500Words.com - Link Opportunity!

[Joel Comm]

Hey Gang,

I got a NEW project which is taking off on its very first day!

www.500words.com

Basically, this is like pixel ads, only BETTER.

How so?

You get a hyperlink from your word of choice DIRECT to your site!

Image ads give you NO search engine rankings.

Keywords DO.

Grab your word or suggest one asap as the news of this is going to get out and it will fill up very fast!

Oh, and it is cool too!

Joel

[markp-r]

This is by far better than pixel ads...

I was wondering why you decided to limit it to 500 words?

It will be interesting if this starts a new trend... I'm thinkin' so - ;)

Best of fortune to you on this and all of your projects...

You continue to ispire me!

[ZedBiz]

Hey Joel,
I picked up a word from you.

Awesome idea - are you letting anyone have the script. I would love to use it to do that as a 'city' site in a couple local markets up here in Alberta, Canada. 500 words would sell out easily.

All the best,
Jack

[Joel Comm]

Awesome idea - are you letting anyone have the script. I would love to use it to do that as a 'city' site in a couple local markets up here in Alberta, Canada. 500 words would sell out easily.


The script will go on sale next week for what may look to be a tidy sum for some. But considering how much revenue it can generate in a week, I have a feeling I will be a hero for those who purchase it and put it to work in their niche!

Joel

[jts]

Greetings.

Joel, not to sound accusatory at all, but how can I verify the Alexa rankings you mentioned in your recent emails about 500Words.com ?

Short of installing the Alexa Toolbar (which I prefer not to do), I figured just going to www.Alexa.com (http://www.Alexa.com), then clicking on Traffic Rankings, then entering www.500words.com (http://www.500words.com) would confirm the rankings you mentioned. (You said 500words.com ranked 1,684 today and 23,213 on Monday). Currently, the traffic rank found by the method above is about 1,247,165.

I don't know much about Alexa rankings, so I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm overlooking something terribly obvious to everyone else. What is it?

Thanks.

[nyfalcon]

Wow Joel

The hardest part is choosing WHICH niche to use.

[Reprobate]

I think it's a great idea and will do well for you.

More likely less so for the copycat sites. Even if you are encouraging them and providing the tools to do so.

[wm8c]

:D I think it's a great idea and will do well for you.

More likely less so for the copycat sites. Even if you are encouraging them and providing the tools to do so.

I agree, 500Words will be successful because it was the first to get noticed. If you look at www.1000wordpage.com, you'll see that they are not doing very well and rumor has it they were 1st. What they lack is something that
Joel has obvioulsy mastered and that's getting his product to market and then noticed. He'll not only make money on the page as he has already, but he's also going to continue making money off people who think they can duplicate it by buying a script to do it with.

It amazes me how many people will buy into this type of thing but they are there as that page attests to. What we all need its to find that true "first person to think of it" idea so we can also join into the fun.

Keep thinking and brainstorming...there are lots more ideas to be found out there yet. In the meantime I'm envious I didn't think of it first and to your success Joel. I guess retirement for me is still a long way away lol!
Todd

[manateemedia]

Blog tags for sale:

http://www.blogtagcloud.com

[manateemedia]

I think it's a great idea and will do well for you.

More likely less so for the copycat sites. Even if you are encouraging them and providing the tools to do so.

If you get in on it quick enough you can do well with a copycat/spin-off site. I was the first to copy cat the million dollar homepage - I did the million penny homepage and made about $12,000 in about 4 months...and still get orders now and then. As a matter of fact, I got 2 pixel orders today! But...only for a total of $2. :)

[Joel Comm]

No problem!

Once you go to Alexa and find the site, you have to click on "Traffic Details", which will then show you today's rankings. Today, we are 3691 :-)

Joel


Joel, not to sound accusatory at all, but how can I verify the Alexa rankings you mentioned in your recent emails about 500Words.com ?
I don't know much about Alexa rankings, so I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm overlooking something terribly obvious to everyone else. What is it?

[RescueJoe]

I am surprised that Joel has not posted the link to buy the script yet. He has it for pre sale now at www.linksizzler.com (http://www.linksizzler.com/) .

I must say that I wish I had a list of contacts that would be willing to buy keyword links from me. This is one heck of a good idea and to get in on it before the web is saturated with tons of knockoffs you could make a killing.

Oh well looks like I keep my the day job…

[golden14]

I also ran 500words on Alexa and it also showed as 1,2M+, not a criticism, I like others would just like to understand how it works. Had it shown as 1,300 I'd have bought a keyword like a shot.

