"I would never make up a lie," Caldwell said. "My sister reads my blog and she would call me out."
She has earned $7,743.54 since signing up in July, shortly after the Orlando, Fla.-based marketing firm was launched, by promoting such things as wireless outdoor speakers and online coupon sites. The part-time job has helped her pay for a wall-mounted TV, dishes and a family ski trip.
Caldwell's traffic has doubled thanks partly to PayPerPost's fanatical users, who link often to fellow Posties. That gives her a bigger audience for her unpaid musings on topics including a recent dream about Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight in NBC's sitcom "The Office."
"People talk about how we're destroying the credibility of the Internet," Caldwell said. "Let me tell you -- there are a lot worse things happening online."
Even so, the Federal Trade Commission has cautioned that word-of-mouth marketing sponsorships must be clearly disclosed.
Like many Posties, Caldwell typically relies on a blue disclaimer button on her home page that, when clicked, informs readers that compensation from marketers "may influence" the entries on her blog, and that posts "may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content."
PayPerPost urges the bloggers it works with to use a personal touch as long as they cover the topic, meet the required word count and provide links. Bloggers scan offers -- usually in the $5-to-$20 range but sometimes as high as $1,000 -- and, if their site qualifies, sign up and then write about the product or service. Afterward, they collect the fee.
Laura Neiman, 33, a Denver mother of five whose blog is called LaLa Girl, wrote wistfully about a Caribbean yacht charter service.
"We don't get a whole lot of opportunity to sail the open seas in landlocked Colorado, so I really can't relate to this at all," she began, "but I keep reading about the popularity of yacht charters as an alternative to a 'regular' vacation."
Derek Cisler, 32, a corporate trainer in Dardenne Prairie, Mo., often weighs in on NASCAR and his beloved Green Bay Packers at Original FB42's Ramblings. He admitted in one post that he enjoyed "Music & Lyrics," the Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore "chick flick." He wasn't paid for that.
But then he copped to an old "Days of Our Lives" habit, confessing that he "got sucked in during the Marlena-possessed-by-the-Devil days." A soap opera website paid him for that mention.
