LoudLaunch.com Launches and Prepares to Pay Bloggers

(Authors note: This is a news report about LoudLaunch.com, and not an endorsement paid by LoudLaunch.com)

When is LoudLaunch.com going to launch?

That's the question that has been asked by many a blogger in the blogosphere, about LoudLaunch.com, another website in the growing mecca of sites that connect advertisers in search of buzz with bloggers willing to provide that buzz...for a fee.

Wait no more, antsy bloggers, because "LoudLaunch.com has Launched!" so says the company's website, describing that "LoudLaunch has begun a pre-registration period for both advertisers and bloggers starting on December 17th, 2006."

LoudLaunch.com's official launch date is listed as Tuesday, December 26, 2006, the day that LoudLaunch.com's "advertising campaigns will go live and [LoudLaunch.com] bloggers will be able to start posting and earning money."

The latest in a string of pay-to-post startups like Blogsvertise, PayPerPost, Creamaid, Review-Me and others, LoudLaunch has already drawn the ire of critics who equate paid-blogging to the payola radio scandals of yesteryear.

"As I said before," wrote popular TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington in his post titled 'ReviewMe Launches: A Better PayPerPost,' which noted that "this pay-to-shill business model is spreading like a virus."

Arrington disclosed in the same post, however, that ReviewMe.com "is backed by TechCrunch-sponsor Text-Link-Ads, which was recently acquired."

Steve Rubel took a more gentle view in his post titled 'LoudLaunch Maybe [sic] PayPerPost Done Right' in writing that he thought "...this can be a very compelling platform if - and only if - they let their bloggers maintain an independent voice."

Like PayPerPost's recent disclosure change, LoudLaunch.com states that "advertisers cannot require a positive spin or tone" and that "disclosure is mandatory and promotes a solid ethical model that will benefit both advertisers and bloggers in the long run."

This is the major bone of contention so-called blogging purists have against paid-blogging.

"...the Federal Trade Commission issued a staff opinion stating that companies engaged in word-of-mouth marketing must disclose the relationships or risk violation of the FTC Act, which prohibits deceptive marketing or advertising," wrote Dan Tynan in his recent piece called "This Blog for Hire" on PCWorld.com

"It's unclear how this policy applies to bloggers," Tynan admitted.

LoudLaunch.com seems to get the message of ethics loud and clear. "We feel that half-hearted disclosures will only foster unease and mis-trust by the audience," LoudLaunch.com's site states.

"Of course, transparency is critical here too," wrote Rubel. "If a service can match up advertisers with bloggers who are passionate on a subject and eager to make money for blogging, go for it. Time will tell."

So bloggers who are willing and able can sign up on LoudLaunch now and submit their blogs for possible approval, then begin to do what LoudLaunch urges: "Storm the web with Loudlaunch!"