Feb 1, 2012 Update: YouSayToo has terminated Adsense Revenue Sharing (and never really used Amazon Revenue sharing that I could see.) More details here on the demise of YouSayToo.
It has been a very busy week of writing for another project, but here is the next innovative idea – YouSayToo.com This post may seem pretty promotional but many of this blogs readers also blog. I’m sharing a really interesting free tool and truly passive income opportunity for bloggers.
Earn More Revenue Blogging
YouSayToo is a Google AdSense and Amazon affiliate revenue sharing site dedicated to blog promotion, with some interesting twists. While as I write this post, I am a newer user of the site, it is such a good idea I just had to write it up. If you already have experience using YouSayToo please comment about it below. I’d love to hear positive or negative feedback, corrections, or success reports.
How Do Bloggers Get Paid at YouSayToo?
1. YouSayToo shares Adsense and Amazon Affiliate impressions 50%/50% with you the blogger.
2. Refer a new user who adds their blog(s) or starts a blog on the site and you earn 15% from that user’s Google AdSense ad impressions. If your referral brings on another blogger you also earn 10% of the ad impressions from that user. So in total 75% of the adsense impressions go to bloggers.
3. Affiliate links to reasonable affiliate programs are ok.
“Can I post links to sites with my affiliate ID? Yes, if products that are being sold on the posted site are legal, not related to pharmacia, adult, or gambling. Sites like Thinkgeek, YOOX, and alike are fine for both of us. Think about your popularity first and please do not spam our community.”
Optional Donation Program (and Marketing Advantage)
YouSayToo has an interesting alternative for bloggers who just want to make a difference, not a paycheck. The site offers the option of assigning your Adsense revenue to one of a variety of charities. Current choices include Hope for Haiti, Just a Drop, World Food Programme, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, Imagine a World Without Aids, Against Malaria, Save The Tiger Fund, Save The Whales, and the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.
If you choose the donation option, your side of the Adsense Revenue plus your cut of Adsense on your referrals and their referrals all gets donated to your favorite cause. You also will not need an Adsense account to donate (the site makes the donation rather then using your Adsense code.)
Even if you add your Adsense code you can use the provided banners like this one to attract bloggers who DO want to donate – and you still earn the Adsense referral cut. Isn’t the panda cute?
Increase Traffic to Your Existing Blog for Free
The Main Way: Add your blog to YouSayToo and every time you post YouSayToo puts up a summary of the post and link to your blog. If site users like what you write, they may click through and check you out. Users can also promote your blog by “Rating Up” your post to the front page, Tweet, Share to Facebook, or Buzz It – all actions that should bring you traffic. They can also subscribe to your blog, comment and perform other actions.
One Secondary Way: Use the banner exchange app. I am trying this out – look at the bottom of the page, right side to see the banner exchange app in action (someone else’s blog is advertised there). It is a one for one exchange so every impression the banner gets on your blog earns you an impression on someone else’s blog. 1 in 5 displays are for YouSayToo itself.
Another Secondary Way: YouSayToo has many social features built in. If you get active on the site commenting, friending and participating you are going to get noticed and so is your blog.
How to Get Started with YouSayToo
This is truly a “set it and forget it” passive income opportunity. Set up is very easy, and once set up correctly, no further action is needed. Your new blog posts automatically go onto YouSayToo for extra exposure and your earnings get added into your Adsense and Amazon Affiliate accounts. There is no requirement to even visit the site again if you don’t feel like it.
Step 1: Click Here to Access YouSayToo (with my referral code)
Step 2: Click the Join Now Link and fill out the simple form 
Step 3: Add your blog(s) (or create a new blog). There are detailed instructions for Blogger, WordPress, Facebook, Live Journal and Other. You will need an RSS feed (it finds it automatically) and you must add a little HTML code to the blog. You can add all your blogs under one account.
Step 4: Fill in your Google AdSense and Amazon Affiliate IDs on the Revenue Settings page (or skip the Adsense code and pick a charity to support).
