Get paid for something you already do

When my children were very small, I was content to be a stay-at-home mom. Raising children and keeping house is truly a full time job and I didn't really have time for anything else. When my daughter started school and my son started getting a bit more self-reliant, I felt like I should try to find something I could do at home to make some money.

Upon searching in the internet, I found out about blog advertising. I was just starting a blog of my own to get in the habit of journaling daily, so getting paid to write sounded like fun. Basically, companies pay to advertise on blog postings so they can get "buzz" about their business throughout social media pages on the internet. Studies show that word-of-mouth is the most effective marketing tool, and advertising on blogs fits the bill perfectly.

Now that I have really gotten into it, I can get paid for blogging every day if I want to. The pay is pretty good for something so simple. It ranges from $5 to $20 per blog post. When you consider that it only takes 15 to 30 minutes to compose one post, that's not a bad rate of pay!

So I am now a work-at-home mom and when people ask what I do, I can proudly tell them I'm a writer in addition to being home for my children. I advise all housewives to look into paid blogging as an added source of income for their families.

PPP Press Release

As you all know, I get paid to blog by a great company called PayPerPost. Companies pay bloggers to advertise on blogs on a pay per post basis (hence, the company's name). They just started their business in June 2006, and already it has grown by leaps and bounds. The following news was just released:

The PayPerPost Revolution Accelerates, Sponsored
Blogging Marketplace Secures $7 Million Series B

Draper Fisher Jurvetson leads round and joins Board of Directors

ORLANDO, FL – (June 12, 2007) – PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers and other consumer content creators, today announced it has completed a $7 million second round investment led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an investor in the company's Series A and one of the world’s leading high-technology venture capital firms. The financing brings the total amount of capital raised by PayPerPost to over $10 million, giving the company considerable resources for further development as the industry’s leading Consumer Generated Advertising marketplace. Additional participants in the round include existing investors Inflexion Partners and Village Ventures as well as new investor DFJ Gotham. With this investment, DFJ Managing Director Josh Stein also joins PayPerPost’s Board of Directors.

“PayPerPost created this exciting new advertising space and has established itself as the industry leader,” said Ted Murphy, chief executive officer of PayPerPost. “Although we’ve only used a portion of our first round capital, this added support from investors unlocks significant growth potential. Our content creator and advertiser ROI metrics clearly demonstrate the upside for PayPerPost’s model. We intend to use this capital to build the infrastructure, visibility and professional expertise necessary to reach and retain a greater network of advertisers and content creators than ever before.”

Since its founding in June of 2006, PayPerPost has signed more than 6,500 advertisers to its groundbreaking service, which has enabled Consumer Content Creators to be compensated for their efforts discussing specific companies, products or services via blogs, videos or other media. The content creators are required to disclose relationships with advertisers on their blog, providing transparency for the end reader. Over 125,000 Internet postings, most in the form of blogs, have already earned money for their creators through PayPerPost’s innovative marketplace. PayPerPost recently released PayPerPost Direct, a disruptive new service that allows advertisers to contract and negotiate directly with individual bloggers they identify through a safe, managed system.

“PayPerPost has laid a strong foundation for the future,” noted Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “It continues to attract a critical mass of participants from both the advertising and blogging communities. Analogous to Overture’s sponsored search model, we believe PayPerPost’s business model holds disruptive potential and will enable the company to thrive in the evolving paid-content arena.”

To mark the $7 million dollar funding, PayPerPost has launched a new website detailing the company’s service offering at http://www.payperpost.com. Bloggers and advertisers can easily sign up at the site and begin leveraging the self service marketplace.

This new 7 million dollar investment is great news for PayPerPost and will allow them to keep growing and to deal easier with quick growth. We had a few bumps in the road, which seemed to be due to quicker growth than expected. The additional operating capital would be well used on more targeting to advertisers. There is no shortage of bloggers willing to post content, but sometimes the amount of opportunities available is a bit low and I've gone a few days with nothing available to take. If more advertisers used the service, us "Posties" would have more steady blogging income.

