It’s been a while and I know all of you have been wondering, “What’s going on with SocialSpark!?” Well, today’s the big day. We’re finally going to be pushing out a new release with some bug fixes and a few new things to play with. And if you’re an Advertiser who hasn’t yet signed up for SocialSpark, today we’re announcing something just for you! (Ted won’t let me spill the beans just yet; keep an eye out.)
Here’s what we’ll be releasing this afternoon around 3:30 4:00 PM EDT:
New Features
- New tracking links for CPC will now come from http://clicks.izea.com (existing links with the http://affiliates.izea.com prefix will continue to work)
- Advertiser profiles and Opportunity profiles now have no-index, no-follow in the meta tags so that they will no longer be indexed by search engines.
- A new tool for our internal employees to help match bloggers based on a number of criteria in their profiles, like location and interests. Make sure your profile is as complete as possible so you’ll be included in our search for great relevant blogs and bloggers to add to Blog Rolls and Street Teams!
- System emails now come from DO-NOT-REPLY@socialspark.com since they come from an unmonitored mailbox.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed the broken “Try Again” link on the “Add Credit Card” screen.
- Fixed a crash that was occurring when users who had already activated their accounts tried to activate again.
- Made the display of Opportunity requirements clearer for joining separate lists of requirements.
- Auto-rejected post notifications were not displaying the URL of the rejected post, so it was difficult to tell which post it was referring to. We cleaned that up a bit.
Advertisers: Don’t forget that this month is 25% Bonus Month so any deposits you make into your SocialSpark (or any other eligible IZEA) account will be matched quarter-for-dollar!
RealityTVFan said on 9.16.09 at 10:27 am
Is there something wrong with the cpcs? I have not been paid for any of mine in over 2 weeks (and there has not been any new ones added either I don't think).
I've sent in a ticket but had no response.
Jamie said on 9.16.09 at 11:41 am
@RealityTVFan Wow, that's not good! We are looking into this right now.
Jamie said on 9.16.09 at 1:55 pm
@RealityTVFan It appears that most of the CPC Opportunities you have taken have either expired or have run out of funds for the moment. I'm sorry if you weren't notified of this! You can tell the difference between active and inactive CPC Opps by going to your Taken CPC Opportunities page and looking at the buttons that go down the right-hand column. If the button says "Summary" the Opportunity is not active at the moment; if the button says "Get Code" you can still promote that Opp.
If you ever have any generic questions that do not require personal account information you can always ask them at Get Satisfaction, where the response time is pretty rapid. Sorry for the confusion!
RealityTVFan said on 9.16.09 at 6:04 pm
Thanks for the response Jamie. I don't get emails when they expire, never have done, but I do keep an eye on them so know when they have ended.
However I have pending verified clicks from ended ones that I don't seem to be getting paid for.
Eg "Typically Swiss Hotels" ended 08.18.09, I have 59 pending verified clicks. Assuming all those clicks are from the final day the opp was live, I clearly should have been paid for them by now as they have long since passed the 5 day mark.
Hope that makes more sense :)
Jamie said on 9.17.09 at 9:40 am
@RealityTVFan Thanks for the extra info! It did help us to figure out what was going on with your account, and to stretch our forensic muscles! I am going to email you directly with a summary of our findings in a moment, but rest assured you were paid for the valid clicks and we are fixing the stats now.
jules said on 9.20.09 at 11:29 pm
i've always been interested in CPC but just don't know exactly how they work. I don't know if i need to create a post with links on it or or what. :( I am kind of confused. :(
i am also curious if socialspark depends on GooglePR or something. I would appreciate any response :)
Jamie said on 9.21.09 at 11:41 am
@jules: CPC Opportunities can be taken in a number of ways, as long as the advertiser does not prohibit it in the terms they set on the Opp. Here are some examples:
1. Write a traditional sponsored post about the Advertiser's product or service, using the text link(s) in your post and a disclosure badge at the end.
2. Put the plain text links into your blog sidebar, in a Sponsored Links section (or designate in some way that the links are sponsored).
3. If you're on Twitter, write a tweet about the advertiser's product and include the Twitter link and the #spon hashtag.
4. If the Opportunity has assets (banners/images), copy the code for the banner you like and put it in your blog template.
Remember to always keep the Advertiser's instructions in mind when taking a CPC Opportunity. And always disclose that your links are sponsored!
Regarding your second question, SocialSpark does not use Google PageRank to segment Opportunities. Advertisers have two other options for rank-based segmentation, though: RealRank™ and Alexa Rank. If you have additional questions about IZEA, SocialSpark, or any of our other properties feel free to submit them or search for existing answers at our Get Satisfaction support portal.
Get Satisfaction: http://getsatisfaction.com/izea
RealRank™: http://izearanks.com
Alexa: http://www.alexa.com/
Thanks for the great questions!