Q: Should I Buy Pay Per Post Reviews?

At the current time I don't think you should.

Why? Because Google doesn't like paid links, and these are what you are in effect trying to buy.

If you are only looking for traffic then you might be okay. However, speaking anecdotally, I've seen sites get penalized for using Pay Per Post. Perhaps only when the PPP blog loses PR, but potentially Google will discount valid natural links as well as those that were paid for.

Be careful here.

However, if you can find a way to get a blogger to write about you, without appearing to be a paid post, then you should be okay. This will take a lot more time and effort than using the PPP service.

Putting Spam Blogs To Work

How many times have you been frustrated to find yourself viewing a spammy automated blog?

Wait, don't run, this kind of trouble is lots of fun!

Simply look for automated crappy blogs that are on a topic related to a site that you want to promote. Find those that allow immediate comments. Leave an on-topic comment using the anchor text of your choice.

As you find these blogs, bookmark them. You'll want to come back!

Why? Because links that contain keywords can help you rank for those keywords. Besides, if someone is carelessly running a spam blog, how likely is it that they are going to come back and moderate their comments -- especially if they manage to get one that is on topic for a change.

Oh, did I mention, Google's blogsearch is a great way to find them. Type in a query on a topic of interest and then choose the sort by date option...

NOTE: Be careful, as there is a concern that having links from unsavory locations could be bad for your own site. Some people feel this is a concern while others feel it should not be the case as someone else could post links to you from a bad location and get you penalized. Just make sure you go in with your eyes open.

Q: How Do I Get PR For My Site?

While the answer to this question may seem incredibly simple, it can be very difficult to do.

The answer is to get links to your blog or web site.

However, in the process you don't want to be caught buying or selling links. You also don't want to be caught using artificial link building strategies. You know what I mean. Many sites operate a low quality links page or a free-for-all page that you can get a link from. Don't do it.

The reason it is very difficult to get links is that you have to provide enough quality on your site that people spontaneously decide to link to you. If you are writing a blog this can be done by participating in the community of blogs that share a topic similar to yours. If you aren't blogging, it gets harder!

Don't despair. You can also start down the path towards accumulating PR by submitting your site to various directories or by submitting content to article directories. These link building strategies, and others - such as forum post signatures, and social bookmarking are a safe way to get started.

Oh, in case you didn't know it, the higher the PR of the page that links to you the more help it will be in transferring PR to you. As well, the fewer outbound links there are on a page the more your site will benefit from being linked to from that page. This doesn't mean you should be all that choosy, but keep these factors in mind when considering the value you are receiving from a link.

Ads-Click Preview

You may not have heard of them yet, but there is a company out there called Ads-Click. I've signed up for their program -- mainly because I was interested in what appears to be a tag cloud advertisement.

I've been approved as a publisher and one of my sites is now sporting this ad unit. I have no idea what revenues will be like, but I do have the ability to see keyword click through ratios and associated price per click information.

Once I have more information I'll let you know how it works out. However, if you are impatient, you may want to Google these people up and put their tag cloud on your web site. Oh, by the way, they only want US/Canadian traffic at the current time.

UPDATE: This tag cloud item is malfunctioning in IE. So, for the time being I have commented out the code! I'll contact the support staff and see if they are able to figure out what is going on...