[jts]

I also ran 500words on Alexa and it also showed as 1,2M+, not a criticism, I like others would just like to understand how it works. Had it shown as 1,300 I'd have bought a keyword like a shot.

Here's the source of confusion: the traffice ranking in bold near the top of the Alexa.com page for 500words.com is actually a 3-month average. As I suspected (thinking I was overlooking something obvious), I needed only to click on "Traffice Details" then scroll down to see the specific ranking for today. At the moment it says "3,691". That explains it.

And Joel, thanks for the Alexa tip earlier on in this thread.

While I'm posting here, I have an idea that I hope Joel has implemented in his LinkSizzler software - a small backlink to 500words.com on the bottom of each homepage created by LS. With copycat/niche sites buying his software, it might help those of us who bought words on 500words.com if some kind of link were placed on each and every page, such as "This site is powered by LinkSizzler and was inspired by www.500words.com (http://www.500words.com)". Just an idea.

[manateemedia]

Holy cow...I can't believe he's selling his script for $797! whoa... took me a couple hours to whip a copy up. Oh well, more power to him! Great idea, I must say. I'd be more impressed if he offered live stats as Alexa is kinda shady. Why not put up a sitemeter counter? eh? :D

http://www.blogtagcloud.com

[wwwSENSERELYcom]

What about copyright? Does it simply not apply to 500words and joel? so we can just copy and paste the design, the order form, everything and it's ok?

Not flaming, just wondering.

[Joel Comm]

Just in case anyone doubts the traffic we are getting to 500words, I want to point out that we are #3 on Alexa's Movers & Shakers as of this post. :-)

Check it out!

www.alexa.com

Joel

[eyecaredr]

Maybe I am missing some thing here.

With all do repsects to Joel, who is a BRILLIANT marketer, what advantages does one gain by spending over $100.00 for this "listing"?

Backlinks?

Are people going to go to this site, and start clicking on "word" links, which ultimately translates into a "sale" of some sort.

I see Joel making a bundle, yes.

Has anyone seen any significant traffic, or any type of conversions?

Please enlighten me.

[jts]

Maybe I am missing some thing here.

With all do repsects to Joel, who is a BRILLIANT marketer, what advantages does one gain by spending over $100.00 for this "listing"?

Backlinks?

Are people going to go to this site, and start clicking on "word" links, which ultimately translates into a "sale" of some sort.

I see Joel making a bundle, yes.

Has anyone seen any significant traffic, or any type of conversions?

Please enlighten me.

I'm just a newbie marketer, so I don't have a history of experience to draw on here, but I guess there are 2 kinds of traffic that customers are hoping for: 1) backlink-fueled traffic via an SEO boost (once 500words.com gets more popular and maybe gains a Page Rank); 2) generalist/curiosity untargeted traffic - people visiting the site as a novelty and clicking whatever word jumps out at them first.

From what I read, it's not likely the smart search engines will create much traffic via #1 above, so I guess the untargeted traffic from #2 above is where most sponsors for 500words will get their traffic. As such, perhaps the best kinds of products and services to advertise on 500words might be things that the average person could find useful? Just an idea.

[Reprobate]

Maybe I am missing some thing here.

With all do repsects to Joel, who is a BRILLIANT marketer, what advantages does one gain by spending over $100.00 for this "listing"?

Backlinks?

Are people going to go to this site, and start clicking on "word" links, which ultimately translates into a "sale" of some sort.

I see Joel making a bundle, yes.

Has anyone seen any significant traffic, or any type of conversions?

Please enlighten me.
I believe if I can get the keyword I'm after (which isn't on the page, but can be suggested) that it will go a long way to helping me dominate a fresh category.

[eyecaredr]

Other than a very select few who are aware of this Social Bookmarking would be interested in this site. The average interenet user would find a site like this a bit confusing. Those who would click on a word, would do so to see what kind of sites "advertise" via this medium, curiosity clicks. These same inqusitive people would most likely NOT click on adsense ads, nor purchase affiliate products.

At $100.00 plus for a word, I do not see any type of reasonable ROI.

[Reprobate]

Other than a very select few who are aware of this Social Bookmarking would be interested in this site. The average interenet user would find a site like this a bit confusing. Those who would click on a word, would do so to see what kind of sites "advertise" via this medium, curiosity clicks. These same inqusitive people would most likely NOT click on adsense ads, nor purchase affiliate products.

At $100.00 plus for a word, I do not see any type of reasonable ROI.
So you see no advantage of having a lone keyword linked to a site, especially from one that is getting a metric truckload of attention?

