Since the Google crack down on text link ad sales this month many in the blog related advertising industry have been scrambling to introduce new offerings. Text-Link-Ads.com (a TechCrunch sponsor) launched ShoppingAds.com this week, a nice looking CPC advertising system geared for blogs.
New comer ScratchBack, led by well regarded online marketer Jim Kukral, offers an online “tipping” system. It allows a publisher to accept tips and “give back” links or images in return. Each listing has a unique message; when a visitor mouseovers a listing, a custom message shows up in the form of a bubbletip. Publishers name their price on tips, and earn money from every interaction through the ScratchBack system. The service is free to signup, and publishers get the code for a “TopSpot” widget in minutes. ScatchBack will be taking a small cut from each transaction, although the percentage hasn’t been finalized.
Kukral calls it a “cross between textlinkads and blogads, but more fun and more options for publishers, and more fun for readers (who become your best advertisers).”
Notably, the system has been approved by Google (they checked) as every link is “nofollow” and the widgets are built in javascript; this is a product that provides an alternative advertising model that won’t see publishers punished in future Google crackdowns.
This isn’t a product for the top end of town, but it does provide a creative alternative to the many bloggers out there looking for new ways of making money.
