I have a dream - and an echidna….
Watch this video
## showyoutube qGa0uOFZj3s 425 350 #
You can download here
What do you think? Can we do this? How do we do this? Dan and I are prepared to put up the infrastructure. How do we stop it getting spammed?
You tell me - Comments below - I think this thing could be huge.
Ed and the echidna…
I am a Imediate Edge member and seeing internet marketing frm a different angle is a good thing. I think Ed had a fantastic idea, as I see it’s WIN/WIN. I’m sure that the gurus out there will feel challenged but if they’re truly guru’s they shouldn’t mind. Bring it on!
I am excited about your Idea Ed. With several Irons In The Fire, my problem is Time. … … Time … … Time! I am still trying 2 get 30DC under my belt. Time! I am still on Day 3 . Time! Nevertheless I am Still excited! I will get it done! Keep up the Great Inovations! 1P
great idea but the internet changes so fast, any updates made would have to be heavily moderated or people would get thrown off the track.
it all relies on moderators that can control the quality of information
how to do it????? dunno
little bit over my head at the moment….
Ed,
I think this is a great idea!
Let me know what I can do to help get it going. Oh, and I think if its going to need a project name, lets call it Echidna. Or maybe in its infancy we could call it Puggle
We could set up a library with different sections for resources like, “techniques” “tools and resources” “Q and A (like Yahoo Answers)” , etc.
There could be a section for Joint Ventures where teams can work together to build a project too.
Thanks for thinking of this
Ken
WARNING: I have not participated before and will be starting my first 30DC on Oct 1, so I may be way off base.
The main challenge in my mind would be how to organize this sort of site. On the one hand, there are probably overarching categories everything could fit into (though I’m not sure exactly what they’d be) but on the other, I think the structure could be greatly affected by the media format of various submissions. My initial brainstorm is that within some broad based categories, the site could operate through some sort of voting mechanism. That way the most popular techniques (as selected by people actually enacting them) could rise to the top.
It might also be worth considering tiered voting rights. People that have had certain levels of success (by what measure, I have no idea) might be granted the ability to place multiple votes for a given technique. Alternately, they might be granted the ability to place negative votes.
Feel free to shoot me an email at rockandrolllifestyle@gmail.com to discuss this further.
First up - LOVED the periodic nervous giggling about your mate the Echidna (and a very special experience to have)
I think this is extremely workable.
First thoughts that come to mind is that we pretty much continue with the structure and rules we have now.
Being that it is not a place to pitch to get sales/build a list.
It is an open source environment.
And those who decide to contribute know that and respect that - or they will be duly moderated.
Just as they are now
As if we do not do this - we will end up with an environment like the Warrior Forum - and whilst that has it’s place…what has been special about the 30DC environment has been the ‘giving’, reduced egos and also that it’s action & results focused as opposed to pontification.
So what is the pay off for those that contribute?
Well I guess as some are seeing already - traffic, building their authority etc.
Maybe there’s a way too that they can profit financially - and it could be an ‘over time’ when they’ve earned their stripes they also submit their paid services to the 30DC for approval - something like that???
Thinking/typing out loud
Oh and my wild-life experience on the weekend included chickens, wild turkeys, a hunt for a ‘friendly’ Goanna and fortunately no brushes with snakes - I was stopped short from going on an ‘adventure’ in the scrub, reminded that in Australia (as opposed to NZ) there are more things that kill and they can bite through sand-shoes…so I might have to resort to those hideous hiking boots if I continue with this Steve Irwinesque activity - lol
Caro
PS: The hardest thing was to be somewhere with no signal for ANY sort of digital activity - mobiles included…I can feel a campfire song coming on!
StomperNET
Income.com
I welcome Ed Dale’s idea. The more source of quality online marketing education, the better.
More power to Ed Dale.
It’s a great idea Ed!
I think one way to keep the spammers out is to have a moderator view each person’s content site before allowing them to join to make sure they do have quality content pages. The spammers are too lazy to do that.
