PayPerPost Direct

If by any chance you're reading this by visiting my blog instead of through your favorite feedreader, you might have noticed the new "PPP Direct" badge I've got in the sidebar. Wassit all about? It's PayPerPost's answer to competitors like ReviewMe, Blogitive, etc. Now advertisers can offer opportunities for sponsored posts to individual bloggers, with PayPerPost acting as the middleman. Sound familiar? That's because it is. But the cool part is, PPP's commission is a helluva lot smaller than their competitors. They collect a 10% fee, which I think is reasonable. I mean, compared to their usual "marketplace" commission, which is 35%, that's sweet, and compared to some of the other services like ReviewMe, which charge anywhere from 50% to a 100% commission, that's awesome.

All a PPP blogger has to do is login to their PPP account, click on "ppp tools", set their price, then cut and paste the code into their blog template and they're ready to go. Then advertisers can click on your badge (and I think there's also going to be a directory of PPP Direct bloggers that advertisers can use to find the blogs and bloggers they're looking for) and negotiate a deal with you. The advertiser gets the blog post they wanted, you make money blogging, and PayPerPost gets a cut for providing a sort of escrow service that ensures that neither party screws the other one.

Sounds easy enough, and I can't wait to find out if it really is as easy as it sounds.




Technorati Tags: PayPerPost, ReviewMe, Blogitive, problogging, paid content, sponsored blogging

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Banner Ads Work!

ArsTechnica has an article about a psych study that shows that banner ads really work, even though most people pay almost no attention to them. As it turns out, that doesn't really matter. The experiment indicated that the more a person is exposed to an ad for a product or brand, the more positive feelings they have for it.

I guess that's good news for the advertisers and the sellers, and a good reason to install the AdBlock extension for Firefox so you can block ads for products and brands you don't want to like. Take that, CrazyFrog!

Technorati Tags: advertising, subliminal, subliminal advertising, ArsTechnica

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Niche Blogging -- Notebookism

I came across a link to this blog and checked it out to see if it was what I thought it was. And it was! Notebookism is a blog devoted to notebooks, diaries, sketchbooks, etc. And it's not only a blog, but there's a Flickr pool and a Google Group as well.

What's it got to do with making money online? Well, I don't know if Armand, the founder of Notebookism is making much money from it, but I think it's an excellent example of creating a niche blog based on a passion or a hobby. And anybody can do it. Start the blog, build the community, and monetize it with ads, affiliate links, etc. Of course there's no guarantee you'll make much money with it, but even if you don't, it can still be very rewarding to blog about something you care about, and to "meet" others who care about it, too.

Technorati Tags: blogging, notebookism, notebooks, diaries, moleskins, sketchbooks, niche blogging, niche marketing

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Bloggers Protected by Anti-SLAPP Law

Eric Goldman posted a nice little entry on his Technology & Marketing Law Blog about bloggers' anti-SLAPP protection. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and it happens when one party (usually a big company) files a lawsuit to try to shut up another party who's saying something the big company doesn't like.

The thing is, criticizing somebody, whether it's an individual, a business, or even a big company, isn't necessarily against the law. So lots of places have anti-SLAPP protections so people won't get sued just because they say something somebody doesn't like. The recent case Eric discusses, anti-SLAPP protection was extended to a blogger, which really isn't that earth-shattering, but I think it's something bloggers should be aware of.

Since I blog about making money online, I also blog about ways you might think you're going to make money online, when really you're just going to get scammed. Occasionally, when I point out a particular scam, I get some idiot emailing me or posting in a forum somewhere ranting about "slander" or "libel" and how I should expect to hear from their lawyers...blah, blah, blah....take the shirt off my back....blah, blah, blah...cellmate named Bruiser...blah, blah, blah...and on and on it goes, and you wouldn't believe some of the ridiculous threats some of them come up with.

Of course laws are different in different places, and it's never safe to assume that just because something makes sense, that's how the powers that be will do things, but in most cases, in most places, calling a spade a spade isn't illegal, and criticizing, or even insulting somebody, isn't necessarily a crime.

