is iHype All Hype?

5 Jul, 2008  No Comment

There’s been a lot of talk floating around the blogging community about ePerks and company founder Ben Behrouzi’s newest venture iHype.  Mr. Behrouzi has managed to bring himself a lot of negative attention over the past few months, first with an apparent use of questionable if not downright shady marketing tactics for ePerks that included adding company generated comments to paid posts that were bought by the company. This was then followed by a series of all-out attacks and threats of legal action against bloggers who wrote negatively about the company once it became obvious that the firm was not delivering on what it promised.

Strangely enough, the ePerks website is still up and running, even after the firestorm has begun.  I wonder if the company founder realizes the kind of impact that having such prominent bloggers as Andy Beard and Trace Richardson taking the time to identify such negative practices can have on his company’s performance. When A-List bloggers start to say negative things about your business, you had better be a marketing genius and a master of debate if you want to pull out of a slump, and Mr. Behrouzi does not seem to have that capability.  He instead has gone taken the route of hiding behind attorneys and making threats, rather than engaging in a direct debate with his naysayers, something which could have shown him in a positive light if done correctly.

So what does this have to do with iHype?

iHype is the Ben Behrouzi’s latest venture.  With it he is hoping to enter the extremely profitable world of paid post blog advertising. The iHype concept should be familiar to anyone who has looked into paid blog advertising.  Advertisers pay the company to advertise opportunities to bloggers, who in turn write a short post about that company for pay.  It’s simple, elegant and effective if all parties handle it correctly.

Companies like PayPerPost and their parent company Izea have proven that this model can generate huge revenues and massive amounts of venture capital if managed properly, and Mr. Behrouzi seems to want to get in on the game. Unfortunately, iHype is falling into the All-Hype category after having missed its announced launch date by over one month.  In fact, the startup now has no published launch date at all, nor have I been able to find a public statement from the company anywhere that has addressed their failure to launch on time. (As a matter of fact, searches for iHype lead me to a lot of Apple news…)

In spite of obvious issues, the company is still investing in paid advertising that leads people to believe that iHype is already a working company.  As a matter of fact, it happened to me. I ran a quick search the other day for paid blogging opportunities and found an advertisement for iHype.  At that time I had not been keeping up with the goings on in the bloggosphere, so I clicked the ad and was taken to what appeared to be a fully functional site with the option to sign up for an account.

I’m never one to turn down a revenue opportunity, so I went through the sign up process, right to the point where it asked for my TAX ID number. The page was not secure, so I didn’t give it, but even without it, I was prompted to complete the sign up, which I did.  It was only then that it became obvious that I was not working on an active site.

Now that’s what I call shady.

Let’s look over the implications of this.  The first would be that I should have paid more attention.  I’m no novice on the Internet and the fact that I missed the “beta” in the address is my own fault. I will not, in my own case, blame this on the company. I paid no attention to the “beta” marking on the site’s title graphic simply because several of the services I frequent state that they are in beta, even though the sites are fully functional. But what about the case of a less experienced Internet user?

In that case, it is very possible that they would have seen the ad, gone to the beta site and signed up, giving away all of their personal financial information over an unsecured connection.  Would they notice that the very few opportunities available were not legitimate, or would they begin writing posts for these opportunities at a promised $10.00 each?  How will Mr. Behrouzi’s company handle that issue?  Will he pay these people for their effort?  It is my opinion that he should, since the signup process is already being advertised “in the wild” so to speak, and we all know that there are a lot of people on the Internet today that will do nearly anything to make a buck or two, sometimes without bothering to consider the implications.

Having determined that I had wasted precious minutes of my time, I filled out their support form with a request to be immediately removed from the system.  I checked to make sure that i had not been abrupt, and I clicked submit.  Then I let out a string of explatives that I cannot repeat here, because the contact form is apparently one of the “beta” features of the site.  It doesn’t do anything.

Some might say that the contact form is not a priority for a site of this nature.  I have a radically different opinion.  I base this opinion on over 20 years of computer experience and 16 years of professional Internet design experience when I say emphatically that the contact form is the single most important item on any business website.

With this one omission, the site owners have already told me where they stand on matters of customer service.  To them, it’s an afterthought and that attitude is something that I cannot tolerate.  I have moved my business elsewhere in the past because I did not feel that customer service was a priority to the a company I was doing business with.  I have refused to work with companies that had poor service for the same reasons.  I will not be associated with them.

