This proposal is to implement a Steemit Advertising Platform which is a hybrid-model, based off both Google Adwords and CPM Networks to create a unique solution catered specifically for Steemit with the aim of the overall growth of both the Steemit community and the Steemit Ecosystem.

This proposal will intend to improve a few things :

• Steemit Authors to Further Monetize Content
• Incentivize Steemit Authors to Create Higher Quality ‘Evergreen’ content
• Steemit Users Ability to Self-Promote Content
• Advertisers to Reach a Targeted Audience
• Bring More Money Into Steemit

How It Works

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All Authors Can Participate

Content Creators will input a snippet of code into their post, at the location of their choice and number of ads within a post. Upon posting, the code snippet will dynamically generate varying advertisements within their posts.

Ad Sizes

Ads will come in a fixed 300 x 250 size, which can either be a graphic ad, or a Steemit Post promotion like such :

Or have promoted posts served like normal :

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Promotion Targeting

Matching promotions to ad locations based upon a few targeting options :

Type of User

The type of user is defined simply by a binary, logged in to Steemit, or not logged in to Steemit.

Tags Utilized by Post

Choose Topic Tags which the ads will be propagated on, with no limit as to how many tags.

Sub-Option of Only Targeting Main Tag

The option to identify that only the first, and main tag of the post be considered.

Keywords in Title

List of Keywords that if present in a post’s title, ads will be propagated on.

Author Whitelist

List of Authors which ads will propagated on regardless of the post itself or combination of both for laser-targeting

Posts Whitelist

List of specific Posts which ads will be propagated on without question.

Serving Ads

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CPM Model

Advertisers will set a bid price per thousand views, and the higher the bid, the more rapid the propagation of ads.

Ads Will Be Reviewed

In prevention of scam offers and other illicit activity, ads should be reviewed before being allowed to be propagated.

Upfront Payment

After the ads have been reviewed and accepted, Advertisers will pay upfront for the promotion based on the Bid Price x CPM and propagation of the ads will begin immediately.

Monetary Scheme

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Profit-Sharing

Authors will earn 60% of the ad revenue generated from the ad revenue based on the Bid Price x CPM and will be paid accordingly.

Steemit will utilize the 40% share of the profits for the advancement and refinement of the system, the hiring of manpower for the management of the entire system and all other relevant cost incurred factoring in for profit as well.

Result of Implemented System

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Additional Monetization For Authors

Currently, Steemit authors have a singular means of profit-window which closes within 7 days. Afterwhich, the only additional value you may attain from that post might be that a user somehow lands upon it, finds some value in it and gives a follow.

With an ad within the post itself, the author may continue to earn way past the 7 day window as long as visitors land on the content. This matter quite a bit as, right now, any traffic garnered from Google is not monetizable at all. This bridges that gap as any visitor to the site will be considered an impression and the author will get paid for it.

This incentivizes Steemit authors to create a content that is missing on Steemit right now.

Content that interfaces better with the world outside of Steemit

As a Steemit author, I care very much about building my internal network of followers and content is usually focused around that. However, given that the additional revenue stream of ads which may be earned regardless of whether Steemians care about the content or not, some authors may choose to focus upon creating content more catered to the open internet of which, may not earn them as much upfront earnings from upvotes, instead, long term earnings from Search Traffic landing upon their article.

Higher Quality Content

With a 7-day payout window, authors are prone to creating shorter form content that is of less value in 1 sitting, and choose instead to post more frequently. Given that I have a long and nuanced point I’d like to make, which I could make in 1 post of around 2,500 words, I’d much rather break it up and cover it across 5 days in 5 posts as a series as that would garner me much more profits.

This breeds and issue as authors main focus will always be upon what kind of content they should create that will both, be of some value and yet able to be created in a day or so.

This vastly limits the range of what quality content can be created and is a net loss of value over the long term.

Better for Steemit

Additional monetization will lead to higher user retention rates, higher quality content will bring more value to consumers and given that authors are incentivized to focus upon content that is more catered to the open-web, more visitors will land on Steemit and learn of it as well, further growing the Steemit community.

Steemians Can Utilize the Platform to Grow

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As I have covered before in the past, the current system of the ‘Promoted’ platform is poorly implemented with limited functionality built for scale and exclusionary of smaller users.

By choosing within the targeting, to only promote a post to users who are logged into Steemit, Steemians can ensure that their post are seen by fellow Steemians and will not be lost on external visitors.

Users Can Pay To Have Their Posts Seen More Often

All ranks of user will be able to utilize this is new system where they can start by paying a nominal sum to have their post propagated in and around Steemit to gain more traction of the community to bring more upvotes, engagement and followers.

Given that the advertising efforts are successful, they may then choose to scale the promotion accordingly.

Steemians Can Effectively Get Important Information Out There

Any user who may have an important post they would like as many Steemians as possible to know about, will be able to have their post propagated far and wide across Steemit all while supporting authors through with their promotional funds.

A mere fraction of Steemians truly visit the ‘Promoted’ tab, which means, regardless of your current marketing budget, there will be a limitation to how much exposure can be achieved.

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Advertisers Will Have a Highly Effective Ad Network

With certain scale, external advertisers, who are simply promoting offers, will find the advertising network to be a superior one compared to most available CPM networks out there.

Advanced Targeting

With this system, CPM advertisers will have a significant advantage over most CPM networks available. It guarantees that their ads are more often served to a highly relevant audience which means a better rate of return, even if the cost per CPM may be higher than what they might get elsewhere.

As Targeted as Adwords, Not As Expensive

The Google AdWords network allows for similar advance targeting, with the draw-back of massive competition which leads to often times extremely expensive ad costs which smaller player often cannot compete with.

Conclusion

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This proposal would lead to a better Steemit ecosystem overall, tackling a few key issues that Steemit has at the moment. Authors also have the full freedom to decide where and how often these ads are displayed, or if at all.

It incentivizes the creation of more ‘Evergreen’ quality content on Steemit which is lacking due to a limited payout window.

It brings more web traffic towards Steemit.com as more posts are targeted towards the general web

It aids Steemit Authors generate more income, both internally from Steemit and externally from general web traffic which leads to higher user retention rates.

It aids Steemians effectively propagate the posts that they want to be seen, which also lowers the use of Bid-Bots and their negative impact on the ecosystem.

It brings more money into the Steem economy as advertisers who may or may not care about Steemit see this as an effective ad platform for them to spend their money to advertise.

All in all, creating a better place for all Steemians and even more user who aren’t interested in joining Steemit. I used Reddit for a good 2 years before leaving my first comment. I can imagine there are many more internet users out there would come and go often yet never truly invest in the platform.

These visitors could still be consequential to the Steemit economy by being served ads, which brings more money into Steemit even if they don’t stay.

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Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors

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