Forum Moderators: skibum
Pay-per-search Programs:
Put a search box on your site, and get paid for its use. You can usually make and use your own box, once approved by the program.
SearchTraffic [searchtraffic.com] Pays .05 per search, using goto/findwhat results. Be sure to pay close attention to the program rules/conditions. Prefills with over $.10 bid on goto allowed.
SearchReferral [searchreferral.com] Pays .03 per vanilla search, and splits the revenue 50/50 on higher bids for a SERP click-through.(No flat rate on the 50/50 searches) They have a list of the higher bidded terms. They use their own PPC engine. Very lenient with prefills.
SearchBucks [searchbucks.com] Pays .10 per search for your first 1000 searches ($100), then reverts to $.06. Using branded goto results. Limited number of prefills allowed.
Searchbucks is not accepting new members at this time, but is worth watching.
Tell-A-Friend Services:
Users recommending your site to others (through email) can earn you revenue.
MailBits [mailbits.com] paying $.25 per use. User has some hoops to jump through, and many boxes to uncheck to opt-out of add'l mailings. I usually see reports of conversion rates in the 30-40% range.
SuperTAF [supertaf.com] Their payout is averaging considerably lower than mailbits, but the user has fewer hoops/opt-out problems. They share revenue with affiliates at 80% to the affiliate after fixed costs are deducted. What is interesting about this program, is they can customize the referral page with opt-in boxes for your own ezine(s)/newsletter(s).
A new approach from Amazon (found in rc's foo post [webmasterworld.com]):
Amazon is creating an "Honor System" where you place a "paybox" on your site, where visitors can donate to your cause, with a $1 minimum donation. Amazon takes a 15% cut of the payment.
amazon honor system page [s1.amazon.com]
This may seem like it's way out in left field, but I think it might have potential. Thoughts?
Have any other non-traditional methods/ideas you can share?
It looked very appealing, and I was just about to sign up. What stopped me in my tracks was figuring I'd better wait until I checked into it a bit further.
I wonndered about the issue of whether or not it was tied in with people paying for position (there was no info on the site concerning the source of the search results), and vaguely remembered having read some threads on a related issue.
I don't really recall the details, but will dig out those theads to re-read, because now I'm curious concerning the mechanics of how this particular type of program operates.
Thanks for the tip - I really like this idea, and will most likely do it once I do a bit of research. It sounds like it could be very lucrative with a narrowly focused site.
