I have several questions for writers about using adsense revenue sharing. I have a website that I would like to offer adsense revenue sharing to writers (this is not a BST thread, I am just looking for advice). As a writer: Is this still attractive to writers? Would it be better to offer to manage the ads and I pay out once per month, or just let the writer enter their adsense ID, and they get a percent of the impressions? Would writers prefer a different ad share than adsense (they could put their ID for another ad company, like chitiqua or something) and if so, which company? What characteristics would the website need for a writer to be interested? (for example: PR3, 10k monthly traffic, author resource box with space for a personal link, other??? ) Anything else you think might help me? thanks for your input!
no one here has ever written for a revenue sharing website? Does any writer have any interest in this type of work, or is it considered a bad idea?
Some answers from my perspective ................ 1] Is this still attractive to writers? - Yes, if your site has good traffic, looks professional and delivers results. Some writers just want to write and let somebody else promote their articles. 2] Would it be better to offer to manage the ads and I pay out once per month, or just let the writer enter their Adsense ID, and they get a percent of the impressions? - If possible to offer both options, do so. Adsense banned writers might appreciate having Option 1 while some writers may prefer entering their Adsense Id. 3] What characteristics would the website need for a writer to be interested? (for example: PR3, 10k monthly traffic, author resource box with space for a personal link, other??? ) - Professional looks, traffic, monetary results (Or writers may not be motivated to continue after their first article), recommendations, number and activity of other users, ability to add their own links to articles
Perhaps offer some sort of tiered compensation - flat fee up front (on a per article basis if article is of a good enough quality), small payment and percentage of income, nothing up front and higher percentage. The biggest thing you will need to do is build a site and a reputation that you deal with writers fairly and to create a place top writers want to contribute. Be picky or don't bother. You'll also need to decide if you want to assign topic areas (like about.com) or allow folks to write about whatever they want. To make it worthwhile from a visitor's point of view, you will have to ensure only top quality articles are accepted. Give people a reason to come to your site instead of your more established competitors. My gut tells me that to make such a project profitable is going to require a great deal of time and effort just in the building phase. You might want to offer some additional enticement to writers who sign up early when their risk of limited returns is the greatest. Maybe create a magazine style setup where you have a weekly or daily 'issue' rather than random articles being posted across the site? It sounds like an ambitious undertaking. Good luck. Hopefully, in a few years, your site will be the one others wish to emulate.
Thanks for the advice! I will look into setting up the an option for writers to choose how they are paid, and tiered compensation is interesting... This: is obviously going to be a problem since the site is new I am working on how to get over that "hump" this is actually a little different since it's not a general topic site, it has a very specific focus, and I think I am going to have assigned topics - or rather that each writer will pick one sub-topic and that will be it. I am not interested in getting spammers who just want to put their link into some spun garbage, they are going to have to have an interest in the topic to want to do this. It has been an ambitious undertaking, but most of the programming is done, and there is a lot of content and it is getting a little traffic despite being completely unpromoted, but not enough traffic to attract writers yet... The problem I see with attracting writers with a flat fee upfront is that it would be extremely expensive for the quantity of content I want. - what do you think would be the minimum amount necessary to get a writer's interest?
I'm not sure but I think Associated Content or another similar site pays $10 plus either a portion of proceeds or a bonus for traffic. If you could beat whatever they are paying, you could probably attract some folks who are starting out or are looking to build a nice portfolio of work. Part of it also depends on the niche you are working in. How much research is required and is it a topic that a writer could earn substantially more elsewhere will come into play as well.
AC pays anywhere from $0-$25, and they are one of the highest paying sites, but I obviously do not have as much money as Yahoo!, so I can't afford to pay that much per article. But, on the other hand, many people never get any articles accepted to AC, so I think there might be people interested in writing for other sites? The research shouldn't be difficult and there is not another site with a good profit for this topic (that I am aware of) and there is one site on this topic that has attracted lots of writers for free, just for the exposure (obviously, my site isn't there yet either)... I might be able to run a contest - best writer of the month gets an ipad or some other prize each month (or cash) would that be interesting?
From what I've seen, the people who can't get stuff accepted into AC are usually poor writers. Set high standards or you'll just become another wasteland of useless words. I think most writers view contests as a gimmick to be avoided. Wasn't there a site somewhere who gave out points? The points could either be converted to cash or stuff, I'm not sure which. Another site does a thing each year where they give away coffee cups. I was shocked to see how hard people worked for a stupid cup they didn't need.