It’s funny because I wasn’t going to write about this but since a couple of other bloggers brought it up, I could not resist. But apparently, there are people who will contact bloggers to pay them to insert a paragraph (indefinitely) at the end of specific popular posts with 5-8 text links in each. Well, I didn’t do it and neither should you.
I was inspired by Darren of Problogger.net and Jordan of MarketingPilgrim.com because it seems quiet a few people have been offered these text link paragraph deals.
Here’s how a standard exchange would look between the text link seller and a blogger:
- They will contact you to offer to put “custom written” paragraphs that include 5-8 text links on some of your most popular posts (and emphasize it will NOT be site wide).
- They will offer you a deal and sugarcoat it. (Example: $20/paragraph for 6 paragraphs equaling $120 but will give you like $150)
- You will tell them that you are not interested.
- They will up the price.
- You will tell them that you are not interested.
- They will up the price even more.
- You will tell them that you are not interested.
- They will either 1. Offer you a “final” deal or 2. Ask how much you are looking for?
Darren wrote about this and included their conversation which was almost exactly like how mine went. If you haven’t already read it, go here. It’s pretty funny.
I’m not going to lie, I was almost tempted to take the deal but I did not.
Why not you ask?
Well, in the long run, it will probably hurt you more than it will help you. And although, cash upfront definitely sounds good (especially in a lump sum) these text link paragraphs will be on your site for as long as your site is up and running. And you never know how big your site will get and then you’d be stuck with those text link paragraphs at the flat rate and there’s nothing you can do about it after.
But say you DO decide to take this deal, this I what I would suggest:
Whatever you currently charge for text links on your site (on a monthly basis), multiply that price by however many text links are included in that paragraph. (For example, if you charge $10/month for text links and they have 5 total links in each paragraph, then charge $50)
Wait, I’m not done yet.
And although you should NEVER accept ads that will be on your site FOREVER (there should always be a reoccurring payment), there may be an exception. As Jordan mentioned, you should charge about 24 months worth. (For example, take my $50 example, now multiply that by 24 which totals $1,200 and that’s what you should charge.)
Or if you don’t want to go through this entire hassle, well, you can always just ignore their e-mails and they will eventually leave you alone.
Hope a lot of you guys didn’t fall into temptation!
*Comments on this post will give you TWO entries in the weekly cash giveaway!*
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I was reading about this too. At my SM site I always add all my links by hand and change em up to try and reflect just what I am writing about. Thanks for reminding me that these emails are out there! I won’t get hit though, my site is not well known.
Another thing you can do is tell them you will put them on another page in your site and have that paged blocked to spiders useing ertain plug ins. You should not allow Google to crawl your archives anyways because that is dupliacte content, so by having it on a page that is blocked you can never get any penalties for it.
As I told Darren, you should follow them up relentlessly like they do to you. In Darren’s Case, I would suggest you reemail him and say, okay I’ll give you a deal, if you pay me $9,900.00 within 24 hours for each link, just think you’ll save hundreds of dollars.
Then three days later, follow up again and come down, like $0.27 cents and continue for a few weeks. It would be funny.
Haha, I like the suggestion by publicrecordsguy!
If they’re desperate, it means that they know they will be getting a great deal.
I had a fellow approach me and want to do this one three specific entries. When I double checked them, two had been on the front page of Digg and the other one had done fairly well too.
I’m always cautious when someone asks to put their words on one of my sites, since so many folks are either peddling crap or write like it. The initial offer I received did not even mention the sites in question - which in itself was a red flag. After my first reply was when they told me they wanted the links on some of my best entries and still would not tell me what their site was. At that point, I just stopped communicating with them.
Hopefully, your post and that of the others will prevent someone from falling for this.
I feel unloved… no one asked me
Btw, GTFO blogger and move to Wordpress… having to open a new window and then enter captcha for every comment is a pain in the ass.
I haven’t had this happen to me (yet), but I have had a few companies ask me to write a review for them out of the blue. Unfortunately, the people that ask us for these unsolicited reviews are usually into some pretty shady or controversial industries.
That said, this is some solid advice for anyone that might be approached by people looking to cash in on your success. Like Vic says, you might eat tonight, but you’ll starve tomorrow.
I read that post as well and thought that was going to be a good deal, for both of you..
But I guess I’m just old fashioned
$150 could pay for your domain name for x amount of years… if you look at it differently
I’ve put link ads on my site, but it’s paid for monthly, clearly identified as advertising and I can always remove it whenever I want to.
I actually fell for this a couple of months ago. I wasnt making much from my blog, and their offer seemed so goo at the time, so I took it. But I agree in the long run it will probably be not so good.
Hey Dat,
I read problogger quite a bit when I started blogging. Nobody has offered me this yet. Guess my site isn’t big enough but I like how you set it out. will keep this in my favourites.
I was approached this week by 2 such people and I have turned down the offers even though the money was tempting.
Karen’s last blog post..WordPress 2.5 Upgrade
Karen - I’m curious… how much did they offer, if you don’t mind me asking?
Jay
Jay’s last blog post..Would You Sell a Permanent Ad on your Blog for $1,000?