PayPerPost is asking bloggers (aka Posties) our opinion on what they should spend the 7 million on. So far, they have decided to share a bunch of it with the Posties by offering their own advertising opportunities with big payouts of $70 and $700. Of course, I think this is great and it keeps the bloggers engaged, but it would be a good idea to keep most of the new investment money in the bank for the future of the company. Based on how much it has grown in just one year, PayPerPost shows great potential and they would be wise to be prepared for anything. Extra cash retains the stability of a company and keeps stress levels down for the board members.

Half a year already

Today marks exactly six months since I began paid blogging. I am happy to report that I am still loving it and of course, the money is very nice too. I think it has challenged me as a writer and I like to believe my writing has improved because of the amount of writing I do on a daily basis now.

I have made about $1,500 in the six months between the three different companies I get paid through and since my husband does it too, that's not a bad little income for something we enjoy doing anyway.

I'm excited about PPP again

As you know, one of the companies that I make money blogging for is PayPerPost. Today they made several exciting announcements that will help us bloggers. The biggest news is their PPP Direct program. Instead of the opportunities being listed on the PPP website for all bloggers to choose from, you put a widget on your blog that lets advertisers click if they want to advertise specifically on your blog. You state on the widget the minimum you want to be paid for a Direct opportunity, then an advertiser clicks on your widget to make you an offer to write a special blog post.

This is a similar program to ReviewMe.com, but from what I've heard, ReveiwMe is much more complicated and I know the fees they charge are ridiculous - from 50% to 100% markup! PPP Direct only charges a 10% service fee, of which about 5% of that is PayPal and credit card fees. PayPerPost feels that since the blogger is generating the leads from the advertisers, they deserve to keep most of the money. I agree with this statement and don't see how some of the competing companies can justify such a high markup fee.

Another new announcement by PPP is that when we click on an opportunity, the system reserves it for six hours while we research and type the post. This is great news, since previously we only had one hour which is kind of stressful when you have distractions at home that sometimes catch you in the middle of a post.

My 400th post!!!

Wow, I can't believe this is my 400th post on this blog, which I just started last September. I know that high number is directly related to the fact that I do sponsored posts for two (soon to be three) paid blogging sites. I want to thank all of you that have stayed with me and continue reading my posts.

I only write paid posts that are consistent with my beliefs and I try to keep them from sounding overtly like advertisements. My pagerank has increased and that is all because of my readers!

Thanks again and keep on reading and blogging!

Hoppin and bloggin

After several weeks of Blogitive being dead in the water with no available opportunities, they announced upgrades and lots of new opportunities on the way. Well, they were right! Their site is back up and running, with loads of new opps. As evident with the sheer number of posts I have been making in the last few days, I am trying to get back up to speed and catch up on the last few slow weeks with Blogitive and PayPerPost. I'm just a WAHM (work-at-home-mom) trying to stay afloat! It's hard to think of myself as a blog writer, but aside from being a wife and mother, that is my job right now.

Doing my own thing

Yay! My new laptop arrived today and I am up and running, blogging on it right now. It will take me awhile to get used to the smaller keyboard and to be able to type as fast as I usually can, but at least I can get on whenever I want and don't have to schedule time for myself on our home computer. Now it really feels like an office here with me and my hubby working side-by-side. Pretty neat!

Hopefully, with the extra blogging I will be able to do, we should be able to recoup the expense of it fairly quickly. Now if I could just get some open opportunities at Blogitive.com...

Review my post

As you have probably noticed, I have added a new button at the end of each post that says "get paid to review my post." This is a great new program through PayPerPost that pays the blogger and their reviewer $7.50 each when someone reviews your post and signs up at PPP. I have put this button on all my posts, not just the paid ones because it is open to all bloggers and all posts.

This affiliate tool is a great way to spread the word about PayPerPost and build blog traffic. And what better way for someone to sign up than to review any post they want and get paid $7.50? Some bloggers who aren't interested or just don't have the time to do sponsored posts can simply sign up with PayPerPost and put the button at the bottom of all their regular posts in the hopes that one of their readers will review it and then they'll both get paid. Some serious bloggers have spent years perfecting their page and have only specific topics they cover, so they don't feel comfortable putting any type of advertisement content on their blogs. This would be a great idea for someone who has a very high page rank with many readers, but doesn't want sponsored content on their blog.

