Andrew Goodman you should be Ashamed!

Do you work for Free? 

Like so many bloggers I am often pitched my advertising companies seeking to place ADs in various forms on my blog. Some of them are seeking free advertising and I think this is a shame. They work for a living so why do they think bloggers don't as well? Why must so many seek to take advantage of bloggers? 

No matter how good an advertisement is do Newspapers, Magazines, TV networks and Google place them for free for you? Why ask bloggers to? Your getting paid and so should we.

Shame on you! 

When Andrew Goodman (andrew.goodman69@gmail.com) contacting me asking about Guest Posting opportunities (his words) and sharing about a company he is representing that has a smartphone tracking application that is great for parents I replied letting him know I might be interested and would like to know more including what his budget was for that kind of advertising space.

 His response was rather shocking. He tried to tell me that my blog had only so many viewers from my country and because of this he thought it was fair that I should post his advertising for free. After making sure his numbers where very wrong I replied letting him know his numbers are wrong and that I don't take kindly to being asked to work for free.

Paid to Blog!

 He let me know he pays his writers well and the keywords are well researched and yadda yadda and that his source is never mistaken. Of course he didn't reveal his source but I can promise Google Analytics and my internal blog stats say his "source" certainly is.

 In the end it is my opinion that he is just another predator trying to feed on bloggers that don't know any better than to stay clear of the likes of him.

 Blog Safe! 

Blogger Beware

Just another heads up, if your contacted by Leo leo.josh25@gmail.com wanting to place an advertizing link on your blog as a guest post, he does not pay bloggers. While he works for a living, he thinks bloggers should not. Or at least he expects to use their blog work to advertise his site, a guide directory for the UK.

 While he has gotten himself on some bulk post sites, where quality is clearly lacking and posts are mostly made to grab google traffic for advertising reasons, he will not be getting on my site. 

 If you blog because you love it and have made the effort to make your blog a quality spot on the internet, then you should know it has value and not let others take advantage of it. Even if they write the post, even if it is good, it is still advertising. Think about it, many people put together quality commercials for the super bowl, does that mean that the networks don't charge those companies to publish those commercials?  

  Honor your work! 

Getting Paid To Blog - Update

Tonight I am up late and happy. I have a new contact that is paying me to blog and include on link per post for them. Each post they are paying me $100.


It all adds up and seeing I love writing, it is being paid to play as they say. As my other blog has moved beyond a hobby, I now how to keep track of all the payment and items I am sent to review. Payments alone for January 2013 where over $500 and this month will be more, and next month even better still.


My issue now is making sure I have enough non-link posts between each paid link post to balance it all out and keep a good PR ranking. The main blog is a PR3 and has been for over 6 month now. The higher the PR, the more one should be paid. PR2 is thought to be a good PR for blogs for 3 is even better. I wonder if I will ever get to PR4 though.


So far so good. I still taking smaller writing jobs, for a few special people as low as $15 but by summer I will raise my fees for even Guest Posts and see how that goes. I know what my blog is worth and I hope they can understand that too.

Don't let yourself get taken advantage of! 

I was in contact with a new company and they offered $15 and I let them know I am happy to take higher paying jobs. They let me know that many bloggers post for free as they want the article. I let them know that those bloggers don't know they are being taken advantage of and companies that do so are looked at in a negative light. I don't expect to be hearing back from them. If you here from oneincomedollar@yahoo.ca Be sure to make sure your taking an offer that is fair to you and all the work you put into your blog.

Blogger Beware

 Bloggers Please Beware of Certain People Scamming Bloggers. They will have you write up a post and then not pay you for it.

 PromoCode4Share.com 
 phuongtn@promocode4share.com 
 phuong.tn22@gmail.com and this is the name he is using: Tran Ngoc Phuong

 Also, bloggers are having issues with Branded 3

 Bloggers Deserve To Be Paid For Their Work! 

 Please Stand up for yourself. If you have a problem with a company, share it with your fellow bloggers! We need to stop letting people take advantage of us! We take time out of our lives, away from our husbands and kids and friends to publish content online. Content that people actually read and find helpful. Some companies want to take advantage of us and our special space on the internet and we can;t let it happen. 

