More than just a Google whore
February 25th, 2007 by Michael Kwan|
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I recently went out for another dot com pho adventure, but this time around there were far fewer people at the table. Anyways, Stephen Fung brought up a PayPerPost sponsored entry I did on UK credit cards, asking if I felt dirty for doing blog posts like that. After all, I don’t have very much to do with UK credit cards, so why would I be writing about it?
Well, I don’t really have any excuse or shame associated with doing posts like that, because even John Chow said that PayPerPost is the most profitable ad network for low traffic blogs, considering that we lowly beginnners can’t get in on the IntelliTXT, TTZ Media Network, Text Link Ads or ReviewMe gravy trains. I like PayPerPost because it also helps inspire me to write about things I may not otherwise think about… like UK credit cards.
In any case, I thought I’d repost a comment I made on Stephen Fung’s blog, replying to the question of whether “PayPerPost Posts Make You Feel Dirty.”
How did I know that my UK credit card post was going to show up on this blog? 
And no, I didn’t take my blog down out of shame. I was surprised this morning when I woke up and found out that my entire site is down, not just the blog, but the main freelance writing site as well. I think it might have something to do with me changing registars or something.
I don’t think that I feel particularly dirty after writing a PPP post, especially since I always include a “this post was sponsored by” or “brought to you by” type tag at the bottom. According to the PPP site (at least as I remember it), they encourage you to say it was sponsored by the company you’re linking to and not sponsored by PPP. I guess that’s changed.
When and if my blog ever gets itself up and kicking again, you’ll notice that I’ve included the review my post button now as well. I should put that disclosure badge at the bottom too.
On a side note, when you do the “review my post”, you get $7.50 for referring them another blogger and the poster gets $7.50 for writing the review post. HOWEVER, if you put the “sign up” or whatever button and a person clicks, signs up, and writes their first PPP post, you get $15 (but no backlink). Pros and cons, I guess.
Sorry for the long-winded comment, but without my blog working, I have nowhere else to say this (I’ll probably repost this comment there when it’s running again).
Yup, I’m more than just a Google whore (as John Chow once called himself). I do the AGLOCO (aff), Text Link Ads (aff), and PayPerPost (aff) thing(s) too.
On a side note, I’m happy that my blog is up and running again. It’s been down for the majority of today, but it seems to be fully functional again. The main freelance writing site is working too, but there are still some strange kinks that need to be ironed out. I suspect it has something to do with domain registar transfer.
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You left out big time comment whore
How does Mike do it! 
Oh right! The comment whoring. I’m a little afraid this is going to get quoted out of context, but what the hey… “I’m a whore of all trades.”
How about…
“Equal Opportunity Whore”
I’m behind you Michael. I’ve taken some criticism on my sponsored posts as well. I still see some people complaining about Adsense ads. Sponsored posting is just a new form of advertising. The only question is whether it will be the new Adsense or the new “punch the monkey”. Only time will tell.
John is right though, it is by far the most profitable program out there for the small blog. 90% of my blog’s income comes from them.
I think so long as there’s full disclosure, there shouldn’t be any issue. It’s similar to when a celebrity does an infomercial, I guess.
[...] Beyond the Rhetoric wasn’t always on the industry standard Wordpress that is the choice of Dot Com Moguls. When Michael started off, he was using some weird, free, GoDaddy thing that didn’t give him the flexibility to start whoring his site out. Since then, he’s made the change and is now ready to be the whore he really is. In fact, he’s both a PayPerPost and a ReviewMe whore! Does anyone need a UK Credit Card? [...]
[...] nothing inherently wrong with blog marketing). Sure, I’ve been accused of being a Google whore and I’ve accepted a PayPerPost opportunity or two, but I write here because I want to write, [...]
I agree with you Michael as long as there is a disclosure I don’t see anything wrong with it. I actually find some of the reviews like on John Chows site very helpful. Some of the sites of products that he reviews are some that I never seen before or something that I been looking for but just couldn’t find it. My suggestion to is do what you feel comfortable with and disregard what everyone else thinks about what you are doing.