Are Izea “Allies” doing more harm than good?
Before I continue, I need to point out that I use PayPerPost to monetize three of my blogs, one of which is fairly popular. in that sense, this is written from the standpoint of a Postie who is caught up in all of this whether he likes it or not.
In the ongoing battle between Google, bloggers, and Izea (formerly PayPerPost), some of the loudest supporters of Izea seem to be doing more harm than good. Izea has strong support in the blogosphere from such notables as Andy Beard and Dustin Brewer, who not only support the company in a positive way, but do so with the kind of restraint that even their strongest opponents have difficulty arguing against them without sounding a bit foolish. There are, of course, other not so notable bloggers out there who seem to be doing their level best to make all of Izea’s “Posties” look bad.
For a specific example, I’m turning my attention to Jack Spirko, who has been posting comments both on the PayPerPost blog and his own blog at ComTechNews. Mr. Spirko seems to have dissension in the ranks in mind. His comments on the PPP blog are full of strong rhetoric as to why no advertiser will ever want to use the service if it doesn’t help to elevate his or her precious PR. (I’m not going to quote his comments verbatim, they’re public record, go see for yourself.)
I’m not saying that Jack doesn’t have a point. He does. (He’s also in the unfortunate situation that two of my own blogs are. sitting at PR0 status, thanks to Google’s recent Slap down.) PR does count for something. Unfortunately, Jack also posted his ideas in a recent post on his blog titled Is PayPerPost Loosing Its Way The Truth About Real Rank. I have not replied to him directly, simply because I believe that it would be pointless for me to do so, and because I feel that he’s doing more to fuel the collateral damage to bloggers using PayPerPost than some of their enemies are.
Mr. Spirko goes on and on about how he feels the system should be run. While it’s fine to have an opinion on a controversial subject such as this one, the fact that he’s on record as being a supporter of PayPerPost is a bit damaging in this case. He’s gaining traffic, and giving fuel to the opposing side in the simplest way possible, through the horrible use of both language and writing.
Mr. Spirko may very well be a whiz at online marketing and advertising, but he’s not a whiz at English. His post is full of misspellings and grammatical errors that, in the end, simply make anything he has to say look unimportant. This is fuel for the other side, plain and simple. The fact that Izea CEO Ted Murphy has taken the time to respond to Mr. Spirko tells me more about his character than anything, as most company executives would have ignored these kinds of comments.
There are others who seem to be claiming to support IZEA and Ted Murphy’s new battle strategy on one hand, but on the other seem to be working against any positive progress. Mr. Spirko just happened to be the only one I’ve seen so far that actually left a link to his own site.
In the end, I would like to put out a strong cautionary message to any “Posties” who feel the need to blog about this subject. Please. Please, check your spelling and grammar. Make sure that your idea is thought out and thought through. The best way to stand in this situation is to stand united. Feeding the “other side” with exactly the type of “blogosphere pollution” that they blame every one of us with is not the answer.
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Well you know I have always felt that a massive blog rant is just that a massive rant. Something you take the time to say because it needs to be said. You don’t do it to please English teachers.
I have also found that when people attack your spelling and grammar it is because your ideas, concepts and explanations are to powerful to challenge.
Did I go on and on about what Izea should be doing, yes and let me tell you I have their CEOs attention. The last time I got someones attention this way it was Donad Trump’s “Trump University” and my firm is now doing their Pay Per Click, Organic Search, General Consulting and in fact today their VP of Marketing publicly on his blog that my firms PR efforts where and I quote, “the first time I truly feel confident that we got what we paid for”. If you would like to read this post by Mr. Katz you can do that here,
http://www.trumpuniversity.com/blogs/marketingmaestro/index.cfm?blogpost_id=1124
Oh yea that all started when I posted at my blog saying that DT had a blog that sucked and what I picked on what that they were more concerned with grammar and spelling then real ideas and conversational tone.
So here is what I have to say to you.
