Category Archives: Reviews

reviews of tools for adsense, ypn, wordpress, blogging

Selling My Soul to ReviewMe

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[Update: As of January 8, 2007, I still have not been paid for this review.]

I've sold my soul and signed up for ReviewMe, which is a program where advertisers pay bloggers for writing about them. This post will cost the advertiser (ReviewMe in this case) $40; I get half of that amount (that would be $20 for those of you who are a little slow). The price is based on a web site's content, traffic, number of RSS subscribers, and link popularity. The rate is recalculated monthly. The pricing structure favors blogs over traditional web sites (more on this later).

Unlike another pay-per-post program, the ReviewMe program requires publishers to disclose they are being paid (such as Sponsored Post, Paid Post, or The Advertiser Paid Me to Write This). Your review needs to be at least 200 words, but you don't need to write a favorable review.

I have mixed feelings about pay-per-post programs. On one hand, I don't see a problem with it in general. After all, newspapers have special sections that promote companies and products. The special sections look just like the regular news section, but are actually written by the advertising department. Sometimes, newspapers even have ads that looks like news copy. Then there's the movies and TV shows where companies pay to have their products shown.

On the other hand, as a reader, I want to know if I'm reading something an advertiser paid for. And I don't want to find out at the end of the post. I want to know at the beginning so I can decide if I want to read it or not. I took a look at two other paid reviews and I noticed both of them buried their sponsorship disclosure at the end of the posts. That annoys me as a reader. In my mind, these two sites have less credibility because they didn't disclose this information at the beginning of their post.

As I stated previously, I'm not required to write a favorable review. However, that's not entirely true. Think about it. Do you think an advertiser will want to purchase a review from me after they read this review? I'm not slamming ReviewMe, but I'm not exactly writing a glowing review either. To be fair, I have to say I'm not sure if a potential advertiser will see this review or any other reviews I may write in the future.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that the pricing structure favors blogs (vs traditional web sites). Take a look at the table below and you will see what I mean. All the sites below are powered by WordPress, except for Embedded Star. Embedded Star is 99% static and 1% WordPress. Embedded Star has seven times the traffic of EDA Geek, yet the payout is $30 for EDA Geek but only $20 for Embedded Star. It looks like the Technorati rank is screwing up the pricing for Embedded Star. BTW, I'm not actually accepting paid reviews for any other site except for this one. I just wanted to see what the rates would be.

Site Payout Page Views (Oct) RSS Feed Alexa Technorati
iZachy $20 15,525 47 212,967 81,769
Daddy Forever $20 18,578 30 277,641 97,877
Embedded Star $20 434,048 101 101,217 382,428 (static)
1,374,860 (blog)
EDA Geek $30 60,213 88 153,370 266,131
EDA Blog $20 16,383 52 265,031 382,428

free creative and multimedia magazines

CareerBuilder Affiliate Program

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5

I've been testing the CareerBuilder affiliate program for several months now. For those of you who don't know, CareerBuilder is a job hunting site. As an affiliate you can earn money in five ways:

1. Applications to Job Postings
You will be compensated $0.50 for every application that a job seeker sends an employer for a specific job posting. Job seekers can apply online or via email. These two apply options are listed on every job description on CareerBuilder.com. Job seekers can apply to as many jobs as they like, and you will be paid for the total applications received. Applying to jobs is free for the job seeker.

2. Job Posting
You will be compensated 13% for every single online job posting that is purchased and posted on CareerBuilder.com through the online form.

3. Resume Direct
Earn $10 for each ResumeDirect purchase. ResumeDirect enables job seekers to send their resumes to targeted recruiters across the country.

4. Stellar Resume
Earn $20 for each Stellar Resume purchase. With Stellar Resume job seekers can have their resume professionally written.

5. Running Your Own Ads
You can run Adsense or other ads with CareerBuilder content. You get to keep all revenue generated from your own ads.p>

[Update: CareerBuilder has two affiliate programs. The first one is as stated above without the ability to run your own ads (#5 above). The second one is a cobranding partnership, which is the one I am on. Other than the option to run Adsense ads and have the content appear to be part of your site, I'm not sure what the differences are between the two programs. My contract is on a back-up CD somewhere. As far as I know, the cobranding program is by invitation only.]

I signed up for the program because I get a lot of resumes each week. I don't have any openings so I direct job seekers to my careers section, which is powered by CareerBuilder. I figure I could make money on people looking for a job. That has not been the case. The main reason is because I don't promote my jobs section. I've noticed from my Adsense channel that the ads have a low click-through rate and the pay per click is very low. As a result, I only link to my jobs section in the form of an alternate ad when Google has no ads to show on my main site.

free business magazines

If I spend more time on this program, I could earn more. I just don't have enough time and the program isn't high on my todo list. But if you are looking for another revenue stream, check out the CareerBuilder affiliate program.

