Ted was one of a few presenters at FOOA who had some life in his presentation. My notes are here:
http://www.centernetworks.com/.....ng-wrap-up

For me it’s simple. Label it as an advertorial and it’s fine. Simple as that. I would gladly run that on my network of sites. Same as tv, radio, etc. does.

Too bad Ted has no interest in speaking with me, I am sure I could offer him some good advice.

I think PPP will be hurt by the fact that the majority of their bloggers are small and very small. Eventually the larger advertisers won’t want to advertise on a stay at home moms blog with 3 visitors (2 are family) a month.

I am curious why they even need so much funding? I could easily imagine a one to two person team managing such a website (nothing special with design or technology). According to the front page the top bloggers are making ~$500. Not bad, but really minuscule compared to other potential money makers.

I wonder what there burn rate is…I would imagine 10M could last such a site a lifetime or more assuming they generated some revenue and have the traffic that they do (currently alexa 1447).

Anyway, best of luck to them.

I tried using PPP on my blog once. I couldent keep it… I couldent stand writing about something someone else wanted. I would rather make my very meager income with advertlets.

Mike - this post confuses me - your whole second paragraph talks about it being a bad sign when there are no new investors - yet you end the first paragraph with “New investor DFJ Gotham, a fund affiliated with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, also participated.”

So which is it? A new investor in this round, thus making the second paragraph unwarranted, or NOT a new investor?

Again - just looking for clarification.

Rob

Yeah, I mean it’s so simple: either you say it’s advertorial, or you don’t! I don’t understand why/how PPP refused to ‘get it’, other then they can’t make a buck by being even slightly honest.

Rob, there WAS a new investor. I think Mike may be trying to say there should have been more?

I wish this company would go away. I’m sick of hearing about it.

Colleen - I think Mike was kind of hinting that Draper Fisher Jurveston and DFJ Gotham are somehow related, so DFJ Gotham doesn’t count as a new investor. I think

But I question the whole argument of not having a new investor in the round being a negative - if you have first round investors that are pleased with your progress, then why would they want to dilute their share? They wouldn’t. It’s not unusual for a company to require more than one round of funding. I think companies that DO bring in a bunch of different investors in later rounds scares me more - tells me the initial investors are losing faith, maybe…

Why do you turn positive news about this company into something negative. I beat you to breaking the news BTW

http://willifordblog.com/?p=1135

I don’t think it’s accurate to jump the gun on the “in trouble” accusation. I realize you said “generally” but you seem to have your mind made up that other investors don’t want to touch it. But maybe since the site was so risky, the investment was made upon a contingency or ROFR.

God…. DFJ already has a huge black eye from funding these spammers in the first place.

Why would they dig deeper?

Allen Stern; “I think PPP will be hurt by the fact that the majority of their bloggers are small and very small. Eventually the larger advertisers won’t want to advertise on a stay at home moms blog with 3 visitors (2 are family) a month.”

Not all “mommy” bloggers have small stats.
Monthly Statistics for May 2007
Total Visits - 95060
Total Pages - 211623

PPP is making some big strides, while they will always have their critics, like you guys here, they have some really good supporters as well.
And just stop lumping all of us “mommy” bloggers into the category of having no visitors.
Those are my monthly stats for May, I’m quite pleased with those if I do say so myself.

#12 - that’s awesome numbers, I am not lumping you in, it’s just that in my dealings with the posties, they seem to mostly be from one demo set. (and there is nothing wrong with that set).

If PPP wants to really hit the big time, they are going to need to do what I suggest above and also start to get other major bloggers like yourself to use their system.

And I don’t hate them like some others do.

I am definitely not of the liking of this company. Though they’ve made strides toward becoming more ethical, their morals and values were in the wrong place when they started.

If they truly understood the mindset of a blogger and the culture of the blogosphere, they would have never introduced a service as crumby as their initial launch. Shame on them.

-Aidan

http://www.MappingTheWeb.com

Mike, If that’s the nastiest you could get, you mist have had even less sleep that i had last night. Frankly, this PPP mommy blogger is disappointed in you.

