Agloco was featured in the Economist
Agloco was featured in the EconomistThe entire article mention is below:
“Yet another example, established by a group of Stanford graduates, is Agloco. ‘Advertisers, search providers and online retailers are paying billions to reach you while you surf,’ says its website. ‘How much of that money are you getting? You deserve a piece of the action.’ Like AttentionTrust, Agloco is based on a browser plug-in that tracks users’ online activity and then uses this information to allow blog advertisers to target people with specific interests.Agloco promises to return 90% of ad revenue, sales commissions and other income to its users. In a further twist, those who recruit other users get a cut of the revenue, too. Akshay Mavani of Agloco says the firm is on target to sign up 10m users by July.”
The Economist is a very well respected periodical, and to have Agloco featured in a positive article is a serious boost for our credibility!
Many users have asked me the question " AGLOCO sounds too good to be true. Why am I getting paid without putting anything into it ? "
Answer 1 : You have Viewbar on screen, they pay you for it.
Having a Viewbar on your screen while you are actively
browsing the Internet offers benefits to AGLOCO, advertisers,
and Internet companies. The internet advertising industry is
booming, as companies are trying many different ways to get
their information in front of your eyes. As such, every inch of
real estate on your screen is valuable (as demonstrated by the
“million dollar homepage” last year). The Viewbar will show a
targeted text ad, and advertisers are more than happy to pay
AGLOCO for the opportunity to put that in front of you.
Answer 2 : You build the network, they pay you more.
Should you choose to build the network, you are ‘sticking
your neck out’ to build the community and make it valuable.
You are ‘paying’ with your time and effort, as well as risking
your reputation, in convincing the people you know to join
AGLOCO. You know that it could fail. If it does, you have
spent a lot of time working for nothing in return, and you might
look a little silly to the people you referred into the system.
Not everyone is willing to take that risk.
However, for those who do take that risk, there will be
significant rewards if AGLOCO succeeds.
Since AGLOCO Membership and Viewbar software is free, what cost is there?
Signing up takes less than two minutes, the Viewbar download is a one-time install process (updates will be processed automatically … more on that later), the Viewbar uses a small section of space at the bottom of the screen and the current limit of 5 hours of browsing each month is accrued passively while the Viewbar is active on the desktop. AGLOCO only has once a month Member update emails, so overall the ‘cost’ of AGLOCO has been kept very low.
Referal Level is five level deep.
If your already a member try to add some 10 referals per month. Lets see it with some example.
- A user recruits ten people (10 direct referrals)
- If on average, each direct referral recruits 3 new users (some will recruit many and some none, but the average is 3 for each level of your network) -- Value of 10 referrals $300
- The user would have 30 indirect users one person removed. – Value of 30 referrals $900
- The user would have 90 indirect users two people removed -- Value of 90 referrals $2,700
- The user would have 270 indirect users three people removed -- Value of 270 referrals $8,100
- The user would have 810 indirect users four people removed -- Value of 810 referrals $24,300
- Total referrals the user would have in the network would be 1,210.
- At an average value of $30 for each referral the total value would be $36,300
Reasons why AGLOCO is not going to fail
Some people say that AGLOCO will fail because most people won't make lots of money off of it. The argument says that since it is only a small minority of people who are actively trying to build huge referral networks, only they stand to reap the benefits of AGLOCO membership; the rest won't make any money and they'll just stop using the Viewbar altogether, lowering the payout amounts, discouraging others from joining and killing the program's viability. Or maybe people will get spyware-weary and not download the Viewbar for fear of being monitored.
I couldn't disagree more with these argument, for a number of reasons:
1 .It's a big world out there. Meaning that even if three-quarters of all savvy Internet users out there think that AGLOCO is a scam, the one quarter that doesn't is still going to sign up - and I bet that one quarter will be more than enough for a decent advertising audience that will definitely draw in some serious cash. It certainly would easily break AGLOCO's "10 million members by July 2007" goal.
2. The Internet grows bigger every day - and not just in terms of new users. Every day, a few thousand people who used to use the Internet simply to check their email realize that in order to keep up, they need to use the whole Internet. So they bookmark Wikipedia, create a Facebook or Linkedin page, join an Internet advertising forum on the topic they are interested in, maybe check out del.icio.us,... and they will also join AGLOCO once one of us shows them how the "infomediary"/"economic network" is the future of the Internet. Someone like that will install the Google toolbar... why not the AGLOCO Viewbar? It's no more invasive, and it may turn out to be just as informative. Do you know how many cookies are in your cache?
