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Back in 2014, I wrote a post about the things Bubblews needed to do if it wanted to succeed. This was a revenue share writing site that was very popular with people. I wanted to see it do well, but it closed down not long after it first opened.

Here’s a look at what it needed to do if it wanted to succeed. It had the traffic and the writers, but it didn’t have the transparency and support needed. In theory, the pay model was great, but the site owners needed to make changes to really see it become somewhere all writers wanted to be.

These were the four things the writing site needed to do.

Bubblews needed to be open with communication

The communication needed to be much better. There were regular posts from the owners, but they tended to get lost in the shuffle of all the other posts on the website. The owners would write the content as posts just like other writers.

It would have been best if important news was clearly posted on every single page of the site. There could be a box above posts with the “latest news” or “important information.”

Communication with the customer support also needed to be better. Instead of complaining that users were spamming when asking about where their redemptions (what the pay was called) were, the team needed to reply in a good time frame—no more than 72 hours—and explain to users clearly why redemptions had been unpaid and anything a user could do to rectify it.

When it had been a mistake in the system or there was a delay, be honest about that and apologize. Also, show proof if it was a problem on a user’s end. The lack of transparency was awful for writers.

Less downtime was needed on the site

How much downtime did the site suffer from? At one point, it seemed like every time I went, I’d have to wait for pages to load (and time out) or I’d get 502 errors. It was clear that the site was too popular for its hosting company, so it needed to do something about that.

There were a few options. Bubblews could have switched to a better hosting company, or upgraded to a different type of server. The site should have brought in enough revenue to upgrade based on the writers and the revenue they were bringing in.

If there wasn’t enough revenue, the site needed to do something about that. The lack of revenue is why it shut down, though.

Bubblews could have changed its revenue model

Whether the site is earning enough or not, changing the revenue model wouldn’t have done it much harm. Yes, there would be people complaining that the model was not as good as it once was, but it would certainly weed out the spammers and those just there to get rich quick.

A different system and a lack of spammers could have led to an ease up on the redemptions. This could have prevented missing redemptions, which could have kept more people at the site.

A change in revenue model would have also drastically changed the quality of the content posted there. People could anything and everything—and a lot of spam. Despite the rules on the bank page, people still got away with spammy content, copied content, and just general fluff to make a few extra cents—and in some cases dollars.

The quality of content dropped considerably. People were writing 100 words of nothing about their day. It became the old-school blogging sites where you just put what was on your mind, and that would have led to a lot of people hitting the back button. The bounce rate must have been terrible. Changing the revenue model would have removed some of those people and encouraged higher quality content.

Clear rules without all the hidden ones

If you went on the bank page, you would have seen eight or so rules. They seemed quite easy to stick to, but they weren’t not that clear. There were many questions over the meaning of “original photos.” That would suggest only photos people had taken themselves, but public domain and stock photos were allowed.

But it wasn’t just the lack of clarity in the rules that were there. It seemed like there were many hidden rules. Really, it just seemed like the site was attempting to avoid paying people for any reason.

The site should have had a very clear terms of service or terms of use. This would have detailed the use of the site, the copyright and other rights of the content, and what happens when terms are violated.

MORE: Can you make a living writing at content mills?

In the end, Bubblews closed down. I do believe the above are the main reasons why. The site couldn’t sustain itself.