Not Liking What I’m Seeing At Associated Content

Associated Content (AC) has gone through some major changes and problems lately. I’m not getting a good vibe from it either. As ya’ll know, I’ve been publishing with AC for about three years. I’ve stuck with them through the bad and the good. I’ve always been honest when I express my feelings about Associated Content. I praise them for what they do right and call their mistakes what they are.

Lately, AC has created several glitches. Some they have corrected. Some have been corrected, but subsequently reappeared. Some they refuse to acknowledge. As always the communications, both internally and externally, appear lacking. The most serious problem right now,one AC refuses to admit is a problem, is the de-indexing of AC articles.

The problem started in late 2008. AC writers (note, I refuse to buy into AC’s new, dehumanizing terminology and call their members “sources”) began noticing that Google would index articles as it always did, but then de-index them. The articles would show up about a week later with a much lower placement. To add insult to injury, the newly index article would have its abstract jumble with HTML code. Many articles did not get indexed by Google at all. I noticed this when the weekly Google alerts I had set up, stopped coming. When they did trickle in, the links were only to blogs and other sites that mentioned my articles, never the AC article.

The forum was awash in complaints about the problem, but they Associated Content staff seldom reads their own forum. The one guy who did participate in the forum, the one guy who kept members informed of problems and the status of the solutions, was let go from AC today along with the AC staffer who ran AC’s blog.

I’m not a conspiracy nut. I like to think there are simple, logical reasons for happenings in this universe, but the time line of events all point to one conclusion…AC has lost its mojo. The two things AC had going were its built-in audience and a special relationship with Google. That relationship has been debated and speculated numerous times, but the debate is moot. The love affair between AC and Google is over.

Here’s a brief time line that led me to this conclusion.

• Late 2008, the de-indexing of AC articles starts.
• December 2008, some AC members think the problem is a change to the article’s link because AC adds a “?cat=#” to all articles.
• January-ish 2009, AC members start comparing notes and posting examples.
• February-ish 2009, AC ignores the forum chatter completely.
• Late February 2009 AC begins deleting articles due to “questionable content and poor grammar/spelling.” This unannounced rule change, though probably for the best, was an attempt to get back in the good graces of Google.
• March-ish 2009, AC says they’re looking into it.
• April-ish 2009, AC says there is no problem with articles being indexed. AC says it’s working like always and they don’t control what Google does anyway.
• May 2009, despite dozens of forum posts and hundreds of emails with examples of the problem, AC continues to say, “There is no problem.”
• May 2009, after getting a new CEO and $6M in investment funds, AC fires some of the people who have been the best communication link for their writing members.

Conclusions:

• AC lost it’s Google mojo.
• AC doesn’t want to admit they no longer have a special relationship with Google
• AC has new management and is trying to clear out the old guard
• Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

Given the facts, I don’t think any of this is a random collection of events. AC is changing. AC is hiding something. AC isn’t looking so well these days. Google has devalued the AC domain so severely, it now just ignores articles posted there. If the average surfer can’t located an AC article with a search, traffic will be reduced significantly. No traffic? No per-click payments. AC’s biggest draw disappears. It’s really no wonder AC doesn’t want to admit this is a problem.  If Google is going to ignore the AC domain, there is really no incentive to put up with the other glitches and formatting limitations.  I can have more formatting options and complete control over my writing here on my blog and still get ignored by Google.  If the pay is the same, why bother jumping through AC’s hoops?

That’s my take on the situation.  It’s not one I jumped to without some serious thought. It’s one that fits the facts.

P.S. Sam we’re going to miss you, but I think you may have gotten off the AC ship at just the right time. I’m sure there are many AC members who will be following you. AC is becoming more trouble than it’s worth.

Associated Content Tip of the Day: Web Writing Ground Rules

Here’s today’s web writing tip/article. Web Writing: The Ground Rules that Make a Good Web Article
This is what makes a good web article be it for AC, Mashable, or even C-Net magazine.

Web content has rules. Let’s get right to this. The primary rules of web writing are:

Titles must be search-engine friendly
A well-constructed article title in cyberspace means the difference between 10 people stumbling on it and 10,000 people actively finding it. Good titles include key words and key phrases. They have low competition, but still use common terms that the average information seeker would type into a search engine. Don’t use Oryctolagus cuniculus when you can use “rabbit.”

