We give the viewers an alternative opening to the series, kind of like an Easter Egg, only its not Easter.

Fred "Corvis" Moutran and Jenna Gravino discuss the scope and purpose of the User-Generated Content series.

Libsyn Mypodcast
Earning Potential 1 1
User-Friendliness 1 3
Community 4 4
Support 3 3
Total 9 11

Libsyn and Mypodcast allow users to produce podcasts on their sites. Both offer unlimited bandwidth.

The downside to Libsyn is that you have to pay for subscriptions per month. Each subscription level limits your amount of storage space. You do not have to pay to use Mypodcast and storage is unlimited.

Both sites offer forums where users can discuss questions and share information with each other on a range of topics related to podcasting.

Mypodcast is more user-friendly, with no costs or storage barriers although the earning potential for both websites is limited.

Zazzle Cafepress
Earning Potential 4 3
User-Friendliness 3 4
Community 4 4
Support 3 2
Total 14 13

These services allow you to upload your own designs to make various products, which you can then sell.

Zazzle and Cafepress both offer a range of different products that you can make your own by adding your designs, photos or logos.

Your profit comes from collecting what you charge for the items, minus the base price, which is kept by the site. The issue here is that base prices can be steep.
Both sites offer some kind of blog or forum that artists can contribute to, however, the Zazzle forum is more interactive while the Cafepress blog was mainly operated by their administrators.

Zazzle and Cafepress offer similar services and both are easy to use. However, Zazzle products’ base prices are slightly lower than Cafepress’ which allows users a higher potential for earning.

123RF Istockphoto
Earning Potential 4 2
User-Friendliness 3 4
Support 3 3
Community 5 5
Total 15 14

Both of these stock photo image services allow you to buy stock photos or submit your own stock photos for purchase by others.

123RF allows artists to collect 50% of the royalties collected for the photos, while Istockphoto only allows users to collect 20%.

The downside to trying to sell your photos on 123RF and Istockphoto is that both require artists to already be using fairly professional camera gear in order to produce the images that are accepted for sale on these sites.

Both sites do offer blogs and forums that users can visit to get photography tips, tutorials, or ask questions.

While there are a few downsides to using 123RF, you are rewarded with a more reasonable level of earning potential.

Corvis and El Hamburger summaize their contributions to the User-Generated Content series.

Helium A.C.

Topic Range 5 5

Earning Potential 3 5

Community 5 4

Promotional Tools 3 3

Total 16 17

Both of these services offer writers a wide variety of topics to write on. There is basically something for everyone, so finding inspiration for material will not be a problem.

Some Helium users have complained about the pay rates for their material on Helium. These same concerns are present on Associated Content, however, Associated Content does allow for upfront payments on some articles that are processed directly through PayPal. There are numerous opportunities here, so it is not unlikely to make reasonable money on this service. It will not be nearly enough to live on, but some users have been known to make a few hundred dollars a month here.

Both services offer a decent community aspect to the sites. Overall, it would seem that Helium’s community section is a little more active than the one on Associated Content, but the difference here is not drastic. Both communities are lively and helpful.

Both services offer limited tools to promote your work. There are wide-ranging social bookmarking capabilities, but most content on both of these sites cannot be directly shared on another site. They can, however, be linked to, giving users some chance to at least use their own sites to promote, if not feature, their work.

All in all, both services are fairly decent tools for journalists or other freelance writers to hone their craft while making a few bucks on the side. The extra earning potential on Associated Content is the one thing that sets this service apart from Helium. Putting all that work into an article base is tough if you get nothing out of it, after all.

Revver Blip
Video Storage 5 5
Promotional Tools 4 4
Earning Potential 2 3
User-Friendliness 3 3
Support 4 3
Total 18 18

Both of these services offer extraordinary amounts of video storage. They allow unlimited numbers of large videos with no real time limits. Videos on both services can make it hours long on lower quality. This beats most other services like YouTube who put strict time limits on video length.

Both services allow the user a wide range of cross-posting and promotional options. From being able to cross-post to services like YouTube and Vimeo to the ability to embed videos in any blog server, there are numerous opportunities to get your video out there. Both services also offer options to tell your audience about your videos through services such as Twitter.

Both services have fairly limited earning potential. In both cases, videos have to do tens of thousands of views in order to make anthing substantial off them. Revver has been noted for inconsistencies in its pay rates while Blip has been fairly stable in this regard. Both services have minimum payouts that take a while to get to if your video is not very popular. This is probably one of the most frustrating aspects of these services. While they both do a 50/50 split on ad revenue, that revenue does not tend to be that high.

