The Lockwood Letter

Notice that vertical banner on the right side of this page? It might look like a banner ad, but it’s actually a widget… from a new service called NicheWidget.

It displays an ad for a product from categories I select- notice if you click on Get Details, it takes you to a sales letter for that product. If someone buys that product after clicking from my site, I get a commission, just like with a regular affiliate program.

But unlike most affiliate programs, the NicheWidget gives me one ad that will rotate through many products, increasing the odds that the visitor will see something that interests them (rather than a banner ad for one product that never changes).

The widget comes in several different sizes, and more are coming. I don’t have to do anything with graphics; the widget does all that for me.

Putting the widget on a site just involves copying some code from my NicheWidget account and pasting it on my site (which doesn’t have to be a blog). It’s about the same process as putting Adsense on a site, so if your Adsense earnings have plunged recently as many others have seen, you might want to give the widget a try. It’s also OK to have it on the same page with Adsense, because it’s not contextual. (Meaning it doesn’t read the text of my page trying to figure out what ads to display, since I choose the category.)

Other than that, you don’t have to set up any web pages.

If you roll over the bottom of the widget, you’ll see some more info about it.

The really cool thing is that this is a free service. Just sign up, grab the code, and put it on your site.

There are also some options where you pay a fee in exchange for getting higher commissions (as in 100%). So if you get lots of traffic you may find those commissions more than pay for your membership, but like I said, you can use the service for free: NicheWidget.

I’ve talked to David Perdew, the creator, and there are lots more features coming. Check it out.