This and at least five more rules for web articles. These are the rules. There are no exceptions. Give it a read.

Associated Content Officially Announces Daily Page View Updates

We enter a new epoch of the Associated Content page view beta era. Over the last two years, AC has steadily decreased the time between page view updates until it is now happening daily. Technically, it’s been happening daily for a couple of weeks now, but in a move very unlike AC, they waited to make the official announcement until they we’re sure they could pull it off.

Here is the message AC sent out Thursday, 5 March 2009:

Associated Content now updates every Content Producer’s estimated page views on a daily basis. This means you’ll have consistently up-to-date information about how your content is performing. This is something our Community has been requesting for a long time, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer it to you.

Keep in mind that these numbers are only estimations until we’ve had a chance to verify them. We verify all page views at the end of the month before processing Performance Payments, and adjust the numbers when necessary. If you have questions about changes made to your page views, please send a message to admin@associatedcontent.com. And if there is an issue that prevents page views from updating daily, we will resolve it as quickly as possible.

We hope you’ll enjoy receiving daily insight into the popularity of the content you publish on AC!

Now you can watch your article’s progress in near-real time. What will you do with this information? Make a graph? Put it in a spreadsheet? (You’d do that with the PV Report Converter, by the way.) Twitter it?

Honestly, I think it’s a nice feature/service. It shows that AC listened and responded to their CP community. I just don’t obsess over page view counts as much as some, I guess. I like that when I do check, I can be confident that I’m seeing yesterday’s numbers. I don’t have to look around for “date of last update” and do math in my head. That’s cool, but it doesn’t make a difference in what or when I’m paid for those views.

So, whether you’re a compulsive count checker or a slacker like me, we can both enjoy the new daily updates. Now if, after two years of having the page view program, AC could just stop calling it a beta, I’d be even happier.

Associated Content to Start User Verification

As is becoming standard practice on my sites, Associated Content will be offering, nay, insisting that you verify your account via phone or text message. Their blog post, User Verification Launching Next Week, says this will start next week. It also outlines some pretty stiff penalties for those who don’t verify their accounts. The stiffest is losing all your bonus money.

Don’t let this slide folks. Read the entire blog post and beat the rush.

Associated Content Tip of the Day 26 Feb 2000: Promotion Techniques

Carol Bengle Gilbert dropped a great resource today with her Tutorial: Guide to the Basics of Content Promotion. Not only are the contents of the article spot on, the construction of the article is a template for effective web writing. You could read just the first paragraph and walk away with important knowledge.

Content promotion starts with the first strike of the computer key. Write content that facilitates promotion, and it will promote itself. The guide will show you how to make sure your content is doing its own self-promotion as well as introduce you to some helpful content promotion
tools to give your article a boost.

You’ll have to click the link to read the rest of all her great tips. My recommendation is read it, bookmark it, and read it about once a month. This is the kind of advice that never gets old.

Blog Spring Cleaning: Maintenance and Other Things

I just completed some long over-due work on the blog. Nothing exciting, just stuff that needed doing. It’s getting a little busy on the sidebars so I wanted to take a moment and point out a few things.

