This is really a rhetorical question, you know what I’m going to say already, of course.  I talked a bit about PPP and our own B4H last week, recently though I’ve been thinking about the companies who have chosen PPP as their path to blog buzz nirvanna and whether they would be better off just starting a blog of their own.  I know Jim has some thoughts on this and I’ll let him go into his side of it himself, but I think there is more to tell here.

This is a simple and complex issue at the same time.  With ReviewMe and PPP companies pay bloggers to review they product.  The review could be postive or negative.  The review could be in-depth or just “hey this looks like an option you might want to check out” (I’ve seen a number of those, clearly not having even tried the product).  Really it’s a crap shoot. On the posts I’ve been looking at I also haven’t seen someone from the company leaving a comment on the post.  Not even a “thank you for taking the time to write this” or if it’s a less than postive review something acknowleding, helping or explaining at all.  Looks like they aren’t tracking mentions of their product or company on the Blogosphere, not a good way to be engaged.

So the question is then, would they have been better off just having a blog of their own?  Yes and no.  If they had their own blog they could talk about their product, what’s coming up, what’s going on in their industry, even linking to reviews and talking about them.  They wouldn’t, though, have all the reviews and links out there either.

This paradox made me realize that paid reviews and having your own blog aren’t mutually exclusive.  Why not have your own blog and pay for reviews?  Sure you might get flack for the PPP and ReviewMe stuff, but you can talk about why you chose to go that route on your blog.  It seems to me that if a company really wants to make a splash and build some buzz, PPP/ReviewMe as the sole strategy is going to have a short-lived effect.  It also isn’t a fire-and-forget kind of tactic.  A company should still monitor the blogosphere and comment on the posts.  And having your own blog gives the bloggers a place to comment and link to themselves.  This seems to be a more holistic approach.  Something that will give you a short-term boost (you can’t pay for review forever) and a long-term effect as your own blog grows.

Come on even PPP and ReviewMe have their own blogs!  Don’t you think you might follow their lead and have a blog of your own too?

If you’re one of the companies trying PPP or ReviewMe, you can e-mail Jim (jim AT onebyonemedia.com) or me (tris AT onebyonemedia.com) to chat with us.  We’re going to be offering some special deals for PPP and ReviewMe clients to get their own blog going and monitor the buzz.  Stay tuned.