ScratchBack doesn’t scratch your back
What I am failing to understand here is what purpose having this widget on your blog serves?
My understanding is that you add the widget to your blog and people tip you and you add them to your top spots. But, the kicker is, ScratchBack keeps 10% of the tip. So, they are making a big fuss about giving you 90% of your own money during the beta phase.
Why do we need a service to advertise something in our sidebars? Why not advertise for yourself and keep 100% of the profits? As Kumiko would say, “Why would you want someone else profiting from your sidebar advertisements?”
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I read this post while staring at google adsense ads on your blog.
Google takes roughly a 20% cut from that click. You are paying a middleman while saying it’s goofy to put anything on your blog with a middleman?
The difference to me is that it is pay per click, it seems so indirect. It would be more feasible to suggest that I sell my own links person to person, as opposed to having another widget on my blog and help another company make money online.
I’m just giving my opinion and I appreciate your input
to an advertiser there is little difference. to measure their roi they will be breaking down any traffic you send to price per click.
if it’s cheaper to get clicks here from adsense I’ll go that route. if it’s cheaper to get clicks from direct sales, I’d go that route.
also adsense isn’t only pay per click. I could also “site target” this blog and it would be like buying direct ads here, except google takes a cut.
love the different opinions
True, you could definitely “advertise on this site” through Google. Like when John Chow did it to Problogger with ads that said “I love Darren Rowse”…that’s some funny stuff
“Why do we need a service to advertise something in our sidebars? Why not advertise for yourself and keep 100% of the profits?”
I can answer that!
Millions of bloggers out there don’t know how, or care to know how, to advertise, or sell ads, etc… They just want to write. ScratchBack is an easy to use and setup automatic service that let’s them take tips from their readers, while “giving back” something in return.
Only about .000001% of bloggers actually worry about “making money online”. Those bloggers just want easy, and be able to make a buck.
Jim,
There are more of us that are geared towards making money online than you think. I appreciate your comments, however.
I agree, though, after talking with Mark over at 45n5.com, that it is easy to use. I bought a link for a buck on your page. Let’s see if it drives any traffic.
Thanks! But try not to think of it as a traffic driver. That’s what blogrush promised. We don’t promise traffic.
Scratchback let’s you give back to sites/bloggers you like by giving them tips, if you get traffic back in return, that’s great.
But back to your comment about making money bloggers. I’ve done the math. We are a VERY small minority of real blogs out there. 70 million blogs out there or more… and hardly any of them, in the grand scheme of things, talk about making money online.
If it’s not a traffic driver, then why bother? Just to be nice? My opinion of it was that it would make people want to come over to my blog and hang around, leave comments, and contribute to the community vibe.
Why bother? It’s fun… it’s nice. It’s giving back. You know, the reasons that blogging started in the first place… people communicating, sharing links, sharing comments…
I feel a blog post coming!
Not everything is about getting rich, or getting traffic. At least to the rest of the blogosphere out there.
I feel a blog post coming, too. When you involve money, it changes things. That’s all I’m saying.
I visited all the sites in the Top 100 list, and bought a link on each of them that are running scratchback ($1 links, that is).
Getting a few drips and drabs of traffic to the site I chose to promote, but not much.
Gary, it’s a great test. I bought $1 link on the scratchback home page, with little success. I just feel that it’s a new spin on the “buy me a beer” plugin…with a fancy widget…
Agreed. And also, at least with the “buy a beer” type scripts, you get to keep 100% of the Nett.
I’m not sure about it to be honest. Could be a nice way for bloggers to make some moolah, but why not spend an extra 5 minutes to set up your own version - there are loads of free scripts out there that can handle such things.
In other words - why pay a middle-man when the middle-man is actually doing very little for you. Now if Scratchback had a “scratchy marketplace” it might be a different story…
Gary, that would be an excellent idea. Unfortunately, however, they are not looking at this like it’s advertising or a way to generate traffic.