IZEA Blog

Working with awesome Advertisers is certainly one of the best things about being a part of the IZEA Team. Sears. Kmart. And Advertisers like PeopleJam.

PeopleJam.com is currently running a PayPerPost Opportunity for a sneak preview of "The Evolution of Dance 2" ("EOD2"). "EOD2" is the sequel to "The Evolution of Dance" starring Judson Laipply. Part of the "sneak peek" allows users to upload photos and dance with Judson, while getting "the in" on songs and dance moves for EOD2!

To see if you qualify for this Opportunity click here (you must log-in to your account).

P.S. You can watch a special "IZEA edition" here. Recognize the two dudes on either side?

You will notice in step 2 that we now automatically exclude the following free domains:  myspace, xanga, livejournal, vox, bravejournal, and blogsome.  You still have the ability to decide whether or not you want to exclude typepad, wordpress, and blogspot.



The linking section looks much nicer.  If you look closely, you will notice that we no longer offer the tracking option, this means that all links are now direct links.  You still have the option to make them no-follow.  We've added a new field here called Max Posts Per Day.  This allows you to control the velocity at which these get released into the marketplace.  For example you may want 50 links, but only 3 per day.  You would specify the 50 max and 3 max per day.  This ensures that you will never have more than 3 posts with that link on any given day.



The advertising options are greatly reduced.  We do still offer a thumbnail upload which is back in step 1.  Other than that, you may still elect bold and/or highlighting for a small fee.



Bloggers, don't feel left out.  There is a change in this release that you will be sure to love.  The timed release of opportunities into the marketplace will now be automated on an hourly basis.  So be sure to check back often for newly available opportunities around the clock.  You never know when something that interests you may pop up!

Our datacenter is currently experiencing technical difficulties. If you are trying to access SocialSpark.com, PayPerPost.com, ITK, SocialSpark Affiliates, CloudShout or IZEARanks, those sites or services may be unresponsive. Our dev team is currently working with the datacenter to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please try again soon.

We will be rolling out some changes to PayPerPost tonight at 10pm EST. The changes are primarily geared toward simplifying the advertiser experience, though some changes will affect bloggers as well. The most significant modification to PPP has to do with the financial model.

We have known for some time that the cost structure in PPP was not economically viable; our margins simply have not covered our operation costs. Between marketing, sales, commissions, customer service, development, bandwidth, hardware and legal, it isn't cheap to service the PPP community. For each post a blogger makes in PPP we currently lose money, and that can only work for so long.

When SocialSpark launched we adjusted its margins to create a model that would be profitable for the company. The model works and provides a clear path for the future. Meanwhile, PPP has been canceling out what we've gained in contribution from SocialSpark. Today we are adjusting the margins in PPP to match that of SocialSpark. Both systems will now have a 50/50 split between IZEA and the blogger, recognizing the value each of us brings to the table.

Our goal is to serve our community of advertisers and bloggers well into the future. In order to do that we have got to have a sustainable business model that works. The changes we are making today ensure that we will be here for you tomorrow.

Stay tuned for another post with more details about the release.

As you know we at IZEA have a lot of stuff going on. Continuously. Whether it's launching new programs in our blog marketing platform, rolling out site enhancements to the world's largest consumer generated advertising network, or planning one of the industry's most exciting annual social media events, we're always working to provide our bloggers and advertisers with the most effective, relevant, and valuable information.

Of course, being a social media marketing company we have many distribution channels for said information. And we'd like to know where you prefer to get your IZEA news. Is it one specific place? Or do you gather info from various channels and use only what's important to you?

Here are just a few places you can find us:


So in an effort to continue to offer you the best information we can, please let us hear either by taking the poll embedded above or by leaving a comment in this post. And if you have any Postie friends, family, work colleagues or know of any advertisers who don't regularly read our blog but utilize our services, forward this post url to them so they can participate in the poll as well. 

Ted and Pete talk about SocialSpark, PayPerPost and the new affiliate opportunities. If you missed the live show you can check it out here:


Video streaming by Ustream

Program Overview
At IZEA we realize that our community is what makes us different. You have helped shape our company, define our products and grow our network. We love the relationships we have formed with our bloggers and would like to invite a select group of you to become more deeply involved with our company. The IZEA Insiders program is designed to help accomplish three goals through the individual efforts of people like you:

• Spread the word about IZEA sites, products and services
• Create a stronger bond within our existing community
• Provide product insight and assist in continuing innovation.
  

