payperpost

Why I quit Izea, Payperpost and SocialSpark

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About two and a bit years ago, I started working for a company that was called PayPerPost. In essence, it was a simple concept: get advertisers to pay bloggers for posts about products and services that interest them.

Over the past two years, I blogged on a huge variety of opportunities for PayPerPost (and much less so, SocialSpark). At one point, I even experimented with being an Advertiser and created several opps for InvestorBlogger Dot Com.

But business for PayPerPost has been up and down for me for the past twelve months. Some months I had a good run at the opps, but in the past six months, I have only taken a few opps. Mostly because I have been segmented out of these opps by virtue of being in Asia.

Then in September, I returned to the UK where I updated my address for comparison. I was shocked at all the new opps that were available to me just because I was now in “Europe”. So after returning to Taiwan, I had to consider what my course of action was to be.

At that point, PayPerPost suddenly dropped all the floors on opportunity pricing from $5.00 to 50c or less. While there were a lot of opps now in the system, in what was disingenuously called ‘an experiment’, most were for very little money at all. At that point, I called it quits. I wrote and requested to be removed from Payperpost and SocialSpark.

This post outlines my initial response, Izea’s reply, and my response to them (since I couldn’t login to post the comment to the author of the reply). I’m now posting it here instead.

Post 1: Quitting

Please remove my account. I’m done with SocialSpark and Izea in general. Sorry. I don’t do blog posts for 25c and links for 50c. I would rather find other ways to monetize my blog.

Post 2: Idea’s Reply

Jamie Kite, Official Rep, replied 2 hours ago

Hi Kenneth,

I am sorry to hear that you are leaving the IZEA network. Before you go, there are a few things I wanted to clarify for you. First, the minimum offer amount for a Sponsored Post in SocialSpark is $5.00. You may have noticed other Opportunities out there that pay less, specifically Affiliate programs, Blog Sponsorships and CPC Opportunities. None of these Opportunity types requires you to write a post.

Affiliate Opportunities pay per conversion, so you can earn the offer amount over and over again, as many times as a visitor to your site completes the advertiser’s requirements (this may be filling out a form, purchasing a product, or signing up for a service). The offer amounts on these vary from a little less than a Sponsored Post to many times the average offer amount for a Post, depending on the requirements for conversion. Payment for Affiliate Opportunities happens 30 days after a conversion occurs.

CPC Opportunities provide an even greater opportunity for monetization. You get paid each time a visitor, follower, or friend clicks a link to an advertiser’s site. If you’re on Twitter or Facebook this can be especially lucrative if you have many friends or followers. As always, we require disclosure on these paid links. And what’s better, you get paid within a few days (or less) after each click.

Blog Sponsorships may also have an offer amount that is less than a typical Sponsored Post, but they are payed per day. So if you take a $1.00 sponsored post for 30 days, you end up with a much bigger payout in the end. All you have to do is make sure you have ITK on your blog(s).

We’re sorry to see you go, but I did want to reach out and clarify the difference between the Opportunity types in SocialSpark so that your expectation wasn’t that you would get anything less than $5.00 for a Sponsored Post. If the other Opportunity types with lower offer amounts aren’t your thing, that’s okay…

Post 3: My response to Izea (since I couldn’t post it on their network)

Thanks for contacting me.

I saw the new opportunities on SS, but it’s been such a while that I found anything I could do. Despite having two fairly popular blogs with largely N.American traffic, I repeatedly found myself with the bottom of the barrel opps in both SS and PPP.

Even having a PR3 didn’t make things much better. Being based in Asia, I find that there is almost nothing I can do on PPP/SS these days. So, until things look up for me on Izea, I see little or no point in having the code on my blogs… It’s sad, but there it is. The system that Ted created for bloggers ends up excluding bloggers whose blogs are fairly decent. But then Izea spends undue effort removing all the splogs that can legitimately get into PPP/SS and legitimately take those opps.

I”m afraid I have much more success blogging for another company than Izea now. Each time I login to SS/PPP just reminded me of how I was segmented out of the running for 99% of the opps available. Even when opps are available in SS, I’m unable to take any of them for similar reasons: I’m based in Asia.

