So, how will advertisers find you, until we implement that directory? Well if you’re already blogging with PPP then advertisers already see your blogs and your posts on their opportunities. While they browse the posts you’ve made on marketplace opps they’ll read your blog and if they like you can now make you an offer.

You also mention that this is a rip off for bloggers. I’m not sure how you arrived at that conclusion. We don’t charge bloggers to use this service, so there’s no ripping off there. Also, unlike REviewMe etc, we only charge 10% commission on top of the post. That’s the key here. If you charge 20 dollars for a PPP Direct post, you’ll get 20 dollars. We charge an additional 2 to the advertiser. Now, given all the processing fees for receiving that money from the advertiser, then paying the blogger, etc etc, we’re actually probably making a whole lot less than that 10%. So, no, we’re not ripping bloggers off.

You also made the point that PPP Direct is pointless. If we are relying on advertisers finding you through general surfing, why not just deal with the advertisers directly? Well, if you go that route then the onus is on you, the blogger, to handle the logistics of exchanging money, chasing payments, swapping personal information with someone you don’t know, etc etc.

I not sure that some of your logic adds up though. If advertisers are finding my blog after I’ve posted on their opportunities, haven’t I already written about their product? What incentive is there for them to pay me to write ANOTHER post about it? And if they’ve visited my blog, can’t they organize it through my contact form?

I’ll concede that perhaps “ripping off” isn’t the best choice of words - perhaps “short-changing” is better? While I’ll still get what I charge, I’m getting less than what the advertiser is willing to pay for the review. They could contact me directly and I could receive the full $22 that they’re willing to pay instead of just $20. That may not seem like a big difference in that example, but if we’re talking 10 John Chow reviews, that 10% adds up to $400.

In terms of the logistics of organizing a review yourself..I’ve done it plenty of times and it’s not that hard: “Here’s my paypal address, send me the money and I’ll write the review.”

I just don’t see what advantage this brings to bloggers.

Kumiko

However, the PPP Direct transaction widget is a no-brainer for bloggers interested in those advertisers and/or already carrying a “pay me to blog” widget that charges 50-100% markups.

I’d encourage you to try it and see if you actually make less money than before…somehow I doubt that will be the case.

From my experience, advertising and promotion is 110% about building relationships with those who are promoting your site.

I truly believe that it’s better to promote your product on one or two “big name” sites rather than lots of smaller ones. Often the smaller sites just write about what the A-listers write which results in you getting free reviews of your product anyway.

If you took the time to actually email the sites directly and form a relationship with the blogger, you may find that the promotions you receive on the blogs create a better ROI than what you initially planned.

The most successful reviews that I’ve written on this site have been the ones where the advertiser took the time to write to me and discuss the style/focus of the review rather than just a “hey write about this site for $20″ message.

I get the impression that a lot of advertisers are wasting a lot of money by not forming relationships with bloggers. Whether done through ReviewMe or PPP, it’s all about the relationship:

Zac Johnson on bad reviews

Shoemoney pays for reviews in other languages

Josh Dorkin receives a useless review

me myself got my own thought regarding this new PPP direct. once, i’m thinking it’s better for me to send an email to advertiser myself.

how to find the advertiser?
it’s easy…. don’t ask for me for that. everybody knows that.

Kumiko

You are right about building relationship but time may be a factor that advertisers can’t afford.

I’m 100% with you on the building relationships issue. But while you’re looking at it as missing the point, I actually see Direct as an opportunity to start some relationships.

I think this is pretty cool though because while you wrote a great post, the comments are way more interesting

PPP Direct will pay you more for posts ordered through their widget than posts ordered through the ReviewMe widget. Period.

PPP may pay more for reviews ordered directly from your blog, but I can make even MORE by cutting them out and facilitating the review myself.

Don’t kid yourself - the big name advertisers don’t spend time surfing the net for blogs..they just go to ReviewMe.

Any reviews ordered directly from your site will be by your existing readers and these reviews are easy to organize yourself and cut out both PPP and ReviewMe.

But what if i order a review from u through ur contact form… U write the review and i deny payment for no reason. Also it will not sound good to ask some advance payment to right the review.

This will not happen in case of established players like PPP and why not shell out that little extra money for the security instead of allowing reviewME to take away shit loads of your money.

ReviewMe and PPP Direct do the work for you, which is good. They also have a solid reputation, which is good. THe only con is that they take money, and PPP Direct takes very very little, which is good. PPP Direct gets my vote.

@Ramanujam - Actually that’s exactly how direct reviews work. I do ask for payment in advance and if you’re not confident about that, I’ll put you in contact with many satisfied customers who received a review promptly after payment. A lot of my income comes from reviews and if I decided to start ripping people off that would all disappear!