This morning we rolled out a massive update to SocialSpark.com. This new release introduces four key features that I would like to call out.
A New Homepage
The first thing you will notice is we have completely redesigned the homepage of SocialSpark. It is cleaner, loads faster and puts emphasis on the things that matter most to users. Instead of one view, advertisers and bloggers now have different views depending on their role (when logged in).
<a href="http://www.socialspark.com" title="Blog Marketing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2945114362_5fb4f9e0c6_b.jpg" width="558" height="1024" alt="Blog Marketing in SocialSpark" /></a>
Affiliate Opportunities
I am proud to announce the alpha release of SocialSpark Affiliate Opportunities. I first previewed this IZEAFest and I am happy to say we are ready to roll. A few things about the affiliate program:
- First affiliate marketplace designed exclusively for bloggers.
- Required in-post disclosure on all affiliate links and 100% transparency.
- Bloggers get paid for generating sales and signups.
- Advertisers control ROI through performance based pricing (CPA)
We have prepared an extensive release with more information about this program. You can check that out here.
Premium Blogs
IZEA has been pushing hard to add premium blogs and bloggers into the SocialSpark marketplace. I believe we must have a mix of quality, high and lower traffic blogs in order to deliver maximum awareness and ROI for our advertisers. A few notable premium blogs include ChrisBrogan.com by Chris Brogan, Shoemoney.com by Jeremy Schoemaker and QuickSprout.com by Neil Patel.
How do you become part of the premium blogger program? Traffic, ranking and third party recognition as a leading blog within your space. I will be publishing some guidelines and an application for this in the near future. In the meantime if you want to be considered please send an email to David Brim (davidb@izea.com). As you can see from the new homepage above we will be promoting the heck out of these bloggers to advertisers.
Don’t have enough juice to be considered a leading blog yet? No problem. Larger bloggers will be placed in networks along with other quality blogs of lesser traffic. It’s a symbiotic relationship, together you deliver the reach and depth that advertisers are seeking. You need each other.
Automated Reviews
A new automated process has been put in place that should allow us to more quickly review blog posts with higher accuracy. It’s a super secret project, but the way we are doing it is very cool.
We have a few more tricks up our sleeves. Look for them in the coming weeks.
