Over time we’ll be expanding our range of FAQ’s to help better explain how Cagora works. We’d love you to get involved and make suggestions of what extra information you and other members need to get the most out of the network.
We will also be adding a series of Video Tours to help you better get acquainted with the various features and benefits.
Cagora is a new, family friendly, global network of online Local and Special Interest niche Communities that you can join for Free. It’s a one-stop-spot for you to meet and network with other like minded people and to easily find the best products, services and information that are relevant to your Local area and Interests.
We are a Social Enterprise where ‘People are Paramount’, so everything we offer aims to provide tangible personal, financial and social benefits to all of our members, and that includes you.
Our Communities are online venues that have vast range of things you can do. You can get together with other like minded people and form friendships or business relationships with them. You can interact and network, create and share content like videos, blogs, photos, articles, reviews, polls, etc, learn new things and even earn real money as you pursue your interests and hobbies, or find out what’s going on around the local areas where you live or work.
We offer these Community venues and their facilities in an easy to use family friendly environment so you can enjoy a ‘Sense of Community’ – a well known life enriching experience, especially when members interact with each other in a spirit of co-operation and mutual gain.
There are a massive number of fun and unexpected things you can currently do in Cagora Communities, with many more innovative activities and opportunities to come in the future.
At the moment you can:
Join as many of our Communities as you like
meet and interact with other people in those communities to form personal and business relationships
create and share information such as videos, blogs, photos, articles, reviews, polls, etc
learn new things; teach others
find out what’s going on
get access to information, products and services that have been recommended by people ‘in the know’
earn real money
help raise funds for Charities and Community Groups
enjoy the atmosphere of a large Community of people who want to help ‘Make a Difference’ to our own lives and those of others.
In the future you’ll be able to attend live 3-D online Expos and Events, join other members in networking sessions in our Voice and Text Chat Conference Rooms, take part in eLearning courses, languages other than English will be available... and much, much more.
We wanted to create a term that was unique yet conjured up a picture in your mind about how vast your opportunities at Cagora are.
We also consider each one of our Communities to be a destination in itself – a place you can go to find quality information about your Local area or a topic of Interest that you love or just want to learn about. And all from people who know what they’re talking about.
As a result, all of our Communities are also generally known as ‘Worlds’, although we do make a distinction between the types: Our Local Communities are called ‘LocalWorlds’ and our Special Interest Communities are called ‘Worlds of Interest’.
LocalWorlds are Cagora’s Local Community sites. They range from countries, to states, to regions to towns. We’ve tried to offer them in the most logical, or common, way that your country breaks up its regions.
You can zoom between different countries or around your own country. For instance, you can move from the USA LocalWorld down to our Texas LocalWorld and then down to the Rio Grande Valley LocalWorld. As you zoom to smaller and smaller regions, you’ll get less information but that information will be much more targeted to that specific local area.
Worlds of Interest are Cagora’s Special Interest Community sites. They cover major topics of interest such as Arts and Crafts, Gardening and Music and are then further divided into ‘subworlds’ such as Quilting, Organic Gardening and Jazz.
Each of the major topics of interest (called ‘major worlds’) generally has many smaller ‘subworlds’ under them. For instance, the major world of ‘Arts and Crafts’ has many subworlds underneath it, such as quilting, scrapbooking, knitting and painting, to name a few.
Worlds of Interest not only cover hobbies, but also business topics and other areas of general interest such as world issues, famous people, health, etc etc etc.
Like our LocalWorlds, you can zoom around quickly and easily between all of the different Worlds of Interest or around a particular major world and its sub worlds.
A LocalWorld will typically represent a region that has a population of 90,000 people in a Western English speaking country. In countries where English is the primary language the population threshold may be as low as 25,000.
Any LocalWorld that represents a region whose population is bigger than 450,000 is considered a ‘major world’ and will have smaller LocalWorlds (or sub worlds) that fall underneath it.
For instance, Melbourne, Australia whose population is over 3.7mm, is considered a ‘major world’ and therefore has the smaller sub worlds of Banyule, Boroondara and Whitehorse underneath it.
In less affluent countries with less Internet connectivity or where English is not widely spoken, the population necessary to support an online Community is usually much larger.
Where possible, we try to give the Worlds names that are consistent with how they are referred to by the locals of those regions, however they are listed in English so Florence Italy is not listed as Firenze, but obviously will be listed as such when the sites are translated into Italian.
A World of Interest represents any topic that people may be interested in. This can range from hobbies, sport, home, family, famous people, health, issues, environment, etc. This list goes on and on.
However to help ensure our Communities are viable, a World of Interest needs to fit the following criteria.
The topic must:
Be Family Friendly (refer another FAQ)
Have passionate people who want to interact with each other online
Have sufficient demand. This means there must be people searching for that topic on the major search engines. Currently we use Overture to track monthly demand of World of Interest. At the present time we typically require a minimum Overture count of 1500 before a World of Interest will be formed. We would however love to have your suggestions of communities that you think will be viable.
To help ensure a safe online environment for you and all our members including children, Cagora’s strict Family Friendly policy prohibits the following:
Adult content (such as pornography & nudity)
Hatred
Racism
Sexism
War Mongering
Bigotry
Alcohol (excluding wines)
Smoking
Terrorism
Crude Language
Violence
Graphical content (such as horror & gore)
Religious Fundamentalism
Firearms and Weapons (excluding hunting & sports)
All content has a link to report inappropriate content, allowing our members to report content they may find offensive.