Dan
Having worked with large community online projects in the past I can offer the hardest thing will be to find enough people who are passionate to put in the hard yards for a long period of time.
Even the open source community and places like Wikipedia have a large amount of leaders whether through project managers, or authoritative persons who can lead, direct and channel the enthusiasm into a common direction. These people will also be the ones that need to crush,kill, destroy the “nasties” but do it in a way they maintain the respect of the community.
That might sound a little negative and I want to offset it with the thought that this is a nice way to give back, for people to build their names in the area without spending thousands on “guru training” and getting ripped off by jumping into things that are way too deep for the beginners who are being sold dreams.
This would be a nice kindergarten for those that can then see if they have what it takes to move into the more hardcore areas as StomperNet and Immediate Edge. If people graduate to those programs then they will be doing it with eyes wide open and knowing how much effort it takes personally to do these things full time.
My suggestions for this sort of community then would be select your leaders wisely, ensure there is a form of reward for achievers in the group (contribution being its own reward is only applicable to a small amount of the population, most like recognition in one form or another) and ensure that the feel of “community” is never lost to the almighty dollar or the leeches that will attach themselves to it.
im still trying 2 download it,while waiting can someone tell me how,where 2 get the rest of the i/tunes downloads as i’ve only got suff from the 29/8/07 onwards or cant we get any more thnx heaps
We have a lot of options. Depends on how the majority wants to go. Their sure was a lot of smiling going on over there.
What about a wiki style backend that has a mass of content in various formats (allowing for upload of video, podcasts, flash and text) no javascript obviously and any edits have to be voted on. And a sphinn/digg style front end showing the most popular techniques so people going to the front page can find valuable content quicker.
This means that you will have the authority of a wiki style site and the traffic power of a UGC voting site to make an awesome marketing platform in itself.
And just to top it off why not add a blogging platform eg. wibble.tdc.com where wibble is the blog name, this will add to the UGC and the blogs can be voted on also, any blogs with a number of negative votes dissappear from the site but the author can edit them and resubmit until the content reaches a standard that the community feels is quality. This way you wont get your blog banned in google, it will just be banned on the site and makes it more difficult to create crap content for some drugs I´ve never heard of.
Great idea Ed!
A basic - What you need to do get started - would be good.
I have found this years 30DC,to highly informative.I still have not achieved my first sale but I’m starting to understand how to attract targeted traffic.
Many thanks.
Malc.
Great thing, Ed!
The next step is to do the open source project multilanguage
Some sort of “Internet-marketing”-pedia.com, or something like that.
Bogdan
Being devils advocate, has your other business partner Brad Fallon (of stompernet and exploding head fame) not done this already with http://www.FreeIQ.com
What is nice about that place is you can do free and/or fee based.
I think a simple classified section for things like SEO stuff for sale, SEO services for sale, help wanted, help offered would be more than enough.
I guess a lense style articles section may also grow.
I guess I’d write 1 article for free, but to be honest, as lovely as sharing for free is, most of us are here to make money, and our time is money. So even a dollar fee would make it seem worth while, for more advanced articles.
I also feel many people would appreciate 1 to 1 mentoring, but whether this can be totally free I don’t know. I’d happily pay $20 to get a direct answer from Dan, Rob or Caro. Yes I am insane!
None of us could afford you Ed!
I appreciate paying for anything will be a massive shock to 99.99999% on here, but many of us are trying to run a professional profitable business, and sometimes you have to pay to get the specific advice you need.
It costs way less in the end, a million fold.
Again I guess things like askanexpert and elance and the ilk ca do all that already, but they are not specifically IM orientated.
It would be nice to have member ratings against each product/service but it opens a can of worms about back stabbing the competition, vote rigging and the most popular “staying” the most popular, merely on activity. So on reflection, I guess there can be NO voting/ranking. In fact top slot rotation (ie on search) would be the fairest.