So for a trial I switched my PPP account to ‘uk’ region, my home and I was shocked at how different things were. I couldn’t legitimately take any of the opps because of the zoning issue. So I didn’t. That’s when I stopped blogging for Izea.

If you could understand my frustration, I have two good blogs (one pr3, one formerly pr2), both Alexa 1million and under, with over 5000 page views a month between them, and majority N. American traffic, and there is so little I can do, it’s not even worth the time logging in. Eventually, enough is enough.

Wishing you all well,
Kenneth

So that’s it. I already removed all the PPP/SS codes from all of my blogs, converted the links, and removed all traces of Payperpost except the archives. If you’re based in North America, then this may be a valuable way to make some money. You’ll certainly learn a lot. I did. I’m extremely grateful for the experience of blogging for Izea. But all good things must end, and indeed they have. It’s time to move on and find new ways to blog, new readers to read my blogs, new topics to write about, and new methods to monetize. Good luck, Ted and all at Izea. I’ll check back from time to time.

Paid Blogging – Round 1: PayPerPost vs. ReviewME – Which shows you the money?

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In this post, I would like to share with you my own personal experiences of writing paid posts for my blogs. I won’t go into the nittygritty details of each system, but I will try to share the positive and the negative of each system and what results (if any) I had with each of them. Be aware, this documents MY experience and may not be applicable in different areas or blogs.

Who are the candidates? Well, step up.

  1. Payperpost
  2. ReviewME
  3. Blogitive
  4. Blogsvertise
  5. SocialSpark
  6. Linkworth
  7. PayU2Blog
  8. Smorty
  9. SponsoredReviews
  10. LoudLaunch

So which of these really pay? Let’s find out. I should mention that I’ve done paid posting on this and several other blogs for some time with all of the companies listed above. In today’s post, I’ll look at PayPerPost and ReviewME. Over the coming months, I’ll look the others as well, so stay tuned. Do also be aware: doing paid blogging runs the risk of losing any PR ranking you may have obtained, especially if you are using bare links without the no-follow tag. Google has seriously frowned on this activity and taken steps to limit its effect.

Payperpost

I’m not sure if Payperpost is the grand-daddy of all the blogging companies out there, but it sure is one of the oldest, and in fact, I was one of the earliest to sign up in August 2006 and completed my first ‘opp’ in Sept. 2006, just as the company was starting out. So how have I fared? Well, since then I’ve earned approximately $1900, most of which has been paid out already. Some bloggers have earned 10x that amount. So it is possible to make quite a lot of money.

pppblogger

 

Requirements and Potential

The requirements for having a blog included in PayPerPost are relatively simple: The Blog must be 90 days old with over 20 entries MINIMUM. The blog must also be kept current with 20 posts in ANY 90-day period. The primary means for earning money is through the MarketPlace and opportunities are generally available there depending on your blog’s PR rank, Traffic, Blogger’s Country, your selected categories for your blog. Once you login, you will see the offers listed as well as those applicable to you. It is possible to earn upto $50 per opp, but at the start your more likely to be in the $5~15 range. My own long term average is a shade under $10.

Required Metrics

Metrics used for measuring the success of your blog include: Page Rank, Alexa Ranking and Izea’s own Real Rank. You can receive a vote on your post’s quality called ‘tack’ which is out of five as well. There are additional quality features, but these are the ones you can control more directly.

Other Opportunities

There are additional opportunities for earning cash: through Direct offers placed by Advertisers for you, through Referrals, and any follow up work an advertiser may require. However, this is all the exception. I have never been paid a dime for either of these, and doubt that it is possible to make much money on Direct Offers or Referrals with PayPerPost. With the direct offers, you can choose your pricing.

