Based on observation all over the web in the past few nights, I've started to look at AM as an inverted pyramid. It's small at the bottom because:
* You don't know a lot.
* You especially don't have a lot of options because you don't have the funds to re-invest.
* You don't know enough to have options.
* Because you're often using someone else's playground, you have to play by their rules and this diminishes your options.
* Without a lot of options, you may become discouraged and quit.
Then, in the middle, things change:
* You know a little more.
* You've got a little cash now.
* You have just a handful of funds to re-invest and you've started purchasing a minimal hosting plan and have parked multiple domains there, and you may have paid to sign up with an affiliate ad network, while on others you've joined for free.
* You make a lot of errors, going down dead ends, wasting time on the wrong stuff.
* You're not as much in someone else's playground because you've been purchasing several domains, but you don't completely leave that playground because you need that extra cash.
* Your options are encouraging you, but the dead ends can be de-motivators.
Moving above middle, things change:
* You know a lot more.
* You've got a lot more cash, but you're taking huge risks and losing some of it on far more dead-ends.
* You're even paying others to ghostwrite content for your site to some degree.
* You make even more errors, but you've gotten used to them and are clearly motivated by it.
* You're still using some sites in someone else's playground because you have to -- they are still paying.
* You have a lot more options because you not only know more, but you have the cash to re-invest.
Moving into the top, things change:
* You know a tremendous amount.
* You're taking even larger risks with the cash and your losses are less because you're experienced.
* You're making far less errors.
* You still have some sites in other people's playgrounds, earning a trickle, but you've compounded that.
* You've moved into scripting sites with packages so that you can churn out 100 sites on a particular set of topics and can go back now and use another script to create the content, and so on.
* You have a lot of options because you've got the cash to re-invest.
* Even though you may have made $290K last month on a set of 10 ringtones you helped market, the Ad Network people you meet at conferences barely know your name but want to encourage you even still.
In the middle top, things change:
* You can start to stop doing the things that only generate a trickle and invest completely in the things that generate solid growth.
* They pyramid is large -- there are far, far more options for you to choose from because you've got the cash to re-invest.
* You're a master -- errors are few.
* You're not writing the content anymore -- you're paying others to do this.
* You've got a set of dedicated servers and a fractional T1 or DS3 out of your home office.
* You've got deep scripting skills on Linux with Perl and perhaps other languages.
* Ad networks are excited to have you join them and meet you at conferences or send you stuff all the time. They know you by first name.
* A few conferences may call you up and ask you to speak.
And at the top, things change:
* You've hired employees.
* Others are doing the work for you and you can focus on strategy.
* Even though you're not doing a lot of scripting, you are in training classes to learn about new product generation and new ad networks, then turning around and teaching your staff to do it by creating mockups/demos.
* You may even be playing around in venture capital, starting small companies with great ideas and the ability to generate income either from advertising or other ideas.
* You know the big guys on a first name basis, and they to you.
* You have a lot more conferences to speak at.
* You can even create your own ad network.
* You are compounding on your options.
In the nanosphere at the top:
* You've died and gone to Heaven. Just kidding. Actually, you've generated so much silly income that you've quit ad networks entirely and are just doing venture capital work, stock investments, or retiring, living off your dividends. This can open the options for the people below you to get in the markets that you left behind. But you don't care because you're sort of half-retired.
Anyway, knowing this, if my observations are right, I've discovered that it appears the doors at the bottom of the pyramid are closing -- that the saturation isn't generating enough useful content and the freebie sites are blocking it. For instance, go start a blogger site at blogspot and see if you can get it listed on Reddit. I haven't been able to do so -- Reddit declines, saying a bogus, "You've been submitting sites too fast," when I haven't. Also, the rules with Google AdSense are growing. And then WordPress has now done the discouraging thing to block Google AdSense and replace it with their cheesy ad network that costs you to get into it. Also, on the freebie sites, the content's starting to look so much like cut and paste that you end up with almost duplicate entries being indexed on the "what's new" sites. I mean, for those that make it on Reddit, you often see 4-5 others that did the same exact topic in almost the same exact way, and there are then people reposting the content and saying "Non Link-Jacked" besides it in parentheses.