If a Community you’re interested in is not listed, we’d love to hear from you. Please send a request to worlds@cagora.com and we’ll review your suggestion.
You do not have to pay any joining or membership fees at Cagora, AND you can use the vast majority of our facilities for Free.
You also have the opportunity to buy products and services which we offer at best value prices with money back guarantees. This includes our ‘Community Partner Advertising Packages’.
Meet, make friends and have fun with like-minded people
Network with others using our detailed member Profile Pages
Find out what’s going on in your local area and surrounds
Pursue your interests and hobbies
Voice your thoughts and opinions
Create and share your own contributions
View, comment and vote on other members’ contributions
Learn new things or teach others
Earn real money
Browse the Internet
Participate in online Special Events
Get high quality information, products and services handpicked by experts who understand what’s relevant to someone like you
Help Make a Difference
As a free member of Cagora, you also automatically join our Free Affiliate Program. That means you can earn commissions when acquaintances, friends, family or businesses you introduce buy any of our best value Products and Services.
Initially Cagora is focussing on expanding our Community Network, the content available on it, and our membership base through the various free offers described in the FAQ ‘What can I do as a free member?’
As a result, the main product we are currently offering is the ‘Community Partner Advertising Package’ (refer a separate FAQ), which offers a vast range of benefits if you currently have a business that you want to promote, or you just want to Make a Difference and help start a Community you have an interest in.
To our knowledge, Cagora is the first comprehensive network of defined Local and Special Interest Communities on the Internet. The sheer size and structure of our network allows us to offer you a massive range of ordered content and networking opportunities that is currently not available anywhere else.
But that’s not all. There’s also a variety of ways you as an individual or as part of an organization can earn an income. Because our underlying philosophy is to ‘Make a Difference’, you get to share in 80% of the money that other companies normally keep as profits, with other members, Charities and Community Groups.
Plus, you get to enjoy a place on the Internet whose management team really believe that ‘People are Paramount’, so every product, service and facility we offer aims to provide you with a tangible personal, financial or social benefit.
One of the major benefits of joining is that you can be part of Communities that suit your passions and interests or your local area and surrounds, all in the one spot on the Internet. You can learn, earn, network, and Make a Difference to your own life and those of others. You can also save time and money by being able to easily find the information, products and services you’re looking for, knowing that people who are ‘in the know’ have recommended them.
In addition, just by being a member you get to enjoy many other great benefits like being able to earn real money. Members who contribute content, volunteer, buy certain products, etc also get additional benefits above what other members do.
For more detailed information about Benefits, please see Member Benefits.
Cagora’s software platform has been built using the Open Source Content Management System called Drupal which has the capability to support over 80 of the world’s main languages.
Cagora will initially be launched in English, with the intent to offer multiple languages at a later time. We will review any suggestions offered by our members to assist us with correctly and efficiently translating our content to other languages.
If you’d like to help fast-track this process, we’d love to hear from you. Most of the work required to translate the web pages will be done by Volunteers, so if you’d like to help, please Contact Us.
Yes, very much so. Our headquarters are currently in Melbourne, Australia but we plan to incorporate in the USA and UK in late 2007 so we can better serve the main markets of North America and Europe, before expanding into other parts of the world.
Cagora is the trading name of the parent company Community Enabler Pty Ltd that was incorporated in January 2000 with the mission to help foster stronger Local and Special Interest Communities using the Internet and other emerging technologies.
We only recently settled on the name Cagora which was derived from Community Agora.
The Agora was the hub of life for people in Ancient Greece as it functioned as their Meeting, Learning and Marketplace. Because we are a ‘Community’, we also wanted to make sure that this was somehow included. Hence the ‘C’ in front of Agora.
We also like how the ‘C’ can stand for Co-operation, Connecting, Collaboration and Communication which are some of the values we encourage.
Cagora is supported by a large number of volunteers, investors, advisors and developers from North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia.
Its founder, Rob Anderson, has had over 15 years experience as the Operations Manager of start-up Food Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies before founding Community Enabler Pty Ltd.
As Cagora expands in 2008, we’ll be recruiting a senior and middle management team to take the business to the next level. Offering staff an opportunity to not only work for a progressive company where ‘People are Paramount’ but to also have a significant positive social impact will enable us to add to our already very strong and dedicated management team.
Cagora will always be a ‘work in progress’. That’s the nature of the ‘beast’ and what makes it so exciting to be a part of!
We pride ourselves on having created the beginning of a ‘Learning and Ideas Network’ that will be constantly changing, innovating and moving towards our goal of creating a ‘Better World’.
There is one aspect of Cagora that won’t change though – that’s our commitment to ‘Make a Difference’ in your life and to help you do the same for those around you.
Cagora’s underlying philosophy is to ‘Make a Difference’.
One of our favourite sayings is ‘Actions speak louder than words’ so not only do we constantly talk about it, but we demonstrate this philosophy by:
Extending generosity and good will to others – and that includes you. This means we’ll always do our best to offer you facilities, products, services and benefits that in some way ‘give back’ to you personally, financially and/or socially. For instance, we share 80% of the money that most companies retain as profits with you, other members, Charities and Community Groups around the world. And 20% of the Community Supporter Ad Revenue from all Cagora Communities is donated to registered Charities around the world.