1. I joined Twitter. My five latest Tweets are on the left. I know you’re blown away. You can see my full profile/tweet-list by clicking the “I’m a Twit. Follow at Your Own Peril.” link on the left. I told Michy it was a bad idea for the world to be exposed to my unfiltered brain like this.
2. I joined Facebook. I didn’t include any sidebar links though.
3. I added RSS feeds for the blog to the right sidebar. Everyone wants a different option for following so, if you like RSS, there’s your monkey.
4. I changed the graphic for the subscribe feature. To the person who unsubscribed citing “Too many updates,” come on! I only post here 3 or 4 times a week. Compared to 99% of the blogs out there, I’m a pathetic loser. Won’t you come back? I have candy.
5. To my 3 new subscribers, “Welcome!”. You know who you are.
6. The Plagiarism Today link on the right is unchanged, but worth mentioning because it’s a great little blog.
7. The blogroll got a haircut. There were a lot of dead links in it and I added some blogs I found via Twitter. Note the links to John Cleese and Levar Burton. Burton is droning on about giving up smoking. I quit drinking last September and you don’t hear me pissing and moaning about it. Of course, you’ll probably pry my pipe out of my cold, dead, cancerous hands, but still, man up, Levar!
8. I shrank my RSS feed from Associated Content down to the last 5 article just because the blog layout is getting too busy. Still, I appreciate everyone who reads my rantings at AC. Y’all are the best. Rodney recently told me he like my off-the-cuff stuff the better than my polished pieces. When I pumped out Stupidity About Town and saw the comment responses, I had to agree with him.
9. I trimmed the Associated Content blog page down to just the add-on tools list and the tips articles. Give it a look because the new Payment Helper is there and it’s tax time. If you have a good tips article about AC, drop the URL in the comments of the AC page here and I’ll look into adding it to the list.
10. I put my new, cool AC badge on the left sidebar. Everyone at AC is calling this the udder badge, but I’m in the top 1000 again so I put it on the fridge.
11. I’ve noted that my HTML for Dummies series has been well received. Footnotes, Superscripts, and Hard Spaces is getting the lion’s share of the hits. If you have specific questions or would like to see a particular topic covered, just leave it in a comment.
12. For the person who asked about the top-right image and why it says, “Bob Says Slack Off,” You’ll just have to click the blessed head of Bob and explore. The Church of the Subgenius welcomes all. (Not for the faint of heart or anyone under 18.)

Other than adding a few new images, that’s the spring cleaning. Hope all is well on your street.

Stupid is as stupid does…

…And stupid does a lot this week.

My latest stupid offering to stupid Associated Content on a stupidly beautiful day where I’m wishing I could have my stupid self somewhere stupid else…

Stupidity About Town: The Real Life Adventures of a Smart Ass in a Dumb World. Come join me in spotting stupidity about town. Pictures encouraged.

One stupid thing that didn’t make the article was my recent forced upgrade to Internet Exploder 7. It was forced on me and my computer rebooted with no warning. Within 1 hour, I had security updates in the auto-update queue. Yar! Microsoft blows!

Stupidity for Dummies

Get your copy today and join the herd.

Associated Content Now Culling Article Heard

Associated Content has started removing articles. You read that correctly. They are removing articles without so much as a “by your leave.” The AC forum is lighting up with panic posts. In this blogger’s opinion, the indignation is real and righteous. AC isn’t giving the contributors any specific reason for the removal, but they have outlined some general rationale.

AC added this section to their FAQ:

Why was my content removed from the site?
Associated Content reserves the right to remove any content, before or after publication, which does not adhere to the Submission Guidelines or Terms of Use. Common reasons for content removal include:
1. Inclusion of affiliate links
2. Overtly promotional content or links
3. Sexually explicit or inappropriate content
4. Plagiarism
5. Images that do not follow our guidelines
6. Quality problems (poor grammar, spelling or does not meet the minimum word-length requirement – poetry excluded)
7. Formatting problems (content not broken into paragraphs; over-use of bullets, underlining, bold, italics; inclusion of byline or title within the content)

AC Admin also add this note in an out-of-the-way forum post:

If you think something was removed in error (i.e. it doesn’t violate any part of the Submission Guidelines or Terms of Use), send an email to community@associatedcontent.com and make sure you include the approximate title of the article that was taken down.

Though AC is well within their rights, they are going about this in all the wrong ways. Here’s where it is all falling apart.

No Warning
The removals are catching contributors completely off guard. AC isn’t alerting the contributor any way, shape or form. The authors are just discovering the missing articles by sheer luck. The removed articles are denoted on the contributor’s content report by a different color, but that’s it. No email. No intra-site message. No reason given. The article just disappears like a fart in the wind.

Bad PR
As AC Admin posted, the author has the option of emailing community@associatedcontent.com and asking for the removal reason, but that takes time. While waiting for an answer, the frustrated and enraged author will most likely post something like “AC removed my article and they suck big donkey balls.” The blogosphere is fueled by pissed-off people and AC is going to see some really bad PR from this.

Oops!
AC has already returned some articles which the accidentally removed, but the view count did not return with them. In these cases, the views will be restored to their original count when the next update happens. That can be up to 5 or 6 days in the future. In the meantime, more blogging will take place as the author worries if they will get their accrued numbers back. Worst case scenario, they rant-blog about how AC stole their money.

