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We are EXTREMELY excited to announce the official alpha launch of 123LinkIt.com! A recap email was just sent out to our email subscribers at http://eepurl.com/iGE_.

So what is 123LinkIt? And what’s an alpha launch?

I’m glad you asked!

123Linkit’s mission is to automate the advertising process for bloggers. We’re starting this with a few core features using a WordPress plugin and we’re tackling affiliate marketing first. We explain it in 3 easy steps on 123LinkIt.com’s slideshow on our homepage.

We’re releasing an early version because we want to hear what you think. If you could use one tool to help monetize your blog, what would it be and what would it do?

*nodding*

YES! That’s what we want to hear. YOUR FEEDBACK AND IDEAS!

So our alpha launch is just that. We’ve publicly opened our site and we’re only promoting it to you, the users who’ve signed up to be notified.

To set expectations, we know we could have bombarded you with more features. Instead, we decided to skinny it down to get your feedback from the get-go and make sure we’re building something you would love using. So tell us what you think and don’t be shy!  We’re also a small startup so trust us when we say we’re serious about creating something you want and that we’re here to listen.

If you’re wondering what this is going to cost you – stop! We’re completely free to use. There’s no setup fee, subscription fee, etc. We only make money when YOU make money. How’s that for proving our value?

So what does our 0.1 version include? Here’s a recap with what to expect down the line:

• Our first plug-in is for WordPress.org. Future versions will be released for Blogger.com, TypePad and others. If you want to be a part of deciding which platform we should roll out with next, you can fill out this 2-question form.
• Our WordPress affiliate plug-in transforms product keywords into affiliate links. We scan your posts, figure out the advertisers that match your content and embed the links into the keywords. Right now,  there’s a self-regulation process where you determine which links to add after you write your blog post (some of you will prefer it this way). Also, the links have to be embedded manually (this is temporary). Before alpha is over, we plan on automating this so not only are the links automatically inserted into your post when you click on them but you’ll also have an option to check a box that allows us to automatically add affiliate links to your blog so you never have to worry about it again.
• We couldn’t leave you with the standard ugly affiliate links so we’ve also implemented affiliate cloaking with our recommendations. We’re not going to lie. They COULD look better and we’re working on that (we assure you they’ll look better than they do now). When it’s finished, all your affiliate links will have your blog URL and the advertisers name just like this – www.123LinkIt.com/blog/advertisersname. Isn’t that prettier than www.anzodrozv232.com/234210blahblah? Affiliate cloaking, in case you didn’t know already, helps improve conversion rates.
• One of the main concerns we kept hearing over and over from bloggers when we told them about our tool was how their SEO is going to be impacted. So we made sure to add nofollow attributes to our affiliate links as well. This ensures you preserve your link juice and don’t get penalized by search engines.
• Finally, we want to make sure you know how well our plugin is working for you so we’ve allowed you to analyze your best performing advertisers, top performing blog posts, and more. Haven’t you always wondered which blog post generates the most revenue for you? Now you’ll now!

As an added bonus of being an alpha user, we’re also going to provide you with blog post recommendations. Yep, we’ll analyze your posts, top performing advertisers and current trends in your industry to provide you with blog post ideas that not only help with your writer’s block (as least when it comes to deciding what you’re going to write about next) but are also more likely to generate passive income for you!

Oh, you have another question? What’s that? You want to find out how we get our advertisers?

My, you’re full of great questions today!

We’ve partnered with Commission Junction (CJ) to provide you access to more advertisers than you’ll normally be able to work with. Not only does this increase your advertiser pool, but it also increases the relevancy of our recommendations. If you already have a CJ account, don’t worry about closing it down – you can use ours in conjunction.

Remember that we don’t make money unless you do. Therefore, we’re committed to having our tool become BETTER than any money-making tool you’ve dreamed of. Got a question? Have an idea or a comment? Reach out to us here or on our community page at http://getsatisfaction.com/123linkit.

Now what are you waiting for? It’s time to take our plug-in for a test run!