If you don’t have a Google AdSense or an Amazon Affiliate Account then:
- Register for a Google Adsense account here (you don’t need an AdSense account to donate to a cause)
- Register for an Amazon affiliate account here (left side menu)
Optional Step 5: Consider if you want to blog about YouSayToo and/or place provided banners/links on your blog to encourage other bloggers to join up.
Optional Step 6: Set up the banner exchange app.
Optional Step 7: Get involved with the social aspects of YouSayToo to increase traffic to your blog.
Recommended Step 8: Add the channel “YouSayToo.com” to your Google Adsense account so you can see the results.
Recommended Step 9: Read this post Advanced Techniques to Maximize the Benefits of YouSayToo
I hope the YouSayToo site becomes a very useful tool for each of us. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
{ 6 trackbacks }
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Jade,
Very interesting. I will definitely check out YouSayToo as it sounds kind of intriguing.
Ya Moon it would be good for your passive income blog. I’m hoping it brings another group of readers to interact with.
Here is how this blog post looks on YouSayToo
Hey,
I am regular visitor of this website.Lots of good information here.
Thanks for coming by. There is quite a bit of info here on starting and promoting a website, but from a non-technical angle. Watch for more content coming soon.
I think to increase the traffic for blogs, we should do lots of things relating to SEO. Building backlinks for blogs, blog submission…This will take time. And we must writing useful entries that can attract visitors.
Really nice and impressive blog i found today.
I really appreciate your programm of the marketing stratigies. I learn much to your blog.
Thanks for share it.
Its a great post surely i will try this.
.-= maidul´s last blog ..Health Risks in a Bangladeshi Population due to Arsenic Exposure =-.
I have become a member. Just wondering if I will be penalised for duplicate content.
Dr Singh´s last [type] ..No Job No Money
I’ve not noticed any penalty and the articles that post over link back to your blog.
Great, i’ll definitely try it now. hope it works for me. thanks
healthzine´s last [type] ..7 Common Opportunistic Infections in People with HIV- AIDS
I have an account with YouSayToo, and I have a couple of complaints with the site:
1. I get annoying pop-ups (to play a free game) every few minutes or so.
2. The site got my Adsense ID but does not seem to serve Google ads.
3. The links from YouSayToo are “no follow.”
4. I don’t know how YouSayToo will drive traffic to my blog site, since the audience gets to read my entries in entirety without ever having to leave YouSayToo’s site.
1. I’ve never had any popups on YouSayToo. Not sure why you get them
2. According to this thread at YouSayToo the have the adsense ads down temporarily. After looking at this, I’m starting to wonder if the ads are coming back though. Maybe they are having issues with duplicate content? I’ll try and look into this more.
3. no follow vs do follow is proving to be a non-issue now. I’d not worry about that.
4. Point taken. They used to allow teaser posts that did bring the reader to your blog but they made everyone switch to full post. If you include links to other blog posts at the end of each post it creates a nice link and can bring YST readers over to your real blog. Also if the point is getting readers than look at YST as another distribution outlet for your blog posts. As long as the reader sees some ads, sees your links, and sees any affiliate links you post who cares if they read your work on your main blog or on YST.
Hi JadeDragon,
I thought I’d return to your blog post to update my feedback on YouSayToo. After the site update:
1. The pop-ups disappeared.
2. Google ads are back (and I must say they were cleverly positioned).
3. By backlinking a couple of keyphrases to my blog site, I was able to hook a few visitors to my blog.
4. My traffic from YouSayToo registered a bounce rate of zero % so far.
Like you said, YouSayToo offers a nice “set it and forget it” arrangement.
teecup´s last [type] ..Top 10 Contest Sites for Creative People
Fantastic. Thanks for sharing your insights. I had two great clicks from YouSayToo today. helping me reach the biggest adsense day Ive ever had. I hope that the new ad positions are the reason and that this will continue at YouSayToo. They emailed out that they are giving 100% Adsense share for a while to make up for lost revenue while they retooled the site.