First, the fact that I allowed your track back to my post will probably give your blog more traffic then you have ever had before. Perhaps you may wish to consider that before you pick on my spelling?
Second, Mr. Murphy is a good guy and I like him a lot and I do not question his character. He did respond though mostly because I had a mutual acquaintance that will remain nameless contact him and ask him to read my post. I believe Mr. Murphy read my post mostly because he was told that I have really been dead on about a lot or real messes online in the past.
Third, I would also say you may want to wait and see what my results of pointing out the massive holes in the Real Rank algo before you say I am doing harm. Bud, I think you were a low traffic blogger trying to bait my comments now that you have them, just please do me the courtesy I did for you and allow them.
Fourth, what do you want us to “unite” behind? The flawed Real Rank system? If you read my post (the concepts and reality rather then spell checked me) then you know how bad it is. Let me say I only scratched the surface. I could make a way for you to buy an elevated real rank as a commodity really easy, I won’t but I could that means if anyone every cares about real rank someone will. I know the black hat world better then most, I did a service pointing out these holes. There are much bigger let’s call them “truck sized” holes in this system.
Fifth, As you just go torched the way my blog did you may want to pay very close attention to my post that will go live on Monday morning. It will tell you what to do about it and how to prevent additional attacks by Google in the future.
Look I think Real Rank sucks and I care about people like you first, Izea second and Google well I am clear on that.
Jack Spirko
I never met Jack, but his comment on PPP was compelling so I wanted to check out his website. What do his comments say about his character? He just sounds like someone who has seen a potential problem and is concerned, like many of us are, and has used his website as a platform to express his opinions.
If I were an advertiser looking at how the websites were being ranked I would be concerned also.
I don’t write too many reviews for PP. Many of them don’t fit with my website, and I also don’t think six hours is enough time to write a review for a product or service that I know nothing about. I write for a few other review companies, like Sponsored Reviews, they give me seven days to write a review. I’ve written about my dissatisfaction with the time on my website.
I’ll write a review occasionally simply because I’ve always written reviews on my websites, mainly personal reviews. If I know of a product or service that my readers will be interested in I’ll write about it whether I’m paid or not. My reviews are always over the word count.
I take my time in reviewing those products or services and will only take them if I’m genuinely interested in it. My readers respect my reviews because they are thorough I make those reviews mine. A few have purchased or subscribed to services I’ve recommended. The same way they have purchased items from me as an affiliate marketer. That’s the main way I make money online with my personal websites.
If I were, PPP I would listen to what he and others have to say about this issue and make sure that they do whatever is possible to make sure it cannot be abused. I would look at ways they can fix this issue before it becomes a problem. If not you will most likely have posties complaining about people doing unethical things to boost their Real Rank.
I recall that a few posties found a way to game the system where the top paying reviews were automatically being sent as soon as they appeared. They were alerted because of some type of script they used. Several posters voiced their frustrating because PPP listened they could fix the problem.
If the posters said nothing it still would be a problem. To be heard at times you have to point out the problems, or potential problems, that you may see. It does not mean that you are attacking them.
It’s good customer service to respond to those who talk about your company whether it’s positive or negative. I do the same with my business. I’ve been a business owner for almost seven years. I also do that with my personal websites. I listen.
Praise is always good so is constructive criticism. Why? It shows me how I can make my business or personal websites even better.
The new ranking system won’t affect me simply because I don’t take a lot of reviews. I’m not dependent on reviews to support myself some people are.
Someone that is dependent on PPP for an income and is not “gaming the system” might face problems they might not be able to get some of the higher paying opportunities. An advertiser thinking they are getting a high quality blog might have issues If the Real Rank number were gamed.
You’ve commented about the grammatical errors in his post, but I’ve seen a few in yours also. I might have a few in my reply. :-) I understood what both of your messages even with the errors. I don’t think less of them because they have them.
@Opal
Thanks for the comment.
