The 3 Outgoing Links
 

Can outgoing links be sent to any clean site as long as it's in the niche? Is it possible to have the 3 outgoing links be sent to a site other then the direct sponsor link? I want to send them to my domain (not a page) which masks the affiliate code with framesets or to a review page talking about the promoted paysite.

You can send them to any page you want. Well as long as it's a legal ofcourse :)

Da Fonz said it perfectly |thumb

With the caveat that IF you're using sponsor content, those links should be actually promoting their paysite.

Otherwise you'll run the risk of making absolutely $0 dollars for all your effort. :D

Sounds nice. With all the freesites I've seen, I haven't ran into one that's being sent somewhere else besides the direct sponsors.

Oh, I have...on numerous occasions I've seen site builders using sponsor content with all links directed to their own hubs |crazy|

And get copyright issues

And how do they expect to make money? |huh

So the total could quite possibly be less than $0!? |shocking|

oh i have seen enough of those kind and still see them:)

For them, it's not about making sales directly from the free site. Instead, it's about funneling off traffic to their own sites. Many people will use one of their 3 outbound links to send to their own hub/traffic pump...whatever, and that's fine.

The problem doesn't really come in until they use all 3 outbound links to their own site AND are using sponsor content to do so. Just a few weeks ago, I had a submitter doing exactly that. I declined his site, with an explanation that it's not cool to use sponsor content in such a manner. He of course responded that it was fine and the sponsor wouldn't care. Well, as it happens...the sponsor in question is one that I work with quite a bit, so I discussed it with my contact. Guess what...they were not amused and warned the guy to never use their content in that manner again |club|

Now, before it looks like I'm a complete snitch! lol

When I initially contacted the sponsor, I did not reveal the guys name. However, they were so pissed off about what he was doing...they were adamant that I give them his contact information. And since he'd been sooo sure they wouldn't care...yea, at that point...I snitched him out :D

He got a warning? I'm suprised they didn't do anything much worst

Good for you MrYum, I stand behind your decision.

I use 1 link back to hubs but its usually the smallest of the three and alot times below the enter link. First and foremost is to make sales, period, end of discussion.

I hate when I see someone use a hub link on top in HUGE letters. Even if its the only one I still reject it. I am doing what I can to get traffic to my list so I will be damned if I list someone purposely trying to redirect it. You make a site to make sales people its not rocket science :)

IMHO using sponsors content for a free site and placing another sponsors ads at any of the pages is not cool at all but I've seen on (this) board that most sponsors have nothing against (I mean those who relese content of course). Honestly, I wouldn't be surpirised if there were few sponsors who wouldn't really care about that either.

As long as it's only 1 links on the index or main site I don't see a big problem. Even if they make it h1 not that many people will click through.

From my conversation with the sponsor, I think the only reason he got a warning was I asked them not to term his account. The guy genuinely seemed to believe what he was doing was okay and had no nefarious intentions. They did say they'd be watching him closely in the future though |club|

You're always being nice MrYum :)

I've bought content to make freesites before now (Well, one lol) with the sole advertising throughout the site pointing to my hub. I wouldn't have a problem with others doing the same.

Damn, I wish I had the amount of submissions you must have to so liberally reject sites for trivial reasons.

I dunno... think it about it this way:

If I work hard to build up an environment where I hope to market porn, not traffic, why would I introduce an element that could disturb that market?

There are plenty of other webmasters who are willing to focus on sales first and allow the traffic build up slowly over time.

What's the point of owning a LL anyway? To make money by converting traffic to $$$, right? As a LL owner, part of that involves making sure submitters make money from their freesites so they can continue to submit, but a LL is not a toplist afterall. |shocking|

Okay guess I got beat up a little about this. :) I actually liked the feedback so thanks to ya all.

Preacher, I am positive I do not have the amount of submitters you do but I do not find it trivial. Actually I only had this happen twice, same guy, but he has not submitted since then. If he did it again I would probably send a email. The hub link ran across every page on top including sponsor content galleries. I was also listed with a bunch of lists I never heard of and site was crap so I did not research the other lists. For all I know those other lists could have been more of his hubs. Virgo has a submitter like that.

Jeka, I agree and go ahead and make it your h1 tag that does not bother me. When you do that the link is bold and bigger and thats okay but his link was at least twice the size of everything else. If it was the same size or meshed, like an h1, with everything else and the site was "good", which it was not, I might have overlooked it.

Jel, with you your own content than I understand that move. With purchased content link to whoever and wherever as long as it looks good. We were talking about sponsor content so I was only considering that. I have only had sponsor content sites submitted so I am glad you brought up that point. I will have to double check content first if it happens again.

Every linklist owner has their own pet peeves, this one just happens to be mine. At that time I had just dropped $2000 in ppc traffic as well so I was just a bit miffed by it. I am pretty lenient on other stuff so it works out in the mix.

This is why I like this board. You all made me think :D

I don't really understand your points here and I'm not trying to bust your balls, but I'll just give you my opinion, which I probably should have done last night minus the sarcasm.

IMO, with a LL in it's infancy as JustRoberts is, his first priority should not be harvesting traffic but instead harvesting loyal submitters. If he wants to deny for a hub link at the top of the page, that's fine it's his list, his choice. And yes there are submitters out there that won't put a hub list up on top of the page, but why ostracize the ones that do?

From his further explaination of the situation you can see there were other things going on with that submitter, so maybe his original response sounded like he was much more strict about this then he might actually be with a good clean submission.

Yes, you are right a linklist is not a toplist. A linklist is supposed to list free sites with no more then 3 outgoing links. If you are deciding what links are appropriate to be in a certain position or of a certain text height then is it still a linklist?

No worries. I don't mind serious talk, and I had a hard time thinking clearly when I posted last night anyway.

Harvesting loyal submitters is a priority, absolutely. But if harvesting loyal submitters doesn't mean gathering traffic, how else would you do it? Courting submitters by being nice, or being a GG&J board member, is all well and good, but in the end it is about traffic.

In the short term, the fewer submitters the less that pie has to be divided up. IMO, courting *quality* submitters, who contribute more than other submitters, is more important.

When I think of an especially obvious hub link, what comes to mind first is a handful of submitters who change their name and email address every month, submit the same templates but use different colors, and have very prominent links to their hubs which list hundreds of galleries.

It is a matter of intent. If they're feeding a market space similar to what I'm building then they're compatible, and I have much less of a problem. If they're building up a market space which isn't compatible with my own then I have a problem.

So, yeah, it's not so much the link itself, but what they're doing with that link and why. I guess I'm just a bit jaded. |loony|

I see your point here. Hard rules about placement aren't good for anyone.

I sound strict, but I wouldn't decline your sites with modest links to non-sponsor sites, Preacher, even if I didn't know they were yours. It's not a hard and fast rule, it's more of a question of fairness and intent.