The combined pageviews of the roughly 115 Yakezie Members hovers around four to five million a month. The four to five million pageviews a month consists of roughly three million unique visitors. By any measure, several million unique visitors a month is a very powerful and attractive metric to have!
Bloggers are the wave of the future because nobody wants to just read the news anymore. People demand opinions! And when readers can interact with their favorite bloggers over comments, all the better.
Over the past several years, we’ve all created a wonderful portfolio of articles which get visited over and over again thanks to loyal followers and organic search. The question is, how do we harness it?
Imagine The Possibilities
1) Product Awareness: Imagine if Procter & Gamble came out with an incredibly delicious new tooth paste that not only whitens your teeth, but also comes in a biodegradable container that costs 70% less than the average leading tooth paste. We personal finance bloggers and hygiene freaks would love it! P&G’s advertising head enlists the Yakezie Network to write about the product and create buzz to instantly reach a couple million unique visitors a month.
2) Organic Traffic Through Search Engines: Let’s say the Federal Government wants to promote a new health initiative that encourages Americans to eat healthier, exercise more, and live longer lives. Preventative measure is one of the keys to reducing our health care burden. As a result, President Obama’s health chief shoots me an e-mail asking if they can enlist the Yakezie Network to write about the importance of health, with the key words “how to live a healthier and longer life” that points back to the government’s health website. To do so, we obviously need to spend some time over at the White House to learn more about the program and speak to the President himself. President Obama wants to leave a legacy long after he’s gone. By increasing awareness and ranking at the top of Google for “how to live a healthier and longer life”, the program the President created will live forever.
3) Social Media Marketing. Almost all of us are on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and more. Social media is here to stay, even though publicly listed social media companies are having a tough time at the moment. Imagine being a first time Executive Producer of a new Hollywood movie that cost $100 million to make. Stakes are high, and the movie studios need to do everything possible to make sure they cover their costs. The executive producer can easily contact the Yakezie Network to start Tweeting, Plus Oneing, Liking, and Pinning the movie in our social circles. Of course, we’d like a sneak peak or an invite to the premier to create the honest buzz. With suddenly several million people hearing about the movie through the Yakezie Network, the probability of the movie’s success increases dramatically.
The difference between the Yakezie Network and all other networks is that we all know each other! Given we all know each other, we have the ability to concertedly affect change. This is a powerful value proposition.
THE CHALLENGE
Mobilization
The biggest challenge we have is mobilizing enough bloggers to participate in any particular campaign. We all have different interests, opinions, and financial requirements. I’m willing to sing the praises of “Healing Back Pain” by Dr. Sarno for free, forever because it got rid of my chronic back pain of two years, eight years ago. However, if I’m going to use a precious slot on Financial Samurai for a review on outdoor furniture, my requirements go up.
Incentives
What I do understand is that almost everything has a price. To put things to the extreme, I’m willing to bet the majority of people would chop off their left pinky for one billion dollars. No? OK, well then how about making the sacrifice in order to save your dying sibling from death? With enough incentive, things can happen. The challenge is figuring out how much.
Market
It’s not good enough we have a huge network. We need to convince our clients about the Yakezie Network’s value proposition. In order to do so, we need to point to past successes, and leverage relationships with people involved with directing funds in the online advertising space.
Execution
It’s all fine and dandy to tell clients to work with us. Hundreds of clients already have in the past couple years actually. t’s another thing to execute consistently and meet or exceed our client’s expectations. The best clients are repeat clients because the relationships and trust have been built already. New clients are always welcome of course.
SOLUTIONS TO THE CHALLENGES
The best solution I have to the challenges above is to create an open market for both clients and Yakezie Members.
For example:
* Proctor & Gamble submits a bid on Yakezie.com’s yet to be built advertisement platform listing its requirements. Perhaps they are willing to spend $100,000 across 100 blogs for one year that meet certain metrics.
* Yakezie Members can then log onto the system and see if the offer matches their own criteria. If it does, they check a box that says they will participate. After a set deadline to sign up has passed, the advertisement platform highlights which blogs are willing to participate, and the client will either sign off or edit the participation list.
* Once the contract has been agreed, the Yakezie Network will assign a personal account manager to navigate the campaign from start to finish. The account manager’s role is to ensure the proper execution of the campaign, and build a healthy relationship with the client.