[ricklomas]

Indeed I have dipped my hand in my pocket twice this week, once to buy your ebook and once more to buy the word 'winter (http://www.serrechevalier.org)' for my site www.serrechevalier.org which is about Serre Chevalier in France where lots of winter sports take place such as skiing and snowboarding. I'm not sure how much effect 500 links on one page will have, but I am willing to gamble $50 to see the results!!

[eyecaredr]

So you see no advantage of having a lone keyword linked to a site, especially from one that is getting a metric truckload of attention?

A truckload of traffic from whom?

Us?

Who is hitting this site??

"I am willing to gamble $50 to see the results!!",
I was under the impression that the minimum cost of a word is $100?

[ricklomas]

The base cost is $50, I didn't see any point in paying extra for a big font...it's only the link and potential PR that I am after (even though the site has PR=0 at the moment - what am I thinking!).
Maybe I should have had some obscure word to get a ranking on a PR=0 site like my new Indexicon (http://www.indexicon.com/) site.
To be honest I just sold some stuff on ebay and wasn't thinking straight, maybe I should have spent the $50 on beer like I usually do!!:confused:

[eyecaredr]

The base cost is $50, I didn't see any point in paying extra for a big font...

I am missing something here, when I go on to the 500 Word site and click the link that allows one to add words. the minimum cost is very specific:

Base Cost for Set Your Own Keyword: -- $100

How did you pay only $50.00?

[Reprobate]

A truckload of traffic from whom?

Us?

Who is hitting this site??

"I am willing to gamble $50 to see the results!!",
I was under the impression that the minimum cost of a word is $100?
To get onto Alexa's movers and shakers you need a hell of a lot of traffic. More than what this forum could provide. So Joel would have utilised every avenue he had. Which in turn would have had those people further spreading the word to those that they know.

And once on Alexa as a Mover and a Shaker that would cause more traffic.

And so on.

At the end of the day Joel's logs will tell the true story of where it came from and how much. Except for the type-ins, which will be the biggest chunk of the pie, which may have come via word of mouth, viral emails, printed news stories, published articles and mentions on television and radio.

[Reprobate]

I am missing something here, when I go on to the 500 Word site and click the link that allows one to add words. the minimum cost is very specific:

Base Cost for Set Your Own Keyword: -- $100

How did you pay only $50.00?
From what I understand, $50 if you choose one of the one on the page (bold, colour and other stuff = extra).

If you SET YOUR OWN keyword it is $100.

[ricklomas]

The first line on the page at the moment, gives this for example when you click the word 'exact':
http://www.500words.com/sys/claim/Exact.html
$50
still not sure it's worth it though!:confused:
Rick
www.ricklomas.com

[eyecaredr]

I ask for, in the spirit of aquiring knowledge, feedback from anyone who has participated on the 500 site. We have to give the site some time, so maybe in a week? a month? 3 days?

Whatever.

You are 100% correct Reprobate, making Alexa's Mover and a Shaker's list demonstrates brilliant marketing(good job Joel) and huge activity. Is this profitable activity?

Any feedback will be aggressively encouraged.

If Activity=Profit, move over everyone I will be claiming some Keyword real estate myself.

[AuctionMan]

I bought the word 'suggest' for my auction site as I went purely for se/pr exposure however I have had the word since the first message posted here and it has generated nearly 80 uniques..not bad considering I went standard $50 route, the daily traffic it is passing is increasing daily as well. So I have a bounce back of extra visitors as well as any future se benefits, Joels sites generally do well and are respected so the benfits will become more apparent as the site settles down.

[julieR]

I’ve been a lurker for about 4 months and was just about to spring for Joel’s sizzler offer. After doing some Google searches I can come up with about 3 sites so far with knock-offs of Joel’s word script.

www.97tags.com
www.750words.com/
www.milliondollarwordscript.com

Being the newbie I am and a single mom I can’t afford much. To me $100 should be plenty for a script.

[www.centraldirectory.net]

To me $100 should be plenty for a script.
even for me i am college student and i have not made money from adsense
but Joel your are great by far you are the most famous man when it comes to Adsense

[scn33ble]

Also giving' it a shot for the european market :)

==> 500words.eu (http://www.500words.eu) <==

now lets see if the idea works....

[Garnett]

The idea is not totally original. The page is essentially identical to a tag cloud. Whereas in a tag cloud the most popular tags are the largest (see something like the popular topics on squidoo.com). The genius comes in in making this into a pay for feature.

The advantage you get is in the marketing. 500words will get a lot of traffic that will hopefully go to your page. It won't benefit your google page ranking as there are effectively 500 links from a single page whereas the recommended SEO max is about 30. (Even then you would be better with a single link from a social book marking site.)

