(St. Louis, MO - February 23, 2011)
Can a new micropay option really save the struggling newspaper industry?
According to Qix Information Technology's, Dave Reardon, what the Internet really needs is two way flow of pennies nickles and dimes, without the hassle and high transaction cost associated with credit cards.
But the real secret is ensuring that micropayments can flow between consumers, advertisers, and content providers with equal ease.
Why One Way Micropay Failed But Two Way Can't
Previous micropay solutions all failed to gain large audiences because people weren't willing to pre-fund their accounts with $10 or $20, says Reardon.
Resistance to pre-funding accounts was especially high, because there weren't enough content providers offering content on any one micropay platform to make the pre-funding investment worth the risk. 2-Way Micropay eliminates the need to pre-fund an account. Instead, as soon as users sign up they begin to receive a nickel or more every time they see an ad through the Qixit ad network. Users can then immediately use this "free" money to buy premium online content with just one or two clicks, with no credit cards.
This risk free experience of spending “free money” acclimates users to the idea of paying small amounts for original content while at the same time gathering data to better profile each user. If advertisers and content providers do their jobs right, says Reardon, users will eventually start to add their own funds to their accounts because they will begin to spend more than they are earning in ad revenue. But even then, consumers will still feel that all their micropayment purchases are practically free…or at least subsidized by their free ad money.
"A very important value of our service is that we are providing a means and motivation for consumers to share more information about their purchasing patterns and interests -- in exchange for receiving a micropayment every time their data is used," says Reardon. "This marketing data includes both volunteered information, including periodic survey responses, as well as behavioral data related to recent purchases and interactions with ads seen. The longer users are members of Qixit, the more accurate our behavioral targeting data will become. That increases the value of the data to both advertisers and our users." Reardon believes the two way functionality of this micropay platform guarantees success. "
The Internet truly needs a universal, easy way exchange charge pennies, nickels and dimes. Consumers want a way to watch a streaming movie for fifty cents, or to download a song for a dime. But they don't want the commitment of a subscription or the hassle of credit cards, especially for small purchases. Our solution eliminates customer resistance because they receive 'free money' every time they see highly targeted ads, which they can then spend anywhere, with just one or two clicks."
Premium Interactions For Pennies, Nickels or Dimes
QixIT (pronounced, "kicks-it") is gaining traction in the micropay market with its recent release of an innovative WordPress plugin that gives blog owners four new ways to monetize their websites.
Reardon's favorite feature in the plugin is is the option to allow readers to pay for premium placement of their comments, with highlighted emphasis, permanently above the free comments.
This feature may be especially profitable for high traffic blogs, newspapers, and online magazines covering passionate issues where many commentators will gladly pay their two cents worth, or even fifty cents, to have their comments given premium placement.
Within minutes of creating a new 2-Way Micropay account, readers will begin to receive a nickel with every ad delivered through that account. They can then use this money to post their comments, or to save up to buy any online content associated with a micropayment link.
The WordPress plugin also allows bloggers to charge for premium content, for example when readers click on a "read more" tag or a download link.
A third option allows blog owners to charge users to become guest authors on the blog. Users can be charged first to register as a guest author and then one time for each post they publish. "If you have a high traffic blog in a niche where people want to reach your audience, this gives you way to offer them a platform for their views at a vanity publishing rate," says Reardon.
Yet, another key feature is the ability to split payments for revenue sharing. Guest authors can receive a share of any revenue generated from premium content they sell through the micropay links, and the remainder goes to the blog publisher. (This feature will soon be available in an update of the plugin).
Advertisers Pay A Little But Get a Lot
Finally, any advertiser (or a blog owner) can create micro-payout links to motivate a reader to click on a link that submits a survey response, or a links to view a series of ads. The payout link can be for any amount. The funds paid out can then be immediately used by the reader to purchase online game play, streaming video, or anything else linked to a micropay link.
To prevent "double-dipping," users activating payout links can only get paid once, or once every X days set by the payor.
The best part, according to Reardon, is the least obvious feature. Qixit's product puts an end to hiding email addresses for fear of spam and at the same time increases the opportunity for companies to track and stay in touch with their customers in a way that respects their customer's time and privacy.
"With our platform, both content sellers and advertisers who pay for consumer's time and attention get to capture superior marketing data, including the age range, zip code, gender, and even the user's Qixit email address," says Reardon. "That makes it easy to followup with additional offers...but the catch is that they can only followup with users when they pay users an additional micropayment each time they email them, at rates set by the user. This is what protects Qixit users from spam. Advertisers can always get their message through, but only when they pay for the user's time and attention at rates the user sets for each commercial category."
