Jerry D. Russell dot Com

Is there hope for iHype after all?  At one time I would have said no, but it seems that iHype’s owner Ben Behrouzi isn’t giving up on this venture though measurable gains are still not all that apparent.

The last time I visited iHype there was no visible way to test the system.  In fact, I only managed to find my way to the beta sign up form because iHype was running advertising through Google’s AdSense network that made it appear that iHype was already a fully functional marketplace for paid advertising. At the time it was not.  As far as I can tell, it is not now.

iHype is finally allowing people to sign up for the public beta, though last I checked there isn’t much in the way of opportunities to test whether the system is working. I’m not sure if this is true of all blog rankings and types and as a test I just signed up my PR5 cooking blog to see if iHype has opportunities available for a mid-ranked blog.  As far as the PR3 health related blog I signed up there in July, there were no opportunities at all the last time I checked.  I will update here if it turns out that there are opportunities for the higher ranked blog.

But the hype rolls on

The thing is, Both Mr. Behrouzi and the about page at iHype have much to say about the service that the service itself isn’t living up to.  For starters, the iHype About page has a lot to say about the way the company would like to see itself, beginning it’s introduction with the following:

Welcome to the web’s largest socialsphere marketing platform. iHype delivers a powerful socialsphere marketing platform that empowers online marketers with the ability to market their products & services in a deep, organic, grass-roots online social approach through an exponentialy growing web of individual and institutional web publishers. This innovatively fluid exchange of advertisers and publishers allows marketers to leverage the online socialsphere, while providing all publishers with an avenue to generate substantial new revenue.

This is an impressive statement and I for one wish it were true.  Unfortunately it just reads as so much more spin, considering the lack of any tangible evidence, at least from my perspective, that iHype has managed to garner any significant numbers of advertisers offering opportunities on this platform.

This lack of tangible motion at iHype doesn’t seem to deter Mr. Behrouzi from having a wonderful outlook, or starting more new ventures, however.  His personal blog, Ben Behrouzi’s MaxStartup recently posted a very happy second birthday notice in regards to his company DotNext, inc.  This notice only very briefly mentions iHype, but does speak pretty highly of DotNext’s latest venture, LeapFish, an aggregate search provider which is something along the lines of DogPile on steroids. Mr. Behrouzi also goes on to thank his team for a great year, which is a very nice touch.

In defense of the team at DotNext.  Unlike iHype, which still feels unfinished and the yet-to-be unveiled Ziddler, LeapFish not only works, but it works well.  In a brief test of seaches I performed using LeapFish and DogPile, leapFish gave far more relevant results every single time in a much broader spectrum.  I’ll probably use it in the future.

Not all buzz is good buzz

Unfortunately, most of the buzz surrounding Mr. Behrouzi and his ventures is negative. Much of the news concentrates on Mr. Behrouzi himself, but quite a bit of it focuses on the tactics of his sales staff.  If any of this is true it may very well be a factor in iHype’s lack of blog posting opportunities.  Since I am not a business analyst or trade reporter, nor have I worked with either Mr. Behrouzi or had conversation with anyone in his employ, I cannot offer an opinion on this subject.

If you are interested in reading what others have to say on the subject, simply Google Ben Behrouzi and form your own opinion.  I am not interested in turning this blog into a forum for discussing the man or his tactics. It is my wish to stick to his internet properties as they relate to monetization.

Why I want iHype to suceed

So why am I revisiting iHype if it seems that very little has happened since the last time I reported on it?  Becaue I want it to suceed.  While the concept behind iHype isn’t very different from established networks like PayPerPost, SocialSpark, LoudLaunch and Smorty, the payment structure is revolutionary in the world of Paid Posting companies.

While most paid posting companies rely on a Net 30 or Net 14 payout schedule, iHype promises a 24 hour turnaround on payments.  For bloggers just starting out or for those days when what you really need to do is boost your short-term income, this payment model is ideal.  Not only does it serve to get you paid quickly, it gives bloggers a heavy motivation to post more, because the results are nearly instantaneous.  it’s the kind of payment that the Internet has long promised, but seldom realized. To put it in short form, it’s what a lot of us have been waiting for.

iHype needs to get the ball rolling and get advertisers in the marketplace.