Drawbacks

Overall, the system is a good system: is fairly well-policed and strict but not overly so. Additionally, there are feedback systems, and help available. You are required to have a viable blog with a regular posting habit. The downside is that offers can be low-ball, though you are not required to take any offers that you don’t want. The other issue is with disclosure (or informing your readers that you are paid): many advertisers do not like in-post disclosure (which I think is somewhat dishonest), though blog disclosure is mandatory. Other advertisers won’t accept non-full domain blogs or free blogs – when I advertised, I did not accept them either. Currently, with PayPerPost, no-follow is not mandatory, though it is supported if an advertiser requires it.

Overall, I’d recommend PayPerPost for those with a general blog or those in a popular niche (such as mommy blogging or tech) you’ll find the posts and rewards encouraging. However, many blogs that have relationships with PayPerPost have found their Page Rank completely dissed.

ReviewME

The first company that I actually heard of was ReviewME. I have only ever been able to complete three posts for ReviewME, and only earned a grand total of $45.00. In fact, one of my submissions was late, so to compensate the advertiser, I finished the review and submitted anyway. I felt that that was the only responsible course of action for that review. Otherwise, though, ReviewME has been a dead loss for me. Other bloggers have found ReviewME to a very viable source of income, so it depends on what your blog is, your metrics, and your own skills in marketing it.

reviewme

 

Requirements and Potential

While the requirements are expected, they are not clearly stated on any page that I could find.ReviewME notes only that “… a blog must meet a minimum number of citations, subscribers, and traffic.” Unlike PayPerPost, the bloggers create the marketplace, and advertisers pick and choose which blogs they want to call up for a review. You are not required to provide a positive review, though you can set your own pricing in the system.

Required Metrics

ReviewME uses three primary metrics in assessing the value of a blog (and whether it’s included or not): Alexa Rankings, Feed subscribers, and Technorati rankings. In fact, it’s one of the few paid blogging companies that still uses Technorati at all. As such, it calculates the price of a review on your site and makes a recommendation. You can choose to accept this or not. I think mine is currently ranked at $60.00 of which the blogger (me!) would receive 50%.

Other Opportunities

You can also opt in to their avertorials and you can take part in their ClearingHouse. Advertorials are sponsored posts that are provided by the advertiser for placement. The ClearingHouse is lower priced opps that are available under ‘Campaigns’. I have never taken part in either. In fact, the ClearingHouse produces very low ball offers that I would not take under any circumstances.

Drawbacks

In fact, the last two or three reviews for me have been for Casinos. I don’t always accept such reviews as it’s usually outside my range of interests for one of my blogs. I also used to display a widget for them on my site, but since I was getting few reviews, it was a waste of space. There is no referral system in place, either. They can pay via Check or Pioneer but when you don’t make any money, that’s a moot point, really.

Overall, once your review is published (and review of your post is light handed compared to PayPerPost), you will receive payment in the next payment round. It has been an effective way for popular bloggers to make money but for bloggers starting out, it is very difficult to get any reviews that are worth doing.

Payperpost 2 vs. Review ME 0

I’d recommend doing PayPerPost at the beginning because you can get a range of work, you will get valuable exposure to blogging, blogs and bloggers through their community, and you will possibly earn some money. If you choose ReviewME, don’t hold your breathe.

 

When you finish reading this article, you may also wish to check out these posts I wrote earlier.

What is your experience with PayPerPost or ReviewME? Have you had any success? Did you feel that either of these was a waste of time or a valuable opportunity?

First published on EeeBlogger.

PR vs PPP: who is winning the war?

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I started writing this story just before the recent updates began on August 24th or thereabouts… Some facts have since changed (eg. my PR is now ZERO again!) This is a bit of a ramble because I’m tired. But then this issue has been around for months, and never seems to subside:

PPP vs. PR – Why PPP won’t drop PR any time soon or ever?

“…I did get my own PR back, though only a 2 compared with the three or four I used to have. I’m not exactly sure why I lost my PR in the first place, I think I had partially destroyed my PR in 2006 when I refounded my blog… My other blog is slowly regaining PR too, so even with PPP posts and not kowtowing to Godgle, it’s possible to have a PR. But certainly doing PPP can and usually does lead to PR0 so it’s no wonder that PPP constantly needs a new influx of PR rated blogs.

