Pay-for-blogging site raises questions

(continued from previous page)

Armstrong was not available for an interview. However, Andy Hinton, associate general counsel and global ethics and compliance officer at Google, provided this statement: "Tim Armstrong's board membership with Associated Content was appropriately disclosed by Tim to Google's management, was reviewed by the company's management and potential conflicts of interest with his obligations to Google were addressed."

SoftBank's Hippeau said he was surprised that anyone would have a problem with Associated Content's content, business model or board composition.

"It's fresh, original, up-to-the moment content that people are looking for," he said. "We publish (contributors') content and figure out the best way for that content to reach people...It never occurred to us that it would be an issue."

Geoff Reiss, chief executive of Associated Content, defends the company's business model and having Armstrong on the board. In fact, Armstrong recruited him to the company. The two men worked together at Starwave, which developed ESPN.com and ABCNews.com, among other sites, and was eventually sold to Disney. Reiss also was a general manager at Spy Magazine.

"I probably wouldn't be working here if it weren't for Tim's involvement," Reiss said. "His presence suggests a certain level of comfort on the part of his employers. His association (with Associated Content) speaks for itself."

Reiss has big plans for Associated Content, which he said is tapping the creativity of millions of undiscovered potential writers on the Web. In addition to matching freelance content on all types of subjects with publishers with Web site space to fill, the company is also developing direct sponsorship and private label deals, he said.

Reiss dismissed complaints that the writing wasn't good. Why, he reasoned, can't a home contractor with no writing experience be paid to share his experience and knowledge by writing an article that gets syndicated? "If you write a really good article that 200 people want to read, you've created value," he said.

Content quality aside, the syndication aspect of Associated Content could be a problem because it creates the potential for multiple sites displaying the same content to search engines, a problem called "duplicate content," said Barry Schwartz, executive editor of the Search Engine Roundtable blog.

To solve that problem, Reiss said he will be encouraging freelancers to write about narrow subjects rather than broad topics that might get overexposure.

"I didn't come here at this point in my career to manage a cynical enterprise whose sole purpose is to exploit the intricacies of AdSense to make a few bucks. Nor could we create value for our shareholders by merely gaming AdSense," Reiss said. "I'm here to develop a next-generation media business. AdSense is clearly part of the mix, but not remotely close to what I want it to be or what the board brought me here to do."

Associated Content is doing what any smart online news organization should do--training people to write copy that grabs the attention of search engines, said Fishkin of SEOmoz.

After all, doesn't virtually every publication write content that sells ads, on the Web or in print? Isn't that the point?

"In order to become popular with users, they'll have to consistently offer good content," Fishkin said. "It's a self-correcting market."

[jbenjami]

a non-issue

This seems like a non-issue to me. if you actually go to the site you see that they have banner ads, google adsense and a variety of other ways to generate revenue. A splog site this is not. How is this any different than ESPN.com or Cnet?

Furthermore, let the market decide if the quality is any good. If it is not, then it will wither and die like many other "content" sites before it. If the content is good then users will return

[PaulLevi]

a non-issue indeed

I agree completely with jbenjami - a site won't get steady readers if the quality of the stories and writing is lacking. In the end, that's what counts - not the reason this or that story was written.

[Renegade Knight]

True Enough

If they have good content, it's a good idea. If not it will die soon enough.

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[sdandrew75]

Ignore it and it will go away?

I just wasted 9 minutes of my life that I will never get back because I decided to see what all the hype was about. I read two incomplete articles, and another one with such bad grammer I had to stop reading. The website is about as useful as a blender that can blend an iPhone.

[Dwight Stickler]

Transparency and Blog Publishing

Isn't it true that the only reason this is in the news is because AC's tactics are part of a bigger problem with Search Engines and Internet Marketing in general?

People and the Search Engines that serve them want relevant content or more simply put answers. Mostly everyone who runs a search on any search engine wants an answer. They are seeking relevant and timely information that will answer a question.

Search Engine Optimization when practiced within an ethical framework seeks to provide answers for the people who are searching for them. SEO when practiced as a means of "gaming the Search Engines Placements" does the same thing that much of the internet marketing world does. Provides possible solutions, but not definitive answers.

I will not say that all internet marketing programs are B. S. just as ethical white hat SEO is not B. S. either. But I can say that wherever there is money involved, (and internet marketing and SEO do mean big bucks)there will be people who love money more then they love themselves or their neighbors. And then the naive and ignorant are taken advantage of.

Associated Content's Business Model and Services will thrive or die based on performance. Just like every other website or publisher. The beauty of blogging is that if blogs are good and create value, they thrive. If they are not good or provide no value, they will die.

[correcting]

Amazing...

This is a great example of how most people's opinion is just plain useless and should be ignored on principle: they have the gall to post a criticism on an article's grammar, yet do not actually know how to spell the word "grammar". And when called on it, they'll usually lie through their fingers and call it "a typo". The hypocrisy never fails to amuse and entertain.

[Ilgaz]

Already doing referrer based spamming

Thanks to CNET I remember these guys now. I saw some horrible spam advertising that site with some referrer ID on slashdot comments and even flamed the author of comment.

I thought it was just a plain pyramid/scam scheme. Now it turns out, "Yahoo" and "Google" on board.

Lets hope Wikipedia guys plans for doing a independent/open search engine succeeds. Nothing could be worse.

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[SheKnows]

A.C.

Associated Content underpays writers or gives them the option for writing free. Because they hire just about anyone (without proof of expertise) the articles are poorly written and poorly researched. In fact, their most prolific writer thinks he's a great journalist, when in fact his work sucks. So they underpay writers and give them the false impression they're actually good.

Moreover, they keep having these obnoxious promotions where writers who bring in the most new writers are rewarded. As a result they spam all the job boards and forums and are incredibly obnoxious.

Go ahead. Pick a dozen random A.C. articles, if you can tell me all dozen are well written and researched, I'll come back and apologize. It's time Associated Content stop taking advantage of writers.

[ThatOneDenverGuy]

SheKnows not...

There is no law stating that you must submit content to AC. I submit because I love to write and because the Performance Bonus more than makes up for the low initial offers.

Also, somewhat hypocritical to state that AC underpays writers, and in the next breath say the quality isn't any good. So should AC pay more for lower-quality work?

Associated Content is a tremendous outlet for writers who are honing their craft. The content managers give good feedback most of the time, and I know my writing has gotten better in the year that I've been a Content Producer.

As for the business model, it seems to me that they're simply doing what they promise to do: Publish work by anyone and everyone and make that work discoverable. Gaming search engines isn't a very profitable enterprise, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find an executive that would come on board for such a crappy plan...

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[ahickey]

Commenting on business model

The business model appears sound to me.
I haven't ready any of their articles because I'm not into random reading, except a couple of sites I trust.

There are a lot of people with knowledge and insight that will never be published on the current big reputable websites.
If being a journalist is something you want to do professionally then how do you get the experience to show you are good.
Sites like AC provide that opportunity.
Will it ever be as good as the ?proper? professional sites? Probably not.
Will it give alternative insights to a topic? Probably.

In a way it is like the early Wikipedia. Articles a bit sparse and low quality, but over time the quality has become better. I still wouldn?t trust Wikipedia for something critical, but for personal research and everyday discussions it perfect. I expect AC and other like it will serve the same purpose.

Finally, on the whole Adsense thing. Why not. You still have to click on the link before they get paid. If it isn?t relevant to you then don?t click on it.

As per the article. Who doesn?t want a site that gets high ranking in search engines and generates some revenue.

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