Comments on: ScratchBack doesn’t scratch your back

By: Roberta

Roberta — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:13:27 +0000

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.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:09:01 +0000

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…

By: Roberta

Roberta — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:58:06 +0000

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…

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:48:59 +0000

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.

By: Roberta

Roberta — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:44:52 +0000

I feel a blog post coming, too. When you involve money, it changes things. That’s all I’m saying.

By: Jim Kukral

Jim Kukral — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:42:36 +0000

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.

By: Roberta

Roberta — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:34:40 +0000

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.

By: Jim Kukral

Jim Kukral — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:31:26 +0000

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.

By: Roberta

Roberta — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:28:01 +0000

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.

By: Jim Kukral

Jim Kukral — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:16:37 +0000

“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.