new PayPerPost platform

I'm hearing rumors of a new PayPerPost platform called "Argus" that may be appearing on the market in the not-too-distant future. No real news on what Argus is all about (or why we need another platform), but it should be interesting to see. A slew of copycat sites have appeared on the net over the last six months or so, and while I thought that most of them would just dry up ad go away for lack of advertisers, many seem to be keeping pace with PayPerPost. Although their subscriber / blogger base probably pales in comparison, I have been fairly impressed with the opportunities presented by sites like PayU2blog and Smorty.

While it can be difficult to keep track of all of the guidelines of the different services (and even more difficult to see how they can work together on one blog site), it is certainly looking more promising for your average blogger to make a nice chunk of change each month from their blogging.

payperpost takes on reviewme

PayPerPost just announced a new offering called PayPerPost direct that rivals the ReviewMe service, in that it offers advertisers the opportunity to direct contact a blogger and request a write-up for their product or service. This differs from the regular PayPerPost service in which an advertiser posts an open opportunity (with guidelines) and allows anyone with a qualified blog to write about it.

On one hand, some of the Posties have been complaining about this move, stating that it is just another move for PPP to take a cut from the direct contact revenue potential that bloggers might otherwise make for themselves. However, one can also see this as an effective escrow service, and considering that the fees for this new PPP service are much lower than comparable fees from sites like ReviewMe, I can see this becoming another viable blogging revenue stream.

They have also rolled out some additional features that should prove useful, including the option for us bloggers to temporarily "bench" an advertiser's opportunities from view if we are tired of seeing them. This should especially come in handy for us to better ignore those obnoxious advertisers that submit a dozen opps for the same product at the same time, or for the ones that make ridiculous requests like asking for 300 words posts for $5.

paid blogging buzz

PayPerPost recently offered an opportunity for us "posties" to speculate on a "big" announcement that they will be sharing with everyone in the next few weeks. Seeing as majority of the opportunities that are currently sitting in my PayPerPost account are shaded in pink (meaning that the are not currently available for me to take them), it would be nice if PayPerPost's big announcement is that they are going to release those opportunities to me. Aside from that, perhaps they will be announcing a new way for bloggers to increase site traffic and gain more readership and subscribers to our blogs.

Other possibilities could include another attempt at a buyout or merger, like what had almost occurred with PayPerPost's move towards picking up performancing.com not too long ago.From a blogger's perspective, some of the things that I would like to see change at PayPerPost (and I feel that there are *many* other bloggers out there who feel the same way) would be to implement some stricter advertiser standards on the site.

I'd like to see sites that aren't just one page half-baked information sites whose true purpose is to trick visitors into clicking on contextual advertisements. I'd like to see more opportunities to actually review websites - opportunities that offer bloggers the capability to do a real review, and not necessarily be required to write in a positive spin (which is sometimes part of the offer requirements). In fact, I wish they would do away with the option to request positive feedback altogether. None of the other paid blogging services allow advertisers to force this onto their "posties" so why should PayPerPost? As an advertiser, it is all to easy to not see the ramifications of requesting positive feedback - especially if you haven't been doing too many paid posts as a blogger. I've been on both sides of the fence, and once requested positive feedback for some buzz on one of my sites, and now see how foolish that was.

I'd also like to see a ticket system implemented for communicating with the post reviewers, so that when we have questions, comments, or rebuttals we can actually talk to the person who is reviewing our post, and not have to try and force comments into the submission form in places where they shouldn't be, just so that we can explain why a rejection might have been ill-awarded to us.

The only other announcement that would have been extremely gracious on the part of PayPerPost would have been to offer free admission to their "PostieCon" event to all of their current "posties". As far as I can tell, very few people are making enough money to actually live off of with PayPerPost (except for Ted, and PPP Queen Colleen perhaps), so I don't think it is reasonable to expect most of us to travel and pay to attend a conference to hear more about how we can make a few hundred bucks a month with PayPerPost.

These are my lofty wishes as to what this announcement could be. I would imagine that I've probably totally off the mark, and it will have more to do with their reality startup show, as that seems to be where most of their efforts are currently focused.

payperpost difference

PayPerPost recently announced their new model for monetizing blogs called "Review My Post". You basically include a button at the bottom of your blog posts which offers new bloggers the ability to review your post, and earn $7.50 for doing so (you can earn $7.50 when they sign up, too).

The nice thing about this new model is that even people who don't want to put sponsored posts on their blog can participate, and the reviews that they do on other people's blogs don't have to be for the sponsored posts. You can also build blog traffic because other bloggers are linking back to your blog when they review your post.

