^{We already have advertisements here. We've had advertisements on this platform for over a year.}

To everyone involved: You did it the wrong way.

Hello

^{My name doesn't matter.}

Currently, Steemit has advertisements.

Vote sellers convince you to purchase their votes. They use lines like, "Promote your post." Some of the bidbots have variants of the word 'promotion' in their name.

A promotion is an advertisement.

Each time you purchase a vote, you are converting your content into a form of advertising. You're gunning for a higher slot on the feed. You're attempting to use money to attract attention to your product (blog post) because it is inferior to other work and not able to garner organic attention on it's own. You are advertising the moment you purchase a vote. Regardless of content, regardless of how much you spent, your posts are paid programming; advertisements.

Don't be upset.

^{That's how the world works. Look up those words in the dictionary if you need to.}

Traditionally, advertisements are inferior to actual content. People do not watch television so they can view advertisements. People do not purchase magazines so they can read advertisements. People do not visit websites for the sole purpose of viewing advertisements.

On Steemit, you have covered the actual content, with advertisements. The top trending post is currently an advertisement, regardless of content, because the slot was purchased. It's no different than a company purchasing thirty minutes of late night television time to sell vacuums. If this place was television, you have effectively placed the content that typically receives the lowest ratings into the best time slots and the content that typically receives the highest ratings into the worst time slots. Huge mistake.

Moving on.

There are only about 20-50 attractive top slots that would be appealing to someone wanting to publish a promotion/advertisement on this platform. Not many will want to scroll much deeper than slot #50.

The moment 100 members wanted to purchase one of these high slots on the trending page all at once is the exact moment the entire advertising business model on this platform collapses in on itself. The exact moment this business model earns as much money as it possibly can, the exact moment this business model becomes as successful is it can possibly get, is the exact moment the business fails. Huge mistake.

Those purchasing slots do not get what they paid for because another member pushes them down and out of sight within seconds. This business model cannot handle more than a handful of people taking part.

Depending on a tiny handful of people is NOT how you make money.

^{Are we clear?}

Content producers on any given platform have the power to lure millions of eyes first to actual content, then to advertisements.

People watch television so they can view a television show or movie, advertisements fill in the gaps. People buy magazines so they can read articles, advertisements are thrown into the mix and sometimes grab our attention. Websites all contain actual content, ads are arranged around the edges of this actual content.

Covering the content here with advertisements was a huge mistake. The trending page is not appealing because advertisements clutter up the feed. All promoted posts on the trending page are advertisements, regardless of content. Those taking part in this mess are driving eyes away.

Eyes are needed.

^{Otherwise we cannot make billions.}

Actual content comes first. Content attracts eyes.

First

Remove all posts utilizing paid vote and promotional services off and away from all feeds. There's a better place for those advertisements. It's called, The Market.

Now we have a platform that caters to actual organic content and the eyes actual organic content has a habit of attracting. Doing it any other way breaks every basic rule in both content distribution and advertising.

Second

Thousands of posts with actual content are produced daily. Give each publisher two slots and the ability to select two advertisements, before publishing.

Actual content producers pick advertisements from, The Market.

Now, instead of this platform only having 20-50 potentially valuable slots for advertising, it has tens of thousands if not millions of potentially valuable slots. There are far more eyes viewing individual posts at any given second than there are eyes viewing the trending page. Those promoting now have a chance to spend money and be in several slots at once, all over the platform, at any moment, and the advertising business model cannot fall in on itself, it can only keep growing with the platform.

Now we're talking.

^{So let's continue.}

In order to gain access to, The Market, one must pay a fee. This is advertising; advertising costs money. Since there's a growing market and potentially millions of eyes viewing actual content, it would be wise to spend some money and drop a few advertisements within this actual content, because that is how advertising works. It weasels it's way into actual content and wants to blend in with the crowd, yet stand out and hopefully get clicked.

That click would function as a vote for the content producer hosting the ad. That is one way the content producer can generate ad revenue on top of their usual votes.

