I’ll also bring attention to them on my website so yes I’ll be linking to this article. I just got back from the gym so I’ll Digg your article also. I just need to remember my password I couldn’t remember it earlier this monring, lol.

Good point about the companies. They were powerful at one time and then they did take a huge tumble.
Excellent point about the links also. I actively link to bloggers and companies that I like without me doing that how in the world would people find the sites I recommend?

I do like what PPP does for the blogger not sure what’s its like as an advertiser simply because I haven’t gone that way. I think it would be nice to see a section that talks about Real Rank on the front page. I’ve been searching on the internet for info and there are a lot of confused bloggers out there not everyone stops by the PPP forum or reads their blog. I rarely read it but I have been stopping by more simply because I wanted to find out what Real Rank is about.

Hopefully, PPP will take note of what you and others have been saying about Real Rank. I’ve read bloggers views on Real Rank but yours has been the most thorough that I’ve seen so I had to comment and Stumble (and yes I’ll be Digging it also) :-)

Thanks man you or someone did indeed Stumble it and thanks for that. I have not found it in Digg yet. I would love to get this dugg but don’t want to do it myself as that is frowned upon by the Diggers.

Let me say that I personally don’t find it unethical to Game Google PR. Why? The only way to do it is with links. Now links are what the net is all about, any site owner should be after links. With SEO you try harder and think more about the strategic value of links, that is smart business not bad ethics.

I can tell you because I do advertise on PPP they have never once asked the general population of buyers why we buy. Such is the hight of corporate arrogance. It is never intentional it is generally thinking you know but again I remind you of the once mighty IBM in 78 or say the power of Ford, GM and Crysler just a decade ago.

The problems with real rank are many but they boil down to two at the surface.

1. Easy and I mean easy to game! You think what I laid out her is “unethical” I will tell you that is a joke. I could set up an automated Real Rank booster! Pay me say 20 dollars a month to have your blog in the Q and I guarantee you a 50% improvement in 30 days or less. Again Ted should not worry about me doing it, just about HOW EASY IT IS TO DO.

2. It doesn’t give me what I want and I imagine I am the majority of advertisers. This is about links, it has always been about links, links fuel the fire, so let it be written so let it be done. A simple survey would give an answer again I encourage PPP to do one.

It’s always good practice to follow up with your customers I do that with my real business, and I do that with my personal websites. I ask my readers opinions before I make major changes. I honestly listen to what they have to say. In doing so I help my business and my personal websites become better. I don’t know whether PPP does this actively because I’m not an advertiser with them.

Eventually I’ll be advertising for my regular business however I’ll contact the blogger directly simply because I want them to have all the money. I’ve received a few review that way along with the advertiser who is on my website.

Currently I take a few opportunities on Vegan Momma; however, I mainly use Sponsored Reviews the pay is a lot higher.

Eventually I’ll write a post about Real Rank on my main website. I’ll be sure to link back to this article.

A great article I shall Stumble and Digg it.

Thank you for your comments, here is are my responses.

1. Gaming real rank - Ted of course those methods are unethical but they are also really easy to do and will be very difficult for you to prevent. Can you game Google PR too? Sure but only by getting links which is much more difficult then pushing around traffic. The reality is the methods I mentioned only scratch the surface, I could game real rank much harder. Don’t worry I won’t but this system is so easy to manipulate as you have designed it as to be laughable. I am sorry that is just the way it is and I don’t waste time saying things that aren’t true.

2. Link Building - You say this is not your core value proposition. Really? Let me ask you this after doing a lot of posts in the past and after buying a lot for ourselves and others I can see how people are using the system. So have you asked your customers why they buy? I have never been surveyed. I can tell you this is why I buy your links and I think while PayPerPost aspires to more and does deliver on some levels that is what most of your business is all about. If not no one would have cared about PR. If you really want the truth just do a quick survey of your paying customers, ask the question. Time has taught us that companies better know why their customers buy. So ask, you need the answer anyway and it would be real easy to do.

3. Real Ranking Numbers - You say you are working to correct the Blogger side. Great to hear. It is a start.

4. Its my choice - no not really! I now have no choice, I buy for two reasons the buzz and the links. The links are more important and PayPerPost knows this! That is WHY YOU LET ME CONTROL IT AND VARY THE ANCHORS IN A SINGLE OPPORTUNITY in the first place. With Google hosing over bloggers PR to be malicious and PPP not providing me with a way to gauge link value I HAVE NO CHOICE to reach the blogger I really want to reach now.

