Digital Point's Cooperative Ad Network:
Digital Point's Cooperative Ad Newtork is a powerful link exchange program. I believe sites participating in the network are assigned an ad weighting based upon traffic, PageRank, and number of pages number of pages indexed in Google. On your pages you place the code and random static text links pointing at other network sites magically appear. On other participating sites links to your site will randomly appear based upon your weighting. Many of the sites are community driven forums with thousands of pages so there is a ton of link popularity being parsed around.
Search Google for eBay and you will see Shawn ranking in the top 10. When asked about his eBay page Shawn stated:
Started monkeying with it about 5 weeks ago... Broke the top 10 a week after I started.
Coop Ad Network Rating as Currency:
The Coop Ad Network rating is actually becoming a currency...
Where there is Value...
When other people sign up under your account you gain added network credits. Some people are sending out affiliate link embedded emails recommending the coop ad network.
I haven't seen weight for sale on ebay, but I did get an email "reviewing" the ad network with someone's affiliate link in it. mattmdesign
Shawn replied to the thread saying that those who are spamming will be removed from the program.
Me Too:
The ad network has grown so popular that other cooperative networks such as
http://www.yourcan.com/ have sprung up.
The general take is, so long as it is trustworthy, the more the merrier. From a forum participant:
I just signed up as #47
It's a complete rip, but I couldn't care less...
Another network= More links
Is it a Link Farm?
More forum quotes:
I haven't used the co-op. there's no reason any sites will be penalized by participating it the network. what it does is to AUTOMATE a legitmate ad process.
Not possible because links are randomly picked. A link farm is a group of fixed links where linking partners have the same set of links.
Those are example quotes from supporters of the network. I think it is somewhat of a link farm in that there is absolutely no focus on relevancy. There still are some big holes in that ad program if it is to be sustainable.
No doubt that short term it has been amazingly successful for some, but at this point the network is something that is "above radar," and if search engines want to do something about it I am sure they can.
I think the community driven link partnership idea is a golden ticket though (it is essentially the AdSense of link building), and the first person who creates that type of network which is focused on relevancy will do exceptionally well. I do not think it is easy to be relevant without indexing and understanding the pages though, and that obviously much more expensive than the current network setups.
Another Link Building Program:
The community link building idea will continue to grow more popular over time. LinkItForward is another similar version of the community link idea. I have not tried out their network so I am uncertain as to how high of a quality the participating sites are, but with it you at least get to select who you are willing to link out to.
Questions Going Forward:
How do you build critical mass while focusing on relevancy? Is it possible? Any thoughts? If you were to start a community linking program what would you think would be important? Can you make a scalable community linking program that does not leave footprints?