Segmentation has some benefits

With all the changes taking place at PayPerPost lately, one of the biggest is "segmentation." This means that when an advertiser posts an opportunity for the bloggers, they can make all kinds of requirement specifications that they weren't able to pick before. For example, they can choose a minimum PR (page rank) for the blogger's homepage, they can choose only blogs about a certain topic, and they can exclude blogs from free sites like Blogger, Xanga, LiveJournal, and MySpace.

The downside for advertisers is that if they choose segmentation, the payout of their opp must be higher (I heard at least $12.50) per blog. This is good news for bloggers with a high PR, because some of the opps have been paying $1,000 per blog. That's some serious dough for a half hour of work! Now I just have to work really hard to get my page rank up so I can partake in the big bucks.

It is so great to make money blogging. I've really gotten into a groove with it now and I can do the posts much quicker than when I first started two months ago. In case you want to know, I have already been paid $335 and they owe me $300 to be paid once my posts are up for the required 30 days. I try to keep the "to be paid" above $300, so that means I'm making about that much every 30 days. Now that they have raised the daily post limit from two to three, that number should grow very quickly.

Another change at PPP is now we are required to have a disclosure on our blog (you can see mine in the sidebar), or we can put it within the individual post (as I will put at the bottom of this one). Some people made a big deal about it, but I would think most bloggers would like it since it explains that some of our posts are paid and they are still our own opinions. I think mostly advertisers were the ones who didn't like it because some of them even specify in the opp that they don't want you to mention it is a paid ad. They can't do that anymore and I'm glad because I always want to be honest with my readers.

Paid Blogging

I just wanted to write a quick post about the differences between the two big paid blogging sites (PayPerPost vs. Blogitive), since I am now a member of both. The biggest difference is in the layout of the opportunities. At PPP, you have to view the entire list of available opps, and choose the ones that you qualify for based on PR, blog subject, etc. At Blogitive, they show you only the ones that you qualify for and you choose to accept or reject them.

At PPP, once you click "Take this Opportunity," the system holds it for one hour while you type your post and submit it. When you accept an opportunity at Blogitive, they hold it for two days while you type your post. In this regard, I must say Blogitive makes me feel more relaxed, while PPP makes me feel a little nervous and rushed. It usually only takes about 15 minutes to type a post, but you never know when you will be interrupted by one of your kids or if the phone will ring and then you might miss the one hour deadline.

At Blogitive, you can "Accept" all the opps on your list, then take the two days to do them all. But if you click "Take this Opp" at PPP on more than one, you are really in a crunch to get them all done within the hour. PPP has a limit of three opps per blog, per day and requires only one non-paid blog post in between paid posts. Blogitive has no limit of opps you can take per day, but they require two in between blog posts between their opps. They don't specify non-paid, though, so I usually do a Blogitive post, followed by a personal non-paid post, followed by a PPP, then another Blogitive post. That system works great, provided there are posts to take. Blogitive had five opportunities for me on the first day, but since then have had none. As I've mentioned before, PPP fluctuates all the time, but they always come back up after only a couple of slow days.

Another plus for PPP, the payouts are almost always more. Blogitive pays $5 per post and they always require 100 words. PPP varies by advertiser, but the minimum is $5 and 50 words. I've been paid $15 for 50 words before and that is awesome. But sometimes the advertiser wants 300 words for only $5, which is hardly worth the time. Overall, I prefer PayPerPost for now, but I'll keep you posted...

Good news!

PayPerPost just announced that they upped the maximum number of paid posts per blog per day back to three. It used to be three, but then they got slow and lowered it to two maximum posts per day. I hope this means they are expecting lots of new advertisers and opportunities. Today, the number of opportunities available has quadrupled since this morning, so that is a very good sign.

I will be a blogging "mad woman" now, especially when my new laptop is delivered later this week. Yay!! Since I won't have to split computer time with my hubby, we will both be able to do more paid blogs per day. He already has three different blog sites approved, and I am waiting for my second blog site to be approved. So now he can take 9 opportunities daily and I will be able to take 6. Woohoo! We may just be able to survive on paid blogging alone! Of course, the affiliate marketing sites will still be up, which does bring in money here and there too.

Increase your PR

For those of you who don't know, PR means PageRank. PR is a hot-button topic for bloggers these days, because a lot depends on how high your PR is. Usually, the blogs or websites with a high PR have been established for many years. There are some tactics to improve the PR on any blog, however, and many bloggers are eager to try anything since a higher PR means more readership and more money if you participate in paid blogging.

