Frequently Asked Questions

What is the philosophy behind the Rewards Program?

There are three core tenets that drive our Rewards Program design:

1. Make the model easy for participants to understand and chart their progress
2. Provide significant payouts that people are excited about earning
3. Tie the financial rewards directly to performance in the network

We have a Leaderboard-based model that is easy to understand, administer and is directly tied to performance. Much like the reward system used by the PGA Tour, everyone starts with an equal chance, the top performers make the cut, and everyone knows what they stand to receive.

We surveyed our members and discovered that 80% currently make less than $100 per month with their blog. In fact, 40% aren't monetizing their blog in any way. So we want our Rewards Program to provide the opportunity to earn something you'd notice when the check shows up. By focusing on the highest performers, we're able to offer bigger payouts — where the group on top of the leaderboard can earn over $1000 a quarter.

And because of the diversity of interests among our mainstream media customers, you don't have to be an A-lister to walk away with a great bonus. Tech and Political blogs might dominate the conversation within the Blogosphere, but our publishers are also showcasing BlogBurst blogs in categories like Sports, Travel and Lifestyle — places where it has been notoriously hard to build an audience and augment your income.

What are the Program's basics?

The model uses a leaderboard concept at its foundation. We began the program in Q4 2006 with a leaderboard that initially showed (and paid) the top 100 blogs in the BlogBurst network based on the number of total headline impressions each blog received across all the publisher web sites during the performance period.

As we grow BlogBurst and diversify the publishers using BlogBurst, we will continue to refine our blogger compensation program. In 2007 we experimented with a Leaderboard algorithm that used both headline impressions and click-through rates. Based on the questions we received, many of you found this calculation confusing and preferred the previous method of measurement. In July 2008, we changed the measurement used for placement on the Leaderboard to headline impressions only.

What is the payout?

At the end of each quarter, Pluck will pay each blogger in the top 100 slots of the leaderboard. The payouts per leaderboard slot for the quarter are as follows:

Position	Q4 Payout
1	$1,500
2	$1,250
3	$1,150
4	$1,050
5	$1,000
6	$900
7	$800
8	$700
9	$600
10	$500
11	$450
12	$450
13	$400
14	$400
15	$350
16	$350
17	$300
18	$300
19	$250
20	$250
21-25	$200
26-40	$150
41-60	$100
61-80	$75
81-100	$50

Why was this model selected?

This model gives both bloggers who are picked up the most a chance to be rewarded for their performance in the BlogBurst network. We expect the model to evolve and grow in future quarters as the service grows in popularity and page views.

Much like the way publishers license other content, we license access to the entire BlogBurst network and typically arrange a pre-determined upside for incremental pages our network members generate on their sites. The Rewards Program, in turn, rewards bloggers who are of greatest interest to the publishers and their audiences.

Why 100 slots?

This 100 slot count is based the 80/20 rule. While more than 60% of our bloggers have received some form of exposure through the network, looking back, the top 100 blogs each quarter tend to generate about 80% of the traffic.

So what am I getting from BlogBurst as a whole?

Let's look at the collective value that BlogBurst now offers with the Rewards Program in place. A blogger with pickup can expect the following, all just by blogging as they normally would, without strict controls or exclusivity:

Headline Impressions
This is the fair use content from your blog, front and center on mainstream publisher section and some article pages. These drive your blog's name and brand awareness, and draw the reader in to read your content and message.

Post Views
This is the unique part of BlogBurst for your and the Publisher. Your post shows up on a publisher's page for the reader. It is a full post, but live with links back to your site, visual branding with your logo/avatar in most cases and a description for your blog's attribution text. This lends credibility to your blog, visibility for you, and opportunities for referrals back to your blog. Click throughs from headlines to post views range from 1%-4% depending on the publisher's site, how much other content the BlogBurst headlines are competing with on the publisher's section page, where it is located on the page, etc.

Referrals back to your blog
When a reader reads your post, they have several opportunities to go visit your blog to read more. Many readers are going to be interested in knowing more about the author and his/her other content if they enjoyed reading the blog post on the publisher's site. We see referral rates from post views running between 8-20% on average over time across the publisher site's in the network, but this is highly dependent on how a reader reacts to your writing when they read one of your posts.

