On 2/14/08 I was contacted by a person named Martin about purchasing permanent text links on my blog. Of course we know by now that if these links would be “no-follow” they would be fine with Google and if he wanted links that did pass page rank they would be against Google’s terms. Here is his email:
Subject: Interested in purchasing in textlink advertising
Message: Hi,
I am interested in purchasing permanent textlink advertising at some
specific pages of
http://dayjobnuker.com/
let me know if interested so that we can discuss it further. I can
make a good offer to make it worth your time.
Let me know!
Thanks
Martin
My response to that email was very short and asking only one thing:
Are you willing to purchase no-follow links?
Predictably, his response was that he wanted links that did not have no-follow:
Hi,
No, I am looking for page-specific links without nofollow. If you like I can send you the detailed proposal.
Martin
Still curious to what he was willing to pay and what he thought was “worth my time” I replied:
OK, please send me what you have and I will look it over.
That was about 5 days ago and then this morning I got his proposal:
Hi,
I am looking for permanent placement of one paragraph each on the pages listed below:1
1. http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/09/05/how-to-making-money-selling-used-golf-balls/
2. http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/10/19/most-expensive-ebay-misspelling-ever-50300000/
3. http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/10/24/how-i-made-my-first-2000-in-affiliate-marketing-a-step-by-step-guide/
4. http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/08/17/secret-niche-on-ebay-revealed-1/
5. http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/10/30/25-of-the-best-how-to-make-money-posts/
6. http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/08/07/squidoo-free-passive-income/
7. http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/09/09/how-i-made-1500-selling-beavis-butthead-dvds/
I can offer you one time payment of USD15 per page, so the total amount of the deal will be USD105.
About the paragraph:
Paragraph placement will be for lifetime of the website for one-time payment.
Paragraph will be 70-110 words in length and will, most probably, match the content of the page.
Paragraph will contain 5-7 links to different websites(non-spammy and related).
You can have a better idea with following examples:
http://v3online.net/resources/how-to-preview-us-based-affiliate-offers/
Under the header “Independent Thought”
http://www.easydietreview.com/
Starting from “Several civic welfare organizations”. Below the admin’s email address and above images.
Let me know if it interests you. I will also be looking for some of the other websites that you own to have more business once we make a good start. PS: Do you accept PayPal? If so, please send your PayPal ID with confirmation email. We can do western union and check as well. Let me know what payment method will you prefer.
Thanks,
Martin
Well Martin, I guess this post is your answer although I doubt you will ever read it. $105.00 is definitely NOT worth it to break Google’s terms especially since I am trying to get my page rank back. It also sounds like I have to write an additional 70 word paragraph for each one of those? I don’t have the time and I’m not that desperate for $105.00. Now, if you want to add a zero to that number and make it $1050.00, we can definitely talk. (just kidding, well…maybe not. $1050.00 would have been a more difficult decision as that is probably worth more than this blog itself.)
I guess this is the same person who approached Problogger.net as well
he just talked about this in his latest post
$105 bucks? You can make that signing up for a few credit cards these days!
Like Bankie said, check out the latest post on Problogger about this exact same situation that Darren got into.
I’ll add a zero to that…
I’m broke, i’d do it for a 30 day period.
Wow $105 is nothing, especially since he is asking for a big effort on your part. He sounds really demanding… ugh.
I was approached with a similar deal about 2 months ago. $180 for paragraphs on 3 pages of one of my static sites. Maybe I’m wrong, but I took it. The guy wrote the paragraphs all I had to do was post them to the site. Overall a very easy $180 for a site that I no longer maintain anyway.
I wouldn’t take it. It’s definitely not worth it.
I got the same offer and it is not worth it to compromise your blog. (At least not for that amount). 70-110 words is around 1/5th of my average blog posts!
I just hope newbies don’t get lulled into this easy money thing thinking that they are “on their way”.
$105 to ruin 7 pages for the life of the blog?
Hmm… no
That many links in a paragraph doesn’t sound good to me at all. And that’s a very small payment to be on so many pages for life. I think you made the right choice.
not worth it to sell text link at all..
Wow, what a spit in the face…that small of an amount? They should have upped the amount before something like that should have ever been considered. Wise choice you made *thumbs up*
I get a couple of requests a week for this for my blogs that have PR. It’s like they’re all using the same cookie cutter email template to ask about this.
But, this goes back to something I’ve mentioned before, link selling is going underground and private. Google wouldn’t have a good way of knowing if it was a paid link or not as long as it was done discretely.
$105 for permanent links would be too little but $150 a month would be good. That would pay for a nice hosting plan.
