SocialSpark Deals want more bloggers to get paid

Blog marketing company creates a new way for bloggers to monetize their online presence

With more people blogging and connecting via different social media outlets, the access to broadcasting platforms gets easier but the knowledge about monetizing a person's Web presence remains lackluster.

SocialSpark, a blog marketing company, is trying to make the life of bloggers a bit more lucrative by launching a new service called SocialSpark Deals on Friday.

This new feature from the Los Angeles-based company connects bloggers with e-commerce merchants that will monetize action on their blogs.

At this point, some bloggers promote affiliate companies, stamp banner ads on their pages or ad a paywall to their site so users must pay or subscribe for their content, but many bloggers still don't capture any revenue for their online dialogue. 

How it works

SocialSpark Deals uses a system that puts more of the management on the blogger and allows them to embed widgets that track back to e-commerce sites or connect internet deals. Bloggers can also posts links to deals on their Facebook or Twitter. For each purchase that comes from a blogger's link, money is put into their PayPal account and suddenly their blog is a side gig making them money.

The amount of money differs based on the price of the purchase and the agreement made between the user and the advertiser and the length of time that the deal is on their dite differ from arrangment to arrangment.

SocialSpark Deals can be added to any blog on any platform once you create a profile and authorize the analytics connected to the service. Once you have signed up, advertisers contact users with opportunities of products or services that want to pitch to advertise through your blog. Advertisers working with SocialSpark currently include MGM Grand, SeaWorld, LG, Microsoft and Kraft.

"The current model utilized by many 'daily deal' companies is broken. They prey on restaurants, spas and other small business owners who don't have the technology to track the effectiveness of the deal or easily retain a customer once a discount has been given," Ted Murphy, CEO of SocialSpark's parent company IZEA, said in a statement. "Our solution focuses exclusively on e-commerce merchants who are better equipped to track repeat customers and obtain contact information for future marketing. Our goal is to help great companies of all sizes attract and retain customers, not cycle through a new deal every day."

But it may not be for everyone

This model lends itself better to some types of blogs more than others. Fashion, shopping and celebrity-focused blogs would be the most ideal for this model since links to deals could be integrated fairly seamlessly into written content, but for political or social commentary blogs, this model might be more distracting or disconnected.

If bloggers don't want to endorse a particular brand or service they do not have to accept the pitches that the company makes, so this model may offer more control to the blogger compared to some rotating banner ads that get little or no say from the content created online.

SocialSpark's parent company IZEA Holdings Inc., which has raised $14 million in funding so far,  is headquartered in Orlando, Fla. and was founded in 2006.