WP Text Ads
The past few weeks has seen a flurry of posts about Text Link Ads on this blog and others. I think that most of us agree that the service is valuable, but we also have some reservations about the amount taken as commission and how our blogs are "valued"…
On one of my posts I commented that I had created my own solution for selling Text Link Ads, using a spot of PHP code. It's really rather simple and is manually done (which is a bit of a PITA), but saves me paying out a hefty commission, eh? The downside with my system is that "manualness" and also that I have no large marketplace for potential buyers to buy links from.
Anyway, I was contacted by Alex Choo of wptextads.com who has this to say;
I came across your blog posts on TLA, and thought you'd like to know that WP Text Ads lets WordPress bloggers sell ads directly to advertisers, so that there are no commissions to be paid to a text ads broker
If you happen to download WP Text Ads and run it at your blog, please let me know what you think.
http://www.wptextads.com has all the details!
I had already heard of wptextads.com, I think due to a posting in the WarriorForum, and had explored the possibility of using the script, until I came to see that it is $127 for a license per site! Now, I have a large(ish) number of sites on which I could sell Ads, so I would have to spend thousands of dollars in order to license them all. Absolutely no way. I can't justify it. Again, this script is standalone and has no marketplace to back it up.
I believe you can test out the system and sell 2 links before you are required to license it, which is good. I can't understand why the cost is set on a per-site basis, as this script could be a really killer application.
I'm not going to test it (I would have if I'd been sent a full copy for evaluation ;)) as I'd rather use my own version (even though mine is more manual), but if anyone does test wp text ads I'd be interested to hear any comments!
Comment by James — May 15, 2007 @ 12:30 am
I use a program called AdBoxPro. It makes a Google style text ad (it can even make them look like ad links). It has a lot of options in color and you can choose to have the URL show or not.
It does not use tables like other similar programs. So far, I like it.
Comment by Dominic — May 15, 2007 @ 1:36 am
Bit of a leftfield comment here: What does everyone think of selling WP Plugins?
I've written a few and they are great for getting a heap of traffic and links, but I have some ideas for a couple that I reckon have quite a bit of value and I'm wondering about selling them.
Comment by gary — May 15, 2007 @ 9:12 am
James, I noticed those on your blog. Look pretty good and at $27 it's a bargain. I assume that the $27 gives some sort of a desktop program which scrapes the likes of Clickbank? Wouldn't mind seeing a review of Adboxpro
Dominic; absolutely you should sell anything you have coded - why not? Just because a software is "free" does not mean that supplementary products and services should also be free.
Comment by Will Barden — May 15, 2007 @ 11:31 am
Burt,
I also have a PHP based text link sales solution, which is open source and free to all:
http://bardenmedia.com/gifts/BM-Text-Link-Sales-System.zip
I don't know how automated yours is, but this does most stuff for you. All you've got to do is edit a settings file and upload everything.
Comment by gary — May 15, 2007 @ 12:45 pm
Good work Will. Text Link Ads on this Blog hasn't really taken off, so myself Oli and Dave need to have a chat about it. Might just implement this, you never know!
Comment by Alex Choo — July 27, 2007 @ 8:26 am
Hi Burt,
I'm the developer of WP Text Ads.
The free edition of WP Text Ads lets you show 2 home page ads, 2 blog-wide ads, and 2 per-post ads.
This means you can show 2+2+(2* total number of posts) ads for free.
The $127 is not as unreasonable as it sounds. Suppose each link of yours goes for $20, then you'll only need 7 links to recoup your investment. You pay no commissions, remember?
Since WP Text Ads allows the sale of link by the post, it gives advertisers options to save money and target those posts that are relevant to their readership only.
There is a Marketplace for WP Text Ads users to connect advertisers to bloggers. It's at http://www.wptextads.com/marketplace
I hope the folks have a better understanding of WP Text Ads' value proposition now.
Thanks!
Alex
Comment by Alex Choo — July 27, 2007 @ 8:35 am
Sorry, I forgot to add that other than the links restrictions, the Free and Standard Editions have exactly the same functionalities. Users of either editions can join the Marketplace for free.
Comment by Gary — July 27, 2007 @ 10:40 am
I don't promote stuff that I do not use and/or like. I recommend to all my readers that they should not part with any cash - until they get hold of a review that is positive and REAL. Until I get my hands on a full copy of the software, I can't give a real review. Eh? You already have my email address as you emailed me your wptextads
spampromo in the past