Don’t under estimate “mommy bloggers” at all there is a huge demographic for them and many of then are making $1000 or more on other sites. Some sites would even be so lucky to have that demopgrahic cause the mommies are big money makers and traffic generators. I’ve seen some article written by mommy bloggers that have received over 2 mil visitors.

But anyway TechCrunch is a PPP hater I’d like PPP to come up with a system where bloggers can make money that works.

As for labeling the posts an advertorial, I put that question to my readers, and was surprised by their answer to me.
The majority of people who responded to me asking if they wanted me to label each post, said that no, it didn’t matter to them because they knew if I was being sincere or not in my reviews.
The people who have been reading me for the last 10 years I’ve been blogging, know that I’m a no BS kinda gal.
They said that by labeling each post as sponsored, it would feel less like an honest review because then it would have that label that said I was paid for it, that it wouldn’t feel as sincere.
I thought that was interesting.

Maybe they asked for more money to make more publicity, tool, attract more bloggers. It’s like stocks, if you love the company, you buy more because you are confident. The investor did that like Rob La Gesse mentioned.

You start with “Controversial”, maybe it was true some time ago. I just look at the Code of ethics and disclosure is required and bloggers can write what they want. I don’t know but it’s there now.

Even ReviewMe is not perfect.
http://stevesblogen.i2mfan.com.....vertisers/

Any “review type” site will have troubles at first(still a new concept) and it’s working on solutions that will make them better. But you need bloggers, advertisers and the sites to work together and point to flaws.

Please, correct me if I’m wrong

Mike,
Though there was a high level of interest from outside VCs we decided to keep the company more closely held and managed by limiting it to associates of our current investors. This was significant up round and I am happy that our existing investors are so excited about the company that they have decided to increase their holdings.

I am very pleased to have DFJ Gotham join our investor group and believe they provide a wealth of supplemental financial and strategic value to the company. The addition of DFJ Gotham provides us with a new investor base and “connections” in Manhattan along with our existing bases in the Bay Area, Boston and Florida.

Our current investors are fantastic and very engaged in our business, something I value tremendously. I am sure many of your readers know good VCs aren’t always easy to come by. I have heard my fair share of nightmares both in good times and in bad. I am lucky enough to have found a group of investors that get what we are doing, have deep pockets and are willing to fight through everything guys like you fling at us. I couldn’t be happier to be working with such a wonderful group of web trailblazers. They are helping our team build an amazing company…this is just the beginning.

I wish every entrepreneur was as gifted as I am with my investment team. I wonder how many great ideas have failed because the investors and entrepreneur weren’t aligned.

“It is generally a bad sign when a company is not able to bring in a new investor for a financing”

I disagree. Many times raising money from outside investors is a distraction, and if the existing investors are willing to offer a good valuation, it makes sense for the management team to focus on the business instead of fund raising. This can often be a sign of confidence.

@Allen Stern - as far as I am aware there are no upper limits placed on how much disclosure you wish to make, so if you wish to use a H1 heading to stated that something is an advertorial, that is your choice.

That being said, labelling compensated content as advertorial isn’t necessarily accurate, because advertorials generally only say positive things about a product. With PayPerPost you can say negative thing about a service, although totally unconstructive criticism probably wouldn’t be fair to an advertiser.

@Kat - you are doing great, and that is certainly more pageviews than I currently get monthly.

What many people especially in the tech field don’t realise is that there is a whole world of blogging outside tech, and among those 15 million active blogs, there are thousands of blogs about everyday things that have higher traffic than many prominent B listers, and possibly even some of the A listers.

Just because you don’t get a lot of links, doesn’t mean you don’t get a lot of traffic.

#21 Andy - what I am suggesting is that PPP change and go advertorial only. Then the pos/neg will never be an issue.

At FOOA, Jay Adelson was asked about that with their product placement and he skirted the issue.

And I completely agree that tech blogs are not as big in many cases than non-tech. I enjoy reading blogs of all types.

Okay, we get you don’t like PayPerPost but this news was great news and to me says a lot about PPP and how VC’s see PPP - as a great business model.

