They didn't get paid to write the article. These articles are written by S3 Consortium and often they write them because they own shares in them. Their "pay" comes from selling their holdings. My understanding is they may hold circa - 3-5million shares in them.
Link to their disclosure policy.
http://www.nextsmallcap.com/disclosure-policy/
However, Cedric/NSL would never pay for such coverage.