A Look Into LinkWorth
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Many of you have asked for little help understanding the various product offerings at LinkWorth, one of my recommended companies for those blogging for the money.
So today I thought I’d explain their various product listings that are so much more varied and profitable than most companies offering to pay you to blog these days. How much more profitable? Well, let me put it this way: you can tune a piano, but can you tune at least a grand in less than three hours of effort per month?
I can.
The Sign Up Process
If you have not yet signed up as a LinkWorth partner, it’s as simple as clicking here, then selecting which of the product offerings below you’d like to publish on your site. During the signup you’ll be asked if you’d like to upgrade to being a preferred partner, and whether you’d like a combo account. Otherwise, you’ll be signing up as a standard partner — which means you can earn up to 70% of the price you set for your blog.
Note the emphasis, though. Those who elect to become a standard partner do get more per gig but, frankly, there’s less of an incentive for LinkWorth to send business your way. So, LinkWorth also offers a “preferred partnership”, which means your take goes down to 50% but they have a lot more of an incentive to send you business. Does that sound harsh? Well, welcome to the real world, people, where companies like to work with those who make them money.
Should you sign up for a combo account? That’s entirely up to you, but if you don’t anticipate running ads on other sites there’s really no reason for it. Besides, you can always change over to being a combo advertiser/partner in the future should you so desire.
What are all of these programs?
1. LinkAds - Link-style textual ads usually placed in a blog sidebar. These are a great, passive way to earn money while not annoying your visitors with blinky, garish images. LinkWorth offers several ways to host LinkAds on your site with the easiest being insertion of a snippet of PHP code which ensures your LinkAds will display wherever you decide. Control freaks appreciate the ability to manually insert each LinkAd into their sidebar, but frankly I find that a bit redundant since it’s up to you to approve or decline every single LinkAd request.
2. LinkSura - Essentially a LinkAd that displays using different keywords selected by the advertiser, all of which point to the same URL. (Get it? SURA - Single URL Rotating Ad)
3. LinkMura - Same as a LinkSura, except the ad points to different URLS every time your page loads. (MURA - Multiple URL Rotating Ad)
4. LinkPack - Got multiple websites? Offer LinkAds across all of them using LinkPack. By offering advertising on several domains at a discounted price (instead of charging their combined total) you increase your attractiveness to advertisers. Meanwhile, if you use the PHP inclusion code, all you have to do is approve or deny ads while LinkWorth does the rest of the work.
5. LinkInText - Like LinkAds, except you include the link within a post. Note, a LinkInText is not a review: it’s link. Some advertisers may request their link be included in a specific post of yours: if, say, you’ve got one that draws a lot of traffic and fits well with their company. Others may request the link remain on your home page, which means you’ll need to remove it from old posts and re-insert it in new ones as needed.
6. LinkWords - This is LinkWorth’s version of the context ads you see on many high-traffic sites, the ones which display as a link and trigger a small pop-up ad if a user hovers over it. After signing up for LinkWords you insert a couple of snippets of code in your template to display LinkWords only where you want them. You can even exclude them from certain entries if you choose. These are pay-per-click ads, which means that every time someone actually clicks those links you make money. Every time.
7. LinkBB - Advertisers supply content with links inserted. You post it on your site. They get traffic. You get paid.
I saved my personal favorite for last:
8. LinkPost - Advertisers pay for reviews of their site, typically requiring two to three links within a 200-400 word review. Unlike many other paid review companies, LinkWorth not only allows you to include links to other relevant material on the web, they encourage it.
Why? Let’s say you’re writing a LinkPost with an advertiser requesting three links to “fair trade coffee”. You can make that post more relevant to both your readers and the advertiser by citing, for example, studies about the coffee industry’s economic oppression of workers in the Third World and news stories about colleges and companies insisting on “fair trade coffee”. You could even include a link to a site explaining how the “Fair Trade certified” helps consumers make socially responsible purchases. All of which means your blog entry will not only deliver the value your readers deserve (while possibly generating some timeless content for your site), but you also get paid in the process. Now do you see why this is my favorite?
What should you charge?
LinkWorth leaves it up to you to set your own prices on all but the LinkWords offerings. You don’t have to set your price blindly, however: they also offer a handy LinkQuote tool that evaluates the number if incoming links to your site (as reported by various search engines) and outgoing links from your site, too. (Hint: fewer outbound links helps increase the price you can demand.)
Temper this information by running your site through their LinkRank tool to see how LinkWorth rates your site (also based on search engine rankings) to know how you’ll stack up to other blogs. If, for instance, you only score a LinkRank of 3 (out of 7) it’s a sign you should go for the lower end of your LinkQuote results to make your site more attractive to advertisers.
What are the payment terms?
