Friday, May 29, 2009

PayPerPost v4 is Now Live

--This post sponsored by PayPerPost--

This is the first sponsored post I have ever done on this blog, but I've been working with PayPerPost for a while now, on my other blogs. Basically, PPP gives advertisers an avenue to start bloggers talking about their products, sites, and services. Bloggers get paid to research and write about an advertiser's product, and the advertisers get exposure on the Internet. It's been nice being able to write blog posts and get paid to do it, too, and I've found all kinds of sites, products, and services that I am genuinely interested in. I've even mentioned some of them on this site - for free.

Anyway, I'm very excited that a new version of PPP has just been released. In the old version, the one I've been using, Opportunities are released into the Marketplace, and bloggers take them on a first-come, first serve basis. What that means is that the bloggers who grab the opps fastest are the ones who write the posts. The advertisers can specify certain criteria for the blogs that can take their opps, but they don't have much control over it beyond that. With the new version of PPP, advertisers specify criteria such as location, price, ratings, and categories when they create an Opp. The advertiser is then matched with a list of blogs that meet that criteria, and the advertiser chooses which of these matched blogs get the opp. They can even add blogs to their list of favorites so they can use them in the future.

For bloggers, the new PPP means we no longer have to haunt the Marketplace hoping to get an Opp we want to write about, and being frustrated when all the good ones are gone. We can concentrate on doing a good job with our blogs, and when an advertisers wants us to take an opportunity, we get an email. No more fighting over Opps, an offer comes directly to our inbox. We then have 3 days to write the post. We set our asking price, categories, and even whether we want links that are 'follow' or 'no follow' so the opps that come our way should be something we'd want to take. If it isn't, we are free to turn it down. I, obviously, was happy to write about PayPerPost and agreed to write this post! (Note to Google: I'm only taking opps with no follow links on this blog, so don't get your panties in a bunch.)

PayPerPost v4.0 was first opened to just a few advertisers and bloggers so we could test it out, but now it is live and open to everyone. So far I am liking what I am seeing, though this is only my 4th opp taken through the new system. It would be nice to have more opportunities come through, and with it now open to everyone, I'm sure that's going to happen. Also, as we take more opps and give the advertisers what they want with quality posts, our ratings will improve, and we'll get more opps. At the same time, bloggers who don't do quality work will get fewer and fewer opps, leaving even more open for quality bloggers. I feel a lot more in control with this version of PPP, and I think the advertisers are going to be getting more of what they want.

Whether you're an advertiser looking for some exposure for your product or a blogger looking to make a little extra money, I would encourage you to check out PayPerPost v4.0. Read the FAQs if you'd like to learn more about how it can work for you.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

The Fridge

I don't know about you, but I really love magnetic poetry - you know, those little words for your fridge. I'm not sure any of my creations qualify as poetry, but I'm addicted to moving those little words around to form interesting phrases. The other day I found The Fridge, so now I can play with those little word magnets online.

There are several wordsets you can choose from, or you can even add a bookmarklet to your browser so you can highlight words from any web page to use. Once you've composed the poem of the century, discard all the extra words, add a title and your preferred nom de plume , and save your poem. You'll be able to save the link or even embed it in your own web page or blog, like I did here.

I would suggest, if you're planning to embed it and have limited width like I do here, build your poem on the left-hand side instead of right in the middle of the space so it can be read without scrolling, but at least you get the idea. (I limited the width to fit my space. By default I think it comes in full size when you embed it, so feel free to place your words any where you want them)



This could definitely be addictive!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Free Sounds

I was reading my dad's blog today, and he posted a link to a whip-poor-will call. He was talking about the difference between the whip-poor-will's call and the call of another bird, and it was very nice to be able to hear what he was talking about. While I was listening to the bird sound, I noticed that it was hosted on a site I hadn't seen before, so I had to check it out.

It's called soundboard, and there are all kinds of free sounds and sound effects - tens of thousands, they say. You can browse the site to find sounds you like, or that fit a particular blog post. Sound boards are organized by category, or you can search for the sound you need. You can download the sounds you want. Sign up for a free account and upload your own sounds, you get 125MB storage, or just add the sounds you like from other members' sound boards. You can even choose a specific sound and embed that into a blog post or website, like this:

soundboard.com
(I'm watching a Star Trek special on the History Channel, so I thought this was appropriate)

I suppose my dad could have done the same thing with his whip-poor-will call, but then I wouldn't have had to visit soundboard! I just signed up for my free account because I think this site is going to come in handy.