Femme Power

Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

I woke up this morning feeling energized to write a new entry on my Mom-Says blog.  I checked my email and saw that I had two comments to approve but lo and behold when I tried to log in, I was greeted by a strange advertisement in a totally unfamiliar page that asked me to click on a link to make the page “work.”  Helpless, I clicked on the link and it directed me to a totally different website.

I’m so pissed and frustrated!  All the months that I worked for to achieve PR2 and decent traffic for that blog, now all wasted to hacking.

Has this ever happened to you?   Were you able to restore your blog after getting hacked?  I’ll be more than glad to hear from any well-meaning bloggers around who could share their views on hacking or how to restore a hacked blog.   If you could recommend where to get help on this, I will definitely see it as a huge favor.   A big big thank you in advance!

I was having my time surfing the Web when I came across John Chow’s blog.  I’ve heard a lot about this popular blogger’s name and reputation many times over in the past but I never got to visit his site until today.  I used to associate the name John Chow to a busy social life that’s mostly partying, spending huge sums of money for anything money can buy.  I had this impression basing on the fact that this guy is said to be making over $40,000 a month through blogging alone.  So I was surprised when I saw John Chow’s video with his little daughter in the park having a quiet bonding time together. He called it the Dot Com LifestyIe. I was even more surprised to learn that he’s just like any of us, wanting to make money and yet have the time to spend with our family.

The only difference is, he has achieved it — by making money online.

John made a good point when he said that some people are earning a lot of money but they don’t have the time to spend it because they’re always caught up with work.  Some people, on the other hand, have a lot of time but they don’t have any money.  Me, I’m one of those people who long to have both time and financial freedom.  But is it really doable?  Many so-called financial gurus claim that it is.  As per John, he was able to achieve it by making a killing through his blogs.   He said the monetary rewards were just secondary but the ultimate price he gets from blogging is having time freedom — more time to spend with his family by not being tied up at work for 40-60 hours a week.

How happier this world would be if a lot of us can spend more time with the family while earning more at the same time.   The thing is, not everyone can duplicate what John Chow and other high-paying bloggers have achieved.  It’s not as easy as 1-2-3 and it surely needs time and effort to jumpstart your blog until you get lots of quality traffic and backlinks.

But to start with, I’ll be reading John Chow’s free E-Book and learn from it.  You may click on the link as well to get a copy of his E-Book for free.

How about opening our minds first that both time and financial freedom can be achieved?  For starters, We can learn from the man who has done it.  Then maybe we could finally get the Dot Com Lifestyle too in the long run — that’s making money and having more time with the family.  Isn’t that what we all want?

I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries from friends about the earning potential of blogging and how it works.  I figured that I should finally write about it to spare my friends from my usual lengthy monologues.  Hence, the next time someone gets curious about blogging again, they could use this post as a reference to (hopefully) help them start a blog and monetize it in the long run, if they choose to.

I’ve been blogging for almost two years now and it’s been giving me a steady stream of extra income while doing what I love - writing.  However, sorry to burst your bubble but blogging doesn’t offer any get-rich-quick sort of game plan.  It can pay for your utility bills and your groceries plus some not-so-expensive wants (I was able to buy two camera phones, some clothes and shoes, among others).  For the most part, it’s going to eat up a considerable chunk of your time and depending on how you view it, it could either be draining or rewarding.

So here’s the list of questions I usually get from some blog-curious bunch:

How do you earn from blogging?

1) Paid posts - There are many ways to monetize one’s blog but in my case, I’m comfortable about writing paid posts.  I choose the topics and sponsors that I write about. I don’t accept offers to write about products and services that I don’t believe in.  Average rate per post I get is $10.  If your blog is more popular, chances are you’ll get more and higher offers because advertisers put weight about your Page Rank.

2) I also earn from Adgitize by simply displaying their ads and clicking ads displayed in other members’ blogs. This way, members not only earn revenues but traffic as well.  Talk about hitting two birds with one stone!  And this is the only program I know that pays you to advertise and rewards you for updating your blog.  Click on the link to sign up for free and see your traffic rise when you participate actively.

3) Other bloggers earn big from Google Adsense (web-based, content-sensitive marketing) depending on the number of ad clicks and page impressions on your blog.  Meaning, it is primarily dependent on traffic hence the more traffic you have, the more moolah you get.  But if you don’t have much visitors in your site, then Adsense is not for you.  In my case, I still haven’t reached my pay-out target of $100 but I don’t wanna remove it just yet.  I’ll wait till I get there however slowly. You may also try other alternatives like AdBrite, Bidvertiser, Kontera, Text Link Ads, CMF Ads, and several other alternatives.

