Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt doesn’t understand much of the criticism geared toward his company, which Time Magazine columnist Dan Fletcher refers to as “the Web’s least understood and most vilified juggernaut.” I attended a panel at SXSW this week in which Fletcher and Rosenblatt discussed Demand’s content strategy that has become the basis of so much controversy.Rosenblatt thinks it’s just a case of a new business model getting picked on because it’s not understood yet. He compared it to the early days of other successful companies like Amazon and Netflix.

Demand Media evidently gets more traffic than the digital properties of ESPN, Time, or Disney. They claim to have more videos on YouTube than anybody. This isn’t spammy content though. It’s content created based on what people are looking for, or what a combination of Demand’s algorithms and staff determine people are looking for based on extensive data analysis.

An audience member referred to a video she came across that was simply not the type of quality Demand Media wants its content to be known for. Rosenblatt acknowledges that there may be some of this out there, simply because the company began with a different model, but they are working to eliminate this, and only implement content that has gone through the company’s exhaustive editorial process.

One huge misconception that Rosenblatt went out of his way to clear up is that of Demand Media’s content being taken as news. He doesn’t see what Demand Media is doing as journalism. Journalism is news, and this isn’t news, he says. It’s stuff that makes you laugh, solves your problems, etc. “Only the journalists call us journalists.”

A great deal of the criticism that has been aimed at Demand Media is based around the notion that the company is somehow taking advantage of Google’s algorithms, to get its content placed higher than other sources (isn’t this what SEO/SEM is all about anyway?). Rosenblatt basically made the point that if Google doesn’t think it’s good enough content to be there, than it won’t be there.  To change an algorithm to not give an answer just doesn’t make sense, he says.

“If people aren’t looking for it on search, we’re not there,” he added. Demand properties like eHow often appear in search results for queries about how to do things. Well, that’s exactly the kind of content that appears on eHow, and the mantra of the industry has always been “content is king” right? Demand simply wants to wear that crown, and make money doing it.

“We are driven by an economic model,” Rosenblatt said. The company is focused on “evergreen, longtail, commercial content.” They’re focused on stuff they will make money from.

Rosenblatt says a lot of people think their content is auto-generated. “That’s just wrong,” he says. One criticism that Rosenblatt does think is fair, is that some of the company’s content “could feel mechanical.” In other words, some may lack creativity. “We need to learn, and we’re trying to,” he says. A lack of creativity does not necessarily mean a lack of accuracy, though, and through Demand’s editorial process, there is a lot of fact checking going on. At least that is the impression Rosenblatt gave.

He says they have different models for different categories. With something especially important to the world, like health, he says they make sure professionals are writing the articles. With health, fact checking would also go to doctors. If you are searching for information on Google about effects of chemotherapy, and you are met with an article written by an expert on the subject, with facts checked by doctors, is there really anything wrong with that? Would you rather get a Wikipedia entry? Remember, we’re not talking “news” here. We’re talking information, and in other cases entertainment.

Demand media does use some Google ads, as iEntry CEO and WebProNews publisher Rich Ord pointed out in an article a while back. He wrote:

The problem as I see it is that while Google is highly ranking the content of these mass production publishers it also has a financial incentive to do so. Almost all content farms use Google Adwords for their revenue. So while Google on the one hand encourages publishers to make content for their readers and not just for search ranking, it is in partnership with sites that do just that.

I guess if you can make content for the purpose of ranking in searches … but make it targeted, unique and not horrible, then you might find that Google well reward you quite well.

The issue of Google’s own practices with regards to this are really a separate issue from Demand Media’s practices. As far as Rosenblatt is concerned, they’re just producing the content that people want, and will find that through either search or discovery. And they’re making a killing doing it.

The FBI has announced it arrested a man on Thursday for allegedly selling hacked cable modems that provided free Internet access.

Matthew Delorey, 26, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence on each count of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Delorey ran a now shuttered website called Massmodz.com which sold cable modems which were hacked and reconfigured to allow them to be used for free, untraceable access to the Internet.