Dollars
Depending on where you fall in the leaderboard, your participation can now be rewarded with up to several thousand dollars a year, all by just blogging as you normally would.

When will payments occur?

In the first month after the quarter ends. This may change in the future as the Rewards Program matures.

When will notifications be sent?

Bloggers who were in the leaderboard for a given quarter will be notified by the 15th of the first month after the quarter ends.

What are my options for claiming my reward?

You can choose from the following options:

1. Cash reward distributed through PayPal.com
2. Donate your reward to the Periwinkle Foundation
3. Decline your reward

What is the Periwinkle Foundation?

The BlogBurst team chose The Periwinkle Foundation as the current charity organization to sponsor on behalf of bloggers in our network. It is a non-profit organization that enriches the lives of children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses through exciting camping and recreational programs.

Are any other payment options available besides PayPal?

At this time, we will make payments only through PayPal. Bloggers will need a basic, personal account with PayPal and no transfer fees should be incurred.

Who is required to submit tax forms?

All leaderboard members receiving a cumulative cash distribution of $150 USD or more within the same year. This includes non-US citizens.

Why do I need to submit tax forms?

Because this payment is considered income, participating bloggers will also need to provide some basic tax information so we can report it appropriately to the IRS or other relevant taxation body.

For your convenience, we have posted PDF copies of these documents and some further tax information on our website, and you can request more information from http://irs.gov:

W8-BEN: non resident alien performing work outside the U.S.

• W8-BEN Form - Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner
• Instructions for W8-BEN Form

W-9: everyone else (U.S. citizens and resident aliens performing work in the U.S.)

• W-9 Form - Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification
• Instructions for W-9 Form

(Please remember that we are not responsible for your local tax requirements if you live outside of the US)

How should I submit my tax forms?

You may fax us your US tax identification form to 800-418-4760. Alternatively, you may scan in a signed document and return it via email to BlogBurstRewards@pluck.com. Please put "BlogBurst Rewards Program" on the cover sheet or subject line.

Does receiving a payment mean I am now a contractor with BlogBurst?

This reward distribution does not imply any additional relationship or partnership other than what is outlined in our Contributor's Agreement you saw when you joined this network. A reward this quarter by no means guarantees rewards in future quarters, and we reserve the right to change and update this rewards program at any time in the future. As you know, this is an experimental program and we'll likely adjust the parameters in future quarters to make sure it's giving our blogger network fair treatment and exciting incentives.

Who is eligible for payment?

To be eligible for payment, a blogger must be active in the network on the last day of the performance period, and must opt in to the rewards program once contacted by BlogBurst.

How are you tracking the leaderboard?

We track every blog post headline impression on publisher sites across the network and sum up each for each blog. This data is used to regularly update the leaderboard positions.

How can I see the leaderboard?

The leaderboard report is available in the Reports tab on your BlogBurst workbench. You can see your position in the leaderboard and the other bloggers covering the top 100 slots.

How can I affect my position on the leaderboard?

This is the first question we expect everyone to ask after they show up on the leaderboard. For the most part, the best answer is to keep writing great content and know that Pluck's editorial team is working diligently to broaden the topical pickup with our publishers. Our goal is to push all the topic areas you blog about onto as many publisher sites as possible. Going forward we are also working on a number of tools to help facilitate blogger-publisher cooperation to help push hot blog posts to publisher sites, promote story idea sharing, etc.

Will the fact that I can be paid limit or unduly influence what I can write about or how my blog content is used in the network?

Absolutely not. The interests of our Publisher customers in your blog is the exclusive determinant of success. They will pick up and publish bloggers who meet their needs. The fact that some of our bloggers will be compensated through the Rewards Program has no impact on their decisions or ours.

Will publishers see my position on the leaderboard?

Yes. We want to acknowledge the blogs with significant pickup across the network, although we will continue to promote all of our great blogs by topic area to each of our publisher partners. However, this in no way replaces our efforts to introduce publishers to more and more of our blogger base and encourage wider topical coverage with BlogBurst on publisher sites.