Green Llama

Text Link ads is one of my favorite online revenue sources. It provides a solid, predictable income every single month. Perhaps the best part about Text Link Ads is that the revenue tends to increase every month as your site grows.

What is Text Link Ads?

Text Link Ads is a company with two sides - the advertiser program and the publisher program. As an advertiser, you buy static text link ads on the site of your choice, and pay a set monthly fee. As a publisher, you allow Text Link Ads to sell a set number of links on your site, and you receive 50% of the cost of each purchased link. TLA keeps the other 50%. Some think a 50% cut is high, but I know that I couldn’t sell text links on my own, so I’m perfectly ok with the payment terms. The price charged per link varies based on how many pages you show the links on, the size / popularity of your site, and where the links appear on your site. Above the fold links tend to garner more attention, and more money, when compared to below the fold links.

Text Link Ads Publisher Program

I’ve been a Text Link Ads publisher since June 2006, and have nothing but praise so far. While it can take a new site a few months to be accepted into the program ( there is a short application process ), it is well worth the wait.

The application process consists of choosing your site category, listing the approximate number of pages where the text link ads will be shown, and deciding how many slots you will allow to be sold. There’s also an option called Feedvertising, which let’s you sell ads on your RSS feed. Since RSS feeds are notoriously hard to monetize, I highly suggest joining the Feedvertising program when you apply.

Some sites are approved immediately, while some need a manual approval. When approved, you just need to install a small piece of PHP code ( there is a plugin available for Wordpress users ) and you’re all set.

Text Link Ads Advertiser program

I haven’t yet crossed over and tried Text Link Ads’ Advertiser side just yet, though I probably will later on in the year. If you want to pick up some links, use this $100 off coupon to get started - it’s basically a way for you to test out the program to see if you like it. You get $100 in free text links to spend any way you like - one high profile link, or several smaller profile links.

Text Link Ads Affiliate Program

The other way to make money with Text Link Ads is through their affiliate program. Whether you’re waiting for your site to be approved, or just looking for some extra cash, there’s plenty of potential. Every person who you refer, and either buys a text link, or becomes an approved publisher, earns you a solid $25.
Text Link Ads is aggressively trying to increase their already impressive base of advertisers and publishers. If you can manage to send a few their way, then you can net some decent cash.

They also provide some pretty nice looking banners to promote the affiliate program. Here are a few examples:

If you don’t like those, there are several more sizes to choose from, or you can simply use text links instead. Using text links to promote Text Link Ads - a novel idea, no?

Text Link Ads Payment

Text Link Ads is the most prompt of all my online income sources. Earnings for February 2007 are in my PayPal account on March 1 2007. It simply does not get any better than that.

All in all, I think Text Link Ads is great. They supply me with solid, dependable income, without ugly banner ads. I don’t have to worry about how many clicks or leads or sales I get. They offer a great balance to contextual advertising like Adsense, and traditional affiliate programs. I give them my personal recommendation. If you’re not currently using Text Link Ads on your blog or website, you’re throwing money away.

Shameless Plug

If you want to buy a text link here on Green Llama, you can do so here. I suggest signing up using the $100 off coupon first, so you can save yourself some green. Nothing’s better than free text link ads, right?