I just saw over on TechCrunch that PayPerPost has raised $3 million in venture funding. What PayPerPost does is allow advertisers to buy a blog post – often referred to as a paid plug. Instead of buying normal banner advertising, the advertiser would pay the blogger to write about their product or service. This of course raises many ethics and credibility issues. It is obvious that anyone paying for a blog post will want positive things said about his or her product. However, if the blogger making the post is doing the post just for the money his creditability just hit zero.
It is not that hard to spot a paid plug. If you come across a post saying, “Check out this forum, I love it!†and then find out that blog owner is not even a member, or just registered, chances are it is a paid plug. The fact that PayPerPost has raised $3 million in venture funding is truly amazing because I cannot see how the company is going to fly.
How many credible blog would sign up for this? I cannot think of any. The only person that comes to mind would be that blogger who paged me from DigitalPoint forum. He had a bunch of blogs and wanted me to buy some blog posts. For $10 he would write about my blog and tell all his readers how great it is. When I told him I do not need to promote my blog, he offered the service to any other sites I may own. When I asked him if he had seen any of my other sites, he replied no, that it did not matter because he was sure it was good. This blogger would sign up for PayPerPost.
For some reason, all this reminds me of my perfectly blended AdSense ad. Google said the way I presented the ad was against the TOS because it looked too much like content. PayPerPost is taking this to the extreme because the ad is content! A check of the “Current Opportunities†shows that advertisers are offering $2.50 to $10.00 for a post. Low Prices like that isn’t going to attract any top blogs.
I’m sorry PayPerPost, but I don’t sell my soul for a bag of rice.