Rent-A-Blogger Comes To Search Marketing
Need a review of your website? Rent a blogger!
Product placement for the masses has finally arrived on the internet. The big players on the internet have been buying hosted pages, social networking "events," and other product placement tricks for a while, but finally the rest of us can buy into this particular corner of the American Dream.
Search marketing through blogs
Here's how it works -- you pay a blogger to write about you, and they give you a (usually) good review, plus that all-important link back to your site. Cool, huh? But does it work well?
Two places to buy your product placement on a blog
Two new sites have sprung up recently that offer blog placements. I tried both recently, and like many new enterprises, both left me feeling like they should have worked out some more kinks before launching.
Pay per Post describes itself as "an automated system that allows you to promote your web site, product, service, or company through the PayPerPost network of bloggers." Automated is right. I signed up with these guys to get 3 blog reviews for a website I work on, and ran into tons of aggravation with the interface, the system, and the total lack of response to my emails that I sent them. As in -- emails unanswered. The interface is about as intuitive as Yahoo! Search Marketing, which means it's totally counterintuitive. After scrambling around with it for a while, I finally figured out (sort of) what was going on.
Turns out my three blog posts had actually been written, and published. And as a matter of fact, they weren't that bad. It's just that after I signed up and paid my money, I was floating in space without an umbilical cord, as far as Pay Per Post was concerned. Note to Pay per Post -- I don't want a forum to solve these issues. I don't have time. I want clear instructions, and fast answers.
Review Me, which launched in a very noisy fashion about a week ago, also offers bloggers for hire. So I signed up for a site review ($60 level, which I thought would get me something pretty good). Waited a few days. Then guess what? The requested blogger emailed me and said that he was too busy to blog right now, but would I like to contact him after the New Year? He shared his upcoming travel plans with me (four trips between now and the end of the year), and I certainly can see why he'd be pressed for time to do some hack blogging. But guys -- it's not exactly what I want to hear when I've spent my time at your website, signing up for a bit of paid p.r. This is business, and I was annoyed.
The truth-in-blogging issue
Review Me comes across as much more "white hat SEO" than Pay per Post. But are they? They fired a shot at Pay per Post for not letting blog readers know that they were reading a product placement, and bragged that their bloggers would clearly disclose to the reader that they are hacks for hire.
Pay per Post, by contrast, merely encourages their bloggers to show they are shills. How? Through the newly-launched DisclosurePolicy.org, from Pay per Post. In a gem of business school double-speak, Pay per Post announced on October 31 the launch of DisclosurePolicy.org. What does it add up to? They will pay their bloggers $10 to put a link on their blogs leading to the Disclosure Policy, which will, in the fine print, tell the reader: "I'm a hack for hire". What makes me laugh is that Pay per Post makes such an effort to come across as the good guys, claiming that transparency in blogging is something they really, really care about.
But bottom line? Who cares? The media, from movies, to news, to the books we give our kids, are one big fat product placement. No one cares anymore. It's one big, happy commercial pigs' trough. So I say -- forget the "transparency" issue guys. Stop trying to be more "white hat" than the next guy. Focus instead on providing great service, because you are in business to serve other businesses. Get that part right, and you'll do well. Get it wrong, and you can be as transparent as you like, all the way to the bankruptcy court.
Save to del.icio.us
Technorati Tags: online marketing, SEO, links, link building
online promotion, search engine optimization, website promotion, search marketing, search engine marketing
Product placement for the masses has finally arrived on the internet. The big players on the internet have been buying hosted pages, social networking "events," and other product placement tricks for a while, but finally the rest of us can buy into this particular corner of the American Dream.
Search marketing through blogs
Here's how it works -- you pay a blogger to write about you, and they give you a (usually) good review, plus that all-important link back to your site. Cool, huh? But does it work well?
Two places to buy your product placement on a blog
Two new sites have sprung up recently that offer blog placements. I tried both recently, and like many new enterprises, both left me feeling like they should have worked out some more kinks before launching.
Pay per Post describes itself as "an automated system that allows you to promote your web site, product, service, or company through the PayPerPost network of bloggers." Automated is right. I signed up with these guys to get 3 blog reviews for a website I work on, and ran into tons of aggravation with the interface, the system, and the total lack of response to my emails that I sent them. As in -- emails unanswered. The interface is about as intuitive as Yahoo! Search Marketing, which means it's totally counterintuitive. After scrambling around with it for a while, I finally figured out (sort of) what was going on.
Turns out my three blog posts had actually been written, and published. And as a matter of fact, they weren't that bad. It's just that after I signed up and paid my money, I was floating in space without an umbilical cord, as far as Pay Per Post was concerned. Note to Pay per Post -- I don't want a forum to solve these issues. I don't have time. I want clear instructions, and fast answers.
Review Me, which launched in a very noisy fashion about a week ago, also offers bloggers for hire. So I signed up for a site review ($60 level, which I thought would get me something pretty good). Waited a few days. Then guess what? The requested blogger emailed me and said that he was too busy to blog right now, but would I like to contact him after the New Year? He shared his upcoming travel plans with me (four trips between now and the end of the year), and I certainly can see why he'd be pressed for time to do some hack blogging. But guys -- it's not exactly what I want to hear when I've spent my time at your website, signing up for a bit of paid p.r. This is business, and I was annoyed.
The truth-in-blogging issue
Review Me comes across as much more "white hat SEO" than Pay per Post. But are they? They fired a shot at Pay per Post for not letting blog readers know that they were reading a product placement, and bragged that their bloggers would clearly disclose to the reader that they are hacks for hire.
Pay per Post, by contrast, merely encourages their bloggers to show they are shills. How? Through the newly-launched DisclosurePolicy.org, from Pay per Post. In a gem of business school double-speak, Pay per Post announced on October 31 the launch of DisclosurePolicy.org. What does it add up to? They will pay their bloggers $10 to put a link on their blogs leading to the Disclosure Policy, which will, in the fine print, tell the reader: "I'm a hack for hire". What makes me laugh is that Pay per Post makes such an effort to come across as the good guys, claiming that transparency in blogging is something they really, really care about.
But bottom line? Who cares? The media, from movies, to news, to the books we give our kids, are one big fat product placement. No one cares anymore. It's one big, happy commercial pigs' trough. So I say -- forget the "transparency" issue guys. Stop trying to be more "white hat" than the next guy. Focus instead on providing great service, because you are in business to serve other businesses. Get that part right, and you'll do well. Get it wrong, and you can be as transparent as you like, all the way to the bankruptcy court.
Save to del.icio.us
Technorati Tags: online marketing, SEO, links, link building
online promotion, search engine optimization, website promotion, search marketing, search engine marketing
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1 Comments:
I read a report yesterday somewhere ( sorry I forgot) that WP disallows pay per post.
Review me rejected my blog but similar services have been giving me plenty of assignments.
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