IZEA Press Releases

Randy Mountz Joins PayPerPost As Vice President of Sales

Former MySpace Sales Executive Brings Extensive New Media, Interactive Advertising Experience; Candidate Enticed by Videos Created by PayPerPost Bloggers

ORLANDO, FL - (DECEMBER 11, 2006) - PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers, videographers, photographers, podcasters and social networks, today announced that Randy Mountz, former vice president of sales for MySpace.com's Midwest region, has joined PayPerPost as the company's vice president of sales, a new position. In his new role, Mountz will build PayPerPost's inside and outside sales staff while also leveraging his considerable relationships within the U.S. advertising community to quickly grow PayPerPost's client base.

In a novel move, PayPerPost utilized the its own platform to assist in recruiting Mountz. The company paid a handful of the consumer content generators in its network to create Web videos designed to entice Mountz to join the PayPerPost team. The videos, posted on YouTube, demonstrated the power of the platform to Mountz, and were instrumental in attracting Mountz to his new Position.

New Rockstartup.com Puts Viewers Inside Real-Life Ups, Downs of Young Internet Startup

Camera Goes Behind the Scenes to Capture Life On the Road, Around the Conference Table And In the Cubicle as 12 Passionate Employees Build PayPerPost.com

ORLANDO, FL - (DECEMBER 4, 2006) - The Internet bubble may have burst five years ago, but for a new generation of savvier, more determined entrepreneurs, success through the end of a broadband connection still holds promise.

In fact, the days of seventy hour workweeks, dramatic business risks and a seat-of-the-pants pursuit of fame and fortune are still here for twelve young and very impassioned entrepreneurs. A new Web site, Rockstartup.com, chronicles the real-life story of Ted Murphy and his team at PayPerPost.com, a cutting-edge-and some would say, controversial-company that links advertisers with freelance bloggers who will hire themselves out to promote top-name products and services via online social networks.

Beginning today and continuing weekly, Rockstartup.com is posting seven- to eight-minute, documentary-style episodes about Murphy and his team. The episodes are professionally shot and produced, capturing the daily (and sometimes minute-by-minute) trials and triumphs that accompany individuals who put their careers on the line in order to make an Internet business work.

PayPerPost Launches DisclosurePolicy.org to Promote Transparency Among Bloggers

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers, videographers, photographers, podcasters and social networks, today announced it has funded, created and launched DisclosurePolicy.org to accelerate transparency across Consumer Generated Media (CGM). Resulting from months of research on the diversity of CGM creator goals, expectations and relationships with their audiences, DisclosurePolicy.org provides policy creation tools, best practices and forums for discussing the delicate balance between content creator freedoms and audience transparency expectations.

"Recent transparency bluster around PayPerPost, Walmart/Edelman and YouTube/lonelygirl15 are nothing new. There have been numerous cycles of transparency debate - whether involving religious, political or financial bias - since individuals had the freedom to publish their thoughts and creations online," said Ted Murphy, CEO of PayPerPost. "Although blogs are great for distributing opinions, news and debate, the blogosphere is currently the wild west of media. There are few standards regarding disclosure and transparency of message, creating a landscape that is difficult to navigate for bloggers and readers alike. For example, should Amazon dictate to their affiliates how to disclose payment for purchases resulting from an affiliate blogger's endorsement. DisclosurePolicy.org was created to provide a uniform disclosure mechanism as well as a central place to discuss the ongoing issues surrounding disclosure and transparency."

PayPerPost Funded to Launch Consumer Generated Advertising Revolution

Venture backing from Inflexion, Village Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson supports overwhelming demand from advertisers, publishers and partners.

Orlando, Florida (PRWEB) October 4, 2006 - PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers, videographers, photographers, podcasters and social networks, today announced it has secured $3 million of venture capital. Florida-based Inflexion Partners led the Series A round, with Village Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) participating.

PayPerPost is at the right place, at the right time, with the right platform. I've been involved with some fast growing companies and I'm buckling up for another fun ride.

The round, which will be used to support marketplace demand, expand marketing channels and engage interested partners, is the company's first outside financing. Dan Rua, managing partner with Inflexion Partners, and Michael Barach, general partner with Village Ventures, have joined the company's Board of Directors. Tim Draper and Josh Stein add domain expertise from DFJ investments in Overture, Technorati, TagWorld, Feedburner, and Skype.

"We're as excited about the experienced team members we've added as the dollars we have raised," said Ted Murphy, CEO of PayPerPost. "This group of venture capitalists understands the opportunity in the trenches and on a strategic level. We had a great set of funds asking to invest and were able to be selective. We are fortunate to secure a team who provides PayPerPost with the required capital, experience and relationships to expand our leading marketplace where advertisers and consumer content creators connect."

Online Advertising: First PayPerPost Blogger Reaches Thousand Dollar Blog Advertising Milestone

PayPerPost.com, The World's First Consumer Generated Advertising Network, announced today that their first blogger has surpassed $1,000 in online advertising income. Colleen Caldwell of Tampa, Florida is the enterprising blogger to first reach the mark using the online advertising service on her blog http://www.simplekindoflife.com/. Colleen has been using the PayPerPost system for about seven weeks.