Practice our ‘People are Paramount’ rule by always striving to ensure that everything we offer has you and other people as its central focus, assuming that people are inherently good, that members’ thoughts and opinions are heard and respected, that the spirit of co-operation and mutual gain are guiding principles in all of the Cagora Communities, and showing respect for all people no matter how different they might be from us.
Providing you with a free to join, family friendly environment where it is safe and fun for you to interact and enjoy your interests with other people.
Giving you the opportunity to feel the wonderful ‘Giving Glow’, knowing you’ve been able to join in and Make a Difference too. You can donate the money you earn at Cagora to registered Charities and Community Groups, share your skills and knowledge with others by using our ‘Create & Share’ facilities in each of the Communities, Volunteer, etc.
Cagora operates as a Commercial Business but we are also a Social Enterprise. We have a definite positive social impact agenda, and one way we ‘Give Back’ is by sharing 80% of the money that other companies normally keep as profits with our members, Charities and Community Groups.
We believe that a Commercial Business model is the most effective way to remain viable as an enterprise so we can continue towards our goal to Make a Difference and make a big impact on helping change our world for the better. We know ‘Giving Back’ is just good business sense – any global citizen with a conscience knows that. We also believe it helps give us a competitive advantage, but even more importantly, Giving Back acts as a self-perpetuating engine that encourages loyalty, good will and motivation. And those in turn, power the success of Cagora and therefore every one of us that is involved with it.
To enable us to fund the operation of each Community without being reliant on donations, we offer highly targeted advertising to Advertisers (such as Small Businesses) on each of our 20,000+ LocalWorld and World of Interest Communities. Advertising also allows us to create income for people who participate in our Affiliate Program or as Community Partners.
We have a ‘blueprint’ plan for even more exciting and innovative offerings for our members not too far in the future. They will be funded by products that are offered at best value prices with money back guarantees. That way we’ll be able to fuel our ‘Giving Back engine’ even more, and as a result more benefits will be available to help Make a Difference in all of our members’ lives and the communities they live in.
In November 2003 Community Enabler launched a much smaller version of Cagora under the name Co-Opworld (a World of Co-operation) on a different software platform.
As our vision changed, matured and grew more ambitious (Refer ‘Is Cagora still being developed?’), we decided that we needed to reinvent ourselves not only with a completely new Community Software Platform but with a professional look and a new name too.
Your Personal Profile, like so much of Cagora, is a one stop spot that can include links to your profile on other networking sites along with social, business and community links that help define who you are and what interests you have.
Your Personal Profile comprises general information about you, your social, your business interests (including your career and educational history), and your Community interests.
You are in total control of how much or how little information you want available to other members and who has access to this information.
Organization Profiles are networking Profiles for Businesses, Community Groups and Charities. They are designed to provide these organizations with a way to increase their exposure to the wider world, and facilitate networking between the people who are associated with them.
Later in October we will be enhancing the features and expanding the scope of the Organization Profiles for Businesses and Community Groups.
Millions of people around the world are discovering the benefits of online networking. Friendships, dating, business networking, finding long lost friends or people to give you advice and assistance are just some of the reasons it’s become so popular.
We’ve all heard the old adage ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know’. In the connected world we live in now, that’s never been truer. Knowing the right people can be all the difference between achieving what you want in your life, or not.
The Internet is a tool that makes it easy to get to know people quickly and with little effort and can help you make meaningful relationships with them.
An Organization Profile gives you the opportunity to market your Business, Charity or Community Group within our network for Free.
Cagora provides a safe and easy to use venue for people associated with your Organization, other Organizations and the wider community to get to know each other so that they can discover and nurture mutually beneficial connections.
You can Create and Share most of the major types of online content relevant to any of our LocalWorld or Worlds of Interest Communities such as posts, blogs, articles, reviews and polls, and multimedia content like videos and photos. Soon you will also be able to Create and Share podcasts.
Please remember that any content you contribute must be Family Friendly.
Yes – absolutely! Not only that, you can be rewarded for publishing your contributions such as polls, articles, reviews, eBooks, online learning courses, home study courses, etc.
But please don’t be overwhelmed! Publishing at Cagora in a Web 2.0 world is very easy. If you want to share your skills and knowledge and build your reputation at the same time, it’s just a matter of joining Cagora to get your Free account and adding your content to the relevant Community in our network.
The content is interactive because you and other people can comment on each other’s contributions.
At Cagora we encourage ‘conversations’, and once you have created and shared a contribution, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to make friends with like minded people who leave text comments on your Content Page.
One of the differences at Cagora is we want to create a Community Environment where you feel safe and where all people can participate, no matter what their age.
We have several strategies in place to assist with this goal. Even though we can’t totally guarantee absolute protection, it can still be better than most of the Internet, especially if all members are fully aware of our strict Family Friendly policy.
Some of the techniques include:
You must be a member to be able to contribute content
Whenever you contribute content you are required to answer a simple math question to prevent automated spam
We have systems that automatically filter out banned words
You can report inappropriate content for our moderators to review
We also use a very effective ‘reputation’ system that is similar to eBay’s.
