Frequently asked questions about Vertical Management ANSWERED! New system for managing pages coming next week?

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I personally am always conservative (skeptical) when it comes to money. When I think about bringing on a partner into my page management scheme I think "okay is it worth it to have this person on board especially if I am going to have to allow them primary control of my enterprise? ".(quoting @lon above "Yes, a vertical manager can take away a page manager's pages") Will it be worth giving a vertical manager 20% of my page earnings if they cannot add at least 21% to the total equation?

If not then the addition of the VM would be a liability to the overall project. I know pages are all works in progress and the initial investment of 20% of my earnings in a vertical manager might take a bit of time to see a return on investment but I am weary of what I see as hiring a person to manage me and my ventures (odd viewpoint I know but that is how I see this) when the possibility of keeping them on as a vertical manager could in the long run be nothing but a drain on the earnings in my pocket and the project in general. What if after a couple of months the page is earning the same or less than it was before the addition of a vertical manager do I reserve the right at all to request the change in manager?

I would not want to be paying someone for work that was not working. However after all of this I still remain positive (but skeptical) about this addition to the Mahalo Experience.

I think this a very exciting change and opportunity for both the new VM team AND for page managers. Really, I think this really is going to boost Mahalo pages to the next level of quality and success. To all the people worrying right now about how things are going to go down, my personal advice is to remember that Mahalo's always been pretty darn good to us looking after our interests and keeping things very fair.So I'm not sweating too much knowing that if bugs do happen or if errors are made they will get corrected.

I'll be honest, I have high hopes to be a VM, seeing as editing and proofreading are my biggest fortes (don't judge my quick typing here btw, not fair! ). But even if I stay as a page manager, I can see that this is going to be handy.

We're basically going to have a built-in cheering section, mentor, and advocate working for us. No matter how it shakes out for me, I'm all sunshine and daisies about these upcoming changes.(I hope I'm right!) Here's a question for the masses though: ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Do you think that having a successful VM will allow you to manage more pages than you otherwise would have? Or do you think it won't lighten your workload enough to warrant additional pages?

After reading the majority of the comments posted here and considering the pro's and con's of the new system, I will weigh in with my 2 cents. Bare in mind, this is from the perspective of someone in position to be a VM. Overall like many users I am skeptical of this new system.

I don't like the idea of page managers losing 20% of page income to have a VM look over it and give tips on how to make it better. I understand Mahalo wants to increase quality and quantity of pages on Mahalo, and this new system may help, but I think page managers will be taking a pay cut in the process. I question the necessity of VM's.

Jason made the argument that we need more than one user contributing to a page. Currently we do have more than one user contributing to each page in the QC process where the QC reviews, edits, sets up the page, categorizes and sets up redirects for each new page. I think this is pretty good in terms of assuring the quality of new pages.It is then the page manager's responsibility to keep it updated.

Another point Jason made is that if this doesn't work out well, we can just switch back. I have a feeling this could be very difficult. Current top page managers will be giving up most of their pages in order to become a VM.

These pages will then be claimed by other users. After all this has happened, how can you switch back to how it was? I also question if VM's will be able to devote enough of their time and effort to each page to make it worth the page managers giving up 20%.

With 1000's of pages to look over. Will they be able to increase revenue on each page by more than 20%? I know the goal is to increase quality of pages, but with a system where VM's will be choosing the highest earning pages which don't need help, the pages with low earnings that do need help will be abandoned by the VM's.

Now I don't mean to be all negative. There are positives to this system too, but each side needs to be considered. Some of the positives would be a more organized system, faster production of good pages, increased quality of current pages, and additional promotion by the VM's.

This is good for Mahalo as a whole, I just wish page managers did not have to lose 20% in order for it to happen.

After reading everyone's answers and comments, I have to agree with a lot of them in that I too am very skeptical of how this is going to turn out. I'd like to remain positive, but at the same time I'm seeing this in terms of the money I'm going to lose due to this new system. By cutting us down to earning 40%, we are losing 20% of our income - and in my case that's about M$140 a month (I'm averaging M$700 p/mo from page management right now).

