Bukisa Changes: Online Writers Have Mixed Feelings

Online writing sites have become an important part of social media on the Internet. There is a lot of writing, reading, and commenting going on, and the forums are bustling with activity, too. There is also a significant amount of part-time income being made at the same time.

Bukisa, one of these writing sites, was founded by Simon Gelfand and is headquartered in Israel. Members received emails today detailing the upcoming changes taking place at Bukisa which are quite significant, and reaction on the forums has been mixed.

Bye, Bye Bukisa Index

Bukisa has operated on the basis of transparency with their writers and users. There has always been a Bukisa Index prominently displayed on the site to show how much income is derived from every 1000 views to the articles or material. This figure has adjusted up or down, depending upon the activity of the site itself, but this will be changed in 2011 from the guaranteed index number to a less reliable method of income, Google AdSense.

Two in the bush

AdSense has a greater earning potential, but it is determined by several factors, such as ad clicks and traffic. It can be ambiguous, depending upon what your subject matter is. The jury is still out about how monthly earnings for Bukisa writers will be affected by the change.

Users will need to have their AdSense account registered with Bukisa by January 13, 2011, when the earning matrix is changed. This setup is similar to Triond where you will receive a portion of the Google AdSense money, 60% in this case. The ad placement and choice is handled by Bukisa, and you only need to associate your AdSense account with Bukisa.

Simon Says

Simon Gelfand, the founder of Bukisa, explained that there has been an increasing problem with bad traffic or dishonest hits to the sites; the Bukisa index was based purely on traffic count. In the Bukisa Blog, he explained that they were having to spend all their time playing policeman instead of moving forward with improvements on the site.

Simon also says that they are trying to come up with alternatives for those who cannot obtain a Google AdSense account. Many people have expressed their distress on the forum that they are unable to use AdSense. Google often bans accounts for arbitrary reasons including suspicious click activity.

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

The biggest question about the changes at Bukisa has had the least explanation. The referral program has always been one thing that set Bukisa apart from the rest of the pack of article sites. Simon Gelfand says that this is still being worked on because it is not workable right now with the AdSense program.

When writers recommended other writers to join the Bukisa program, they received a portion of earnings from that person's articles and material. Network earnings were often equal or greater than a writer's own article earnings. Many Bukisa networks were built on many hours of promotion and networking by writers, even helping those in their network to better themselves. If the referral program is done away with, this time will be wasted and the trust will be broken.

The Rest is still unwritten.