In the end I leave the decision of iHype’s future to you.  It is ultimately your choice as to whether you choose to use this service or to leave this one out of your monetary toolkit. I cannot say whether this will be a boom or a bust at this point, or whether Mr. Behrouzi will listen to the comments floating around the bloggosphere and alter his business practices in a positive manner.  If so, iHype could stand poised to go up against PayPerPost and Sponsored Reviews in the paid posting arena.  If this is the case, I will have lost out on a lucrative income stream, but my mind is already made up.

I would suggest doing your research before joining any company.  In this case I failed to do so and it has left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

As a final note.  I may or may not be following up on this topic.  For the moment, I have no intentions of doing so.  I have stated my opinion.  I have backed that opinion with both reference links and my own experience.  I have given this subject all the time that I feel it needs.  Unfortunately, the more I look over the topic, the more I see that I may be putting myself under fire by the owner of ePerks.com and iHype.  If so, I will post a rebuttal when necessary.  if not, hey, this post can simply live its merry and short Internet lifetime in the archives.

Mr. Behrouzi, I am not a minion.  I am a disgruntled prospective subscriber to your service.  That is all.

Organization is the key to productivity

2 Jul, 2008  No Comment

If you author or write for more than one blog or website you may have run into the this issue. Even with a stack of ideas for each and every project you are associated with, one or more of those projects simply does not get attended to in a timely manner or it gets overlooked completely.  Worse yet is the possibility that you will miss a topic that has relevance today, but will be overlooked tomorrow because someone else has beaten you to the punch and released the same information before you had the chance to do so.  Any of these things happening can lead to some very real frustration.

Generally a gap in content production isn’t due to any lack of passion for the topic. After all, most people never would have started writing about something that they weren’t interested in. Occasionally you will discover that you’ve lost the desire to write on a certain subject matter any longer but most often this type of gap in productivity is caused by organizational issues. By attempting to just “wing it” on a writing schedule or trying to handle too many things at one time, you are setting yourself up for a less than stellar experience and most likely a lot of wasted effort.

Lapses in writing can also be caused by this thing I like to call “Life”.  Even if, like me, you make your sole income from blogging or writing for the web, there are simply going to be days when you can’t make it to the computer to do anything.  Children, family issues, appointments, a sick dog, car troubles and any number of other interruptions can halt your day at the keyboard.  These are facts of life and you have to roll with them.

More important than the things that can stop you from writing is how you actually manage your time when you are writing.  Do you have a posting schedule or are you content to simply post frequently?  Do you participate in blogging events that release posts on specific days or simply write as you can, getting information or opinion out as soon as the mood strikes you?  Are you only writing for one blog while producing a ton of content for online writing services, or are you writing for a number of blogs, all of which demand your attention on a day-to-day basis?  These questions need to be answered if you are going to effectively manage your time, and in turn keep your visitors returning and new visitors arriving.

What organizational method is right for me?

Unfortunately, there is no one method that works for everyone.  If there were the world would have a much larger number of very prolific writers.  For some people just setting up a to-do list or a set of calendar reminders is a more than adequate method of making sure everything gets completed on time.  Then there are those people I call “Post-It-Note Ranchers”  Their lives revolve around a collection of sticky notes that reminds them of what to do next. Still others work with folders, index cards or notepads.  The methods depend on what works for the individual, and none are right or wrong, just incorrect matches for the person that can’t seem to make them work.

Generally speaking, a completely creative personality will work better with a visual organizational system.  Things are arranged and stored for this type of person in a way that holds a very vivid visual cue as to what is supposed to be in any given place.  Color coding is a great way for the creative personality to get a grip on their organizational skills, even down to color-coding days of the week on a calendar so that just a glance will let them know what’s on the agenda for that day.

A completely analytical personality will tend to prefer a system in which everything is filed away neatly so that they can simply reach for it or open the proper document when necessary.  Closed and labeled files, neat stacks of papers and a variety of lists and to-do entries are what this type of person craves.  “A place for everything and everything in its place”is the rule here, and systems that focus on order will lead to a great boost in productivity.

