WidgetBucks: Today’s Big Thing

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It’s already been written about by John Chow and ProBlogger.  Unfortunately for them, Yaro Starak was smart enough to send it by e-mail, which I read before I open my browser.  By the end of the day, you will be as sick of this one as you were of DealDotCom and BlogRush a couple of weeks ago.

But please don’t let that stop you from clicking my WidgetBucks link and signing up!

This is not a product blog, but I have some smaller niche sites which are entirely product-centric.  One of the frustrations of owning a small product blog is that you really can’t join the best product-related affiliate programs, like Chitika Mini-malls.  That leaves the blogger suffering through under-monetization either by passing up opportunities, or using the very low-paying Amazon affiliate program.  Or you could sign up for dozens of programs through Commission Junction and similar sites, and hope that a few of them can actually convert sales.  Either way, a small product blog has very few good sales opportunities.

This is one of the easiest sign-ups ever.  Most affiliate programs require you to enter all of your web sites, and your full personal information, including your social security number or tax ID, when you first join.  WidgetBucks just wants your name, e-mail address, and password.  You can enter the rest when you’ve had time to look around and make sure the service is for you.  It actually appears that you don’t need to enter any more information until you are ready to get paid. 

I’m still browsing around the WidgetBucks website to get a feel for the program, but here’s what I know so far.  New signups get a $25 bonus, which brings you half-way to the payout level.  You only have to bring in $25 of new commissions, and they’ll pay you $50.  That’s a pretty nice way to get started with a new affiliate program.

Commissions are two-tiered for one year.  It’s a little unusual that they’d limit it to one year, but it’s better than nothing.  Second tier commissions are 10% of your referral’s commissions.  First tier commissions are product dependent, which is normal for this type of program with multiple publishers.  WidgetBucks is effectively filling the role of Commission Junction or ShareASale with this system, while saving you the time and effort of joining dozens of publisher programs. 

When you create the widget, you can select a topic and a category. Or, like Google Adsense, WidgetBucks can attempt to detect the nature of your content and display relevant advertising.  Assuming this works as well as AdSense or AuctionAds, most of the ads displayed will be very relevant, with a few oddballs thrown in based on something you didn’t intend to be seen as a keyword.   I’m going to place two widgets at the bottom of this article to see what comes up.   The first will be targeted (Laptop computers), the second will use MerchSense, their content detection system.

Each widget you create is unique, and can be tracked individually.  This will be helpful for tracking click-thru rates and conversions, as well as just keeping track of your different websites, if you have more than one.  My three jewelry sites, for example, all have slightly different focuses, so it will be nice to be able to track the ads separately.

Like all affiliate programs, the only way to know if it will for you is to sign up and give it a try.