Text Link Ads have shot themselves in the foot
You might have noticed that we recently implemented Text Link Ads on this Blog. I've been running Text Link Ads on my other sites for months with OK success.
I recently noticed that in order for a potential "linker" to view a publisher/site details, they actually have to create an acocunt first. I thought no more of it, until I received an email from someone who was asking how to pay to get their details on one of my sites! Not good!!!
I've sent this to the Text Link Ads people;
Hello
Making people login in order to view a sites details/prices is plainly hurting your sales and therefore hurting publishers income.
Why not allow people to see prices/details etc FIRST, then have them login (or create an account).
Do you think that Amazon would sell so many books and DVD's if everyone had to create an account before viewing anything???
Thanks for your consideration, Gary
Pretty much to the point and hopefully provocative enough to elicit a response 
We'll see what they have to say, eh? For now, I'm considering removing Text Link Ads from all my sites and just using my own coded solution (about 3 lines of PHP!). Why? Simple…
- Potential Link Buyers get to easily sign up!
- I get to keep 100% of the income raised.
Depending on the response from TLA, we'll see about that, as my system is not (quite) as automated as TLA. But it's worth a little work for the benefits listed above, I think.
Comment by Patrick Gavin — April 28, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Hey Burt, thanks for the heads up on this. We will get a fix in place next week for this for you, thx!
Comment by burt — April 28, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Crikey! Thanks Patrick. I didn't expect a response and certainly not one as quickly as this. Look forward to seeing what changes you have planned. Cheers!
Comment by Will — April 28, 2007 @ 2:38 pm
The disadvantages, as I see it, of running your own system is that you may not get as wide an audience of willing advertisers and depending on the system you use, it might require manual intervention on the publisher's part.
Comment by Oli — April 28, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Why not offer both? (Assuming this does not conflict with TLA's T&Cs)
People could buy ads at TLA itself, which gives you the benefit of TLA's audience, or on-site if they didn't want to sign up there…
Patrick: Nice to see a company being so proactive with this type of feedback!
Comment by Lea — April 29, 2007 @ 8:32 am
What you have forgotten is that text link ads is a private system - access to what ads are available should only be available to registered members.
If you look, you will see that they don't actually identify the sites that you can buy ads on, although generally you can figure out the URL fairly easily.
I am a little shocked to see comment 1, above, and I am hoping its some idiot impersonating Patrick, or they have completely misunderstood what you were asking for.
Its a privacy feature that you can't see the sites without being logged in.
Comment by gary — April 29, 2007 @ 11:11 am
Lea, as you say, even when logged in it is not easy to identify the sites. So why is an "account"/"log in" even required at this stage.
There is no need for this - sites need to be 100% viewable by anyone who is thinking about buying a link. As in my Amazon comparison - would they require anyone who wants to even *look* at their site to create an account and log in. I think they would have gone bust a long time ago
It's plainly daft. TLA are selling a product and the public cannot view it in order to decide whether or not to buy.
Comment by Patrick Gavin — April 30, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
Lea, what I am proposing is simply that publishers who CHOOSE to link to their listing can. You won't be able to get past that listing to other listings without signing in, thx.
Comment by Patrick Gavin — April 30, 2007 @ 8:52 pm
Guys, fix is in place, thanks for the heads up! PG
Comment by gary — April 30, 2007 @ 10:19 pm
Patrick, I am truly impressed. Good work, fella!
Comment by ash — May 1, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
I just tried to sign up to text-link-ads with China Car Times.
They say im not popular enough
220k page views in April and im not popular enough
Comment by burt — May 1, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Strange - you have PR3, but quite low Alexa. I'd have thought you would be able to use TLA, no problem.
Chuck an email at them directly and see what they have to say - if worse comes to worse, I'll send you my home-made version if you like.
Comment by Paul — May 1, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
Gary,
Where can you find the link code for your site's offering on TLA?
Comment by gary — May 2, 2007 @ 8:43 am
Difficult to find, I think it's on the edit page of each individual listing.
Comment by ash — May 2, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
Burto,
They just dont love me
Comment by Lea — May 3, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Ah, thats not so unreasonable then