Pay-for-blogging site raises questions

ZDNet Tags:








• Advertising,
• Web sites,
• Search,
• Blogs,
• Google

The controversy around a young Web site called Associated Content boils down to perspective.

Does
it exist to game Google search results and generate revenue through
Google's AdWords advertising service by displaying contextual ads next
to the copy? Or is it a new kind of media site, chock-full of original
articles written mostly by average folk about everything from
presidential pardons and karaoke to smoker's guilt and ventriloquism?

Add
to the mix at Associated Content two prominent board members--Tim
Armstrong, head of advertising for Google in North America, and venture
capitalist Eric Hippeau, a managing partner at SoftBank Capital, who
also happens to serve on Yahoo's board of directors--and you have a little company that's drawing outsized and quite possibly unwanted attention.

But while there are plenty of questions about this start-up, no one seems to be able to say it's actually doing anything wrong.

"This kind of service is not entirely clear-cut," said Danny Sullivan, editor of the Search Engine Land blog. "It's not a case that they are bad or should be banned, but they are embroiled in this kind of a debate."

Denver-based Associated Content
was formed in 2004 and received $5.4 million in funding from SoftBank.
It bills itself as a "user-driven information portal" and content
provider, licensing content to other online publishers. The articles
are "optimized for discovery and revenue generation," according to a
news release on the company Web site. In other words, they're designed
to be easy to find on Google through various search optimization techniques used by many publishers, not just people accused of gaming search results.

The
company asks bloggers to write on the subjects of their choosing and
accepts text, video and audio. Contributors can be paid based on the
quality of the article and keyword optimization.

In most
ways, Associated Content's methods seem fitting for any typical Web
site--do your best to get play on Google search results and make money
off its advertising. In fact, Associated Content is hardly the only
company churning out content to match with Google ads. The success of
Google's AdSense program, which matches ads with content on Web sites,
and the growth of blogging applications have led to the emergence of
pay-for-blogging companies that help match willing writers with sites
that want content.

What
separates legitimate content marketplaces from so-called "Made for
AdSense" companies that generate content purely for marketing purposes
is the intent of the company and the quality of the articles, said Rand
Fishkin, co-founder and chief executive of search marketing firm SEOmoz.

That
gets closer to the heart of the controversy. The dividing line between
people who don't have a problem with Associated Content and those who
do seems to come down to one of the most hard-to-define aspects of a
Web site: quality. And quality, as most people know, is terribly
difficult to define. As the 20th-century U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said in declining to venture too far into a definition of pornography: "I know it when I see it."

The
complaint is that much of the content coming out of some of these
pay-for-blogging sites is lousy because it's designed more for ranking
higher in search engines than to inform or educate readers. Associated
Content was taken to task for that in an article headlined "Bottom
Slurping for Google Juice," on the Clickz news site.

Search Engine Land's Sullivan followed up on his blog,
suggesting that Associated Content could be contributing to the
"pollution" of search engine results and "manipulating Google's
rankings" by using, for instance, repetitive hyperlinks from the same
word within an article to another page on the site.

"Some
people just want to make money off AdSense and they just need content,
so they'll effectively freelance stuff from authors. It gets into these
gray areas," Sullivan said in a recent interview. "The only issue with
Associated Content is they've got a Google executive on the board.
Because the company is in this gray area it becomes an issue for them.
What they are doing isn't wrong, but it is subject to debate."

"The
key issue here is you've got someone directly involved in Google's
revenue generation also involved in a company that is taking advantage
of ways to generate revenue from Google," said Andy Beal, founder of
Internet marketing consultancy and blog Marketing Pilgrim. "That's the conflict."

