The Article Writer

Back in October 2003, I was accepted into Google’s AdSense program and immediately began to reap its bountiful benefits. At that time I had just one site — a niche business aviation community for corporate flight attendants — but that didn’t stop me from making a lot of money off of this outrageously profitable PPC program. Yes, those were the days when earning $2, $5, even as much as $16.18 per click from private jet charter brokers was the norm. Until that keyword segment imploded in early 2005 (apparently, click fraud brought it all down) I was regularly receiving monthly checks for several hundred dollars to well over one thousand dollars. Indeed, when everything peaked in February 2005, I pulled in $2100 in one month’s time. Well, that was then and this is now — I have decided to kiss AdSense good-bye, as I have turned off this blog’s AdSense plug-in and removed the tower ad occupying the sidebar. Why did I do it? For a couple of reasons, reasons I will make plain as you continue to read.

Good Money, Followed By Little Money

Once everything imploded in Spring 2005, I was faced with a sharp decrease in AdSense income almost immediately. The checks (or credits to my bank account) still came every month, but the amounts I received were paltry compared to my peak months. Still, as I built out my initial site and built up several new websites, the Google money began to increase once again. However, I never got any higher than $600-$700 per month try as I might to squeeze out every bit of income I could through carefully placing ads as appropriate. Yes, AdSense had peaked for me, but it was never my chief source of income — press releases, article writing, content writing, and web design carried me through then as it does for me to this day.

Building A Better Blogging Reputation

I began to blog in earnest in December 2005 and at one point I was blogging on as many as 9 blogs. It wasn’t difficult to maintain each blog, but I soon realized that I had little interest in maintaining each site. So, in May 2005 I shut down four blogs and by the end of June I sold off three others. Today, this blog and my auto blog are all that remain, an amount that I am very comfortable with. Instead of being known as a manager of a blogging network, I prefer to be recognized as an avid blogger who spends considerable time researching, writing, editing, and posting high quality articles. Along with this change, I have raised The Article Writer brand by sending article proposals to magazines and other publications, an effort that is beginning to pay off.

Gone, But Not Completely

I am all for bloggers monetizing their sites and I believe that exploring the various options out there can help them achieve a higher income level with some hard work on their parts. As for me, monetization is secondary as I want my readers to come away from this blog with information that will empower them. If what I write helps my readership, then I believe I have succeeded in my endeavor — to write high quality articles that cause readers to take some sort of action.

Although AdSense is gone from this blog, Google ads will remain on my other blog as well as on select web pages associated with this site. Select text advertising will continue to be found here and the occasional paid post may show up provided that it meets my strict requirements.

In all, I hope that my readers find their visits to this blog to be a useful one without having to navigate past inserted ads or anything else that detracts from their reading experience.

Photo Credit: Rubenshito of Las Palma, Spain. Please visit his blog for more information.

$10 Million In Private Funding

PayPerPost, the blog advertising company that got its start in June 2006, has announced additional VC funding to the tune of $7 million. This amount, coupled with an initial infusion of $3 million, brings the total monies invested in that company to $10 million. Led by CEO Ted Murphy, PayPerPost is bringing what they are calling a “disruptive new service” to the world of online marketing, particularly through their PPP Direct enterprise which permits bloggers to set a price for blog advertising.

PayPerPost v. ReviewMe

The PayPerPost funding comes just as the company rolls out PPP Direct. Much like its competitor ReviewMe, PayPerPost with its PPP Direct plan allows publishers to set their own rates and to negotiate with advertisers. For example, an advertiser on this blog would be charged $99 to have me blog on their behalf — PayPerPost would get 10% of that price or $9.90, while I would receive $89.10. With ReviewMe, my $100 charge would be split evenly — $50 for ReviewMe and $50 would go to me. Clearly, PayPerPost has the price advantage something that they hope to capitalize upon as they turn everything up a notch.

Not Without Controversy

I doubt Ted Murphy is afraid of controversy — judging simply by the way that PayPerPost is set up (colorful, aren’t they my dear posties?), my thinking is that Murphy sees controversy as just one more way to stir the primordial promotional pot for his business.

Soon after the company’s launch, SEO virtuoso Michael Arrington professed that PayPerPost sold the souls of bloggers. In November 2006, Arrington warmly announced the launch of ReviewMe, disclosing that this competing product (developed by TextLinkAds, an advertiser on Arrington’s TechCrunch blog) was better than PayPerPost as the review prices would be based on Alexa ratings. In addition, ReviewMe would require bloggers to fully disclose when a review was a paid advert whereas up to that time PayPerPost did not (a policy since amended by Murphy).

Between the time the two articles were published, a rash of interviews, articles, and other media opportunities came and went including a podcast interview of Murphy by Arrington and a PPP virus article written by Arrington that once again lambasted PayPerPost. During the Toronto MESH conference this past May, Arrington called Ted Murphy the most evil person in the room.

A Thinly Disguised Marketing Ploy?

