Post by "Pop" Stran on Dec 5, 2004 14:18:00 GMT -5
Evolution is inevitable, especially on the Web...and some things just never change.
RENENUE:
Each version of the PaidToRead business plan has had one thing in common: they all require advertiser dollars to keep their promises, to survive, and hopefully to grow.
With the first PTR version, advertisers were eager to experiment with this new form of reaching potential customers.
Cash flowed thru the web more easily at that time.
PTR was far more effective than banners, and PTR programs were more cost-effective than building and running your own leads system & opt-in lists.
Advertiser income is still a staple in both of the newer versions, although the quality of those advertisers has dropped substantially...and many have used the term, "bottomed out".
Thru version 2, most webmasters/staff of the PTRs were joining nearly every new PTR to come along, and running paid ads in their own emails to build a personal downline in each new program they could push...and at the same time, the new programs were buying ads in every other PTR to build memberships.
In other words; The Version 2 PTRs were cannabalizing each other, which kept the same revenue rotating between a select group of webmasters...the more new PTRs to come along, the thinner the money got for each...and without new advertisers and fresh cash profits, all were doomed to fail given enough time.
This obviously flawed (to those of us on the outside looking in) business plan has become apparent to the vast majority of those entrepreneurs, and today only a few of the original version2 PTRs remain.
Some cleverly aggressive marketing by the script sellers has kept the market alive, and even today an occasional new PTR of the v2 variety will pop up...but their fate is sealed from the start.
Another common revenue thread between version 2 and version 3 PTRs is the un-search engines; An annoying little marketing con that I find personally offensive.
Calling themselves "search engines", these portals offer neither searches nor engines...Only a pre-set catalog of advertisers that will return regardless of your chosen search terms.
These fly-by-night 1-page affiliate-sites have come and gone by the dozens each month for the last few years, and will continue as long as the PTRs keep feeding them returns on their advertising revenue.
Sadly, for many v3 PTRs, these craftily-packaged PPCs* are a staple business.
*PayPerClick search engines were a fairly hot business in the beginning of 2000, but the market held up for only REAL search engines that decided to increase revenue with PPC, and was later bastardized by these Too-little-Too-late wannabes.
Now that the market is being flooded by the UNsearch engines, PPC is no longer the respected form of aquiring leads & custoners that is once was...in general terms.
Google,Kanoodle and a few other major players still offer a fair return on ad dollars with PPC, but the term itself has been degraded by the fast-buck new-commers.
Personally, I think the key to survival in the PTR business lies in making the venue respectable again.
Many of my peers look on PTRs as a sort of bad joke being perpetrated on the un-knowledgeable entrepreneurs.
They are sold a "turn-key" site complete with scripts, and told that profits are both easy and plentiful...when the truth is that this form of home business is both cut-throat and poorly executed:
- New owners are swamped by the 24-7 schedule being demanded by their new business.
- Many realize quickly that they are working for less than $1/hour and simply walk away from the investment.
- Suddenly realizing how many people are devoting themselves to cutting your throat can leave the average new business owner drooling in the corner...and many have folded in disgust.
- The history of PTRs is bound to repeat itself again and again until a major remake is forthcoming, especially in the area of drawing new ad revenue.
RENENUE:
Each version of the PaidToRead business plan has had one thing in common: they all require advertiser dollars to keep their promises, to survive, and hopefully to grow.
With the first PTR version, advertisers were eager to experiment with this new form of reaching potential customers.
Cash flowed thru the web more easily at that time.
PTR was far more effective than banners, and PTR programs were more cost-effective than building and running your own leads system & opt-in lists.
Advertiser income is still a staple in both of the newer versions, although the quality of those advertisers has dropped substantially...and many have used the term, "bottomed out".
Thru version 2, most webmasters/staff of the PTRs were joining nearly every new PTR to come along, and running paid ads in their own emails to build a personal downline in each new program they could push...and at the same time, the new programs were buying ads in every other PTR to build memberships.
In other words; The Version 2 PTRs were cannabalizing each other, which kept the same revenue rotating between a select group of webmasters...the more new PTRs to come along, the thinner the money got for each...and without new advertisers and fresh cash profits, all were doomed to fail given enough time.
This obviously flawed (to those of us on the outside looking in) business plan has become apparent to the vast majority of those entrepreneurs, and today only a few of the original version2 PTRs remain.
Some cleverly aggressive marketing by the script sellers has kept the market alive, and even today an occasional new PTR of the v2 variety will pop up...but their fate is sealed from the start.
Another common revenue thread between version 2 and version 3 PTRs is the un-search engines; An annoying little marketing con that I find personally offensive.
Calling themselves "search engines", these portals offer neither searches nor engines...Only a pre-set catalog of advertisers that will return regardless of your chosen search terms.
These fly-by-night 1-page affiliate-sites have come and gone by the dozens each month for the last few years, and will continue as long as the PTRs keep feeding them returns on their advertising revenue.
Sadly, for many v3 PTRs, these craftily-packaged PPCs* are a staple business.
*PayPerClick search engines were a fairly hot business in the beginning of 2000, but the market held up for only REAL search engines that decided to increase revenue with PPC, and was later bastardized by these Too-little-Too-late wannabes.
Now that the market is being flooded by the UNsearch engines, PPC is no longer the respected form of aquiring leads & custoners that is once was...in general terms.
Google,Kanoodle and a few other major players still offer a fair return on ad dollars with PPC, but the term itself has been degraded by the fast-buck new-commers.
Personally, I think the key to survival in the PTR business lies in making the venue respectable again.
Many of my peers look on PTRs as a sort of bad joke being perpetrated on the un-knowledgeable entrepreneurs.
They are sold a "turn-key" site complete with scripts, and told that profits are both easy and plentiful...when the truth is that this form of home business is both cut-throat and poorly executed:
- New owners are swamped by the 24-7 schedule being demanded by their new business.
- Many realize quickly that they are working for less than $1/hour and simply walk away from the investment.
- Suddenly realizing how many people are devoting themselves to cutting your throat can leave the average new business owner drooling in the corner...and many have folded in disgust.
- The history of PTRs is bound to repeat itself again and again until a major remake is forthcoming, especially in the area of drawing new ad revenue.