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Blogging To Earn - How to Start Earning With Blogging Online by David Barry

Blog is the word liaison made up of two words "Web & Log". That's how the word "blog" has been derived. Previously, blogs and blogging was inclined towards just the exchange of information, sharing of views and expression of thoughts; now the scenario has a bit of twist in it. Without affecting the ancient ideology here, the newer and contemporary blogging has attracted quite a few more objectives behind its construe and hence, more and more bloggers are daily falling inclined towards jumping into the puddle of targeted blogging and its advantages and benefits. Advertisement is the key attraction on a popular blog; and for average but popular blogs, adsense is an always-run thing.

What is it? If we'll say in this article that it's about earnings and revenue generation, it might sound a bit bizarre. But the fact remains unchangeable, which screams out a "yes" to the bizarre. Yes, the reason why blogging is becoming the attraction of ensembles today on the internet is because it has become the ultimate source of generating revenue with zero capital investment and it serves the exclusivity being eternally explorable. Blogging is now growing to be bloggers full-time source of income.

This is a fact, go ahead, research away - and all the research you can do on this subject will validate our statements. Right; so now the question is, what does it take to buy some success for your blog? It needs you to be serious, to think above, to conquer the basics, to look closely into the various resource banks and all this will let you earn income through your blog/s. Blogs have been in existence for over a decade now, but the hey-days have been noticed for the last 5 years. Blogging has become the key to revenue sharing and earning revenue online; and that too, with no capital investment. We say no capital investment because today, on the internet, you will find uncountable number of free blog hosting websites. All they would be saying is, "free blog hosting", " create free blog", "free blog optimization", "adsense revenue without a website", "earn with your blog" etc. One such free blogging site is blogfreehere.com, which is at the topmost seat in its kind.

Further, blogging is all about writing and posting anything and everything. Having a blog of your own is equivalent to having a website of your own. It can also serve as an online mall, where you may attract advertisers to come and advertise their products which are relevant to the content of your website. Hence, what you need to understand is that you have to choose what is going to be the focus of your blog. Depending on whichever way you choose to prepare and design the content of your website, you may then decide on what kind of sources do you want to or that you can make use of in order to generate revenue. Once, with the ideas and thoughts expressed in your blog and you attain popularity in terms of awareness and response, you may also have uncontrollable and immense traffic coming on to your web blog. This will be the time when you will run out of spaces that you could sell to the advertisers who are keen to put their banners and products on your blogs.

A blog is not restricted to having communication/contact with a community of people about thoughts and philosophy of life. Your blog could also be a business blog, which opens up a platform for the products or services that your business offers. It can promote and advertise your existing commercial website, gain visibility, popularity and extend the reach of your current traditional business flow. The participants could be your customers and they can come to appreciate or criticize your services or products. You can really use the comments as constructive feedback either appreciation or criticism and immediately change your approach if required. Market research for which some companies pay thousands of dollars.

Ultimately, what we mean to conclude in this article here, is that blogging has become THE way of communications and we wish to offer you the most contemporary knowledge and tools available, along with all possible information you need to start blogging.

About the Author

David Barry recommending http://www.blogfreehere.com for blogging. Create Blog for free and start earning with online blogging.

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St. Louis is the Gateway to Fun! by Gary Ketchum

St.
Louis is known as the "Gateway to the West", but don't go West just
yet, because you'll want to see what this beautiful city has to offer
first. St. Louis is known for it's famed professional sports teams,
it's signature style tastes, and it's Blues music heritage. If your
heading to this metropolis on the Mississippi, then be prepared to have
some fun!

If your into baseball, then you'll want to check out the St. Louis
Cardinals. The Cardinals play at brand new Busch Stadium, which was
opened in 2006. The park has a modern/rustic feel and look to it. It's
outside appearance is one of red brick and black steel girders, that
mimic some of the city's area bridges. Once your inside the park,
you'll instantly notice the gorgeous view of downtown in centerfield.
As far as the team, the Cardinals have achieved fifteen National League
pennants, which have led to nine World Series championships. The
freindly fans are some of the most loyal in all of baseball so your
sure to get into some great baseball conversation.

