Pay-Per-Post: Fad or Fab?
Pay-per-post services such as PayPerPost.com and ReviewMe.com serve as a middleman between content producers and advertisers interested in purchasing content-based blog advertising or advertorials. But is pay-per-post (PPP) a marketing fad, or a fab Internet marketing tactic?
How it Works:
To over-simplify, publishers (bloggers) sign up for an account with the PPP site, if their blogs meet the site’s minimum requirements (based on things like the age of the blog, frequency and number of posts, etc.). Advertisers sign up with the site, offering a certain payment per post, requirements for blogs that want to participate in the paid posting campaign, and details of what they want or expect from the posts (basically from an advertorial saying exactly what they ask for to an honest review). Eligible posters take the project, post to the blog, and when everything is verified, the advertisers pay the bloggers.
Fad or Fab?
FAD – Here’s why – As both a Marketing/PR professional and a writer/blogger, I see a lot of problems with any kind of longevity of a pay-per-post online advertising model… at least as things seem to stand now with these sites connecting publishers with advertisers.
Let me clarify something basic first. In-content advertising will probably always be around, whether it’s in blog posts or elsewhere. So don’t take my PPP label of a “fad” to include all in-context ads, but rather the model by which these PPP services operate.
Pay-per-post blogging causes a problem for quality writers. The amount they earn is generally supposed to account for the “advertising space” aspect of things (and a lot of these bids I’ve seen aren’t even decent prices for that alone). But they’re not just buying ad space from bloggers… they’re also buying a writing service in many cases. While occasionally there are well-paying PPP advertisers, the majority don’t come close to falling into that category, and the ones that do often have strict demands on the bloggers eligible for the offer (understandably so).
The problem with the rates is simply that what these advertisers basically want is a form of copywriting, yet they’re rarely willing to pay for it. In turn, quality writers and the best bloggers don’t bother with the services, and advertisers are left complaining that the posts they’ve paid for aren’t really what they wanted, or weren’t on a high enough quality blog to begin with.
These kinds of rumblings are fairly common. People try PPP services, because it’s something new. It’s a way to build incoming links to their websites, and a little bit of buzz. In the process, the bloggers can hurt their own readership by being viewed as “sell-outs,” and the buzz built up isn’t ever “real.” There’s almost a misconception sometimes that PPP blog posts are the same as genuine blog coverage. Newsflash: advertising will never equal publicity.
Publicity and buzz motivations for PPP aside, there’s an inherent problem with this kind of link-building: there’s always the threat that Google will eventually find a way to differentiate between certain kinds of paid and natural links (which frankly shouldn’t be too hard when using services that require obvious disclosures), where they could then devalue certain links’ effect on pagerank.
I’ve said this before, and I’m sure I’ll say it pretty often: if a marketing tactic involves misusing or manipulating some kind of promotional vehicle (in this case Google’s PR system/algorithm), and it will potentially invoke a response that would eliminate the benefit later, then it will never be more than a fad.
Disagree with my “fad” or “fab” call? Good for you. Leave a comment, and tell me why.
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Jennifer. Great blog. I will be sure to visit more often. Here is my take on Payperpost. It almost reminds me of when Overture first started serving ads (i.e. paid search) in the search engine results, I think 2001 or 2002. I remember there was an uproar in the media about the idea of “manipulating the search engine resultsâ€. Now, today every brand has adopted this model of advertising and it’s becoming (if not already) a billion dollar business; and it produces a strong ROI in most cases.
Now, with Payperpost. I actually know the CEO quite well and have actually partnered with him on a few past projects that have had AWESOME results. I actually think PPP will stick around for quite a while not because of the huge network of bloggers signed up in their system; but because it’s an easy way for advertisers to connect with this audience. As long as there is FULL disclosure and advertisers don’t just ask for positive feedback (because that in itself can generate negative commentary) about their products or services it should be all good. If it’s a contest or perhaps just a way to engage the blogging community, I see no problem with it at all.
Michael
I can agree with the points you’re making about the service’s potential. I’m just not seeing that occuring in reality right now. When it’s being marketed to publishers as essentially an easy way to make a few bucks, you’ll always end up with a lot of publishers not meeting basic quality standards. While there may be a few decently-paid posting opps on these sites, the majority seem to be extremely low, especially as they’re supposed to be accounting for not only advertising space, but a writing service as well. So what it essentially looks like is yet another spin on a super cheap freelance writers’ marketplace, just given a different name to make the low rates not appear to suck so much. While it may be an ok way to connect new or not overly popular blogs with advertisers not wanting to spend more than a few bucks here and there, I don’t see the model suddenly evolving on the quality front… I don’t think they really could if they tried at this point in that sense actually. I’m not saying it doesn’t work for some. I just don’t think the ROI justifies using PPP services for the vast majority of advertisers, as opposed to hand-picking one or two influential blogs in a niche, and buying contextual links directly. PPP services to me look more like a lazy man’s way into market research, rather than putting in the effort necessary to properly target both a market and the outlets that can reach that market / audience for them (and the drawback there is that by assuming that work is essentially done, they miss out on blogs w/ a bigger reach that might still be fully affordable for them…. a problem w/ any opt-in service). So I don’t think contextual ads in blogs are a fad in the slightest. But I think unless PPP sites can find a way to address the quality issues on both sides of the fence, and across the board completely, there’s not much long-term potential. There are simply easier ways for advertisers to get a better return, and easier ways for any serious blogger to earn money.
Great post. I too have reviewed PayPerPost on my blog, at http://www.virtualmarketingblog.com/index.php/20070321/payperpost-disappoints/ . I ran a $100 campaign and the results were absolutely horrible.