I agree that Jack has a few valid points. It isn’t the fact that he wants to be heard that I disagree with. Jack has used his website to air his objections just as I have used mine to do the same. He hasn’t hidden his opinion from me, and I am taking the opportunity to respectfully disagree.
As I said, Jack’s name appears here because of those who shared his opinion on the PPP blog, Jack is the only one who linked back to himself. Any other dissenters just spouted commentary while hidden behind the mask of bogus site addresses. (As of my last reading, that is, this may have changed by now.)
Ted has already shown a willingness to listen to what he and others are saying. I don’t for a moment believe that a company like Izea can be run in a vacuum, and I’m sure that Ted and the rest understand that. He personally replies quite often in comments on the PayPerPost blogs, and has answered Jack’s questions repeatedly, not only there, but in reply to Jack’s post on his own blog.
PayPerPost is not our primary source of income either, but it’s a nice addition to it. I take posts that relate to one of several blogs that I have. As for my primary blog, which is a food blog, there are very rarely opportunities available that I feel my readers there would be interested in. In that sense I have gone weeks without posting a paid review, but I do enjoy the fact that I get the option to choose those opportunities for myself. (Regardless of this, I still had all of my PR removed, though this hasn’t had a serious impact on my traffic as of this time.)
The risk of having a system “gamed” is something that the creators have to monitor and attempt to proof against. No matter what they do, someone will find a way to do it. the question is , will they be able to react to it in a timely fashion? If not, the system will invalidate. If so, they will succeed in making the experience much more fair across the board.
I’ve never said my posts were without errors. Lord knows I find myself going back and correcting them often enough! ;-) My mention of it in the case of Jack’s post comes from blatant errors in English. First, the article title. “Loosing” should be “losing”. More annoying to me is the fact that Jack does not seem to know the difference between “then” and “than”. these are common errors I find in more and more writing, and they grate on my nerves. Perhaps it has something to do with my generation, or with the fact that I proofread a lot of work for other people. I’m trained to find the errors in other people’s writing. (I’m not so good at finding them in my own, which is why I have proofreaders for some of my work as well.)
Just wanted to say that this paragraph you posted has at least two errors, “fin” and “feult”. I am not criticizing anyone, I just think we all need to realize that people are more prone to make mistakes when talking about something they are passionate about.
“While it’s fin to have an opinion on a controversial subject such as this one, the fact that he’s on record as being a supporter of PayPerPost is a bit damaging in this case. He’s gaining traffic, and giving feult to the opposing side in the simplest way possible…”
Amy,
Thank you for pointing those errors out. They have been corrected.
I agree wholeheartedly that it’s easy to allow errors to slip through while writing on a topic which you are passionate about. At some point during the process, ideas are flowing faster than the fingers can keep up with.
Jack,
Please forgive my lack of response to your comment. I think that what you’ve said deserves a direct reply, and I will be making my response a post of its own.
I have a food blog so I know exactly what you mean! I also have a website that is all about ferrts. There aren’t too many opportunities for that either, lol.
Yes, I’m like that also. I can spot them instantly and yes at times I need proofreaders for my own work.
“Loosing” always grated my nerves also. That is one error I see happen often even in corporate docs for a while I thought maybe I was wrong.
I’m glad you didn’t get offended by my grammar comment I wasn’t trying to be snarky. It can be hard to determine a person tone when you’re blogging.
At times, I look at my posts or comments and cringe. I do think my brain goes through a meltdown. I write a lot so after a while everything looks the same. I usually use a grammarian and a proofreader.
I saw a few errors in my initial post also which is why I said you might find a few in mine.
That’s one of the many things I do like about PPP they do make themselves available for their posties. I’m not sure about the advertisers.
Can you imagine if Google did this with their customers? There would not be nearly as much confusion if people were given a reason why their websites lost ranking or their adsense account was yanked. As it is now most, people have no idea, and not everyone knows that Matt Cutts has a blog where he talks about reasons you can lose your ranking.