After a day at the ball park, you'll want to indulge yourself in some
St. Louis style cuisine. If your feeling fancy and want to trade your
baseball cap in for romantic white linen tables, then the Top of the
Riverfront is for you. Located on the 28th floor of the Millennium
Hotel, this five star revolving restaurant offers spectacular panoramic
views of the city. Except for an exceptional Sunday Brunch, this
restaurant is only open for dinner, so the menu is limited. There are
great choices including various steak and fish entries. If your looking
to dine somwhere a little less fancy, than how about feasting on some
St. Louis style BBQ. Located seven miles from the downtown area, Ropers
Ribs has some of the best BBQ in the area. Their inexpensive menu
includes tantalizing jumbo fried shrimp, giant rib tips, baby back
ribs, and of course, St. Louis style ribs. The dining area is small but
the food is highly rated by many!

If your a music fan, then St. Louis will make your ears twitch with
glee. St. Louis has long been known for it's Blues heritage and has put
out such talent an Tina Turner, Gretchen Wilson, and Nelly. Many big
names such as these, can be seen at various venues in and around St.
Louis, such as the Fabulous Fox Theatre, the Scottrade Center, and the
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. If your not into large crowded venues
then you may want to check one of the many Blues clubs. A fan favorite
is the Broadway Oyster Bar. Located just a short walk from Busch
Stadium, this club offers a variety of Cajun and Blues bands and the
place is always hopping. There is an outdoor patio and Monday nights,
the Blue Oyster offers a variety of distinct Soulard Blues bands, a
sound that is synonomous with St. Louis Blues.

These are just a few of the things that you can do in this fabulous
city, and whether your a sports addict, a food critic, or have a music
fetish, St. Louis is sure to satisfy your expectations of entertainment.

If you have any further questions about places to dine or events to see, feel free to contact myself or my office.

Gary Ketchum
CEO TicketAmerica.com

Gary Ketchum is the CEO of TicketAmerica which has provided hundreds of
thousands of event tickets to satisfied customers since 1998 @ http://www.ticketamerica.com
Discover more ticket buying advice @ http://www.ticketamericablog.com

About the Author

Gary Ketchum is the CEO of TicketAmerica which has provided hundreds
of thousands of event tickets to satisfied customers since 1998 @ http://www.ticketamerica.com
Discover more ticket buying advice @ http://www.ticketamericablog.com

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RSS vs. Atom

In the computer world, it seems you can't have a technology without a competing technology, and RSS is no exception. Its main rival is the Atom syndication format.

Atom is the result of dissatisfaction with RSS's genesis, more than with its form. RSS, you see, is not an open standard. Instead, it's controlled by its authors, although it sports a Creative Commons licence. Atom, developed by IBM, is open source. Yahoo! has embraced RSS feeds; Google, through its Blogger software, has opted for Atom.

In fact, it gets even messier. There are three 'strands' of RSS, RSS .9x, 1.x and 2.x, each incompatible with the other. Mark Pilgrim points out in his blog that those three strands contain nine incompatible versions of RSS.

Does it matter? Not really. As a user, your best course of action is to keep your head down and get yourself a multi-format reader which handles multiple forms of RSS and Atom. There are plenty of them available.

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One Bag at a Time by Bev Storer

