Selling your soul or getting what's due?
At first you would see the odd pay per post article dotted here and there around the blogosphere and then slowly but surely their numbers started to increase and now it seems like every second or third blog you visit is sporting them. So now that they really are everywhere, what do you think about them? Are you sick to death of seeing them or thinking of joining them?
Are they a cancer turning bloggers into greedy money-hungry corporate zombies? Or is it a brilliant way to make some cash without covering your site in add banners as Chad W Smith tells us in his short but concise summing up of why he loves Pay Per Post? Is it a case of the corporate world paying you a pittance for telling their lies or a great way to give your honest opinion, in your own words, about the product in question?
Do you believe the policy disclosures that posties put up on their site saying that they really do believe the product they are selling is great or not?
Have you noticed a decline in the quality of non PPP posts of your favourite blogs?
Are you of the opinion that you can always just not read the PPP posts if you don’t like them and don’t see what all the fuss is about?
Are you a postie that is sick and tired of people assuming you have sold out for a quick buck?
Are you thinking of joining the postie ranks but worried it is going to affect your readership?
What do you think?
15 comments:
I really don't know what to make of all this PPP posting. I would love to believe that my favourite bloggers that have started doing it are really telling me about things that they believe in, just passing on helpful info like a good freind...
But, I'm not sure I would completely trust a real 'in the flesh' friend's advise if I knew they were being payed to tell me about it so why would I trust these relative strangers?
All in all, it kind of tarnishes a blog for me. Sort of ruins it a little, diminishes it somehow and makes it that little less believable.
Nah, I don't think I'm a big fan. then again, if someone where to offer me reasonable money to do it (not €5 or €10 a go)I'm not sure I would say no.
As someone who does PPP ads I have taken to perusing a lot of the blogs that belong to other people that do the same and they run the gamut from sites that seem to be 50% ads (PPP requires that they write stuff that isn't just ads) all the way to brilliantly written stuff. 90% of blogs are garbage anyway, and I include myself in that 90%, but in some cases I have seen where bloggers have improved their writing skill and their audience because of the audience. They are more worried about their use of the English language as a whole and want to keep people coming back.
H-m-m-m-m...
I think I would have had a bit more respect for your courtesy email had it occurred before you included my blog as a part of your article rather than afterwards.
You are using my entire piece without my permission to promote your publication. This is not something I am entirely satisfied with.
If you were using selected quotes that would be one thing, but you are attempting to circumvent copyright laws by using a “Link”.
If you are not going to ask permission from authors to use their work, your publication will not make many friends and will simply wind up pulled by Blogspot because of copyright infringement.
If you wish to have my authorial voice participate in this project you have only to ask.
Which you did not.
I consider this to be piracy...
Pay per post is nothing more than the sponsored company using the internet for exposure. I see nothing wrong with posted one or two a day PPP on your blog to help pay for you interent conection or computer playment. It's worth the 3 minutes it takes to place it and if you don't want to read the review move on to the next post. The companies want Search engine optimization. That is why you must link the correct anchor text in your post. When the rest of the world types in "Jersey Insurance" , and there are 1500 blogs out there that have linked to a particular website using that anchor text. Then they get a higher spot in google or yahoo or where ever. I'd almost venture to say that you could post a bunch of jibberish, so long as the anchor text was right and you had enough links pointing to their site. It's an ingenius idea for the companies, for pay per post and for the bloggers. I do see the point of some of the anti-PPP bloggers, but in reality, even a hobie costs money and if there is an easy way to help defer that cost than I support it. Excuse any spelling errors in this coment...I also support spell check :)
Yeah it seems to be a Numbers Game*
;))
Link removed as requested.
We did not wish to offend.
you should really add a Digg button to your topics so you can gain more traffic to topics that you really want people to hear about...
That's a great idea (the Digg button)
I've dugg it at http://digg.com/tech_news/Selling_Your_Soul_or_Getting_What_s_Due
ok, need to look into this whole digg thing. whilst I am aware that it exists I don't really know very much more. Will go and check it out when I get some time.
yeah, i get that it is a sponser company etc and sure if people want to earn extra money then who am I to stop them...
Richard - did you say that you have actually seen peoples writing improve after taking on PPP? that is interesting as I have only seen the opposite. Could you give us some examples to look at?
PPPP? That's short for PPP Posters: I say good for them!
I haven't done PPP myself... and I don't think I would... but I want to (someday) make money from the writing itself... not from the ads I have to write on the way....
Of course, if someone wants to buy space at my blog... I'm sure I'll find a way to write around you.
I've stopped subscribing to magazines that wove too much advertising into their article content. I wouldn't do pay-per-post and I wouldn't read anyone who did too much of it. Sites that are strictly review sites are more acceptable because they are what they say they are.
I don't mind advertising on any site as long as it doesn't blink and flash at me, and I will occasionally click through stuff to support the author, but I don't like to be sold too. If I'm interested in something, I'll go looking for it.
http://www.simplekindoflife.com/
http://imcupnjava.blogspot.com/
http://www.thesassysoutherner.com/
http://skeetsstuff.skeeterbess.com/
Those are a few.
I would say myself, but mine goes up and down. I seem to be doing quantity over quality lately.
Looking back at my posts from four years ago, yes they have improved greatly. Part of that is the fact that I have been doing it for awhile, and park of it is the fact that I WANT it to get better so am making an effort.
cool, I am so glad you backed that up with examples. I will go and have a good read in a while.
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