Contributing content is a great way to have fun, meet new people, share your skills and knowledge and build your reputation in the Communities you belong to.
As an ‘upstanding’ Cagora ‘Citizen’, you’ll find as time goes on that a number of benefits (including financial) will start to flow to you, just as they do for people who develop a good reputation in the ‘real’ world.
Navigate to the LocalWorld or World of Interest Community you want to contribute to.
Then
Click on the ‘Create & Share’ tab. This will take you to a page where you can choose what type of content you want to contribute or
In the tabs, click on the type of content you want to contribute. (eg. blogs, poll, reviews, CommunitiesTV (videos) etc .) This will take you to a list of that particular content that has already been contributed by other members. At the bottom of this page, click on the link to submit your content to ‘Create & Share with the community’.
Then contribute to your heart’s content!
Coming soon, we will have some instructional Camtasia videos to guide you through these pages.
NOTE: Please ensure you have the legal right to share content as we take very seriously the importance of respecting Copyright.
Although Cagora’s underlying philosophy is to Make a Difference, in order to be able to do that, we need to remain financially viable. That’s why Cagora is run as a Commercial Business – we believe this is the best and most sensible way to have the greatest impact on helping make the world a better place for all of us.
So we don’t have to rely on donations to fund our Communities and also to provide you and other members with an extra incentive (by way of Affiliate commissions, etc) to join in our goals, we charge money for our highly targeted advertisements.
As an Advertiser, you can choose whether you want to direct your ads to prospective clients Locally or around Special Interest topics.
In November when we launch our Advertising Packages to other Advertisers beyond the Community Partners, you’ll be able to focus your ads even further. You’ll be able to have your ads directed only to people in a particular locale looking at the content on particular Worlds of Interest – all chosen by you.
Internet advertising is the world’s fastest growing advertising medium. To maximize the potential of your business you need to take part in this action.
At Cagora, we offer highly targeted and accountable advertising where you can target your audience and track the performance of your ad campaigns.
Unlike other ad networks, our aim is not to maximize our profits at the expense of you. Our aim is to foster win-win relationships that maximize the benefits for all of our stakeholders, and so our advertising is hassle free and fairly priced to offer best value for your business.
In November after we have sufficiently built up our LocalWorld and World of Interest Communities to generate traffic, you will be able to start your advertising campaigns on our network. Up until then, you can pre-purchase the advertising packages at promotional discount prices. (Click on the ‘Advertise’ tabs of the Communities you want to advertise in).
Until then you can only buy Community Partner Ad Packages. These packages vary in price from US$250 to $8000, depending on the ‘size’ of the Community. They’re great value and give you many extra benefits. There is only one Community Partner Ad Package available for each Community, so get in fast. Once they’re gone, they’re gone! To find out more or buy a Community Partner Ad Package, click here.
Initially all advertising can be paid for in USD via PayPal, or major credit cards through Paypal. Other payment methods will be available at a later date.
We are unable to accurately predict the volume of traffic to any particular Community at this stage, but you are guaranteed of receiving targeted traffic and you can pause your ad campaign at any stage if you wish.
Prices of the Community Partner Advertising Packages vary depending on the ‘size’ of the Community. The larger the LocalWorld or World of Interest, the more traffic is expected and so they have larger ad packages.
For example the ‘Music’ World of Interest, being a Major World and priced at US$8000, is a large Community and expected to have much more traffic than one of its sub worlds, such as Chamber Music. So for $8000, ‘Music’ has $16000 of Ad Credits which pays for 3.2 million ad views.
So you can start earning your share of the ad revenue as soon as possible, each Community you buy Ad Packages for need a ‘kickstart’ as a way of encouraging people to participate in them. Obviously the more people participating or visiting, the more eyeballs that will see the Ads on your Community and the more likely Advertisers will want to place Ads there – That means more income, more quickly for you!
To ‘kickstart’ each Community, you are required to:
Refer at least 5 people to sign up for a Free Cagora account (ie. Join) within 6 months of buying the Ad Package
‘Create & Share’ at least 5 pieces of content within 4 weeks. These can be forums, blog posts, videos, photos, articles or reviews.
As you can see, neither of these tasks are time consuming or onerous. As with everything in life, the more effort you put in the more likely you are to enjoy success.
If you want to be really pro-active, you can also encourage other businesses you know of that may be relevant to your Communities to advertise on them.
Cagora is a member-driven Community that understands that all people are different and therefore have different wants, needs and expectations. We know that when people are motivated by ‘What’s in it for me’ and they can get a meaningful answer that meets those wants, needs or expectations, they will be willing to do what it takes to get what they want.
That’s why our many types of members like Individuals, Entrepreneurs/Affiliates, Small Business Owners, Volunteers, Community Groups, Charities, Chambers of Commerce, etc, are offered different benefits that are relevant to them.
All our members, including you as an individual can browse, learn, network, make friends, save time and money, Make a Difference and generally have fun in an easy to use family friendly environment without needing to spend a cent if you don’t want to. (Refer ‘What can I do as a free member?’ for more info)
When you do buy products and services at Cagora, not only can you be assured they will be offered to you at best value prices with money back guarantees, you will also earn points in our Bonus Pools that can earn you real money.
