A Change & An Addition
Ok. I lied. No one called me a sellout, although I am sure someone will at some point. The truth is it can be difficult to monetize a blog. Especially when you are trying to stay neutral and non-biased.
A New Feature – Great Deals!
Today I am going to announce a great new addition to Miles to Memories & a change. Firstly, I am introducing Great Deals. Great Deals are deals I find that may or may not be travel related, but deserve mention. The “Great Deals” section will be for things that don’t necessarily fit on the front page.
A good example of this is yesterday when I showed subscribers how to get a 47″ well reviewed LG LED HDTV for $250. Since that was in the “Great Deals” section, my Twitter followers saw it, but it didn’t show up on the main page of the site. (Hope you didn’t miss out!)
Right now to see the “Great Deals” you can either follow me on Twitter or click the MtM Great Deals tab on the top right of any page. We are working to give the deals their own feed, which means you will soon be able to subscribe via email if you prefer that option. I’ll let you know when that feed is in place, which should be within the week.
An Affiliate Banner
The second change is the addition of a credit cards affiliate banner. Writing this blog takes a substantial amount of time and thus I need to be able to monetize it.
I am going to start by only having the banner on my “Credit Cards” page. Just click the word credit cards on the menu of any page and you will see the banner along with all of our recent posts about credit cards. The banner will take you to CreditCards.com where you will be able to select the card you want to apply for from a list.
Now let me say a few things. I will not be linking directly to any credit cards as of now and don’t really plan to add the banner to any other pages. I want those loyal readers who feel they have received value from this site to show their support. Value for value. I do recognize that it takes a few more steps and appreciate the effort of anyone who clicks through and applies.
I also want to be very clear that I have always been consistent with my thoughts on credit cards. When starting in miles & points there are two main rules. Start slow and never have debt. I continue to stand by those mantras. If you are applying anyway, then I ask you to consider where the referral money is going. If you have learned something from this site, then hopefully you will feel like supporting it.
Conclusion
So today I have added an additional way for me to monetize the site, but I have also added additional site value through “Great Deals”. I have been involved in the deals game for well over a decade and know a stud from a dud. If you subscribe to those deals then I guarantee you will find something that saves you money.
My promise to you is to always disclose when I receive something and to tell you my honest opinion. Thus far I have done that and I plan to continue to do so. Thank you in advance for your support and feel free to contact me any time with your questions & feedback!
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I like the title of this post. It coincides with me selling out as well.
I just wrote a post about my new year’s travels. It starts with “Like Michael Corleone, in 5 years ThePointsOfLIfe will be completely legitimate. I will have affiliate link ads bating readers to apply for twenty cards a day, pop ups for those who are lonely, and the same repetitive content that can be found everywhere- “Southwest Airlines 50,000 Offer Still Available!””
Get paid!
Hey Shawn – you know I appreciate what you do here on your blog. You consistently have great info. I wish you great success with it and hope you are able to monetize it. I’m happy to use your credit card affiliate links when I am applying, assuming that you have the best available deal for that particular card. I assume that will be your goal. But I assume you suggest “checking around” first to make sure it is the best available deal, and then having people come back and use your link if it is. Seems like a big problem with blogs like yours is that it is impossible to update past posts with the latest info, or to always be certain that links are current (and the best deal available). Anyway, thanks for your efforts and I’m certainly happy to use your links! (And thanks for the TV deal! Looks like it’s still alive, but maybe just a longer delay on shipment?)
No problem here, you know I’ve used your links before. Is this a full time thing for you or do you have another job as well?
Thanks Nathan! I have other small side projects, however I am doing this full time now.
I always recommend checking around to get the best deal. The banner takes you to CreditCards.com which should have the best available public offers. The only time you should find a better deal is with zombie links or targeted offers where someone has found the link.
A good example of that is the $150 sign up bonus for Discover I posted about the other day. Right now the CreditCards.com site only lists the 0% APR offer with no sign-up bonus since that is the public offer. I would of course recommend people apply through the $150 link. Let me know what you think of the tv!