Both services are fairly simple to use. Revver has an interface that is intuitive, but navigation can be a bit of a hassle. Blip is hindered by their recent interface change. Things were very solid a few months ago, but after the change, things run slower and have more glitches. One glaring glitch is the problems with Twitter cross-posting. It tends not to work very well. Thankfully, there is still a way to access the old interface, however it is not easy to find.

Both services offer decent support. Revver users tend to be a little more satisfied here. From my experience with Blip, they are timely with their help but do not always get issues solved.

Both services are easy to use and have some decent potential for anyone posting videos. However, earning potential is weak and both services have some major issues. In all, they are pretty much even matched, so we’re calling round one of the faceoffs a tie.

Q: What is Helium.com?
A: Helium is a place for contributors to write, publish and get paid for what they know.

Q: Does it cost money?
A: It is free to sign up for helium.

Q: How do I contribute content?
A: You can post your articles in the designated subject areas on helium. Content posted to helium must be your own. Certain standards must be met in order to publish your work on helium.

Q: Is helium a blog?
A: No, helium is not designed for short, personal entries. Each submission to helium should be worthy of publication in a magazine or newspaper.

Q: How do I make money?
A: Helium pays for articles based on the value of their contribution. Higher-ranked articles make more money than lower-ranked articles. Advertisers will pay more to advertise in certain subject areas.

Q: How are my articles ranked?
A: Articles are ranked based on grammar, punctuation, article structure and accuracy.

Q: How can I maximize my potential earnings?
A: The best way to maximize your earnings is to have a number of good-quality articles. This will maximize your exposure and increase your potential to make money.

The Pros and Cons: What users have to say about Helium.com…

“Before you know it the money will definitely add up. I wouldn’t count on this as a steady income to pay your bills, but the great thing is that once you post an article, it is up with income earning potential day after day. I have up about 140 articles and about half are making the money.”
-Joyce Priddy

$25 takes a fair bit of earning on Helium. I would imagine that a good number of writers will drop out before they get anywhere near the threshold.”
-Ivaan Antidote

“I reached in my first month $25 and I reached the same the previous month with more than 1000 articles on the site. My highest amount was $60.
-Erik VanTongerloo

“The financial incentive system seems guaranteed to not allow anyone to make enough money to pay their Internet access fees, much less buy food. The collegiality of the discussion boards in my mind is the only real attraction for writers here.”
-Charles Smith

Q: What is Istockphoto.com?
A: Istockphoto.com is a member-generated image and design community. Artists contribute and sell their artwork to Istock.

Q: How does it work?
A: Istock sells images online and pays contributors a royalty fee for their work.

Q: How do I contribute to Istock?
A: Anyone can become a contributor by applying for the type of file you want to contribute to the site (Photos, illustrations, video, audio, etc.) Then, you submit three original pieces of work for quality review.

Q: Does it cost money?
A: You can become an Istock member at no cost.

Q: How much does a photographer make on Istock?
A: The royalty structure allows photographers to collect 20% of the fees. If you’re eligible for exclusivity, you can make up to 40%.

The Pros and Cons: What users have to say about Istockphoto…

“Everyone starts out as a LittleGuy. You become a BigGuy by investing lots of time learning, shooting, editing and uploading. You will get out as much as you put in. If you’re happy uploading a few shots here and there and make a few dollars then cool. But if your goal is to do this fulltime then you’ll need to invest some time and energy.”
-AndrewJohnson

“The sales keep coming because I have enjoyed steadily building my portfolio with content that I believe can be useful to a designer.”
-shank_ali

“This place is a veritable smorgasbord of talent and I am constantly humbled and always feel as though I have a lot of improving to do. There’s always someone with more skill lurking around the corner.”
-jhorrocks

“A creative artist can earn tens or hundreds of dollars per hour professionally. No matter how you do the math, for 20% of $1 per download, I can’t see how it is profitable.”
-tsooki

“Good illustrations can bring you several hundred dollars each from sales on Istock.”
-slobo

Q: What is Cafepress.com?
A: Cafepress is a website that allows designers to create, sell and buy custom merchandise.

Q: How does it work?
A: Users choose from a variety of products that can be used to create custom merchandise by adding your own text, photos, logos and designs.

Q: Does it cost money?
A: It does not cost anything to sign up for Cafepress or to create your own products at Cafepress.com.

Q: Who uses Cafepress?
A: Individuals from all walks of life create and sell their own products using Cafepress.

Q: How do I make money?
A: Users create custom products and set their own prices for sale. The base price is collected by Cafepress and the rest is paid to the designer.