The determining factor as to whether iHype will thrive or fail is advertisers.  Even with a million bloggers signed up, not having opportunities for them will very quickly garner them a reputation they may not be able to recover from.  Hopefully with the new year and the economic crunch they will be able to attract some advertisers who have traditionally shied away from Internet ads with the promise of a lower advertising cost and more exposure.

Unfortunately, they will have to look outside the Silicone Valley for these companies, as nearly the entire internet industry sprung out of the area and it’s unlikely that most have not been involved in online advertising for quite some time.

For the moment, iHype is a tantalizing promise, but one with very little time to start delivering.  The company needs to get a working model in place and attract a lot of bloggers so that they can convince advertisers that their marketplace isworth the expense of advertising with.  On the other hand, to attract bloggers, they will have to offer something for us to do.

At the very least, iHype needs to offer a series of house-paid ads for bloggers to accept.  If they are interested in attracting bloggers with higher PageRank, they’ll have to offer a few higher-paying opportunities as well.  I know that I for one rarely accept any offer that pays less than $15.00 and I prefer to take those that pay considerably more.  I already have the potential for income, so to get me to accept an opportunity I have to feel it’s worth the time it will take to write it, otherwise I will go elsewhere. I’m sure that other bloggers who are already making a decent income from paid posts will feel the same, regardless of how fast the payment turnaround is.

Time will tell

iHype is a good concept.  It’s based on a business model that works, but it’s one that only works if the pieces are all in place and your sales staff is nothing short of a group of miracle workers.  It also requires a customer support staff that rarely, if ever, drops the ball.  The reason that PayPerPost and Izea work as well as they do is due in large part to Customer Love and Founder Ted Murphy’s vision and tenacity in business and his absolute genious in promotion.

If nothing else, iHype should be looking to Ted as a role model for this type of business. Ted has not only made it work, he’s excelled at it.  If you’re going to play in the paid post market, he’s the man to model your business after.

If all the pieces get put in place before iHype manages to fall under it’s own weight, I’ll be first in line to add each and every blog I own to their roster.  I’m a capitalist, as I’m sure you are, or you wouldn’t be reading this.  For now however, iHype is still bordering on vaporware and until there’s some work for me to do there, I’ll stick with what works for me now.

Jerry Monetizing Ben Behrouzi, ePerks, iHype, Monetizing, Paid Posting

Getting comments on your blog is usually something that bloggers look forward to.  For the most part, people comment when they like what you’ve written or agree with what you’ve had to say.

As a first impression, a high comment count leads to instant credibility. A blog with a large number of comments may be perceived by casual visitors as holding more weight than a similar blog that has no comments or only sparse comments.  In this light, comments may be seen as the life’s blood of a new blog and as such, comments should be encouraged.

But what is the proper way to deal with a commenter that disagrees with your opinion or worse, simply gets rude or offensive?  If you blog about controversial topics (or simply blog for a long enough time), you are going to see some of these.  If you make a point of tackling the tough subjects, it’s a good bet that at least half of your comments are going to disagree with your opinion of the subject.  Another quarter of those comments are going to be rude replies.

Why you should never delete a comment that disagrees with your opinion:

A blog is designed as an interactive medium.  Any comment is a chance for you to continue a discussion with your readers, to further your position on a topic, or just allow you the chance to lend a more personal touch to what you’ve written.  A dissenting comment gives you the opportunity to address an issue more detail than you did in the original post or to explain something in a different way, should your readers find the original entry vague or unclear.

Someone will always disagree with your opinion.  Don’t take these posts a attacks, take them as conversation.  Answer them courteously and with care.  You are responding to another human being, not just a series of 0’s and 1’s.  The sign of a great blogger is his or her ability to answer criticism or negativity with a smile and a ton of respect, not to flame his or her opposition or simply toss that comment into the null file because it challenges what you have to say.

So when should you delete a comment?

