Thanks for the balanced assessment. Just a bit of clarity around some of the click through rate issues.
Two different topics here when it comes to CTR and hence two different numbers. For explanation's sake, there are three steps in the process we're describing:
- Headline impression - This is the fair use content for a blog: headline + abstract + blog name. These are shown 1-20 at a time on publisher pages in a "headline widget" - Post view on the publisher site representing the full post content + full attribution a reader sees if they click on a headline - The original blog visit which results when a reader reads a post on the publisher's site and clicks on the attribution or other links to visit the blog
The 15-30% number represents the Click Thru Rate of people who see a blog's full post on the publisher site and click through to the original blog. We emphasized this number at the moment because some bloggers expressed concerns here that no one would bother to click from a full post on a publisher site to visit the original blog. While the data is anectdotal, gathered from a few bloggers with pickup on our publisher sites, we are encouraged by this result as it shows that a sizeable percentage of readers visit a blog to learn more after reading a post on a publisher's site. We are working to track this globally as part of blogger reporting so we have something more conclusive going forward.
The 1% number is accurate as well. It represents the CTR from headline impressions on publisher sites all the way through to a visit to the original blog. While this number is low right now, if the 15-30% CTR from post view to original blog holds true as we scale, then the the goal should be to get more online newspaper readers to click on a headline and read a post on the publisher site as the CTR from the post to the original blog is already strong. We are working on a number of ways to improve this number for everyone's benefit.
Stay tuned for more info a www.burstblog.com. We are making additional changes to smooth out the process and requirements for the service and will have updates on stats, etc going forward.
Gary Farber
· 3 years ago
"It would require that all of their partners remove Blogburst-referred content automatically after X number of years and have a system in place to deal with bloggers that change their mind. A license requiring payment would demand a financial infrastructure they do not have in place."
This is actually not remotely a problem, as witness the contract offered by competitors such as TexTile, which I'll get around to blogging about.
And their excuse about not having money upfront is nonsense. The whole point of a royalty is that it isn't money upfront. It's money that is a percentage of profits earned. No profits into Blogburst, no outlay by them to bloggers.
Claiming otherwise is a lie.
The point of a royalty is that it calls for a percentage of profits, not a percentage of income (this can cause problems and a need for audits of dishonest publishers, but I won't go into that here).
But claiming that it's a strain to not grant royalties, a grant only of a share of deserved profits, and not income, is blatantly dishonest, given that it glosses over this basic fact.
If there's no profit to the company, in this case Blogburst, they have no outlays to make, and no problem.
What they're objecting to us sharing profits, not income. That's the Big Lie they're making. And that makes me doubt their good faith (though possibly they're simply completely clueless).
I've updated my post to link to yours.
I'll probably get around to expanding on this in a while, though I expect to be busy and not blogging much for a couple of days.
Just to clarify, the infrastructure I was talking about is the infrastructure to pay bloggers. Currently, when you register for Blogburst, there's no requirement to input your SSN or any other financial information. I'm forced to assume that, if they had a payment structure in place, they would be taking that information in advance
Also, I don't know how accurate BB's stats are and if they can determine how much profit they gained from each individual blogger. That's an interesting question that I regret to say I have not posed.
Such an infrastructure does take time and money to impliment and, while it might be fair to say that they should have had it in place before going live, if they don't have it now, it's going to be a while.
All Comments
Two different topics here when it comes to CTR and hence two different numbers. For explanation's sake, there are three steps in the process we're describing:
- Headline impression - This is the fair use content for a blog: headline + abstract + blog name. These are shown 1-20 at a time on publisher pages in a "headline widget"
- Post view on the publisher site representing the full post content + full attribution a reader sees if they click on a headline
- The original blog visit which results when a reader reads a post on the publisher's site and clicks on the attribution or other links to visit the blog
The 15-30% number represents the Click Thru Rate of people who see a blog's full post on the publisher site and click through to the original blog. We emphasized this number at the moment because some bloggers expressed concerns here that no one would bother to click from a full post on a publisher site to visit the original blog. While the data is anectdotal, gathered from a few bloggers with pickup on our publisher sites, we are encouraged by this result as it shows that a sizeable percentage of readers visit a blog to learn more after reading a post on a publisher's site. We are working to track this globally as part of blogger reporting so we have something more conclusive going forward.
The 1% number is accurate as well. It represents the CTR from headline impressions on publisher sites all the way through to a visit to the original blog. While this number is low right now, if the 15-30% CTR from post view to original blog holds true as we scale, then the the goal should be to get more online newspaper readers to click on a headline and read a post on the publisher site as the CTR from the post to the original blog is already strong. We are working on a number of ways to improve this number for everyone's benefit.
Stay tuned for more info a www.burstblog.com. We are making additional changes to smooth out the process and requirements for the service and will have updates on stats, etc going forward.
This is actually not remotely a problem, as witness the contract offered by competitors such as TexTile, which I'll get around to blogging about.
And their excuse about not having money upfront is nonsense. The whole point of a royalty is that it isn't money upfront. It's money that is a percentage of profits earned. No profits into Blogburst, no outlay by them to bloggers.
Claiming otherwise is a lie.
The point of a royalty is that it calls for a percentage of profits, not a percentage of income (this can cause problems and a need for audits of dishonest publishers, but I won't go into that here).
But claiming that it's a strain to not grant royalties, a grant only of a share of deserved profits, and not income, is blatantly dishonest, given that it glosses over this basic fact.
If there's no profit to the company, in this case Blogburst, they have no outlays to make, and no problem.
What they're objecting to us sharing profits, not income. That's the Big Lie they're making. And that makes me doubt their good faith (though possibly they're simply completely clueless).
I've updated my post to link to yours.
I'll probably get around to expanding on this in a while, though I expect to be busy and not blogging much for a couple of days.
Incidentally, recent posts on plagiarism include this not quite example by Ron Fournier, this about William H. Swanson, chief of Raytheon, and this, amongst various others in the past.
Just to clarify, the infrastructure I was talking about is the infrastructure to pay bloggers. Currently, when you register for Blogburst, there's no requirement to input your SSN or any other financial information. I'm forced to assume that, if they had a payment structure in place, they would be taking that information in advance
Also, I don't know how accurate BB's stats are and if they can determine how much profit they gained from each individual blogger. That's an interesting question that I regret to say I have not posed.
Such an infrastructure does take time and money to impliment and, while it might be fair to say that they should have had it in place before going live, if they don't have it now, it's going to be a while.
Just my thoughts on that...