The key here is developing an advertisement / business platform that is user friendly to both the clients and to Yakezie Members.
TIME TO INVEST
If we can successfully harness our combined readership, there is no doubt we can create a wonderful business that will benefit all parties involved. The difference between the Yakezie Network and all other networks is that we all know each other. No other Network as large as ours on the web can claim such intimacy.
Furthermore, the Yakezie Network consists of the very best blogs in the personal finance space by virtue of the six-month long minimum Yakezie Challenge requirement. The six-month Challenge ensures that Yakezie bloggers get to know each other, write two to four times a week, and seriously focus on their blogs.
I’ve been wondering what to do with some of the severance money I received after engineering my own layoff. The answer now seems very clear: Invest in the Yakezie! I’d rather invest in the Yakezie than buy stocks, bonds, or even my beloved real estate. I trust my work ethic, integrity, knowledge and honor to do everything possible to make this happen.
Perhaps the idea will be a hit, or perhaps the idea will fail and I will lose lots of money in the process. But, just like how I took the leap of faith at the age of 35 to leave my job and do my own thing, I’m taking the leap of faith again to invest money in the Yakezie Network to see if we can revolutionize the way clients advertise online. I don’t want to look back when I’m old and gray and regret not doing everything I could to see if I can create a business.
The Ideal Candidate:
* A developer who recognizes the business potential of the Yakezie Network e.g. understands this post.
* Someone who enjoys the spirit of blogging and interacting with others online.
* Someone who is not afraid to work hard and take risks.
* Someone who is proficient in design and coding.
* Someone who wouldn’t mind being a financial success.
* Someone who is looking for real world experience online.
* Someone who values honesty and integrity above all else.
What You Will Get:
* A ready built brand and platform to work with and test out your ideas.
* Revenue share.
* Instant access to the best personal finance bloggers on the web.
* A mentor who will teach you how to sell, market, build, succeed.
* An incredible experience, solid references, and a whole lot of fun.
Members, Challengers, Readers, if you have any thoughts and suggestions on how we can make Yakezie.com a business, do let me know. What are other challenges and benefits I have not touched upon?
If you know anybody in school, just out of school, or working who you think would be a great fit, please have them e-mail me. I will be back from overseas on September 3 and can meet up face-to-face in Denver from Sept 6-9 and when I’m back in San Francisco.
Regards,
Sam
It’s crazy that such an idea never even crossed my mind… the Yakezie members do have blogs that are HUGE and so it makes perfect sense to DO something with that traffic! I like the idea about the federal government one… but basically everything you said makes a whole lot of sense. And just like you said, it’s a strong network, bloggers here actually know eachother, and with the 6 month challenge period, you only end up with serious stick-with-it bloggers! Great idea, Sam.
Sam,
When you first came to me with the idea of yakezie, I suggested turning it into a blogher for the PF world. I think think that is finally what is happening. Have you checked out the platform AdZerk? I think it would fit really well before something custom had to be made.
I’ll take a look at AdZerk when I get back. Advertising is one thing important. I would just like to focus more on the “Active Influence” side of things.
I’m guessing the idea will be a hit! Something like the PF network that’s the equivalent of BlogHer.
Wow, those are ridiculously impressive statistics. What advertiser wouldn’t want to get their hands on that many pageviews and visitors each month? I can see it working as it makes it easier on the advertiser: instead of building a campaign and contacting 100+ blogs on their own, they can easily contact Yakezie and have the network handle it from there.
Sam, you’re definitely a wise man and I think opening up your entrepreneurial mindset is going to be fun to watch.
Hi Sam, The summation of Yakezie potential is inspiring. Implementation systems are important to make initiatives attractive to advertisers as well as. I appreciate your time and efforts and in that vein would like to encourage folks to donate a few bucks to Yakezie to help give back. The collective influence, knowledge and information of the network is impressive.
Collective influence is very powerful w/in this Network. Just need to figure out a way to harness the power for all.
“The combined pageviews of the roughly 100 Yakezie Members probably hovers somewhere around four to five million a month. The four to five million pageviews a month consists of roughly three million unique visitors a month.” – thanks for releasing that stat – pretty awesome numbers when you consider you’re talking about maybe 120-150 people writing for those sites wielding that outsized influence. (If you were a single site…) Google Analytics used to cap you at 5 million page views, although now they are talking around 10 million ‘actions’, which would still end up less than 10 million.
