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First Day with WidgetBucks
November 19, 2007
I know, I'm running a bit behind the times with some things. Anyway, yesterday I took the plunge and decided to give WidgetBucks a try. I switched over one of my sites late last night before going to bed.
I didn't really expect to be writing this post today about my experience. I was thinking I'd give it a week or so, and then write up my results. And I wasn't sure what those results would be like - the thing I noticed after I placed the WidgetBucks code on my site was that the ads load s-l-o-w-l-y. Really s-l-o-w-l-y.
But I got a surprise when I logged into my account a little while ago.
I've made three times what I normally make with Adsense with this site today. Now, if you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know that my Adsense earnings aren't anything to cheer about, so my saying I've made three times as much with this one site isn't anything spectacular. But still, three times my usual daily Adsense earnings was unexpected.
My clickthrough rate is about one percent less, but the resulting payout is a lot more.
Now, bear in mind, I might be jumping the gun here a little. One day's results isn't really enough to base anything too concrete on. (Although I'm probably going to switch over another site tomorrow.)
But it's enough to make me smile. Maybe this is an alternative to Adsense that will work for me!
Looking at the categories you can select, a WidgetBuck ad will work best if your site is about physical products.
WidgetBucks is offering a $25 sign-up bonus right now, so you might want to give them a try if you haven't yet.
Update: After reading Empress's comment, I took a quick look around. It's not that there have been payment problems with WidgetBucks, it's that WidgetBucks first came out in October, so the first round of payments to publishers won't be made until December. I won't be seeing a payment until January, but I will definitely keep everyone posted!
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Posted by BJ at 10:12 PM in Make Money Online | Permalink
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Comments
I too had heard that loading WidgetBucks was a bit slow, I've also heard (but not personally) that the do pay well, but don't pay out.
So, I'd just say try it on one or two sites and see if they do pay. Just an fyi :)
Posted by: Empress | Nov 20, 2007 11:36:29 AM
Thanks, Empress. I guess that's one of the benefits of not doing that well with Adsense - I can experiment and I'm really not out a heck of a lot if things don't turn out! I hadn't heard any reports of people not getting paid, but I'll definitely confine my experiments to just a few sites. I'll post an update next month.
Posted by: BJ | Nov 20, 2007 11:56:54 AM
I'm trying it out on a couple of new blogs to see how it works based on your recommendation. And I'm always slow at trying out the latest things, too, but it's about time I tried this.
Posted by: Jenn | Nov 21, 2007 3:00:37 PM
I hope it works well for you, Jenn. I know you make a whole lot more from Adsense than I do (I was looking at your numbers the other day, and mine are totally reversed - it's more like my Adsense equals your affiliate commissions, and my affiliate commissions equals your Adsense!).
But I'm doing well so far with WidgetBucks. And I went back into my site and added a small Adsense banner (I was using the large rectangular block before I switched over to WidgetBucks). And the funny thing is, I'm getting clicks on the banner, and my Adsense for that site is now almost back to what it had been. So I'm making more money with WidgetBucks and still seeing about 60% of what my Adsense used to be with the new smaller Adsense banner!
I don't know yet whether the WidgetBucks numbers will stay - they may do what Chitika does, and readjust things at the end of the month ... I hope not, though!
Posted by: BJ | Nov 21, 2007 5:15:07 PM
I had never heard of this program until reading this post. I will have to watch out for your updates.
Posted by: Stefani | Nov 23, 2007 9:37:25 PM
It's been working well for me so far. But I don't know if they will end up doing what Chitika does, adjusting your earnings to eliminate clicks from people outside of their geographically targeted areas.
Right now I'm doing really well with the first site that I added. I added a smaller site a few days ago, and it's doing better than it did with Adsense, but nowhere near as well as the first site.
I'll definitely post updates!
Posted by: BJ | Nov 23, 2007 10:46:10 PM
Thanks for the advice, I hadn't come accross WidgetBucks before. Keep us up to date on how you get on with the service mate.
Posted by: Meeana Blog | Dec 4, 2007 3:36:43 PM
