VigLink

VigLink
Industry Marketing, Advertising
Founded San Francisco, USA (March 2009 (2009-03))
Founder Oliver Roup, CEO
Products VigLink Convert, VigLink Insert, VigLink Anywhere
Services In-text Advertising and Marketing

VigLink is a San Francisco-based, outbound-traffic monetization service for publishers, forums, and bloggers. VigLink specializes in in-text advertising and marketing.[1][2][3][4] VigLink CEO Oliver Roup founded the company in March 2009.[5][6][7]

In 2012, Oliver Roup reported VigLink was working on 5 billion pages per month.[8]

As of November 2014, VigLink has raised $27.34 million and is working with 63,000 online retailers including EBay, Target, Amazon.com, and Wal-Mart.[9][10][11][12]

Service

VigLink’s content monetization solution connects potential consumers to products by hyperlinking particular keywords in a website’s content.[1][3][7][9]

The company’s technology, VigLink Insert, scans a page for words that could be potentially profitable to the publisher of the page, and connects the keyword with a product from an affiliate program.[3][4] The publisher is paid when a reader clicks a link contained in the content to buy or learn more about a service or product.[3][7][12]

VigLink also offers an outbound analytics service for clients to understand where readers go when they leave their site.[8][13][14]

Products

VigLink’s first service, called VigLink Convert, operates using a JavaScript library that customers install on their web site to identify and monetize all potential links to any of the 30,000 merchants working with VigLink.[8][12][14][15][16]

The company also offers an NLP-powered link-insertion solution, VigLink Insert, to automatically insert links into a publisher’s content without detracting from reader experience.[14][16]

VigLink Anywhere is the startup’s newest product.[16][17] The Anywhere service is geared towards social media, allowing users to monetize links shared on Facebook, Twitter, and other channels.[16][17]

History

Founding and early investors

Oliver Roup founded VigLink in 2009, after discovering that less than 50% of links to Amazon.com on the web were engaged in the affiliate program.[1][7][14][18][19] The VigLink product was in market by January 2010.[8]

The same month the product was released in market, VigLink received $800,000 in seed funding from First Round Capital and Google Ventures.[2][20][21][22][23][24] Other investors included LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and VP for Products at LinkedIn, Deep Nishar.[14][20][23][25]

Acquisitions and technological developments

In August 2010, VigLink announced it had acquired competitor company DrivingRevenue.com.[24][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] The cofounder of DrivingRevenue, Raymond Lyle, became the president of VigLink.[26][29][31] The acquisition brought over $100 million in transactions from merchandise to the company.[24][27][29][30][32]

The startup closed a Series B funding round in March 2011.[5][33][34][35][36][37] The $5.4 million round was led by Emergence Capital, with continued funding from Google Ventures and First Round Capital.[5][33][34][35][36][37] Emergence Capital partner Kevin Spain also became a member of the VigLink board.[34][35][37]

In November 2011, VigLink debuted the new LinkWeaver service.[1][38][39][40][41] The new technology functioned to enhance VigLink’s automated link affiliation by detecting merchant and product references within a website’s content and linking them to relevant merchant pages.[38][39][40][41] Contrary to alternative in-text methods, the LinkWeaver solution was designed to seek out direct merchant and product references and to avoid hyperlinking keywords to products unrelated to the website’s content.[39][40] In April, 2013, the company renamed its LinkWeaver product to VigLink Insert.

On June 12, 2012, the company announced it had integrated with vBulletin, granting VigLink access to 100,000 forum websites.[42][43][44][45] VigLink also reported that it was processing over 500 million clicks every month.[44]

The following October, VigLink announced a new partnership with iTunes and App Store link optimization service, GeoRiot.[46][47][48]

In May 2013, blog advertising company Skyscraper announced its partnership with VigLink.[49]

In June, VigLink unveiled a new link optimization solution as an optional upgrade to the VigLink Convert service.[11][50] The update modified the original URL, redirecting users to a higher profit-margin retailer.[11][50][51]