While you should always answer comments that disagree with your ideas, there are most definitely times when a comment should be deleted immediately. These include, but are not limited to, the following reasons:

• Obvious Spam:
  The commenter dropped his URL 3 or 4 times in the comment, the comment is simply gibberish with a link, or the comment is something completely generic that’s obviously been added by a machine or spam bot.  These should be tossed to /dev/null or deleted immediately.
• Derogatory or Socially unacceptable comments:
  I have no idea why some people feel the need to post this type of comment, but they sometimes do.  If your commenter feels the need to use a slew of profanity or spread a hate-filled agenda using comments on your blog, they should most definitely be deleted as soon as they are identified.  This type of comment at best will generate more of the same.  At worst, they cost you readers.
• Comments that personally insult other commenters on your blog:
  This is an even worse case scenario than above.  One person took the time to leave his or her thoughts on something you have written and someone else personally attacks this commenter because either their opinion differs or they simply have not mastered the art of being anything other than a jack*$$.  These comments should be deleted and followed by a comment, post or general message of your own stating that it will not be tolerated for any reason.  Then block that person from commenting permanently.  It is your responsibility to ensure that your readers feel comfortable posting comments, don’t lose the trust that they give you.  Fight for them

There are several more reasons that you might choose to delete a comment, but think about it before you do.  It’s better to err on the side of a little spamminess than to put off someone who might simply not understand the etiquette of blog commenting.

I have a trackback from a blog that said horrible things about one of my posts.  Should I delete it?

No.  You should approve it and then check your page views for the day.  There’s a good chance that you will see an increase in traffic and perhaps comments on that particular post.  As the (in)famous quote by Brendan F. Behan so succinctly words it:

There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.

In more modern circles this is usually shortened to; “Any press is good press” or “All press is good press”. It’s as true a statement as can be made.  Any publicity will get you noticed.  Some of the readers that the negative comment prompted to come see what you really had to say might just be inclined to agree with your side of the issue, or simply like your style.   You get traffic, you gain readers, it’s all good.

I personally had one group of individuals go crazy calling me names and being completely derogatory towards me because of one post I wrote about a year ago.  In the end, they gained me over 1,000 visits for the day of the post and 3,000 overall.  Of those, I’m sure a few are still reading the blog in question.

My response?  I sent the blogger that started the insult-fest a very polite and professional thank you email for the traffic he or she sent over and thanked him/her for taking the time to read the post carefully enough to pick it apart.  I think that I unnerved the person.  They have never mentioned any of my sites again.  That’s too bad, really.  I made about $300.00 on that passion filled flurry.

I’ll wrap this up with a cautionary statement.  While this is a post about how you can avoid becoming a comment Nazi, you also need to realize that not everyone out there really cares if they offend their readers or not.  You will probably find that at least on comment that you leave is deleted or never allowed through moderation.  Don’t let this discourage you.  Continue leaving comments on other people’s blogs, but remember the rules above.

Post constructive comments that are actually relevant to the topic of the post.  Be courteous and if you disagree be even more diligent in making the point that you disagree with the position the person is writing about and not the person who wrote it.  Don’t do anything on someone else’s blog that you would not allow on your own.  It’s common courtesy, but it’s often ignored on the Internet.  It’s time for us to bring it back.

Jerry Blogging Blogging, Blogging Tips, tactics

I spend a lot of time talking about the ways I’ve found to make a buck or two in the Internet game, but I’m obviously not the only person playing.  I have a lot of friends and readers that are also playing to win.  some of them are far more effective at it that I am, too.  So my question is this:

Where do you make most of your money online?

I’m not asking for specific numbers.  In most cases that would violate the Terms of Service of a given advertiser or service.  I’m asking more in a general sense.  Do you make more from Affiliate advertising, AdSense, eBay stores or amazon shops?  Perhaps you make most of your revenue from direct ad sales or deals with other providers.  Maybe you are even one of the golden ones that makes a reputable amount of money from writing for Associated Content or another service like it.  In any event, we’d like to know.

