Anyone interested in earning money from your blog, newsletter, web site, social networking sites, RSS Feeds or even your site communications like Thank You pages? Stupid question? Of course it is! Karen over at RevResponse contacted me about doing a review of their network and I have to say, I’m glad she did. It has led to a couple of interesting avenues I’m going to pursue to generate money.

Before I get into my thoughts on RevResponse, though, I have to mention something kind of interesting. I was actually turned down last year when I applied to their network. The site I listed on the application wasn’t a good fit for their offers (according toRevResponse). It kind of pissed me off at the time, but in hindsight, after looking through their offers, I can see their perspective.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized this is a welcome change to how many affiliate networks approach their application process. At least RevResponse is putting applicants through a screening process and not just blanket approving everyone. In fact, they should end up with a tighter, more focused network with higher quality offers. After all, advertisers want to put their dollars to the most effective use possible. A high quality network stands a better chance of offering that than one filled with junk or unrelated affiliate sites.

How About Some History
In 1994, the parent company, NetLine Corporation, began offering free business magazine subscriptions through its TradePub.com website. B2B magazine publishers gained a new channel for growing their circulation, qualified professionals gained a convenient way to subscribe to their favorite industry publications.

In 2008 NetLine revamped the TradePub partner program and created an easy-to-use portal and self-service program known as RevResponse in order to provide the tools and access to our content that partners had been asking for.

What Sets RevResponse Apart
I asked Karen what she felt was different about RevResponse from other networks. Here’s what she had to say:

1. We give you valuable business resources that you give away for FREE and then we pay you for giving them away. You provide value AND we pay you.
2. We offer the option to pay our partners by check or by PayPal. We use PayPal mass pay which allows us to incur the payment charge so that PayPal does not deduct any fees from your earnings.
3. We pride ourselves in transparency and customer service. The blog and forums are visible to all of our partners. If someone has a question, comments, rant, or rave, we want to hear it and response effectively. In the blog we provide updates, ideas, and fun contests and cool prizes. Every partner is assigned an account manager who can help them to generate earnings specific to their site and audience.
4. The ways to promote our offers are endless.

I can’t speak to #2 (however I like not paying PayPal fees to receive money!), but so far the other points are spot on from what I’ve seen. Here are my thoughts about RevResponse after spending some time in the system and considering how to make money with their unique offers.

RevResponse Backend
When I first logged in, I have to say, I was a little confused. The backend system is a little cluttered and requires some poking around to get the lay of the land. It’s not necessarily bad, just different. Be prepared to spend a little time getting to know the system and where things are at. There’s a lot of text and text links to wade through.

There are the usual features of an affiliate backend system. RevResponse, though, has a few I haven’t yet seen (or noticed at least!) in other affiliate systems. Here are the highlights:

• Ad Wizard – Just select your ad placement and the wizard will walk you through customizing a banner, text or link to fit that spot. Text, images and offers are all preselected based on the images and content type you select. Once you’re done with the wizard, cut and paste the code and you’re all set.
• Newsletter Wizard – This wizard walks you through creating a newsletter. The end result is a complete newsletter, with offers, that you can simply mail out to your audience. Very handy and a great way to take advantage of lists you have with very little work.
• Offer Wizard – Let’s you create custom ads by choosing the offers you want to fit a certain size space or letting the system choose the hottest offers that pertain to the niche criteria you select. You also can adjust colors and other features of the ad.

What I Like
#1 Free Content…Everyone is saying (and have been for a while) that offering something free in exchange for information like an email address is the best way to build a list or to generate a sale. One of the biggest benefits of RevResponse is the ability to offer free content, free trials, etc to your site visitors. Many of these offers are to publications that your users are likely already familiar with or reading. It increases the chances of you creating successful leads and removes barriers in an otherwise tough process.

#2 Co-Branded Site…Within a day of signing up for RevResponse, I received something I didn’t expect. A Blueverse.com co-branded site! What a welcome surprise. Not only did the site have all of the offers on the RevResponse network, it was branded with my blog look and feel AND the Blueverse.com navigation. That last one is a biggie because it keeps my site visitors within MY site, even though they’re taken to a RevResponse owned URL. That’s HUGE!

Even if you didn’t include any other offers from RevResponse in your site or blog, having the co-branded site and driving traffic to it is worth the time and effort to get signed on with RevResponse. This is a time saver and potential goldmine with relevant offers assembled in one place and updated automatically for you.

You can see the Blueverse.com co-branded site here: blueverse.tradepub.com

#3 Unique Monetization Methods…In reading through several of the RevResponse tutorials and looking through the site, I came upon several monetization methods I hadn’t previously thought of. One of my favorite ideas was to add a RevResponse offer link on the Thank You page for newsletter signups. Normally that’s a throw away courtesy page, but RevReponse offers a great option. Any revenue you can make from pages like that are pure gravy in my opinion.

Reporting
Reporting is good with a number of different ways to look at your referrals, earnings, traffic and sources. All of the reports are viewable online or available as a download in Excel. Nothing to write home about here, but nothing missing from what an average affiliate would want in my opinion.

My Final Thoughts
RevResponse is a great network that allows you to take advantage of offers you might not otherwise see. In the day of oversaturation in fitness products, teeth whitening, dating, etc., it’s nice to have a network that offers something different. Frankly, their offers are solid and will appeal to an audience the other run-of-the-mill stuff won’t. This will lend some credibility and legitimacy to your blog or web site. What’s more, you’ll be offering valuable products that your site visitors will be glad to have AND you’ll get paid for it.

I’ll throw this out there. Anyone who signs up using my link, I’ll be glad to help you by taking a look at your site or blog and suggesting what RevResponse offers would be potentially good fits for your content and site visitors. Just email me on the contact form once you’ve been approved.

Sign up for RevResponse here: Join RevResponse TODAY!

Related posts

1. Another Thought About The Amazon Affiliate Slap
2. Great Source Of Money Making Ideas
3. What is the Best Way to Make Money From Your Blog?
4. Grab This Free Ebook To Learn About Squeeze Pages
5. Make Money With eBay Auctions