As for Allen and his demo set comment, that is so not true. There are techies, SAHM, businesses, weightloss and personal blogs, you name it, PPP has got them. I’m sure that PPP could probably let us know the numbers, the true demographics. As well, from their new roll out today, they have more MEN bloggers (59.6%) than us WOMEN as noted here:
http://payperpost.com/advertis.....phics.html

I’ve got two blogs with PPP, I may be tiny compared to some but my stats aren’t half bad…and I ain’t no SAHM, I’m a bean (aka accountant) by day. I love to blog, I might as well make a bit of money to do so.

Paid blogging is here to stay, whether you like it or not.

Like I said in comment #4 (and #8) above - the new *update* to this post affirms what I said before - the investors liked it enough to not only invest MORE, but to be the lead investors. And buy a seat on the board. Think what you want about the ehtics/morals/whatever - this company will make money.

Mike, Why don’t you comment on your own blog? There were some good questions asked here hours ago - and you ignored them. And now you post an update (should have been tittle an “oops”) - and still don’t join the “discussion” on your own blog. It’s only a discussion if you join it…

Rob

On top it says 26 comments, but there are only 24 shown… where did the other two go?

Rob

Hurrah for PPP. I know you aren’t a fan, but I think PPP is a great service, and that there disclosures have gone a long way towards answering some of the ethical dilemmas. I always include notices on every post noting that it is sponsored.

Obviously it’s great that PayPerPost received more money, but I’m not a business major so I have a few questions.

If this is the second time PPP has received money how many more times will they receive money? How much would be too much? Would investors cut their funding at anypoint?

#23 - If my comments are incorrect, I have no problem apologizing. I already had to buy donuts for the posties last year

I am really not against PPP.

#27 Mike - Yes, they could get another round of funding, and another, etc. But at every step investors balance the good/bad aspect of the investment. If they didn’t think PPP could make money, there would not have been a round two. And if in 6 months they don’t believe PPP will make money there will NOT be a round 3.

And yes, at some point SMART investors know when to get out. But the Genius investors? They are the one’s that know to stay in “just long enough”.

Rob

Andy: You are right, negative reviews don’t serve any purpose. If a blogger takes a review with a negative attitude from the start, then it’s not fair to the advertiser. A review serve to promote a service/product to people and to discover constructive recommendations. It’s like paying an external consultant.

Allen: If I follow your logic then all PPP type sites should follow that path: advertorial only or is it just PPP? I’m advertiser/blogger and would find the feedback interesting because the comments also give some free feedbacks.

Mike: Until investors don’t see a return soon and that depend on what “soon” means for them.

#28 Allen - You started off so well in making your point, that mommy blogger stereotype is a killer though.

As Kat pointed out, a mommy blogger can have a great deal of traffic. And as Trish states, the demographic makeup of PayPerPost doesn’t line up with your statement.

Hopefully more people will get their facts straight and ditch the condescending perception of moms who are also bloggers. If you want to make a point about low traffic blogs, call them what they are, ditch the stereotyping.

Hey - I am a single father, stay at home worker/parent/blogger. Doesn’t that make me an uber-daddy-blogger, or something?

Rob

please understand there is NOTHING wrong with mommy (daddy) bloggers - I think its awesome - in fact, I wish my mother would blog (but she can’t barely use AOL without breaking it!).

Imagine for one parent (or two) to stay home with the kids and still earn a living off sharing information they enjoy. It’s awesome.

What I was suggesting is that (from the reports/emails) is that a large percentage of their posties have low traffic. If it came across incorrectly, i apologize. And actually both of my sentences in comment #1 are indep. of each other.

And #31 Sindy to answer your question on your blog - so far all I have dealt with and seen in coverage of PPP is the majority of mommy bloggers…the people who came over to CN when I spoke about PPP, the people here, etc. So why is it evil for me to say that what I see is mommy bloggers?

And finally before turning this box off for tonight.. there is one thing that PPP has… posties that will battle for them - that will certainly help PPP continue to grow. The posties scour the net for anything related to PPP and swarm like a band of killer bees. Some of the best viral marketing possible.

