WidgetBucks is a new advertising network that features a widget that displays shopping ads. When a reader clicks on the widget and visits the advertiser, you make money. WidgetBucks runs on a CPC model – you get paid when readers clicks on the ads – they do not have to make a purchase from the advertiser. WidgetBucks claims $3 to $6 eCPM in early test results.
WidgetBucks integrates with Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, Movable Type, and other large blogging platforms to make it extremely easy to install. However, the customization options are a bit limited right now. There are only five widget sizes and 117 color choices to choose from. I’m sure more will be added in the future. The ads can be pulled with a MerchSense crawl of your page to finds relevant products to include in the widget. Alternatively, you can choose the categories and products yourself if you think you can do a better job than the crawler.
What The Widgets Look Like
Above and to the right of this post, you can see a 468×60 widget and a 300×250 widget. Other widget sizes include a 160×600 skyscraper, 728×90 leaderboard and an odd sized 660×330 half page widget. I don’t see too many bloggers using that one.
WidgetBucks is ideal for technology and shopping related sites and blogs. However, WidgetBucks is opening their widgets to everyone. There are no minimum requirements to join and the minimum payout is $50. Well, the first payout will be done at $25 because of a special grand opening promotion.
$25 Bonus Just For Signing Up
Sign up for WidgetBucks now and they will deposit $25 into your account. Now all you have to do is earn another $25 and you’ll meet the $50 payout. Sounds like a good deal to me.
The low entry barrier and $50 minimum payout should make WidgetBucks a nice alternative or supplement to Google AdSense. Depending on how it does on your blog, you can use it to replace Google, or use it as the AdSense default. More advertising options are always good.
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