I was planning to do an unsponsored post today that would have been full of squee for how well this whole Pay Per Post thing seems to be going. But then, as tends to happen on the intertubes, the flak started. Now, I knew there would be flack. I knew that many, if not most, if not ALL of my readers would find the advert posts annoying. I expected to lose some readers because of it. I was prepared for that consequence. But, even though I'm not running a popularity contest over here, I do care about my loyal readers and wish to make this a comfortable place for them to visit. So now that the complaints are starting to roll in I might as well address them and get it out of the way.
A Concerned (Annoyed) Reader commented with the following questions/concerns (which I'm boiling down to the gist):
By what criteria do you choose your links?
Moolah, baby. Seriously, while that is the point, I do try to pick linking opportunities that have some kind of relevance and/or that I can get behind, but some days are slim pickin's, and I take what I can get. I do have standards. For instance, today's offerings are all fat burning and "male enhancement" pills, and, well, if they don't update with some better opportunities soon, there won't be any ad posts happening today. But first I look at how much they're paying (some opportunities are worth $20, and we're allowed two a day -- you do the math); then what the content is and what the advertiser's criteria are and whether those things are right (or at least not so completely wrong as to be offensive) for my blog.
Do you fully endorse each site?
No. If I was posting personal endorsements I wouldn't bother to disclose that I'm getting paid to post about this stuff. Like I said, I try to only post about stuff I have/would use myself -- like the coupon and poker sites, and the fitness blog -- but I don't have to have used something to think it's a neat idea that bears mention. I DO check out each site personally before I use it to make sure I'm not sending anybody somewhere I wouldn't be willing to go myself. But in the end, we're all grown-ups, and just because I post a link doesn't mean anybody has to click on it. And even if they do, they're not required to stick around and use/buy whatever the site is offering.
Why this instead of sidebar ads?
My blog isn't popular enough for sidebar ads (or Adsense) to be worth two cents. Literally. Ads are only as good as people's willingness to click on them. Even if all of my visitors clicked on all of my ads, I wouldn't come anywhere close to raking in the earnings I'm getting through Pay Per Post.
Here's where the squee comes in. In only four days, I've already racked up over $50, and the week's not even over yet. Granted, my posts are still in "pending" status, and I won't be paid unless/until they're approved, and for that to happen they have to remain online for 30 days. But if I keep going with this, assuming all of my posts are approved, that's an extra $200 MINIMUM that I can count on pulling in each month. That's going to make the difference between my husband and I barely scraping by from paycheck to paycheck buying only necessities, and actually getting to relax and buy/do something fun once in a while. If you're married then I'm sure I don't have to tell you how far that can go toward maintaining peace in the home.
For the sake of disclosure, I do get paid referral fees for anybody I can get to sign up who gives my e-mail addie in the referral line, but even if that weren't the case, I would recommend doing this. It's basically free money.
Why does the ad copy have to be so clunky?
Because I'm not very good at it yet. Hopefully I'll get better with practice. I've never been very good at talking things up and selling them. Just see my crapometer hook entry.
Why here and not the knitting blog?
Mainly because I just started the knitting blog, and PPP requires that a blog must be at least 90 days old to participate. That, and so far it only gets about 2 visitors a day. Either way you cut it, it's too new. Once it's more established and eligible I'll think about moving these over there, or I might even consider starting yet another blog to post these in and get them off of this one. But even if I do it will still have to wait until it meets eligibility requirements.
In the mean time, I vastly appreciate the patience of those who are willing to put up with the ads, and I understand if anybody isn't willing and wants to drop me from their reading list. I still can't believe or really understand why more than four or five of you read this blog as it is.
The ironic thing is, since I started doing this my daily visitor count has doubled, when I was sure it would be cut in half. Granted, a lot of that is because more people are stumbling in from Google searches, and I frankly value my regular readers a lot more than the hit-&-runs who'll never come back here. But sometimes hit-&-runs turn into regular readers (for some reason), so I don't mind those, either. At any rate, if I were running a popularity contest, judging by the numbers alone, this sure ain't hurting anything.
I hope that covers it. If it helps, I'll start placing my disclosure line at the top of each ad post so you'll know you can skip them, if that's your inclination. Also rest assured that my feelings won't be hurt if you "unfriend" me or unsubscribe from my feed.
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