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lifetips.com > Become A Guru > Guru FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
A guru is a source of knowledge in a specific area. Our gurus are experts in a wide variety of topics. They provide information for our users including tips, links to useful sites, answers to questions, and a weekly newsletter.
As a guru, or knowledge source for your community, your role is to help build a resourceful site for users, offering tips that will improve their lives, and links descriptions with your assessment of the best sites on the Internet. You�ll edit, test, review and �certify� tips and links that are submitted by your users. You�ll also answer users� questions and create a weekly tip newsletter for your site. If your site is a new site, you�ll need to first jumpstart your site so it has appeal to users. Then, as traffic increases, your responsibility will change to �servicing� your community. You�ll have lots of choices to support your community, and earn income.
How many gurus will each site have? Each site can only have one guru at a time. We�re currently working on creating a program which will allow you to become �apprentice gurus,� learning what it�s like to be a guru with a minimal amount of effort. If a guru resigns, or is asked to leave, the top-rated apprentice guru for that site will have a chance to become the guru.
What if I'm an expert in more than one topic? We can only accept you as a guru for one tip site. Therefore, you should choose the site you feel you are best qualified for. Don't despair, though. We want you to share your knowledge on other topics to the world, too. As an approved guru, you can submit tips and links to other areas, and receive credit for your knowledge. We encourage you to support other sites, and spread all the knowledge that you may have. Simply "cross-submit" a tip or link to that site's guru for approval. They'll look over your content and post it on their site. The great news? You'll receive promotion and recognition for those submissions!
Can I be a guru, and not get the free stuff or get paid? Yes. We welcome volunteer support for the community. Simply send e-mail to [email protected]. Soon we�ll be adding an �apprentice guru� program soon that will make volunteering for lifetips.com even more fun and exciting. Apprentice gurus will be able to submit content and answer users� questions, finding out what it�s like to be a guru without any pressure. You�ll also have a chance to become a guru if our present guru for the site resigns, or is asked to leave.
How much time does it take to be a guru? Here's a summary of our plan for your involvement of time. Remember our staff and users will assist you in building content for you site. Phase I Prepare for Launch: 4-10 Hours Our general goal for each guru is to launch your site to our users with at least 50 tips and 20+ link descriptions. Each tip will link to your bio, so your users will begin to get a feel for your value, insight and knowledge. If your site is a new site, it will require at least 50-100 tips to have appeal for users, and for a potential sponsor. You should begin building your site by checking out the "New Guru Help" section, then doing the following:
Phase II Site Launch and Maintenance: 20+ hours a month Creating Newsletters: 1 hour per week To service your community, you'll create weekly newsletters giving them your best "tip of the week" and "recommended site of the week." The best newsletters add that personal touch, so please add your own character to our format. Newsletters are an important part of our model, giving our sponsors added exposure and enticing members to visit our sites again. Hosting Community Chats: 1 hour per week As your site's "Resident Guru," your users want to talk with you directly. Once a week, you'll offer a chat with them, covering topics they're interested in and answering their questions live. You'll send in a log of each chat and our Guru Management staff will evaluate it and give you pointers to help improve your service to your community. Chats will help you build loyalty in your users and increase the traffic to your site. Site Support Ongoing Weekly Tasks: 1-5 hours per week Once your site is launched, your responsibilities will change. You will check in with your community, approve or reject tips, answer questions posted in your site area, and edit tips and/or links that are submitted by users and fellow gurus. Everything you do will be accounted for in our database. We'll keep track of all of your activity, helping you learn where your efforts are best needed.. You'll earn a 40% commission on all of the revenue earned from your site, as long as you maintain your content and respond to your community in a timely manner.
Where can I get information for tips, links and content? We encourage you to research content. Naturally, we expect that any content you present to us will be original, tested, proven and researched. We encourage and expect gurus to research content.
What is your policy on plagiarism? Lifetips.com does not tolerate plagiarism of any kind. Gurus caught copying information directly from other sources (books, magazines, TV, or the Internet) will be relieved of their duties immediately. Please do not copy content from any source. It violates copyright laws. However, you are allowed to paraphrase content from another source as long as you give that source full credit for their work in the �tip source� area. You should follow the same general rules you would when writing a research paper.
