About a month ago PayPerPost rolled-out two new marketplace features impacting both Advertisers and Bloggers, called “Bans” & “Benches.” If you’re not already familiar with them here’s a little more about each feature:
“Benching” is a feature allowing Advertisers to expand the reach of their audience by ‘benching’ bloggers from accepting a particular Opportunity. Think of the analogy of “sitting this one out.” Benching essentially allows for high-targeting by spreading links around to a variety of bloggers. A benching period can be for any reason–at the discretion of the Advertiser–and it can be up-to 90 days.
What is a “ban”? Well, a ban is different from a bench in that a ban will prevent a blogger from accepting any future campaigns launched by an Advertiser. If you’re an Advertiser and you decide you would like to ban a blogger, you will be prompted for a reason as to why the blogger is being banned. Bloggers will have access to their bans so they can know why a particular Advertiser has opted not to use them anymore. Please be mindful if you make the decision to ban a blogger as it does have a negative effect on their tack ratings.
You will be able to use the “ban” & “bench” options once you have created a campaign in the marketplace. You can also view any current or past bans & benches after logging-in to your account.
Let’s walk though this so you understand how they work:
1. Log-in to your account by clicking on the “Log In” button on the top of the page.
2. Click on the “Manage Opportunities” tab at the top of the screen.
3. Select an Opportunity by clicking on one of the links in the “Opportunity Name” column.
4. Scroll down to the “Posts for this Opportunity” area.
5. Chose a post.
In the last two columns you’ll see the “Ban” & “Bench” features.
If you’re choosing to “ban” a blogger click the “Ban” button, and you’ll see the following box appear:
Remember, a blogger has access to their “bans” so include a reason, that way they can learn from your concerns.
If choosing to “bench” a blogger click on the “Bench” button and from the drop-down menu select the amount of time you’d like the blogger benched. You can select either 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days. Here’s what you’ll see:
After you’ve selected the appropriate time click the “bench” button, and you’ll notice the green strike through graphic disappear. As long as this blogger is benched this graphic will be gone — you can’t ban and bench a blogger at the same time.
You can always log-in to your account and reverse a ban or a bench, but please remember when you “ban” a blogger it impacts their tack rating.
If you have any questions about “bans” or “benching” please don’t hesitate to contact us.