Each time I go shopping I want to scream! Why?
What is it that irritates and upsets me so? What is it that literally makes me want to scream insanely when I see them! The culprit that turns my stomach and upsets me so is the ever so common PLASTIC BAG!
Whenever I see those papery-thin brown or white grocery bags and even those plastic bags used by high-end designer stores I feel like I've been punched in the gut. It physically makes me sick to know that so many, many hundreds of thousands of plastic bags go out the store front doors to contaminate our environment each and every day.
Why plastic bags? What is it about the lowly plastic bag that irritates me so much? I'm not totally certain why something that we take for granted, and something that most people rarely give a second thought to, and something that is used by millions of people every day can irritate me so much. What is it about the plastic bag that makes me want to shout - STOP! STOP using so many plastic bags. Is it really necessary?
Even as I write, there are so many emotions running through my brain and body. What is it about the plastic bag that drives me crazy? Ohhhh! I've answered my own question, haven't I?
Ahhh! Finally, I've figured it out. It's not only the plastic bag itself that drives me bonkers, but what the plastic bag represents. The lowly plastic bag represents the humongous, gigantic and ever-growing environmental crisis of planet-wide waste and all the environmental implications that come with it. And, sometimes I feel helpless that I can't do a thing about it.
But, I can do something about it and so can you. I am asking you via this article to begin to reduce your use of, and dependence upon, plastic bags.
According to the article, Toxic Bags: What You Didn't Know about Your Shopping Sack published in The Co-op Connect, a newsletter of the Cleveland Food Co-op March 2007, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic shopping bags are consumed worldwide. The article states that plastic shopping bags are usually made of polyethylene. Did you know that, although popular for its economy and versatility, it requires 1000 years for a bag to degrade. And in reality, plastic bags do not biodegrade, but photo degrade. Photo degrade means that the bags break into smaller and smaller pieces which end up contaminating soil and waterways as they degrade. Eventually these small pieces make it into the food chain. Consider this too. The manufacture of polyethylene bags requires petroleum and natural gas which are both non-renewable resources. Since the bags are a petroleum product, it increases our dependence on oil and the accompanying problems resulting from its excavation, transportation, and use. Oil and natural gas consumption contributes to global warming, destruction of ecosystems, and pollution. You get the point!
In the US, there has been no significant federal action to reduce plastic bag waste, so it is up to each of us as individuals to control the amount of bags that are contaminating our environment. And, we can do it one bag at a time.
What can you do to help reduce the use of plastic bags? It's simple! You can start by re-using the bags that you get or currently have. Take them back to the supermarket and reuse them again. Some stores even reimburse you a small amount to reuse your bag.
Another thing that you can do is to not take a bag in the first place. If you have a small item, it's silly to use a bag. Put the item in your purse or pocket or carry it out of the store with your receipt in your hand. Explain to the clerk that you are trying to help the environment by cutting down your use of plastic bags.
Encourage the clerk to start asking people if they NEED a bag. When given a gentle reminder or a choice, a majority of people will not take the bag.
Purchase a cloth shopping bag. Many stores sell inexpensive cloth bags that you can use over and over again. If a cloth bag gets soiled and dirty, just throw it in the wash machine with your next load.
If you forget to reuse your bags once in a while, that's okay. It takes time to change a habit. If you have kids, have them remind you to remember to bring your own bags or even put them in charge of remembering and even gathering the bags to take along to the store. Giving a child the responsibility teaches them to the importance of recycling and reducing unnecessary waste.
Our planet is changing fast and the creator put it in our hands to protect. Please remember to think before you use another plastic bag. Do you really need one?
Businesswoman, Friend, Collaborator, and Team player, Bev Storer fulfills her Entrepreneurial Calling by offering a great service that enriches the lives of others. Together with other fellow BraveHeart Community members, her goal is to empower Women to be multi-dimensional success stories and inspiration to others. Be Sure to Visit: Be a BraveHeart Woman
About the Author
Businesswoman, Friend, Collaborator, and Team player, Bev Storer fulfills her Entrepreneurial Calling by offering a great service that enriches the lives of others. Together with other fellow BraveHeart Community members, her goal is to empower Women to be multi-dimensional success stories and inspiration to others. Be Sure to Visit: Be a BraveHeart Woman

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How to Make Money From Blogging by Scott Brooks

