BlogBurst Plucks Money For Bloggers

The BlogBurst service from Pluck will pay people who place highly on its leaderboard of active bloggers, but there is a catch that has participants concerned.

BlogBurst syndicates blog posts to a variety of name-brand publishers, like Gannett, the Washington Post, and SF Gate. Bloggers gained exposure from the service, and BlogBurst wants to reward the top performers with cash.

The launch of the BlogBurst rewards program makes financial compensation part of the deal. Those who place within the top 100 performers each quarter would make from $50 to $1,500.

Pete Cashmore at Mashable caught the caveat that has some BlogBurst participants unhappy with the new program:

Payments will be made via check or Paypal, they say. There is, however, a major drawback: only US bloggers are eligible. What’s more, you need to opt-in to the rewards program to get paid.
Some of those top 100 performers are located outside the US. A few of them commented on BlogBurst’s announcement post about their displeasure.

Paul Sutherland wrote how he felt he has been “led up the garden path. All the while there has been dangled the carrot that there will be payment after the beta period.”

Razib Ahmed’s blog ranks in BlogBurst’s top 50, but there won’t be a payoff for him. And Darren Barefoot wondered why a Canadian like himself can’t be paid for being in the top 100:

It’s easier to deal with international payments to Canadians than, say, Kenya. I know, because I do it both ways quite regularly.

Regardless, the exclusion of foreign blogs from the payment scheme but their inclusion in the Top 100 is a bit bizarre. Not being paid obviously eliminates all of the motivation to participate in this program.
BlogBurst has defended their Rewards model by pointing out what it does provide to participants, including headline impressions and post views. These can drive referral rates, which BlogBurst claims to have observed running between 8 and 20 percent.

UPDATE!: It looks like there is a happy ending for non-US bloggers. A BlogBurst representative contacted me and provided this statement from them:

Just so you know, we will track rewards for non-US bloggers and will pay them for Q4, but the rewards payment may be delayed past the planned pay out date in January as we work through international payments and tax issues. We will communicate our progress in this area so everyone knows what to expect.

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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.