PayPerPost is now requiring a "disclosure badge" on some of their posts now, like this:


I wasn't sure how this whole PayPerPost thing was going to turn out, but in another thirty days I will have earned nearly $1000 with them - not too bad for a program that I was expecting a little extra cash from, eh? Right now, the real trick is to get your pagerank up for your blog, as there are better (higher paying) opportunities for the more popular blogs. They have also begun using segmentation so that advertisers can narrow down their sponsored posts to certain demographics. I had predicted this change a while back, and am glad to see it (even if it means that I don't get to blog about whatever opp I want to). It makes for more targeted discussion, and means that I'm not blogging about things that I wouldn't normally cover in my blog.

review my post

Although the opportunities being presented by advertisers are becoming more targeted and are being created with more stringent blogger requirements (like demographics, pagerank, alexa ratings, etc), times are getting exciting on the paid blogging front. I am seeing more traffic on my blog and there are a number of new programs out there to monetize it, many of which are branching out to include more than just paid reviews. PayPerPost recently launched their "Review My Post" program as part of the affiliate program. Bloggers (or "Posties") simply advertise on blogs with a new "Get Paid to review My Post" badge and anyone who signs up can get paid $7.50 for reviewing the blogger's post. In addition, the blogger can earn $7.50 for getting them to sign up. Since the badge isn't limited to posts that we write for the PayPerPost program, this gives people the opportunity to review any post that the blogger writes. Pretty cool idea.

Best of all, because they are reviewing the blogger's post, they will be posting a link back to the blogger's blog, so it increases traffic, too. Here is what the badge looks like (you are more than welcome to click on it if you'd like to read more about the program or review my post for $7.50).

paid blogging update

My experience with paid blogging continues. PayPerPost just updated their site with a number of new features, including a way to get paid for having other people get paid reacting to your paid posts. Sound confusing? The new update has caused a bit of confusion and the smoke seems to finally be clearing over at the PPP forums regarding all of these "enhancements".

They have also created a new feature in which a "disclosure bubble button" can be placed on your site, within your post, and it works like the popular "lightbox" application that you've probably seen on a few sites. It gives advertisers the chance to have their content included in your post, so that if a user wants to see a preview of the site or product that they are reading about in your post, there it is. There are also a few new signup and "sponsored by" buttons that they are having bloggers use.

So far, I've made about $500 off of my PayPerPost efforts. Definitely not enough to live off of, but then again, I don't exactly post their opportunities too religiously. They don't always have opps that I feel would fit the theme of my blog. I also refuse to post positively about anything that I don't feel positively about. So if an advertiser is requesting a positive review for a crappy site, I ignore it. I'm in the process of having a new blog approved, too, so that should help.

digg sellouts

As the fallout dust is still settling from the launch of services like PayPerPost and ReviewMe.com, and the integrity of the blogosphere has come under fire, other services are following suit.

According to the MyContentWebsite blog, Digg is the latest service to be unassumingly monetized in this fashion. His blog states that people are actually selling "diggs" for as low as 10 cents each now. For a site that depends on its users honest interest in a site to accumulate diggs, this will likely introduce a new set of ethical debates. Some may argue that PayPerPost's service is doing the same thing with the integrity of Google or Yahoo's organic listings, but search engines at least have their own algorithms to determine search rankings and their listings aren't solely based on external links that could be inflated by services such as PPP.

Digg, on the other hand, is entirely based on their ability to rank sites based on the number of "diggs", so it will be interesting to see how the site will fare with users and investors as the "payfordiggs" model becomes more widespread. I would imagine that the first step to be taken would be to make paid diggs against their terms of service, and to cancel any account (and its diggs) for trying to profit in that way. This would take care of the bigger problems, but there would still be underground diggs that could be bought, and will probably be a source of constant headaches for the managers of digg. however, if its kept underground, it is also kept from public view, and therefore, from the view of users and investors/advertisers.

The MyContentWebsite blog features quality website content covering topics such as programming, design marketing, advertising, and (of course) web content. A newcomer to the scene, the blog has been around since October 2006, but its articles cover a number of topics useful to internet marketers, web designers, content and site builders, and anyone like myself who dabbles in all of the above.

return of payperpost!

After a slight weakening the number of opportunities, PayPerPost has been busy capturing the interest of new advertisers. The number of opps seems to have quadrupled overnight. Very nice, indeed.

It's also refreshing, as I was a bit concerned that their new blog demographics filters might start limiting the opps for blog newbies like myself. I could still use a bit more readership here, as I'd like to see the pagerank ascend a bit, but for now I'll just have to have patience. I tried signing up for feedburner, at the recommendation of a blogitive rejection notice, but so far haven't seen much traffic from it.