I agree that anything over $100 is too much for the script and you know in a few months the idea will be saturated and the script will be available for a few $ only.

Its definitely one for those with a large marketing list who can get it out to their buyers in a hurry. Joel has certainly achieved this and is benefiting those who have purchased a link with high traffic. However, unless you have a fairly large list or a good marketing strategy I don't think buying the script would be a good idea.

Yesterday I saw a free tag cloud service available for site owners. I will post the link later. This is not the same as the script mentioned though.

[ricklomas]

"Its definitely one for those with a large marketing list who can get it out to their buyers in a hurry".
Perhaps there should be an official phrase, "dot comm milliionaire" (you saw it here first!)

You are so right, I have even created a "joel comm" folder and rule in outlook to deal with all his 'offers', I can't deny the guy is addicted to making money and it is infectious. However I can't complain as I have tripled my adsense income (albeit small) in the last month and July is set to be my first $1000+ month, mainly from my niche site www.motorhomesdirect.co.uk .:)

[Celicaphile]

Can we say LINK FARM ???

It will be interesting to see what happens when the search engines notice what it is & people start dropping like dead weight in the serps...

Also, regarding Alexa - 1) completely worthless measure of traffic & 2) extremely easy to manipulate. I'm not saying Joel did this, but there are programs that will put you on the movers & shakers list, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised as that was the only way for some pixel sites to make that same exact claim.

I don't think anyone other than web site owners would use his site, so I don't see how it could have achieved the Alexa ranking he claims in such a short period of time. Likewise, I don't see how it would be of any use to the general web surfing public, so any clicks generated will have little to no value whatsoever.

[adsensemaster]

I also have implimented the keywords trick on my website too at http://googleadmagic.com

[wwwSENSERELYcom]

I also have implimented the keywords trick on my website too at http://googleadmagic.com

You have a lot of websites! I'm impressed, congratulations! But take care of the words DRY or MIDI for example.. That is not professionnal.

[adsensemaster]

This works great

I am running many sites some of them are

http://marketsbull.com

http://googleadmagic.com

http://stockpaisa.com

These are the main websites which brings lots of money to my account. :)

[bobtheteacher]

I think Joel has something here, and I'm willing to help others get the word out about their site. His blog is especially helpful in seeing what others are doing.

My site is www.500ThingsToDo.com -- I launched it last night. I have a stair-step pricing model. Base price of $10 until Monday, then it goes up by $10 every couple of days until it hits $50 at the end of next weekend.

I've written about word clouds as well at www.squidoo.com/wordcloud

Bob Jenkins
www.teachersinbusiness.com
www.bobtheteacher.com

[bobtheteacher]

I've changed up the look on my site, and added a blog as well.

I'm working on the local niche area of www.columbiamaryland.biz which will serve into a frame on the front page of www.mycolumbiaguide.com When it's done, it will look like www.mycolumbiaguide.com/?aroundcolumbia if you want a sneak peek.

Bob Jenkins
www.500ThingsToDo.com

p.s. The one thing I'd like to see in LinkSizzler (http://www.bobtheteacher.com/prefers/linksizzler) is the free option. But otherwise, the functionality and upgrades, etc., are awesome.

[carminejg3]

Wow great idea.... I have a question.... Whats the point to this? Sure its getting a ton of traffic now since you have copycats stealing the code and all, and people checking it out, but what haapens in 3-6 months from now. The pr my be 3-4-5 but you'll need to split that up with 500 other links, and they are all not even related.

[RescueJoe]

Well I am going to try a word link page too. Mixed it with an article directory see if that keeps visitors coming into the page.

Keyword Glory (http://www.keywordglory.com)
Check it out and feel free to buy a keyword :)

[Reprobate]

Hi everyone.

We want offer you very good site for promote your Bussines.

What we are offer:
1.Your own keyword (link to your site and yourown hover text)
2. Costumization your link: Font, Size, Color.
3. Make your Links as featured.

Try now and get low prices.
We will up prices when sell 50 keywords.
***removed***

Purchaising ifno and script features by request:
***removed***
You have how much traffic?

