These next deals are new and will be found under the Hot Deals! tab of the blog. But you can also check them out right now: And last but not least, hurry up and get a custom image of Santa in your home for the kiddies!!:
Showing posts with label blog advertising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog advertising. Show all posts
Friday, December 23, 2011
Soon-to-end and New Deals
Okay peoples... I wanted to let you know that there is a deal I offer on this blog that's only available for 8 MORE DAYS! This deal is perfect for those that want to boost traffic to their blog, website or other online presence. Check it out:
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Minimizing Advertising
Sometimes blogs and websites can get bogged down with advertising and lose its basic message. I decided to try and minimize the amount of advertising I'm inundating my regular readers with. This blog is about writing and how my life in constantly turned upside down in the pursuit of that. While ads may be a necessary evil, why draw more attention to it than I have to?
There will still be the occasional paid blog posts, but for anything that does not require a post, I'm adding it to my Hot Deals! tab so that if you want to take advantage of the offers, you can. If you don't, you don't have to look at them. It's a win-win for us all.
There will still be the occasional paid blog posts, but for anything that does not require a post, I'm adding it to my Hot Deals! tab so that if you want to take advantage of the offers, you can. If you don't, you don't have to look at them. It's a win-win for us all.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Mistakes that All Freelancers Can Learn From
I started my full-time writing career in January 2008. Since then, I have worked for more than a dozen companies and many more private clients. Most of these relationships, though not particularly fair when it came to the price I was paid, worked out well. They gave me directions, I created the content and I was paid what I was promised. But there are some companies that have been reluctant or unwilling to pay me for my services, and for all of the new freelancers out there, I wanted to give you a heads up about these companies. You can decide for yourself whether you want to risk working for them, but I have to say that if my bad experience is not the only incident, think carefully whether you want to waste your time or not.
Content Gurus
The Situation: I started working for this company in the summer of 2008. At first, they seemed pretty reliable. Writers were able to take sets of articles for a flat fee. All writers had seven days to complete and submit the set. I was paid regularly for every two weeks—for awhile. I really got into writing these articles, making sure to meet the needs of the topic as well as keyword ratios. One week I completed more than $400 of work. That's when I stopped seeing payments. At first, I was just missing that one large payment—the admins had responded to my first email, telling me they weren't sure why the system didn't pay me, but they would look into it. Weeks passed. Anything I earned above $150 was no longer being paid and my concerns were no longer being answered. I told them that I would not write another article until I was paid what I was due, because it was only fair. Since I didn't complete at least 1 assignment within a week (terms of the contract) privileges were revoked and my emails continued to go unanswered. I thought it was just me for the longest time, but recently I did some research on other writer's experiences with this company and found how common it really was. Steer clear if you expect a steady paycheck.
Blog Advertising Store (formerly Paying Post)
The Situation: Many of you who read this blog regularly know that I openly admit that I post some paid advertisements on this blog. Though these have steadied to a trickle, I thought this was another way to boost my freelance income. I worked for three different blog advertising companies at one time. Two of them paid regularly and on a timely manner. Blog Advertising Store, however, has failed miserably.
When the company was known as Pay Post, there was a $50 minimum all bloggers had meet before getting paid. My blog is not that big, doesn't have the traffic that would attract a lot of different offers, so it took more than six months to reach the $50 minimum. Unbeknownst to me, Paying Post had changed its name to Blog Advertising Store and had also bumped up the $50 minimum to $100. They cite that too many bloggers had removed posts from their blog once they were paid, which was against the terms of service. Alright, so I worked even harder to get more opportunities. Finally, in January I earned a total of $102, surpassing the minimum. Bloggers are told that they will be paid the first of the month after meeting that threshold. February 1st came and went. No money. I used the contact form on the website (the only way to get in contact with the business). I explained the situation and asked someone to contact me. No reply. I sent two more messages, but still not a single reply. I then tried an old support email address from Paying Post. No reply.
Now I'm upset, fearing that the contact page for the business is really just a dummy page and no one gets the message. I check the terms of service to see if they have made a mistake, or if I have in any way. I find this:
“Do not sent a zillion e-mails because your chance to get a [replay] is reduced to ZERO, since you will be marked as SPAM.”
Would 3 be considered too many? If so, they apparently have the right to not pay me for asking a question.
It's past March 1st now, and I have little hope I will be paid for this. Bloggers, please don't let this happen to you. I also checked on this one, and many bloggers have not been paid.
While I may be out of a few hundred bucks, I have learned a big lesson about freelancing online. I hope you can learn from it too.
