| The Making of a Fee Based Award Site | ||||||||
MENU ITEMS
RESOURCES
| The Making of a Fee Based Award Site or why we never really did deserve all that free stuff.
It looks like the Free Internet is finally grinding to a halt, and although my opinion will be frowned at my many, it's nevertheless based on sanity and logic. I am rejoicing that all the schmooze is finally being resolved. I am elated that the economic paradigm of the Real World has finally settled into the vastness of the Internet. Cyberspace is shrinking and will continue to do so - and we're (the real winners) are all going to be better off for it. You must have seen it coming - didn't you? Freda my wife tells me I'm no genius, but smart enough to know the difference between that which is really free and that which is funded my misguided Venture Capitalists. I'll bet many of you (and I hope there is many) are just as intelligent. Come on people - we all knew the free ride was funded by simple greed. Free DSL, free Websites, free content, free e-mail and whatever else you can think of that was (or maybe still is free) was paid by greedy Venture Capitalists hoping they would make the big score in a fortnight. Free is being replaced by Fee and that is not such a bad thing. After all did we really deserve it? How many banner ads have you clicked today? Well we are now privy to the facts of the Internet's rise and fall. I won't bore you with the details, but we are all aware of the huge losses that have and will continue to occur. I've seen this coming for four years and I am not in the least surprised or disturbed. In fact I think that the real opportunities are just starting. Fee for services will consolidate the Net economy and those that are ready and fit will reap the rewards. The Greatest of Ironies The incongruity of the economic model of the Internet and the economy we have known for many years is irony at its best. How many hours and other resources went into Website development and all the other infrastructures that have been spawned by the Net with the hope that people would click on banners? Most Websites couldn't raise enough money for a decent Denny's breakfast by rotating banners on their sites. What has worked for centuries and made your country and mine the richest in the World will surface on the Net. It is called the exchange of goods and services for a fee - and that fee is money. Please don't let the purists misunderstand!! This "everything should be free on the Net mentality" is, in my opinion, directly related to the historical concepts of the Internet. Over 30 years ago - or so I am told - educators used a primitive electronic medium for the free exchange of ideas. Somehow this idealism has filtered into the commercial sector of the Internet. Folks, those that know me, know that I am a philosopher and philanthropist above all else, but transcendental realities have no place in the business world. The concept of the free exchange of ideas will live on and probably longer than the reality of the economies of this and future generations. However, the former activities are sanctities of life itself. Commerce is equational - the left side must equal the right side. If it does not, we have chaos and imbalance. This is exactly what the Internet is experiencing at this moment. However, it's all good news for those that understand this. In the beginning........... I am uncertain as to when I started Surfers Choice Internet Awards - 1994 or 1995. The latter is the date I share with others, but I really think I started it in mid 1994 while on Compuserve. In any event, it had more to do with practising this new thing everyone was talking about called HTML. If I had even an inkling of what I was getting myself into, there would be no Surfers Choice today. As Hamlet would say: "There's the rub". I remember the very first week the site was up and running. In those days (as in Internet time) you would submit to Yahoo (new at the time) and a few others and before you knew it was hits galore. Little did I know that people were so enthralled with recognition. I had fun...plenty of it...but the sacrifices (and if you run an Awards site you know of what I speak) were just too much. There comes a point when you finally decide you've had enough of the "Bubba and his dog named Boo" Websites. You get your fill of those that can complete an application but seemingly can't read simple instructions (the submission standards). So I banned them from submitting - only via the written word on the site. However, this did nothing to stop them. They came in swarms like ants at the church picnic. Somehow they thought my time was their's and it meant zilch that hundreds of others just like them were intruding on my privacy. Hey you! Get off of my cloud! Others said: "it comes with the territory". I said: "Hogwash. Getting thumped in the head comes with the territory for an NFL quarterback (and that''s not even worth the millions they receive). Being treated rudely does not come with any territory anywhere". So to turn back the tide, I initiated a fee for Surfers Choice in 1997. Best thing I ever did. It got rid of the swarming masses of adolescents and things changed for the better. Ask me if I care. I once saw Bill Cosby live here in Toronto and I can remember him saying: "The first sign of insanity is indicated when we try to please all of the people all of the time". I hope my memory serves me well on that. Nevertheless, there is great truth in this and how many of us spend our daily trek serving those we have never met? Without doubt anything we do in life, whether it is for commercial gain or our contribution to society, requires careful thought. We make choices and abide by them. I made the right choice for me. Running an Awards Site requires hours of dedication each and every day. I have been there and earned my "contribution to the betterment of the Web" several times over. However, as much as I think we all need to help others, we also need to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. We need to put things into perspective and take time to live. I can assure you that my wife knows who I am and so does the rest of those I am luck enough to call family and friends. Search engines have seen drastic changes in the last 6 months. Infoseek(tm) and Go(tm) are gone. NBCi is winding down - or at least that's what I read in the Standard. You need $200 US to even get considered for Yahoo(tm) and the same applies to The Looksmart Network(tm). The reasons for this are many, but I can assure you that search engine spam is at or near the top of the list. Search engines and directories are interested in building valuable libraries of relevant information. That is difficult to accomplish when rules are not heeded. In fact, and I can assure you it is a fact, many larger domains have been banned from submitting for this reason alone. Do I care (about kicking people off my cloud)? Sure I do...it is not easy saying no or enforcing rules. However, there are limited choices to be made when one is trying to turn away spam from children and others that do not have the common decency to abide by the rules a site posts. I care enough to get tough about it and enough to make the services available only to those that see its values and respect its paradigm. Necessity is the Mother of Invention As much as I would like to tell you that Surfers Choice was based on some intelligent plan that would eventually lead to millions, the truth is turning it into a fee based service was strictly a move to end the insanity of an e-mail inbox loaded with too much junk. The good news is that it's working, not as good as I would like, but persistence does lead to loftier accomplishments. Anyone who knows me is familiar with my survival instincts - not just for business but more for the battle of just being here. So running a fee based award site really is a challenge that I welcome and enjoy. Surfers Choice will be there as long as there is air moving in and out of my lungs. Seventh inning stretch There is still much to discuss, but for now I'll leave that for the next article on this subject. This will address the everyday activities as well as the services and expenditures that are part and parcel of running a fee based service. Before I go, I extend my sincere respect for those that run free award services. I know the work you do is huge and the dedication to it is simply incredible. I am standing and applauding with scintillating fervor. See you soon! Article copyrights © belong to Surfers Choice Internet Awards. Do not copy, in whole or in part, or use anywhere without permission. | |||||||