Glad you picked up to include links to your other blog posts in your new blog posts to maximize the link building opportunity this represents.
JadeDragon´s last [type] ..10 Tips for Making Money With a Home Based Printing Service
imo, it can drive traffic away because your feeding your post on yousaytoo,like one poster here said that, they might not go to your site.
Mek´s last [type] ..Toyota Corolla 2nd Generation E20
You are going to get traffic over at YouSayToo that would likely not come to your blog otherwise. YouSayToo is monetized and it offers link building opportunities because every internal link you build into a blog post becomes an external one at YST.
I do grant that there is the risk of duplicate content.
I can testify that this site is really good! i have gotten lots of traffic just from this site alone and i do nothing on it
BuildMuscleFast´s last [type] ..Best Program You Could Ever FindPERIOD!
This is interesting. Your article is useful. I’m thinking of joining YouSayToo.
Hey JadeDragon,
You highlighted the pros of YouSayToo pretty well, and I was in fact pretty much convinced at one moment that it is the best site ever. But then, I came across this post which highlighted some cons of YouSayToo, some of which do need a thought. http://reviewlegitorscam.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-no-one-told-you-about-yousaytoo.html
More specifically, the following 3 points make me wonder:
1. I never knew 50% revenue sharing was only for 2+ rating users! How do users get rating?
2. Why don’t they import the older blogs?
3. Why is there a need to put a backlink on our blog first before associating blog with YouSayToo?
Point #1 makes no sense to me. Never seen a +2 rating and that was not in the FAQs last I looked.
Point #2 is simple. YST works off your RSS feed. Your RSS feed only spits out new posts.
Point #3 is a security measure. Only the blog owner has the ability to add that YST backlink to a blog. If they did not have this rule people could go around the web adding everyone elses blog to YST and making the adsense share with no more effort.
Also in that con list is:
#6 – if you write spammy content you deserve to be deleted from YST.
#7 – absolutely not true. I’ve seen the profile link indexed when checking backlinks.
#8 – listed as a con, but is really a pro. It also explains “con” #3 well.
Hey JadeDragon
I wonder why I ain’t able to reply to your response in your blog, tried twice but it failed(Probably because of the size of the my reply). Hence posting the reply to your comment on my blog itself.
I’m adding your comment manually.
Hey JadeDragon
I wonder why I ain’t able to reply to your response in your blog, tried twice but it failed(Probably because of the size of the post). Hence posting the reply here:
Glad that you dropped by my blog. Thanks are due to Preeti as well :) I’m a bit fresh in the blogging world and you are indeed one of my inspirations!
Please find my explanations below:
Firstly, I didn’t intend to mention the list as a “cons” list but it was a list of points “generally overlooked” or not mentioned.
From above:
#1 Following is what YouSayToo terms quote:
“How can I earn money on YST? How does it work?
50% of the advertisements displayed by Google Adsense at YouSayToo.com belong to us and the other 50% of the advertisements displayed by Google Adsense are divided among users who have a rating of 2+ and an Adsense ID account or an Adsense ID channel. If your rating falls lower than 2+, then your Google Adsense ID account or Google Adsense Channel ID stop participating in ad rotation.”
Source: http://www.yousaytoo.com/about/faq
#2 Agreed that RSS feeds only spits new posts but since they already have the mechanism in place to count the number of words in your previous posts(else it doesn’t accept the blog), building a mechanism to import previous posts shouldn’t be that tough.
#3 Agreed! I missed out that point of view. What I initially thought is that those who RSS others’ blog will risk their adsense account but your point makes more sense.
From the list:
#6 True. Just that it is not generally mentioned hence included in the list.
#7 This is again from YouSayToo faq linked above.
“Do links in my post get indexed by search engines?