This Kool-Aid Tastes Funny
As with most things AC, not all the staff is drinking from the same Kool-Aid pitcher. The staff removing these articles is using a loose set of rules interpreted by their individual mood. Some removals have been for blatant violations while others seem to be the victim of a mid-afternoon, low blood sugar level. One AC staffer was totally unaware that article removal and a few other issues were even occurring. It still amazes me how few staffers read their own forums.

What You Can Do

1. Check your Content Tab. Removed articles are highlight.
2. Don’t panic. If your content didn’t break the rules (above), email community@ and ask them why it was removed.
3. Be honest. If you know your article broke the rules, don’t be an rant-ass.

What AC Can Do
A better job. I tried to tell them removing articles without giving the author a reason was a bad idea. It’s clogging their forum with dozens of cloned panic threads. It’s clogging their inbox with pissy panic emails. It’s eventually going to lead to serious PR problems.

1. Get your removal squad on the same sheet of music.
2. Send an email and/or intra-site message with the reason for removal.
3. Be pre-sponsive and not responsive. Don’t act like jack-booted thugs.

AC Back Peddles Like a One-legged Unicyclist

Yesterday, we were in a puzzlement trying to decipher Associated Contents criteria for their “Top 100 Producer’s of 2008″ list. The numbers weren’t adding up with the information we had. Today we have more details. AC says the list is for producers who had the highest page-views for articles published during calendar 2008. Now we have a higher confidence that the list is correct and we can say, “Congratulations,” to the winners.

These new facts also validate yesterday’s theory #3. Those who had #3 in the office pool can collect their winnings under the broken street lamp, the one near the big bushes, in the parking lot after work.

So today’s Footie^® award for “Plate spinning while riding a unicycle” goes to … Associated Content for their ability to explain their criteria after their awards were committed. Congratulations to AC on their Footie^® and congratulations to the recipients of AC’s Top 100 award.

For those who did not make the cut, good luck on the next awards cycle:

Just Kidding

AC Screws Award Pooch. Pooch Reportedly Unhappy.

Associated Content is gearing up for their 2008 awards. This is their third year awarding various achievements, but as with the two previous years, the awards have changed and the criteria for the awards remains a mystery until the presentation. It would be good to know what we’re shooting for before we win it, AC. But I’m shouting in the wind.

Within the last couple of days, 100 Associated Content contributors received an email which targeted them as “one of the top 100 producers of 2008.” After chasing down a few AC employees to clarify their selection criteria, it was stated the selections were based on pages viewed in 2008. Ah! The chase is afoot, Watson.

The problem is, those reporting they were tagged for this honor do not have the most pages viewed in 2008. Several contributors have come forward and stated they did not receive the coveted email, but their page-view numbers (this number being a matter of public record when you view their home page) are significantly higher than many of those who claim to have received the honor. Wild theories shall ensue.

Theory #1: AC didn’t do a very good analysis of their data.

Theory #2: AC didn’t do any data analysis whatsoever.

Theory #3: People within the AC organization don’t really talk to each other before sending out emails.

Theory #4: AC pulls these awards out of their uncollective asses each year with no basis in reality.

Theory #5: There is no AC and we are all just made of stars.

My personal favorite is #4. AC seems to change, back-peddle, and apply circular reasoning to their moving target awards each year. Sure it’s great to be recognized, but it would be fabulous to know in advance what you’re shooting for. It would also make the recipient feel more confident in the award they receive. To those who got the email, no congratulations are in order. It’s nothing personal. It’s just, I think AC pulled a list of names at random because the available data just doesn’t add up.

I think I’ll start my own awards. This year’s recipient of theBarefoot (I’m hoping “The Footies” catch on) award for organization with the most mysterious ass to pull things out of goes to … Associated Content! The Footie for most creative application of math goes to … Associated Content for their inability to sort a numeric list. The Footie for the web site with poorest communications, both with their members and internally, goes to … Associated Content for having a Denver and New York office which don’t share email and don’t even follow each other on Twitter.

Stay tuned for more of the 1st annual Footie awards as the season progresses.