This blog did make PayPerPost's "blog of the day" last week, which was a nice surprise. Here's to having fun and making some extra cash!

chicago postie

PayPerPost presented the latest "postie patrol" video on their blog, in which one lucky (but freezing) Chicago resident was given the opportunity to win $1000 and a bunch of free Digital Photo Printing gear from HP. Robyn Nykaza risked frostbitten life and limb across the streets of Chicago, searching for mistletoe, carolers, dogs, pizza and more. Ted (founder of PPP) was nice enough to "tear away" his pants and give her a quick snapshot of himself in shorts, one of the more difficult items on her treasure hunt list (especially in freezing Chicago winter weather). A rep from HP accompanied the crew in their quest.

I think the funniest part had to be the guy on the street singing a rendition of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Gangster" in true Chicago style, although Ted making blowfish marks on the windows was a close second. Check it out for yourself:



It's funny, because every time I see one of these "postie patrol" videos, I wonder if this is something that I'd actually want to experience myself. On one hand, the extra cash would be great, and it would be a fun experience, but I've never been much of an outgoing person. Plus, I can't see them coming down to a small town like the one I live in. But I suppose that anyone is fair game.

Brought to you by HP!

captcha scrapped

Not too long ago, I posted a quick rant about why I don't like captcha technology. It's one of those necessary evils that, although often necessary to protect the interests (and privacy) of web users and websites, can sometimes be a bit bludgeoning. In fact, I recently ranted a bit about it on the PayPerPost forums, as I didn't like the fact that I had to enter a captcha image every single time I went to log in to their system. I can understand needing one for brand new accounts, but at every login seemed like overkill to me.

Much to my surprise, I went to login today and found the captcha image requirement gone. Could it be that my suggestion (or my blog rant) was actually taken to heart? I commend PayPerPost if this is the case. It's not everyday that a web company listens so closely to its customers, but PayPerPost has been pretty quick to respond to its devoted "Posties", which probably explains why we have devotion to them in the first place.

Thanks, PayPerPost!

PS - This is *not* a paid post.

rockstartup

The folks over at PayPerPost recently launched a new website documenting the launch and progress of PayPerPost. The videos are presented via YouTube in true MTV documentary style, complete with background mood music and reality tv styled edits.

Ted Murphy, founder of PayPerPost, graces the screen in true giddy school-boy fashion, as he and Britt (communications specialist for PayPerPost) tackle a New York City tradeshow in Episode One. Britt goes to setup at the tradeshow and finds out quickly that PPP isn't on the list. These are the typical types of little "quirks" that you don't often see as part of the "history" of company startups. Eventually everything gets worked out, though.

Episode two has them returning to the today show, with free signs for the audience members, a ploy that worked well for them last time. They also gave out those stadium foam fingers, which reminded me of that commercial where the guy pours a beer into the foam finger to take with him to the game. No such abuse of the PPP "finger", but once again they managed to get some serious free publicity. The episode then follows up with Ted scoring an interview with Business Week over his cellphone, and grabbing a quick lunch sitting on the floor.

I think that one of the reasons why PayPerPost has gained such publicity and earned a place with "everyday bloggers" is because of the seeming accessibility and "normalness" of its founders. Ted doesn't seem at all like the typical "head geek" that we grew so accustomed to seeing in interviews and press releases with the dotcom companies of the nineties. The advent of video blogging has also assisted in making the staff of PPP more "exposed" to their customers, rather than hiding behind a logo or invented web widget.

I salute PayPerPost for their skills in getting their brand seen and heard, and appreciate the guerilla marketing techniques they've employed. These non-traditional techniques just seem to "fit" with a company that is breaking the traditional mold of internet advertising. If they had followed strict traditional channels to advertise their product, I don't think that they would have been as successful.

Aside from the raw MTV styled video footage, I don't quite get the "rockstartup" reference, and how it really relates to PayPerPost, but perhaps one of the newer episodes can clue me in. Until then, I can at least make some quick cash for posting about it!

PPP and disclosure

I am officially stating that this post RIGHT HERE is a paid post.

Yes, that's correct. I am getting paid a whopping ten bucks just to tell you that PayPerPost is now requiring full disclosure for bloggers in their program. Not bad, eh? The big change in disclosure policy at PPP seems to have come from FTC pressures.

Since the launch of the PPP program, they have been under attack from elitist "pro" bloggers, like the folks at TechCrunch, for implementing a program in which everyday bloggers have the ability to make money for posting their opinions on products and websites, without fully disclosing that they are being paid. Personally, I see no problem with this, as long as the person doing the posting doesn't compromise how they really feel about something in their blog just because they are getting paid. I guess that the FTC doesn't agree. Funny thing is...what with all of the frequent paid opportunities to namedrop PPP, you'd have to be a real moron not to notice someone was signed up in the first place.

I don't really like the fact a number of advertisers are still requiring positive posts for their product, and imagine that this may be the next thing to go in the PPP system. Fortunately, I have an easy solution during the interim. I simply don't take the opportunity if I don't want to say anything positive about it. However, on the rare occasion that I can actually get paid to slam something that I don't like, I'm on it like speedfreak flies on stickytape.