A percentage of the fee goes towards paying the bills and keeping the platform afloat. A percentage also goes to actual content producers for hosting the ads. That is how we keep the lights on here and with more incentives to produce content here, we can attract more content producers, more consumers, more ads and of course since STEEM must be purchased to pay the fees, we create a strong demand for the token. A token in high demand is a valuable token.

"You said billions?"

^{Yes, billions, look:}

That site caters to video content only. Here we have everything, content that appeals to all audiences, if we don't have it yet, someone can build it; The Market ties in with everything this blockchain can offer, not just Steemit.

Competition within, "The Market".

^{This is one of the most important elements.}

Under the current model of advertising on Steemit, members spend money to jockey for position on the trending page.

Use this same logic within, The Market.

Higher fees for higher slots. The reasoning behind this is simple and giving the content producer the option to choose two ads from a list of many is crucial.

The lazy content producer won't look far. That's what makes those higher slots within, The Market, valuable. "Visibility."

Those wishing to promote content, whether it's Joe Blow from Mexico or Coca Cola, will need to purchase votes from passive investors, like we do now, to reach those top slots within, The Market, but now the vote sellers are not interfering with actual content.

Brainstorming

^{I left these comments elsewhere and will share them here, now. These are rough thoughts with a few edits.}

^{The market can only be accessed before publishing, but the ads could also be viewed like posts in the PROMOTED tab are now. Those top slots become incredibly expensive, creating demand for STEEM because of jockeying for position like they do on this trending page now.}

^{It's important for the creators to select (curate) their own ads. If they didn't have to choose, then jockeying for position doesn't exist and the demand for STEEM is diminished. Also, those spending more to promote would offer greater incentives to select their ad, such as a higher portion of what I'd call the Ad Reward Pool that pays out once the ad is finished and taken out of the market. (Outside money coming in to pay the fees I mentioned fuels this Ad Reward Pool. That's one way to bring in outside money that not only pays content producers but also helps pay to keep this place running. Anyone who understands the economy here can see how beneficial this outside money funneling in can be. It's needed.)}

^{They would have to spend money again to push that same ad up if the promotion was ongoing, because they're buying 7 days worth of ad time. Then factor in the fact new ads come in, a six day old ad might not have much to offer the content producer, so they may have to run two. The competition within that market and allowing people to choose ads is what fuels most of the demand for outside money to come in at a regular and ever growing rate. The more people who sign up, the more potential eyes go the advertiser since everyone can host ads. Noobs would be lazy and select top ads, which is why those slots are the most expensive. A creator may want to run their friends promotion as well, just to be nice and help get eyes. Maybe they don't want crypto ads, maybe it's a good cause they wish to help and producing their content and including a promotion for a charity or event can be selected. Some will select ads for the sole purpose of finding the highest reward, so the ad market becomes competitive in that sense as well.}

^{Content producers would have their viewership back because nobody wants to tune in to the commercial channel and watch ads all day like we have now. Content is the driving force, the vessel the brings eyes to ads, so yeah, put the content on the front page. We don't see ads on the cover of a magazine for a reason. (So place the ads inside of the content.)}

^{This model makes passive investors money while they don't interfere with the actual content. Only organic votes and real eyes matter, leading to the success of the creators and that tickles down to the success of the passive investor on the sidelines.}

^{Now, one may think within this market, people would only be again competing for twenty slots BUT if you put a limit on tags to ONE, you then create market categories where advertisers compete for top slots within several markets. So that one tiny move turns this into 10000 per day new STEEM being purchased into millions (Just throwing random numbers out there, but you get the idea). The demand over time would be so great, people wouldn't be able to sell fast enough to drop the value meaning STEEM is immune to pump and dumps and all this other shady shit in the crypto world, making it even more appealing to investors who simply want to HOLD the token. (Wishful thinking?)}

^{If the content producer can't succeed due to too many ads and passive investors thinking they can simply create ads and make money without depending on the content producer, those advertisers and investors lose. They have to know their role and not overstep their bounds like they do today, otherwise they shoot themselves in the foot; they must be responsible and respect their roles in order to make the most money. Gaming the system would be a huge waste of money and time.}

What's the point of all this?

^Billions.