So in the event that you end up dealing with some moron who tries to take it further than just throwing around baseless and pathetic threats, and who actually tries to take you to court in hopes that you'll stop the criticism (especially if your criticisms are dead-on), it's worth checking to see if there are anti-SLAPP protections where you are. It might just turn out that the moron is the one who's breaking the law.

Tags: blogging, bloggers, blog law, anti-SLAPP, SLAPP, Eric Goldman, law, lawsuit, GTX, stocklemon, stocklemon.com

The Importance of Honesty, Integrity and Disclosure

12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know has been a very interesting and informative read this morning. It covers things like copyright, deep linking, cybersqatting, SPAM, and lots of other things, but I think my favorite was the one about disclosure.

Disclosure has always been a big part of what this blog is all about. When I started back in 2005, the only people I saw posting how much they were making online were the ones posting scans of checks or screenshots of Paypal records that "proved" they were raking in five or six figures a month. Oh, and of course they'd be happy to show you how to do it for just $79.95. The first monthly total I posted was four figures, but two of those figures were on the right side of the decimal point -- $32.18. Not very impressive, but at least it was honest.

And when I started writing sponsored posts for PayPerPost, I was honest about that, too. Full disclosure, all the way. No other option ever entered my mind. Of course Google says that's not good enough, and wants me to jump through a few hoops to create a kind of disclosure that its spiders can understand.

I think disclosure is important for bloggers. I think it's important for radio personalities. And I think it's important for magazines, which is why I decided to write this post after reading about the sudden resignation of Harry McCracken, the Editor-in-Chief of PC World magazine. Although Colin Crawford, the CEO of PC World denies it, the reason McCracken quit is because Crawford and the marketing dept. were too willing to throw editorial integrity out the window, and to "tone down" criticisms that might have a negative impact on major advertisers.

When that sort of thing happens, whether it's online or offline, it means that every article or review can be considered an undisclosed paid "advertorial." I wonder if Matt Cutts is planning on coming up with a clever little HTML hack to help Googlebot deal with crap like that?

Technorati Tags: blogging, disclosure, PC World, McCracken, PayPerPost, Paypal, Google, Crawford, advertorials

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Internet Radio Saved...

...for two months, at least.

The Copyright Royalty Board has announced that the first royalty payments from radio webcasters isn't due until 15 July instead of 15 May. That gives Congress more time to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act (58k pdf file) , which would set Internet radio royalty fees at the same rate currently required for satellite radio. Sounds reasonable to me.

I still support the "Save Internet Radio" efforts, even though it looks like it won't do me any good personally. I received another email from Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, that said that due to licensing issues, since I'm accessing Pandora from outside the U.S., my access will be blocked. No more Pandora for me. :( I'm guessing other Internet radio sites will follow suit.

Technorati Tags: pandora, copyright royalty board, copyright, music, internet radio equality act, Westergren

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Payments for April 2007

eBay	$78.32
ReviewMe	$20.00
Blogitive	$5.00
PayPerPost	$20.00
ePoll	$30.00
Esearch surveys	$1.00
Lightspeed Panel surveys	$10.00
KRI Panel surveys	$15.00
Total:	$239.32
Year-to-Date:	$749.52

When I sat down to start this post, I was thinking it wasn't going to be a very good month. I knew the profits from eBay sales was going to be a lot lower than last month, and lower our average. But total income for the month turned out to be right about average, and came from a higher number of sources, which I'm happy about. After all, part of what I'm trying to do with this blog is show that there are lots of different ways to make money online. So I'm happy not to have all my eggs in one basket.

One reason for lower ebay profits this month is because we've just increased our prices, which was necessary due to increased import/shipping costs. Another is because we've launched some new advertising campaigns, which has resulted in quite a few new customers trying out our products. New customers usually make smaller purchases, especially the "trial pack" we offer, which only costs them a few dollars, and from which we make almost no profit. But we know that those low-cost trial packs are great for us in the longer term, so hopefully sales will pick up in the coming months. In any case, I'm definitely not complaining. Over $75 profit on around $275 in sales, and all I do is put up a few auction listings each week, answer a few inquiries, and a few trips a week to the Post Office or the nearest mailbox.

