Jan | 24 | 2009

Is Pay Per Post Worth It?

Posted by Jimmy as Monetization Features, Opinion

I have written about pay per post in the past and I am not talking only about the platform going by that name – I am referring to the practice in general. My opinion has not really changed, I still think that it is alright to engage in pay per post practices as long as you are clear about it and you let your readers know which posts are sponsored.

These days, though, it seems as if the pay per post realm is not doing so well. I have not kept it a secret that I am using some of these platforms for my personal blogs and lately, I have not been getting much work from them. One big reason is the fact that my PageRank went down several steps several times. The funny thing is that the only reason I could find for the decline in PageRank is the fact that I was (and am) doing paid posts.

So this question cropped up in my mind – is pay per post still worth it?

I have to say that as time passes by, it seems to me that it just might not be worth it. For one, the more paid posts you put up in your blog, the spammier it tends to look. This can, of course, be avoided by creative writing and inserting of keywords and links. Still, too many of these posts – and you need lots to make a considerable amount of money – is never good.

Another reason is the PageRank issue. You want PageRank, of course, but you can’t get it if you do paid posts – at least, if Google finds out. And you can’t get enough assignments if you have no or low PageRank. It’s the chicken and the egg.

If you are relying largely on paid posts for income from your blog, it might be time to rethink things. I am.

Comments (5)

5 Responses

Nancy McCord
26|Jan|2009

I have never accepted money for my product and software reviews and I do not intend to change.

I strive to keep my credibility as a go-to-resource with my readers and clients for honest, down to earth practical reviews. I feel that when you are paid you lose this edge.

Just my two cents for today.
Jimmy
29|Jan|2009

Thanks for the input, Nancy. Totally understood.
brad clardy
07|Feb|2009

I have tried pay per post and have found that most people want to trade out products in exchange for a review. I think this an acceptable alternative, but when a person puts alot of time and effort into reseach and write a post for pay, I don’t think that takes away from a writers credibility. If that was the case then we should abolish all newspapers and magazines.
Jerry
13|Mar|2009

I keep asking myself the same questions from the opposite angle – Does paid posting worth advertiser’s money?

I see bloggers charging $20 – $50 for some crap writing in their socall ‘high PR’ blog – seriously, what kind of benefits do I get from such a paid post? Poorly written blogpost will not drive traffics to my websites; and paid posts are normally buried deep in achieve real soon after it’s published.

Jimmy, perhaps you can write another article on the same topic but different perceptive?
Tammara
27|May|2009

Hi Jimmy,
I’m chuckling at your comment, “It’s the chicken and the egg.” in regards to PayPerPost – lol – perfect analogy! Like many other bloggers I too lost my page rank on all my blogs from writing for PayPerPost. Even though I was extremely selective to ensure the ads were related to my blogging niche, that of course did not matter to the big G search engine!

It’s a long process to regain page rank. It was a hard way to learn the lesson about passing page rank for money. Wasn’t worth it when I consider how much time and energy it will take to rebuild my blogs pr. I’m surprised PayPerPost didn’t get a bad rap from more bloggers not disclosing to them the potential consequences of writing posts for advertisers. Thanks for letting me comment.

Our Features

Design and Themes

Is Your Blog W3C Compliant?

Last night I checked my personal blog’s code hoping I can proudly display the W3C Validated Button. Since I use Blogger and do not really do anything to clean up the code (beyond adding Alt-tags to the images I embed) I wasn’t surprised at all to find that my blog contained lots of errors – [...]
Read on
More Design and Themes Features
Software and Widgets

Wordpress Plug-ins

If you blog using Wordpress and can’t do something that you want done like adding Sphere-related content at the end of your blog posts you might be surprised to find out that there are already plug-ins available that make it happen.
To find good Wordpress plug-ins all you need to do is search for “wordpress [...]
Read on
More Software and Widgets Features
Reviews

A Friend In Need

I’m helping out my friends from the UA&P – IShareHappiness Blog Team.
Whenever you feel pessimistic, angry, troubled, frustrated, and depressed – what have you – you need someone to talk to. Someone who could help you be more optimistic and help make you feel that there is hope. Sometimes it’s hard to talk to someone [...]
Read on
More Blog Reviews
Monetization

Review: Logical Media

Logical Media is one of the innovative services that pay for ad placement within blogs. Do you have a blog and are you seeking a way to make additional money from the blog? Are you seeking a way to offset other programs with the use of ads? Through the registration with Logical Media, the blogger [...]
Read on
More Monetization Features
Marketing and Search Optimization

Search Rank Drop and False Alarms

Happy Holidays!
What are the chances of someone being concerned about their blog’s search ranking dropping on Christmas Eve? I have no idea but then again if I’m writing about it right now then there’s probably someone somewhere around the world doing SEO at this very minute.
If you have experienced a sudden drop in ranking, [...]
Read on
More Marketing and SEO Features
Blog Resources