5 Ways to Make Your PayPerPost Posts More Appealing to Your Readers
October 24, 2007
This post was guest blogged by Ruchir of TechnoMoney. Ruchir is only in 10th Grade but blogs about topics such as make money online at his blog TechnoMoney. There you’ll find various blogging tips, ways to make money, money saving tips and occasional news about technology and the internet at large.
PayPerPost can be a great way to earn some decent money, especially when your blog is only a couple of months old. However, if not used correctly it can turn into a nuisance for your readers. To make sure that your readers don’t get annoyed by these sponsored posts, I present you 5 ways of making PPP sponsored posts more appealing to your readers:
- Make sure that the opportunity you choose is relevant to the theme of your blog. For example, don’t pick an opportunity about bicycles if you have a make money online blog.
- Research about the website you’re reviewing and give an honest opinion of the website.
- Don’t use too much ‘pre-sell’ language.
- Try to make the sponsored post as ‘normal’ as possible. Don’t try to force the reader to sign-up for a website. Just imagine if you have stumbled upon the site and no one is paying for the review. Write your post just like that. It will turn out to be more natural and might appeal more to the reader.
- Don’t sound too much like you’ve been paid for the post. I have seen many people who use PPP post sponsored posts that were highly discriminatory and said that the website in question was great. When I actually visited the website, it was absolute crap. If you do like this, your readers might loose your trust.
I know that was a pretty short list. But then I like to get to the point and I believe these 5 points covered pretty much everything. Still, if you have something more that can make PPP posts more appealing, feel free to write it in the comments; I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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Give Comments to the Little Guys
October 23, 2007
A short while back I ran a poll that asked this question: “Which do you find gives you better overall results: commenting on big, popular blogs OR commenting on new, small blogs?” I decided that it was about time to share the results with you.
Commenting on smaller blogs isn’t only to be nice, but it can be beneficial to you as well!
How can this be? Think about it. Let’s say you leave a comment on Mr. John Chow’s blog. Will he ever come across your blog through your comment and visit it? I highly doubt it. But if you a comment on a new blog that has zero comments, the owner of this blog will be ecstatic and very appreciative. They will visit your blog, they will probably comment back, and also likely is it that they will link to you! This blogger will probably remember you for life as one of their first commentators, especially if you comment more than once!
The only reason I can think of to comment the A-listers more is because if your comment is one of the first and appears near the top, a wide range of people see it. All those Shoemoney fans might just click on over to your blog and see who you are! But a hundred extra pageviews doesn’t beat the loyal readership of one solitary blogger.
Over 80% of Super Blogging readers said that they find commenting on smaller blogs gives them better results, and the reason why is obvious. If you didn’t get a chance to vote, which would you choose and why? Is commenting on Problogger better than dropping by on a brand spanking new blog? What do YOU think?
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6 Reasons Why You Should Use Images In Your Blog Posts
October 22, 2007
Q. Why have you not been using images in every single one of YOUR blog posts?
A. Because I was stupid. I thought there wouldn’t be any image that would work with many of my post topics, so I avoided them altogether. But there’s ALWAYS an image out there you can use, no matter what you’re writing about!
Here are the six BIGGEST reasons I’ve come up with that answer the question, “Why should I use images in my blog posts?”
1. You attract more attention to your articles. Sometimes when I visit a website or browse through my feed reader, I would pass on by a post if it didn’t have an image. If the post has a lame title or doesn’t seem appealing to me, it’s very likely I’ll skip over it. But if the post has an eye-drawing image, I’m instantly lured in. By using images in your posts, you get people to read your content when they might not otherwise.
2. Your blog doesn’t look like a huge mass of words. Who wants to read paragraph after paragraph without any breaks? That’s what school and work are for! When people sit at their computers, they don’t like being bored or looking at ugly sites. When you use images, your blog looks a whole lot more interesting. And for people who have never been to your site before, it creates a perfect first impression!
3. You can help explain what you are discussing. If a reader is not 100% sure of what they are reading, an image can help clear things up a bit. If you are writing about a confusing concept or a complicated contraption, having an image of the thing in your article not only livens it up but can help clarify things too!
4. You can get search engine traffic from images. If you tag your images properly, image search results from search engines could send some targeted visitors your way. For a detailed explanation on this and how to implement it, please read here.
5. They can help fill up some space. If not for any of the other reasons, then here’s a good one. If you write a short post and don’t want it to look like something sloppy you didn’t work on, adding an image instantly gives the article a professional feel and makes the reader think you worked harder than you really did. That’s always a good thing!
6. WHY NOT?! There’s no reason why you shouldn’t use images. As stated earlier, you can always think of an image to use no matter what topic you’re writing about. Also, they are sites dedicated to providing images you can use without worrying about copyright, and most of those sites provide some images for free (more on that later).
Of course, there are some image don’ts, but not a lot of them! DON’T overdo it. Make sure there are more words than images, always. One image in a post is fine. Two is sometimes okay, but three or more is usually always pushing it unless your post is a whopper. Too much of a good thing is bad! DON’T use an image that screws up your design. If your image is too big, it can stretch your blog’s layout and make things very, very ugly. If you avoid the dont’s, you should be fine!
Q. So where can I find those free images for my blog?
A. Some people say, “Oh, I can always get images at Google”, but many of those images belong to people and you don’t actually have the rights to use them. Instead, why not use a photo stock website? They contain decent to great quality images that you are allowed to use, and most of them are free of charge!
To see my recommendations of image stock websites, please click here.
I’ve learned my lesson about ignoring the use of images for a very long time. I’ve realized that when images are utilized properly, only success is in store for me - the same thing applies to you as well! If you have any questions or any advice to share with the rest of us, please leave a comment. Thanks, and good luck with making your posts more appealing!
