Category Archives: Feature

451 Press Slave Wages

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So 451 Press, the self-proclaimed largest blog network, has put up its new payment model, and I can’t say that I am impressed with it. I tried to comment yesterday on their recent post, but my comment is still being held for moderation.

Not only does the post lack information, but when I add up the numbers, compared to the work that you would have to put in, it looks like writers would receive less than minimum wage. This of course is once the whole system is broken down to dollars per hour.

Here is their new payment model:

0 – 2 Month Bloggers
$0.50 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

3 – 5 Month Bloggers
$1.00 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

6 – 11 Month Bloggers
$1.50 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

12 – 17 Month Bloggers
$2.00 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

Raises, Good, Lack of Detail, Bad

The first thing I noticed was missing was an explanation of the time element. If I have blogged for two years with another network, and then came over to 451 Press, would I start at the 0-2 month mark, or at the 12-17 month mark? There is a huge difference in the payment amount, and so this should be described better.

Smart CPM Idea, But Bad Deal

Today, I also talked about what CPM is and how it relates to advertising. 451 Press is using CPM as part of their payment model, which will reward writers for traffic. This is pretty much the only part of their deal that makes sense to me. If 451 Press makes $3 CPM from an advertising position, then they are paying one half of their advertising revenue to their writers. This is great if the blog is getting hundreds of thousands of visitors each day.

The biggest issue I have with this is that I know 451 Press is making more than $3 CPM as they are probably making that from each advertising position, so really the writer is getting one half of the revenue from one advertisement. This is not a good deal for the writer. The rate should be $1.50 CPM per advertisement on the site rather than $1.50 CPM for the site.

Calculating It All Out

So, let’s say 451 Press puts me at their highest rate of $2 per post and $1.50 CPM.

I work really hard and produce 40 posts over the course of a month. That instantly earns me $80 for my efforts.

The site gets 20,000 page views, which earns me another $30.

So for a month of work, I have earned $110. Sounds pretty good for blogging right? What if I told you that it took me on average an hour to research, write and promote every two posts?

I know that is pushing it to the long side of things, but there are very few blogs that easily get 20,000 page views in the first few months, so we have to suspend our disbelief a bit, and this is just to experiment.

So it took me nearly 20 hours to write my 40 posts during the month. With a pay check of $110 from my work, that means I made $5.50 an hour from my work.

While that isn’t lower than the minimum wage in some states, it is much lower than the minimum wage here in Ontario, Canada.

Remember, this is the higher end of the spectrum for 451 Press, and newer bloggers will get paid far less for their efforts.

Does this seem fair?

Originally posted on October 4, 2007 @ 11:20 pm

Why I Don’t Have 45n5’s Widget Here

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As some of you might have realized by now. I really enjoy 45n5.com, and the Top 100 list. I mention it as often as possible because I believe it is a great list of quality blogs, and you would think then that I would be one of the first to jump on his new widget idea which shows off your current rank on the Top 100 list, but as you can probably see, it doesn’t have a home here at Xfep.com.

Why No Widget?

45n5 Top 100 WidgetCurrently, I rank 118th out of nearly 200 blogs on the “top 100” list. How embarrassing would it be to display a widget that says my rank is 118th out of 200? And I think the effect would be even worse when a reader clicked through and found out I am not even part of the top 100 sites in this niche.

If I came, saw the widget, and proceeded to click through, I would probably go on to some of the top twenty blogs, and subscribe to their content.

So why would I want to display it?

Widget Changes Make Me Happy

I propose a few changes that Mark could make in order to get me interested in displaying the widget. The first is to create more graphic options, including a larger variety of sizes and colours, so that it fits better with a larger variety of blogs, and in a wider array of open spaces.

I would add a very small graphic, like those little chicklet style ones that show my rank, as it would be rather small and unobtrusive.

The second idea I had would be to include how much movement there has been on the Top 100 board. I have been working very hard on eXtra for Every Publisher, and yet, I have been stuck at the same spot on his ranking list, and this is because there are new blogs being added. If the list was more like the top 40 charts for music, including an area showing if a blog has gone up, down, stayed the same, and marking new entrants as new, I would then be much happier as a visitor could see that I have been holding my own as new blogs are added to the ranking list.

The last idea I had was to move the blogs that are not in the Top 100 over to their own ranking list, so that the Top 100 remains prestigious. This would hurt this site, as I am not part of that Top 100 elite yet, but it would go a long way to continuing to make the list special, and interesting, rather than just allowing any site to be listed, and continuing to lengthen the list past the original 100 sites. Mark could put the sites currently ranked from 101 and down on their own area like Top 100 B, or Almost Top 100. Something where they can still be found, ranked and whatnot, but separate from what is supposed to be just a Top 100 list.

Strangely enough, I wouldn’t mind being 18th on the secondary list, and I would probably feel even more motivated to get to the main Top 100 list, as it is what most people link to and where a vast majority of traffic is passed around.

These are just some ideas, and they are free for people to use for their own ranking lists. Let me know what you think of my ideas in the comments. And if you have already added the widget to your blog, I would especially like to hear from you.

Hopefully, Mark will consider some of what I have posted here.

Originally posted on October 3, 2007 @ 10:59 pm