It’s like, Mike writes yet another negative post about PPP and Ted picks up the postie phone

#33 It’s not evil, it’s incorrect. The “majority” of PayPerPost posties simply cannot be mommy bloggers due to the demographic makeup. I am not disputing that the majority of blogs in the marketplace are low traffic, what I am disputing is that the majority of those low traffic blogs are written by mommy bloggers. If you had stats of all the blogs, perhaps you could prove that the female bloggers hold a greater percentage of the low traffic blogs. But you don’t have that information so you’re purely speculating and feeding a stereotype.

My blog is pretty low key and has relatively low traffic, however I still had over 5000 visits in May alone; 2100+ uniques. That’s nothing compared to Kat, but it’s certainly more than 3 people.

Haha, PPP is indeed a great tool but lately people are trying to do what PPP does them selves on webmaster forums.

#32 Rob - If the shoe fits …

You do realize though that titles aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, right?

Hmm… I wonder what happens when search engines starts devaluing all of these sites with Postie links and ReviewMe links?

All of the sudden PPP advertisers are not getting any link juice for their dollars spent with the posties and the blogger carnivals that are skewing PPP blogger’s traffic numbers don’t really generate any quality traffic for their ad dollars so why spend anymore money with PPP?

I am not surprised PPP took an up round because Ted Murphy must have lots of ad industry connections that are willing to try PPP and I’m sure they have seen some decent results thus far so client retention and revenue has been good. On the other hand, Matt Cutts has spelled out Google’s intentions on the paid link front quite plainly and I think it is safe to say that the results current PPP advertisers are witnessing are at risk in the near future and this in turn places the whole PPP model at risk.

My prediction — Matt Cutts and Google will eat PPP’s lunch and take back any ad dollars that Ted and Co., are just starting to get excited about. In Google’s mind it’s a win-win. PPP exists to game the search engines and creates spammy results AND it also takes away revenue (however miniscule that amount is compared to the whole pie). Either way it’s a no-brainer for them from a quality and business perspective.

However, this is not the first time VCs have gone where angels fear to tread. Good luck to PPP in your cat and mouse game with Google. Guess who the mouse is?

TO #19 - Did your investors pay you to write that those nice things about them??

I would love to better understand what PPP actually needs this type of money for. Even if you buy into the PPP concept and business model, based on what I can see there’s no compelling rationale for the amount invested.

I’ve reviewed PayPerPost, ReviewMe and CreamAid as someone who’s actually used it as an advertiser. I found out some interesting things about how they do things. They all have their own charms and faults, but I think PPP is here to stay.

http://www.merchantcircle.com/.....-what.html

After 10 mil

- would it be a stretch to say / The founders no longer have a majority share?

-RB

Your insinuation that this is a bad sign is wrong. I’d think that as a former attorney that dealt with startup companies and venture investors and as a former entrepreneur at a venture backed startup that you would have understood this better.
Investors oftentimes lead a Series B even if they were in the A to avoid any dilution b/c they believe things are going really really well. I guess when Sequoia led the Series B for Youtube it wasn’t a good thing either? I’m sure Youtube couldn’t find anyone else to give them a Series B in all of Silicon Valley. As an entrepreneur you also have to think about changing the Board dynamics and objectives of people in different securities by brining on a new investor/partner.

PPP is a link spamming scheme…and everyone who has money invested in that company knows it.

I personally see no issues with the “ethics” part of being paid to blog about something - but that is not the business PPP or its posties are in.

PPP facilitates the buying and selling of text links - that is their business. Ted came up with a really smart way of doing it - turn a bunch of stay-at-home moms and struggling students (or whoever) into spammers @ $10 a pop and keep a portion.

Can/will they make money?…sure they will - in the short term.

Will the major SE’s work hard to kill any link coming from these spammers?…of course - I would bet money that they are working on it right now.

Dave G:
It’s more than just buying text link. The advertiser get some feedback from reviewers. You don’t get that with other types of traditional advertisement(TLA, Adsense or Banners). Plus, the “stay-at-home moms…” get experience writing reviews that will make them more professional in time. I have also seen poor reviews from the competitions.

P.S. I was not aware of the controversies about PPP and people seems to judge them on past issues. You adapt or die and I guest they adapted to criticisms.