Content Gurus
The Situation: I started working for this company in the summer of 2008. At first, they seemed pretty reliable. Writers were able to take sets of articles for a flat fee. All writers had seven days to complete and submit the set. I was paid regularly for every two weeks—for awhile. I really got into writing these articles, making sure to meet the needs of the topic as well as keyword ratios. One week I completed more than $400 of work. That's when I stopped seeing payments. At first, I was just missing that one large payment—the admins had responded to my first email, telling me they weren't sure why the system didn't pay me, but they would look into it. Weeks passed. Anything I earned above $150 was no longer being paid and my concerns were no longer being answered. I told them that I would not write another article until I was paid what I was due, because it was only fair. Since I didn't complete at least 1 assignment within a week (terms of the contract) privileges were revoked and my emails continued to go unanswered. I thought it was just me for the longest time, but recently I did some research on other writer's experiences with this company and found how common it really was. Steer clear if you expect a steady paycheck.
Blog Advertising Store (formerly Paying Post)
The Situation: Many of you who read this blog regularly know that I openly admit that I post some paid advertisements on this blog. Though these have steadied to a trickle, I thought this was another way to boost my freelance income. I worked for three different blog advertising companies at one time. Two of them paid regularly and on a timely manner. Blog Advertising Store, however, has failed miserably.
When the company was known as Pay Post, there was a $50 minimum all bloggers had meet before getting paid. My blog is not that big, doesn't have the traffic that would attract a lot of different offers, so it took more than six months to reach the $50 minimum. Unbeknownst to me, Paying Post had changed its name to Blog Advertising Store and had also bumped up the $50 minimum to $100. They cite that too many bloggers had removed posts from their blog once they were paid, which was against the terms of service. Alright, so I worked even harder to get more opportunities. Finally, in January I earned a total of $102, surpassing the minimum. Bloggers are told that they will be paid the first of the month after meeting that threshold. February 1st came and went. No money. I used the contact form on the website (the only way to get in contact with the business). I explained the situation and asked someone to contact me. No reply. I sent two more messages, but still not a single reply. I then tried an old support email address from Paying Post. No reply.
Now I'm upset, fearing that the contact page for the business is really just a dummy page and no one gets the message. I check the terms of service to see if they have made a mistake, or if I have in any way. I find this:
“Do not sent a zillion e-mails because your chance to get a [replay] is reduced to ZERO, since you will be marked as SPAM.”
Would 3 be considered too many? If so, they apparently have the right to not pay me for asking a question.
It's past March 1st now, and I have little hope I will be paid for this. Bloggers, please don't let this happen to you. I also checked on this one, and many bloggers have not been paid.
While I may be out of a few hundred bucks, I have learned a big lesson about freelancing online. I hope you can learn from it too.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Choosing Blog Advertising
Freelance writing can lead beginners down many different paths. Some of these paths will lead to a minuscule income with more and more effort being spent on just pennies an hour. Other paths will lead new writers to at least a moderate income, one that they can take to the bank. One opportunity that will supplement any struggling writer's income is blog advertising.
Most writers quickly learn that an online presence with a blog is an essential part of getting your name and your reputation out to those that may need your services. Blog advertising and getting paid to blog provide two ways to benefit freelance writers. When you are just starting out, taking a few paid to blog opportunities can supplement your income. Once you have made a name for yourself, you can easily market to a wider audience by marketing with one of the least expensive forms of marketing online.
Many surveys have been taken on the accuracy and relevance of blog advertising, and many advertisers that use this type of service rave about how well it has worked for their business. Why does it work so well? There are two reasons: target audiences and trustworthiness.
Blog advertising is a great way to find specific demographics to target. Want to sell your baby products? Get a mommy blogger to talk about it. Want to sell your new business idea? Look for entrepreneur blogs. If there's someone talking about a topic, chances are someone also hosts a blog about it.
Many people will also be more inclined to try your products if a blogger that they trust has tried the product and given an honest review about it. For this to work, you will need to target blogs that have a high regular readership, then you can sell your writing skills to many, instead of just one at a time.
Most writers quickly learn that an online presence with a blog is an essential part of getting your name and your reputation out to those that may need your services. Blog advertising and getting paid to blog provide two ways to benefit freelance writers. When you are just starting out, taking a few paid to blog opportunities can supplement your income. Once you have made a name for yourself, you can easily market to a wider audience by marketing with one of the least expensive forms of marketing online.
Many surveys have been taken on the accuracy and relevance of blog advertising, and many advertisers that use this type of service rave about how well it has worked for their business. Why does it work so well? There are two reasons: target audiences and trustworthiness.
Blog advertising is a great way to find specific demographics to target. Want to sell your baby products? Get a mommy blogger to talk about it. Want to sell your new business idea? Look for entrepreneur blogs. If there's someone talking about a topic, chances are someone also hosts a blog about it.
Many people will also be more inclined to try your products if a blogger that they trust has tried the product and given an honest review about it. For this to work, you will need to target blogs that have a high regular readership, then you can sell your writing skills to many, instead of just one at a time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)