PayPerDigg and PayPerStumble: Get Paid to Stumble and Digg

I just found out from Susan Gunelius that there are now programs that provide compensation to Internet users who submit sites and news articles to the likes of Digg and StumbleUpon. Subvert and Profit, pays around $1 for every assignment that contains a list of links. There is also Stumbleudon that gives free 15 stumbles in exchange for your account to be used in an automated manner to stumble other sites.

I believe that as content sharing sites mature, there will always be a way to monetize them, similar to how advertising has evolved in websites and blogs. The challenge with blogs is that if the readers opt to use an RSS reader, they hardly get exposed to the outside-of-the-blog-post ads. Being linked becomes more of a targeted campaign to increase your Technorati authority, search engine visibility, and traffic (depending on blog popularity).

From an advertiser point of view, spending 100 dollars may be used to do any of the following:
  • Run a Google AdWords campaign with a budget of 3 dollars a day.
  • 10 to 15 text link ads appearing in various blogs (PayPerTextLink)
  • 5 to 10 reviews (PayPerReview)
  • On a social news or content site submission/vote campaign, that would be good for 50 to 100 votes or submissions. (PayPerSubmission, PayPerVote, PayPerDigg, PayPerStumble)
  • On micro-blogging sites like Twitter, that would be good for 5 to 20 Twits reaching to no less than 5000 followers. (PayPerTwit, PayPerTweet, PayPerTwitter)
The ideal members of the above are active users of the tool and can use the revenue generation fees as income on the side. Users who opt to participate in such programs should take effort to ensure that their blogs and accounts will not be used for commercial purposes only. Else, they might harm their online status in the long run.

I still believe that each blogger is responsible for their own blog. Their blog is their own business and can do whatever with it. They are bound by their own rules, or the platforms, or of the blog networks, or the revenue programs they joined. If readers don't like what they see, they can easily tune out by not visiting your blog anymore or unsubscribe to your blog feed. The same may be applicable to social news site and micro blogging tools like Twitter.

The growth of ad networks, whether small/informal or big/formal, shall continue to thrive. It will seize on opportunities that shall promote their client's interest. We can either become consumers, critics, contractor, or creator of these networks.

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Comments

Unknown said…
Hey Janette,

Great post -- That may explain any overnight-sensation increases in Stumbling and Digging . . . do you think that pay-per-votes are different than paid-to-vote? See http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/03/slide-caught-posting-fake-positive-reviews-for-their-own-app/
Anonymous said…
Madam, I like this post and it made me think just how much I am willing to spend to advertise my blog. These evolutions (or revolutions, depending on who's saying it) make depending solely on free services of social networks seem cheap.

I would also love to hear your views on bought traffic, i.e. you pay to get visitors. Do you think it's worth it?
Anonymous said…
Can anyone verify that these services are legit?
Janette Toral said…
@carterfsmith - I think they are one and the same. Although from a campaign placement point of view, one may have a different payment for vote only and vote with review.

@evilwoobie - from time to time, I pay for important campaigns that are meant to promote my products (like books). But by default, those who are active in online marketing and uses the medium I stated herein may get traffic naturally and the only investment required is time and patience to network. However, for those who don't have time for that, then they are the candidates for these type of services.

@galwin - the sites listed above are existing. Users post sites they like or those whom their friends had asked for as a favor. In this case, some of these favors can be compensated. That is why I mentioned that the ideal candidate must be active users.

I am partly doubtful though on sites that require disclosing of user name and passwords so they can automate the stumbling or digging process. There is a high chance that they can be found and blocked in the long run.

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