I'm also happy with the money I made from sponsored posts last month. $45 in total, with $20 from PayPerPost, $20 from ReviewMe, and $5 from Blogitive. I think that's probably about as much as I'll ever make in a month, unless I add sponsored posts to some other blogs. I really don't want to just start throwing up a bunch of sponsored posts that have nothing to do with the topics I normally blog about here at FCS, but I've been thinking that it might be a good idea to start a new blog, or re-purpose an old one, that's better suited to sponsored posts, affiliate sales, etc.

And the third way I made money in April was from online survey companies. $56 in total, with most of it paid in the form of Amazon gift certificates, which is just as good as cash in my particular case. I loooooove shopping at Amazon! That's more than I've earned from paid survey companies in a long time. What's changed? For one thing, I think many of the companies are sending out more surveys, so that helps. The only change I've made is that I've got all my survey invitations going to a single email address, and I'm trying to check that email account several times a day, and do the surveys ASAP. Some days I do the "screeners" and don't qualify for the full surveys, other days I do one or two surveys, so it probably averages out to be about 20 minutes of "work" a day.

So as it turns out, I'm quite happy with my earnings this month. Not only did I make over $200 that I wouldn't have otherwise made, but I did it doing stuff I enjoy anyway. Blogging, selling stuff on eBay, and sharing my opinions. Sweet!

Technorati Tags: make money online, PayPerPost, Blogitive, ReviewMe, eBay, paid surveys, ePoll, KRI Panel, LightSpeed Panel

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Feds Want to Take Out E-Gold

A grand jury in Washington, DC has indicted E-Gold Ltd., its owner/founder, Douglas Jackson, and several other people associated with the digital currency compnay on several charges, including conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. This, according to the Justice Dept., comes after a 2 1/2 year investigation by the Secret Service, and over a year after the Dec. 19, 2005 FBI/SS raid on E-Gold's offices in Florida.

The US government's beef with E-Gold is that they say it is the digital currency of choice for terrorists, identity thieves, child pornographers and other scumbags. I don't doubt it. But it's also used by coffee growers, potters, software creators, web hosting companies, publishers, and lots of other non-scumbags. You can even use E-Gold to make donations to the Mozilla Foundation, the Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen, and other charities.
And according to this great Wired article from way back in 2002, you can even use E-gold at Action Gun Outfitters' pistol range.

Personally, one of the reasons why I like E-Gold is for its subversive factor. I also like it because it's the closest thing to a working, large-scale online micropayments system we've got. I like it because it's a global online trading system that's backed by real gold. I like it because it's a private online trading network that isn't controlled by any government. Although it looks like the US government would really like to change that.

The bottom line for me is this. If Jackson was knowingly involved in anything to do with kiddie porn, identity theft or any of the rest of it, then I hope they nail him. He says that not only is he not involved in anything like that, he's been working with the Feds to help them bust the criminals who've been using E-Gold to conduct their business. And according to this letter, E-Gold was one of the founding members of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Financial Coalition against Child Pornography.

So I'm going to go with "innocent until proven guilty", because my gut feeling is that what's really going on is that the US government doesn't like the idea of an global trading system that they have no control over. I accept that there are some seriously nasty people using E-Gold to conduct some seriously nasty business. I could say the same thing about US dollars, but I don't think that means that Henry Paulson (US Sec. of the Treasury), Anna Escobedo Cabral (US Treasurer) and Ben Bernanke (Chairman of the Federal Reserve System) should be held responsible for their "involvement" with those nasty criminal activities.

At InformationWeek, Larry Greenmeier says he finds it hard to believe that E-Gold could be "a misunderstood crusader for cyber safety" and also a "key enabler of identity theft." I don't see what's so hard to believe. Criminals, like the rest of us, use the tools that best help us accomplish their goals. E-Gold is a great tool for conducting business transactions online. And many of the features that make it great for all of us non-scumbag, law abiding (mostly), honest (more or less) people also make it a great tool for the scammers, scumbags, criminals, perverts, etc.

Technorati Tags: E-Gold, scams, cybercrime, libertarian, privacy

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