Unfortunately most of us fall somewhere in-between completely creative and completely analytic, and our methods reflect this. Both my wife and I are creative people, but we have completely different needs when it comes to organizing our workspaces.  To further the confusion, the methods that will work for you are probably going to be different than the systems that we have in place, but I’ll go over ours briefly.

My wife works well in controlled chaos.  She thrives amid stacks of papers and books in a world where no flat surface is free of something.  Everything is within reach and she knows exactly where everything is, though it would be a miracle if someone else could find it.  Her workspace is an explosion of colors, textures and knick-knacks that she loves. Her electronic filing methods are much the same, with many different project documents in the same folders and an email inbox that contains thousands upon thousands of emails.  To her this is inspiring.  It fuels her creative side and keeps her content, so for her, it’s the perfect system.

On the other hand, I thrive in a workspace that is neatly arranged. I’m a compulsive filer, each project rests happily in its own folder, I prefer my desktop clear of anything that is unrelated to the project I am currently working on in order to avoid distraction and the only decorative items in my workspace are photos of my family and a few small gifts that my children have given me over the years.  My electronic methods mirror this, with each project in its own folder and all of those folders arranged in a hierarchy that I can manage easily.  My schedules and due dates are kept in my email suite (kontact, in my case, but I will probably switch to Entourage when I finally get my Mac. for Windows users, don’t overlook Outlook!) These methods keep me going, along with a  lot of very strong coffee and some loud music.

What works for you is a matter of trial and error, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

What does organizing my workspace have to do with managing my writing schedule?

Having your workspace organized is a key component in getting work done effectively.  If you are constantly hunting for a piece of research or fishing around for a pen, you’re wasting valuable time.  If you have no set method for getting that next post out or any way to remember which blog you need to update next, you’ll find that things get left by the wayside.

As an illustration of my point, I’ll describe the method I’ve begun using to manage my blog writing schedule:

In the past I’ve tried to-do lists, task schedulers and calanders marking which blog needed to be updated on a certain day.  Enter life, and I find that there is a day in which nothing got updated.  According to a daily update list, I should just forget what I was going to do and move on to the next calendar day.  Unfortunately this means that I have several days between posts, or that my posting schedule is completely inconsistent.  This bothers me, which leaves me working to try to get more posts out in one day than I can manage without a great amount of stress, and those posts are not up to my normal standards.  They feel hurried, rushed and unpolished.

Once I conceded that a day-by day schedule was not going to work for me, I decided to apply a system that does.  I use a virtual adaptation of a rotating action folder system.  In this type of system, all projects are in their own folder.  Those folders sit in order of importance at or near the workstation and are done in turn.  When one item is completed it is moved to the back and the next folder in the group is tackled.  This process simply continues until you’ve gone through everything and the folder that you started with is at the front of the line again.

That is a simplistic overview, of course.  There are times when a folder in the middle has to be given attention, but if that is the case it goes right back in the middle of the stack, not to the end. In this way you ensure that everything remains equal and that all projects get the attention they deserve.

I apply this method to my blogging schedule by having one instance of firefox open at all times with tabs for each one of my blogs open.  I do not surf in this window, it is intended for writing only.  I look things up in a different window.  Since firefox allows for reordering tabs, I simply start writing on the first tab that is open, then drag it to the back when I’ve done a post for that blog, then move on to the next one.

The result is that I produce more content of consistent quality and remain focused on the topic at hand without worrying that I’ve forgotten something.  I may not always have posts out on specific days, but they are posted on a regular basis which readers like and I am comfortable with.  If I have a flash of inspiration for an article on a different blog or at one of the other services that I write for, I just jump over to that tab and jot a quick draft, save it and go back to what is at the front.

In conclusion

Once you’ve found a system that works for you, don’t let it fade away.  Take a few minutes at the end of each writing session to get things back in order.  When you’re done with one subject, make sure that evreything is ready for the next one.  It may seem like you’re adding senseless steps into the writing process, but in actuallity you’re setting yourself up for a more successful experioence in the long run.

As “W” would say, “Diversificate”

19 Jun, 2008  No Comment


Perhaps it’s a bad reference to some of the language faux pas made by America’s 43rd president, but the theory is still applicable.  The same holds true of the term “Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket”, if something happens to that basket you’re out of eggs and out of luck since there isn’t a way to get more, at least until tomorrow.  The same holds true of revenue streams.  If you only have one source of revenue, you’re up a creek at those times when income is slow or worse, simply dries up.

