» October 25, 2007 in
I'm still bullish on Widgetbucks. My click through rate is slowly improving with them and they continue to impress with their flexibility and willingness to change based on feedback.In addition Widgetbucks is a newer program so signing up new publishers through your affiliate links (like mine ;-) should be much easier for you.
Widgetbucks has also garnered some pretty vocal critics which makes Widgetbucks even more fun to love.
WidgetBucks Silences The Critics And Impresses The Publishers
Critic #1 - Their affiliate program is lame.
Indeed it was. When they first launched they payed people a whopping one time $5 to recruit somebody. Now they pay "affiliates can earn a 10 percent referral fee based on the commissions earned by the people they refer. Affiliates receive this 10 percent for the full 12 months after the new member joins."
Critic #2 - They have a "hidden" link in their code
There was actually a very functional purpose for that link and it was to show something to visitors that didn't have javascript turned on.
However enough people complained, even google reacted, and with their recent update Widgetbucks does show plain text to javascript disabled browsers but no longer has any hidden links. ;-)
Critic #3 - The Widget Loads Slow
Widgetbucks announced via email for publishers that they have improved the loading time of their widgets if you install the new code! Personally I don't see too much speed improvement but this, and everything else, are positive signs Widgetbucks is working to make their program better.
One of the concerns we've heard from many of you has been the slow loading times of our widgets. We really appreciate your feedback and comments in helping us improve in this area. So, today we addressed this issue by rolling out new code that ultimately delivers faster loading widgets.
Disclaimer: Widgetbucks is a new program and nobody has seen a check from them yet. Even though they are recommended to experiment with, proceed with caution as they aren't "established" and as the post says still "evolving" (imagine having Widgetbucks on 100 sites and having to replace all that code? wowser).
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Jason says on October 25, 2007
You should note that Widgetbucks just got Google-Thwacked by the almighty penalty stick.
45n5 () says on October 25, 2007:
@jason - I did allude to it "However enough people complained, even google reacted"I didn't say it specifically but yes they probably got thwacked because of the hidden link, which is old news now.
45n5 () says on October 25, 2007:
actually it's not old news, but irrelevant now that the've fixed the javascript ;-)Vlad says on October 25, 2007
Mark,
I was one of those big critics of widgetbucks over the hidden link. As I mentioned, I have no problem with the link at all as long as they can, place it that it is visible to all, and give me the freedom to "nofollow" it if I want to.
45n5 () says on October 25, 2007:
@vlad - the link is gone now with their new code ;-) it's only plain text.TextadSearch says on October 26, 2007
Mark, I,m no expert but I think from the underlying theme of your post you want us to sign up with WidgetBucks:)
On a serious note (us internet people do do humour) it would be interesting to see some split test results with Chitika.
45n5 () says on October 26, 2007:
@TextadSearch - i thought it was newsworthy that they removed the hidden link and tried to speed up the ads.yeah I do recommend them. and people don't have to sign up through my affiliate links ;-)
there are a million and 1 affiliate programs in the world, the reason I mention widgetbucks is because they were newsworthy today and I like them.
of course I do get the humor, therefore if you want the chitika split test data you will need to "sign up" and test it yourself ;-) lol
Vishal says on October 26, 2007
I'm basing my viewpoint on the look of their website. The site design is very very poor and very basic. It does not look professional enough - and if they (really) have the money to pay $$ for sign ups then they should have the money to get a decent web design company. This looks very fake to me. Please dont waste your time. Its worse than Agloco.
45n5 () says on October 26, 2007:
@vishal - "I'm basing my viewpoint on the look of their website."judge an affiliate program on their design? do you not use google or ebay because you think their design is lacking?
I'll take function over form anyday.
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