Reddit announced that they would begin using VigLink to redirect affiliate links in June, 2016[52]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Leena Rao (17 November 2011). "VigLink Debuts LinkWeaver to Help Publishers Monetize Outbound Clicks". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  2. 1 2 Alexei Oreskovic (12 January 2010). "Google's Investment Arm to Grow Partner Ranks". Reuters. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Krystal Peak (13 December 2011). "Top 10 Ways to Monetize, Leverage Your Blog". VatorNews. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. 1 2 Brian Morrissey (17 November 2011). "Can In-Text Ads Entice More Publishers?". Digiday. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Patrick Hoge (11 March 2011). "VigLink Raises $5.4 Million". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Oliver Roup (6 February 2012). "What's the Value of a Hyperlink? Try $58,000.". MissyWard.com. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Mario (12 January 2012). "Oliver Roup - Founder and CEO of VigLink". IdeaMensch. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Tony (21 February 2012). "Oliver Roup - VigLink 1 of 2". Founder LY. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  9. 1 2 Nancy F. Clark (18 February 2013). "Why is Google Ventures Investing in VigLink?". Forbes. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Kent Bernhard Jr. (25 June 2013). "Three Funding Lessons From VigLink Founder Oliver Roup". Upstart Business Journal. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  11. 1 2 3 Anthony Ha (13 June 2013). "VigLink's Affiliate Links Get More Up-To-Date (And Lucrative) With a New Link Optimizer". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 Leyl Master Black (9 February 2013). "4 Steps to Monetize Your Blog Through Affiliate Marketing". Mashable. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  13. ↑ Oliver Roup (19 May 2012). "Hyperlinks Are Dumb and Bleeding Money; How to Ensure Yours Aren't". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Kenneth Corbin (25 March 2013). "VigLink Builds Bridge Between Content and Ecommerce". eCommerce Bytes. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  15. ↑ Snurre (23 January 2013). "VigLink Review: Join Any Affiliate Program with Ease". Review Harbor. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  16. 1 2 3 4 John Ebbert (17 May 2013). "Affiliate Marketing Going 'Mainstream' Says VigLink CEO Roup". Ad Exchanger. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  17. 1 2 Justin Lafferty (1 April 2013). "VigLink Generates Revenue for Facebook Page Owners Through Link Posts". AllFacebook. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  18. ↑ Peter Coles (24 Sep 2009). "Entrepreneurial Market Design". Market Design. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  19. ↑ Rachel Swan (27 March 2013). "Haute Links: When Blogs Become Ads". SF Weekly. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  20. 1 2 Anthony Ha (12 January 2010). "With Google Backing, VigLink to Help Content Sites Make Money Off Links". VentureBeat. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  21. ↑ Thomas Claburn (12 January 2010). "VigLink Gets Google Backing". InformationWeek Security. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  22. ↑ Jason Kincaid (12 January 2010). "VigLink Raises $800K to Take Hassle Out of Affiliate Programs". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  23. 1 2 Liz Gannes (12 January 2010). "VigLink Finds a New Way to Make Blogging Pay". Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  24. 1 2 3 Katie Deatsch (5 August 2010). "VigLink Buys Affiliate Marketing Competitor DrivingRevenue". InternetRetailer. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  25. ↑ "Google-Backed VigLink to Launch Affiliate Links Scheme". ITProPortal. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  26. 1 2 Anthony Ha (2 August 2010). "Affiliate Link Startups Team Up: VigLink Acquires DrivingRevenue". VentureBeat. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  27. 1 2 Chris Crum (3 August 2010). "Google-Backed VigLink Acquires Driving Revenue". WebProNews. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  28. ↑ "Affiliate Marketing Company VigLink Acquires Rival DrivingRevenue". Marketing Pilgrim. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  29. 1 2 3 Mark Hefflinger (4 August 2010). "Affiliate Links Start-up VigLink Acquires Driving Revenue". Digital Media Wire. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  30. 1 2 Geno Prussakov (3 August 2010). "New Acquisition: VigLink Buys Driving Revenue Inc". Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  31. 1 2 "Google-Backed VigLink Buys Driving Revenue". Silicon Valley Business Journal. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  32. 1 2 Wade Roush (3 August 2010). "VigLink Grabs Wheel at DrivingRevenue". Xconomy. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  33. 1 2 Jason Kincaid (10 March 2011). "VigLink Raises Another $5.4 Million to Help Publishers Monetize Outbound Clicks". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  34. 1 2 3 Wade Roush (11 March 2011). "VigLink Raises $5.4 Million". Xconomy. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  35. 1 2 3 Thad Rueter (14 March 2011). "Affiliate Marketing Technology Firm VigLink Raises $5.4 Million". InternetRetailer. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  36. 1 2 "VigLink Raises $5.4 Million in Financing Led by Emergence Capital". Reuters. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  37. 1 2 3 Rae Hoffman (13 April 2011). "Interview With VigLink CEO, Oliver Roup". The Sugarrae Blog. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  38. 1 2 Rachel King (17 November 2011). "VigLink Intros LinkWeaver to Boost Content Monetization on Websites". ZDNet. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  39. 1 2 3 Brad McCarty (17 November 2011). "VigLink Launches LinkWeaver to Make In-Text Ads Less Annoying and More Focused". The Next Web. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  40. 1 2 3 Tammy Wolf (17 November 2011). "VigLink Unveils LinkWeaver, Content Monetization Technology for Website Publishers". TMCnet.com. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  41. 1 2 Matthew Schwartz (29 November 2011). "LinkWeaver Offers New Alternative for Publishers Looking to Monetize Their Websites". BtoB Media Business. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  42. ↑ Bambi Francisco Roizen (12 June 2012). "VigLink Integrates with vBulletin to Access 100k Forums". VatorNews. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  43. ↑ Murray Newlands (13 June 2012). "VigLink Wins vBulletin". Performance Marketing Insider. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  44. 1 2 Shawn Collins (16 June 2012). "vBulletin 5 Connect Integration with VigLink". Feed Front. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  45. ↑ Murray Newlands (15 June 2012). "vBulletin Announces VigLink Integration with vB 5.0 at ForumCon". The Admin Zone. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  46. ↑ Khanhumayun (22 October 2012). "Affiliate Platform VigLink Partners with GeoRiot to Enable Location-Based Referrals". Humayun Khan's Writing Portfolio. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  47. ↑ Simon Holland (October 2012). "VigLink Upgrades iTunes Affiliate Links". PerformanceIN. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  48. ↑ Clyde Smith (26 October 2012). "Worldwide iTunes Affiliate Links Via GeoRiot & Related Tools for Musicians". HyperBot. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  49. ↑ Frederic Lardinois (28 May 2013). "Blog Monetization Service Skyscraper Comes Out of Closed Beta, Adds VigLink Integration & Wordpress Plugin". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  50. 1 2 Shawn Collins (14 June 2013). "New Link Optimizer Technology from VigLink". Shawn Collins Consulting. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  51. ↑ Shawn Collins (15 June 2013). "New Link Optimizer Technology from VigLink". Feed Front. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  52. ↑ "Affiliate links on Reddit".
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