 If you ever have issues with a company and do not want to voice them yourself, send me a message and I will post about it for you. 

 We can help stop this but not if everyone is silent. 

 

BLOGGER FAIL - "The Pitch List"

     It is a very sad day when one clearly can see a blogger is lying in reviews and when called out on it, rather than address it or correct it, they try and play the victim. In short, there is a blogger I had been following that posted a lot of book reviews back to back and I kept wondering how they where reading them all. But looking at the "reviews" it was rather clear, they where not reading the books. Why did I think this? Because 80% of the post would be copy and pasted about the writer and about the book and then a few sentences about what the blogger thought about the book. The thoughts where so general they could have been talking about any book at all. Really poor reviewing and I thought it reflected badly on all bloggers. I didn't bring this up though at the time. What finally got me to say something was when the blogger posted this:

forhimandmyfamily.blogspot

After about 450 words that where cut and pasted, they added those words, the ones that stuck out, that she read the book in just 2 hours. This is very very rare. I noticed someone else commented sharing disbelief of the two hour time. Being the blogger and honest women I am, I am did the math and then posted this comment: 

"Are you sure you read that book in 2 hours? All of it? I read fairly fast and there is a reason friends nick named me a book goddess. However the average reading speed for an adult is 250 words a minute, an average page having 400 words on it a minute. In short, taking most everyone about 8 hours to read that book and most people read don't speed read for pleasure but tend to read for longer periods of time when reading something they love."

At this point the blogger complained to others about my comment, and as such I was called many uncalled for names and removed from the group I had worked hard to support. Truth be told, over 50 great bloggers had been kicked from the group or left because of poor or unethical leadership. The fact that the leadership couldn't see the issues on this blog speak for itself I think. I will not share the blog name at this time. 

I hope that companies and bloggers though stay clear of The Pitch List, while once it had many great members, that changed months ago. I wanted to give the leaders the benefit of the doubt but clearly they support their inner circle no matter what and honesty if it is not something they agree with or want to hear is not welcome in any way. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about this. 

Some days it does not pay to be honest, but I rather be honest than lie like that or blindly support someone who does. As bloggers we need to hold each other accountable to good blogging ethics. I am willing to be wrong, but in the case of that blog, there is just so much evidence that I don't believe I am. 

Like all things on this blog, these are my opinions. Think for yourself and do your own research. There is a saying "The Truth Will Set You Free But First It Will Piss You Off!" 

Update: What happened after a year of solid blogging?

Blog Like you Mean It! 

 After a year of solid blogging, about 600 posts, over 20 giveaways and even more product reviews, and over $2,000 for being paid to blog it is all starting to set in. My blog really works. 

 I learned one needs to blog every day. 

 Blog about what you know! 

 Keep up with the news (I feel behind in this area) 

 Don't be afraid of conflict!

 Back up your Blog ALL THE TIME. 

 Blogger can hold you back and wordpress has more options!

 Not all Server Hosts are the same. 

 Servers sometimes go down!

 Photos Matter! 

 Running Games on your Social Media is fun and helps your readers find your posts! 

 It is important to ask for what your worth! 

 Don't let companies take advantage of you! 

 Write because you love to write!

 Find ways to take vacations away from computers when you can! 

 Don't post free guest posts! Space on your blog has value, don't just give it away! 

 Page Rank? 

  Page rank for my main blog (Not this one) is now PR 3. 

  I went from having zero fans on facebook and twitter to having: 

  Facebook = 6,300

  

  Twitter = 4,700

   And another few thousand on google +, pinterest, and other social networks. 

    FUN! 

 I think I would call my first year really working on that blog a success don't you? You can do the same thing! Follow the posts I have made so far and please feel free to ask me any questions. You can also scold me for not working more on this blog! 

Bloggers, are you being taken advantage of?

    It is a sad fact that there are those out there who are knowingly taking advantage of others. One would think in such a great community like bloggers that this would not be the case, specially not from one of our own.

