Text Link Ads and Authorising
Tue, 8 May, 2007 – 8:12 am
Maybe I've not noticed this but when I get an email through from Text Link Ads telling me there is a new link to approve, I go along and log in to check the site as I want to keep links as relevant as possible. However despite TLA setting a price on the link for your site, the advertiser can undercut that price. That's fine however when you have a link to authorise you can't tell how much the advertiser is offering. Or have a missed something there?nnI've had a few advertisers that have undercut the advertised price, however I cannot tell how much they're paying until I've authorised the link. Then once the link is authorised you can't seem to be able to have the link removed from your site! Surely there should be a way for you to see the price the advertiser wishes to pay before you authorise them?nnRelated Links: Text Link Ads.
7 Responses to “Text Link Ads and Authorising”
Hmmm. Are you sure that they are undercutting? The price you see is pro-rated to the end of the month, so if you have a $30 link sold, on the 12th, you'd see a credit of 18 days at $1.00 (or thereabouts)…nnI don't think that any of my links have sold "under price". COuld be wrong though, I've never really looked into it.
By Burty on May 8, 2007
One of my sites is advertised at $20 per month. It has been since it was added. One advertiser is shown as paying $16 per month when you click on the question mark besides the money earnt for that site option. At the top for the advertiser is says "Monthly Price: $16.00". When I authorised this link, I then checked to see how much they were paying, saw this $16, then immediately checked my advert and price set by TLA and saw $20.nnIt's only happened a couple of times but surely there should be a way to see what the advertiser is offering before you authorise?
By Sarah on May 8, 2007
Hey Sarah.nnI did ask the TLA team this question once a long time ago, and the reason they gave was that sometimes, your link is sold through 2 people, the first being Text Link Ads, the second being another broker. TLA of course gets the 50%, and then the broker might get another 10% for selling the link.nnNot sure who the second brokers are though and what the exact percentage is..would be a question for Patrick Gavin.
By Adnan on May 8, 2007
Hi Adnan, thanks for the comment, that does explain things a little. Still frustrating! You'd think they'd tell you how much the link is worth to you before you authorise it.
By Sarah on May 8, 2007
This whole broker thing seems just wrong to me. Surely you can't be charged a commission on something when you haven't agreed to it.nnSurely TLA should be covering this commission, not the advertiser?
By Stu on May 9, 2007
Sounds like they have "affiliates" (aka brokers) who eat a little slice of the pie…I guess if that makes more sales it's worth doing. None of my TLA sales are for a lower amount, though I don't like the idea of not being able to set your own price and that's the price for advertisers, like it or not.
By Burty on May 9, 2007
I just did a check to be certain and on getting to the Checkout I couldn't alter the price of the advert however I could apply a coupon which I'd imagine perhaps drops the price.nnI'm not so concerned that commission goes elsewhere, as Burt says, if it sells more links for you then it's worth a little loss, but going back to my original point, it'd just be nice if you could see the price before you authorise
By Sarah on May 9, 2007