I've had this idea brewing in the back of my head for a while.

First some background. Updates to my site have been lacking for a while. Just too busy at work, and you know the story of the shoe maker.....

So, I was thinking of looking for guest writers, in their articles, I'll put a few Amazon ads with their (not my) affiliate id. The author section gets to link to their home page.
Guest authors get the benefit of the ad revenue and some decent promotion. My site still gets around 15K visitors per month, regular content will double that. They also get the *coveted* one-way link with a rev="vot-for"

I get the benefit of keeping the site fresh with new content, until things slow down at work and I can dedicate more time toward writing.

It seems like a win-win but, I could always be wrong.

What do you guys think?

It sounds like a good idea. Now the problem is actually finding people who are willing to write an article in exchange for a link and some ad revenue. I know I am too lazy to do that. I would rather just pay a freelance writer to write the article for me.

It's a good idea Paul, but as Jeremy said now you have to find the people to post. Realistically how much will someone make from the Amazon link? In fact there's no guarantee of making anything. The link is always good, but even then it depends on your site.

The point being that the quality of what you get back will have a lot to do with you're able to give. A site like Nettuts will pay $150 for an article and the link will be valuable as well as driving a lot of targeted traffic. On the other hand they probably reject more posts than they accept.

You'll have to find the balance in how much quality you need in the posts and how much you can sweeten the offer for the person writing the post. Make your current offer and see what it brings in. If it doesn't get people to write for you or if the quality of the writing you get isn't what you want you'll have to up the offer or find other places to promote it..

Your idea though is sound.

Sounds like a win-win to me, assuming they are writing good content that is consistent with the rest of the site.

Originally Posted by willcode4beer

My site still gets around 15K visitors per month, regular content will double that. They also get the *coveted* one-way link with a rev="vot-for"

Just curious, how sure are you that having more content will double that number? I mean, right now is it irregular? I'm sure more content will help, but at some point I have to wonder if posting 5 days a week versus 7 days a week is any less successful.

I have 18 part-time writers, and write myself as well. I'd be happy to give it a try. Please email me which site(s) you were thinking about, and what kind of topics you are looking to cover: rmtc@behindthehype.com

Thanks!

Jeff

Yes, I can see how this can attract people, considering they more of their affiliate links the get out the more they can generate.

But the problem is people willing to create the articles and then have to wait for the articles to generate the traffic and sales for their links.

It is best if you can provide them traffic stats that way they have a better feeling of security with going in this route.

Originally Posted by hme2779

Just curious, how sure are you that having more content will double that number? I mean, right now is it irregular? I'm sure more content will help, but at some point I have to wonder if posting 5 days a week versus 7 days a week is any less successful.

It's based on experience. If I post just twice a week, my traffic doubles. The problem is, I've been so busy I haven't had much time to spend on it.

For my site, I doubt 7 days/wk would do more than 5. Since my site is developer oriented, most of my traffic comes Mon-Fri. People find it while at work.

Can you do some batch writing? Write about 10 articles (probably shorter articles) at a time and then gradually release them over the next five weeks. During that five weeks, whenever you have time, write a few more articles so you can stay ahead. I haven't updated my site in a long time because I've been working on a content management system and a site redesign, but it's close to done now and I'm planning on doing a lot of batch writing.

Hi - I went to your website and tried to figure out what it was all about?????

WHAT THE!!!!! - So much traffic too your website.... And yet people do what.....

Ha, ha, yes people are attracted to the beer links, sponsorship... I expected to find some great website about beer....

Nope, it's all about bit wrangling the keyword is 'code'.

It's ok if you don't get it. Just means you're not in the target audience, as if I have one....

Interesting you say "that much traffic". I don't think I get very much traffic. Thus, the idea to grow it.