Blogging Gal

If you’re interested in making money by writing sponsored reviews, there are a number of websites to choose from. I don’t write paid reviews here on Blogging Gal, but I have written lots of them for my personal blog. They’re a great source of income, and the best part is that you’re being paid to do something that you love!

I’ve chosen a few of the popular review sites that I am personally familar with. The list below gives you some basic information on how each of them works so you can better choose the ones you’d like to sign up for. If you’d like to ensure that you always have opportunities available, I recommend signing up for all of them.

SponsoredReviews - SponsoredReviews allows you to browse through a list of opportunities and bid on the ones you find interesting. Bids are submitted to the advertisers, who then select the bloggers they’d like purchase reviews from. Reviews range from $5 - $1,000 +, and you earn 65% of the review price. Once an advertiser accepts your bid, you have one week to post the review. Payment is made bi-weekly through PayPal with no minimum payout.

LinkWorth - LinkWorth is best known for paid text links; however, they also have a program for paid reviews. You set your own review price and then just wait for job offers. You earn 70% of the review price. Once you have accepted a job, you have 10 days to post the review. Payment is made monthly by check, direct deposit, or PayPal. There is a $25 minimum payout.

ReviewMe - ReviewMe is similar to LinkWorth in that advertisers hand select you to write reviews. Reviews pay between $20 and $200 each. You earn 50% of the review price. Payments are made monthly by check, prepaid Mastercard, or PayPal. There is no minimum payout for PayPal, but other forms of payment do have minimum payouts - $25 for check, and $20 for Mastercard.

PayPerPost - When you log in to PayPerPost, you’ll see a list of opportunities that your blog qualifies for. Reviews can range between $5 and several thousand dollars. If you qualify for a job, you can take it. You have only 6 hours to post your review after accepting it. Payments are made by PayPal after 30 days.

Smorty - Smorty is very similar to PayPerPost. If your blog qualifies for an opportunity, you may take it. Review prices typically range from $6 to $100 each. You have 24 hours to post your review after accepting a job. Payments are made weekly through PayPal.

My favorite programs are SponsoredReviews and Linkworth - mostly due to the length of time you have to post your reviews after accepting them. They also seem to have more interesting writing assignments. My least favorite programs are PayPerPost and Smorty - due to the short period of time you have to post your reviews.

The biggest tip I can offer when it comes to paid reviews is to select opportunities that fit with the theme of your blog. Personal blogs allow the greatest flexibility, so if you plan to write a lot of diverse reviews, I recommend doing so on your personal blog. Also, keep in mind that sponsored reviews can damage your Page Rank, so if you’re overly concerned about your standing with Google, you should stay away from paid reviews.

I’ve included my referral links above, and I would appreciate it if you use them if you’re interested in signing up. If you are familiar with programs that I haven’t written about, please leave a comment with some details about the programs. Please leave your referral links as well, and I will use them if I decide to sign up.

Good luck with your review writing!

As you know, I’ve been cutting out the advertising programs that don’t work for me and trying a few new ones.  I wasn’t having any luck with Commission Junction, so I decided to give Pepperjam Network a try.  I have only been using it for a few days, but I’ve already made $10 - which is more than I made with Commission Junction in the several months that I used it.

Not only am I impressed with the commissions I’ve earned, but the website is much more user friendly than Commission Junction.  When you log in, you can see which of your Affiliate Managers are online, and you can chat with them right from the website.  There are lots of helpful reports to track performance of your ads.  And the Pepperjam staff is extremely friendly and helpful.  I sent an email to them through their contact form, and a rep called me just a short while later.

The biggest difference I’ve seen between Commission Junction and Pepperjam is in the number of clicks generated from my ads.  I rarely got clicks on my Commission Junction ads, but I’ve gotten lots on the Pepperjam ads.  And naturally, more clicks translate to more conversions.

Another thing I like about Pepperjam is that they pay out every two weeks.  I looked all over the site and didn’t see anything about a minimum payout, so I assume they pay out your account balance every two weeks, regardless of the amount.  Payment methods include check, direct deposit, and PayPal.

If you’re not yet using Pepperjam Network, I recommend giving it a try.  I think you’ll be pleased with the results.  And if you are using it already, I’d love to hear how it’s working out for you.