It might be more actually. Just a guesstimate.
What’s more special is that we all know each other and have the ability to AFFECT CHANGE.
I think we can do a lot with this powerful network. You mentioned an open market, and I think we can take that a step further. Why not create our own version of AdSense? A finance/lifestyle focused, CPC/CPM network with a lot of potential to reach many advertisers and readers each month.
Just need to execute.
“Why not do…” is easy to say, so here’s the post wondering if anybody wants to join me to do it.
Impressive stats! I am willing to help work towards the new Yakezie. I think with our angle and standards we could easily compete for financial advertising dollars.
Very interesting read… im looking forward to seeing what 3.0 looks like. I agree with Eric, our own CPC network would be great, and I bet the participation would be high…especially considering that most yakezie members have more than 1 blog these days.
I like Eric’s point above. That’s a great idea. I’d be your guy, if I had a clue about coding and design! With this much support, Yakezie should be flexing its muscles…
I like the idea about an open market – a meeting place between advertisers and bloggers. Sam, is there a way to open this one for ‘investing’ – I just think that others, including me, would like to contribute financially but as much as I like Barbara’s idea for ‘contributions’ this sounds much too weak. We need to pool resources together and build something really impressive.
This is going to be an awesome transition. I feel like I just watch a preview for an epic summer blockbuster! I is truly exciting to think of what could be done with 3 million unique visitors a month. And not to mention how leveraging 100 blogs is more personal and inviting instead of an ad campaign on 1 huge site. I like the possibilites here…
Also, I am much to green to apply atm, but I like your criteria for the ideal candidate . It gives me something to shoot for in the future. Thanks for the motivation :)
FoodieBlogRoll started doing something similar earlier this year, rolling out their publisher program. I doubt that Yakezie would ever be tempted to go that way, but I would caution staying true to the roots while growing it like this. FBR has been moving more towards being a CPM advertising platform and away from being a blogging community. Their blogroll widget doesn’t even link to any blogs any more!
After 6 months and now many years of knowing members in the group, I don’t think we’re going to all of the sudden stop talking to each other no?
I think I’ve demonstrated that I am a consistent post contributor of Yakezie.com, despite having FS, and many other duties. Others have also consistently been interactive in the forums and elsewhere.
The one thing I encourage you and others to be is NOT be afraid of change or financial success. Community and financial progress can happily co-exist.
That is a good point. There is already a much closer community than there ever was at FBR. Plus, you don’t seem to be the type to chase a dollar at the expense of relationships.
Sam. This is a fantastic idea. We have a huge foundation laid out already that can only be bigger and better. I am here to help with whatever you need. Just let me know.
Thanks Miss T for your consistent support! Always appreciated. Hope to see you in Denver!
I think it would be great to leverage the power of the network, and it would give smaller bloggers a good opportunity. I would caution of being selective, and like Edward said, not moving away too much from being a blogger network.
great idea, I doubt I will be of much help personally but I’m very curious to see how this develops!
Seems like a great opportunity, especially since there is such a diverse range of PF blogs across the network–reminds me I need to submit my application too to join in on the fun!
Fun is what you will have. The Network is what you make of it! Good luck.
Influence. Network. Power. Leverage. Great concepts being discussed so far, Sam! I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Yakezie Challenge, and I’ll be excited to see how Yakezie 3.0 develops.
Hi there, interesting concept and I think it would be great to have a collective power such as this! Can I perhaps share an idea too though? You mentioned above (point 2 under imagine the possibilities) that search could reach Americans. While America is, well, there’s not really a word for what America is, the closest I can find is HUGE. Yakezie is worldwide now. It’s not just that Yakezie writers reach millions of people, it’s that those millions of people are worldwide!
In my opinion you can provide segmentation analysis to potential future clients and explain that the Yakezie network can be segmented geographically, type of typical content, age of websites etc. This means influencing can reach multiple levels.
This information and group synergy could see something fantastic happen!
Just a thought :-)
Good thought John. Yes, we have worldwide Members, and we should certainly look at the world as a whole and not just the US.
However, there are so many ideas and things to do, it’s best to focus on things one at a time and go from there.
This is a great conversation – a concrete example of some of the things in the post I wrote earlier – talking about Should Yakezie be more.
All the ideas presented sound good. Like others, though, I wouldn’t want to lose the blogger interaction and help each other out aspects of the network.