I don't know what else a vertical manager could do for my pages that is worth me giving up that kind of money. I feel like I've done an excellent job in creating and promoting my pages, and I don't know what else is left for a VM to do but sit back and collect the earnings. I'd really like to have a positive outlook on this whole VM issue, but I'm finding that to be a very difficult thing to do.

I really hope I'm wrong and that this will turn out to be a benefit for everyone involved.

Since the VM would be taking 25% of revenue from the PM, it seems the VM should really be providing significant assistance to the PM. For example, if John Doe manages a page on XYZ coupons, has built up the page well, and is making M$100/month from it. Comes along Jack Smith as VM, and takes away M$25 from John's M$100.

However, since the page is already well crafted and well maintained, Jack has no work to do on the page. Perhaps Jack posts some links elsewhere, but this has little impact on the income from the page. Should Jack still get M$25 from this page?

Perhaps a better model would be to give existing pages to VMs only if they are not performing well. For those that are performing well, let the PMs keep them as is. Alternatively, if the VM is supposed to make things much better in terms of quality and income, let the VM take 25% or even 33% of any *increment* in that page's income.

That will be a fair setup, where the VM actually earns their pay from the page. For new pages the VM barn-raises, or for ones s/he researches, by all means, the VM should get a sizable fraction of the entire page income. However, do you really thing this should also hold for existing, well performing pages?

Just my M$0.02.

Hell yeah! Because if the artist had to handle all the stuff the agent and/or manager takes on, said artist would assuredly lose said 10-15% of revenue in a hurry.My point? This is a brilliant system, time-tested and of mutual benefit to all.

If my VM takes a cut, my VM will earn that cut back and then some (who knows - I don't want to "blue sky"), but the VM, purely by logic, should earn back the PM's "lost" revenue and boost it by quite a bit more than the percentage taken. That's the way the rest of the media industry works...why not us? It's like my birthday - who will my VM be?

I will see how this will be implemented. On the other hand, it'll be nice to have more people to help us edit or manage the page. But I hope all the vertical managers are helpful and encouraging.

What I want to ask is do the vertical managers have the right to take away a page from a page manager?

I'm looking forward to this, though I agree with buddawiggi and others in wanting to make this as fair to all as possible. I am a relative newcomer, only have a few pages, and have been thinking about asking for input on how to make 'em better. Hopefully, this will fit that bill and will help Mahalo in the process.

One other concern that I have right now: my initial reaction is that I would love to be a VM. However, it is likely that I would not be selected because I do not yet have the Mahalo experience AND have not spent the necessary hrs/day that it is obviously going to take to do it properly. I expect both of those to resolve in the near future.

However, I am concerned that all of the most profitable VM real estate will be assigned quickly, and that the less profitable outlands are going to be all that are left down the road. --mm P.S. Also, I am guessing that you (Mahalo) are going to have some objective way(s) of reviewing the performance of individual VM's. Might that not mean that the discussions about whether the VM is improving a page's performance might be resolved by breaking down that data to the individual page level?

I am soooo excited about this! It gives us even more opportunities to earn, no matter whether we are page managers or vertical managers. Vertical managers will help page managers, and be free to bring more to the table in terms of building out the verticals.

Previously it just was not possible to do on an individual level. More than one vertical manager can work together to promote as well. This is so exciting and I can't wait to see it all unfold!P.S... for those of you who have wanted pages that someone else was managing... keep an eye out for all those pages that will be freed up by those moving from PM to VM.

Curious as to how this will work if/when VM's choose to do barnraisings to get more writers for their vertical. Say Joe Blow is the VM for music. He researches all the keywords, what's coming up, trends, etc, then searches for each title in Mahalo (and Google) to be sure not to put in duplicate terms.

He then spends the time to post every single barnraising item. Then someone else can QC it? Would it be fair to ask the QC team not to QC something posted in specific barnraisings, unless they are in house?

This new system is really great! I can't wait to have a good VM for my pages to instruct me regarding the updates and to help with the SEO things. As @Lon have said, 2 users submitting a page to a social bookmarking site is way greater than 1 user submission.

The question I have is whether all the VMs will "work hard dedicated" as much as they can to bring the Mahalo page the best page out there on Net or just look over at the surface level? Even they manage the pages and don't work hard, they will still get the revenue right? Also, how would I get to know who my VM is?

