We've all heard of the new companies that have appeared that offer money to bloggers to write articles for their advertisers. What you may not know is who is getting the better end of the deal.
In pay-per-post blogging, an advertiser is looking to generate buzz on the net about their product. Every mention of a product helps, though good press is better than bad.
PayPerPost.com is probably the oldest of these new firms. They require a blog to exist for 90 days prior to signing up. This keeps the fly-by-night bloggers away.
The offers are typically in the $5-$10 range per post and posts must be active on your blog before they are reviewed and must then remain active for at least 30 days.
Just because you blog about something does not mean your post will be approved and that you will be paid. Some opportunities even have a minimum 'page rank' requirement. That will certainly kill the casual blogger.
Another requirement is that your blog can not just be pay-for-post. You have to sprinkle in some 'real' content between paid entries. There is also a limit of three paid entries per day.
Three paid entries per day? What does that mean? Well, it means that if your are lucky you might make upwards of $30 per day for blogging. This works out to a potential $900 per month. Not enough to retire from day-to-day working but, if you couple it with AdSense earnings, you may be able to go from a full-time job to a part-time job.
OK, now we know what the blogger gets, what does the advertiser get?
As an advertiser you need to generate buzz around your product. If no one knows about your widget how will you sell it? Pay per post attempts to get you direct advertising in the blogosphere.
Unlike traditional web advertising you are buying an unlimited number of clicks for a minimum of 30 days. More than likely the post you buy will remain forever on the blog which runs it.
Bloggers tend to be vain and like to see their archive of old posts grow. Think of it as experience points for the blogger. If their blog has 500 posts it is often seen as more credible than one with only 100 posts.
How much is advertising worth to you? Is a near perpetual advertisement worth $10 per blog?
When you create your "opportunity" you get to specify what sort of blog article you want. You can specify fairness or positive-only. Are you generating generic buzz or targeted buzz? It's all up to you. Just be sure the price you offer is commensurate with what you are looking to buy. Offering $2 for a 500 word positive post is not likely to get you any takers.
You can also require the blogger posts certain pictures on their blog as well as provide a dynamic link for tracking purposes.
There is a stigma being attached to pay per post blogging, but where is it coming from? TechCrunch has been posting a few articles about the evils of pay per post blogging but, why would they have this opinion? Don't they do reviews of tech gear? Do they pay for these review products? Perhaps they are scared that if pay-per-post blogging catches on less free samples will arrive at their door?
One thing all reviewers know is that good reviews get you more free review products. Many of the reviewers I know will sooner not do a review then do a negative review. Is that any different then pay-per-post blogging?
If you don't want to write a positive article you don't take the offer. I'm sure many tech review sites get items they never review because they know it would be a bad review and lead to less free review gear.
What about the advertising that runs on those tech gear sites?
I digress...
Back to the meat of the article: Who benefits from pay-per-post blogging?
Aside from the marketing company that is taking in money and cutting payments to bloggers, I would say the advertiser makes out best.
Why? Simple really, the advertiser is getting exactly what they want at exactly the price they are willing to pay. They are not throwing money down an advertising drain and hoping for results. They are not giving away free samples of their products in hopes of getting a good review. Too make it even sweeter, the bloggers have to have their post up for 72 hours (or more) before it gets reviewed! That is free advertising!
If your offer is popular enough you may have hundreds of bloggers trying to get your advertising dollars at the same time. Only a set number of those bloggers will have their post approved.
What does this mean in regards to setting your price? It means if you set an opportunity at a high price but with a low number of spots you can get a quick wave of free advertising as everyone jumps on your opportunity in an attempt to make the money.
Bloggers, come in dead last. You only get to post three paid spots per day. Just because you post those three spots does not mean you will get paid for them. You only get paid once for your spot and unless you are a very prolific writer you are not likely to remove a post after it's 30 day run has expired. Heck, you probably will not even remove your rejected posts because it will make your blog look bad when content appears and then vanishes only a few days later!
You might luck out if the topic you are rejected on is popular enough to generate it's own traffic to your blog and you have a secondary revenue stream such as AdSense.
*disclaimer - This is NOT a paid blog post. I have submitted my blog to a paid blogging company for review and if any such "opportunities" should pique my interest I will be certain to inform my readers when a post is influenced by advertising dollars. Please note the "donation" button on my blog, just like PBS, donations help keep this blog free to read!
*disclaimer part 2 - I AM trying to make a few bucks with this blog, that's why I run the AdSense ads here. I would *love* to quit my day job and become a full-time blogger but, $30 a day is not going to get me there. I make more than that in an hour at my day job and writing a quality blog post takes more than an hour. I do look forward to the day when my office *is* the computer in my den. Just this past weekend my AdSense check came in for September. It paid for a trip into the city to attend Wicked Day, which I then blogged about.