5. Real Rank Is Not Reactive - Of course it is, it is not fully reactive to the Google PR move but it is reactive from the stand of providing a way for PPP to place a value on a blog outside of the control of Google, Alexa, etc.

6. A Link Based System Is Not The Answer - Pardon me but as your PAYING CUSTOMER let me say you are wrong. Right now whether you or I like it or not links drive SEO rankings and that is the most valuable aspect of the average blog in your system. Ted the bloggers that make up the main PPP population are never going to be heavy hitter bloggers. I am sorry I but I have paid for many of these posts, and I then read every one that I buy for myself or a client and I know most are little guys with very small amounts of traffic. You have done a great service to these people and a great service to advertisers at the same time. Sure you have some big players but your platform is built on the backs of the internet’s middle class. The biggest value these blogs have is link value and so long as links drive SEO this is what your customers want.

If you doubt that I challenge you, poll your customers, ask them why they buy then come back and tell me if 70% or more don’t say the prime motivation was link building. If you get any result lower then that I will eat “blog crow” for you right here. I am glad you plan to make this public and used beyond your bloggers but trust me, ask your customers I can already tell you I know what your results will be.

Take my comment about 1978 IBM executives with some real seriousness. Trust me you do not tell your market what your core value prop is, they tell you and not listening can be very bad for business.

You say you need smart people like me to help, call me anytime I can tell you that I have only scratched the surface here on many of these issues.

Jack Spirko

1. Gaming RealRank
I am not going to claim that someone can’t find a way around RealRank. There is not a system out there that is 100% foolproof. When you place value on any system people will work to influence that system in some way. RealRank does have some gaming detection and we will continue to work on ways to eliminate those trying to take advantage of the system.

You mention some unethical ways of building a perception of traffic along with some methods of building actual traffic. I encourage bloggers to build actual traffic, spend money on legitimately marketing their blog and create well SEO’d posts. Those are all good things in my opinion.

2. Link Building
I read your post on our blog and responded to your comments there as well. From that post: While there are some benefits to using PPP for SEO that is not our core value proposition. We would be foolish to create a business based solely on someone else’s algorithm that we can neither control nor decipher.

3. Real Ranking Numbers
You are right, the difference in the way things are presented for bloggers vs advertisers doesn’t make sense. We are already working to update this on the blogger side. There will also be much more visibility when we release the public site which is coming soon.

4. It’s Your Choice
“First I again want to say I spend a lot of money for clients with PayPerPost and as an advertiser I don’t want it.” Thank you. We appreciate your business. That is fine if you don’t want to use RR, you don’t have to use it. You can still use PR if you want to. But we have over 12,000 advertisers and they all have different needs and desires.

You stated that you still want to advertise on PR0 blogs because they still provide the link value you desire. If that is the case I see no harm in trying to provide you with the highest traffic blogs with RealRank because you have taken PR out of the equation. Whichever you choose we provide you with options as an advertiser to target as you see fit.

5. RealRank is Not Reactive
RealRank was under development for many months before any of this Google fiasco. RealRank is not a reaction to any of this, rather it was designed to solve a problem. The problem is that PR and Alexa are unreliable as you have pointed out and aren’t based on real site data. The answer is a system based on real site data with full transparency.

6. A Link Based System is Not The Answer
If there is one thing that Google has taught us is that simple links are not the answer. Whether it comes from Yahoo, Google or any other spider links just don’t mean what they used to, especially dead links. From a recent blog post about RealRank: We assign link scores based on ACTIVE links. We define an active link as a link that has been clicked that day. Google (as far as anyone knows) treats all links as active, regardless of whether they have been clicked or not. I call these dead links.

Why don’t we count dead links? We all know that link building is a common practice in the blogoshpere and the web in general. Bloggers and companies alike can build up links over time, regardless of whether or not they have quality content and an actual reader base. You can wind up with hundreds or thousands of links to a site buried in directories, infinitely long blog rolls, comment streams and so on. The bottom line is links without clicks don’t really mean much - “dead to me”.

We are in the unique position of being able to track active links because we can track actual traffic on the blog level.

7. Making RealRank Public
I couldn’t agree more. We ARE making this public and plan on spending a good amount of money getting adoption outside of the PPP network. I hope you will join us, we need smart people like you to help make RealRank all that it can be and spread the word.