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Pay Per Post V.4 Alpha – First looks

April 18th, 2009

In my hot little virtual hands I hold a PayPerPost v4.0 Alpha key. I’ve got to admit that I’m excited to check out the new features in PPP and so far I see some good things and some things I’d like to see changed, but to be honest, I havent had enough time playing with the system to give an honest opinion.

Over the next few days I’m going to get as deep into the system as possible and write a detailed report of my findings, both positive and negative.  I’m sure there will be planty of both at this point, since they’re still in the alpha test phases.

My initial thoughts?  The look of the site is a massive impovement over the old PPP, but it seems that they have opted for an advertiser driven system, which may limit the number of opportunities for blogs that aren’t in mainstream niches.  Again, I’ll delve deeper into this subject over the nex few days.

Want an alpha key of your own?  Leave a comment on the PPP blog over at Izea.com and maybe they’ll hook yo up too.

For now I’m off to play with features, get some screenshots and gather my notes.  I’ll get back soon.

Peace, I’m out.

(And yes, this post was sponsored by PPP V.4 Alpha)

Jerry Paid Blogging ,

Why you aren’t making any real money with Paid Posts

November 25th, 2008

42-16935308I hear it all the time.  People who are otherwise very successful bloggers saying that they can’t make any real money with sponsored posts.  I hear cries of “there aren’t enough high paying posts” or “None of the opportunities fits my niche, there’s just nothing there for me.”

If I hear you say any of the above or any variant, then I can tell you the reason that you aren’t making any money with paid posting opportunities, and it has nothing to do with the companies offering the ads.

It’s all you.  You’re shutting yourself out of the market.

You’re shooting yourself in the foot.  Remember what these posts are for.  They are paid advertising spots designed to make your client money, improve search engine rankings or to bring in more traffic.  These ads are generally pretty broad spectrum.  They aren’t designed to really fit into any given niche in most cases, they’re based on broad appeal.

If you have any intention of making money in this manner, you have to broaden the way you think.  Ten to one your readers aren’t interested soleley in your niche.  They’re people, they have other interests as well as the one for which they are reading your words in the virtual ether.  It’s also a good bet that if it seems even mildly interesting to you, it will appeal to one or more of your readers.  At the very least it won’t put them off too badly.

Think about your readership.  Even though you’re in a niche, your readers actually come from a much larger demographic.  If you blog about business there is a good chance that your readers are either already business owners and managers or are aspiring to become one.  Ads for POS systems, card readers or any other item that can remotely be thought of as “business related” is a good candidate.  So are vacation posts, since most business owners try to get away from the stresses of business every once in a while.

Let’s take my primary blog as an example.  It’s a blog on cooking and recipes, but there are relatively few opportunities available for that niche. When they are there I grab them as soon as I can, but I’m not about to let a lack of kitchen related opps stop me from making money.

The readership at that blog is either going to be foodies looking for a certain new twist or the family cook looking for a new recipe to get him or her through the week. That sets my primary demographic at between 30 ad 60, most probably housewives (OR House Hubby’s).  I could base my choices on that alone, but there are better ways to get a close insight…

I take the time to get into a conversation with as many readers as possible through twitter, blogCatalog and any other social media outlet I can find.  Over time I’ve gotten to understand a larger percentage of what their interests are. (I pay very close attention to my comments as well.)

Using that information, I know that many of my readers are very much environmentally conscious. Many are also business owners or fellow food writers and photographers. Almost all have families with kids.  And now I’ve got a base for what I can smoothly slip into the context of my posts.

Ads for household products, cameras, tech gadgets, anything green, coupons and coupon codes, deals, shoppin alerts…  All of these are very likely going to interest someone.  I also almost never pass up a Holiday themed opportunity, it’s just perfect timing and I always have something seasonal to say…

If you want to make money, you can’t be too picky.