Who We Are Looking For
We are looking for active, social bloggers that enjoy meeting and interacting with others both online and offline. You must be a regular user of SocialSpark and/or PayPerPost and have knowledge of how both systems function. We want bloggers that regularly attend blogging and social media events and believe in the power of networking. This is limited to 10 people. The program is a pilot and will last for one year.

How It Works
Spread The Word
You will be forming a “Crew”, under which all of your activities will be preformed. As an IZEA Insider you will be the Crew’s leader, responsible naming the Crew, recruiting new members and building awareness of your activities. Crew members will be able to identify themselves as a member by selecting a Crew on their SocialSpark profile.

Build Community
The IZEA team will design a logo for each Crew. You are encouraged to use guerrilla marketing efforts to promote your Crew. Feel free to create groups on other social networks, participate in forums and blog your heart out. The more posts, photos and videos the better....get out there and make it happen! Each month we will send you a special Postie Pack with different types of swag. Use this swag to hold contests, giveaways at conferences, etc.

Provide Product Insight
IZEA will be holding regular online meetings with the Insiders to go through new features and gain feedback. We want you to tell us what you like, what you don’t like and what you would like to see. You will know what we are working on before anyone else (shhhhhhh).

What We Expect
We want people that will pour their heart and soul into making IZEA and this program a huge success. We want you to participate in the IZEA conversation and be a champion of our company while remaining honest, open and transparent. You will be required to disclose you are a member of the Insider Program.

Exclusive Access
You will have direct access to the IZEA executive team. Have a problem or idea? Dial me on my cell phone any time without feeling weird about it (this goes both ways). If you organize a group of more than 50 people I will meet you in your city of choice to talk about IZEA, Social Media, Blogging or just hang out. I will personally help rally your Crew.

What’s In It For You?
Conference Allowance
You will be given an annual conference allowance of $1,500 to cover conference tickets and travel. This can be used to attend any blog-focused events throughout the year. You will also be given 5 free tickets for IZEAFest and you may also receive extra tickets when IZEA sponsors third party events.

Promotion
Our team will promote you and your blog on the IZEA blog and through other outreach efforts. We will expand our reach together and help you expose your inner rockstar.

Blog Makeover
If you are going to be representing us we need to know your blog looks professional. The IZEA team will give your blog a face lift and help you establish your own personal brand.

Recruiting Bonus
At the end of each quarter we will look at how many Crew members each Insider added during the previous three month period. The Insider with the most Crew members added each quarter will receive a $1500 cash bonus. Only users with at least one claimed blog will be counted.

Really Cool Other Stuff
Remember that line from Old School "You're my boy Blue"? That's all I can say : )

Just a quick note to let you know our customer support ticket system will be down briefly for maintenance this Saturday evening, 9/20/08.  It should be quick - scheduled to last just one hour, 10:00 - 11:00 pm EST.  This isn't normally a busy time for tickets, but just in case that's your weekly check in time with us, we'll have to catch you at a different time.
Thanks!

A few months ago we crossed the 200,000 blogger mark in PayPerPost. While I am extremely excited about that achievement the tremendous growth has also created some issues for us.  Over the past few weeks we have been speaking to many of our advertisers, reading our boards and gathering feedback in general. The single biggest complaint has been as our network has grown the quality of blogs has suffered. I want to formally acknowledge our customers’ concerns and our intention to address them.

Tomorrow we are beginning the first stage of cleaning up blog quality on each of our networks, starting with PPP. We are going to manually audit every blog in our system. Our goal is to elevate the overall quality of our marketplaces and deliver more value to our advertisers. This will undoubtedly leave thousands of bloggers upset that they can no longer participate in the system and I am sorry to be the bearer of unfortunate news to those who will no longer qualify.

Much like a bonsai tree we must strategically trim our marketplace to control its shape and promote proper growth. While I am saddened that we will no longer be to able to work with some blogs, I am confident that we will be providing our advertisers with a better service which ultimately means more opportunities for those blogs that remain.

Every blog in the system is going to be reevaluated with a discerning eye. I want to point out that our TOS provides minimum guidelines, but every blog is ultimately approved or not at our sole discretion. Just because a blog meets the minimum requirements does not mean it is the right fit for us.

If your blog fails the audit you will receive an email notification and will no longer be able to use that blog to take opportunities. You will still be paid for any outstanding posts that are currently in process and pass review. You will not be able to resubmit your blog for inclusion at this time.

If your blog passes the audit you will also receive an email letting you know you made the cut. It’s going to take at least 30 days to complete the audit so please be patient.

I wish you all luck.

Today we released a few fixes and minor changes to PayPerPost.  Please view the release notes for details.