Why no web publishers should waste their time with Copeac

If you’re a web publisher looking to make serious money, one place you don’t want to waste any of your time is Copeac, an Intermark Media division.

Their business is lead generation and like other similar operations, they appeal to web publishers using the lure of higher payouts “per action” but here’s the catch: to get a perfect stranger, visiting one of your web properties, to “convert” through one of their “actions” is no easy feat, unless you know how to play Jedi tricks, or something.

So even though a few dollars per conversion might seem like good money, you need to keep in mind that you’ll be peddling all sorts of dating, money and weight loss offers to thousands upon thousands of your visitors, for free… because they’re most likely NOT going to “convert”.

Consider this…

Would YOU actually go to some weight loss program “signup page” and provide your name, address, email, phone number and valid credit card number (yes, a credit card) to some company you’ve never heard about?

Probably not, right?

Well, why do you think your visitors would be so dumb as to want to do that?

Seriously, the “signup now and you’ll see how good we are” jingle doesn’t work anymore but with some savvy “spam fighting” bravado wording, perhaps Copeac will convince both web publishers and advertisers that they’re “the answer” they’ve been waiting for.

You see, Copeac really wants to make “an impression” so, to make the whole thing sound more serious, web publishers actually get called by an “affiliate manager” who basically judges the “applicant”, over the phone, to help qualify them as “good” or “not so good”. It’s worth what it’s worth but that call usually comes out of the blue, at weird hours and several weeks after the affiliate applied. Maybe some web publishers have been luckier but quite a few obviously haven’t.

Some web publishers like Copeac’s promise to pay on a weekly basis but that’s ONLY if you make $1k per week!

Now, some web publishers can actually have some of their web properties geared towards “converting” total strangers to fill out forms in order to eventually, say, lose some weight but in “real life”, most web publishers don’t try to funnel their web visitors into buying stuff they wouldn’t likely touch with a ten foot pole, themselves.

In other words, web publishers with a conscience might want to stick with more alternative revenue generating activities.

As a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t sell something to your mother, protect your good karma by not selling it to strangers who, for an instant, trust your web site.

In many ways, your visitors judge you both on your content and on the quality and relevancy of your advertisers. If one or the other seems off, you might lose these people, forever. Now, it’s your call to try to sell “signup conversions” to everybody coming across your web properties but if that kills your credibility, good luck spending years rebuilding it.

Getting paid “per action” is the best deal EVER for advertisers because they only have to give money out when they’ve hooked a “customer” who has been kind enough to provide a valid credit card.

For web publishers, however, it’s the worst kind of advertising possible because for the few who may (some day) signup (and “convert”), untold numbers of “unconverting” visitors will have been shown the flashy ads… for free.

If some web publishers think they can pay their mortgage with that kind of advertising model, may they be blessed but for all others looking to do things differently, there are alternatives. Many of them, actually.

In a nuthsell, that’s why no —or very few— web publishers should waste their time, with Copeac.