The main thing is on 30dc we have no place to discuss our ideas or officially promote our wares.
I have many software utilities that people may find very useful and profitable, but they can’t be free. They have to be $1~$50. But that is way different to the status quo of $97~$999 for a piece of often questionable software.
But I guess there is no reason to cause a paradigm shift in the IM market. But on the other hand, people like me have no place to promote our (cheap) stuff. Which is a great shame, because things like LLN could be an absolute gold mine for the majority of members.
I think the scale of 30dc is too huge and too public and the Edge would much better suit this kind if “family” eco structure. But still…
One thing though, whatever happens, affiliate links should be BANNED. It’s pretty scummy when one member profits from another with an affiliate link and without mentioning it. It is also not often a genuine recommendation either, just a money making trick. But if it’s a home made product, then that is different as it is unique and the only source.
Overall a simple classified section (or auction) including offered and wanted, and the 30dc market will probably find it’s own level of community - free or charged. But NO affiliate links!!
JM0CW
Peter
Hi Ed, How brave you are facing that echidna! As usual your idea is brilliant! I don’t know exactly how wikipedia is run, so I do not fully grasp the implications of the idea, but I know as a user of wikipedia that the idea of having something similar for IM would be just fantastic - over the edge. It would be so helpful for so many people it is a mind boggler. I am all for the idea and would be delighted to help out such a project in any way that I could. Julie
RE: I have a dream - and an echidna
I love the idea…I really want to be a part of this..I need to learn so much…I am having a bit of a problem with time also. Because I am not making any money on line I cannot give up my day job, juggling, exercising, my job, my grandchildren, cooking. I REALLY am interested in what you have planned. I will definitely be a part of it.
Susan
I’m a great believer in Wiki technology as the simplest collaborative infrastructure that can work.
Moderated forums always seem to end up stuck on just one set of related opinions, with fans of the owner chasing out alternative views, which is bad for community learning.
It takes a bit of work to keep one step ahead of the spambots, but mediawiki is the one with all the social experience, plugins and a development community behind it.
[...] Ed’s latest 30dc blog asks how-can-we-make-this-truly-open-source [...]
I think that setting up some sort of Wiki is a great idea another use of a Web 2.0 technology. The other nice thing is that the community can participate as well.
Ed,
Think it’s a GREAT idea. I love learning from you guys and the forums are a wonderful support system. I think moderators are going to be necessary due to spammers but maybe they could rotate monthly or quarterly so no one gets too overwhelmed. Thanks for the continued thought on this and for the wildlife videos! : )
Jenny
Hey there Ed,
This sounds like a great idea. Problems will occur trying to keep spammers out, so perhaps an auditor/moderator(s) will be needed - Perhaps charge a small one-time fee so that the spammers wouldn’t be so quick to join and spam?
How about this? We could even set up a video directory as part of the site which would allow folks to create training videos and submit them for free - with the auditor approval necessary, of course. As an incentive for submitting videos, allow them to have a link to their site on the video credits which could show for maybe 5-7 seconds and/or have the video direct viewers to their website upon the video’s completion. Kind of like the author’s bio paragraph on an article. You could really run with this! Or maybe ….. Have it like a forum where topics for training videos represent the different forum room. Poll the members to see what type of training is needed and then create a new room for that need to be filled. Alright, I’m running off to a meeting, but you get the gist.
What do you think?
-Mark
Fantastic idea Ed.
There are really umpteen possibilities, and the only problem I can foresee is managing such a large scale open project. Will there be enough knowledgeable people willing (or able) to put so much into a free environment? It will also take a big effort to keep the scammers, spammers and all other sorts of nasties out.
If we (I include myself) can make it work it will be the project of the decade!
Keep it coming.
Frans
Knowledge is power. Why not?
Another fantastic idea! The greatest difficulty will be what Wikipedia faces and that is quality of entries. Project Echidna would require monitoring which is time intensive. However, the 30DC broke barriers of space and time, so why not! P.S. Love the wildlife scenes, Ed, makes we want to visit Australia.