How do you generate traffic to your blog?

I get traffic mostly from Entrecard, Adgitize, and other social networking sites I joined including Facebook.  I also get traffic from curious surfers who search for keywords that are found on my blogs.

Who will pay us to blog?

If you want to get paid for writing posts, below are the programs you could sign up with.  You can find a lot more in the Web but these are the programs that have actually paid me since I started monetizing this blog:

1) Blog4Reviews - Established by Filipinos Janette Toral and Gary Viray, this is one of my favorite pay-to-blog programs because it is country-specific as to the sponsors and target market.  Hence, I’m more familiar with the products and services and can relate to them much better.  They also pay through PayPal two weeks after your post is approved.

2) Blogsvertise - They give out 3-4 tasks in a week, depending on your level of participation. Register your blog and once you get accepted, you’ll start getting tasks. You may accept or decline the tasks. Write about the tasks any way you want according to your own editorial perspective.  You may either write a review about the advertiser’s products and services or simply mention them in your post or better yet, relate them to your own personal experiences.  Create at least three links to the advertiser’s website and then submit it within the time frame allotted to you.  They pay through PayPal 30 days after your post has been approved.  Yeah, it’s quite a long wait but it’s better than nothing.

3) Payperpost - I liked the old version of it because I didn’t have to wait for tasks to be assigned to me. I could take on any available opportunities from my dashboard, choose the advertisers myself, then write about their products and services.   But now that they’ve changed their platform where advertisers choose the bloggers and then negotiate the price, etc, I rarely log in to it.  Most leads that I’ve been getting lately wouldn’t match well with my blog or simply not the kinds that I’d want to blog about.

4) Blogtoprofit - This is the program that gave me my first blogging income almost two years ago.  They give out assignments in bulk and pay you through PayPal or your bank account in two weeks.

Other programs that have paid me to blog were Sponsoredreviews, ReviewMe, Buyblogreviews but offers from these three were scarce.

One thing is for sure, it’s not a walk in the park if you intend to blog for money or to put it bluntly, if money is the only or main reason that you’re blogging.  Blogging is a fun outlet to express one’s self.  Sometimes, even if you have wonderful people around you who are willing to listen to your thoughts, it’s quite overwhelming when you’re able to express yourself in writing and drown yourself in words.  Sometimes the writer in you just comes out, whether you’re being paid or not.

So if you love writing, go on, start a blog and if you choose to, monetize it.  It’s a matter of choice.  The most important thing is, be truthful to your readers and to yourself and you gotta love what you’re doing.

Heads up for bloggers and entrepreneurs who are interested about what blogging can do in this day and age - iblog6: The 6th Philippine Blogging Summit is on this April 16 and 17 at the Malcolm Theater, UP College of Law, UP Diliman, Quezon City from 8 am to 5 pm.

The first day is targeted for business people who want to maximize blogging as a powerful tool in creating awareness campaigns for their products and services.  The more buzz, the better your chances for higher revenues and profits, right?

The second day will focus on blogging 101 and other related information about blogging.  Talks will also include blog policies, money-making online, video blogging, photo blogging, social and political blogging, and many others.

Blogging has been giving me additional income for over a year now but I feel that I still have a lot to learn so I’m looking forward to attending on the second day even if it means that I’d be depriving myself of sleep (I work night shift) on that day.

Register here now! Free food stubs and participant kits will be given to the first 250 registered participants who will show up early at the venue.

Here’s the 2-day schedule as posted by Ms. Janette Toral:

Day 1 (April 16, 2010)

9:00 – 9:15 Opening Ceremonies (National Anthem, Welcome Remarks by JJ Disini)

9:15 – 9:35 Blogging for Business: Tapping Bloggers to Generate Buzz (Janette Toral)
9:50 to 10:10 Advertising in Blogs (Abe Olandres)

10:25 – 10:50 BREAK

10:50 – 11:10 SPONSOR talk (Ivy Jean Vibar)
11:25 – 11:45 SEO & Blogging to Promote Your Business (Francis Gary Viray)

12:00 – 1:30 LUNCH / NETWORKING

1:30 – 1:50 Measuring Blog Buzz (Carlo Ople)
2:05 – 2:25 Legal Concerns in Blogging for Business (Emerson Bañez)

2:40 – 3:00 BREAK

3:00 – 3:20 Blogger and Advertiser: What is the Win-Win Relationship? (Diana Paterno)
3:35 – 3:50 Online Attraction Marketing (Manuel Viloria)

4:05 RAFFLE and GROUP PICTURE

Day 2 (April 17, 2010)

