the power of powered by if ning will empower it

[soaringeagle]

silly title? maybe..maybe not

its clear some people are very upset about the "mandatory" powered by ning link, still others are perfectly happy to prom=ote the ning brand they love which empowered them to create such awesome sites.. but maybe there is a compromise that can make both sides happy?

my solutions simple

but lets look at this a lil deeper..in order for ning to grow nings branding must be seen   they must be found as big and popular as ning may be  very few people seem to know wjhat ning is! this doesnt help ning at all if they cant grow they cant improve!

so heres my simple solution..affiliate link the powered by  empower it with profit sharing  a small percentage..1-3 %? 5%? whatever ning thinks it can afford as a profit share  that will increase nings profits and growth. while helping reduce the cost of runing ning sites for long  term  users of the service.

lets say something like this  everyone who clicks the powered by link and signs up using your attached affiliate id  will earn you 3 bucks a month if they sign as mini 5 if plus and 7 if pro

if over a year just 10 ppl click and join that can be 30-50-70 a month! that covers your ning sites fees making it once again a free site like the good ol days..but wait..theres a chance that can become a profit too

if you average 10 sign ups a year the next year your doubling that and earning money by promoting ning..and nings growth increases drastically while alowing more engineers to work on more improvents and its win win all the way around

so ning..will you empower the power of the powered by with affiliation and profit sharing?

[Tyler Durbin]

The beauty of this is that with an affiliate program, people will open affiliate sites to actually refer people to Ning.  Then when people do a search for social networking sofware...etc, then they will come up higher in Google.  I have a buddy that this is all he does.  He has like 30 affiliate websites for various companies.  The funniest thing is he has a website selling beauty tips for women and wrote the site as a female. 

[soaringeagle]

well no cause it will only be an affiliate empowered link on a ning site so the site will still cost what it costs till you get a few affiliates to join through you ..so it might takes months to a year or so to pay off or even break even

so its really just a way to help existing ning sites that help ning grow..by giving back for helping out

[JFarrow]

love it

[Vashara Kasambu'Ra]

I agree with a small percentage for creators for the Ning link, so we can cover fees. People are running the other way once we mention a possible membership fee at times! 

[soaringeagle]

instead of making it a fully paid network then  make it a small donation request nobody is scared off if they still can get it free but those who really appreciate the value of your so]=ite  love to donate when they can i request 2.95 every 3 months.. i get dozens who donate 2.95  1 or 2 that donate 25-50 even a few that donate 1-5 ..its plenty to make it all worthwhile..but my sites saved its members thousands of dollars and and is really appreciated by its members so they are lil extra willing to donate (and promote the site by word of mouth)  my members are extra passionate about our site and wanting it to be the most trusted sourse of info ..so theyare very willing to give  when they can

i would poll them ask them how they feel about an optional suggested donation request  every so often

[Nor Cal Social Media]

This is intelligent discourse on a subject we creators have a right to take a bit personally. We can learn from criticisms and mistakes... and so too can Ning. I submit Ning pivot, and actually revert to the old branding models- not forced, and not with Glam Social as an extension. Pepsi Co did this when they tried to repackage their Minute Maid orange juice packaging with new branding. The backlash in negative sentiment caused them to reverse course on a multi-million dollar rebranding strategy, and it paid off big IMHO.

We should watch out for how we express our ideas. In fact, just the other day I wrote something that, in retrospect, I wondered if I hadn't inadvertantly pissed off 50,000 bikers! Hopefully it was taken in good faith on the helpful intent, and ideally I just helped pull the proverbial splinter from the lion's foot.

Look, the suggestion here was supposedly an extension of another conversation I started. I thought it was a pretty considerate move to start a new thread. The point is, if it is a given to get this forced branding, then it should at least be a value add. I personally advocate against affiliate MLM type schemes. Whenever I hear the term "residual" I get a little sick, and I guess I'm practically alone in thinking every time someone profits from trafficking & cheapens up sites with adserving it's a disservice to anyone who associates with the platform. I'm actually stepping on the other side of the line on this for once- soaringeagle's suggestion is a very creative compromise to the new problem and I find it sensible.

When you say that if you're going to have what was supposed to be a customizable whitelabel product and cheese it up with a convention you see in models on the likes of Facebook, then it's only reasonable to have a bit of an attitude and say we might as well just create a group on Facebook then.

When someone says you might as well go back to Facebook, it's just as natural to take it a step further and say that you might as well go back to straight HTML. It's quid pro quo, and not personal.

Even the criticism of how this went down is sound. Qualifying points were made. Calling it crap...well that's understandable too...but still weaksauce IMHO.

The Ning Platform means a lot to a lot of people...even everything to some, sorry to say. What you're hearing is the voice of the customer. I'm saying take it back off, and if not, then make it worth our while. With that in mind, this suggestion is worth consideration.

[soaringeagle]

definately was not thinking of an mlm  scheme  i think everyone has fallen for 1 of those before and realized they simply dont work out but affiliate links are a diferent story in a way its alot like the skimlinks extention  but instead you earn a small monthly referral fee

[Gavin Johnson]

mmm let see dilute revenue by paying an affiliate commission or introduce a new package that is truly white label (which pro was and thats why some are upset) and charge more revenue?

I know what I would do if I was the decision maker of the arrogant Glam Technologies! They dont need to grow the Ning brand by having a link in the footer of networks! Anyone looking at starting a network on a paid subscription will quickly find out that ning is probably the best social networking platform and therein lies the problem. But things will change when they get decent competition!

The bit that makes me laugh is take features off the pro subscription all good with that but whether Ning like it or not there is going to be a market for white label networks which they risk losing....why would you not introduce another plan and charge a little bit more and keep everyone happy! Doh!

[soaringeagle]

yea thats another way to go  make pro exempt or even add an expert above pro

the thing about competative white label is the number of dedicated people  and respiources it takes to crreatethers only 2 ways to succesfully do that the 1st way  is to sell the brand..with powered by links  and an option to remove it at a price..or  by open sourse community progect

there are enough talented creators  on creators to create a project like ning

even mutiny and create a competition to ning

but just think about all the time and dedication and hard work and comunity building skills it would take to get the jonb done and u can see why its not going to just happen because  some folks are upset about a link

even if 100 of us decided to do it ..im certain theres d be a powered by link  on the pach]kasge ..it k]just makrs sense to grow the community using the package.. but being open sourse would be easy to remove