Obviously your PageRank has a lot to do with the opportunities you can take and the amount that you’ll earn for them, but that concept is too broad to fit in here.  But even with lower paying opportunities, you should still be able to make a couple hundred a month if you’re dedicated to doing it.  There are a lot of services out there that will pay you to blog for them in one way or another.

But do remember the old saw.  Content really is king.  Your regular posts need to be thoughtfully written and there needs to be a lot of them.  Your paid posts need to be written equally well.  You can’t skimp on quality just because it was something you were tossing in to make ten bucks.  do the advertisers proud and they will remember you and you might just get requests for opps directly.  These usually pay better than the standard marketplace opportunities and are better tailored to your specific blog topic.

Wrapping up.

The short of it is this.

  • If you want to make real money taking paid opportunities, you have to take the opps.  You can’t wait for “That perfect Ad.”  It’s out there, but it doesn’t come in often.
  • Write quality posts.  Nobody pays for hacks.
  • Have some morals and ethics.  Don’t promote things you would never use yourself, or that you are morally or ethically opposed to, unless you have the option of writing something that fits your actual beliefs.
  • Keep the broader spectrum of your readership in mind.  Knowing your readers is key.

This article only covers paid posting opportunities. There are a lot of other ways to make money from your blog or website, but paid opportunities are a good way to get income rolling in while you build other methods.  I’ll cover those soon.

In my next post I plan to cover some methods that might make paid posts more appealing to you as a blog owner, such as methods for keeping sponsored posts from showing up in your RSS feed, ways to make sure that the sponsored post isn’t the first thing your readers see and so on.  Until then

Get out and take a few opportunities! Knowing there’s a few bucks coming to your paypal account in the near future will make you more willing to work a little harder.

Jerry Monetizing, Paid Blogging , , , , , ,

Where do I find Paid Posting opportunities?

November 18th, 2008

Get OrganizedThe single most common question I get asked is where I find paid post opportunities. The answer is fairly simple.  All over the place.  I look at myself as a freelancer, and as a freelancer, having a lot of different clients to choose from is the key to staying productive and keeping the money rolling in.  Without a wide base of posts to choose from, there would be no way that I could accomplish my two main objectives, which are:

  1. Make $1,000.00 per month at the very least
  2. Have at least 30% of that roll in throughout the course of the month, preferably on a daily basis.

Before I get to the list of sites I scan regularly for paid post opportunities, let me tell you why the second point makes a difference to me:

Not only does the “every day income” tend to hold off days where there aren’t two pennies to rub together, it gives me motivation to get in there and do it again so that I see another “you’ve been paid” message in my inbox in the next week, two weeks or 30 days.  It’s a good motivator.  It validates the sometimes very difficult work of hunting down and posting opportunities every workday (or weekend, if I haven’t made my weekly or monthly goals.) It gives me a reason each and every day to say “I love my job”, because it is a job and i absolutely love what I do.  The fact that other people are willing to pay me to do it just makes it more fun.

Another advantage to every day income (again, aside from the fact that you’ll never worry about grabbing that latte in the morning) is that on the days when you’re struggling through a bunch of sites and finding absolutely nothing you want to touch, seeing that payment notice can give you the boost you need to take something you might have overlooked before and get something, anything out there.  The only way to make money at this game is to go for it.  There is no time to take time off.  A day off is a day you didn’t get paid for.

And now for that list.  These are the places I currently spend my time looking for ways to get paid opportunities.  It is not all inclusive, but these have been good to me and keep the dollars rolling in.

