There has been a lot of hype around Agloco of late, and little criticism with the exception of this Agloco Review on HTMK.com.
Before I discuss why I don’t like Agloco, I will touch on why it is bad for bloggers. As steve from HMTK points out, bloggers and Webmasters stand to lose revenue because of Agloco. Unlike Adsense or affillite schemes, Agloco shares revenue with internet users, but not with site owners, so, bloggers pushing Agloco are trading revenue from their blog for revenue from an Agloco network, not something I am interested in doing.
To illustrate why I don’t like it, Ill answer a couple of points I have seen raised repeatedly on the subject ofAgloco:
- Myth 1: You get paid for something you would do anyway!
Sounds great, money for nothing, but this is not true unless you already:
- Install crapware onto your computer that harasses you with unwelcome advertising
- Spend all your time clicking adwords as opposed to reading what you were looking for in the first place
- Myth 2: You cant lose, it doesn’t cost you anything!
Again, not true, it costs you:
- Time spent working for FREE building Agloco’s network with no idea what you are going to get back in return
- Bandwidth and ‘Screen Real Estate’ could also be considered costs of a kind. I would consider installing a tool-bar a ‘cost’ of sorts.
If you have been working building an Agloco network do the following calculation, and then tell me it hasn’t cost you anything:
Hours spent building network X rate of pay (overtime) from your day job.
If you are pushing Agloco on a blog, consider the value of a ReveiwMe add for your site, and the number of posts you have written on Agloco, there is your ‘loss’.
- Myth 3: Its not a pyramid scheme
I don’t know how it can be described as anything else.
One analogy has been management structure in a company, where the CEO is paid more than the staff. This is not true, consider the definition of a pyramid scheme:
- “A pyramid scheme is a system of selling goods where commissions are paid to recruit new sellers”
So, name one CEO of a company that gets paid more money the more staff recruit more staff recruit more staff……?
It is a pyramid scheme, and like all pyramid schemes will reward people who get in early and recruit other ’sellers’, but will leave many many more dissappointed.
The above assumes of course assumes Agloco actually makes it to market, though I believe they will as their blog gives a release date for the toolbar between “March 26th and Monday April 16th”.
This brings me on to my real gripe with Agloco, they have a lot of people putting a lot of time into building this network, but the tool-bar is not ready, why is this?
Well, I have to say I don’t know, but I would guess that Agloco held back on the real investment (in software development) .
If you have ever studied business you will be aware of ‘first mover advantage’ which is the competitive advantage companies derive from being the first in the market. It represents the lead they have over other companies in the field, and Agloco are potentially throwing it away by publicising their product before it is ready, giving would be competitors time to start work on rival schemes.
So why would Agloco risk losing first mover advantage? Again, I don’t know, but I would guess that it is because:
- No one else seems interested in entering the market (why don’t Microsoft / Mozilla ship such a plug in with their browsers?)
- They didn’t want to risk their money until the network builders had reduced the risk
In short, if the network had not grown, I believe Agloco would have liquidated without ever releasing a tool-bar. Now however there is no need to worry as Agloco do have a network and promise to release the tool-bar before 17th April 2007, a date myself not to the network builders who have invested time in this product look forward to with great interest / anticipation!
So, now I am asking who will the advertisers be? I recently wrote a post on Pixel Lotto and how this idea bombed. If you don’t know, pixel lotto was the successor to the million dollar homepage which offered one lucky user $1m for clicking away on its advertisements.
Visit Pixel Lotto and you will see that the site has failed to sell enough adverts. Click some of the adverts and see where they lead:
- Get rich quick schemes
- Gambling sites
Why, because most advertisers do not want un-targeted traffic, it is worthless. If you want to see what this kind of traffic is worth read this.
The fact fact that you are using Pixel Lotto says more about you than the pixels you click, that’s why the sites are almost all for gambling and get rich quick schemes.