3. Not everybody will join in order to become a millionaire. Remember that even if the average Jane or Joe has maybe 0 to 2 referrals, they still will appreciate making a small amount of money each month for doing nothing but turning on a small Viewbar that does not disrupt their Internet experience. Don't forget, if you are a savvy expert on what's hot on the web, you are in a tiny minority all over the world. Most people are grateful to learn just how to use email, and maybe perform a basic Google search now and then. They don't intend to make a career out of online moneymaking. A lot of these folks take the time to clip coupons from the Sunday paper; why wouldn't they take a few seconds to switch on the AGLOCO Viewbar? For many whose lives are 99+% offline, the concept of getting a little money just for signing up for AGLOCO is pretty nice - and it's going to be the source of a lot of money for those of us who seek them out (yes, please click there if you haven't already joined AGLOCO!).
4. While many people will make some money, a few of us are going to make large amounts of money, given that AGLOCO gives incentives to refer others. Those of us who do make considerable amounts of money are going to post our checks on our websites and show them to our friends, and then it certainly won't be hard to bring them aboard. I intend to be one of those who makes more than a few bucks a month. Are you with me?
5. Like any company, AGLOCO will be put to the test. Sure, any hot new startup can get a million hits and be the talk of the Internet for a week... but soon, the proof will have to come forth. AGLOCO's team knows it must provide real member satisfaction in order to succeed. As the development team's letter states: "Trust is Everything. We lose your trust, and the network fails. We work on behalf of the members and everything we do must keep that in mind. Our members know what we are doing with their data and how we are using it for their benefit." Now, if AllAdvantage is any indication, even with the mistakes the AllAdvantage team made, they basically did it right, because, in the words of that same letter, "We unfortunately had to close the business, even though new members were continuing to join the network" (Curious about this letter? Read it here). What this means is that AllAdvantage's record was pretty good. Which brings me to my next point...
6. AGLOCO has a convincing history and reputation even though it has yet to be fully launched. What this means is that many people, especially those in the know, are more likely not to suddenly abandon the AGLOCO project if something doesn't quite go as planned. If those in the know stay aboard, they of course bring others along with them. Here is what upholds AGLOCO's reputation:
- The success of AllAdvantage in 1999 and 2000 (John Chow made $25,000 with AllAdvantage. The checks show some nice payout amounts).
- The corporate experience of the AGLOCO team (8 seasoned Stanford MBAs, including several former executives)
- The fact that the AGLOCO team has many former AllAdvantage team members who have learned a lot from the mistakes made during AllAdvantage's run.
The AGLOCO Viewbar software will be capable of sensing when you are making the type of purchase for which AGLOCO has a revenue sharing program (and by potentially directing you to that partner if you are not already on their site). If you make a purchase, the Viewbar will collect the commission from that purchase. Initially, this revenue may be added to the general AGLOCO revenue pool for expenses and Member distribution, but eventually a sizeable percentage for that revenue will go directly into the Member’s account. Thus, the more a Member buys, the more money will be put into his or her account in addition to regular AGLOCO income. Without the Viewbar, that commission would simply not be paid, or might go to someone else.
One of the reasons a larger AGLOCO network is important is that these retailers generally pay a higher commission percentage for networks with more Members (i.e. those who bring more customers tend to get paid more money per customer). Rates vary by retailer and by retail industry, but one thing is generally true of all of them: as AGLOCO grows, we will be able to negotiate better and better commission rates for you.
This is one way in which you (as a regular Member) make extra money, and with AGLOCO it will be automatic. It’s like your Internet purchases being made by a cash-back credit card, where the Viewbar automatically picks up when you are eligible for this cash back. So, besides having an active Viewbar on your desktop, you will not need to take any action to collect this money.
Why I joined AGLOCO
I am not someone who jumps at any old money scheme online. I don't like losing my money, and I certainly don't want my identity stolen. That's why I want to tell you what convinced me to join.