LinkWorth pays monthly. The pay month runs from the 1st to the 1st, with payments issued on the 10th of the month. Payment is via PayPal, check, direct deposit and bank wire (for non-U.S. banks). Note that the date payment is issued is not necessarily the day you’ll receive it: direct deposit, for instance, often takes an additional few days while the money is transferred from LinkWorth’s bank to yours, and checks can take 2-14 extra days. The minimum payout for PayPal is $25; all others are $100.
Let me just tell you now: I have never had a month where I had to wonder if I was going to reach the minimum payout. Never. In fact, thanks to PayPal setting a maximum $500 withdrawal limit on accounts (unless you’re willing to trust them with some additional personal information… which I’m not), I wound up going to Direct Deposit in my first month. You do the math.
Now you know why LinkWorth is number one on my list of recommended companies. I love their various product offerings, and I can honestly say their support team is among the best I’ve ever worked with. Naturally, the money makes me pretty darned happy, too.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. Click here to sign up with LinkWorth yourself, then check back here soon for information about making your blog more attractive to them (and to other paid blogging companies, too).
This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Make Money Blogging. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Tagged in: blogging | blogging for the money | link ads | linkworth | Make Money Blogging | paid blogging
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- Karen
Should you submit your blog as a site or blog? I still find the dashboard confusing.
Lori’s last blog post..Monday Madness
Lori, Ron answered this below but I thought I’d point out that the difference between a site and a blog comes down to the purpose.
A site exists to impart information to customers. Sites are not personal, and while most are static in nature, those which are regularly updated are done so with the purpose of attracting business.
A blog exists to impart information to people. They are personal in nature, even when run by a group or a company. (In fact, corporations are beginning to blog as a way of appearing more accessible and personal to potential customers.) Blogs are also updated frequently, regardless of whether such updates attract readers.
Chances are you’re running a blog and should be sure to select that option when asked.
Kate…wow, thanks for the great write up. Wanted to give a little correction so no one is confused on our end:
“which means you can up to 75% of the price you set for your blog.”
you can actually earn up to 70%. That is the max payout % we pay.
@Lori - there is no need to submit to different places. We’ve consolidated the submission process so you can opt your site into any and all products at once.
Thanks, Ron. I fixed that percentage in the entry (along with my typo).
Thanks Kate. This does clear things up a lot. I signed up with them in the Fall, and have only seen 3 opportunities from them. Then again, I’m only signed up for LinkinText and LinkAds. Now I know what the other programs are about and can sign up for them.
This is why you are the queen of paid blogging! =)
Amanda’s last blog post..You know you’re getting old when…
Thanks, Amanda! I think you’ll enjoy their other products quite a bit.
Which of all those products do you use on your blogs besides LinkPosts? Thanks!
Janet
Janet’s last blog post..Meet the Artists of HeArt Fest: Sherresse Buzard
Janet, I use different LinkWorth products at different sites. Between my five different blogs, I’ve used all of the products at one point or another except LinkBB. (I like writing my own content.)
Kate, have we told you in the last 5 minutes how much we love you?
Hmmm… let me check my clock…
Great post! Thanks for explaining all their different programs in one place. I never signed up before because I was too lazy to go find out about each program.
belhoste’s last blog post..Apple IIc Unboxed
Linkworth’s interface is still a bit primitive when changing the details of a site. When adding tags and a description of your site and then submitting, I noticed it cuts it off, I’m guessing because I used too many characters, though it doesn’t bother to tell me how many characters are in fact allowed. I had to count it manually, but by the time I figured it out, I was blocked from making any more changes for a month.
Not very helpful. I have no idea how it all looks on the advertiser end either.
The only advertising requests that I’ve seen so far with this service have been mostly gambling related, (and this is as a preferred partner too.) Then recently (as if to prove the point), I received an email indicating that a huge influx of even more gambling advertising may be on the horizon. Oy.
I wish I could say otherwise, but so far Linkworth has been a huge disappointment. I’m not sure why though, or why for others it evidently seems to be such a big money maker.
You’ll probably love this evening’s post, then.
Incidentally, might I just suggest that you cut down on the huge number of distracting links throughout your sidebars? If I were an advertiser, I’d worry that MY link would be lost among all the ones there, and I wouldn’t be likely to spend money given that risk.
Just sayin’.
Well I thought the purpose for placing a link wasn’t for simply clickthroughs but for… well YOU know.
That’s another thing, I can’t input where link ads would be placed, otherwise advertisers can be assured that they’ll be placed prominently in the hottest areas of the site (according to Google’s popular heat map.)
On second thought, actually I could. Pardon me while I make some changes…
Update: Done.
Even assuming that, well, “you know” was the purpose of placing them on a blog, too many things going out devalue the “oomph” factor.
Thank you, Kate. You are always helpful when it comes to these things and it is appreciated. I’ve been signed up with LinkWorth and got a few links. Nothing major, but I’m happy.
I hope to be able to get popular enough with LinkWorth to get rid of PayPerPost.
You’re quite welcome, Chelle. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well with them. As for getting popular, well, read my next post!