Better Feed WordPress Plugin

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Hey, check out the Better Feed WordPress plugin. Better Feed gives you the ability to add extra stuff in your feed. For instance, the footer below appears at the bottom of each post in my feed. You won't see this footer on my blog, but you should be able to see it if you are reading this post from a RSS reader.

Better Feed WordPress plugin

Yes, I know you can already insert links with FeedFlares. The difference is that FeedFlares are actually images that link to FeedBurner before they are redirected to your URL. Better Feed links are text links that point directly to your site. So if your site is syndicated elsewhere, you will have real links pointing to your site. Links that can pass PageRank juice to your site.

With this plugin, I can also insert images (ad banners) in my feed. I was even able to get phpAdsNew ad server to serve ads into my feed. I could see two different ad banners in my FeedBurner feed (the one at: feeds.feedburner.com/myfeed). However, the ads are implemented via Javascript, which don't seem to work in RSS readers like Bloglines, Google RSS Reader, and Newsgator.

I love the plugin, but if you don't like playing with HTML code, the plugin isn't for you. There is no admin interface. You have to edit the plugin file itself. It isn't hard. For instance, I added the HTML code below to the plugin file for my RSS feed footer:


<hr noshade style="margin:0;height:1px" />
<p align="center">Permalink: <a href="%%posturl%%">%%posttitle%%</a><br />Links:  <a href="http://izachy.com/">iZachy</a> : : <a href="http://daddyforever.com/">Daddy Forever</a> : : <a href="http://www.embeddedstar.com/">Embedded Star</a> : : <a href="http://edageek.com/">EDA Geek</a> : : <a href="http://edablog.com/">EDA Blog</a><br />© %%date[Y]%% Online Destiny Ltd : : <a href="%%blogurl%%">%%blogname%%</a> is a trademark of Online Destiny</p>

free creative and multimedia magazines

Go to the Better Feed WordPress plugin page for more info.

[Update: The extra stuff you insert into the feed will not be displayed unless you are using full feed. However, you can limit how much of your post is displayed in the feed via the <!–more–> quicktag.]

Searchfeed Affiliate Program

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1

A couple of weeks ago, Searchfeed.com invited me to try out their affiliate program. They wanted me to use their program on my main site. In the past, I would have tried it on my main site. But I have yet to find an affiliate program that performs better than Adsense. Since I have a very limited amount of ad space on my site, I don't want to waste it for testing purposes. That's what this site is for.

Here's an example of a Searchfeed dynamic feed ad unit:

Searchfeed ad

Searchfeed has six programs for generating revenue:

  • Search – works just like Google search, except all the results are ppc ads
  • Dynamic feed – ppc ads based on keywords you select (see graphics above)
  • Category chaser – works just like an Adsense link unit, but you get to specify the keywords
  • 404 error page – Adsense doesn't allow you to put ads on 404 error pages, but Searchfeed encourages it
  • Advertiser referral – you earn 5% to 7% depending on traffic
  • Web publisher referral – you earn 2% to 5% depending on traffic

free Internet Retailer

What I like about Searchfeed:

  • You can make money on 404 error pages
  • You can make the ads look just like your content
  • It's non-contextual so you can still run Adsense ads
  • Few restrictions on ad placement
  • Only need to earn $25 before they can issue you a check

What I don't like about Searchfeed:

  • 35-50% revenue split (depends on traffic) — most programs offer 50-70% split
  • No tracking channels
  • They don't give impressions numbers in their stats

Conclusions
The ad blending with the content is nice, but you have to be careful with this. If one of your goal is credibility, then blending the ads with your content will most likely hurt your credibility. On the other hand, if you make the ads look like ads, it will lower your click-throughs.

I only tested the dynamic feed ads and the results were not impressive for me. In addition, Searchfeed only had one advertiser for three keywords I would use for my main site. Keep in mind that my main site is essentially a niche within a niche. It's very specialized and advertisers probably would not use Searchfeed to reach my audience. If your site is more main stream, your results will most likely be different.

I can see Searchfeed being very useful if you don't have a lot of content. For instance, if your domain is a misspelling of another domain, you could capitalize on it by using Searchfeed as your content. You could also use Searchfeed on a new site or a low performing one. Remember, with Adsense, a poor performing site will affect your well performing sites. I can also see their 404 program being handy if you purchased a domain that no longer has content.

Here's their URL if you want to check out Searchfeed for yourself.