About two weeks ago Ryan McLean from SmarterWealth fame wrote an article discussing the importance of having banners. It was a brief article (a tad self-serving ) but overall got me thinking about some changes coming soon to Direct Sales Web Marketing.

I know it’s been asked and talked about before, numerous times; but not from me (I don’t recall) so here goes…

Main objective today is 2fold:

1. Which is currently better for overall sales - Advertising Banners or Text Links? Does “banner blindness” (or other pet names) REALLY exist?

2. Does the answer to number1 make a difference if it’s affiliate sales or private ad sales?

Reason I’m asking:

As mentioned above, I will be revamping the blog a bit; specifically the side bars for starters. 2009’s primary focus will be income production (not even on the list in ‘08). One avenue of this is inevitably blog monetization. However I would like to do it as classy as possible and genuinely helpful for all parties concerned (sorry Mr. Chow).

Again my apologies for dashing your hopes, but I’m not looking to purchase (at least not right now). I’ll give you some extra link love at the end to make up for it .

Albeit a quick post, lets call this a follow-up to my somewhat ranty yet popular post regarding blank advertising blocks and the evil of it all. My main point of it all being simply, they are unprofessional and desparate looking to potential advertisers. If you are actively, seriously seeking advertisers you need a well done advertising page.

Well, do ya have one? We want to see it! I think it would be a great help to beginners without one. Let us know what you display, why you think it’s important, and if you have anything different then others that you’ve seen (ex: graphics/screenshots, etc.).

Nope sorry, I’m not looking to buy one. I’m here to give you the awesome advice that was given to me when I first started blogging…..get rid of them NOW.

I’m sure you’ve seen it, you may even do it yourself (and some of you I know do it). Those blogs that have anywhere between two and TEN 125×125 ad spots that simply say, “ADVERTISE HERE“, right out there for the world to see. I’ve even seen some use FLASH!

Aye Curumba.

Do you know how it looks to potential advertisers? BAD. Real bad. Amateurish in the least, but D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E at it’s worst. I’m not saying this to make anyone upset or angry with me, this is the honest to goodness truth as told to me those many moons ago. They are not doing you any good.

This is definitely one thing that falls under whether or not advertisers judge your design.

Two new posts on DennisEdell.com, an EASY $300 contest on EasyCashContests.com and I’m still looking for contest sponsors here .

You may recall back in mid-October, I wrote about how I was finally and slowly beginning to Blog Monetize, with the Scratch Back widget. When I first installed it, I had the “awesome idea” of charging $5 per week instead of the “auto bump” method which I HATE (read first link to see why).

Things have been pretty emotional (for lack of a better word) for me since then…

I had my first link sale in ONLY two weeks, and I was ECSTATIC! Trust me, when you don’t have Lynn Terry type traffic, two weeks is really good. (I’ve never seen her widget with an empty spot.)

Then a couple weeks later (with no more link sales) I had a good back & forth with both John Dilbeck & Mitch on Johns blog; or was it Mitch’s blog. Perhaps both, I don’t remember.

OK so it’s not FREE link love this time, but there’s plenty of time for that you know I love to do it.

No no, now I’m talking about probably being the last blogger on the net to give a go to the scratch-back “top spots” link tipper dohickey (I think that’s the official name), which you can find on the left side bar.

How do I consider mine a wee different? I’ve seen them for $5 per day, which isn’t too too bad, and more often then not I see them for $5 while using the auto-bump feature…..

What this means is, your five dollar link is there only until the next person buys one. To me this is a double-edged sword for the buyer, and a little greedy on the bloggers end…sorry but it’s personal opinion.