The point is to create a business model that caters to everyone. The content producer, curator, passive investor; everyone can succeed, working together, instead of against each other.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, I'm taking everything we have so far, everything we've learned so far, placing each piece of the puzzle where it belongs, to create an empire, and keep the lights on.

Everyone holding tokens benefits, regardless of their role.

With content producers earning ad revenue, a 50/50 split between content creators and curators wouldn't be a bad idea. 50/50 is inline with the rest of the world:

At least here, the curator cut doesn't go to pad the wallets of a few billionaires, it stays with us and strengthens our economy.

Curation, under this business model, is incredibly important. If the content producer cannot succeed organically (every content producer wants to succeed organically), the ads don't get eyes. Everything needs to be balanced. The only profit from the act of promoting goes to vote sellers and content producers hosting ads, not the one promoting; advertising costs money, it doesn't make money until someone clicks an ad and purchases what's being sold. Not all promotions are for profit either, some just want to spend money to get the word out.

This business of burying the actual content, paying people to look away instead of curate content, and placing highly rewarded GARBAGE into the top slots...

Is the most dysfunctional business model I've ever seen.

^{You're looking for ways to bring in outside money and pay the bills.}

You want a token with a rising value.

So, there's one way to do it.

I've written about the issues before starting on January 10th of 2018, here:

The Trending Tab on Steemit is Becoming Paid Programming and Should Be Labelled Accordingly

How to Cook Steemit Crack and Destroy the Neighborhood

I Don't Want to be a Sellout and a Few Other Things I Find Somewhat Humorous About This Place

Turning Rage Into The Soothing STEEM Now Blowing Out My BUTT as I Mince My Words for You, The Reader of This

October 10, 2018:

^{My words.}

This model of promotion is a joke.  There are only a handful of top slots and if thousands of people tried to promote their posts in this fashion, all they do is end up blending back in with the crowd; making this more pointless than it ever was.  The business model is one big flop.  If it becomes successful it becomes useless at the same time.  That's not capitalism, it's stupidity.

Content producers come first.  The ads and promoted posts should be tucked nicely inside posts as banner ads.  That would give those who wish to promote their posts a much larger potential viewership, and the content producers would be able to produce content that can reach top slots organically.  There are literally thousands of posts published daily.  The ads should be inside those posts and the content producers should take center stage to attract eyes to the platform.

The content producers should have to select a maximum of two ads they'd like to include in their blog from a market.  In other words, content producers would curate ads and look for something people might want to click because the content producer would be earning a piece of the ad revenue.  That click should function like the vote button, voting for the post before the consumer takes off to visit the ad.  Those promoting would have to spend more and more to jockey for position within this market tab.  If they wanted the top slot there, with the hopes a lazy blogger wouldn't look hard, they'd have to buy STEEM and spend more to boost it to the top.  This creates a huge demand for STEEM this current model can't even come close to.

That promotion, on payday, then gets split between the promoters, content producers who hosted the ad, and if there's any profit left that goes to the one who published the promotion, (but there shouldn't be any profit left after paying fees.)

Everyone then works together.  Content producers can earn ad revenue on top of their votes, those promoting have far more potential slots and far more potential eyes on their ads, those selling votes for the ads within the market would earn less per post but far more in bulk.  There wouldn't even be enough of them, which creates more demand to buy STEEM on top of all this.  Content producers with more stake earn higher percentages of the ad reward pool, creating even more demand to buy steem and power up earnings.

Right now everyone works against each other and the promotion system is a joke.  These people could be making far more money but they don't have any experience in the entertainment industry to be able to understand their roles.  They want the most money and they currently depend on the next sucker who walks in the door.  Everything about their system means, eventually, it falls in on itself.

So?

^{Do you want billions in new money advertising revenue pouring into this blockchain?}

Or do you just want to keep recycling the reward pool, putting selling pressure on the token, so we can hold on to these precious shit posts on the trending page, while actual content producers get chased away, along with those valuable eyes?

@NoNamesLeftToUse was here.

^{P.S. Please refrain from cheer leading. If something isn't clear, ask questions.}