  I found myself on a blog, you the type, one promising great information about blogging with a catchy title, only to find the content really lacking. I thought maybe it was just one poor piece by the writer. Above the headline was a huge image talking about a blogging contest. Curiosity had me click, like many I am sure, the article I had initially been drawn in by seeming like a lure to the contest.

 What a smart way to get page rank and visibility I though as I read the contest. Enter to win $200! Write a blog review of this guys site, to enter you have to include two links to his site, talk about the contest (giving him further promotion) and so on. I would share his links here as he says he wants honest feedback but alas, that is not the case. So I will simply say, I wouldn't trust "dukeo.com" and here is why.

 I along with other bloggers commented on what a great idea the contest was and how much he was saving on doing it this way. Why? Because links and reviews like this from even small blogs normally cost about $50 a piece, be they sponsored posts or guest posts. It is about having content about a business and the links to that business. I would think a site all about SEO and traffic would know such things but instead the owner of the site acted as if he was clueless, that no blogger is paid for such things, and that he wasn't doing the contest for any other reason. Suddenly he changed the contest and added another prize, as if this would make up for it.

 He didn't believe I could make $60 for a piece like he was asking for. So I not only showed him a piece I was paid $120 for but also an important link to show how he taking advantage of bloggers, bloggers who go to his site expecting to be informed and helped. I shared this great link and he at first ignored it:

You can click on that image to go to a great article that can help you explain how much bloggers should charge for links and posts on their blog! 

  By my math, just assuming the bloggers are a basic PR2 that are entering his blog so far he has at least 10 reviews, and if he paid for them he would be paying over $500 so far. 

 He then goes and posts this: The rules for this contest are extremely simple, but it appears that some bloggers really like trying to mislead people and twist the rules… As a result, I have also received a couple of reviews which do not qualify for the contest. Here is why:

• the review can’t be included inside of a longer post about unrelated things, (you can’t have a “weekly recap” with just one paragraph about the contest)
• the review must clearly disclose that it’s part of a contest to win a prize. (don’t try misleading the reader, Dukeo doesn’t support misleading bloggers)

Making me think that he is upset people are not advertising his contest for him and are not giving him a full blog page about his blog, meaning less SEO for him. He knows what he is doing with this. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at first. But then when I posted valid information he stopped trying to act like he didn't know any better and then deleted ALL opinions on this matter, from me and others. 

 So much for wanting honest opinions about how he is doing and his site. He FAILED. Sté Kerwer stop being the big bad wolf in sheeps clothing! You will notice that I do not have any clickable links to his site on this post. I am not going to give him the SEO he so wants. Not that it would help too much though because I am using this tiny blog. It is a great platform though to show you what not to do. 

 Of course you could do it, it is smart, but it isn't really fair and if your called out on doing such a thing, at least own up to it and not cowardly hide behind the delete button. I expected better of the person, alas, a blogging God he isn't, unless he is the god of fools or lies. 

 Be sure to do your research and value the work you have put into your blog. Find out what the going rate is for your blog PR level and views. Your worth it! 

The Blogging Block

It is 2013 and for a while now my blog has been a PR 3, and had around 10k followers between facebook and twitter. It seems to have stalled in growth and even dropped considerably since I moved from blogger to  wordpress with it. Needless to say, I will be keeping this little blog here to see what happens. While this blog has not gotten the attention of the other, it is a still a recording of a path and I think, or rather hope, that someday it might help other bloggers! 

Like a writer with writers block, I think there is such a thing as bloggers block. I am not sure if the deal and coupon bloggers get this feeling as most of their content is sharing deals set by companies. Blogging about life, about issues, about topics that reach down into you, that is a different kind of blogging. 

I feel like I have run into a wall with blogging. I love it, I love writing, but I am not feeling very organized, and not feeling very motivated. I am seaking to fix this of course, after a year of hard pushing to be a great blogger and making it farther than so many others, it is any wonder I am feeling a bit burnt out? 

So I started a few more blogs to follow some more interests and though to check back here and update. I don't have all the answers but I can say, if your a struggling blogger, find others who can inspire you! Don't give up!