I talked about using differing streams of advertising revenue in an earlier post, but advertising is only one of the methods a blogger can use to generate income. Remember this;  The only difference between a blogger and a professional writer or journalist is perception.  If you blog every day or even every few days, you are a writer.  The same skills you use in your blogging can be leveraged outside of your blog to help you earn a recurring income.

So just where can I use these skills, oh opinionated one?

There are several different services on the Internet today that will pay you to write content for them. The three that seem to have the most potential at the time of this writing are Associated Content, Helium and Triond. All three services offer to pay you to write and I know of several people who are making a pretty little income doing just that, and I’ve joined in on the fun myself, though not for long enough to see any results yet.

The basis for payment from these services is simple.  You are paid a percentage of advertising revenue based on the number of times your article is viewed.  Broken down to its most simplistic, this simply means that you have what, in essence, is an unlimited earnings potential.  If you write the hot article for the month and pull a million views, you can expect a pretty hefty payment to be coming your way down the road.

Of course the chances that anyone will be able to pull of the perfect traffic generating article on a regular basis is pretty slim. The best strategy in a pay-per-impression marketplace is to write quite a few articles and then keep them coming on a fairly regular basis, which will bring people back to read more, which in turn generates more money for you

Sounds a lot like blogging doesn’t it?  I told you that you already had the skills.

So why don’t I just do all this on my own blog?

That’s a good question.  I’m just glad that I have a good answer for you.

Marketplaces like AC, Helium and Triond offer you opportunities that your own sites simply can’t offer.  Unless you happen to be an A-List blogger who is receiving tens of thousands of visits a day, these content networks allow you to get your writing in front of a much larger potential audience than your pieces would have had before.  To top it off, they have already developed advertising partnerships, brand recognition and monetization streams that it might take a single blogger years, if  he or she ever managed to do it, to achieve.  They are doing all the really hard work for you.  All you have to do is what you’ve been doing every day anyway.  You write.

Another advantage to these services is that once you’ve written a piece, you can simply forget about it and let it continue to make you a few pennies here and there for as long as it is displayed by the service.  This means that each and ever piece you submit has the potential to catch a large number of page views over time, and the more you have published, the more you’ll make in the long run.

Also, each piece has the potential to find a large readership at some later date, especially if you are writing content that may apply to your subject matter in the future.  For example, a piece written about Obama three years ago probably wouldn’t have gained much attention, but as soon as he decided to run for President that piece would be extremely relevant and might just become a great money maker for a month or so.  You just never know.

For me the best of all advantages to this type of service is that I don’t always have to use it to serve my niche. Each of my blogs is subject specific, which generally means that I write specifically for the target audience of that type of blog.  With content publishers I can cover any topic I feel like tackling today, regardless of which one of my interests it covers.  I can start on Monday with ways to increase your food budget, move on to a rant about something I saw on the news on Tuesday and on Wednesday I can write about my opinion on the newest line of children’s toys.  The subject matter is flexible, and there is always someone who wants to read it.  I just don’t have that amount of freedom on any of the blogs I currently run.

Which one of the three should I use?

That’s a decision that you will have to make on your own.  I personally signed up with all three services and will eventually publish articles with all of them.  Currently I’m focusing on Associated Content just to get a feel fro the site and how business is done there.  Once I’ve gotten my feet wet, I’ll check the others to see what’s getting read, then I’ll dive in with something that will (hopefully) catch their readers attention.

Each service offers different terms, options and payment rates.  Each also differs in their specific readerships, so it’s a good idea to see what is performing well in any one venue, then jump in on that topic or a  subtopic once you have the lay of the land.  Of course, I just have some pretty oddball things I want to write every once in a while, so I never hesitate to publish those as well.

A few articles that may help you decide:

(Note: these articles tend to be written by members of one or all services and may be biased towards one or the other.  Take them with a  grain of salt.)

And that’s all the time I have for today kiddies.  It seems there is an orkish invasion to be halted, and only I can do it.  You can’t let responsibility like that go, so I must be off.

Until next time.  Keep workin’ it.  Your effort will be rewarded in the end.

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