How to Architect a Web 2.0 Revenue Sharing Empire – Part 2

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Having a deep-founded passion to succeed, whether online or offline, is a radiating trait that every entrepreneur must possess in order to find that success. When becoming the architect behind your own Web 2.0 revenue sharing empire, your passion and drive will be only the beginning: a fundamental building block off of which…. you will have to synthesize both knowledge and experience meshed with a holistic understanding of your user base. With web 2.0 social media revenue sharing websites being among some of the highest alexa ranked, and trafficked websites in the world, I really have been surprised by just how much some of my research has been caught on by those entrepreneurs who hope to establish their websites in an increasingly competitive online space. I’ve received email after email asking me for my opinion about what I would specifically do, adjust, or offer as an incentive in order to help their respective websites gain traction and be successful.

Among my typically elaborate responses can be found a consistent thread regarding what I had briefly mentioned in the previous installment of this series: by knowing and understanding the inherent and pre-established criticisms of web 2.0 sites, and how they relate to the motivation of people and their desire to use them, is a concept that must be grasped in order to be leveraged appropriately. The fact of the matter is that people generally don’t want to spend alot of time providing content, to any website, if there is little or no benefit to them. Such is the case with any investment, and it because of these immediate barriers to user interaction, content provision, and usage, that only the most dedicated, driven and influential entrepreneurs will emerge with a viable business model that will supersede the rest.

1) Web 2.0 websites are not your own piece of online real estate. One of the largest overriding criticisms, of users and prospective users, is the fact that these particular websites aren’t something that you specifically own yourself. As an entrepreneur, with lofty dreams and aspirations, your ability to motivate and influence people, while serving as a unwavering leader, will be ever critical in helping the community your foster to overcome this overriding mindset. People will naturally shun your efforts, long before you even establish your website as an authority, simply because your expectation of them to consistently contribute will ultimately relate to your own successes.

Yes, you will have to provide the necessary offerings and functionality that elicit value and provide a strong sense of purpose.

Interestingly enough, it is this very criticism that make Web 2.0 revenue sharing website so appealing to those who hope to begin their online exploration of content provision in a safe environment that requires minimal investment outside of time and energy.

2) Lack of transparency and generosity of revenue share arrangement distribution. As one jumps from analysis of one site’s business model, to the next, you’ll be sure to find huge variations in ideologies ranging from how exactly people should be incentivized, to how much revenue can be shared, while maintain a consistent, profitable, company. Unfortunately, a major blemish in this industry has been one by which that I have been quite vocal about myself: not only are some business models flat-out weak in the generosity of their offerings to users, but they also violate a sacred trust by refusing to disclose how exactly revenue is shared. Within a historical context, a small handful of some of the highest ranked web 2.0 revenue sharing websites do refuse to operate under transparent revenue share guildelines for one reason or another. While some simply accept this under the promise of achieving success akin to the internal case studies that each respective platform has produced, others opinions are beginning to parallel those of an increasingly skeptical society.

3) Inherent limitations of functionality. With each respective web 2.0 website attempting to mesh the perfect combination of branding, functionality, and offerings, safeguarding a quality article database requires nothing short of having to make decisions and compromises that aren’t always popular. As an entrepreneur, you will have to be prepared for the times where what your users perceive to be in their best interest (allowing more affiliate link freedom, etc) could actually have a detrimental affect on overall search engine rank placement, and, ultimately, favor and authority in Google. One may recall that one of the leading web 2.0 revenue sharing websites, entitled Squidoo, actually faced a similar situation by which Squidoo “slapped” them for their inability to maintain and safeguard a proactive quality control process over the content that was allowed to be published on their site.

4) Your efforts help line other people’s pockets. This is true. Simply put, you, as an entrepreneur, will earn quite a bit through the constant production of content that your users put out. Ultimately, the company you establish will earn much much more than each individual writer, however, by simply establishing a platform, you are providing for them tremendous value in so many ways. By becoming the architect of your very own web 2.0 revenue sharing website, not only will you open up for your users opportunities to earn that they wouldn’t have normally had, but if you integrate a forum into your website’s platform interface, you will also provide them a great meeting ground for shared knowledge and direction in achieving their goals.

With so many items of consideration on the table, an entrepreneur will rely on his/her research, experience, and user feedback, in order to tailor the best possible platform that adequately meets the needs and desires of their target user base. Fortunately, web 2.0 revenue sharing websites are particularly notorious for their multi-level branding, and mass appeal that reaches beyond social class, gender, sex, or race. Whether for hobby, or for strict revenue share, motivations for providing content are just as varied as the users themselves. Know this, understand this, and you can be extremely successful.

Now that we have covered the fundamental criticisms, from a user’s perspective of using a Web 2.0 revenue sharing websites, in my next installment of this blog post series, we will be exploring the benefits of a site of this nature. While some are hesitant, others find that the benefits far outweigh the criticisms and downside of utilizing them

This entry was written by Howie and posted on August 15, 2010 at 3:13 am and filed under Web 2.0. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.

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