Sphinn this story please?

Well, the cat is out of the bag. We hinted the other day that a big blog network was adopting ScratchBack. We can say it now, it’s Splashpress Media. Check out the announcement here on David’s blog (he runs their marketing).

One of the advertising systems I have enjoyed here on this blog is Scratchback. It is a system that allows readers to tip the blogger and show their link on the blog. The great thing about the system is that links are done using JavaScript which means they shouldn’t create any issues with Google like other text link systems. The other great thing is that the blogger sets the price and time.

I have used the system on this blog for a while, selling ten dollar links, but Splashpress’ prices are insane. If you want to get links on The Blog Herald, Blogging Pro or other blogs in the Splashpress Media family, here is your chance.

So head on over to some of their blogs and enjoy a super low-cost way to advertise on their huge traffic. I believe most of the widgets they put up are set to only a $5.00 tip.

Here’s a few blogs that have it going already. Go tip!

http://www.blogherald.com
http://www.bloggingpro.com
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/
http://www.901am.com/
http://www.gadzooki.com/

We’re not going to say who it is just yet, but we wanted to announce that a blog network has begun testing of the ScratchBack system across their blogs. The widgets we made for them are custom designed to match each blogs’ color. We’re pretty excited about it.

Hopefully we’ll get permission from the network to talk about it down the road when we have more data. Till then, keep your eyes out for widgets in new places you may not have seen them before. We’re taking the online tipping space by storm!

Right now the minimum you can setup a SB widget at is a $1.00 tip. We set it up this way to lower the barrier of entry for people with lower traffic blogs. The idea was that their readers would be able to participate for a low cost.

What we have found during the beta is that less than 50% of the people using the widget have their tips set at less than $5.00. So when we look at that data, we wonder if it wouldn’t be best to simply make the minimum tip to $5.00 for everyone. What do you think? Sound off.

Note: Our studies have shown that the people who price at $5.00 and above receive the most tips out of anyone. Why? Well, we believe it’s the psychology of the matter. If a tip “costs” more, it must be worth more?

Consider that when pricing your widgets, and let us know about your thoughts on the minimum?

Last thing. The PayPal cut on $1.00 really stinks. On $5.00 it is much more reasonable. So actually, having a higher tip amount means you pay less to PayPal.

Check out our newest widget user over at http://timothysykes.com. He’s using a very swanky custom designed widget that is set for $20/tip, on auto-bump. His blog gets over 3,000 unique visitors a day, so that’s a pretty great deal if you ask us. Go tip him!

Want to know more about his audience? Check his advertising page.

Here are some demographics of interest (tracked with Google Analytics and surveys):
- 40% of readers are between 18-25 years
- 36% of readers are between 26-35 years
- 20% are over 36 years
- Avg. time on site: 8 minutes and 30 seconds
- Traffic Sources: 52% Direct Traffic, 38% Referring Sites, 10% Search Engines
- Location of visitors: USA 81%, Canada 7%, UK 4%, Germany 3%, others 5%

Mark Evans asks the question… “How will wordpress make money?” I think the better question is…

“How will a million+ Wordpress.com bloggers make money?”

Bloggers may tell you that they don’t want to earn a few bucks, or more, from their blogging efforts, but deep down, they wish they could. It makes no sense to us that Wordpress.com doesn’t give them some type of system to help them earn.

I can see many bloggers not wanting to stick with them if they don’t assist them down the road into at least some type of monetization effort.

Of course, we believe that ScratchBack.com is that solution for them. So much so that we’ve been talking for months with a top executive over at WP.com. But so far, we’ve gotten no real forward progress. Probably because as Matt states, they aren’t in any hurry to monetize.

ScratchBack just makes sense for them though, doesn’t it? We think so. So, Matt Mullenweg, ready to hear us out? info at scratchback dot com.

Congratulations to widget design #7. The user is DayDreamOz from Sitepoint. They got the most votes from all the entries.

Hundreds and hundreds of votes were cast, and #7 took in a whopping 62% of them. A close second was #26. This widget will be live and ready to use in the ScratchBack system in a few days.

Note: We’re also upgrading all the widget designs (no, not in size yet) with some updated looks coming soon too! Thank you to everyone who put in a design and who voted, great contest!

The contest ends tonight. Get your votes in now. Hundreds have weighed in already.

http://www.scratchback.com/design_contest.php

The entries are in, and we’re ready to accept votes for the new ScratchBack widget design. Here’s the page with all the designs entered into the contest for the $200 prize. Start voting!

http://www.scratchback.com/design_contest.php

The contest is over. 32 new widget designs were entered of all different styles and colors.

Now it’s going to be up to you to vote to see which one gets implemented and which one earns the $200 prize. Voting details coming in the next few days, so get ready to vote!

Check out Blogaboutyourblog.com for a really great deal. They’re using the ScratchBack widget and you can tip them for only $5. That’ll get you exposure to over 500 readers!

Are you using the ScratchBack widget? Feel free to send us your blog and tell us why you think other SB users would want to tip you.