The thing is: PPP has been promising since LAST summer (2007) to remove PR from the rankings … I think all PPP’s bloggers know now that that isn’t going to happen any time soon. In fact, it is UNLIKELY it will happen IMHO, despite claims otherwise.

The reality is: PPP provides a lot of income while SS is still starting up. So it’s difficult for PPP to cut out one revenue stream while the other isn’t fully developed yet. PPP is slowly encouraging uptake of RR and alternatives to PR but without removing it from the options in the Advertisers section completely, the advertisers will still likely use it as a means to filter blogs.

If you blog because you like blogging, then do what’s best for your blog… accept or refuse PPP posts/links as you think fit. If you just blog for money, then you can keep feeding the demon by starting new blogs and repeating the process. In either case, don’t hold your breath waiting for PPP to remove PR requirements. They won’t do it to suit you, or me. They’ll do it to suit their own needs.”

Google’s Rank Spank: Part Deux

Well, it seems Google is doing that big dance again with its pagerank. Has it really affected me? In some ways, the answer is a resounding ‘yes/no’. Since November 2007, my blog income has become more stable since then, my traffic is up leaps and bounds, and my blog is improving in many ways! While income from companies like Payperpost is definitely on the wane, other sources are picking up to replace them. Hence, this justifies my belief: diversifying your income sources is VERY important both online and offline.

Have I given into Google’s demands on ‘nofollow’ links? Well, truthfully, I’ve been tempted to do so, but only mildly so. I’m too busy running the blog, developing my audience, and so on. I have considered giving in, but it’s just too complicated now to do so. I’d have to backtrack on promises I made to my advertisers, my own pride helps that to stick in my throat. So it’s a road I don’t want to travel.

Yes, I sell links

And yes, I’m still selling links. No, really, I do. I have done for ages, through text link ads, through my own sales, through PayPerPost, through paid posts, etc. I sell them simply and I choose NOT to add the rel=nofollow tag that Google virtually demanded everyone use because their search engine formulae weren’t upto snuff.

In reality, I don’t sell text links for PR. I sell them for traffic, for advertising, for people to check out on this blog and on others. I sell them so that advertisers pay me to cover my server costs, I sell them to earn a little extra money. If I had to rely on Adsense I’d be running ALL my blogs on Geocities instead simply because Adsense clicks have been very poor performers for me, across ALL my sites.

Links vs. Adsense

Also, I BELIEVE selling links is a far better model for most advertising purposes: it’s easier to track, easier to set up, virtually fraud proof, and very reliable. Using Google’s alternative method is (AdSense) is fraught with issues, including fraudulent clicks, banned accounts, optimizing the positions, quality scores, … the list goes on and on. Many bloggers have been burned by AdSense for fraudulent clicks or impressions, and many bloggers have lost all the monies in their account. For advertisers, click fraud is equally a huge problem: I’m not allowed to divulge how many clicks I don’t get credited for as an Adsense advertiser, but the number is significant. AdSense also takes up space, and typically when users don’t click, the website DOESN’T get much or any credit.

For Advertisers, clicks make sense

I also sell links for advertisers to garner traffic, and I believe selling text links is a lot less hassle than AdWords for advertisers. Why? Simply, you buy them once, and you forget about them until the subscription expires or renews. Users can click on them as many times as you like, you won’t experience click fraud. Really, text links are a much simpler form of advertising, and quite effective. You don’t have to play with your keywords, positioning, or watch your budget eaten up. Prices also don’t vary that much in a short time, on AdWords the prices of keywords seems to vary as the wind.

So, with a PR0, am I going to kowtow to Google this time? Unlikely, i think there will be a time when Google search engine is implicitly able to determine which links are paid and which are not, without any nofollow. I see little or no reason to change, esp. as Google sells links that transfer pagerank. Worse, if everyone nofollowed every link on their blog, as some bloggers and sites have done, it will make pagerank virtually useless. So, I’m not changing my ways; Google, if it wants to remain relevant simply has to figure out this issue for themselves.