Will there be another box right under the "page managed by"... section mentioning the VM?

I like the idea because Mahalo could suffer if it has a bunch of outdated pages that managers have abandoned. I agree that vertical managers should be in a very elite group so they are not prone to flaking out like a manager might.

I hope to be a Vertical Manager one day in the future,Mahalo is always able to provide new opportunity to us,Thanks.

I am excited about this transition for Mahalo. The idea of a vertical manager explaining page promotion is worth the whole idea coming to fruition. I am no good at promoting the pages I manage now and need to know how to do it better.

The more page views we get the more money we get so with a VM helping make the pages the best one for that subject makes me excited. I am loving the concept of Vertical Managers. Can't wait to see who I get to work with that I haven't been able to yet.

I am very excited about this and want to be a v-manager. I will look back over the tutorial, and refresh my mind because I only heard half of it. Blame that one on a false alarm of breaking water, but the start of real labor which was 4 days over due!(sorry very excited there about my brand new grand daughter who is 25 hours old now) I think my experience with SEO will help me to help those here who are struggling with it (I am no where as good as Smartweb but I succeed).

When people ask me how to do something I can tell them how to tweak the article (as I have done on other sites) BUT as a V-manager here I can go make the tweaks myself and then they see what changed. I see this v-manger stuff a win-win for all involved.

I got a question that came up after reading your DA to me: Say us page managers have various pages scattered across categories For this example let's say Shopping (for gift card pgs) and Video Games. That means once assigned I'd be working under a VM from both those "departments", correct?

I've been contacted by a number of page managers in the last few days with a lot of concerns about the new Vertical Management system. We're working on internal documents about Vertical Management now that will explain everything, but just in brief: Next week, Mahalo will begin slowly rolling out a system allowing users to "supervise" the managed pages of other users. This will involve advising users when pages require updates, putting new pages that are needed into the system, organizing barnraisings, setting standards for categories, helping managers with setting up related page sections, ads and redirects, answering questions and helping newer users, helping managers to promote their pages across the web, and so forth.

In exchange for this diligent work, vertical managers will receive 20% of the revenue earned by pages they oversee, in Mahalo Dollars. Page managers will receive 40% of the revenue (also in Mahalo Dollars). Here are some of the major questions and concerns I've heard from the community, with some brief responses.

- How do I become a vertical manager? Is there an application process? Vertical managers, to begin with, will be accepted by invitation only.

You can ask to be invited by contacting me, @annek or @camilla. But membership in the group will be rather elite, and based on having an overall excellent track record of work on Mahalo, as well as a willingness to spend time in the site almost every day and a positive, constructive, collaborative attitude. - Are verticals assigned to vertical managers or do we get to choose?

You will never be assigned a vertical. It is up to you which section you work in. However, because vertical managers are expected to oversee at least 750 pages at a time, and there are many verticals that don't have a lot of pages currently, some verticals will be "closed off" if enough managers sign up for them.

Verticals will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. - Do I have to work in just one vertical? No, vertical managers can spread their efforts over up to 3 different verticals.

However, when they first are accepted to the program, they will have to chose one vertical in which to focus their efforts. - How do vertical managers get pages to work on? When they are first admitted to the program, vertical managers will select one top-level category on which to focus.

Current top level categories are: Arts and Design Beauty and Style Books and Authors Business Cars Consumer Electronics Education Entertainment Environment Fitness Food and Drink Health History Hobbies Home and Garden Jobs Legal Love and Relationships Money Music News Parenting Pets Science/Mathematics Services Shopping Social Science Society and Culture (includes Holidays) Sports Technology Travel Video Games After selecting a primary category, the new vertical manager will be assigned 1000 pages from that category to manage, at random. They can then pick which of these pages they wish to abandon and which they wish to keep, as well as adding other pages from their verticals. - What's the most pages someone can vertically manage?

For now, 3000, though we may adjust that over time. - If I'm a page manager and my page doesn't have a vertical manager, do I still get 40% of the revenue? No, you will receive the traditional 50% of the revenue (in Mahalo Dollars).

You only receive 40% if you are sharing the profits and collaborating with a Vertical Manager. - If I become a vertical manager, do I lose all my managed pages? Vertical managers will cease to work regularly as page managers.

