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Tired of getting hit with the banhammer by Google for selling links? LinkShowOff is a fairly new advertising site that follows in the vein of programs like Scratchback because it offers blog and website owners the chance to sell nofollow text links to advertisers. In short, that means that Google won’t lower your pagerank for selling links through it.

ALRIGHT, SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
To sell links through LinkShowOff, you have to sign up, add your site to their listings, and put their customizable widget up (you can see it in my right sidebar). Unlike Scratchback, LinkShowOff actually has a marketplace for the sales of advertising which expedites the process of getting some cash (if you’re a publisher) or finding some quality advertising (if you’re an advertiser). You get payed a flat sum for each link displayed on your widget (a maximum of twenty links can be up at once). As more ads are purchased, older links are bumped off the widget and new ones appear first, allowing for a dynamic structure.

THE REFERRAL PROGRAM
In addition to selling links on your own site, you have the option of referring other publishers to the network. The rates are quite low at the moment - only one dollar for every person you refer that earns a dollar - but this low threshold could work at the moment because of the new nature of the program. If one was to refer a few hundred publishers to LinkShowOff that sold even one link, they could make a nice sum.

GETTING PAID
Payments are monthly with a flat fee of $3 per withdrawal, which is a nice change from horrible monopolies greedy companies programs like Text-Link-Ads which takes half of your profits. You can currently get paid through Paypal (speaking of monopolies…) once you reach the payout of $10.

WHAT ELSE…
LinkShowOff does have a few problems right now, though - namely the fact that there are no site statistics available for websites listed in the marketplace. Alexa rankings, Pagerank, and traffic should be present for each blog to create for a more open sales platform. In addition, the website looks unprofessional and Web 1.5: there are some grammatical errors, the FAQ is short and incomplete, and the site design is greener than Kermit (and it’s not easy being green).

IN SHORT,
LinkShowOff has potential but needs refinement. When more advertisers join, there should be plenty of ad sales (even as a new program, I’ve already had a link bought on my widget). If it gets a facelift and some extra features, it could be a winner.