ScooptWords blog

Briefest of updates

Still a bit quiet on the blog as I settle into a new country, culture and all. Just a brief update on one of the commissions we got through lately. It's an eight blogger deal. The story will spread over 4 to 6 pages. Full links to each blogger will be included along with prominent individual biographies. Great publicity for the bloggers. A big name magazine and a bit of cash too, which is nice. Go bloggers.

Viva la 'J' list

The New York Times runs a short feature on journalists, namely Om Malik, Rafat Ali and Nina Munk, who've gone it alone, left the deadwood behind, received varying degrees of funding and made a success of it. The money quote comes from Ali,

“A lot of journalists are going to have to rethink what they are doing if they are going to survive,” said Mr. Ali. “If you stand back and do nothing, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? The newspaper you are working at could go away and then you won’t have a place to work.” via Cyberjournalist.

Gloom and doom in the press is one thing, but look beyond these 'A' listers who are scurrying their way out rather successfully and you'll discover a whole lot more bloggers earning $100 in Adsense here, $1000 there, a commission this month, a BlogAd next month, a new contact today, a regular client tomorrow. These bloggers who find their blog 'leads to something unexpected' far outweigh those like Malik, Ali and Munk who impress with headlines, but who represent the more freakish corner of blogdom.

Technorati Tags: benefits of blogging, blog marketing

Ad men gone nuts

A new service called PayPerPost is causing something of a brouhaha out there in the internets. Advertisers use the service, bloggers sign up and blog about products for cash. The reason for the curtain twitching is, of course, the lack of disclosure and the idea that this could pollute our blogosphere. The bloggers that are taken seriously, linked to, commented on and commissioned to write for commercial publications will likely have more interest in ScooptWords than marketing/PR shoddily passed of as 'user generated content' via PayPerPost. But, one thing's for sure, they've certainly kicked up a stink. Here's some of the reaction I've picked up on,

"We're on the cusp of a tragedy of the marketing commons, and trust and credibility in the "oh so promising" consumer-generated media (CGM) space -- particularly the blogosphere -- are the rapidly depleting resources.  PayPerPost.com, which basically pays consumers to write reviews on blogs about brands, products, or companies, is far from the first or only online abuser of the "commons," but it's clearly the most audacious and outrageous. It's also the most unrepentant -- what with the CEO seemingly relishing in every blog byte of negative publicity or criticism about his model," from Consumer Generated Media.

"Is this a bad joke designed to torpedo the blogosphere’s credibility in general? It doesn’t appear to be. If we’re all trying to negotiate a space between Hollywood and mainstream journalism, this is taking things way too far towards the most insipid parts of Hollywood," from Techcrunch.

"I should say that I don’t mind the idea of sponsored posts or being paid to write things about a company - but I’d want to ensure that that type of post was transparent and that the post added some value to the reader’s experience. While I don’t know anything apart from what is on their site, PayPerPost leaves me feeling a little uneasy and I’d recommend caution to bloggers," says ProBlogger.

"I can’t blame them for trying. I don’t think this is evil. I do think this will be a tremendous hassle for blogging because it because it blurs the line between marketing and non-marketing content. I’m also deeply skeptical that companies will pay for a post if the entire concept is in general disrepute — it’s like paying for bad PR. And speaking of which, I don’t think companies will pay unless they can ensure a positive result, which seems like a logistical impossibility," from Publishing 2.0.

For what it's worth, I doubt PayPerPost will last too long, but the idea might. With the blogosphere as large as it is, and representing all walks of life, there will always be those who'll gladly take the unethical, undisclosed buck. Hopefully they won't be the majority or the loudest voices.

More cash from content

If you've signed already up with ScooptWords, or you're thinking about it, it's reasonable enough for us to assume it's because you think you can make cash from your content. Selling blog content is one thing, being commissioned to write a story is another. Darren Rowse at ProBlogger, who earns plenty cash fom his 20 blog empire, regularly dishes out useful tips on advertising, linking, blog design, writing and blog promotion. ProBlogger is well worth with a dig around. A good place to start is by reading How bloggers make money online.