Delorey, through his website sold two hacked modems to an undercover FBI agent posing as a customer.

Delorey marketed his hacked modems in a Craigslist post advertising “Massmodz Free Internet- Get free untraceable Internet.” He also appeared in instructional videos he posted on YouTube, including videos entitled Massmodz.com How to Get Free Internet Free Cable Internet Comcast or any Cable ISP – 100% works”; “Massmodz.com How to bypass Comcast registration page with premod cable modem SB5100, SB 5101″; “Massmodz.com Cable Modem Hack Cable Modem Mod”; and “Massmodz.com How to get back online Comcast new secure area with cable modem premod, Comcast ready.”

Including CPA Networks In Your Internet Marketing

Continued from part 9

Joining a CPA network won’t automatically make you a success at Internet marketing. As a publisher, you still have to understand how to include those CPA offers in your classical Internet marketing strategies. One thing is for sure, if you are only concentrating on PPC-to-CPA strategies, you are missing a huge opportunity to make money in less expensive ways.

A typical PPC-to-CPA strategy will cost at least $1,000 to implement correctly, and that’s with no guarantee of getting any commissions from the traffic that you drive to the advertiser. That’s why advertisers like the CPA model, it pays only for performance, not how much time and money you actually put into it as a publisher. Of course, if you are a wizard at Internet marketing, you will get far more than you put into it, but if you are not, you can end up spending a ton of money because you haven’t focused on post, we’re going to go over some classic examples of Internet marketing that have a proven track record of generating traffic and leading targeted demographics back to the CPA landing page.

But, in addition to that, we’ll give you some ideas on how you can also take advantage of the traffic that you capture to help you promote your own business too, and not just rely on commissioned payouts that are a one-time thing. In that way, you are truly engaging Internet marketing strategies that pay off now and in the long run.

Email Marketing Campaigns

This has been the big standby of all Internet marketing, but it’s gotten a bad rap for all the spamming that’s occurred due to the ease of implementing it. Now, you can even be fined and sometimes even land in jail if you misuse this resource in a fashion that violates Federal rules. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to throw away the baby with the bath water.

The reason email marketing campaigns have been so misused is because they are efficient. Think about it. With an email address, you can send out an email for nothing, electronically. If you were to do this with a postcard, a marketing flier, or some other print media, the costs of doing the mailing alone would be thousands. Instead, you can send out thousands of emails and even if you get only 1% of people to respond, you’ve made 10 viable contacts per every thousand on the list. Now, if you’re a good marketer and have a very tight demographic, your response rate can be higher. So, building up a large email contact list is a great way to integrate your CPA offer with the regular Internet marketing you do.

All you would have to do is set up a regular schedule of emails for people who have opted-in to your email lists on your websites, and use the emails, newsletters, and marketing to add some URL links to your CPA offers.

One way to do this quite subtly is to simply post a hook in your signature line with a link to the CPA offer. People become curious and click just to see what you’re advertising. And, every time you email or respond to someone that link goes in and you have done it all automatically by inserting a permanent signature into your email reader.

Classified Ads

Another great way to market CPA offers, even if you have no websites or email contact lists, is to post classified ads in various third party places that have the potential for large amounts of traffic. This is a strategy that has been abused somewhat and may be banned by your particular CPA network provider, so you need to check. Sometimes they allow electronic classified ads, but refuse to allow print classified ads. Either one of these is a viable way to advertiser the CPA network offer, but you have to make sure you aren’t violating the service agreement with your CPA network when you try to do that.

Since there are so many different CPA networks, even if one says no, another will say yes. For instance, NeverBlueAds is against printed ads. So, checking is better than posting one, being called on it, and potentially losing your account. Just ask the CPA administrator assigned to your account, if you have any doubts about any advertising method you are thinking of implementing.

Free ads can be placed online at Craigslist and Facebook. Many social networking sites have an area where members can place free classified ads for people to view. They may not get the same exposure as paid ads, but they can still generate some traffic.