It might not be a money maker, but one of my desires would be to somehow collectively promote financial literacy in the schools. I have a post coming out on that on Sept 11 on my blog.
I think we will always keep the blogger interaction in tact. That’s our biggest difference among all other networks. There’s definitely a lot we can do!
I think this is a solid idea. Being able to have such a large amount of blogs in one place for advertisers to reach is very attractive to them. A lot of people bring such a different focus with their blogs. You have people that blog about mostly investing, some that focus on passive income streams and others that are a PF conglomerate. It gives brands a lot of choices.
4 to 5 million pageviews seems about right. I wonder if that would be enough to crash reddit? ;)
I’m excited to see what 3.0 is going to be like.
I love the idea, and I love where you’re going with this. A developer would be lucky to get a gig like this!
The trick is to find that someone. Demand for developers is SKY HIGH. My own partner’s startup was bought by Google. Hard to compete with them.
I just found out about this website by accident through another and I am really glad I did. It’s a great bloggers’ community with a lot of interesting and creative ideas. Just wanted to stop by and say hi. I will definitely be back!
Random question — do you have screen shots of what the original Yakezie site looked like? I’m assuming it looked different?
Version 1.0 was no Yakezie.com and just a Google groups forum and our badges to identify each other in the Network.
The power of Yakezie network is no less than the conglomerates like ABC or CBS radio network with thousands of affiliates to market your product or services. As Yakezie grows with more quality PF bloggers producing awesome content that can help average citizen, network can muscle incredible brand power to harness its lucrative revenue potential. All hats off to you Sam for such a grandiose vision and execution.
Thanks Shilpan, however, I need to do a much better job executing! Hence, my search for a technical partner.
Sam,
I think you’re totally on to something. In a way, that was my mini blog movements have been about – something bigger!
I need to look back at the exact numbers, but I know for sure that without the Yakezie Network, the Roth IRA and Life Insurance movement would not have cracked 100 participants. I owe that to Yakezie.
Those movements I think are just the tip of the iceberg. I think we have the power to change lives. My next movement is focused on just that.
I think we need to chat more….. :)
Let’s definitely chat in Denver! Our meetup is this Thurs, so perhaps you are free to join?
Well I will throw my hat in the logo design area. I owe a lot to Yakezie. Whenever I read anything negative about Yakezie I wonder if I am in a twilight zone.
Your numbers are amazing. Your writing is spot on. You seem like a very nice guy from the few emails we have had…
I will always continue to support Yakezie and it’s wonderful network of bloggers.
Jai, I’d love to incorporate some of your designs. They look amazing!
Just come on out to Denver this weekend, SF whenever, or I’ll ping you next time I’m in NYC!
I think this is an excellent idea and look forward to participating. A CPM aspect would be nice, especially guaranteeing a certain fee for all who agree to use the collective amplification power of the Yakezie for particular campaigns. That way smaller sites get to be a part of a larger whole. I think you are on to something good, Sam.
I know a couple of people who fit part of the bill, but not 100%. I’ll keep me eyes and ears on just the right person for taking Yakezie to the next level. I like your vision – a bigger and better impact than any single one of us could make on our own.
[…] According to Sam: The combined pageviews of the roughly 100 Yakezie Members probably hovers somewhere around four to five million a month. The four to five million pageviews a month consists of roughly three million unique visitors a month. (source) […]
oh man… you are only a few months away to be able to say: I made it!
Keep it up Sam, I’m sure you will make it in only a few months. The network you have built is incredibly impressive. I’m looking forward to read about your success.
cheers,
[…] do entirely on my own. With all the work experience, education, and moonlighting, I believe I can create a sustainable and fun business that can grow long after I’m gone. What I lacked was enough of my own time to make it […]
I wonder how much feedback you have gotten behind the scenes on these ideas, Sam.. They are very interesting.. Providing an open marketplace that gives advertisers ready access to a number of top blogs (with good readership) sounds like something that could really work, if someone had the time and skill to put it together. Has such an advertising campaign ever been executed from and throughout the network before?
-j-
This post is really a great idea to make Yakezie Network be known by the world. With unity and participation by all the bloggers of Yakezie, this feat is not impossible.
[…] Yakezie As A Business – Some thoughts on how we can leverage our Network for business opportunities. We’ve […]