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TNX.net - A New Text Link Ad Marketplace
October 21, 2007
If you’re looking for a fantastic alternative to the Text-Link-Ads site and marketplace, then TNX.net (TNX pronounced as the word “thanks”, as in internet chat speak) could be your perfect solution. They target both advertisers and publishers in a great way. This site could easily surpass other text link ad websites, you just watch and see. Or even better, sign up and be a part of it all so you don’t miss out!
For Advertisers
TNX.net is a great place to buy links and have them appear on other sites. They make it simple and easy. Once you access their site and see their global dashboard, you click on the “Create Campaign” button. You name your campaign and select all the kinds of site categories it will appear under. There are also little dollar sign symbols beside each category to let you know how much they cost, which I think is a very nice addition. You also get to choose the languages of the sites your ad appears on, along with the number of backlinks and the PageRank the site must have. Last but not least, you get to choose how much you are willing to spend.
Once you enter in all of this information (which takes about two minutes to do), the site will calculate approximately how many links you should receive for your campaign. With all of this, YOU get to control how your ad campaign runs and you get great exposure on quality sites.
For Publishers
If you’d rather be the one earning money by displaying links on your site instead of buying them, then TNX.net offers that as well. After registering it’s very easy to become a publisher. You just click the “Get Code” button in the sidebar of the dashboard and are presented with a few different copy-and-paste methods of inserting the code into your site. This is very quick and will only take a minute to do. After that, you are able to fill out a quick form and add your site for acceptance into their marketplace. TNX.net site submissions are moderated by real people, so acceptance could take a couple days.
However, after your website is approved within a very short period of time links will start appearing on your site, and there’s no hard work involved for you!
The TNX Point System
One thing I have yet to mention is that TNX.net runs using a point system, which makes it unique and more special than other link marketplace sites out there. TNX points can be acquired by purchasing them from TNX.net themselves (currently the cost is 1,000 points for is a little over a dollar and the price increases 2% per week, so hurry!), or even other members of the site. This can be an awesome money-making opportunity for some! TNX points are based on PageRank and here is an example of what you can get by having 20,000 points:
- 20,000 different PR0 pages from different websites
- 400 different PR1 pages from different websites
- 200 different PR2 pages from different websites
- 100 different PR3 pages from different websites
- 40 different PR4 pages from different websites
- 20 different PR5 pages from different websites
As you can see this is a very fair value, and often times you can get a lot more for your money!
Affiliate Program
I absolutely love TNX.net’s affiliate program. It isn’t based on a flat rate like most other sites. Check out this description, copied from TNX.net’s site:
“When you refer webmasters to TNX.net, you get 13.3% (as long as your account is active) of all TNX-points that are generated by their websites. In addition, you will receive 5% of all payments, made by referred advertiser (this option will work after paypal payments will be automated).”
All in all, I think TNX.net is definitely a great site in which to sign up for, whether you’re looking to sell ads and buy links or earn from displaying them. (If you ARE interested in buying links, there is a currently a limited time offer where you can get free points to use on free links!) As you can see, TNX.net offers a great system that is unique from any other. They have a simple and easy-to-use interface, good pricing, a fantastic affiliate program, and offer a lot of control to their advertisers AND their publishers. I don’t see much on the site that needs to be improved and it has great potential, and already thousands of members that are taking advantage of its great service.
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The Best of the Blogosphere: October 19, 2007
October 19, 2007
I’ve browsed through my Google Reader subscriptions and found the best articles out there that’ll keep your weekend busy with reading! These posts are personally the ones that really stood out to me and helped me, so hopefully you’ll find them useful too. If you liked an article, please leave the author a comment on their blog - they deserve it for working so hard and writing awesome content for you to devour!
44 Internet Marketing Articles That Everyone Should Read: Internet Marketers Group Writing Project:
“Last week I opened up an opportunity for everyone called The Internet Marketers United Group Writing Project. The project gave everyone a chance to gain some exposure and showcase their internet marketing knowledge. …”
What Does Your Website Say About You?:
“In order to create a positive first impression, you have to know specifically what your goals are for the first few seconds of a new visit. It may sound obvious, but it’s often overlooked. …”
How Long Before Your Blog Will Start Making Money?:
“A lot of new bloggers seem to think that once you’ve setup your blogspot.com account and you’ve written your first article, you’re set. Slap a couple of ads on and you can start planning your early retirement. If only. …”
Convert Your Old Posts Into A Full Sales Campaign:
“Instead of letting the review slip into the archives, I converted it to a sales page and it is now making enough passive income to pay for all my hosting needs for a year! …”
Make Money Giving Away A Free eBook:
“You are basically going to give people a free eBook, which will contain beneficial content. You will have your affiliate link inside the eBook. Read on to learn how to do this successfully because most WILL do it wrong. …”
“In most cases you’ll use JPG for compressing images for your website, but there are other formats that are useful for certain applications. …”
Soundsnap: Royalty-Free Sound Files:
“Soundsnap is a free online database of public domain sound clips and effects that have been tagged, categorized, and uploaded by users. …”
14 of the World’s Strangest Alarm Clocks for Those Early Morning Risers:
“Whats worse than having to get up early every morning? Waking up to one of these weird devices going off, of course. Alarm clocks are bad enough, but now manufacturers insist on making them as strange and annoying as possible. …”
I’m sure you could find some of those articles helpful and interesting. If you have a post that you’ve written and you think it deserves attention, consider using my contact form and letting me know. Maybe I’ll include it in a roundup, maybe I won’t. If you’re looking for even better advertising at very low costs, check out my advertise page and see if you’re interested in being a Super Blogging sponsor! Have a great weekend and happy blogging. :D
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