Through our Free Affiliate Program you can earn up to a total of $2000 of commissions on purchases made by each person or business you introduce to Cagora. These people need to be ‘tagged’ to you via your Affiliate Link, so make sure you are their ‘referrer’ when they join!
Each time these people buy a product or service through Cagora, our system automatically allocates you a commission. Commissions vary from product to product, but are typically 20% of the purchase price.
We will continue paying you those commissions on each referred sale until you earn $2000 from that person or business’ purchases.
Refer 100 people and that could potentially be worth $200,000 to you over the coming years!
When you ‘serve others’ by Volunteering you’ll be able to feel that ‘Giving Glow’, that ‘Feel Good’ sensation that can’t be compared to anything else
You can build your reputation not only as a leading or important member of the Communities you volunteer for, but also as a person who is obviously willing to ‘Give Back’. (Building a good reputation is also a well recognised way to help your reach your goals).
You’ll be leaving a legacy of good works that will be enjoyed and appreciated by all members now and into the future
By being an active volunteer in a community, you get to vote which registered Charities will receive our donation of 20% of the Community Supporter Ad revenue from that Community
And last but not least, by being a volunteer you also help reduce Cagora’s operating costs. That means there are more profits for the business. And because we share 80% of the money that other businesses keep as profits with you and other members, this is real money in your bank account.
You have the opportunity to increase sales for Free because we drive traffic to your business via your Networking Profile and any content you contribute. This is in addition to the traffic you’ll get via any of our highly targeted advertising you’ve paid for
Being a member of Cagora gives you an extra ‘edge’ over competitors because current and prospective clients will see your business as one that has the ‘Community spirit’
You can forge stronger relationships with existing and prospective clients via the many activities and facilities (such as our VoIP web conferencing rooms) on offer at Cagora
You can build your reputation by contributing content, volunteering, networking, running seminars, etc. (The most effective marketing is word-of mouth and a good reputation drives it)
We can help you gather testimonials for your business
You can boost your business income via our Free Affiliate Program if you refer your clients to Cagora and they purchase items from our expanding product range
In the future you’ll be able to buy Products and Services at best value prices specifically developed to help achieve your business goals
You can raise awareness of your cause by having a free Networking Profile on our network that can be seen by passionate people interested in your sector
We can help you attract new supporters and volunteers for Free as we drive traffic to your Networking Profile and website
Be amongst some of the first Non Profit groups around the world to use our very innovative and exciting fundraising activities that can create ongoing streams of income for your cause
If you are a Charity, being part of our network also gives you a better chance of being voted to receive a donation of 20% of the Community Supporter Ad revenue from the Communities you’re affiliated with, simply because you’re there!
It is a well known fact that reputation is one of those ‘intangible’ assets that can help you achieve your goals, whether they are personal, financial or social. A reputation:
Is one of the best tools for marketing yourself or your business by word-of-mouth, which is acknowledged by experts as about the most effective kind of marketing ever invented
Can raise your profile in whatever activity you’re involved with
Stands you in good stead to meet the right people, and get the opportunities and tools that will help you reach your goals
Shows you’re dependable
Shows what you say is credible – people understand you’re an ‘expert’
Helps people trust you. When people trust you, they are more likely to want to build a relationship with you, and if you have a business, buy your products or services.
Builds loyalty – another good relationship builder
Takes time and effort to build, but can be easily lost
We think building a reputation is so important that we provide you with lots of ways to help you do it. You can:
Demonstrate your abilities (eg. your knowledge, skills or competency) by contributing as much content as you like, in as many of our Communities as you like (Provided it’s good quality and family friendly)
Contribute content in various ways that can demonstrate your abilities. Videos, blogs, photos, articles, reviews, polls, etc are all readily available to you in all of the Communities
Volunteer
Teach others by producing eLearning books and courses, and/or running online seminars in our VoIP Web Conferencing rooms.
Network with other like minded people, and/or those you want to build relationships with
Raise your profile on the Internet generally, by being able to hyperlink all of your contributions
Show your spirit of generosity, good will and motivation to Make a Difference simply by being active in the Communities you’ve joined
Repeat the above activities continuously, so you can retain and keep enhancing your reputation
Cagora is a Learning and Ideas network, so we encourage you to join in and stretch your horizons by learning.
Our Create & Share publishing system attracts experts willing to share their skills and expertise with each Cagora Community they’re interested in. Whether they’re motivated by the opportunity to increase their own exposure, enhance their reputation or just because they’re passionate about their field of expertise, we appreciate their willingness to ‘Give Back’ so that other members like you can learn from them.
There are many ways you can learn at Cagora. Simply join the Communities you’re interested in, and then take part in the many activities that are happening around their content. Soon we will also be introducing eLearning products that offer you premium learning opportunities such as eBooks, Seminars, and Accelerated Learning & Mentoring Programs.
There are many ways that you can ‘Give Back’ to help Make a Difference in your own life and the lives of others.
Even the tiniest individual contributions can create change, especially when everyone’s contributions are added together – so if you want to help change the world for the better, all you need to do is get involved and be willing to play a part.
Simply by being a member and going about your normal activities at Cagora in the spirit of co-operation and mutual gain, you are helping to Make a Difference.