Blogs are a great way to share facts, ideas and opinions directly between people, but also, they are a viable way to earn money. In fact, earning money with blogs is something just about anyone can do. Making money with blogs is completely dependent on your audience and you're ability to attract people to click on the advertisements. Blogs are simple to set up, and relatively easy to update. As many as 75,000 blogs are created every day--almost one per second!
If you are looking to start making money on the internet and you have a budget that is very small or zero, blogging is a great way to get started. You can set-up a free blog and join advertisement programs for free. The only cost involved in setting up a blog is your time.
Although there are many factors involved in making money with your blog, there are a few vital keys to remember when setting up, maintaining and promoting your blog in order to achieve success.
1. Your blog needs to have the right layout in order for your adsense ads to be "clickable" by visitors. Choosing an advertisement's location, size and color is very important and is something you will need to constantly test and tweak to determine which formats produce the most clicks. It's amazing how one small change can produce monumental results. There are also many other ways to make money with your blog than with adsense alone. You could promote affiliate products and implement contextual advertising such as Kontera.
2. Your blog will need lots and lots of traffic. This is really a no-brainer, yet it's the greatest challenge of any website owner. The encouraging reality is that there are more ways to generate traffic for your blog than ever before. This is due to the emergence of Web 2.0 sites like YouTube and social bookmarking sites. Many of these sites provide great sources for one-way links to your blog. Getting hundreds, even thousands of quality links is a must if you expect significant traffic to your blog. There are also many SEO tools on the market now such as directory and article submitters that will help you get thousands of backlinks to your blog quickly and save lots of valuable time.
3. Your blog will need to be updated frequently. You cannot expect return visitors if your blog is not a source of fresh information. You can use RSS feeds to provide your blog with relative information, however you will need to add personal posts as well at least once or twice per week. This will increase your blog's search engine rankings and also help brand you as an expert in your niche.
Blogging is a great way to share your thoughts and ideas online, but it's also a powerful money-making tool. Making money with blogs is fairly simple if you know what to do and if you're willing to invest the time and effort necessary to make it profitable.
About the Author
Scott Brooks is a successful entreprenuer with over five years in internet marketing. For a FREE, comprehensive guide that will teach you everything you need to know about making money with your blog, go to http://downloadsuniverse.com/make-money-blog.html

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Blogging To Boost Your Business by Obinna Heche

If you have run out of creative and canvassing ways to promote your business, look no further than the World Wide Web. In particular, sites which allow you to create online diaries otherwise known as blogs. Blogs are the abbreviation of weblogs. They are basically diaries of sorts and can be found free of charge all over the internet. They are popular with teens and people who travel to business professionals alike and are a great way to let people know about your life or your business.

It is easy to incorporate streaming videos into blogs, like a commercial for instance. In fact, the blog page itself can be an advertising avenue. There are plenty of websites that create layouts, backgrounds and images to spice up your blog page and in turn portray the advertising outlook you want for your page. With your blogs entered in chronological order, it is easy for customers to see what is new, what is coming up and what has already expired with your business.

The newest blogs are normally at the top of the page while the first or oldest are at the bottom and easily accessible. They are simple to incorporate into your current mass marketing e mail alerts as well. In fact, you could perhaps eliminate the tedious task of writing out e mails then dragging up the address book only to have the mailer demon tell you half of them are invalid. Just send out one e mail and insert the link to your blog page then the trouble is over.

Blogs are wonderful for marketing because you can say anything you like, anyway you would like. If your customer base is small town farmers, then you can be as laid back and informal as you need to be. However, if you have a high corporate customer base then you can change that to sound as high tech and formal as the companies require. You do not have to keep up with your blog site daily. Let your customers know how often to check the blog or just tell them to check every so often.

When you create your blog page, you can easily incorporate it into your website. All you have to do is cross post links to both on either pages then customers can check up on progress or see first hand what products or services you have to offer. Blog pages have been around since about 1983 and in May of 2007, a blog search engine tracked more than seventy one million blogs. They are tremendously popular and can prove to be a real asset to your business. Paired with search engine marketing, blog pages can put your products above all others.

About the Author

Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California

Delivering the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home successfully.. http://www.homeincomeportal.com/obhmy365/

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