WPTextAds Archive

Earlier this week, I began chatting with Alex Choo. Alex runs a popular WordPress plugin called WP Text Ads (WPTA). Even Killer Startups sent it over to us this week. I've enjoyed speaking with him and learning more about what he is trying to do. He explains it as trying to keep more money in the advertiser's pocket and put more money in the publisher's pocket. Of course, my friends at Text Link Ads (TLA) won't love this idea but I think there is room for both.

One of the suggestions I had for him was to create a directory of sites. Smaller sites have such a difficult time finding advertisers and that is why I think TLA works so well. Advertisers like to visit one place and do all of their shopping at once. Alex had a bunch of concerns which he wrote about on the WPTA blog.

After much thought, Alex came up with the brilliant idea to use del.icio.us to handle the directory. He says:

This is what you need to do.

1. Bookmark your blog that runs WP Text Ads on del.icio.us.
2. Ensure you have descriptive tags, and fill in the description field.
3. Add ‘for-wptextads’ as a tag.

Using this ‘for-wptextads’ tag and other keywords, advertisers will be able to find your blogs on del.icio.us. No login required.

When Alex sent me the details, I was really impressed. Instead of building something from scratch that may or not be workable, he has utilized an already well-known and highly-utilized service to suit his (and his publishers/advertisers) needs. Now he is working on integrating the API and other tools to help the directory grow.

I say brilliance in the title because I think it is. And it's something for you to think about as you grow. When can we leverage tools that are already in use for our own benefit. And by using del.icio.us, Alex may even be able to reap greater rewards.

Below are five of the hottest startups according to Killer Startups for the period ending May 21, 2007. Check out previous Killer Startups posts.

FlickrSLiDR.com – Embed Flickr Slideshows in Your Site

Have a bunch of photos that you'd like to post on your site in crisp slideshow form? If you use flickr, this is now very easy to do using the flickrSLiDR. It's a one page site meant to make embedding flickr slideshows into your site or blog as easy as possible. All that's needed is the flickr URL address of the user, photo set, or group you want to use. read more »

AlexaDex.com – Buy and Sell Virtual Stocks

AlexaDex is a dangerously addictive virtual stock market trading game. Users are given 10,000 dex dollars to spend on shares as they please, then watch their stocks rise and fall and compete to roll out number one on the AlexaDex each quarter. read more »

Tribler.com – P2P Social Networking

Tribler is a P2P based community site which is similar to BitTorrent, but the focus is on the users themselves. Users can import groups from Gmail and MSN among others, or they can create their own from within Tribler. Tribler has a recommendation system based on similar users' tastes called TasteBuddy; recs are compiled based on a comparison of your profile with that of another user. read more »

Last100.com – Tracking the Digital Lifestyle

Started by Steve O'Hear, a known expert in internet technology, last100 is blogging on the latest news in the digital world. The name accounts for the small gap that still exists between the quality of digital work on the TV versus the computer. Steve hopes to educate and inform consumers and industry insiders on the latest news in our ever-changing digital world. read more »

Wptextads.com – Text ad management plug-in

Are you tired of middlemen earning high commissions, and making it more expensive for you? If you answered yes, and want to sell text ads on your blog directly to advertisers, then WP Text Ads is a good solution. It offers the user two choices, a free service, and an option that includes a one time fee. Both are developed with the same outcome in mind, to provide more profit by controlling your own advertising campaign on your blog. read more »