When I read the headline this morning for the first time on AdWords Blog, I thought to myself – “This cannot be good!”. Auction means bidding against your competitors, and when the bidding wars will get out of hand, the end user will suffer.

Well, Google found the way around it by keeping the ad quality in the auctions. Watch the video for yourself and let me know what do you think. It makes a lot of sense to me.

Many of my readers have probably ran into Janet Meiners Thaeler aka NewspaperGirl. If you did not meet Janet on Twitter, you probably have read her articles on Marketing Pilgrim. If you know Janet, you know she is an expert as far as press releases go. If you did not know that, you know it now.

So why I am bringing up press releases and (re)introducing Janet to you? Simple. I believe that press releases will be on the rise this year, considering economic factors. Long time ago (about 2 or 3 years), Janet, while still blogging on WordPress.com blog, wrote about her experiment with press releases. Comparing to PPC advertising, press releases delivered visitors to her websites at a consistent rate of 5 cents per click or less. Even back then you really needed to “babysit” and “sweat” over your PPC campaigns to keep the cost per click under 20 cents.

Janet got me hooked on PRWeb. My first $40 press release brought a 300% return on my investment during the first day of the press release going live. To make the long story short, I have never felt like I wasted money on a press release. PPC??? Well that’s another story….

There are however a few challenges with press releases. Not being a good writer with added difficulty of English as my second or third language, I never felt comfortable writing press releases. I certainly never scored highly as far as editorial review goes, probably just barely passed the scrutiny of PRWeb to get my releases published. Writing for my blogs is different. Most of you are very forgiving as far as my grammar goes. But press releases are different…

Slowly I came to realize that press release is something I will have to outsource. So to my surprise, when visiting Janet’s blog, I discovered that she is now offering Press Release Writing Services. Knowing Janet’s background in blogging, marketing and social media – there can be no better person to write my press releases. I am planing to use Janet’s services for my Interpreting and Translating Business. If you need a solid press release, you should consider her services as well. Don’t take my word for it. Read what Jeremy Shoemaker (aka Shoemoney) wrote about Janet’s press releases- a very powerful testimony testimony if you asked. Not trying to be mean to Jeremy, but it is good to know we can compete on the level of grammar.

Seams like the subject of paid reviews will be around for some time. While I have a unique prospective on paid blogging, I think the proper place to discus the subject will be on Sage Blogger, the blog where I write about affiliate marketing and related subjects of making money online.

I do however need to thank Greg Swann and Chris Johnson for stirring up emotions associated with the subject.

While some may think that such an article may fit better on this blog, the truth is that vast majority of real estate bloggers are not looking to to monetize their blogs. However most of the visitors to my Sage Blogger come to it looking for things that will make you money on the Internet- many are them are bloggers who will consider signing up with one of the paid/sponsored reviews websites.

I will leave the readers of Go Beyond MLS with a following thought. Paid review was the worst mistake I ever made as far as blogging is concerned. If blogging is your long term goal, paid and sponsored reviews maybe prove to be very shortsighted strategy and can sometimes cost you way more in legal fees should things go awry as a result of your review.

There is a very good chance than many readers of this blog, have followed a wave of raving reviews of OpneX on many major technical blogs and websites- TechChurch, TechCrunhc UK, ReadWriteWeb, Cnet, Ostattic. If you ever wonder what is the secret to a company that survives times like these as if there was no recession in the economy- the answer is their product.

As you may remember, just few days ago the advertising on this blog was served by ShowYourAdHere- another simple and attractive solution as far as serving advertising is concerned.

But as traffic on this and my other websites is growing, I needed a solution that could provide me and my advertisers with a solution aimed at surviving tough economic times- there is hardly any solution that come close to OpenX’s ad management software.

Here is just short summary why you would want to consider giving OpenX a closer look as a publisher and/or as an advertiser.

Why join OpneX as a publisher?