I’m thinking about how best to attract other experts.
So far we’ve had a very useful step-by-step approach to building a site and traffic, and it sounds like next we’re moving toward building a business. In many ways we can continue that step-by-step approach.
However, while there will be some set of knowledge that applies to building most new businesses, there will also be areas that are of interest to people moving in a specific direction–i.e. into a particular broad industry (e.g. retail, publishing, virtual/internet services) or toward a particular method of marketing and promotion. Why not, then, have online symposia–which of course would be archived–on these special topics? That way we could massage guru egos by featuring them as “keynote speakers” or whatnot. Also, we’d be asking them for a limited-time involvement, so they wouldn’t feel they’re getting themselves into something where we’d be unfairly taking advantage of their expertise in ways for which they’d usually get paid.
I’m thinking these “symposia” might be week-long events, each including–depending on the expert’s preferences for delivery of material–a video or two, or a series of blog posts, a PDF report consisting of text or flow charts or concept maps or whatever, and maybe a (somehow filtered, so it doesn’t get too crazy) Q & A or online chat.
Excellent idea. And thanks for the wildlife moment! Those of us living in the suburbs half a world away appreciate it.
Hey Ed,
I’ve been mulling over the concept of Open Source Marketing for a bit now. I’ve been exploring the Open Source Software community, and am also reading the book Wikinomics (great read!) which talks about the open source movement. And, I’ve run across a new site that is dedicated to funding software projects - kind of an open source funding methodology - called microPledge (www.micropledge.com).
I like what you’ve done with the Immediate Edge with calls for volunteers to help on projects. There’s no reason this couldn’t be extended to a larger community, where volunteers help with every phase of a marketing project - concept, creative, programming, copywriting, etc. - and have it all documented. It seems to me that project-based learning is the best way to follow along and learn while others are doing.
And, you could create wikis to help with things like creative - sales letters, autoresponders, articles, etc. could all be “group-written” on the wikis. Project leaders could then take the best of the group-submitted content and roll it out to the project. The same can be done with web programming - basic html, Ajax, autoresponder integration, squeeze pages, etc. - and creative - web sites, blogging, icons, etc.
When it comes to promotion, everyone can get involved in tagging, submission of articles, blog posting, and more.
I think this is a great way to teach and to build some real businesses. Perhaps the profits can be rolled back into the training and infrastructure of the site, or a shares system could be developed based on work (voted on by the community involved).
You’re on to something here… and I think there’s a great opportunity to create some value, enrich some lives, and to turn a profit.
Thanks,
Chuck
Ed, FAB idea!
I have been a little frustrated with my efforts and it is MOSTLY becasue there is so much information on a subject I know little of.
I am so disorganized and don’t know which task to cover first.
Perhaps with a wiki it can be laid out, step by step, particular pages for the particular needs we have
Perhaps my ignorance is showing, but if the wiki is closed to public viewing - everyone must have membership to get the site, perhaps spamming can be kept down. (I know SOME very odd people will still want to try…) with good moderators, you should be able to keep the site useful.
Go for it!
Kitty Smith
Ed -
Why don’t you pick a product and develop a website for it from scratch? Who cares what it is? You could even do two. One site for an ecommerce type product and another for a physical product. We see you do the step by step process for each one. From finding what you are going to put on the sites to and through to putting them up. Once they are up and going we get to see each days orders, etc. We see them tested, etc. If the products do well fine. You are entitled to whatever the profits might be for the time you put into it - or them. If either or both fall on their respective tails we learn from that as well; perhaps even more.
John Fish
John Fish
Good idea Ed
Don’t allow links for one or two time users.
Have a reporting tool for users to flag spam. This will help you control spammers without having to watch every single post. Let the community do it for you.
Ed, I think this is a fabulous idea. Based on past experience, I think that finding people who are truly committed to “doing it right” is a little tough, which means people need a commitment, and (IMHO, unfortunately) probably also need a team or project manager.
