Popular financial news and commentary website Seeking Alpha seems to have a pretty sweet setup &8212' the site has built up a large readership (40 to 45 million pageviews per month) with articles that are written for free. So the announcement that the site will start paying its contributors looks a bit odd &8212' why start paying for something you were already getting for free
The move seems especially risky since Seeking Alpha&'s Premium Partnership Program will pay a rate of $10 per thousand pageviews. That means a big chunk of the money the site makes from each article will go to the writer. (On the other hand, Seeking Alpha founder and CEO David Jackson told me last week that the site charges its advertisers premium rates thanks to its high-quality audience.)
So why change things Jackson said ita4ぎa4г because the pay model allows Seeking Alpha to reach a new set of writers. Until now, most contributors were financial advisors or other professionals who saw their articles as a way to build their reputation and attract new customers. But there&'s a big pool of writers who have expertise in a specific financial subject but arena4ぎa4д looking for customer leads (for example if theya4ぎa4вe retired, or if theya4ぎa4ёe built up knowledge as an individual investor). Those writers need a different incentive to contribute &8212' namely, money.
The ultimate goal, Jackson said, is to become a4ぎAthe eBay of financial content, to put people in business who otherwise wouldna4ぎa4д be in business.a4ぎ Your average Seeking Alpha article receives between 2,500 and and 20,000 pageviews, he added &8212' which means a payment of between $20 and $200. (The payments will be made quarterly, and to reduce the companya4ぎa4г overhead, you wona4ぎa4д get paid until youa4ぎa4вe owed at least $100.) For some contributors, the payments will just represent an extra bit of spending money, but for others it could be a nice income.
Some of Seeking Alphaa4ぎa4г existing writers will switch to the new model, while others will not, Jackson said, because if you want to get paid, the site will require exclusive rights to the article.
One of the risks of the pay-per-pageview model is that it might encourage sensationalism for the sake of chasing traffic (and making more money). Obviously, the site wants to grow pageviews, but Jackson said hea4ぎa4ll be relying on its editorial team to act as a quality filter as the amount of submissions grows.
Seeking Alpha already has 4,000 registered contributors, Jackson said. The sitea4ぎa4г investors include Benchmark Capital, Accel Partners, and DAG Ventures.
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Companies: Seeking Alpha
People: David Jackson
Companies: Seeking Alpha
People: David Jackson
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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