Without hesitation, I can easily say that the key thing that convinced me is the story of AllAdvantage. In case you don't know, AllAdvantage was a company very similar to AGLOCO in which members signed up, downloaded a Viewbar, and earned a portion of the revenue generated from advertisement on Blogs and the Viewbar. Though there are differences, AGLOCO is essentially AllAdvantage reincarnated.
When I first heard about AGLOCO, I started looking for information about the pay-to-surf industry. I remembered AllAdvantage only vaguely, not having been a member, but my research definitely brought back those memories. I decided to look into AllAdvantage more thoroughly.
I ended up finding tons of pages about AllAdvantage on the Internet: Outdated pages describing how the system worked, passages about why AllAdvantage did not survive, sites belonging to former AllAdvantage members paying homage to the program's success - and showing scanned images of their very impressive checks! I even found a couple of sites of well-known offline magazines with articles about this new wave of pay-to-surf enterprises, AllAdvantage by far being the best known. The evidence of AllAdvantage having been a genuine venture were everywhere.
I read on. I went to AGLOCO's website and read the terms of service. I noticed that agloco.com was perhaps the only site I had ever seen that had not one but three contracts: Terms of Service, Member Agreement, and a Privacy Policy.
I combed the Internet for other members' blogs - there were almost no naysayers, and those that did doubt did so out of what looked like habitual skepticism. I remember thinking, even if I signed up and did nothing afterward, it doesn't matter. I would still have an account with AGLOCO if I ever wanted to use it later. But you know what? After seeing how the folks who did AllAdvantage made out, I wasn't going to leave anything to chance. I joined and immediately started thinking of whom I could talk to about AGLOCO. Now I'm talking to you. If you aren't a member, join up! It takes maybe 3 minutes and trust me, it doesn't hurt a bit!
Friday Feb, 23, 2007
I still hear people saying AGLOCO is a scam. Their main questions is how can AGLOCO pay $150 per person and $30 for referrals ? Well I can explain that.
First
Agloco is 100% members owned Economic Network. Yes they are sharing their revenue to all its members.
AGLOCO makes money for its Members in many ways:
Search: Every time you use the Viewbar™ to do an Internet search, AGLOCO earns money from the search engine providers. (For example, Google pays as much as $0.10 on average for each search that is directed to its search engine.)
Advertising: The Viewbar™ itself displays ads that are targeted based upon the websites you're visiting. When you click on an ad and make a purchase, AGLOCO receives a referral fee, which we pass on to our Members. (Please note: Individual members do not receive any compensation for clicking on ads in the Viewbar™, and the Viewbar™ can detect if someone is clicking ads in a fraudulent manner.)
Transaction commissions: Many major retailers pay commissions when you refer customers who make a purchase. AGLOCO collects that commission and passes it on to our members. (For example, Amazon pays an 8.5% commission to most websites who refer customers, and has cut deals for even larger percentages. The bigger the AGLOCO community, the better commission we can negotiate for our Members.)
Software distribution: Numerous software companies pay websites to encourage the download of new software releases (for example, Adobe's Flash and Acrobat Reader software), and trial versions of new programs. AGLOCO members not only get access to the latest and coolest software, they get paid for it.
Service distribution: Many online service providers will look to the AGLOCO community as a source of new and active users for their services. (For example, eBay, Skype, and PayPal, among others, all pay fees to people who help them recruit new active users to their services)
Product distribution: When Members agree to use a product, such as cell phones, high-tech gadgets, office supplies, new credit cards or financial services, AGLOCO can collect referral fees. Some companies even offer special rebate and cash-back programs.
All they are doing is sharing their revenue.
AGLOCO Members make money in four ways:
1. Members earn a monthly share of the AGLOCO revenue based on the use of the AGLOCO Viewbar™ that month.
2. Members earn part of the company based on the use of the AGLOCO Viewbar™ that month (currently a maximum of five hours are rewarded).
3. Members who use our referral system to help build the AGLOCO network will earn more. (AGLOCO only has significant value as a large network and people who help build it should be rewarded. – We also feel that the early users who told friends about YouTube or MySpace or even Google probably deserved something too, but no referral system was available to record their work).
4. Members will also get a share of any commissions AGLOCO gets when a Member purchases a product or service from an AGLOCO Sponsor company.
So I think you would have know what AGLOCO is by this time
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