If you have a moment to spare, drop a comment and let everyone know where you make the biggest part of your online income.  We’d love to hear about it.

Jerry Monetizing blog marketing, Blogging, Marketing, Monetizing, revenue streams

I’ve talked a lot about setting daily and weekly monetizing goals and the sometimes very tedious work that goes into achieving them, but what do you do when those goals are met?  Do you smile to yourself and wander away from your computer whistling, content in the knowledge that for today you’ve done it?  Do you take the rest of the week off because you’ve already made your cash for the week?

No.  You get in there and exceed your goals.

I look at it this way.  I’ve got a daily goal of $50.00 per day and $250.00 per week for the next few months.  It’s not a lot of money, but it’s more than enough to supplement my wife’s incomes and keep us in happy things like insurance, web sites and dinners out.

If I make that $50.00 in the first few minutes of the day, I’m not going to stop adding to it as long as I have the opportunity.  Why settle for $50.00 when you can make $100.00 or more in a  day?  At the very least I spend the rest of the day optimizing other aspects of my monetizing efforts. And that means that tomorrow I can just go watch some T.V, right?

Wrong.  Tomorrow is a new day.  There’s a goal to be met for that workday and I intend to make it.  Becoming complacent because you’re a bit ahead is a great way to fall behind, and quickly.  It only takes one or two bad days, a cold or a family emergency to put you in the red.  Treating every day like it’s a regular day that’s only just on schedule will usually mean that when those bad days happen, your monthly goals will still be met.

I treat monthly goals in the same manner.  if I meet the goal, I set about padding next month out as far as possible.  When it becomes obvious that I’m consistently coming in over expectations, I adjust my goals. But in the interim, I walk into the next month with less work to do.

If you fail to push yourself, you’re not going to move forward

The name of the game is mercenary.  Opportunities to make money come in waves.  You need to be prepared to ride those waves whenever they present themselves, at least until the point where passive income exceeds your needs, at which point you can join the ranks of the Idle Middle class, but I’m not there yet.

So what do you do on the days when there’s no money to be made?

You find other things to do.  Write drafts for new posts or articles. Work on affiliate programs. Check your current affiliate advertising to see if it has made you any money in its current placement, if not, reorganize and remove any ads that aren’t helping you out.  Until the day that you make 100% of your monthly goals from nothing more than passive advertising, there’s work to be done.  Even then, there’s work to be done.  You still need to keep putting out content that someone wants to read.

In the end, content is still king.  If you produce nothing but chaff to fill in the gaps between posts that make a few dollars you’re not doing yourself any favors.  The ultimate goal isn’t to make a fortune making short term money.  You should be focusing on getting raffic, gaining readers, keeping them and building income streams that don’t require daily attention.  This usualy means finding every income stram that you can, including private advertising.

Having said all that, I’ll move on to achieving my goals for the day, then seeing if I can add a few extra duckets to the total before I’m done.  After that I have an ad server to set up so that I can pull a little more diversified income from other sources.

This is my day job after all, and I get to play CEO.  I like that.

Jerry Monetizing advertising, making money, Monetizing, Productivity, Skills

Finding a good host for your blog or website is paramount to a successful venture of any type.  If the service provider you choose can’t keep your site running properly or worse, can’t keep it online, you’re probably not going to get what you were looking for, whether that’s visits, exposure for your company or revenue.  All you’ll get with the wrong hosting company is a headache.

So how do you find a good hosting company? Best Web Hosting rates and compares hosting companies so that you can choose the service and plan that’s right for you.  You wouldn’t buy a cell phone without comparison shopping and you shouldn’t choose a hosting company without looking around before purchase, either.

If you are new to hosting or are just considering moving a blog hosted at WordPress or Blogger, you might want to take a few minutes to check out their beginner’s guide to web hosting as well.  This document answers a lot of the question that people new to hosting will need to know.  Trust me, it’s stuff you don’t want to find out the hard way.

So look around before you buy, and buy informed. That way the only thing you’ll need to worry about is what you’ll post next.

Jerry Business Sense Hosting, web hosting