I think if you had X number of qualified team leaders/manager who managed X number of people on their team, then these managers could easily give the boot to anyone 1) not participating; or 2) who were scamming. With this in place, I believe this could work incredibly well. I wish the need for monitoring wasn’t there, but I believe to be the success you envision (and we all wish for) it’s going to take more than just relying on everyone’s good behavior.
Nancy
What a wonderful idea. I think we need to have a search function so we can look up specific help which is how I use wikipedia. Also the step by step idea mentioned is something that I think would help most of us novices. This is the best training I’ve seen on internet marketing. I’ve rolled up all my change to pay to continue the immediate edge for a couple of months (amazing how much can accumilate). I hope to earn enough to at least pay for the edge in the next few months.
Ed I think the Thirty Day Challenge has already created one of the best sources for internet marketing anywhere. That being said, the reasons I think it works so well is because it leads people down a logical path with each step building on the previous. The other reason I think it works so well is because of the level of expertise everyone on the team has. In my opinion what I think makes more sense is to encourage people to add to the project and have that info disseminated by you like you did with SocialMarker.
I love the idea. I find the rate of new things coming out on the net boggling. I’ve barely gotten the hang of one technique when another 5 become more popular. I’d love a place where I could go to share and get new info on IM. There will just have to be a section where pitching products is allowed and other places that are ‘pitch free’ zones.
I started the 30DC late and did not succeed in making money. I have no problem with that as the information I got was not only excellent but free and freely given. Helping people is good as it makes one feel great AND will bring rewards both financial and spiritual to those giving that help. I would like to see a site that shows newbies (MeMeMe) how to go from scratch to professional at lowest startup cost. I have got the hang of social posting etc, but, I do not know how to put an autoresponder or shopping cart on to a web site yet. I believe a one stop shop for basics would be beneficial, followed by incremental advancement as experience grows. By searching around, I have found good value web hosting, autoresponders and etc but not how to put it all together. I think a forum with different sections for advancing levels of experience would be a good start. Combine that with a video/camtasia style library of “how to” information and you will have a winner. Once people start to earn money and give up the day job, they can move on to joint ventures among themselves and get together for new projects if they wish, or just do their own thing if they are that way inclined. There is a marvelous opportunity to do many people a lot of good if we go about it the right way.
Hi Ed,
This is a great idea. I was thinking of something like a facebook clone because facebook is hard to spam. Although I have seen it done. I happen to be getting a lot of response out of facebook at the present time and am starting up with bloglines now. Both your ideas. I will brainstorm a little more and see what I can come up with.
Thanks again
Matt
As usual a fantastic idea. The challenge is to maintain quality as well as control spamming. Persons would be able to vote on submission but contributors should not be allowed to solicit votes. There should be a tiered system which would be based on one’s participation/contribution in the community. As one moves along the tier he or she would be rewarded with more rights such as the ability to place links in a post.
It should allow for the not only the brainstorming and creation of the product but also a marketplace where products can be sold…jmho.
Hi Ed.
Since I’m a nature lover, and passionate about animals I thought the Echinda was cute. Looks like a
porkupine. I also think your Idea is cool too. I think a forum with different experience levels would be
good too. As for me I’m a newbie to internet marketing etc. It would be nice to be able to start at
a level or with step-by-step instructions on how to. I’m very happy and excited to see this happen
as I think you are a cool guy and I like the way you over deliver information/content. I also like the
idea of the value, and intergerty this has. ok. later Ed……… looking to see something soon.
ps I’ still on pre-season for the thirtydaychalllenge. Still excited to do the challenge. I told a few friends
about it. Can’t wait to make my first $10.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did not read all of the above comments, so please excuse me if I repeat a comment.
Sounds like a great idea, Ed! So many can’t afford to pay for the courses appearing ever increasing numbers. It could possibly be organized in a 3 level fashion for beginners, intermediate and more intermediate sections. Those could be explained in simple, clear “1, 2, 3 how to do it” style instructions, including an outline structure to print out and work from as well.
