Mother’s Got A Dot Com

January brought quite a few changes for this blog.

First of all - Traffic: I joined Linkreferral on December 13th, and Entrecard on December 21st. Traffic doubled in December, from 300 or so in November to 649 in December. In January, my visitor count was 1856! I haven’t been all that diligent on Linkreferral, but traffic is trickling in from there, whereas the major part of my traffic comes from Entrecard. OK - the numbers aren’t that impressive as such, but I’m very happy with the results.
I’m sure this means I should set specific goals for the future, but I think I’ll just see how it goes.

Second - Rank: I think Google gave me a PR of 3 around the 11th or 12th of January. Shortly thereafter, this blog was accepted by , and I started getting offers again! I’ve learned my lesson - I take nothing for granted when it comes to Google, so I’ll just take what I can while the going is good…
As for Technorati, the Big Bang Meme has pulled me up from 63 in authority on Monday, to 147 today… How’s that for a result! (I update the list every day, as well!)
Alexa - I think I was in the 400Ks in the beginning of the month, and I’m now approaching 200K. So I’m happy there too.

Third, and the bottom line - Earnings: I’ve joined a few new programs: *Project Wonderful, that will probably earn me more than Adsense does (which isn’t much, but the potential is there, and I only have 2 ad spots at the moment). *Blog to Profit, that looks promising. *Buy Blog Reviews, that haven’t delivered yet…

As for the old - PPP are very good, as long as your PR is above 0…
have been very good. My PR0 blog has had it’s share of assignments too, and I’ve made good money from them this month.
With all the rest, assignments are trickling in, slowly, and I do some of them. ReviewMe have also paced up a bit with the PR increase, Sponsored Reviews are slow, Smorty don’t have very interesting opps, and Linky Love Army seem to have ground to a halt. Blogsvertise are picking up.
As for affiliate programs… ha ha ha. Then again, I don’t do much to promote them…

Ok, Ok, bottom line: $245,50 in January, which is a significant increase since December, and most of it has come in during the last half of the month. So… I’m hopeful, as long as Google keeps things at status quo!

( P.S: I’ve got readers too. The kind that opt to read this - can you imagine? The numbers fluctuate from 22 to 35 on a daily basis, so I must be appealing to the undecided of the Blogosphere. That’s Ok, people - you just jump righ in… and out… and in again!)

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Under “Featured Sites” in my sidebars, you may have noticed two batches of square ads. They come from Project Wonderful, and I’m hoping they’ll generate a little bit of passive income over time…
It’s very simple, really - you decide how many ads you want to make space for, you decide the minimum price per day, and whoever bids the most, gets the spot. Whenever one ad is outbid, the higher bidder replaces it on your blog… You may choose which advertisers to accept - I didn’t check one properly yesterday, and found myself hosting an ad for a porn site… (Blush…) I soon corrected that though - you can cancel an active ad at any time, and you can also ban advertisers from bidding for your spots.
You can advertise too, of course, and in many cases, you can get your ad out there for nothing - until you’re outbid.

There are a few hiccups still, people can bid even if they’re out of funds, which doesn’t get their ad up there, but it’s a waste of time for the publisher… Also, earnings are calculated on an hour-to-hour basis, so the really crafty advertisers might cancel their bids just before their account is debited, and still have had their ad up on your blog for a while. That’s a good way to be banned from the blogs they cheat, of course…

Still, these issues aren’t the end of the world, and I like the concept - it’s clean, it’s flexible, and how you monitor it is totally up to you. For me, even with very low bids and just 3 ad spots, it’ll outdo Adsense in the long run - no problem at all.
As an advertiser, it’s an easy (and sometimes very cheap) way to get exposure for your blog or site.

I don’t mind the competition - try Project Wonderful - bids on my spots start at 5 cents per day, but I will accept ads for nothing if my spots are empty…

I’ve enabled Pay Per Play on Mother’s Got A Dot Com. I’m possibly the last person in the Blogosphere to have heard of it - it’s being promoted all over, and now here…

Pay Per Play gives your visitors a 5 second audio ad as they enter your site. This means that for every visitor that stays on your site for more than 2 seconds, you get paid.
Being paid for every visitor, without requiring any actions (clicks) from my visitors, is the kind of passive income that appeals to me…
I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss. They also have a referral program, that pays in 3 tiers:

25% of what the advertiser spends on airing their ad on your site, goes to you
5% of what advertisers spend on ads on you referrals’ websites goes to you
5% of what advertisers spend on ads on your referrals’ referrals’ websites goes to you.

You’re paid for 100% of your traffic, and for 100% of your referrals’ traffic!

The official launch date is February 1st - that’s when the ads start airing, and that’s when we start earning.

At some point, they may well close the opportunity to earn from referrals, which is why getting in there before February 1st is probably a very good idea.

I’d like to know what you think.

I don’t mind 5 seconds of audio as I enter a blog or site, but I know that audio irritates a lot of people. Please take a minute to tell me how you feel about it in comments!

I’ve got this post up as a page in my sidebar - I’ll assess the whole adventure around the end of March. I might get a poll from somewhere to post there too. Why I’ve gone into this? It doesn’t cost me anything, I might earn from it, and as long as the ads stay as short as 5 seconds, I believe it’s something most visitors will take in their stride.

If you want in, there are links galore in this post for Pay Per Play <— or you can use this one!