How funny! I got the same email on 7 different domains for 7 different websites!
I wonder if it is some kind of scam or what?
I think this man is all over the blogosphere. I have receive this aswell but in the other name but the same approach. My respond is if you are truly looking for paid link i suggest you go to payperpost, smorty, sponsoredreview and any other site that serve this type of advertising.
and i don’t receive any respond anymore…i think it’s scam trying to hack the paypal account of something.
Wow, what a crappy offer. $105 is chump change for what his is requesting. But if you ever start taking such offers, let me know. I’d love to buy paragraphs with links at that price!
There are so many junk advertisements on blogs these days! Aside from the fact that 105 is not much money today, you creditability as a blogger may also be at stake. Think of all the links to junk sites you may have on your site if you were to accept offers like that.
They must be doing the rounds under different aliases. I got contacted by a woman who offered me the same deal. I managed to raise the offer to $20 a link but then when she sent me the whole finished deal it was full of crappy wording that were nowhere related to my blog.
When I complaint I never heard back. It just confirmed to me that they weren’t for real anyway.
As sad as it is, the big G does exactly what this guy is asking for everyday, they built their fortune on it. Too bad they don’t like to share the wealth…
$105 sounds nice, but it really isn’t work risking your standings with Google in the least.
I was approached with a similar deal about 2 months ago. $180 for paragraphs on 3 pages of one of my static sites. Maybe I’m wrong, but I took it.
Wow, $105 is really a very weak offer. The only way I would take an offer like that, was if it was $105 a month. He wants to put 5 – 7 links from each page… That is outrageous. However like you mentioned, if he offered $1050, I would definitely do it.
The links that he intends to put on your site seem spammy,so its a good decission to have denied him.
LOL! I also got the same email. Almost exactly the same content though a different sender who call himself Michael Kipping. I traced the IP address and its coming from Pakistan.
LOL. I got the same email. Same content and same rude demeanor. Is there a product out there instructing people this might be a good way to get some links?!
Jackie
Don’t do it man! Google are coming down hard on sites selling links, you don’t want to get caught up in it. Besides, there are much subtler ways of monetising you blog than that!
Hey,
That is funny how people think less of your inteligence. Like you dont know what is going on or the real value of what your blog can offer…
Toki
Maybe $105 for a month. Not permanent. I would only agree to the no follow.
LOL! Let me guess, his name was Shawn, huh? I actually wrote about this too. I saw your article from bloggingzoom… you can see my post too, I think it’s still on the frontpage of bloggingzoom… lol but great post!
Jay
A monthly rate is okay for this price, but a lifetime rate is just a joke
I’ll say it’s not worth it. For a blog lifetime and offer for only $105? like me i only accept monthly terms. that way i have the power to continue the deal or just stop it. It’s our blog and we the only one who should controlit.
I don’t sell text links. I hate to show links of others on by blog. my blog is only mine and there will be only my things. I don’t want to use anything for SEO for my blog.
Do u wanna know why..? I’m writing my blog for me and my friends or relatives. they can get my news by my blog. I don’t wanna earn frm my blog.
Nice man, personally i think i would have taken the $105
Nice blog by the way, im subscribed!
I am getting a lot of offers like that one, but for $25 to $40 per post. Depending on the links and text ad they wanted, sometimes i accepted. It’s a good way of monetization.
Well to be honest i don’t know what a “no follow” link is. I am new to the blogging world
Personally I wouldn’t do it, not even for the 1000+ and that is because i hope my blog would make more then that. However if i was tempted to stop blogging then i would just take it and let the blog die.
so it comes down to your goal – if taking that money completes your goal then take it
if not then don’t.
That said, if you guys have thoughts or advice for a new blogger (me) please let me know.
I got a similar offer, but it was for a whole PAGE on my site- a permanent page with a permanent link from home page. Yeah, no thanks.
of course it’s not worth it. the newbies out there should be careful as there are lots of better offers than this..
This “Martin” guy sure gets around! He sent me the same “proposal” wanting to place spammy paragraphs for the life of my blog on all the pages that have page rank. When I turned him down, he came back with “I don’t see why you can’t cut me a break here” response which I ignored. Glad you saw right through that one!
Actually, I wonder how would Google find out if a link on your post has been paid for or not? I don’t do text links, but I think many blogs got hit by collateral damage.
I get a couple of requests a week for this for my blogs that have PR. It’s like they’re all using the same cookie cutter email template to ask about this.
To sell Links is a big Risk, because Search engines like Google don´t like it. In the past, google worker sent mails like that one you´ve got.