According to Google's system of ranking pages, they place a higher importance on links to your page from other pages if it is within the text, rather than in a "blogroll" or "links" area on their site. This is where paid blogging can work for you in the opposite way than what you are used to. Usually, you get paid by companies like Blogitive to write about web releases for their clients. But you can actually sign up as an advertiser to get other bloggers to write about your blog in order to increase your PR through link popularity. Of course, you will have to pay for this service, but if it means you can take more paid blogging opportunities with many different companies, the cost will be well worth it in the long run and it will pay for itself in no time.

PayPerPost changes

Last week, PayPerPost implemented many new changes to their system. They are still working out the bugs, so it has been pretty frustrating to use since Monday. One of the main changes is the segmentation of the opportunities. Advertisers can now choose from several options that they did not have before. They can choose a minimum PR (page rank), they can choose not to accept blogs from certain free blogger sites, and they can even choose what the subject of our blog has to be about to take their opp.

The result has been that there are many fewer opps that I am qualified for since my blog is fairly new and is on blogspot. I have created another blog at its own website, but it is still in the approval process and since they are working on all the new system problems, I don't expect PPP to be approving new blogs anytime soon. As for PR, both of my blogs is still a 0/10. It just takes time to get your PR up, plus some self-marketing which I may have to do so I can continue blogging for money.

Yes or no?

Since my husband and I have gotten into the paid blogging business, we have been struggling for time on the computer. He uses it also for other business, and for music, so it is hard for us to split the time on the computer to do all the blogging we need to do. We are considering buying a laptop so I can work on blogging and not have to worry about when the computer will be available.

I hate to spend the money, since we are struggling to make enough to live on as it is, but I think it would really help us in the long run. I could do more blogs to make more money and not have to worry about interrupting him while he is working. Plus, we can spend more time together while we are both working. Another plus is that I could work from the laptop anywhere in the house, which is convenient when you have kids.

I think we're gonna go for it - this purchase is more than justified.

rolling right along

I am happy to report that I have finally been approved at Blogitive to do paid blogging through their system. I had submitted my blog for approval twice before and was rejected because my blog wasn't popular enough yet. Their system is very different from PayPerPost and I haven't decided which one I prefer yet - pluses and minuses on each. But it's all good, now I can make even more money with my blog.

Just call me little miss work-at-home mommy. :o)

See how it all started

PayPerPost.com has created their own reality web-based show, which I have blogged about previously. I have viewed some of their clips and my overall impression is that this company was started by a very honest and hardworking team. Every time they hire someone new, they film a "confessional" to get their opinion about working at the company. They all say the same thing - that it is a fun, cool, and exciting place to work. This makes me feel even better about putting ads on blogs that I will be paid for.

In my opinion, getting paid to blog is a no-brainer. Why wouldn't you do it? You "get paid to blog about the things you love". That is PayPerPost's slogan and I stand by it 100%. Yay PPP!!!

Here is a confessional by one of their new employees:

Get paid to blog

I honestly think PayPerPost is the coolest thing since sliced bread! I've only done paid blogs for one week, and I will be paid $65 once those posts are up for a month. I do two paid blogs a day, ranging from $5 - $10 per blog. I am a stay-at-home mom, so this is a way for me to make a contribution to our household finances.

They have a wide range of topics to pick from, so I only have to blog about what I'm interested in. Currently, you can only do two paid blogs a day, but it used to be three and will hopefully go back to three soon so I can do even more. After seeing all the bogus online money making scams, I was so relieved to find PayPerPost. This truly is one of the legitimate ways to make money on the internet without all the guesswork.

Hooray for paid blogging!!

After waiting the required three months for my blog to be active before being approved by Pay Per Post, I can now get paid to blog. They really have a great concept for advertising. From a blogger's standpoint, you just look through their list of opportunities and write about something you are interested in on your blog. That's what we already do on our blogs anyway, right?? So the bonus is now you can get paid to share your opinions!

This is also beneficial for advertisers because what better way to spread the word about your business than to have people mention it on their blogs? It's like a really quick way to use "word-of-mouth" advertising to your advantage. Many companies today say word-of-mouth is better than regular media advertising because people trust their own friends and family more than what they see on TV (thank goodness!).