It would be nice if there were a place for those who are able to pay for help in areas to have referrals available
instead of hit or miss in finding a good supplier.
It would have to be moderated for obvious reasons. With that I think it will be really cool!
Allison S.
I think it sounds like a wonderful idea. I have learned so much through the 30dc but have much yet to learn and grasp. I would love to contribute to a project such as this not so much with providing expert content and resources as I am still learning but would be willing to help contribute in more of an administrator / moderator / reviewer sense to help keep a great project such as this organized and clean from the spammers.
Dear Ed,
Unfortunately, Quicktime wouldn’t play the whole video and decided to quit (not a good advert for Mac’s!). From what I saw and reading the comments already posted, the need for an impartial, peer driven site would be great but commerce would always try and raise it’s ugly head. Most people have an infinate ability to help others but would rather not wait for their reward in the next life!
From my own experience, most of what people are looking for is already on the web but it takes time, a degree of skill and endless patience. A site acting as a filter through which only the best and genuine ideas get through would be an enormous help to many people and the spetre of spamming could be stamped out immediately by allowing the ultimate power of what’s in and what’s out to reside with the members. Democracy on the web is the only way forward.
Hi everyone,
Can you believe that prior to stumbling on the 30DC I had never heard of Ed, Dale Rob Caro and a whole raft of incredible people that I have interacted with on the 30DC and now the immediate edge. The idea is brilliant and the payback for those who share their talents far exceed just making a sale. As has been said by other there are facets of industry authority, Caro has gone from being the nice blonde chick in a You Tube video to someone I look to when considering the value of an idea or process in our field and who I recommend that others consider. So the effect goes beyond our immediate community and extends both the community by drawing people to the flame and the community’s influence as people outside of 30DC start to hear of the way in which 30dc is shaping the IM world. That must have a viral effect and in the end benefit not only us takers who are feeding on the gems offered by others, but the people who develop the ideas concepts, scripts, software etcetera because their products are exposed to so many more people. The producer of Social Marker has options to develop a Pro version of the software or develop an entirely different script for which there is now a market based on reputation for innovation and forward thinking.
I think that we do have issues to address though among which are the dangers inherent in having an open community which will be seen by some as the setting for a pitchfest of less than useful sites and products for our community. My suggestions are
a) that one thread in the forum is available for the purpose of promoting ideas, scripts, software etc that is directly related to the educational and professional development of internet marketers. Community members who are disposed to paying for a product that specifically meets their needs would utilise that thread. The moderation on that thread would be to cut out pitches for the latest moneymaking scheme, or the plethora of penis enlarging or viagra products and also warez sites.
b) That other threads on the forum are developed for such things as:
i)affiliate marketing, (some people make millions selling others products and if you don’t have the skills or the inclination to develop their own product no matter how skillful the hand-holding)
ii)developing a presence on the web. This could include information about blogging as well as static sites, using auto-responders, manipulating web graphics, testing web site effectiveness against you competitors, then the acronyms what the heck is CSS, should I ftp or http, what is the difference between html and xml, should we be usingasp, php or moving to RoR the list fgoes on a
iii)developing a product for promoting the site, developing a product for sale, looking at physical products that can compliment digital ones iethe move by people like Mark Joyner, Joel Comm John Reese and Tim Knox to producing physical books, DVD’s that compliments or replicate their digital products), maybe even beyond that to developing digital products that compliment the sale of physical products.
iv) Marketing your product and your or your site. Much of what has been espoused by Ed regarding social bookmarking on 30Dc needs to be revisited and revisited because I think the concepts although appearing simple are actually profound. I think many of us are discovering the layers to those concepts and others are still seeing them as one dimensional. We have looked briefly at Article writing, and some of us have avidly followed the copy-writing tips of Toe Cracker, but some hand-holding in that area might have real benefits for our endeavours. Then we have not even touched the many other forms of promotion such as forums, email campaigns (when do these become spam), ppc, what else isthere what are the pros and cons.