Paid Posting Providers:

  • PayPerPost: The Mac daddy of them all as far as constant opportunities. PPP nearly always has something you can make a buck or two on on any given day.  payout is Net 30 (or 30 days from the date of the post)
  • SocialSpark: From the same folks that brought you PayPerPost.  SocialSpark focuses on a community marketplace atmosphere and I assume that the more you make yourself a part of it, the more you’re likely to make.  They just began offering affiliate advertising opportunities as well, and “sparks” (or free posts that others can opt to make for you) might help in raising your page rank or RealRank.  Not as many high paying opps and very competitive.  payout is net 30, based on a “cash out” system.  Once you’ve earned the money, you get to choose when to cash out.
  • Loudlaunch: LoudLaunch does’t have the amount of opportunities that PPP or Social Spark provide, but when they do have opportunities they tend to pay fairly well.  Payout on the 5th business day of the month (roughly)
  • SponsoredReviews: One of the first in the field.  Sponsored reviews is basically a freelancer’s marketplace.  You bid on offers you would like to take, or their advertisers can choose you directly.  It’s a hit and miss proposition, but you set your own price. Payout is Bi-weekly.
  • Blogsvertise: They choose the opps for you. I don’t get many that are remotely relevant very often.  The posts I have accepted have paid on time.  payout is Net 30.
  • Smorty: Fairly new and not a lot going on yet for the most part.  Opps paid promptly. Payout is weekly.
  • SnapBomb: Snapbomb is also pretty new but is offering several ways to make some money, including store widgets.  for sponsored reviews, they pick what categories and posts you can take.  Payout is fair, payments made on the 5th of each month.
  • ReviewMe: Not the least of the services, but one I seem to forget to check often enough.  payments are fair, there are usually opportunities available.  Payout on first of each month like clockwork, which is very nice.

As I said, this list is not exhaustive.  There are surely more paid blog services out there that I am unaware of.  If you happen to know of any, let us know in the comments.  If you run a paid posting or sponsored blog service, let me know via the contact form and I’ll add you to the list.

As for how to make more money that you think you can using these services…  That will have to wait for aother post.

Jerry Monetizing, Paid Blogging

Snapbomb: More revenue options for your blog

July 9th, 2008

Well folks, it looks like there is yet another new contender in the blog marketing arena.  It’s not news that paid advertising and review services have been popping up all over the place.  most of them won’t be around for long.  The difference with this one is that of all the blog advertising services out there, this one actually lets you know where you stand.  That little distinction might just make Snapbomb one of the services you need to be watching in the future.

For advertisers wanting to get a little buzz going on about their product, site or service, Snapbomb works in the same manner that all of these types of services do.  You pay for a post, bloggers take it and refer visitors to your site.  Simple and effective, especially if you’ve got good writers on your side.

The difference in the snapbomb service is from the blogger’s standpoint. Not only does the blogger’s dashboard show your current blog status, but also monitors the number of page views and the minimum and maximum estimated value per post for that blog.  And unlike other services, it tracks these numbers for each and every blog you have!

It’s also simple to find opportunities for paid reviews with snapbomb, because all opportunities that you are qualified for show up at the top of the list, rather than being scattered among a slew of other opportunity listings. Top that off with a list of what you’ll be paid for all the blogs that you have in their system and that means you’re never left guessing if you are eligible to take an opportunity, or what you’ll be paid for that opportunity on each blog that you run.  Believe me when I say I consider that to be a massive plus!

The only downside that I see is that because of the way snapbomb rates blogs, it may take a while before you’re to the point where you’re making a significant amount per post.  Your earnings potential at snapbomb is not calculated just by PageRank (or other proprietary rating system) or pageviews.  Snapbomb values high quality posts and blogs must be rated to earn more per post.  Of course, when you start, you won’t have a rating, so payouts will be at the botom end of the scale.

The simple answer to that of course, is to post a few reviews, do a very good job and get a great rating.  How much that stands to earn you is something that I can’t tell you at this point, having just investigated the service.

In the end, I’ll stand on record saying that this looks like a pretty good system to be involved with at this point.  I’ll get back later with more opinions, but for now, I’m pretty happy with what I see.  Whether you like it or not is a determination for you to make, so go over to snapbomb and sign up!

Jerry Blogging, Paid Blogging , , ,

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