The Pay to Blog Phenomenon....cntd.

I've written before about my involvement with www.payperpost.com which offers cash to bloggers who are interested in promoting products. For background, see here, here, here and the newest episode of the reallity show

They have a new policy which requires disclosure that a blog post is for pay. I think this is a good idea. My thinking all along has been to only post on topics that are either relevant to things I blog about normally OR in which I have total confidence.

Watching this company unfold is exciting and what's cool is that besides the documentary, the company blog gives you insight into what they are thinking and doing, so you can almost be a part of the company. What's particularly exciting is how it's really a conversation with someone, not a one-way loudspeaker, but a company (and it's not unique to them) that is trying to elicit feedback.

Plus, the videos they post are pretty funny.

Added them to my RSS feed.

Note: post sponsored by PayPerPost.com

More on Contextual Commerce...

The more I think about it, the more it is becoming clear that blog marketing is going to be a MAJOR driver of commerce as we move forward.

Why?

I look back at last week's interchange between Tom and Kira. Then, I look at the comments around tax season.  Finally, I am looking at my posts around Vista.

My brother Asher challenged me on the Vista posts saying that I was convincing people not to upgrade because of some of the challenges that I was facing.

I told him, "look, I have to be authentic first and foremost." If I am not, people won't read.  I think Vista has a lot to offer and yes, my 4 year old printer won't work, but most peopled don't have the Xbox issue I have, so it's up to them, but they have the facts and they trust me."

If I put my brain on the blog and facilitate commerce (and by the way, you should check out my del.icio.us links, it's like a 2nd part of my brain online) within a trusted environment, we are all better off, aren't we?

Then, the question arises: what about sponsored posts (like this one)? Does that harm my integrity?

Well, I'll leave it up to you to decide if I'm just shilling for a product or actually providing some value-added analysis...and the best part, you can vote with your mouse.

How do I know that blog marketing is taking off?

I can see that the $ value of the offers on PayPerPost (more here) have gone up over time to upwards of $1000. That means that the market is responding because it is paying off.

Following Web 2.0...as it happens

There was a GREAT movie a few years back called "Startup.com" that followed the rise and fall of a company called govWorks in the Internet boom and bust era. It was quite good.

Now, in a tribute to the Web 2.0 world of user-generated content and an "as it happens" approach, there's a real-time web documentary of the startup PayPerPost.com (I'm a big fan of these guys as I've written before here).

They've got YouTube videos of themselves as they progress through the stages of building their business (visiting a VC, going to a tradeshow, etc.). It's pretty cool, particularly for those of you with a fond appreciation of what goes into a start-up and remember Web 1.0 with fondness.

What I particularly like about this approach is that it's a subtle, viral, and very cost-effective way to build awareness. Think about it. They create the video (free), they post the video (free), the video gets shared (free), and people come to their site (free). They then convert people from browsers into customers (free) as either advertisers or publishers. The ROI on this baby is infinite since their not spending anything (unless you count the opportunity cost of their time).

Plus..it puts some faces and names behind the company. Now, instead of just a website, you get a feeling for the type of people who are running the show. In fact, you may even start to like them, and WANT them to succeed. That's powerful stuff.

Getting your word out...

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having companies pay posters to advertise on blogs.

Since I first blogged about www.payperpost.com, I've gone back a few times. What I love about it is that I can easily find offers that make sense for the types of posts I write, see how much they're willing to pay and then quickly and easily submit my post. Best of all, I choose only those topics that I feel are consistent with the types of posts I want to make. On top of that, simply the act of looking at all of the offers available forces me to see new products and services, so the marketplace itself is like an exploration of new things. Then, if I find something, I can pass the word along.

Think about the traditional world of marketing. Normally, a large company spends A TON of money trying to "get the word out." As a marketer, I know that it's very difficult to measure the ROI on these initiatives.

Now, with no major channels (we all watch different shows, read different websites, etc.), a smart company can much more cost-effectively leverage a distributed information/publishing model to get the word out AND track the effectiveness of the spend.

That's a huge paradigmatic shift. This is just the beginning of it, too.

Getting paid to blog...

I've written before about Web 2.0 and how the power of communication is shifting away from the major corporations to the individuals (like me!) creating user-generated content. Based on that content, people (like you) may make a buying decision.

A great example of that was posted by Dan Pink on his blog:

Minute Clinics are a big idea in health care. (Also, as if we needed it, it's further confirmation of how the Internet can turbocharge word-of-mouth-marketing. What's more convincing -- a TV ad or this post?)

CVS MINUTE CLINICFrom: XXXXXX On a recent Sunday, following a
suggestion posted on anotherneighborhood listserve, I went to the CVS Minute
Clinic at7809 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. After a wait of only afew minutes I
saw a pleasant and competent nurse-practitioner,Olanda Hathaway, who diagnosed
my ongoing problem as asinus infection, wrote me a prescription for an
antibiotic, andprinted out a sheet of instructions for treatment of my
symptoms.Because I have a Medicare card the visit cost me nothing.Yesterday I
received a get-well card from Ms. Hathaway.What service--better than any
doctor!

I understand that a Minute Clinic is coming soon to the CVSin Tenleytown.
This is a wonderful idea, and I hope it willalso be implemented at CVS stores in other Northwestneighborhoods.

I was reading Smart Money the other day (paper version, since the website is way too cluttered) and they mentioned a company that compensates bloggers to make mentions of products. It's called PayPerPost and to date, I've earned $14. Neat.

Obviously, I've got to remain authentic, but if I can honestly relate a story about a product and get paid for it, why not?