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)
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
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/
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?
@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.