[wwwSENSERELYcom]

Since january 2006: http://1000tags.com

[golden14]

I'm not a lawyer (my wife is!) but if you have owned this site since when you say, I would be straight on the phone to my lawyer/solicitor as if this was your idea first then you will win hands down. So much so but (Really, really Sorry Joel!) I will be writing to 499 words tomorrow via my legal people to remove my site from 499words. 'Concepts' are now protected by law (at least in the UK)

[Reprobate]

Since january 2006: http://1000tags.com

I'm not a lawyer (my wife is!) but if you have owned this site since when you say, I would be straight on the phone to my lawyer/solicitor as if this was your idea first then you will win hands down. So much so but (Really, really Sorry Joel!) I will be writing to 499 words tomorrow via my legal people to remove my site from 499words. 'Concepts' are now protected by law (at least in the UK)
1000tags.com registration date: 17/11/2005

1000tags is powered by zoomtags.

zoomtags.com registration date: 16 january 2006

Even though zoomtags is older than 500words.com (registered 21 Jun 2006) that is not to say that they were selling a product that looked like 500words until AFTER the media hype hit.

1000tags.com was registered before zoomtags.com yet uses their software.

Because zoomtags was registered before 500words I wouldn't make the assumption that it had been the first with the concept until after further investigation (and BEFORE lawyers are contacted, because they cost a fortune :P :D)

[wwwSENSERELYcom]

Hello, this is not mine, simply mentionning it because I felt upon it while surfing old articles about milliondollarhomepage and where else than adsensechat to mention it?
It was just a quick post without any thought.

[ArrangeYourVacation]

Hi folks,
I found this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230009136107&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:DE:11

You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars for scripts!
You can have your own Word Cloud Site for almost free (now just 1$)!

[eyecaredr]

It has been several weeks since Joel launched his site, can anyone give us some statistics, or feedback as to the success or failure of purchasing TAGS on Joel's site?

Please be honest, since we are all anxious to learn and improve.

Is the traffic generated the kind that clicks on Adsense ads?

Any and all feedback are welcomed.

[Garnett]

I guess the only issue with that shown in the auction is that they host it for you and that's pretty much all they do.

I think it has already been mentioned here before but unless you are paying for a word on a high traffic site where you might get some click throughs to your site then the link is pretty much a waste of money.

Equally, unless you have a site with either a high level of traffic or high Page Rank then the script is pretty useless on its own. Consider who will really buy from you if you can't provide traffic or PR.

It would be a great tool for inclusion at the bottom of an existing site where you could use it to automate the sale of links as an additional revenue stream. Again, the higher the traffic and PR of your site the more likely you are to benefit from this.

1000tags.com claims to be online before Joel released his script. Even if they were, it shows the power of marketing doesn't it.

[Celicaphile]

I guess the only issue with that shown in the auction is that they host it for you and that's pretty much all they do.


Yep...I found this on a similar auction (I assume it's the same people):
There is 10$ domain setup fee and 10$ annual service fee. To get started you have to pay the price of this auction + the fees (example: Auction price 1$ - you have to pay 21$ for the first year and 10$ for each next year you wish to use this service)

[bobtheteacher]

A couple more to add to the list.

I have not publicly announced these to my major lists yet, so the base price is extremely low at $5 for the first 10-25.

www.500verbs.com
www.500tourists.com

My first site is www.500thingstodo.com

I'm giving away a free advertising report with each ad to help with the marketing of the site.

Enjoy!
Bob Jenkins

[wm8c]

A couple more to add to the list.

I have not publicly announced these to my major lists yet, so the base price is extremely low at $5 for the first 10-25.

www.500verbs.com
www.500tourists.com

My first site is www.500thingstodo.com

I'm giving away a free advertising report with each ad to help with the marketing of the site.

Enjoy!
Bob Jenkins

Got this in my email box today and found it to be interesting reading. Not passing any judgement because until some time goes by, it's hard to tell whether this concept will have any merit or monatary benefit for the "linkees" or only for the "link providers". My gut tells me the providers are the only real beneficialries in the end for this one. By the way I found a place to put up my link twice on a "word cloud" being promoted by another "guru" that he did for his members for "free".

Anyway here's the link if you want to read the article http://www.entireweb.com/newsletter/archive/2006/ISSUE249.html
and this paragraph I found very interesting from the article --

quote "How Does this Affect My Site?
Google has adjusted and refined their Page Rank algorithm many times in the last few years. After the latest algorithm update you can pretty much count on your reciprocal links being discounted or completely ignored. Links that have been "bought" on other websites have also been discounted, so I wouldn't bother spending the money if someone tries to sell you a link on their website to link back to your website. (The main exceptions to this statement are quality directories that charge to be submitted and added to their directory. Most quality directories are normally worth the money they charge due to the benefits you receive from the directory listing.) unquote.

The whole article is good and gives you more insight into the world of linking :)
To your successes!
Todd

[bobtheteacher]

Thanks for posting the article. I agree that link farms by themselves don't help SEO. That's why with my word clouds, I include the blog entries to profile the sites. This makes the site more useful and gives the advertisers more to be seen by.

Bob