Suddenly, I got 3 opps from PayU2Blog the other day.
Some people don’t like them, especially in the US, because they require US citizens to fill in some tax form or other. Luckily, that’s not the case with us overseas wogs…
They also require you to post on the keywords you’re given, you don’t get to turn down opps. That may sound oppressive, but I don’t find that it is. You don’t have to blog about the keyword (or the site concerned) at all (they call it freeform) - the challenge is to find a way to incorporate a given keyword into a post about whatever is relevant to your life. I enjoy that, it challenges the old grey matter, so I let myself be inspired…
You can go on holiday, of course, you just blank out the dates you’ll be away, and you won’t be given opps for those days. You also get to set a number of categories/topics for your blog, so that you don’t get too many opps on … say… astrophysics, if that’s not within your blog niche…
All in all, I recommend PayU2Blog, if you’re looking for new ways to make a buck or five!

This blog has been accepted by Smorty , and this is my first post for them here at Mum’s.

Smorty connects advertisers with bloggers. Advertisers pay bloggers to write opinion posts and reviews, linking back to the advertisers site.

It’s good for all involved - advertisers get to advertise on blogs, and bloggers get paid for blogging, which is what they enjoy doing in the first place…

I blog for fun and recreation, and I also enjoy to blog for money. I’ve posted for Smorty on my other blog for some time, and they’ve always been on the level with me. The criteria for the opps they’re offering are clear, you always get to choose whether you want to accept an opportunity or not, and they always pay on time. They don’t take ages reviewing your posts, and if your post is rejected (yes, it’s happened to me… my fault!) they’re clear about the reason why.

I wouldn’t mind getting more opportunities from them, there usually aren’t many on offer, but I think if I check back often, I’ll be able to accept more opps. They tend to go quickly!

If you’re looking for ways to earn money from blogging, give Smorty a try.

All you need is a Paypal account and a creative mind… Good luck!

This is another venue that has opened up on this blog…
Within a day or two, I’ll be on my first “mission”.
It works like this: you write a review on a given topic (you’re free to accept or decline), that includes two links related to the site you’re reviewing, and one link to another blogger. The keywords are given too.
In time, the favor is returned to you - the number of backlinks you can expect varies, and is estimated before you accept the mission. You’re also paid - via Paypal, so it’s easy, and safe.
I don’t know how many opps (sorry, missions) I’ll be offered, or what’s going to come out of it linkwise, but I’m quite excited about trying something new.
As someone said: Groogle can go….. well, there.

I don’t relish the thought of being sensured. Certainly not by a megacompany that’s in the same business that I’m in - selling ads. The difference being that the ads (reviews) that I sell are done by me - i.e. I sell my time and effort along with the actual advertisment.
They don’t. They rake in millions by having others write their own ads, that are then placed on millions of sites like yours or mine, along with the megacompany’s logo. Advertisers pay per click, and the publicity value for the megacompany itself must be worth millions per second…

I’m talking, of course, about the Page Rank farce. You got that, right??

I once used the word “fart” on my other blog. I’ve also written an article about religious bigotry. That’s the extent of controversy that I’m guilty of. Still, I’m sensured, because I have the gall to earn between 200 and 300$ per month selling reviews.
Search engine relevance - bollocks… The linking I do to a site for free is more relevant than the linking I’m paid for? Bollocks. (There goes my general audience rating). I blog about all and nothing. That’s my choice, and it means that any link on my site is as relevant as any other. Who’s to say that a link to a food site from a gardening blog is irrelevant? Groogle? Bollocks.

And… PPP posties: PayPerPost is about to launch Real Rank. I hope we get a badge…

PS: I still have Adsense on. I don’t relish the thought of losing the $ I’ve earned placing ads for them because I haven’t reached the payout limit. Principle against principle… I can feel a decision coming on - there are others out there!

This blog has been accepted by both.

That doesn’t mean that it’ll be flooded in any way - I’ve done a few opps for them both on Mother’s Home, but not many. Still, it’s a start.

The systems are slightly different: Sponsored Reviews requires that you bid on the opps on offer. The advertiser then accepts or declines your bid. Don’t worry - you get a recommended price range for your blog, based on rank and such. You then have to complete and submit the review within a certain time. Note: At Sponsored Reviews, your share is 65% of the bid price.
Blogsvertise assigns opps to bloggers. The price is set by them and advertisers.You then have 5 days to accept or decline the opp, and a few days to complete and submit your article. They also have a “Grab Bag” option, that allows you to grab opps that have been declined by other bloggers. The sum you get is displayed with the opp - no deductions.

Both these have paid me promptly in the past, which is why I sign up with them again. They also have referral/affiliate payouts, both for referred bloggers and advertisers, so just click & register, why don’t you?

For monetizing your blog, writing reviews for Pay Per Post and the like is fun and it sometimes pays quite well. On my other blog, I’ve earned almost 500$ from PPP alone since June. It’s not exactly top wages, but that extra cash sure comes in handy. I have other sources of income there too, that I will cover in time, but PPP is by far the most profitable.

Pay Per Post requires your blog to be 90 days old (and be updated regularly!) for you to be eligible to do reviews for them.

Sign up, regardless of your blogs’ age.  Once you’re eligible, they’ll let you know. (If they don’t, ask them to re-evaluate your blog).  Once you’ve signed up, there are ways for you to start earning from PPP before that time.

One is PPP Direct. This means that you install the badge below on your blog (they come in several colors!), and advertisers can make offers to you directly to have you blog about them.
It’s a long shot, because it’s unlikely that advertisers will bother about a young blog with a small readership, but it’s worth a go.

Then, there’s the referral program. With a badge like the one below installed, complete with your referral code embedded, you get paid when you refer bloggers to PPP. It takes time, and you don’t get paid until they get their first payment, but it’s a way to get started.

Another way to refer people, is this one:

You paste it at the end of your posts, and when clicked, this creates a signup page with a special opportunity just for the blogger you refer. You get paid for the referral, and they get paid for doing the review of your post. Win-win!

I’m not sure what the criteria are (how old the blog must be, for example) for signing up via ReviewMyPost, but why don’t you try and click below, and tell me how it went??