Thursday, November 10, 2011

How to NOT Spend Your Money on Christmas Gifts (Pt 3)

I apologize for the, much longer then expected break, between these posts, I have been down with the flu since last Thursday. (I am still pretty sick, but I seem to finally be able to sit at the computer without feeling dizzy!)
I wrote this part up for bloggers, newbies, anybody who has a Twitter page, any kind of social networking page, that enables them to post links, sponsored articles, tweets, etc.
I am very new myself, so I am in no way attempting to be a pro, or even a seasoned blogger. However, I have learned from other bloggers, and from research, a few good tips and companies, who will pay you to write, post, link, and even tweet for them. I will simply share the links and short summaries for what these are all about.
I would also love for anybody to share any info they have, and companies they have written for, worked for, anything that pertains to this post, in the comment section! Please always feel free to share your pages, links, blogs, sites, name, business, here in the comment section as well! After all, we are all in this together and if we help each other out and support each other, we can definately succeed!
I will be perfectly honest with you, I make next to nothing doing this. I do have goals, and those goals do indeed include earning a decent pt income through affiliates, and sponsored articles. But I must first reach my most important goal, which is, gaining fans, followers, and friends! So, I have not been doing nearly as much with these accounts and companies as I would like too. I have been concentrating on networking and plan to have a substantial amount by early next summer.
I am sure most of you are aware of the Google Adsense accounts. I haven't had any real awesome luck with this account, as you get paid per click. However, I also don't mind if I get 1 $50 check per year from this, as it is still $50 I didn't have.
Google Adsense does pay per click, and you do have control of your ads, you can pick and choose, and the best part is that it is free to start an account! (these are the little pop up ads placed all over blogs and sites and you can even set this up to be in your email newsletters!)
On top of Google Adsense, there are several real cool affiliate accounts you can apply for, and you are in full control of where you place the ads, when, which ads to choose from, and these also have much higher pay rates!
You have to apply first, and I have been turned down by several, mainly due to being new and not having a giant following. But I can reapply later on when I am a bit more experienced.
After you get the confirmation email that says you are accepted, YAY!, you can log into your account, and begin to learn how to get your links, banners, ads, and start to get a feel for how this all works. Some companies will only allow certain posts, certain ways to advertise for them, and it is extremely important that you look and read all of the instructions. You don't want to lose your status with them, because if you do not follow the rules, companies can pull from you, and the actual site you work through, may just do the same. So, it is very important that you study and read and understand and ask questions, if you get stuck somewhere.
Most of these places have a daily email sent to you each day, or every other day, with new ads, info on ads that will expire, pay rate changes, and so on. These are very helpful, and I have had nothing but very courteous account managers so far, who will answer my questions, even answer phone calls, and help you in any way they can!
These, as I mentioned, do have a much higher pay rate then accounts such as Google Adsense. The pay is clearly stated for you on each ad, so you can decide which you think your readers and friends will like, and use. You also have to understand that some of these do not pay, even if they are clicked. They may only pay if there are sign ups, or leads, or purchases. There are very good paying ads that do require that your readers actually sign up, and make a purchase. Even if it is for a free product, and they have to pay shipping, you may earn $8 for that 1 signup! Then there are ads and banners that only pay 15 cents, however, these may be for a free magazine subscription, and you may have several sign ups, and it adds up fast!
There are also printable coupons!!! You can add a coupon widget, which is what I suggest, since you pick the colors, and place this on your blogs, and they update the coupons each week! Now, you may only earn a few cents per coupon clicked and printed, but this adds up as well!
There are so many options for these ads, and I really wish I had the time to sit here and place them and post them each day! I have earned a little bit of money through this, not a ton, but some, and I plan on making these work effectively for me, as I will be spending a lot of time with these in the near future.
All of these types of earning opportunities, are all simply what you make of them. If you spend the time, you can earn more. You are in charge of your income when blogging, and you can succeed with these accounts if you work at it. (I personally am pondering "hiring" an assistant to help me, since I continue to do my points sites, survey sites, etc, because that is how I get paid online and how I earn the money for some of my giveaways. This was all explained in previous parts of this series).