Other more ‘active’ ways include:
Sharing content such as blogs, videos, etc. Content on our Communities acts like a magnet to attract more people to them. More people means more advertisers will be interested in placing ads there, which in turn raises more money for Charities and Community Groups
Helping to ‘spread the word’ about Cagora to attract more members and people who will Create & Share content
Volunteering for roles at Cagora that suit your skills, interests and time availability
Taking the opportunities we offer to learn new things. Learning is a very effective way to improve your life because it can help you change your conditions and stretch your horizons. When you do that, you not only do it for yourself, but for all those people who are in daily contact with you.
There are many more – come and explore Cagora to find out!
Also, if you have any other ideas that can Make a Difference, please Contact Us.
Cagora is the world’s newest (and we believe first) comprehensive network of Local and Special Interest Communities that makes it easy for you to BROWSE to find what you are looking for.
We supplement BROWSE with our SearchCo-Op custom search engines that over time, will evolve into a powerful mix of Google and Eurekster technology combined with the knowledge that only humans can provide.
In addition, our network of Local and Special Interest Communities is structured in an intuitive and easily understandable way – our LocalWorlds and Worlds of Interest come together in a hierarchy where we’ve tried to reflect the real world.
And in the unlikely event that you still can’t find what you’re looking for, there’s still a great chance that someone in one of the Communities will be able to help you.
Cagora is a social enterprise with an underlying philosophy to Make a Difference. So not only do we give generous financial benefits to all our members, we also want to offer you the opportunity to do meaningful activities (such as Volunteering) that Make a Difference, so you can enjoy the personal and social benefits of ‘Giving Back’. We know how good it feels to help others, and we want you to feel encouraged and supported so you can experience that ‘Giving Glow’ as well.
As part of this Make a Difference philosophy we also want to help empower you to achieve your personal, financial and social goals. Volunteering is a very effective way to build your reputation which can help you reach those goals.
And lastly, by being a Volunteer you also help reduce Cagora’s operating costs. That means there are more profits for the business. And because we share 80% of the money that other businesses keep as profits with you and other members, this is real money in your bank account.
In the early stages of our growth, there are 3 main ways you can earn money:
Our Free Affiliate Program where you can earn an unlimited amount of commissions commissions on the purchases made by each individual or business you refer to Cagora
The Community Partner Advertising Revenue Share Program where we share 40% of the Community Supporter Ad revenue with our Community Partners over a 2 year period and guarantee at least 10-fold return on your advertising dollar
Our Bonus Pools (Refer ‘What do you mean by Bonus Pools?’) where we share 80% of what most other companies retain as profits with you, other members, Charities and Community Groups.
You do not need to spend a cent to earn money via our Free Affiliate Program.
But by buying Community Partner Ad Packages or accruing Loyalty Rewards Points by buying other Products and Services at Cagora, you can fast-track your earning potential.
Yes, that’s all there is to it to earn via our Free Affiliate Program.
Just make sure that when you’re spreading the word you use your ‘go/username’ Affiliate Link so those people will be ‘tagged’ to you and your commissions can be paid when they buy Products and Services at Cagora.
An Affiliate Program is where companies pay people a ‘commission fee’ for referring customers who buy something from them. Amazon and eBay are just two of countless companies on the Internet that have an Affiliate Program.
Cagora takes the Affiliate Program concept to the next level. Rather than just paying a one-off commission or small percentage, we pay you as our Affiliate, ongoing commissions. These are typically 20% on referred purchases by each person or business you refer, AND you’ll continue to earn on their purchases on an ongoing basis.
It is the means by which people are ‘tagged’ to you through our Free Affiliate Program.
The ‘Tell a Friend’ feature on all our web pages enables you to refer people to a particular web page because you think they might have an interest in what is available there, or Cagora generally. When you’re logged into Cagora, it adds your ‘go/username’ to that web page’s URL.
For example, if your username is ‘fredsmith’ and you know some people who love jazz music, then you could refer them to jazz.cagora.com/go/fredsmith. When any of those people who have not been to Cagora before visits that link, our system places a permanent cookie on their computer. Then when they register, our system recognizes the cookie and credits you as their referrer. From then on, they are ‘tagged’ to you so that when they buy any of our Products and Services, you earn commissions.
We share so much of our profits and revenue with our members as a core part of our underlying philosophy to ‘Make a Difference’ - we want to create value and empower you as an individual, along with business and social entrepreneurs.
This benefit also helps give us a competitive advantage; it’s a reason for people to join Cagora, participate and spread the word. In other words, this ‘Giving Back’ acts like a self-perpetuating engine that encourages loyalty, good will and motivation. Those in turn, power the success of Cagora and therefore every one of us that is involved with it.
We pay commissions into your nominated PayPal account (an eBay subsidiary). You can then use that money to buy other items online or draw it down into your bank account.
For an additional processing fee we can pay your commissions using other methods on a case by case arrangement. Please Contact Us for details.
In the meantime you can advertise via our Community Partner, Sponsor Ad or Community Supporter Ad Packages and also ‘Create & Share’ content to let other members know what you have to offer so you can start building a relationship with them.
(Please note: MLM/Network Marketing can be advertised in those Cagora Communities only)
We are seeking volunteers to research the Internet for some of the best fun, instructional and family friendly content. If you apply as a volunteer, go through the basic training, submit at leats three quality items of content, you will be accredited as a 'Community Contributor'.
