Topix have launched their publisher platform which enables publishers to sign up to allow Topix to let them use their content in their system on a revenue share basis.
To join you need to have a full feed from your blog and the content needs to be your own. There is no mention so far of what the revenue share split is between Topix and the publisher concerned (I find it bizarre that they don’t state what this is on their information page – you have to email them for more details – you also have to email them to apply to join which seems a tad primative for a site this size). More details on the technical requirements of what your feed needs to give them here.
Keep in mind that in sharing your full feed to be republished with a site like Topix has some definite pluses and minuses:
The Pluses:
• Topix is a highly trafficked site and the exposure it has the potential to give you as a write is quite large if you make it to their front page. This means greater exposure of your blog’s brand and more potential readers.
• Topix have their content redistributed through their own RSS feeds to sites like AOL, MyYahoo, Earthlink etc. This means more potential exposure.
• When they publish your story they do so with a link back to your blog (some examples of how they do it can be seen here and here). Note – it seems that the link goes back to the front page of the source and not the actual story.
• The potential income from having popular stories on Topix could be significant. Of course this depends upon what the split is.
The Minuses:
• Topix is a highly ranked site in search engines. Allowing your content to be reproduced on it means you run the risk of your content being ranked more highly by Google (and the other SE’s) on the Topix site than on your own blog. This doesn’t happen with just a few of your posts but every one as they republish everything you write.
• Keep in mind that your content is then often re-syndicated to other major sites also which means your own blog’s content has even more competition than just Topix. It also makes me wonder about duplicate content penalties with Google. ie if every post in your content is appearing on 5 or 6 major sites in identical form as well as your own blog does this mean you risk looking like a splog?
• I also don’t see anywhere anything about your content being monetised if it is picked up by one of the sites that syndicates Topix content. ie if AOL picks it up you wouldn’t get any share of the revenue on that page.
As I weigh up the pluses and minuses I personally won’t be entering into it. It might be worthwhile for some bloggers who just want to get their name and content out there but for bloggers whose primary goal is to monetise their blog via advertising and affiliate programs I’m not sure whether this is the best way to go.
For bloggers who already get indexed by the Topix blog section, there is no need to fear that you’ll be automatically included in this new system as these are two distinct parts of Topix. The blog section does not host your full content but rather links directly back to your blog posts.