In these forums moderation would ensure no self promotion took place and that sites promoted offered free fully functional versions of any software, scripts etc.
I think this idea has legs and am in it for the long haul. I don’t know what help I can provide but i can be a great goffa
Regards
Hello Ed,
I too am a Newbie, I completed the TDC, but did not make any money. I still have a JOB and of course deal with the time crunch. Which I think is one of the things nicely addressed by the TDC. I also did the $1 trial of the immediate edge and have felt overwhelmed but what I did notice was it was an extension of the atmosphere and feeling of the TDC. That is what I hope is not lost. The complete feeling of safety and trust. If you say something is okay or good, I have learned I can believe you, and Dan and Gurubob and Caro. It is really nice to learn in such an environment. Also the other day Dan made a post about finally understanding what those of us who still have to work are going through, now that he can not just do IM all day, but has to run the site and teach us. Again, a wonderful feeling I would hate to lose.
I have bought several “Guru” courses on line and found them to be just hype for them to be able to sell to me. They never gave me anything, including confidence that I would be able to do this. So the trust and security of this environment is amazing. Also the generosity of the people, all you teachers, but also all the other TDC’ers, How amazing everyone is. I believe that is because of the nurturing and genuinely trustworthy environment we are in. And the effort put out by the moderators to keep it that way.
I do love the Free idea of this site. But I can see why this would be frustrating to so many people that are so much more advanced than the we Newbies. Also I have limited funds. But there was one post above, about all these other sites, that seem to be legitimate, and would that not be a better venue for selling your skills or talents? Wasn’t the TDC sort of aimed at the Newbies? Even the Edge, seems to be aware of not spending your money unnecessarily. Maybe I am just fearful of losing what I have come to depend on, and I am determined to succeed.
I trust you Ed, and am certain you will figure this all out. So none of us will lose our home. I would love to help in any way I can. My knowledge is limited, but my enthusiasm is high. Thank you for always thinking about us. Susan
Hey Ed ready for some large thinking.I have exactly this idea in my head for ages but dont have the techy know how to launch it,
read on….
A free membership site would be a good start, all tutes and IM articles included. MAke it a true Web 2.0 property , by allowing user generated content.
Aint Web 2.0 ’sposed to be about sharing and connecting and meeting. Maybe spend the time and make it like a facebook sort of idea but for internet marketers.
I think though that the 30dc site itself is a great template for this idea.
If I had to do it I would make it so that people could do screen cast vids right from the “site itself” kinda like having camtasia embedded directed into the site. Also it should also allow for creating mp3 files from the site itself.
The problem as I see it with most web 2.0 and my biggest beef with facebook is this. Theres no freaking instant messenger for it, its great to accumulate and find people but the app itself doesnt make for ease of connection. Other than the wall and the inbox which are all fine and good.
So video and mp3 creation is important. Along with other forms of User generated content. All of it shareable and repurposeable, kinda like having ghost writers and plr producers.
There should also be copy writing help and sharing.
There definately should be an article directory like e-zine articles… etc etc
This site itself should actually create sites or blogs, launch them, or have the users submit the links to their new projects. (think of the backlink abilities) By asking the users to link. And somehow spread the backlinks out in a reasonable fashion so as not to freak out Google.
The new blogs and their posts should automatically go through a social booking process, removing the time intensive tedious tasks of having the users do it. SO all users will have to either submit their user names or register actually on the site.
Do public relations releases ie pr web, or something along those lines.
Get them traffic. ie traffic sharing.
incorporate newletter and email capture, that also is shared amongst the users of the site. On an opt in basis of course.
Jv’s and product launching. Link cloaking that also sends traffic to the cloaked links be it affiliate links, blogs, posts or sites.