Although Agloco may be more ‘targeted’ (based on site content), users will overwhelmingly be clicking adds to earn pennies. What does this say about users of the tool-bar, and what kind of sites do you think will be interested in this kind of traffic? (this is an open question, I don not pretend to have the answer).
Personally I could not in recommend this kind of software to my friends and family, and I very much doubt the builders of large networks will:
- Run the tool-bar on their own computer
- Install it for their wife, parents or children
I think for many large network builders it is a case of “do what I say not do what I do”.
Perhaps this is a little unfair as they are telling people to build networks, which they have done themselves. That said they are ultimately dependant on stooges running the tool-bar, and I don’t believe either the people behind Agloco or the builders of large networks will be doing this themselves.
If you have built a network then good luck to you. If you took the gamble, worked hard and it pays off for you well done, and more fool me for not participating!
I myself resent the idea of Agloco content to target advertisements without giving anything back to the author of that content.
Furthermore, I will be interested to see if it becomes possible to detect the tool-bar from a server. For example, it is possible to detect the browser and operating system of a visitor, so it may well be possible to detect Agloco. If that becomes the case it will be interesting to see whether anyone starts running scripts to withhold content from Agloco.
[…] Jez dispelled some of the myths regarding AGLOCO and why, as a blogger, you shouldn’t be promoting it: Agloco Don’t Believe The Hype […]
[…] I find most appealing about SiteLogic’s articles is the depth and quality. Take for example, Agloco - Don’t Believe the Hype, a post in which Jez offers intelligent arguments to counter the myths surrounding the […]
Great article - while I have signed up for Agloco this gives me pause and I will do more thinking before taking it any further. It is good to see that some people are capable of writing a balanced opinion which informs about the downside of something many are promoting.
Yes, it does have a downside in my opinion, that isnt to say some people wont make money from it (those with large networks).
If you can build a network and dont mind recommending the product then give it a go, its not for me though.
I agree with coach, it’s nice to see balanced opinion rather than one that is biased because of the possible networking opportunity. People like John Chow will probably make a mint in the first six months (good on him if he can work it that way) and then the reality of the system will start to reveal itself and the advertisers will start to demand more for their money. Your article got me thinking about it and it’s a bit like DIGG traffic. It seems really positive at first but after the initial buzz has worn off you realize that the traffic isn’t necessarily the kind that you want. I’ve heard stories of 5000 visitors and not one ad click.
I like your arguments and it will be interesting to see if Agloco will still be as popular six months after it launches the toolbar.
Yeah, Im not taking anything away from John, he is in a perfect position to capitalise on Agloco. He is an entrepreneur and is always looking for an opportunity, and for someone in a position to build a large network (like John)it could work very well…. but I would be very surprised if he himself spent much time using the toolbar….
There are a lot of other people caught up in the hype without the means to build a network so easily. These people none the less continue singing along to the Agloco tune, and are going to do a lot of donkey work for very little return (IMO).
Interesting read amidst all the hype. I have stayed away from signing up for a long time, and after reading this I think it shall remain that way.
I wont be having anything to do with it, there is no way I would recommend a product like this to my friends or family, and on that basis would not recommend it to anyone else either
Very good post…info from htmk.com about Agloco not sharing revenue with site owners is huge gap in Agloco business model. There should be a way for Agloco to create a system for content publishers to share revenue.
I wouldnt say its a gap, sharing revenue with browsers IS their business model.
They use this as an incentive to install the toolbar and click on adds.
This incentive will be a problem for advertisers who want targeted traffic, not randon clcks.
On another note, I have seen anti Microsoft sites that deliberately write their pages in a way that IE cannot render, if it is possible to detect the Agloco bar then I think there will be some sites that will try to do something similar with Agloco.
HAHAHAHA. If we are surfing on a blog or a website, of course the webmasters are still going to receive the cash they always generate. If the webmasters don’t like the idea, I would say that we did not get any of the profit the webmasters themselves made
And now, if we work hard on getting referrals, it helps us. Everybody has to work for their share. Is it wrong for us regular surfers to make an effort to get something back for what we do? 