Speaking of transparency, my thinking is that Arrington and Murphy revel in their ongoing feud as both benefit enormously from the ongoing public sniping. Case in point — if Arrington so despises Murphy then why do PayPerPost ads show up when I search TechCrunch? Yes, see for yourself: PayPerPost uses AdWords and TechCrunch can easily filter out www.payperpost.com via AdSense if they wanted to do their part to eradicate the world of PayPerPost. Hmmm…

Back to the Subject

It is too early to tell how well the PPP Direct program will work. Just this morning I included the badge on this blog following up my placement of a badge on JetEmployment earlier in the week. I am not holding my breath waiting for a bunch of advertising offers, but I am also not using the regular PayPerPost marketplace all that much either as few of their current batch of ads interest me. For the record: only PPP Direct is now used on this blog and the posts must be highly relevant to the subject matter in order to be considered.

Google’s Say

PayPerPost’s success (and for that matter ReviewMe and Text Link Ads) may rest on what Google decides to do with blog advertising down the road. Right now, Google is encouraging people to fink on each other by reporting paid links. Obviously, these aforementioned products would fall within Google’s campaign to eradicate the web of paid links, possibly forcing these companies to abandon their business models. Interestingly, SEO Refugee reported on Monday that “do no evil” Google sells PR7 (or is it PR8?) links on their pages for the royal sum of $1995 (cough*wheeze).

A Third Option

Leaving aside Google, bloggers can always choose to find their own advertisers as outlined by Maki recently on his Dosh Dosh blog. However, as I commented on Maki’s post, the 10% fee by PPP is a relative bargain — I prefer to outsource some of my administrative responsibilities so that I can continue to concentrate on what I prefer to do and that is to write.

Related Readings:

Unrepentant PayPerPost Gets Funding
Reviewing ReviewMe
PR8 Links From Google.com Only $1995
Andy Beard’s Comments About the Additional PPP Funding
PayPerPost Direct

I signed up with PayPerPost in October 2006 listing this blog and several others I manage with them. To date, I have posted more than 400 paid posts, spread out over 8 blogs. This particular blog hasn’t seen too many paid opportunities, mostly because I simply do not want it to turn into an advertising forum. A few pennies derived from AdSense clicks is fine with me, although most of my other blogs are fair game when it comes to paid posting.

Here Comes PPP Direct

If you were to google a search for the phrase PPP Direct you’d find Andy Beard’s piece, “Exclusive - Pay Per Post Direct Changes The Paid Review Landscape“ sitting near the top of the SERPs. I won’t repeat what Andy said in his article, but if you are looking for a thorough explanation about PPP Direct and how it can impact your blog, then Andy’s article is a must read. You may also want to read what PayPerPost has to say about their release as well; you can do that right here.

Not Without Controversy

PayPerPost isn’t without controversy especially with those who dislike the thought of most any type of blog advertising. Indeed, PPP was slammed previously for not requiring bloggers to disclose which articles were paid adverts and which were not. Disclosure badges or some sort of designation for each post (sponsored post, for example) were later requirements instituted by the company. Even then, there is a segment of the blogosphere who still looks upon PPP, ReviewMe, and similar plans as being the worst thing to happen to blogs since spam.

A Better Deal Than ReviewMe

The most intriguing aspect of PPP Direct is what it offers to bloggers — you get to keep a much higher percentage of the funds derived from your post. ReviewMe, for instance, has a 100% mark up rate — if an advertiser is charged $60 for a post, you will see only $30. PPP Direct’s mark up is only 10%, with half of that money set aside for administrative costs (that $60 post puts $54 in your pocket). Furthermore, you can haggle with potential advertisers to set a mutually agreed upon rate — this means you get full control over the pricing process.

Raking In The Bucks

To date, I have made approximately $3500 with PayPerPost, with April 2007 bringing in just over $1300 alone. I worked my tail off to find the posts that I liked and although the money is helpful, the time that was expended by me to reach that amount was significant. There were several days when I simply kept the PayPerPost tab open, stopping by frequently to grab an offer before it disappeared. Most of the higher paying ones (ten dollars and up) evaporate within minutes. If you don’t snag them immediately, you have lost your chance.

The Google Factor

The long term success of PayPerPost could hinge upon Google’s interpretation of these types of posts. If Google sees them as paid links, then the fall out will be tremendous. Google has been threatening to penalize sites for paid links and most PayPerPost opportunities are easily detectable. Wouldn’t it be awful if all of those PR4 or PR5 blogs suddenly dropped to PR2 with the next update if Google decided to institute some sort of penalty? Worse, a sandbox effect or complete loss of PageRank could be Google’s way of putting a stop to this method of blog advertising completely.

For the moment, I may post one PPP Direct badge on an automotive blog, but I’ll wait to include some others after I measure its effectiveness. I’d much rather give PPP Direct a test drive before deciding to add their widgets.

What Others Are Saying About PayPerPost

If you want to read what others are saying about PPP Direct, visit Dosh Dosh for Maki’s review and, of course, you can read what Michael Arrington says about what he considers to be a controversial blogging service in his article titled, “How Much Is Your Soul Worth? PayPerPost Now Lets Bloggers Set The Price.”

No matter where you stand with paid posting, it is currently an important part of the blogosphere. Ultimately, Google may have the final say on just how widespread paid posting’s reach will be, something that bloggers and advertisers should think about before taking that step.