The Internet has CERTAINLY seen it’s share of failed businesses. A lot of ideas, from big to small, have floundered and flopped in front of a worldwide audience. Agloco, the company that was going to pay people to surf the web, has gone belly up. Their website, however, is still allowing people to sign up. Their interface does not say anything about the fact that the company is going out of business, however, according to many people who were a part of the network, they have received emails from the company letting them know.

Some people never received a dime from the company, although they were able to attract a large number of referral traffic to Agloco. I even found one site that still had it’s Agloco promotional material up, although, the owner of the site knows that the Agloco era is over. So what can bloggers take away from the Agloco downfall?

The lessons are simple. Here are a few tips that you should use when evaluating any money making venture with any company over the web.

• Do a search on the company and read as much as you can. This can’t be your only method of research, but, it is a good starting point. The reason that this can’t be your only source is because search results can be manipulated by good SEO (search engine optimization) marketing. Doing a search can, however, give you a quick glance about something being wrong with a company. Often if a company is not paying its affiliates or its publishers, there are a lot of people who will be pissed about it and a lot of people who will talk about it online.

• If something seems too good to be true AND doesn’t require a lot of effort on your part, try it out. There are situations where things will seem to be too good to be true, however, there are also times when those situations are true. How can you ever know if there is not negative information about the opportunity out there? The answer is that you can’t know 100%. Therefore, if the opportunity doesn’t require you to do anymore than put a banner on your site, try it out. If it works – great! If it doesn’t, you haven’t really lost anything. Sometimes you have to take a chance with opportunities on the Internet. There will be ideas that work and ideas that don’t, but, every idea has to start somewhere.
  

• If a company doesn’t give you a way to keep track of the ads you are using from them, think long and hard before using them. If they don’t give you a way to track things, chances are that they are going to take advantage of that situation. You have to know what was clicked and when to be able to track your most profitable time of the day, the most profitable ad placements, etc.

• Make sure you pay attention to stats for your money making programs. If you don’t know what is making money for your site, then you won’t be able to make business decisions about what should be removed or what should be changed.

• Don’t be afraid to get out if you aren’t getting paid. If months have gone by and you have not been paid…..ummmm…..it’s time to call it quits. Don’t let your desire to see things through or your hope that the company will turn it around stop you from making the business decision that will help you make the most money.

• Pay attention to the blogs of people you respect. If a particular blogger has had a negative experience with a company, ask them why. If they didn’t get paid by the company then that may be an indication that the company is having a problem. If they along with others have not been paid, that is a huge red flag that you shouldn’t ignore. Learn from the mistakes of others if you can.

• Any company can go out of business. It could be because of poor management, lack of funding, the owner’s desire to do something else, or any number of other reasons. It’s up to you to search around and make sure that you investigate a company BEFORE you sign up with them.

• Never join a program JUST because an influential blogger joined the program! A lot of people made this mistake with Agloco because they saw it on John Chow’s blog. The truth is that John Chow is just a human being. He makes mistakes too. We all do. It is up to YOU to research a company. If no one is getting paid, then you aren’t likely to get paid either. Remember that this isn’t high school. You are grown and you can’t let peer pressure make your mind up for you. Do YOUR OWN research.

When it comes to advertising programs, doing a little legwork in the beginning can save you a lot of trouble in the end. As Agloco has once again shown us, everything that glitters on the Internet is not gold!

Posted By Kila Morton

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