PayPerPost is a unique online advertising service that connects advertisers with bloggers to generate buzz, traffic and assist in link building. The company pays bloggers for their honest opinions about products and services sponsored by advertisers.

"I'd love to save it up and do something nice for my family - a big vacation, or something new for the house," said Caldwell. Colleen is currently on track to earn more than $6,000 this year from using the blog advertising service. Caldwell continued, "I used to run a parenting Web site and I am familiar with advertising online, CPMs, etc...and I hated having to depend on click-throughs or purchases to make any money." The PayPerPost model differs from other advertising models in that its impact and payment model isn't measured solely on clicks.

Web 2.0: PayPerPost.com™ Releases Beta 2.0 of Its Blog Advertising Service

ORLANDO, Fla. - PayPerPost.com™, The World's First Consumer Generated Advertising Network, released Beta 2.0 of its online blog advertising service. The Web 2.0 company, which signed over 500 online advertisers in its first five weeks of operation, announces the upgrades were quietly rolled out on Friday, August 11, 2006.

"This upgrade is focused on improving the quality of content for advertisers and bloggers," stated Ted Murphy, Founder/CEO of PayPerPost. "We have introduced a variety of features that will allow our service to naturally improve itself and provide the best Web 2.0 advertising experience for both bloggers and advertisers."

The core feature upgrade of this version of the blog advertising service introduces the concept of ranking and flagging. PayPerPost reviewers will still be responsible for accepting or rejecting advertisements based on meeting overall criteria, such as length and proper links. However, advertisers will now have the ability to rank the approved blog based on their personal perceived value. In a similar fashion, bloggers will be able to rank advertiser opportunities based on their perceived value.

Online Advertising: Marketers Flock to Consumer Generated Advertising

PayPerPost.com, The World's First Consumer Generated Advertising Network, announced today that it has signed up over 500 online advertisers in its first five weeks of operation. The company, which pays bloggers to provide their opinion about products and services, has exploded despite the controversy surrounding its approach to online advertising.

"We are completely redefining the concept of online advertising," stated Ted Murphy, founder and CEO of PayPerPost. "In the past, online advertising was all about leveraging big media buys with repetitive advertisements and messaging created by a company. We have successfully demonstrated to our online advertisers that smaller investments in unique, consumer generated advertising can provide far greater value."

"I love the way that individual bloggers actually review my products and post their own opinions online with relevant keyword text hyperlinks to my product pages. PayPerPost.com advertising, either positive or negative, is far more valuable than an anonymous hyperlink to my store with little or no explanation," said Teri Fritts, a PayPerPost.com advertiser and founder of AliceAccents.com. "I have already seen a significant increase in traffic from blogs and search engines."

PayPerPost Announces the First Payment of Bloggers in Its Consumer Blog Advertising Network

PayPerPost, The Consumer Generated Advertising Network, announced today that it has successfully completed its first payments to bloggers who have participated in the company's blog advertising service. PayPerPost launched a heated debate last month when it announced it would pay bloggers in exchange for writing about products and services. Bloggers get paid to blog about "opportunities" created by advertisers, ranging from consumer electronics to travel destinations. Thousands of bloggers and hundreds of advertisers flocked to the service in the initial month, creating a plethora of opportunities for bloggers to make money.

The site requires that each blog advertising post remain live for 30 days prior to payment. The bloggers who made posts in the first few days began receiving payment this weekend. "We are absolutely thrilled with the success we have seen in the first month," commented Ted Murphy, founder and CEO of PayPerPost. "Despite the controversy, our service has taken a strong hold with both advertisers and bloggers. We have received wonderful feedback that has helped us shape the future of PayPerPost.com and I am very excited by the progress we have already made."

PayPerPost.com Allows Bloggers to Raise Money for Charity

PayPerPost, The Consumer Media Advertising Network, today announced a revolutionary concept in charitable fundraising. The company, which pays bloggers to blog about topics paid for by advertisers, now provides bloggers with the option to keep the money they have earned or select to donate it to a recognized charitable organization.

"We are extremely excited to announce our charitable donation program," said Ted Murphy, founder and CEO of PayPerPost, Inc. "The new program empowers bloggers to blog about the things that interest them in an honest and open way while contributing to the betterment of our world though charity. It's amazing to think that a single blog posting could contribute to a cause that's plaguing society today."

The Beta version of PayPerPost.com went live on June 29th to some initial skepticism. Business Week claimed the company would "Pollute the Blogosphere", while top blogs including TechCrunch.com and Scobleizer also questioned the PayPerPost.com concept.

PayPerPost.com Allows Advertisers to Bid for Bloggers to Post About Products and Services

PayPerPost announced the formation of a new company and service offering today that connects advertisers and bloggers in a whole new way. The company, founded by Internet marketing entrepreneur Ted Murphy, will allow advertisers to reach out to bloggers through a proprietary self-service Internet application. The service ushers in a new form of advertising called Pay Per Post or "PPP". The company believes the service will compete heavily against PPC and CPM models offered by companies such as Google and Yahoo.

"Our service offering completely redefines the concepts of product placement, product endorsement, consumer generated marketing, buzz building and search engine marketing. We are leading a blogger revolution," said Murphy. "Media companies and celebrities have been compensated for endorsement and product placement for years. Finally bloggers will be compensated for all the traffic and sales they generate when they blog about products and companies."