Q: How do I get people to buy my products?
A: Cafepress designers use their online shops to connect with a world of members and other online shoppers.

Q: What is Mypodcast.com?
A: Mypodcast.com is an online marketplace for audio production.

Q: How does it work?
A: Mypodcast provides free software that allows users to record podcasts and publish them to the site. Once your podcast is published, listeners will be able to listen to it.

Q: How much does it cost to use Mypodcast?
A: Mypodcast is free to use and even gives users an opportunity to make money with their podcasts.

Q: What advantages does Mypodcast.com offer?
A: Mypodcast.com offers unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and free podcast templates.

Q: How can I get people to watch my podcast?
A: A domain name is created for each podcast. Then, your podcasts are automatically added to the mypodcast.com catalog. You can also submit your podcasts to iTunes.

Q: How do I make money on Mypodcast.com?
A: The opportunity to make money from Mypodcast.com ads is currently unavailable. However, as your podcast gains popularity, you may be contacted by individual advertisers who are interested in making exclusive deals with you to advertise on your podcast.

The Pros and Cons: What users have to say about Mypodcast.com…

“Nearly every podcast I listen to has at least one ad for another podcast. I find it helpful in finding new things to listen to, which I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.”
-mitchonthestation

“You would be best to try and sort out advertisements with private people.”

-stevebelson
(Senior Member)

“Our podcast recieves over 100 downloads per day, and often gets as many as 300 per day. We offer 1 dollar spots for advertisers.”
-coolkids

“The thing is that Advertiser’s interface proved to be unprofitable and we decided to close it and discontinue further development.”
-Tatyana
(Forum Moderator)

“It was unreasonable to expect advertisers to appear on shows that had not been running regularly for at least a year – in any event, it takes about a year to build up a large enough audience to interest any sane advertiser.”
-metrodorus
(Senior Member)

Q: What is Revver?
A: Revver is a video network that pays video makers to post their videos.

Q: What is the mission of Revver?
A: Revver believes in a free and open media environment. They support the unlimited sharing of content online and reward the creator for their work.

Q: How does it work?
A: When you upload a video to Revver, they attach an ad along with tracking technology. Any ad revenue generated by your video is split between you and Revver.

Q: How much does it cost to user Revver?
A: This service is completely free. They make their money by sharing ad revenue with users.

Q: How do I make money?
A: Each view or click of an ad can earn you money. Revver splits all ad revenue 50/50 with video makers. The more your video is downloaded, posted to other sites, and shared with other users, the more money you could earn.

Q: How do I track my video’s performance?
A: Your Revver account tells you exactly how many times your video is watched and how much money you’re earning.

Q: Who owns what I publish on Revver?
A: Each creator retains ownership of their videos.

The Pros and Cons: What users have to say about Revver…

“It appears the model for ad revenue off user generated content may sound good, but offering the service is getting costly while advertisers are looking for better stuff.”
-Rbindl

“I think most people would really appreciate quicker payouts.”

-Koolvideoz

“You’ll need dozens or even hundreds of impressions to get a single penny, and tens of thousands of impressions to make any significant revenue.”

-JPPI

“I started using twitter and have found it to be phenomenal with increasing my traffic.”
-Craigygee

“In terms of how much Revver pays per 1000 views, it varies with their ad inventory, the economy, and what type of videos you have. I think the rate has tended to be lower lately than it was a year or two ago. If the economy picks up again at some point it I would expect it will improve again.”

“I also like the tools Revver provides for sharing and promoting your videos and the support they provide.”

-MovieguyTed

“The best advice we can give is just to be descriptive and accurate. Don’t try and name things by using buzzwords – the only thing that will get you is irrelevant ads that your viewers won’t be interested in.”

-Unclealex
(Site Administrator)

We discuss options for content creators to host their material online. This week's topic is general content. In this video, Fred Moutran is joined by Dreadful Entertainment's El Hamburger to discuss Associated Content

We discuss options for content creators to host their material online. This week's topic is stock photos. In this video, Fred Moutran is joined by Dreadful Entertainment's El Hamburger to discuss 123RF

We discuss options for content creators to host their material online. This week's topic is custon merchandise. In this video, Fred Moutran is joined by Dreadful Entertainment's El Hamburger to discuss Zazzle

We discuss options for content creators to host their material online. This week's topic is podcast hosts, in particular, Libsyn

We discuss options for content creators to host their material online. This week's topic is video hosts. In this video, Fred Moutran is joined by Dreadful Entertainment's El Hamburger to discuss Blip.Tv