8:45 Opening Ceremonies (National Anthem & Welcome)
9:00 – 9:20 Blogging 101 (Hannah Villasis)
9:35 – 9:55 Video Blogging 101 (Vince Golangco)
10:10 – 10:30 Photo Blogging 101 (Juned Sonido)

10:45 – 11:00 BREAK

11:00 – 11:20 Blog Policies (Emerson Bañez)

11:35 – 11:55 Blog on Mobile (Racquel R. Cagurangan)

12:10 – 1:20 LUNCH & NETWORKING

1:20 – 1:30 Performance (UP Concert Chorus)

1:30 – 2:15 Political, Online Commentary, Social Media, & Election Blogging 2010 (Marck Ronald Rimorin and Noemi Dado)
2:30 – 2:50 Launching Successful Blog Contests (Jinoe Gavan)

3:05 – 3:20 BREAK

3:20 – 3:40 Impact of Blogging to the Community (Joseph Gonzales)
3:55 – 4:15 SEO: A Must for Making Money Online (Marhgil Macuha)

4:30 RAFFLE, iBlog Video Contest Winner Announcement, & GROUP PHOTO

Emcees: Flowell Galindez and Atty. Michelle Dy (UP-ISP)

It’s a perfect opportunity to learn more about this craft and meet hundreds of other bloggers and sponsors, grow one’s network, and improve one’s earning potential through blogging.   See you there, guys!

Calling all bloggers, young and old!

Show the world you care! Be a part of the “I Blog, I Care Movement.” Here are the rules on how to join:

1. Copy the “I Blog, I Care” badge and the rules (1 to 6) on this page.
2. Post these in one or all your blogs.
3. Tag/invite your other friends to join by sharing this with them.
4. Leave your post URL here: The Twitterer
5. For every fifteen (15) blogs joining the I Blog, I Care Movement, a $1.00 donation will be given to the International Committee of the Red Cross. You can also donate directly here: http://www.icrc.org.
6. Spread the love and show you care.

It’s 2010 finally and I hope this year would be better for all of us.  This year, I’m starting a new blog as I’ve been seriously contemplating on “killing” this femmepower blog…gradually.  Though I definitely love this blog and have been earning from it for some time now, I somehow feel that I have to move my blogging adventures to another domain, host and platform.   

Blogging on a subdomain doesn’t give me full control over my theme designs, plugins, etc.  I’m always at the mercy of the domain owner.  Plus I can’t get accurate figures from Alexa.  Alexa can’t detect the correct number of inbound links to my blog (instead of 66 links, Alexa only detects 8 and they’re all pointing to the main domain, not mine).  But despite that, I’ll always be grateful to my friend Adelle who gave me this subdomain more than a year ago so I could start blogging without the fuss. 

No, I’m not about to thoroughly stop posting here abruptly. I’m still weighing things out if it’s worth staying some more or totally move on to my new baby.  I’ve “met” good online friends and readers here in femmepower and that’s what attaches me to this blog.   So it’s not that easy for me to abandon and leave it for dead. 

So much for contemplating, I thank you all for visiting this site for the longest time.  Rest assured, I’ll keep you all posted when I’ve finally decided not to continue updating this blog anymore.  In the meantime, let me invite you to please visit my new blog love which I set up just today, the first day of the year!  I’m looking for blogs to include in my fresh and empty (almost) blogroll in my new blog, Mom Says, so please feel free to leave your links there.  I’ll be happy to see you there, really.  *hugs!*

Do you have a Facebook account? How about a PayPal account? Are you registered from any of these countries - India, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore?  If yes, then create your PayPal WishList now and start earning!

What to do:

Download this PayPal WishList application on Facebook and create your own WishList by simply clicking on the items you wish to have. Once you created your own PayPal WishList, you earn $1 plus you get $1 more for every referral who’ll download the PayPal WishList application under your invitation or referral link.  Easy, right?  I did it in just a minute.

Prizes
Earn up to $100 paid through your PayPal.

Let me quote the rest of the promo details from PayPal:

How Prizes will be Awarded
“You will be notified by PayPal no later than February 28th, 2010, via email or any other method as PayPal may from time to time determine, of how much you have earned.

Prizes will be credited to your PayPal account as per your submission to PayPal via the PayPal WishList, no later than February 28th, 2010.”

This promo runs until December 31st only so take advantage of this promotion now. That way, you still have time to invite your friends, earn more referrals, and earn more bucks.  Not a bad idea for something so easy and fun.

Create your PayPal WishList here now and start the New Year with money on your pocket. I’ve only joined yesterday and as of  now, I have  earned $3 from this promotion already…and still counting.  Yay!