When someone views one of the web pages of content you created, there will be a Google ad shown on the page. You can have your Google Adsense account code embedded in that ad if you are a Community Contributor. (Please note, we cannot guaranteed that Google will issue everyone with a Google Adsense code, nor that they may choose to suspend your code should they deem there has been click fraud).
Each time someone clicks on the ad, you will accrue earnings from Google - they share a small amount of their ad revenue with you and pay you directly once it reaches a certain minimum amount.
We do not expect that the very small amounts of money that Google will pay you on each click will make you wealthy, but it is a way to perhaps earn some extra cash whilst having fun 'Making A Difference' at Cagora as we create a very special place on the Net for people to Search and Browse quality family-friendly content.
We don’t expect that Cagora will be profitable until some time into 2008, because we will be reinvesting all sales revenue into the growth and stabilization of the network. That way we can help ensure that you and all our other members get meaningful benefits well into the future.
When we do become profitable, every 3 months we will pay 80% of our margin for that period (Sales minus operating costs) into a series of Bonus Pools as part of our additional marketing budget.
These Pools are distributed the money as follows:
50% Loyalty Rewards 30% Founders 10% Member Chosen/Voted Charities 5% General Members 5% Staff
Each time you spend a dollar at Cagora, you accrue a Loyalty Point. From time to time we will also run special promotions where you’ll be able to accrue additional points.
These points will continue to accrue for you, and after we become profitable you can elect to cash them in for your share of the Loyalty Rewards Pool then, or you can let them continue to accrue and cash them out at a later date.
Cagora will be issuing a maximum of 100,000 Founders Points over the next 12 months to a maximum of 20,000 members.
During our development phase from November 2003 to September 2007, we already issued 50,000 of these points to members who helped get things started. Each month we’ll be awarding more points (until we reach the maximum 100,000) as a Thank You to members who have contributed an exceptional amount of time, effort or funding to Cagora.
Unlike Rewards Points, Founders Points cannot be cashed in. Instead, they become a regular source of income when every 3 months, we allocate money into the Bonus Pools. Obviously the more points you have, the greater your potential income. Founders Points can also be bequeathed.
You can earn money for Charities and Community Groups via our Free Affiliate Program and donating some or all of your commissions. You can also donate the money you earn through the Bonus Pools.
If you’re associated with a Charity or Community Group, there are various ways you can proactively help them earn for themselves too:
You can encourage them to use our Free Affiliate Program as a Fundraising source
Coming soon, your non profit group can be amongst the first around the world who’ll be able to use our very innovative and exciting fundraising activities that can create ongoing income for your cause
In addition, every 12 months we’ll have a vote for which Charities receive the donation from our Bonus Pools and the 20% share of our Community Supporter Ad revenue.
In addition to the general benefits and earnings that all Cagora members get, you as a Community Partner earn 40% of the Community Ad revenue for each Community you are the Partner for.
People or businesses that join Cagora for the first time via your Community who do not have an Affiliate link (ie. They were not introduced by a current member) are also automatically ‘tagged’ to you as their referrer. This means you can earn unlimited commissions on purchases any of these members make at Cagora, via our Free Affiliate Program.
The Community Supporter Ad is directly underneath the Sponsor Ad on the right hand side of each Cagora Community’s web pages. (ie. Second ad from the top).
It is a global ad. That means it is shown on all of the community pages for a particular LocalWorld or World of Interest you visit on Cagora.
Cagora is tapping into Word of Mouth Community Marketing, which means we are reliant on people like you to help ‘spread the word’. Instead of spending huge amounts on a marketing budget and media ad campaigns, we’d rather share the vast majority of the money with you and our other members.
Helping to market Cagora is a simple and effective way for you to start building an online income whether that’s by starting an Internet business or simply because you want to get some extra cash to pay bills or enjoy special treats such as a vacation.
It’s also a unique (and very easy) way for you to do your bit to Make a Difference.
Yes. We run training sessions most days in our VoIP Web Conferencing Rooms which are simulcast on Skype and Telephone. You are very welcome to attend whenever it suits you.
You can see the updated schedule by clicking the meeting schedule link on the bottom of each web page.
We will be introducing range of exciting and innovative products and services for you as an individual and a consumer, Small Businesses and Community Groups that will be offered to you at best value prices with money back guarantees. Many of these will help forge mutually beneficial and lucrative relationships between all of you, and include eLearning, Communication and Fundraising products. So stay tuned!
In the early stages of our rollout, we are placing emphasis on our highly targeted, hassle free, fairly priced Advertising Packages (Refer ‘Advertising’) to help ensure the network continues to grow.
Our Seminars are online audio visual Powerpoint presentations run by people from around the world who are ‘in the know’ and/or are experts in their field of interest. These seminars are run in our VoIP Web Conferencing rooms, often as part of an Expo event or as ad hoc presentations.
Our 3-D Expos are a virtual version of real life expos you may have attended at your local Convention or Exhibition Centre. You can visit Exhibitors’ booths in a 3-D environment, visit their websites, attend online seminars, listen to archived recordings of seminars and network with other people that you have common interests with.