For those who want to move info produtcs there should be a directory of e-prods on hand ie clickbank or whom ever but actually created and offered by the site itself. Home grown baby yeah, and have all the othe im ers out there submit their produtcs to the site for sale by the site users
For those who want to move physical products there should be a wholesale directory.
My solution would go like this. Create a digg style site with a few twists.
First, every submission must be completely anonymous to the readers for the first 2 weeks - no links, no mention of other sites, or products.
After 2 weeks, if enough people have voted the submission up to a certain level then a signature is placed at the bottom of the submission with a real link to the contributor’s site (not no follow). That is a little incentive to submit something of value.
If after 2 weeks the submission doesn’t make the cut, it is deleted. Sounds harsh but my time is limited and valuable. I only have time to see the best stuff and that is all that should be here.
Second, ranking is based on votes plus age where the younger a submission is the better. If done right this would solve the problem of having the same articles always at the top.
Third, and most important not all diggs/votes are equal. Moderators, quality contributors and long time members votes carry more weight. If a person joins today, than there votes aren’t worth much at all the first 2 weeks. (This will kill most spam attempts.)
And finally, the power of a persons digg is not just dependent on the time they have been a member. It is also dependent on the “value” of their previous votes. If everything you vote for never makes it past the first two weeks because it is spammy crap, then your vote shouldn’t be worth as much as someone who can spot valuable content. (This last one is the most difficult to implement, but if it can be done would really make this site work properly.)
Hi Ed,
A great dream you have. I have 2 suggestions:
-create a wiki and host the 30DC content there. Anyone can submit techniques or ideas in predetermined sections, and of course, some moderators would accept/decline/edit the submissions.
-create a Facebook group. Or better yet, a Facebook application custom made for the 30DC. They have a great API there at Facebook.
Or perhaps -3rd idea - you could keep the site as it is right now and put all the content under some kind of license that binds users and creators. Either an open source license or an home made license.
Hope this helps Ed. Keep up the great work!
Henri
Ed,
I think that it’s great that you and Dan are keeping this alive and looking to make this a safe place for us to learn. Being on such a tight budget, I especially appreciate that the information is being provided free of charge.
I get the idea behind what you’re trying to do, but I am concerned over the dreaded spammers and abusers.
In theory I think what you guys are wanting to do is very realistic and doable, but I don’t know how to make it usable when people start abusing it.
Ed,
I just had a thought. When you put everything out in the open it lowers the value of the information (mindset only, I know) and allows for spammers/abusers to take it and ruin it.
My thought is to have the information in a tier system… ALL FREE OF COURSE…
Basically, instead of putting all the information out there for anyone to take, have it available in layers (so to speak).
So for example… I just register today I would get access information that’s useful for me as a beginner to get started. Then after a predetermined requirement (ie time, site setup, niche found, research completed, whatever you decide) they are upgraded to next level where they get access to more advanced information and techniques… same thing again.. once they meet another requirement (making first sale, content on x number of platforms, x number posts on forums, whatever you decide again), then they are upgraded once again to the next level.
This way all information is still free for everyone, but released in a more controlled manner. This should cut down on spammers because spammers are out for quick information and techniques to exploit.
What do you think? Just a thought.
~Shannon
I haven’t seen the video yet. But, instead of glancing at a few of the above posts (like I planned) I found myself reading almost all of them. The title is exciting. I know that Ed will come across as very excited. The posts above indicate a great mix of exciting participants and cautious but optimistic participants. What is important that this should be given the positive start it deserves. How many of us are actually trying to do that with our own efforts? We know that there will be glitches and growing pains. What we need to appreciate is that there will be a lot of talent that can create solutions for the glitches. This is a time of great discovery and inventiveness. This will enable a lot of creative juices to have a place to “drool” all over. What great responsive posts above
Sorry, but an added comment. We will be participating in the birth of an idea out of theory and into actual practice. There will be successes and failures along the way. But, this will become an example or prototype for our own efforts. It will be a learning experience unfolding before our eyes and with our own participation. This is an awesome opportunity.