When sparks fly.
May 30, 2008 Sponsored
Some of you might already know that I’m a member of Payperpost.com. Payperpost.com is a company which connects bloggers and advertisers together, helping both sides make a little pocket change. Bloggers get paid to review websites and promote products, advertisers…well, they get advertised.
Some time ago, the company behind Payperpost decided to come out with SocialSpark. On the surface, SocialSpark appears to be exactly what Payperpost is. Advertisers and fellow bloggers can pay you to review and write about products and sites. But that’s just the surface, SocialSpark is a vast improvement on Payperpost’s original idea.
The focus has turned greatly toward building and creating a sense of community within users. User’s can comment on profiles, visit blogs through profiles, see recent posts from blogs, thumb up and give props to their favorite users, send private messaging and so, so, so much more.
Here, I’ve chosen to link to my own personal profile on SocialSpark to give you a taste of what things look like: SocialSpark: MPence.
As a PPP blogger, I really dig the new 2.0 look to it as well.
The only cons between Socialspark and Payperpost that I can see is the difference of Terms of Use. If you are a member of Payperpost and getting away with more risqué blog writings that may include strong language or adult subjects, SocialSpark is not as accepting. If you co-blog with some one, co-authors blogs are not accepted by SSpark as they are with PPP.
I am a member of SocialSpark, despite the fact that 2phatgeeks is ineligible for taking any opportunities and I remain a member because I think the tools SocialSpark offer can still create a great sense of fellowship with your brethren bloggers. SSpark offers us chances to connect and get to know one another giving a greater sense of ‘net family that PPP sometimes misses.
Obviously, the one thing I can’t tell you about SSpark is payments, whether they are on time or reliable. However, if you look at member numbers I am sure that’s a positive in that direction.
I can tell you that I have written four sponsored posts (this one makes it five as it pends) for PPP, haven’t had them rejected and they have never been late with payment. If SSpark is as alike as PPP, I imagine they are as prompt there as they are with Payperpost. Customer service from Izea, the company behind both sites had been prompt, polite and to the point whenever I have had contact with them or questions.
Most of the good things I could say about Payperpost and SocialSpark have been covered in my first foray into paid blogging, but I’d like to reiterate that I’ve really enjoyed my time so far with both sites.
In spite of the fact that I am, of course, getting paid to write this article– I wholly recommend them to anyone looking to practice their writing skills and make a little cash on the sides. I’m not writing this just because someone is paying me too, I’m writing it because I believe in what I am saying and I like the company. Try it out, tell them elf_fu sentcha. I bet you won’t be disappointed.
Tags: payperpost, SocialSpark
I am too Naughty for Social Spark.
Apr 28, 2008 Rants
As some of you may know and remember, I signed up a while ago to payperpost.com. It’s a chance to line my pocket with some extra change and practice writing whenever a subject or product comes along that I can write about.
Payperpost.com opened a second site, which is in beta, called Social Spark. Social Spark has quite a bit in common with Payperpost given they’re created and backed by the same company. Social Spark, however, carries a lot of features to inspire community that aren’t in Payperpost. So I decided, what the hell, they’re from the same company, right? I like payperpost.com, and I’m liking what I’m seeing so far with Social Spark.
So I go through the same rigmarole more or less for Social Spark as I did their other site, Payperpost. I put in their code, I wait for blog submission–this goes without a hitch. Then I submit 2phatgeeks.com to their Customer Love. I can’t take any opportunities without blog acceptance.
Our blog for Social Spark was rejected.
Apparently, Social Spark’s standards are much higher than Payperposts? Because I use(d) strong language in several of my posts, Social Spark denied 2phatgeeks.
That started a whole lot of head scratching on my end. Are they more concerned about how Social Spark looks than Payperpost? Do they not care at all about what’s seen on one site, while they do the other? Why the difference to begin with?
I can’t really see myself as that much of a rebel, but according to Social Spark, I am.
I would have recommended this site. But if you have the habit of writing anything that’s not sparkles, unicorns and roses all the time there’s a high chance your blog will be rejected. So if you like to write your gut feelings, or curse, or let off steam, or get worked up, or write passionately, or call people names (because you know, nobody ever does this.) you might have to go through your blog and edit every post to fit Social Spark’s taste. If that doesn’t sound like an afternoon of giggles and fun for you, I’d recommend passing Social Spark and seeking other avenues of getting paid for blogging.
