I got an email yesterday that my blog had been approved for PayPerPost. I had honestly forgotten that I had even applied. When I first signed up a month or so ago, I got a message that my blog was ineligible because I had to maintain it for at least 90 days, but now I suppose I have overcome that burden and qualify.
For those not in the know, payperpost is a company that pays bloggers to post about various products and services (a marketing scheme known as astroturfing). I'm not sure how I feel about it now. When I signed up I saw dollar signs, but now I've become much more zen about my blog and see it more as a way of interfacing with the world than a way of making money (really, the two cents or so per day from adsense is not paying my bills). I'm wondering if implementing paid posting would in some way damage the integrity of my blog, and am relatively certain that it would hurt the readability and in some way annoy my loyal readers. On the other hand, if I can pick and choose what to write about and limit paid posts to once a week or less, I could maybe minimize those issues while still picking up some (much appreciated) extra money. I'll have to think about it some more.
I'm thinking the same thing. I have some Google ads on my blog for fun but I don't see a point (yet) in making sponsored posts. The worst part is when there are like 3 or 4 sponsored posts in a row, which really destroys the continuity of the posts.
ReplyDeleteI did Pay Per Post about a year ago. They definitely pay, but several of my readers let me know that it detracted from the quality of my blog. Perhaps I simply didn't integrate them well enough, or perhaps I did too many.
ReplyDeleteI do know, however, that I give a little, "ah shucks," sigh when I see that one of the bloggers whose posts I look forward to reading has done a Pay Per Post. I never unsub because of it because I know they're just trying to pay off debt or medical bills, but I know that a lot of readers unsubbed from me when I did it.