During our development phase (as Co-Opworld) we offered a series of 3-D Virtual Expo events that brought together up to 30 speakers from around the world each time.
In April 2008 we will be offering these Expo programs again, starting with the International Podcasting Expo. This will be followed up with Expo events for other LocalWorlds and Worlds of Interest.
Typically you’ll be able to attend Expo events and have access to over 30 hours of archived recordings for about $50. Like our other products, you’ll also be able to earn sales commissions on Admission, Exhibitor and Event Sponsorship Fees if you want to help market the events.
We’ll also be running smaller seminar events, some of which you’ll be able to attend for free and others that will have an admission fee.
Learning is very important at Cagora, so we will be supplementing our Seminars and Expos with eBooks, Home Study Courses and Coaching Programs. To provide quality products which deliver learning outcomes that will help enable you achieve your goals, we’ll be Joint Venturing with experts in our LocalWorlds and Worlds of Interest.
If you’re interested in creating an e-Learning product, we’d love to hear from you. Please Contact Us.
Our showcase (and first) e-Learning product is the LEARN to EARN to GIVE eBooks and Accelerated Learning Program which will teach you how to:
EARN... the secrets to achieving prosperity and your life goals
EARN... the income to open the doors to achieve these goals
GIVE…. back to help create a better world, to fuel your perpetual motion success engine and to experience the joy of giving.
LEARN to EARN to GIVE is being co-written by over 40 experts and leading Internet marketers to give you the definitive guide to getting started using the Internet to power your prosperity cycle and help create a better world.
It will be available from November onwards and you’ll be able to buy it for the best value price of $37 (digital version). As with all of our Products and Services, you’ll also be able to earn generous sales commissions when people you refer buy it.
No, sorry because at this stage we cannot provide sufficiently secure systems that we can guarantee will adequately protect children from posting information about themselves which may be exploited by those who do not respect our family friendly environment.
You may want to hide private information such as phone numbers and email addresses from everyone other than your friends or best friends. Our Profile Pages give you a lot of choice about what information you let people have access to, so you can feel safe and comfortable.
We will also shortly be making it impossible to have your birth date seen by people other than your best friends. This is part of our best endeavours to reduce the risk of ‘Identity Theft’ where people use information gathered online to undertake unlawful activities such as applying for credit cards in someone else’s name.
We recommend only setting people as ‘best friends’ if you know them very well and trust them completely.
The ‘Friends’ setting may be used for people with whom you’re happy to share your contact details and also view your photos and videos.
The ‘Acquaintance’ setting is to help you get to know people, particularly those you meet online. It allows only a very minimal amount of information to be known about you. ‘Acquaintances’ do not know that this is the setting you’ve allocated to them, so you needn’t feel embarrassed or compelled to ‘boost’ them to the next level of ‘Friends’ if you don’t want to.
Copyright is a right that everyone, in most countries, receives automatically when they produce a piece of creative work. It prevents, by law, other people from copying that work. If part or the whole of original piece of creative work has the ability to be copied or reproduced, it is probably copyrightable. For instance, books, music, photos, videos, paintings, phrases, characters of fiction, etc, etc.
Copyright law carries a distinction whereby it applies to the creative expression of ideas, but not the ideas or information themselves. For instance, if you find an article about dog training in a book, it is unlawful to reproduce it in full in any way. However, if you re-write the article completely in your own words with your own comments, opinions and examples, this would not be subject to the Copyright on the original book. (However, citing the original as your reference would be the moral and ethical thing to do).
Unlike Patents, copyright is not something that the person who has produced a creative piece of work needs to apply for. So it is always in your best interests to assume all content you intend to contribute to Cagora is subject to copyright unless you:
Produced the work in its entirety yourself
Have written permission from the person who owns the copyright
Can show that its copyright is explicitly disclaimed
Acquired it from a source where Public Domain content is available
Whilst we encourage our members to Create & Share information and quality content, it is crucial that the importance of Copyright and Intellectual Property is understood by all of us, and that we show respect to the creators by not using their works without their permission.
There are many places online where you people can freely share their information/media. We will shortly be compiling a list of recommended sources and will provide them within these FAQ’s.
In the meantime, have some fun creating your own material, or if you know of some good sources of non copyright material, we’d love to hear from you.
On YouTube.com and Google Videos, if the person has included an ‘embed code’, then they are granting you permission to use their work.
A note of caution: If you are making your own videos of events like TV, live concerts or some forms of sport (especially professional), it does not mean you have copyright over those videos, nor that you have the authority to give the public access to them in any way. Even if you disclaim ownership of that content you can still be infringing on the copyright of the true owner, so you must not contribute this type of content to Cagora unless you’ve received prior advice from an attorney.
Many Articles submitted to Article Directories permit re-publication, provided you clearly include the link to the author of the Article and the link to Article Directory itself.
By law, you receive Copyright automatically when you produce a piece of creative work. When you contribute that work as content to Cagora, you retain that Copyright and it is not available to be shared.
If you’re particularly concerned about protecting your work, say in the case of photographs, you may want to watermark a copyright note on them. Or with an Article, you could put a reminder at the bottom reminding others of respecting your copyright.
We also have a Claims for Alleged Intellectual Property or Copyright Violations process (refer Cagora’s Copyright Policy) if you suspect that someone has used your work without your permission at Cagora.