This got me thinking though: If you can’t write what you want on your own personal blog, what’s the point? Why do something you enjoy (aka: blogging) but be forced to write in such a manner or voice that makes it no longer enjoyable?
Would you have gone through every post you’d ever written with strong language (if you have. Some of you don’t, and I don’t know whether to applaud you or be scared.) and edit it for website that may pay you?
When you visit a personal blog, do you except it to be church-lady clean and think it should be?
Tags: payperpost, rejected, social spark, wtf
They’re paying me–and they’re sane!
Mar 21, 2008 Sponsored
Shawn is the main bread winner for this family. He goes to work five days out of the week, tries not to strangle people through the phone and comes home five days out of the week tired, hungry, and with some awesome stories about his day. I putter about online all day, living the glorious internet star life. I get to respond to e-mails and comments, clean up cat poop, wash socks, cook supper, make the bed or completely vegetate and become fatter should I like.
Occasionally, that tickles the wee corners of my brain. I know that I could and that I should be doing something to help the household earn a little extra—because frankly, like several few millions of Americans, we’re in debt up to our asses.
The idea to earn money for doing something that you love; blogging or writing or simply reviewing as well as expressing an opinion isn’t a new idea for us in the great wide internets. But I have a small problem with most blogs centered on making money. Things such as Google’s ad sense tearing through the middle of interesting posts, blog block ads to the right of favorite tutorials and advertisements for subscribing to RSS everywhere you turn—it can be a real mess and a turn off for some, and it is for me. The idea of littering a self hosted blog with too much stuff (I mean, c’mon guys, look at my side bar already!) makes my eyelid twitchier than usual.
And that’s when I found, quite by accident payperpost.com and their blog network.
Payperpost.com connects bloggers like me with individual internet companies, advertisers and sites looking for product and website reviews from your own blog. It’s like word of mouth advertising on the internet, except bloggers can be paid for a job well done. I can’t think of a better way to go about it than that. I can pick and choose companies I am familiar with that sell products I’ve heard of and write about them—practice my horrid skills, and perhaps turn a little profit not only for myself but for the company. So last week I signed up with them and have been awaiting for them to approve my blog. Why not take the plunge, right?
Today, I opened my mail to see that 2phatgeeks.com has been approved. Yippie!
Yet, I can hear you thinking: But Mel! Does that mean your blog is going to turn into another one of those ad ridden blogs filled with link dropping posts and entries about make up and shoes that no one ever wears? Does that mean you’ll stop blogging about cat-poop and toilet humor?!
Let me be the first to give you an emphatic: NO!
Payperpost.com doesn’t drive its members to post, post, post, post—in fact, there’s no set limit. The only one that drives you to post is you-you-you. You pick what you want to write about, write about it in the time you need to, follow their instructions and then you post it. If you’ve got your mojo together and the advertisers like what you’ve written, you get paid. This, my friends, is very good for me. Because I like to blog what I want, when I want, how I want. And I certainly do not like filling my personal blog up with a bunch of sunshine and roses blown up butts about a product or website I’ve never visited, know about, or understand—just because there’s ten bucks into it for me.
So if you expect this blog to turn into another nightmare of pushing products you’ve never heard of by some fat-chick with geek glasses, who probably have never used them in her entire life—let me be the first to tell you that I will disappoint you greatly. This blog will always be about the sane insanity of my life with Shawn, now with the added rare bonus of me getting paid to blog about something I use.
As for the long term relationship with payperpost, we’ll see! I hear that it’s also a great chance to meet fellow bloggers and meet with those with similar tastes. This is the first time I’ve ever tried something like this, so I’ve got the usual bit of silly excitement and a million different questions.
For those of you who don’t advertise on your blog or website: would you if the opportunity came along?
Have any of you tried to earn a little extra with a blog of website that you own? How are you doing it and do you like it? What are your experiences with other companies and advertisers?
For those of you who aren’t new to payperpost.com, what have your experiences been like with them?
Tags: payperpost