Yes, links in your post get indexed by search engines, but, links in your profile do not get indexed.”
#8 Again, it isn’t a cons list but many points happend to be in that light. Just that it isn’t mentioned generally. Your point accepted.
I had just joined YouSayToo recently and hence don’t have much idea into the working of the system. Hence the points like 2+ rating and backlinks indexing are mentioned from the information I got in their faq.
I wonder if this reply itself would become larger than a normal blog ;)
But still, thanks a lot for providing your view points! I’d like to hear more from you upon my replies :)
IndianGrad´s last [type] ..What no one told you about YouSayToo – Top 10 list
I really appreciate your post and the comment here. One of the goals of this blog is to bring forward great information and learn together.
The rating system looks new, maybe created after I wrote this post. It seems like a great way to cut the incentive to spam and post low quality stuff by deleting the monetary incentive to post junk.
I can’t quite understand the “no index” of links from your profile. Maybe they mean “no follow” because the profile pages surely get indexed. Strange indeed.
The discussion was indeed enriching. And it did bring some points in front that need to be pondered over.
I have just summarized the main points from the discussion that would add to the users’ knowledge from the available information.
http://reviewlegitorscam.blogspot.com/2011/04/yousaytoo-review-revenue-sharing.html
It uses a couple of your quoted sentences. I hope it’s fine, else let me know.
IndianGrad´s last [type] ..What no one told you about YouSayToo – Top 10 list
Hi Jadedragon,
I enjoyed reading the conversation between you and IndianGrad, it was a very useful discussion!
YouSayToo has managed to bring some traffic to my blog and it requires no effort no my part now that it is set up. I’m concerned that since Google’s panda update YST may do more harm than good since it’s creating duplicate content.
I’ve found that often my post on YST ranks higher in the SERPs than my original blog post which I’m not sure is a good thing. At least I’m getting a share of the impressions though!
Duplicate content is a problem, but mainly for the site that duplicates it. Google can see that your post came first and that the YST post followed.
If the YST post is ranking higher it is because your blog on the YST site has more PR than your own blog. Keep building authority and be happy that in the mean time your posts are ranking somewhere. Better to be found and earn 50% revenue share than earn 100% of zip.
Guys, I have join YouSaytoo and I started gaining some beautiful results.Try it now..:)
Guys. I have a thought about “YouSayToo” because it copy the whole content of my post. My question is “Does it affect the result of my SERP?” or “Is it illegal?” since Google hate duplicate content.
It’s not illegal. It is duplicate content but it points back to your blog, so I do not think it hurts. If used properly, using YST can be a good link building opportunity.
Good day Jade Dragon.
I am glad to have found your site. It is quite informative for me because I am just a new user of YouSayToo.
I discovered You Say Too while I am checking my blog on Google Webmaster Tools. I discovered that one of my blog posts is linked from You Say Too from one of friend’s posts there. The link is written within his post.
It shows that the link placed inside the article is not a “no follow” link. This means that I can get backlinks from YouSayToo just by strategically placing links on my own article.
Ishmael Ahab´s last [type] ..Jollibee Package for Bithday Parties
When I write blog posts I often include anchored back links to other internal blog posts on my blog (and to other revenue articles I’ve written). The blog posts go over to YST and those links now also become good external links.
You must be careful with this site “Yousaytoo” I integrated my blog http://www.zenithincome.com with “Yousaytoo” after some days I check my Google webmaster dashboard I notice this “Restricted by robots.txt (97)” This means that Google stopped crawling my blog. I tried to find out is costing this problem, I used “Copyscape” to find if there is any duplicate of my content and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Every post on my blog goes to “Yousaytoo” as well, therefore making my original post a duplicate to search engine.
This have cost me a lot traffic lose. I never know that I will be a victim to duplicate content. Am deleting my account with “Yousaytoo” with immediate effect.
I have added my site to yousaytoo and waiting for blogs to be transported to them. Well report again if there has been any increase in traffic.