Now this is interesting! What if bloggers, webmasters, website owners and Internet content owners were actually paid by a search engine for their content being used and served by the search engine?
Presently the dominant search engines rank websites based on reasons like SEO, Keywords and tricks which some have managed to master. Sure, Content IS WAS King – but no longer really, in my opinion. It is Content PLUS Good SEO which is King, in today’s post-Panda world.
Enter Ecobe!
Ecobe is a new type of search engine business model that recognizes the value and contribution of internet Content Providers as essential parts of the Web Ecosystem. Ecobe paves the way for News sites, bloggers, wikis, information providers, etc. to realize their right to be fairly compensated for their creations. A click-through on an Ecobe search result gives a share of the search engine ad-revenue to the owner of the site or page based on Ecobe’s ratio calculating algorithm. How much? 40% of the company’s gross profit is shared with Content Providers. Its founder Seuk Weon Song started work on Ecobe in 2009.
Because existing search engines focus only on speed and technology, Song felt confident that a search engine built upon a business model could succeed in overtaking Google, said Ecobe exec Joseph Lee Stanfield in a recent interview.
This is what Ecobe has in mind! If your content is good and users click on it, the link will move up and that link would then make more money. Ecobe will give website owners and bloggers 40% of the money it makes from its profits. Website owners will be able to collect their payments every month from Ecobe.
Song feels that there is unfair distribution of Search Engine Ad-Revenue and calls it a fundamental flaw of the Internet as we know it today.
Google made $37.9 billion last year mostly from search engine ad revenue. They merely connect Internet users to content others created,” said Song. “We create the content that is the life blood of a search engine. So, isn’t it fair that we receive a share of the revenue? Content Providers received none of the revenue Google made by using their contents.
He gives an interesting comparison!
Major search engines are like a Greedy Pizza Delivery man that keeps the bill and gives his boss the tip. Content Providers are like Pizzerias that have no choice but to continue making pizzas surviving only off these tips. Tips are like Site Traffic that gives no one sustainable income.
Ecobe promises that it will recover the Sustainable Web Ecosystem. The concept does look interesting and fair – after all, it would be great if Internet Content Providers were to get paid by the search companies for serving their content to users, as currently the main way of monetizing one’s content is by serving ads on one’s website.
What do you think of this model? Will it work?
