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Google has hit many sites with a PR penalty due to the fact they were selling links. To avoid getting hit with a PR drop, you need to stop selling links…ok, that was a joke..lol Well, that is an option, but not one most people want to explore. I mean it is your site, why can’t you sell links from it if you want?

The first thing I would do is remove any affiliation to any link or post buying / selling sites on your blog. You could use a re-directed link and then use a no-follow tag, but even then you will be taking a risk. I know it means less sales, but it is worth it in the long run.

If you must sell links, make sure they are related to your site. If you write about technology and then have one post about coffee tables….it’s a bit of a stretch. Google knows every site has a “theme” so stay within your theme.

If you sell links with a service link TLA make sure you never do site wide links, they tend to draw attention. I would also add links inside posts and not on the side bar of a blog and defiantly never under a sponsored section. There use to be a way to tell just by searching in Google which sites were using TLA. I think that problem has been solved, but I still see people still using the old code… meaning Google can still catch these sites using text-link-ads.

Remember there are a lot of ways to make money with your blog, not just with paid links. When your blog is new all you can do is concentrate on creating fresh content. The content will bring you links and the links will give way to PR. Only then can you even begin to start thinking about selling links. I know there isn’t much fun in writing without some thought of money coming in, but you can’t sell links on a blog no one is reading. The time you spend writing posts and building links will help you build trust and in order to do well blogging you need Google to trust you.

Worst case scenario use adsense or affiliate marketing, but no too much too soon. Liter your site with ads and people won’t stick around long enough to see how good your content really is.