Will I have control over the content and structure of my site? Yes, as an expert in your topic area, you know how to best layout your content and what topics are best to cover. We encourage you to add categories and subcategories, and tips to your site to make it into a valuable resource for your users. We recommend drawing out a map of your content prior to building your site so that you can ensure full coverage of all pertinent topics.
Our special guru area keeps track of all of your activity. You�ll know exactly what you�ve done to date. At any given time, you�ll have real time access to your GuruPoint total. When you enter a tip, for example, your account will be credited with 2gp. You�ll earn a commission of 40% for you effort, as long as you earn a total of 200 GuruPoints per month. At the end of each month, we check the totals of our gurus� accounts, and pay all gurus that have earned 200gp that month.
Your earnings will depend greatly upon the popularity of your site. We pay our gurus 40% commissions for maintaining their tip site and building a strong community. If your community grows at the pace we expect it to, you could have opportunity to earn $200-500 per month. If your community grows slowly, we will have more difficulty in selling sponsorships, generating revenue from that site and paying you more.
Commissions are paid on a monthly basis. When a sponsor's payment is received, you commission will become payable the first week of the next month. Commissions from affiliate revenue are paid as we receive payment from the affiliate merchant, generally on a quarterly basis. Commissions on all other revenue are paid on a case by case basis. At the end of each month, we will review all of the guru accounts, and select those who are active and have commissions owed to them. We'll process the checks in the first few working days of the next month, and mail checks to gurus via regular mail. You should receive your check within 7-10 days of the following month.
What does a Guru need to do to attract sponsors? There are five things that are essential tasks our gurus need to complete each month in order to earn their commission:
1.) Enter quality tips and link descriptions
Can I promote my sites or myself in my special site area? Yes. In the guru section of your site, you�ll have promotion opportunity for you in your bio, and a special �my sites� area for your sites. We would prefer you to promote yourself in your bio, and your site in the �my sites� area of your bio section. Restrictions: In general, we think it is not appropriate for you to list a link to your site in the guru link recommendations section. If your site is completely dedicated to your site�s topic and is a competitor with your other recommended sites, it may be possible to list your site. Please discuss this with our guru management staff first. Approved gurus will also be promoted on each newsletter sent out to your opt-in subscribers. Newsletters will offer users a guru approved tip and link recommendation each week, and a link to your bio for promotion. All of our promotional opportunities are free to you. Our mission is to help promote you, as you help our users learn.
Can I tell my guru friends about this? Is there a referral fee? Yes and yes! Feel free to spread the word; we are looking for qualified gurus for lots of sites. All are welcome, but it is first-come, first-serve in each site area. To refer a guru, have the person apply at http://www.lifetips.com/BecomeAGuru.asp. Then email [email protected] and let us know who it is you referred. If that person is accepted and completes 200 tips, you will receive a check for $50!
I reside in a foreign country, is that a problem? No. We pay international gurus in one of two ways: PayPal electronic payments, or U.S. checks. If you choose to receive a check, it's up to you to cash the check at a bank that will accept US checks, and pay any fees associated with the transaction. Instead of paying high bank check cashing charges, you can pay a low percentage rate from PayPal and get your money quickly and easily. You need a credit card to accept PayPal payments internationally, however.
First, review this FAQ to be sure you understand lifetips.com's policies and procedures. Next, visit Our Step-by-Step Instructions to learn how to apply to become a guru. Once you submit an application, our guru management staff will review it and contact you with further details.
We always make an effort to fit you into our current tip site topics, but we recognize that we haven't covered nearly all that is "life." Pitch your idea to us and if you can convince us it'll be interesting to users and attractive to sponsors, we'll build it for you. Email us your idea now!
I submitted an application and haven't heard anything. What now? It usually takes us 2-3 business days to review your initial application. Once we've reviewed that, we will send you instructions for completing an online interview, or email questionnaire. It may take us up to 5 business days to approve or reject your application at this point. Please wait until these time periods have elapsed before contacting our guru management staff. We get hundreds of applications a day--it can take a while to review them all! If it has taken longer than expected to hear from us, please feel free to email us
Does lifetips share user and guru information? Lifetips.com maintains complete confidentiality on all information and data relating to its users, gurus, members and employees. We will not, for any reason, broker, distribute, release, transmit, or sell such information without written consent.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to send our Guru Management team e-mail at [email protected] Our goal is to respond to all inquiries within a few hours if you send it between 9AM and 7PM EST. |
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