One of the more consistent revenue streams that I have earned money from is Text Link Ads. If you have an established website you should check them out. I’m not a huge fan of buying links on Text Link Ads, but I am a fan of being a publisher. Text Link Ads is not my biggest earner, but it just provide consistency due to the basic business model; advertisers buying links to boost their PageRank. Yes, you can buy a link and expect some traffic, but the real reason behind buying text links is to get a one way link on a high PageRank site. The higher the one way PageRank links to your site the higher the boost you will get in PageRank and traffic from Google and other search engines.

Text Link Ads For Publishers
Signing up for Text Link Ads is simple, but I highly recommend only signing up if you have a high Alexa ranking and more importantly a high Google PageRank. If you do not have high rankings you will make little or no money. The higher your PageRank the more money you will make and the more demand for a text link on your site will be. Some of the more popular websites make several thousand dollars for a simple text link and they sell 6-10 links a month. That’s $10,000 a month for some sites for having a few text links on your main page that probably takes up less than 1% of your total real estate.

Text Link Ads For Advertisers
I have had good results boosting traffic by having paid links on several sites, but I have had issues with website owners breaking deals. If you choose to advertise through Text Link Ads I recommend using proven websites that have been with Text Link Ads for a while. Finding websites is simple. You can search by Google PageRank, Alexa Ranking, cost and several other searchers or combination. You pay month to month for your text links. The key is to find sites that you plan on advertising for 6 months or more. Having a text link on a site to boost immediate traffic is not what you are looking for. That should be your secondary objective. The main objective is to get your link on as many high PageRank pages as possible. Some sites offer site-wide links. Choose those over single pages if the cost is negligible. Stick with the site for 6 months or more and you will gain the benefit of having a one-way high PageRank link. I will caveat this. I have heard that Google has started to differentiate between paid links and regular links. This is likely not too hard since websites that use Text Link Ads to sell links place a javascript code on their website and is easily detectable by Google spiders.

Other posts that you might find interesting:

• Will You Drop WidgetBucks?
• Requesting reconsideration using Google Webmaster Tools
• Using Google AdWords as a “Keyword” Research Tool

There are tons of directories and search engines that you should submit your website to. Here is a list of free directories you should submit your blog/website to in 5 minutes or less. I’ve linked to the submission page to ensure speed!

These search engine/directories have been chosen because they don’t cost anything to get listed, are easy to submit to and have high Alexa or Google PageRank (PR). A high PR in the directory you are listed means a boost to your own PR. A high Alexa ranking means people are visiting that search engine/directory to find sites. Spend 5 minutes and submit to these 9 sites.

1. Open Directory or DMOZ. While I really do not like the concept, for some reason the Open Directory is what Google uses for their directory and places high value on. The website currently has a PR8 with most of the directories with high PR as well (where you will get listed). Submit your site to the directory and if you get lucky enough to get listed you will get a PageRank boost.

2. Scrub the Web. This search engine is constantly under 20,000 on Alexa and has a PR6. Submit to Scrub The Web and your site will get listed fast.

3. ExactSeek. ExactSeek is a great directory, but you have to sign up for a free user account and agree to get newsletters. It is consistently around 20,000 on Alexa. If you don’t mind the newsletters register your website.

4. ExaLead. One of the few PR7 or higher search engines out there. Submit away!

5. Searchlight. Another free directory with a high Alexa rating.

6. EntireWeb. Extremely easy to submit your domain.

7. GigaBlast. PR6 directory that is easy to submit to.

8. What U Seek - Another PR6 Search engine that is easy to submit to.

9. Accona. P6 search engine.

That’s it! In less than 5 minutes you will get listed in 9 of the more popular search engines and directories, hopefully increasing your PR and traffic.

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I have seen hundreds of blogs that use RSS to feed in news. This is not really an issue if it is not your only or primary content. Google penalizes internet bloggers/writers that steal other content or have nothing original to offer visitors. Google defines duplicate content as:

Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar.

Obviously, if you are copying whole articles it is duplicate content. If you are copying most of the article that is likely duplicate content. If your site offers no original content at all your site will likely get punished in Google search results. Google will filter your pages and they will not show up in the search results. If you choose to post snippets of content always link back to the original source.

My recommendation is to write original content. If you choose to have a RSS feed make it on a sub-page or as a block somewhere as part of your site. If you choose to make an entire blog/article with someone else’s content use just a few sentences and link back to the original author. I can promise you that the article you are copying from has already been archived in Google and your content will be flagged in likely not used in the Google search results. If it is detected a lot or the original authors complain you run the risk of Google taking action!

For more knowledge straight from Google check out Google’s article on duplicate content.

Other posts that you might find interesting:

• Requesting reconsideration using Google Webmaster Tools
• Using Google AdWords as a “Keyword” Research Tool
• Google Trends Tool - Finding the Hot Keywords!