Before I start, I need to go back in history. While OpenX may not ring the bell at the first time, you might have heard of OpenAds in the past. Well OpenX is the new name! They are currently offering two great solutions- a free open source ad management solution (available for download at OpenX) and a hosted version where you do not need to download nor install anything (besides copying and pasting into your website the invocation codes for your ad zones). Of course I highly recommend trying the hosted version before you commit to mange ad sever on your own web server.

While there is a considerable learning curve for any one who have never used OpenX before, the end result is well worth the effort. If you are managing a network of websites, OpenX allows you to start running campaigns with a click of a button across different websites- while offering you 25 million impression a month for free. If your website requires more impression, you of course have a choice of either upgrading to premium hosted packages or downloading the free version of the software.

There is however a real treat of becoming OpenX publisher – their OpenX Market, a chance to earn money while using an outstanding piece of software. You have an absolute control on which of your campaigns you can allow advertisers to place their ads while setting a “floor price” which advertiser need to beat in order to be allowed to show their ads on your website or network of websites.

Why should you join OpenX as an advertiser?

Just consider following factors:

• Fast growing community of quality publishers and very targeted niches
• Raving reviews by tech bloggers (see the first paragraph)
• Ability to laser target your audience. OpenX is probably the only software out there that can compete with Google as far as targeting options go. Which of course allows you to save bundle of money on visitors a clicks you don’t ask for.
• Ability to track your ROI so you can know exactly where your profits are.

Whether you are a small time blogger, giant publisher or an advertiser OpenX offers a product that is a “win win” for every one.

UPDATE May13, 2010: Things pertaining to LeapFish.com, their founders and management, along with related startups are no longer of interest to me, therefore no further comments are allowed on this post. There are also more reliable sources out there (such as Better Business Bureau) to help you make an informed decision about LeapFish.

***You may also want to know that the Law Firm of Daniel Bakondi, in San Francisco, CA, is investigating a possible Class Action Law Suit Against LeapFish.

Many internet startups find it privileged to be reviewed by TechCrunch. But even if TechCrunch’s verdict for you is a deadpool, although the author did not tagged that post with “deadpool“, it is still an opportunity for dialog. LeapFish’s employees screwed up so badly that opportunity that TechChrunch team had to ban their IPs from posting comments. Here are the snapshots of some parts of that exchange:

Please note that Robin Wauters is the author of the original article on TechCrunch.

Here is another warning by Robin which LeapFish employees completely ignore:

Finally TechCrunch blocks the IPs from where the shill comments appear to originate:

Later the CEO of LeapFish showed up and “apologized” for his employees- you can read the entire exchange on TechCrunch.

Back in May, United Kingdom legislators have made it illegal for businesses to engage in the above described deceptive marketing.

It may not be such a bad idea to prohibit and criminalize such behavior here in the US as well. Don’t you think?

Update: Bellow are the links to more LeapFish reviews.

LeapFish Review by Better Business Bureau. Note that BBB.org rates LeapFish at C- on a A+ to F scale.

A Brief Tale Of Sleaze- LeapFish should take Rob Shore’s advise and never lie to their potential clients.

Three Scams and Rip-Offs to Report – Kit Eliot describes his “encounter” with LeapFish.

Leapfish: Google Competitor or Flash In The Pan?- i think it is rather funny, or insane, to think that LeapFish can actually be viewed as Google’s competitor. But it sure makes a good headline. Well put article, a must read.

LeapFish Affiliate Program. Can Giveaways Keep It Afloat?- a post by yours truly. I thought it was a mistake to link their affiliate program to the basic function of their website- the search function. Their widgets also contain SEO friendly links back to their website- my conclusion their affiliate program is really a linking scheme to gain rankings in search engines.

Leapfish is a scam…maybe?- Patrick Sullivan Jr is offering his opinion about leapfish. The blog have attracted number of comments- well worth reading.

LeapFish Sucks- a take on LeapFish by Cole Pannell- a web designer and a SEO professional.

LeapFish.com advertisers beware – yet another account of dealing with LeapFish sale people.

Leapfish Review – Is LeapFish.com an opportunity, scam, or just another meta search site?- short but to the point rundown about advertising on LeapFish- needless to say the author passes on the opportunity to advertise or invest in LeapFIsh.