seem to need a toolbar for this now.

Since there was no penalty for having too many links on a page (Google does not seem to like you to have too many on a page -it might seem spamy), webmasters would add any link that seemed good.

Because, they wanted to. Of course, if they did not think the site was good, they did not link to it. It did not really matter if the link was relative to their site, as long as the webmaster felt it was good, it went up. There was no penalty for providing good links (or even bad ones) as long as the webmaster felt it was good.

One day, a couple brilliant people decided to try to categorize links.

Yahoo! was born. The first "portal." Looking for information on a subject? Yahoo was a great place to start. Just find the section of Yahoo on your subject and you would find a list of Websites related to it. Most of them were fairly good too. Those sites also had favorite links on them, just in case you did not find exactly what you needed.

Search engines started to show better results.

It may take a few pages of spam sites or unrelated subjects, but you could find something useful. They kept getting better too. Instead of relying on metatags, they started to pay attention to the page itself and other factors to judge relevancy. The only real trouble was spam sites that were not what they said they were in the search engines.

You could type in a search and many of the top search results were simply worthless.

Clicking on the link often took you to a page that did not have what was supposed to be there. Even a search for children’s subjects could turn up porn spam. If you were lucky, it at least was not porn. Often, several links went to the same spam site. Most search engine sites also had directory listings in case you grew tired of sifting through spam results.

Almost overnight, Google appeared.

Here was a search engine that seemed to have eliminated much of the spam. It gave fantastic relevant results. it seemed to find anything you wanted. Suddenly, the Internet seemed much more useful. Since Google seemed to like Web pages with relevant content, content was what you got when you click on a link in the results. It was simply amazing.

Of course, there are always those that will figure out a way to misuse a system. Yep, there was still spam. Cloaked sites look like content sites to Google, but what the reader saw was something not related to what the listing stated. But, the Company Whose Motto Was "Do no evil," made changes and improvements that kept spam relatively in check.

But something has happened that promoted one of Google’s own to make the following statement:

One thing I heard at SES London was that people wanted a way to report paid links specifically. I’d like to get a few paid link reports anyway because I’m excited about trying some ideas here at Google to augment our existing algorithms. Google may provide a special form for paid link reports at some point, but in the mean time, here’s a couple of ways that anyone can use to report paid links:

Source: Matt Cutts How To Report Paid Links

What could cause a Google employee to make such a statement?

Is Google asking for tattletales? Why would anyone need to get paid for linking? Why would it matter to Google if a link is paid for or not? What does Google consider a paid link anyways?

There are really two things that have created much of the current spam problems:

1. Adsense
2. Pagerank

Adsense and Pagerank are the primary motivators behind most link spam schemes.

 Take them away, and nearly all comment spam stops. Link spam is a way to get Pagerank and get listed high in Google. Adsense is the primary method that link spammers make money on spam sites.

So, are paid links really that evil?

I’ll discuss that in Part Two of this series. I’ll also try to answer many of the questions above. I’ll also add a whole new can of worms to the mix.

Part 2 of Google’s Tangled Web

The Digital Key To Info Comment Contest

Would you like a free text ad on this blog? I’d like to give you a free text ad for your blog for the entire month of April.

I’m doing this because I’d like to see a little bit more feedback from my readers.  I am going to use this contest to encourage comments.  Right now, I will limit it to the first six bloggers that complete the steps.

Here’s what you have to do to get a free text ad:

1. First, post a comment on this post so that I know you’re involved in the contest.
2. Next, post three quality comments on any other three posts on my blog.
3. Then, write an Adwords style ad for your blog and e-mail it to me at jet at digitalkeyto dot info.

That’s all you have to do.

I do have a few additional rules.

 Your comments do not have to agree with my post but they do need to be relevant to the post you comment on.  The ads must be used to point to an actual blog.  No splogs.  No pornographic or adult type sites, it must be family friendly.  I reserve the right to reject a site I feel is inappropriate and also I retain full editorial privilege for the ads.  I will try to work with you to make the ads acceptable to both of us. 

The ads for the winning blogs will appear in the upper sidebar and possibly in the footer of this blog.

 My ad software will randomly choose which ads appear between the winning ads for each page view.  And limiting the contest to the first six competitors to increase the chance of your ad showing per page view. 

Hopefully, everybody will win with this contest.

I’ll start seeing some more comments on my blog.  You will get extra links pointing back to your blog.  Don’t forget, your comments alone advertise your blog.