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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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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V7N Contextual Links -- No Disclosure Allowed

A couple of days I read about V7N Contextual Links (sorry, I can't remember where I read about them) and signed up to see what it was all about. Essentially, you submit your blogs, and advertisers pay you for links. The links don't have to be in posts about the site you're linking to, although there should be a broad connection. For example, if a car dealership was paying you for a link, you could put it in any post (even an old post) about cars, car sales, etc.



So today I got my first "Link Placement Request." Interestingly, they run the whole thing through the V7N Forum, so the "placement request" came in the form of an email notification that I'd received a private message at the forum. The message told me which blog the link was to be placed in, the URL for the link, and a few instructions. All I had to do was write the post (if I didn't have an old post that would do the trick), then reply to the PM with the URL of the post, and I'd have $10 in my Paypal account within 24 hours. Sweet!



Except for one problem. The last sentence in the instructions was "Publishers MAY NOT disclose the fact that the link is paid." No disclosure. It's not an option. In fact, it's forbidden. Which means I won't be doing it.



Apparently for a lot of people, this is old news. Darren at ProBlogger talked about V7N Contextual a couple of months ago. I must've missed it. Too bad, because if I'd read his review, I wouldn't have signed up for it in the first place. The no-disclosure thing makes it something I don't really want to get involved with.



And it got me thinking more about the "paid content" companies I am involved with, like PayPerPost, Blogitive and ReviewMe. With those posts, I always disclose that they're sponsored posts. And I try to make sure the sponsored posts fit reasonably well into the general themes and subjects of the blog I'm posting them on (although I'll admit that sometimes it's a bit of a streeeeeeeetch). And I don't accept offers where I'm not free to say what I want -- positive, negative, or neutral.



And I can see the "product placement" comparison. V7N doesn't require a review, or a testimonial or anything. No opinion or commentary required. Just a link. Then they pay you for the link, on the condition that you don't tell anybody you've been paid for including it.



It also got me thinking about the Amazon Context Links. I don't disclose that each of those links is an affiliate link. I don't even create the links myself. I let Amazon do it. So why does that feel OK, while the thing with V7N doesn't? I guess it's because I figure anybody seeing one of those links knows that it's an affiliate link. There's nothing sneaky about it (is there?), but with V7N, I feel like there is something sneaky going on. And sneaky doesn't really fit in with what this blog is all about -- making money online without having to get involved in a bunch of sneaky or shady stuff.

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No-fee 0% APR Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Disclaimer: This a paid ReviewMe website review.

Because the credit card companies pay such excellent commissions for approved applications ($40 to $60 commissions are common), they are hugely popular with affiliate marketers. One of those affiliate marketers has created a site focusing on cards that offer no-fee 0% balance transfers. The site is called The 0% APR Credit Card Balance Transfer Website. Not particularly imaginative, but it covers all the important keywords. And it even uses the Cocos (Keeling) Islands domain extension -- .cc -- to stand for "credit card."

The first thing you see when you get to the Balance Transfer website is a bunch of credit cards. They're organised by provider -- Discover, Citibank, Chase, and American Express. Not an exhaustive choice of card issuers, but since each issuer has a number of different cards with different features (apart from the 0% balance transfer), there are plenty of cards to choose from.

Clicking on any of the cards takes you to the issuer's website, to a page that explains the features (and the terms and conditions) for that particular card, along with a link to the page with the application form. If you're not sure which card you want, there's a link under each group of cards that gives you the details for each offer. I think it would be more helpful if those links were a little more obvious, though.

There's also a blog with reviews of each credit card, which is handy. But I think it would be good if the owner changed the template from the slightly-modified Blogger template. In fact, I think the whole site could use a bit of a design overhaul. But I'm sure there will be plenty of time for that later.

The important thing is that the site is up, and provides a good mix of offers and information. The site even includes 7 important "caveats" to help educate visitors about the risks of participating in these kinds of balance transfers. They can be really great deals, if you read all the fine print, and if you use them the right way. But if you pick the wrong deal, or you aren't careful about how you pay off the balances you've transferred, you could end up in a real financial mess.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's the best credit-card related site I've ever seen, but for an affiliate site, it gets the job done. Hopefully the owner will continue to improve this and his other credit-card related sites, and not adopt the "set and forget" mentality too many affiliate marketers use.

Missed Opportunity at ReviewMe

Ouch! After working my way through over 600 emails in my inbox, I found one from ReviewMe letting me know that I'd had an order for a review. But because I didn't respond within 72 hours, the order had been cancelled. Bummer. That's $20 that I didn't earn, all because I didn't check my email over the weekend. That'll teach me.