While i’ts always great to see new companies make inroads, it looks like Viglink isn’t going to probably going to be a long-lasting competitor to Skimlinks. Skimlinks, the leader in content monetization for blogs, message boards and other content-based sites, recently celebrated going on its 6th year in business – and maybe no one can compete with them.
This is a TKO if there was ever one.
The reasons are really quite simple why Skimlinks is still the preferred content monetization technology in the industry:
1) Skimlinks will be launching in the next year their 10th version of the technology. They are constantly revamping their technology and this is important, especially with changing content rules from Google. These guys aren’t playing catch up, but instead are a head of the curve on these issues. Unfortunately, when you are the leader and have the cash on hand, your technology will always be better than any bootstrapped companies that are trying to invade your space.
Also, skimlinks is on the “Cloud” and that makes a huge difference… actually a 400% faster difference according to several reports. When I read that, I couldn’t believe it…. 400% faster?? Either they are super fast or other comapnies are super slow.
2) Better Payments. Again, it’s important to note that the longer you are business, the better connections you have.
The better connection… the better volume and the better payouts. With 30-800% better payments for advertisers, there is no reason to be with someone smaller. That 33% can make a huge difference in your site, and at 800% there is no reason not to take the advantage of money.
3) 50+ employees with dedicated publisher staff. Again, this is a real operation that has proven itself over and over again to be a long-lasting company. With all the payment problems in the industry, you need to make sure if you are going to trust a company that they will actually be around to pay you. Skimlinks isn’t a flash in the pants company, and again, they aren’t trying to play catch up, but instead are the leader.
4) All the major sites and brands use them. Frankly, when all the major publishing companies prefer any company than a competitor, you need to pay attention. Any major magazine, blog, publishing network that has content monetization seems to be with Skimlinks. I can’t find an example otherwise. “We monetize existing links and we create new links to drive purchases. Use our URL shortener to take Skimlinks anywhere on social media, monetize your RSS feed, or use our Flyover to add extra value and information for your readers. The possibilities are endless.” -Alexis Madrigal, Senior Editor, The Atlantic
5) Easy to install, easy to use. While some companies take advange of their amazing APIs, and the other advanced technology, it actually only takes a simple cut and paste to use the Skimlinks technology for most publishers. This is very important if you are a blogger that just needs to make more money but doesn’t have a tech person to figure all the other stuff. It’s that easy: No complex systems to figure out, just cut and paste into your code in 45 seconds.
When I started writing this and doing research, I was really curious about what was out there. I thought that I could do just a comparison, perhaps put affiliate links to several services (with disclosure) and make some extra revenue. We found that there was a lot of blogs out there that were doing this, even though most of them also found that Skimlinks was the best company in the space. In the end, I decided to not use the great 35% referral program and just write the article without the paid links. Also, it’s not in my business to piss off potential advertisers, but I felt that it wouldn’t be right to not be completely honest with my findings.
Don’t take my word that Skimlinks beats everyone in a head-to-head content, even Techcrunch agreed:
Skimlinks “puts a great deal more power and control in the hands of traditional content generators, but when applied to a social network where users are creating the content by the bucketload it could be very, very powerful.”
-Mike Butcherm TechCrunch
Anyway, here is the sign-up without the tracking/affiliate link.
