Things always seem to even out. After I just posted about how I was removing AuctionAds from all of my sites, I was wondering what I was going to fill the ad space with. I was about to log into my NeverBlueAds account and grab a few banners, but then I was contacted by my good friend Jim. He told me about a brand new widget that just went live and I think I might actually do well on a few of my sites. The widget is called WidgetBucks and it’s from a company called mPire. It’s kind of like AuctionAds meets Shopzilla.
Since I already needed a spot to fill for my AuctionAds ad space, I figured I’d give it a shot. It’s pretty cool because you can pick the different type of products you want featured on your widget. I chose a couple banners targeting to mp3 players, video games and movies to spread across my sites on a few skyscraper banners.
WidgetBucks is brand spanking new and they are looking for some new bloggers and publisher sites to promote and make money with the program. To increase sign ups they are giving away some "Easy Bonus Bucks": We’re offering a $25 bonus to bloggers just for signing up. Once you earn $50 in your WidgetBucks account, BOOM!, the $25 bonus kicks in. It doesn’t get much better than that.
(Update: Affiliates will also earn 10% of all referred earnings for up to 12 months)
On top of giving a FREE $25 to all new signups, WidgetBucks pays on a per clicks basis. How much? I’m not sure, but I’m sure it varies per product. (On their main page, they boast average rates between $2-$7 CPM) The program is super new, so don’t shoot the messenger if it doesn’t perform for you… but I’ll gladly take the praise if it does. I’ll be pushing this offer with at least over 5 million impressions a month and can’t wait to see what type of earnings I see. I will definitely keep you updated with any news and my first set of earnings!

Join WidgetBucks to see all banners in action, this is just a screen shot version.
You can place a widget banner like the one above on your web site and start earning money with each and every click on the banner. If you run a site that does reviews on any type of product or simply have a tech savvy blog, you could really cash in on this program. Other banner sizes available are 468×60, 160×600, 300×250, 728×90 and 660×330. In addition to many sizes, you can also match the banner with almost any color to blend in with your site.
Let me know what you think of this new program, and you can click here to sign up.
So, is that similar to say Chitika minimalls? I didnt do very well with them so Im not sure how much better this would do for me and my site. What are your thoughts?
We’ve been listening to your feedback as WidgetBucks takes off and have decided to respond rapidly by improving our Referral Program. Mpire will now pay a 10% Referral Fee on commissions for a year. If someone you refer earns $100, you get $10, etc. The new details are going up on our site now.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Sean
VP Product Marketing, Mpire
I was also thinking this would be a perfect program to test against Chitika.
Zac, go back into your account and re grab the widget code and paste back into your blog entry. It was retooled overnight to work now inside blog entries.
I’ll have to compare this with Chitika and see how well it does. Chitika has been a great earner for me.
I see that more and more affiliate programs just like this one are getting launched everyday.
I just sign up thru you Zac. Lets hope I make some money.
Zac are you still runing Ask.com ads ? if so any update
Hey Edgar,
Unfortunately the Ask.com (related) program was a big dissapointment. I made enough to get a check issued from them, but have yet to recieve it. I will have to send them an email about that now! >:(
slurrp slurrp you dont get rich of ass kissing
This will be the next best thing I’m sure.
oops i posted in the wrong place. i hope this works out for me.
I like the 25$ sign-up bonus and low payout. I hope it can supplement the Adsense income.
I hope this is not a stupid question, but I really want to know how much they pay per click?? Or it is depending on which ads are displaying?
Is there a minimum price per click??
Click varies per product. I'm sure a click on an MP3 Player would pay more than a click on a DVD/Movie title. Will take some time testing different banners to figure out the payments.
Zac, thanks very much for the reply…
+1 referral for Zac. Hopefully this program will turn out for the better.
For those of you that haven't read the terms, you can run WidgetBucks with other advertising programs.
Will just sign up through your link Zac 🙂
Want to check how it converts!
Interesting
will have to give it a shot compared to chitika
They keep on coming
I hope they'll add more widget designs, I want them fit with my blog.
You can take a look here for some latest updates on the WidgetBucks topic:
WidgetBucks Review
I think there are some interesting things to read.
hi guys i have made like 75 $ in widget bucks …..now am wondering does it pays pls say me have ne one recieved any sort of payment frm it………
I know people are starting to get paid by widgetbucks now but I am getting worse and worse conversions. Tracking always seems to be off and who knows what else has been missed. Feels a lot like auctionads after shoemoney sold it.
Out of interest, have you seen your CTR rates drop dramatically, Zac?
Mind were ok and I was pulling in maybe $0.5 CPM (which I was more than happy with, considering the position and the type of traffic) with a CPM of around 0.25% but now it’s dropped down to maybe like 0.09%. Any thoughts? I assume it’s because so many sites are running exactly the same widget with exactly the same information, but maybe my traffic is just sucking more than usual.
their CPM rates are low but its better than nothing.
cool, i am going to check this out. thanks.
I don't think I generate enough traffic to my site to make this an effective revenue stream, yet.
Nice way to make money with WidgetBucks. It works really good and it is cheap too. I will use it for promoting some of my websites…
It's always nice to see what works, what not and why it works out or not… Testing new concepts is always interesting to gather more knowledge about your audience!
I tried out widget bucks and took it off within a month. It had tons of impressions with no clicks.
What I don't like about widgetbucks is that the widgets appear only for US or Canada visitors. People that visit your site from all other countries vies just ordinary, ugly blinking ads…
It's nice to see there are still some CPC ads that will give you some decent money for putting them up on your blog/webpage. I guess we'll have to see just how well it pays.
Widgetbucks started strong on our site because it was highly targeted to digital cameras and then they began a new program where they displayed completely un-targeted IN YOUR FACE ads before our targeted ads showed. Needless to say stats and earning went in the dungeon so we fired an email off to their support department and as of yet (3 weeks) we're received no response. It's not the first time we have asked for support and these guys clearly have not figured out that bloggers and site owners need and want support that is timely. Earnings were about even with Chitika until the ads changed…
Michael
After you have had time to use WidgetBucks what is your opinion?
I am actually interested in checking out widgetbucks now… I wonder if its worth it to try out. Ive heard a lot of great things about it.
I have had it for a while but, I still do not have the traffic to make it worth while. May affiliate programs are picked up and then dumped by small blogs that do not understand that it is traffic that is needed to make money.
They are WORTHLESS! Don't waster your time on Widgetbucks. No clicks. No revenie. Just in your face ads.
Our opinion…they are WORTHLESS! Don’t waste your time on WidgetBucks. No clicks. No revenue. Just in your face ads.
Im currently giving them a try cool that there pay per click now