You will be asked to give up the majority of your managed pages and focus instead of supervising and collaborating on the work of other page managers. However, you will be able to keep some of the pages you already manage as a vertical manager. We're still deciding the exact amount.

And you will not automatically have all your pages taken away when you make the transition. - What happens if a page manager and a vertical manager disagree on something? Vertical managers are in charge of organizing verticals and making big-picture decisionsbut they are not the "bosses" of page managers.

If the two managers cannot agree about how something should appear on a page, the vertical manager should check with a staff member for guidance. - If I'm a page manager, will vertical managers start coming in and telling me what to do? Vertical managers may come to your page and make suggestions about ways to improve your pages.

This should always be done in the spirit of collaboration. Rather than thinking of your vertical manager as your "boss" who is telling you what to do, think fo them as your editor, who is providing an extra perspective on your work and helping you to produce the best-possible page that you can. If you feel a vertical manager is making poor suggestions or asking you to do things to your page that are inappropriate, let me or another Mahalo staff member know.

- How much will vertical managers make? Vertical managers earn 20% of the revenue earned by all their overseen pages, in Mahalo Dollars. When they are first assigned a vertical, they will be given 1000 pages to oversee.

On average, this works out to anywhere between M$2 and M$10 per day. This revenue will go up significantly once vertical managers take on more pages of their own choosing, help to get more pages built by organizing barnraisings and assigning more page managers to their verticals, and start the work of promoting their pages and categories. - Can vertical managers claim How To pages?

What about coupon pages? There will not be a Coupon Vertical Manager or a How To Vertical Manager. These pages can be claimed by vertical managers so long as they relate to the vertical in question.

For example, Red Lobster Coupons could be overseen by the Food and Drink Vertical Manager, while How to Carve a Pumpkin could be overseen by the Society and Culture Vertical Manager (who would work on holiday pages). - If a page is assigned to multiple different categories, will it have multiple vertical managers? No, a page will only ever have 1 vertical manager.

If a page appears in two or more categories, it is open to ANYONE who is a vertical manager in any of those categories. And once it has a single vertical manager, no other VM's can claim it. - Where can I find out more about vertical management?

I'm writing the page on it RIGHT NOW. It's going to be called Mahalo Vertical Management Guide. Check back in a day or two and it will be full of information!

I've been contacted by a number of page managers in the last few days with a lot of concerns about the new Vertical Management system. Next week, Mahalo will begin slowly rolling out a system allowing users to "supervise" the managed pages of other users. This will involve advising users when pages require updates, putting new pages that are needed into the system, organizing barnraisings, setting standards for categories, helping managers with setting up related page sections, ads and redirects, answering questions and helping newer users, helping managers to promote their pages across the web, and so forth.

In exchange for this diligent work, vertical managers will receive 20% of the revenue earned by pages they oversee, in Mahalo Dollars. Page managers will receive 40% of the revenue (also in Mahalo Dollars). Here are some of the major questions and concerns I've heard from the community, with some brief responses.

- How do I become a vertical manager? Is there an application process? Vertical managers, to begin with, will be accepted by invitation only.

You can ask to be invited by contacting me, @annek or @camilla. But membership in the group will be rather elite, and based on having an overall excellent track record of work on Mahalo, as well as a willingness to spend time in the site almost every day and a positive, constructive, collaborative attitude. - Are verticals assigned to vertical managers or do we get to choose?

You will never be assigned a vertical. It is up to you which section you work in. However, because vertical managers are expected to oversee at least 750 pages at a time, and there are many verticals that don't have a lot of pages currently, some verticals will be "closed off" if enough managers sign up for them.

Verticals will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. - Do I have to work in just one vertical? No, vertical managers can spread their efforts over up to 3 different verticals.

However, when they first are accepted to the program, they will have to chose one vertical in which to focus their efforts. - How do vertical managers get pages to work on? When they are first admitted to the program, vertical managers will select one top-level category on which to focus.

After selecting a primary category, the new vertical manager will be assigned 1000 pages from that category to manage, at random. They can then pick which of these pages they wish to abandon and which they wish to keep, as well as adding other pages from their verticals. - What's the most pages someone can vertically manage?