Paid Ads

Paid ads can be print ads, Social Ads on Facebook, or even using Google Adword PPC to CPA campaigns to start the ball rolling. This strategy means you are going to have to put money upfront, but if posting one ad and running it a month in a leading news magazine or social network pays back a lot more in CPA network commissions, it can be really worth it.

Current Events

When some large event happens that impacts our society, you can bet people will be talking about it and looking for information about it online. That’s your hint to either join in the conversation or create content to put on your site that ties into the current events story and offers some solutions in the form of your CPA network offers. This strategy can be a little tricky as you do have to try to find offers that sort of match up to what is being discussed.

However, with all the economic bad news, you can find some great CPA offers for debt management, foreclosure avoidance, and anything else that can provide solutions to the problems that millions of people are experiencing. Post content on your site with that slant, visit major news sites, and give your 2 cents worth adding a URL link to your page, if that’s allowed. Instant traffic. Once they’re on your site, your CPA offers will be on that page too and you can begin to make a profit, no matter what the economy is doing.

Article Marketing

Another great way to combine your classical Internet marketing strategies with CPA offers is to do article marketing. If you are an expert in any of the niches that you are marketing, which you should be, then you might be able to write and submit articles to free article directories that will publish and provide a wide exposure to your profile. In the resource box for these articles you can post links to other content on your site.

Generally, they don’t allow you to link to an offer directly as that is a solicitation, but there’s no reason you can’t lead the reader to your site and then from there on to your offers. Obviously, this strategy requires that you have an intermediary website or blog set up to be able to capture traffic and then redirect it. Some article directories are starting to get even more strict with this practice of using bridge pages, so join a number of different sites and see which one works best for you.

Blogs

Blogs are very popular these days and easy to check to see how popular they are online with sites like Technorati. After you’ve located a number of sites that are popular, you can comment on the blogs and use a URL link to lead people to CPA offers.

However, if that is caught by the spam filter, you will have to lead people from the blog to you website or some intermediary space. It doesn’t seem like much, but commenting on various blogs, joining a blog community, and making a presence in these forums is a way of networking that can reap rich results. People start to remember your name and associate you with being helpful and an expert.

Create Your Own InfoProducts

Maybe you have some ebooks, some reports, some CDs, or DVDs, that you already market. Even if you don’t, it’s fairly easy to create at least an ebook, save it as a pdf file and sell it online. If you have a huge market reading your products online, you can capitalize on that some more by placing CPA offers within the text that will yield more links even after the sale of the product. And, it costs you nothing but a little line of code.

Videos

Videos are also a popular way to get noticed and people love Youtube.com. Joining is free and as long as you have a camera that takes short videos, less than 10 minutes long, and some editing software, you’re in business. You can respond to popular videos and post a comment telling the publisher there that you’ve responded.

Many times they will add you to their list of favorites and that can get you noticed very quickly! However, that wouldn’t be enough to attract people to your CPA network offer unless you add a splash page at the beginning of your video with the URL of a page you’ve set up on your site that has your CPA offers. In addition, there is a little “more information” URL you can add for each video and there you can post your CPA affiliate URL offer directly, without even having your own website landing pages.

If you’re not into posting videos, that’s okay! You can just look up other people’s popular videos and offer to pay them for taking the “more information” slot. Sometimes, you can even offer them money to take over the entire account and that way, you have an instant audience. Of course, if the star of the show was the personality of the poster, you might have trouble retaining that audience when the ownership switches.

Going Viral

The nice thing about these videos and free articles is that they have a massive potential to “go viral.” By that, the large news agencies can notice them and feature them on their mainstream news sites or comment on them in their news stories. If that happens, you can get millions of viewers is a very short period of time and that’s what’s called “going viral” because the link is being passed around the Internet like a virus.

Tired, Yet?

Whew! That’s a whole lot of work right? Well, no one said Internet marketing was going to be a walk in the park. There is quite a bit of work that has to be done to tie in your offers to your Internet marketing strategies to capture massive traffic streams. If you’re not up to it, that’s okay! There are plenty of freelancers who are willing to do it for you!….To be continued