Another PayPerPost Virus

The blog payola virus is spreading yet again. In addition to PayPerPost, ReviewMe and CreamAid, a newcomer with the catchy name SponsoredReviews is preparing to launch.

The Blog Herald got a good first look, and notes that it differs only in the details from the other services. Disclosure is required. Bloggers can choose to write a positive or negative review. And, in a business model change, it looks like bloggers can set their price (PayPerPost lets advertisers set the price, and ReviewMe sets the price automatically based on how popular the blog is).

Unlike the others, SponsoredReviews gets right to the point on their home page. While none of the other sites will admit that search engine rankings is a big part of these scams, SponsoredReviews lists it right on their home page as a benefit to advertisers. At the end of the day, these advertisers won’t care all that much what exactly these blogs say, as long as they are linking back to their product. This is something I couldn’t get PayPerPost to quite admit in my podcast interview with them late last year.

So the third party costs are becoming pretty clear: misled readers, search engine pollution and credibility questions around the entire blogosphere. All for a few dollars a post.