* You don't know a lot.
* You especially don't have a lot of options because you don't have the funds to re-invest.
* You don't know enough to have options.
* Because you're often using someone else's playground, you have to play by their rules and this diminishes your options.
* Without a lot of options, you may become discouraged and quit.
Then, in the middle, things change:
* You know a little more.
* You've got a little cash now.
* You have just a handful of funds to re-invest and you've started purchasing a minimal hosting plan and have parked multiple domains there, and you may have paid to sign up with an affiliate ad network, while on others you've joined for free.
* You make a lot of errors, going down dead ends, wasting time on the wrong stuff.
* You're not as much in someone else's playground because you've been purchasing several domains, but you don't completely leave that playground because you need that extra cash.
* Your options are encouraging you, but the dead ends can be de-motivators.
Moving above middle, things change:
* You know a lot more.
* You've got a lot more cash, but you're taking huge risks and losing some of it on far more dead-ends.
* You're even paying others to ghostwrite content for your site to some degree.
* You make even more errors, but you've gotten used to them and are clearly motivated by it.
* You're still using some sites in someone else's playground because you have to -- they are still paying.
* You have a lot more options because you not only know more, but you have the cash to re-invest.
Moving into the top, things change:
* You know a tremendous amount.
* You're taking even larger risks with the cash and your losses are less because you're experienced.
* You're making far less errors.
* You still have some sites in other people's playgrounds, earning a trickle, but you've compounded that.
* You've moved into scripting sites with packages so that you can churn out 100 sites on a particular set of topics and can go back now and use another script to create the content, and so on.
* You have a lot of options because you've got the cash to re-invest.
* Even though you may have made $290K last month on a set of 10 ringtones you helped market, the Ad Network people you meet at conferences barely know your name but want to encourage you even still.
In the middle top, things change:
* You can start to stop doing the things that only generate a trickle and invest completely in the things that generate solid growth.
* They pyramid is large -- there are far, far more options for you to choose from because you've got the cash to re-invest.
* You're a master -- errors are few.
* You're not writing the content anymore -- you're paying others to do this.
* You've got a set of dedicated servers and a fractional T1 or DS3 out of your home office.
* You've got deep scripting skills on Linux with Perl and perhaps other languages.
* Ad networks are excited to have you join them and meet you at conferences or send you stuff all the time. They know you by first name.
* A few conferences may call you up and ask you to speak.
And at the top, things change:
* You've hired employees.
* Others are doing the work for you and you can focus on strategy.
* Even though you're not doing a lot of scripting, you are in training classes to learn about new product generation and new ad networks, then turning around and teaching your staff to do it by creating mockups/demos.
* You may even be playing around in venture capital, starting small companies with great ideas and the ability to generate income either from advertising or other ideas.
* You know the big guys on a first name basis, and they to you.
* You have a lot more conferences to speak at.
* You can even create your own ad network.
* You are compounding on your options.
In the nanosphere at the top:
* You've died and gone to Heaven. Just kidding. Actually, you've generated so much silly income that you've quit ad networks entirely and are just doing venture capital work, stock investments, or retiring, living off your dividends. This can open the options for the people below you to get in the markets that you left behind. But you don't care because you're sort of half-retired.
Anyway, knowing this, if my observations are right, I've discovered that it appears the doors at the bottom of the pyramid are closing -- that the saturation isn't generating enough useful content and the freebie sites are blocking it. For instance, go start a blogger site at blogspot and see if you can get it listed on Reddit. I haven't been able to do so -- Reddit declines, saying a bogus, "You've been submitting sites too fast," when I haven't. Also, the rules with Google AdSense are growing. And then WordPress has now done the discouraging thing to block Google AdSense and replace it with their cheesy ad network that costs you to get into it. Also, on the freebie sites, the content's starting to look so much like cut and paste that you end up with almost duplicate entries being indexed on the "what's new" sites. I mean, for those that make it on Reddit, you often see 4-5 others that did the same exact topic in almost the same exact way, and there are then people reposting the content and saying "Non Link-Jacked" besides it in parentheses.
