Text Link Network FAQ

What Is Text Link Network?

The Text Link Network (TLN) is a new concept in site promotion and web advertising which is similar to a banner exchange network.  Members display a TLN "banner" containing text links to other member's sites or TLN advertisers.   In return, other members display banners containing links to their site.  When a viewer clicks on a text link, he is transferred to the member site and the "click-thru" is counted.

TLN offers an exchange ratio of 5:1.  For each TLN banner displayed on a member site, that member's text link will be displayed on other member's sites 5 times.  This results in 10 times the exposure of a typical 1:2 banner exchange network.

 

Why Text Links?

When is the last time you clicked on an advertising banner?  A typical answer might be "two weeks ago".  When is the last time you clicked on a text link?  Twenty seconds ago if you read at normal speed.  People have been developing a resistance to banner advertising and click-thrus on banners are now less than 25 percent of what they were several years ago.  

Because people use text links continuously as they surf the web, resistance to text links is less likely.  Check the home page of a major player like Excite.  You will find fewer and fewer banners and hundreds of text links!  Major advertisers like Linksynergy now recommend text links over banners.

 

Text Link Network Advantages

Here are some of the advantages of TLN as compared to a typical banner exchange network:

Much Greater Exposure - TLN gives you ten times the exposure of a typical banner exchange network.

No Banner Required - It can cost over $1000 to develop art and graphics for several professional, competitive, banners and perform testing to determine relative effectiveness.  Banner design is tricky and testing is time consuming.   You don't need a banner to use TLN.

Less Site Impact - The TLN banners are small (under 2K bytes) reducing display time and increasing the chance viewers will see them.  TLN uses a fixed size (468 X 60) banner as opposed to the variable size banners used by some exchanges to further reduce impact on page display.

Site Requirements - TLN does not accept sites with adult content, MLM/ get rich quick schemes, get paid to click promotions, non-English language sites, or sites under construction.  

 

How do I use Text Link Network to promote my site?

First, give some thought to your text link.  Your link can be a maximum of 27 characters and must be reasonably descriptive of site content.   Intentionally misleading, offensive, or all caps  links are not allowed.  You can have a second, alternate text link which will be exposed alternately with the prime link.  Both links click through to the same URL but clicks are counted separately so you can compare the performance of the links.

Second, sign up with TLN.  You will be given a user number and HTML code by email when your site is approved.

Third, add the HTML code to your site page where you want the TLN banner to appear.   The HTML code in your page will cause a TLN banner to be sent from our servers when a viewer loads your page.

You can then use your user number and password to log in to our user area to check your statistics and modify your text links.  Keep in mind that small click numbers are not "statistically significant".  A link with 5 clicks is not necessarily better than one with 3 clicks but one with 75 clicks probably is better than one with 50 clicks.

 

What about Backgrounds?

TLN banners are transparent images and show up well on white or black backgrounds and most background images.

 

What kind of statistics will I see?

TLN provides members with statistics which they can use to track the effectiveness of their text links.  These include number of TLN banners shown by your site, number of times your text links have been shown on other members sites, and the number of clicks on your prime and alternate (if any) text links.

We also calculate your CBRs, the Click-thru to Banner displayed Ratio, which is the ratio (percent) of click-thrus on your links to the number of banners you have displayed on your site.  This is the most important performance parameter of any link exchange system and is where the TLN 10X exposure advantage really helps!

TLN has both total and resetable statistics on your links.  You can reset the counter to zero if you want to track the effect of changing a link's text.

 

What is "Targeting"?

Targeting allows members to optionally select several categories of site on which they would prefer to display their textlinks.  For example a member could desire to expose his textlinks on sites which categorized themselves as Sports, Entertainment, or Music oriented and the system will then display his textlinks on those type sites where possible.  We expect to provide targeting in the near future.

 

What about Privacy?

TLN will use your e-mail and snail mail addresses only to contact you regarding your account.

 

Are there bonus exposures?

Some banner exchange services have extra "bonus" exposures for signing up. TLN currently does not have bonus exposures so you must install the TLN HTML code on your site prior to receiving any link exposures.

 

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