Blogitive: A sleazy way to get free publicity

The make-money-at-home crowd is going ga-ga over a service called Blogitive that pays bloggers to blog about certain companies.

Blogitive gives pre-approved bloggers a list of press releases, then pays the blogger $5 for every company the blogger mentions. The companies on the list, of course, pay Blogitive. So it looks like everybody wins. 

Not really. Publicity Hounds who are having a hard time getting attention for their product, service, cause or issue have far better and more legitimate ways to get good coverage than to pay bloggers to write about them. Here’s why.

• The bloggers who are paid to blog about your company probably aren’t the kinds of bloggers who have much influence.
• If they mention your product, I doubt they’d take the time to really research it like most other bloggers would and offer constructive criticism.
• I also doubt that many other bloggers would link to their posts.
• The blogger who takes $5 to blog about you might not even reach your target audience.

You’d be far better off trying get in front of the bloggers whose audiences need what you sell and whose opinions are well-respected.

Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, a.k.a. The Blog Squad, joined me during a teleseminar several weeks ago called “How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion.” We explained our five-part process:

1. Do a blog search and find the best blogs for your topic.

2. Do your research on the blogger. Read their blogs for a week or two.

3. Start a relationship with the blogger. Post comments on their blog, multiple times preferably.

4. Write your pitch. Short and sweet, to the point.

5. Email the pitch. Do not post it at their blog.

Writing direct-to-consumer press releases and posting them online where anyone can find them and enter your sales funnel is another more effective alternative. Learn how with my free email course “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases.”