The next way to earn that I have found, is my favorite! I only have 2 companies that I work for, and I have been pretty happy with the amount of leads and offers. Especially since, again, I am newer, and they have put faith in me, and continue to give me offers from advertisers. Just like everything else, once you are bigger, the more money you can earn. You will get many more leads, many more offers, and companies will even pay you much more per article.
You can set what you want paid, and you can negotiate with any of the offers or leads you receive. I would suggest being honest with yourself, and asking for an amount that goes along with your blog following, and experience. For instance, I can not expect to get paid $100 per article to be read by not even 100 readers! But I will accept $15 per article for now, as to get my ratings up within these companies, and because reality does prove that i am newer and I am not a famous blogger, yet, lol.
I have had a lot of fun writing these articles, and when you receive good ratings from the advertiser, it really gets your morale up and if you keep your head up, and work on your writing skills, the offers will start coming in much faster!
These companies who "hire" you to write sponsored articles, will pay you within 30 days of your actual post. They email you or you can check in each day, and see your leads and offers, and once you are offered a job, you will have normally, 3 days to submit your article. They will then submit this to the advertiser, and the advertiser will either approve it, or send it back to you for whatever they would like fixed. Most of these will require that you add certain links, maybe even a picture or a video, and all of the articles will have a statement before and after the article, explaining that this is a paid advertisement, etc etc. So, you can share your honest views and opinions.
Sponsored Tweets are another fun way to earn extra money. You just have to apply, and check in as often as you like to see your offers and requests!
Just like the sponsored posts, these tweets will have your choice of wording, sponsored, advertisement, etc. These are neat because if you are like me, you can always use practice and challenges with your writing. Tweets have a maximum of 140 characters, just like a standard text message, so this can get a litle hard and you may have to get extra creative!
Sponsored tweets may pay anywhere from a couple cents per click up to 99 cents, at least in my spectrum;p I have heard they do at times go higher, again, this is based on the amount of followers you have. Plus, there is always room for negotiation. I personally do not take advantage of negotiating, for the same reasons I explained above.
One main rule, that I like to stick with here with all of these optional ways of earning extra money, is to always research the links, brands, products, services, sites, companies, BEFORE you decide to advertise, or write for them and link them to your blogs or pages. I like t stay with decent companies, ones that I personally would consider doing business with, or any that I already do. I will never write a post or even a tweet, for a product or company that I have a poor opinion of. I also would not place links and ads and try to promote a service, newsletter, freebies, etc, that have a catch to them, or require sneaky purchases, those goofy program requirements and trials, things that will usually end up costing you much more then what the "free" gift card or money they say you will receive.
Please be cautious, you would not want your readers to leave, or have a bad experience with a service or product that you advertise, if you can help it. Of course there are products and companies I stand behind and love, that the next person dislikes. But a good rule to follow would be, If you wouldn't use that site, product, service, or you do not trust it, do not expect your readers too.
Another quick and simple money making opportunity for you, are affiliates, like Amazon, Target, Walmart, any site or company that fits you and your blog.
These types of opportunities will pay you on commission scales for any sales generated by clicking through your own personal ads. CAUTION!! Do not attemp to cheat these companies by clicking on your own ads to make a purchase! They will in fact, find out and forfeit your contract!
You can usually find affiliate information and applications at the bottom of the websites home page. You will typically need to fill out an application, and they seem to get back to you in a fairly reasonable amount of time.
Always remember that you are going to have to spend time on these reviews, posts, ads, links, affiliates, tweets, etc, if you want to earn money! The harder you work at it, the more you can earn!
You should also keep a log book of your earnings and your deductions, as you will be required to claim this income for taxes. Most of these companies will not even pay you or accept you, until you fill out a W2.
Here are a few links for some money making opportunities for you to look into;
Sponsored Reviews *
Coupon Gravy *
CPADNA
Link Vehicle
Sponsored Tweets *
Social Spark *
Shareasale *
Revenue Curve
Escalate Network *
MySavingsMedia *
Weusecoupons *
Logical Media
Link Worth
TwtMob *
Broadcast Bloggers *
Unique Leads *
I will add to these as I apply for more, and please feel free to share any of your favorite programs that you use!
The links above that have a star after them, are accounts that I personally have. Once I finally start making more time to work on these accounts, I plan on posting monthly income.

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