If you guys think Agloco won’t work…I would say that the ads about making money on your blogs and websites will not be any better. I am sure some of you are even linking scams on your blogs and websites, intentionally or not. We shall see what happens.
Hi Chong,
If you are a surfer and do not run a blog then there is no conflict, if you have a site and also push Agloco, then there is a conflict.
You are right about the adds on sites, we dont control where they lead…
The fact is though, Agloco IS a pyramid scheme, it is geared to those at the top making a lot from those at the bottom, and this is not a sustainable model, pyramid schemes always fail once the initial period of expansion reaches an end.
If you want to work for Agloco on this then do it, but I dont think it will last, I dont think advertisers will like it… its all spin and hot air as far as I am concerned, but you are right, we shall soon see
Alright. I am going to discuss an idea that has been in my head for a while now. And it is an idea that deems Agloco shall be sustainable. Alright, it is like this. Pretend there was no Agloco, we would still be surfing, as according to our surfing habit. But if Agloco came along, there is only more to our surfing online. I learned in economics class that there is such a concept as being indifferent to something
Who will be on the bottom? Those people who surf the net all the time but do not really care if they get paid or not, it makes no difference to them, so if we have them at the bottom, their indifference on this should solidify the bottom base. I have also learned that a Pyramid Scheme involves initial monetal investment, and also that the people on the top does not necessarily make more than the people they recruit - IT IS A MYTH, EVEN A FALSE IDEA THAT PEOPLE WHO GET RECRUITED WILL NOT MAKE AS MUCH AS THE PERSON WHO RECRUITED HIM/HER. Indeed, we shall see what happens 
“Those people who surf the net all the time but do not really care if they get paid or not, it makes no difference to them”
This is where you are wrong, it makes a big difference to them, they have to use nasty software, and to get any benefit from that nasty software they have to CHANGE THEIR SURFING HABBITS.
“IT IS A MYTH, EVEN A FALSE IDEA THAT PEOPLE WHO GET RECRUITED WILL NOT MAKE AS MUCH AS THE PERSON WHO RECRUITED HIM/HER”
In a legitimate company perhaps, but this is a PYRAMID SCHEME engineered to keep the people at the top at the top, and the people at the bottom at the bottom.
Heh, I already sense that this site is biased. Calling Agloco’s viewbar “nasty”? Hahaha. I’m sure to laugh and share this one, lols. But it is okay. At least they are doing something to help us, and this site? :D. LOL. I think the concept of pyramid scheme applies to many marketing things. If you join late on anything, your chances of success and beating the people/companies that came before you is much greater.
much less greater*
Ok that’s a fair point I havent seen the toolbar yet so it could be very good. But I have never seen one of these things that was nice, we’ll have to wait and see
Biased, Hmm I’m trying to keep an open mind on this, I suppose I have been more ‘anti’ as there is so much hype around this, a lot of people don’t seem to have thought too much about it, you have made some reasonable points though.
Joining something late is never as good as joining early, however, with a sustainable business model this is less of a risk joining late, in my opinion this is not a sustainable model.
With pyramid schemes it is very difficult to get in early, and if you don’t then forget it as often you will lose out.
What are they doing to help you? It is the network builders who are spending time and money promoting the service, and Agloco, what have they done in return, promised some shares the value of which no-one knows. Promised a toolbar no-one has seen. At the moment I see a lot of people doing things for Agloco, but not nearly enough coming back the other way.
I could be wrong about this, the first test will be the release of the toolbar in a few weeks, if that go’s well and people like it then it could work…
As for this site helping you, if you had a website of your own you would have got a backlink to it for being one of the top commentors
[…] little over a month ago I wrote an article “Agloco Don’t Believe the Hype” in which I mentioned that Agloco had stated they would release the View-Bar by 16/04/07, so […]