OIO Publisher has released an updated version of it’s great ad managment plugin for selling adspace directly from your blog – to the wider world wide community without the proverial middleman (or woman) keeping a cut. I love this plugin – and use it on a small selection of niche sites, (including this one) and while it’s had a few hiccups from the standpoint of a business model ( first was free – absolute steal – then a charge for secondary adopters of $37 – still a steal – but no longer free – and now looks to have a retroactive free version again sans a few of the premium features the more robust paid version pulls).Rather than sort of enunerate all of the great modifications Simon has made to this most recent release – I simple cut and pasted his newsletter email from this morning below. If you have a niche blog, or any wordpress install that you simply want to monetize to the general public without having to have a Donny Duetsch understanding of the ad space metric market to get moving – I recommend you take a good hard look at OIO publisher. I recommended it when it was free months back on here – and several of you have already thanked me for the heads up. It’s not free now – but that doesn’t negate the value, and the tremendous potential going forward. Remember – with this simple plugin – if you are blogging about tupperware for example ( I really hope you aren’t though) and Jane Doe from Somewhere Town, USA finds your blog at 3 am after drinking one caffe latte too many for dinner she can buy an ad directly from you while you are snoring and slumbering away – simply by paying for ad – uploading her ad copy (there aren’t men who sell tupperware, are there?) and the transaction is complete. Easy, seamless way to profit from your blog, set your own budget baselines and be big buck blogging in a hurry.
Check out the features by reading the developers email below – and jump if you think it matches YOUR monetization model.
Dear ian –
Apologies for missing out the December newsletter entirely, but I decided that during the Holiday period, there would be little point in sending it out. Besides, I have some better things to mention to you now: * OIOpublisher Goes Pro * *Hurray, Documentation * *Affiliates, sell sell sell * Beginnings of 2 huge new features * The move towards other platforms
(1) OIOpublisher Goes Pro:The latest release, out yesterday, is marked v1.50. It also sees the beginning of the "Pro" edition of the WordPress plugin, due to all the features now packed into it. I have decided to release a lite version for free, that will meet the original design spec (dealing with paid reviews and text links) – keep checking back at the site for details on that.The Pro edition is available to all those who already have download access. There is no extra cost involved!I urge everyone to make the upgrade to the new version (the upgrade process has been made even easier, you won’t even know its taken place!), to take advantage of the new features:* unlimited banner ad zones (any size, number, and placement)* unlimited custom purchase items (sell as many digital downloads as you wish)* more interactive purchase pages (this time, we made proper use of javascript)* the ability to redirect purchases to a custom WP page first
(2) Hurray, DocumentationI also wanted to remind everyone that a full documentation library is currently being built at the url below. The good thing about it is that you can leave your own comments and advice for other users, to build it further over time:http://docs.oiopublisher.com
(3) Affiliates, sell sell sellAnyone interested in selling quality products as affiliates SHOULD be doing so with OIOpublisher. I may be biased, but I also know how good it is (as does anyone currently using it):http://karmicconsulting.net/go/oio/
(4) Beginnings of 2 huge new featuresI have 2 features planned for the first half of 2008, both should be a big hit. The first is an ad network, that will help to fill up unsold inventory automatically, with CPC ads (banner ads, and site wide text links). This simply means that anyone using the plugin will be able to start earning money, if not through direct sales, then through the ad network.The 2nd is the arrival of the niche DigiZine. Its a clever new way to monetise your existing content, and it all depends on quality! Editors will be able to put together their own niche publications, using articles from OIOpublisher users (providing they give permission), via RSS, and their own editorials to link it all together.Publications will be monetised via subscriptions, or ad units, which will then be shared between content owners. The more your articles are used, the more you’ll make. Something like this is long overdue within the blogosphere in my view, so it’s apt that one of the most cutting-edge projects out there should fill the gap!More info can be found at the labs: http://labs.oiopublisher.com
(5) The move towards other platformsThis is aimed more at anyone connected to other blogging / CMS platforms (eg. drupal). I’m thinking of expanding into these platforms, by allowing developers from them to port, maintain and develop the plugin specifically for that particular CMS. The port would then be sold (each under a different subdomain of OIOpublisher) for the same price as the WordPress version, with the developer(s) keeping the bulk of the revenue.This way, we can more quickly expand into other platforms, without 1 small team being burdened with all the development and support issues at once. It should also serve to increase development speed, as developers come up with new features, and share them with other platform developers.If interested in this idea, please get in touch! Thanks,Simon PS. apologies if anyone received a duplicate of this email previously
Tags: oiopublisher, selling ads
Hehe, I prefer to look at the “payment” evolution as responding to market conditions, rather than hiccups, but I get your point.
Lite version should be out on Monday – I probably should have gone with the ‘lite’ and ‘pro’ strategy from the beginning, but to be honest, I never foresaw the direction I’m heading in with it now.
I’m actually pretty happy with how the latest version is working out (I’m rarely happy with anything) – at least enough to concentrate on the monetisation techniques I have planned for users (as per the email).