I ended the month of February with a total of $94.54 in online income for Blogging Gal and The Kat House. Earnings came from SponsoredReviews, blog contests, private ad sales, Project Wonderful, Google Adsense, CashCrate, and WidgetBucks.

Total year to date blog income = $242.66.

Google Adsense hasn’t been performing well at all for me lately. In fact, I’m stripping most of the ad units from my sites and replacing them with something more lucrative. I used Project Wonderful for only the last couple of weeks of February, and it outperformed Adsense in half the time.

I have had no activity whatsoever on ScratchBack since early January, so I removed the widget from The Kat House sidebar.

Commission Junction was another time and space waster. I earned absolutely nothing from affiliate ads during the month of February. I just finished stripping Commission Junction ads from my sites as well. I’m now giving Pepperjam Network a try. I’ll keep you posted on the results. So far, I’m very impressed with the program. There are more relevant advertisers in the network, and the site is extremely user friendly. An Affiliate Manager contacted me by chat while I was logged in this morning and gave me lots of great information. I never had that kind of personal attention while logged in to Commission Junction. I’m not sure if their site even has chat capabilities.

For the month of March, I’ll be focusing my energy on Pepperjam and Project Wonderful, while continuing to eliminate the programs that just aren’t performing. I am also giving private ad sales a try here on Blogging Gal. 125 x 125 pixel banner ad spots are available for $10 per month. Check my Advertise page for more information.

I would love to hear how each of you did with your monetization efforts last month. How much did you earn? What programs performed best? Worst? What changes do you anticipate making during the month of March?

This post isn’t about blogging, but it does relate to something most of us bloggers are interested in – making money online.

Like many of you, I upgrade my cell phone every two years. In the past, my old phones have collected dust for months, or even years, before finally being donated to a local charity. Over the past few months, I’ve seen a number of sponsored posts for companies that purchase used cell phones. And since I recently upgraded from a Sony Ericsson to a Blackberry Pearl, I decided to try to make a few bucks to offset the cost of my new phone.

First of all, I got quotes from the companies I had seen advertised in the sponsored posts. They all quoted my phone at about $5. Next, I Googled sell cell phones online and found a huge list of companies that purchase used phones. I checked out a number of sites and finally settled on a company called Simply Sellular. They offered a whopping $24 my phone!

I’m not sure exactly how all the other companies operate, but I’ll tell you about my experience with Simply Sellular. After agreeing to sell my phone to them, they sent me a prepaid envelope to ship it in. They want only the phone – no chargers or other accessories. The phone must have a working battery, and it is preferred that you ship it with a full charge. It took about 3-4 weeks to get my check, but it did arrive as promised.

If you have some old cell phones lying around, I encourage you to do some price comparison to get the best possible deal. And please let me and the Blogging Gal readers know about your experience with the company you choose to do business with.

For those of you who would rather donate your phone to a good cause, there are a number of organizations that will refurbish the phones and provide them to battered women or other people in need. Simply Sellular offers this service, but so do many other companies. A Google search can send you in the right direction.

Good luck!

I intend to keep Blogging Gal commercial free; however, I recently started writing some paid posts on my personal blog, The Kat House. All of my work has been with SponsoredReviews, which I have found to be an excellent source of income.

The way it works is simple. Just register with the site, and once your account has been approved, you will be able to browse a list of available opportunities. Each opportunity will display a range of bids currently being accepted. Bids can range from $5 to several hundred dollars per post. If you see an opportunity that catches your eye, bid on it. Be patient, as some advertisers take a while to respond. Others respond right away.

Your earnings are posted to your account as you complete your reviews, and your account is paid out via PayPal every two weeks. By writing a few posts every two weeks, you’ll have a steady stream of income.

I’d like to offer a few tips if you are considering using SponsoredReviews.

• Bid only on opportunities that fit the theme of your blog. Don’t put articles about video games on your cooking blog. Personal blogs offer the greatest flexibility.
• Check available opportunities daily. By getting your bids in early, you’ll have a better chance of having them accepted.
• Before bidding on an opportunity, read it in its entirety. Do not bid unless you are certain you want to write the review. SponsoredReviews may suspend your account for not following through on accepted opportunities.
• Consider a site-wide disclosure as opposed to identifying each post as a sponsored review.
• Make your blog details visible to all advertisers as opposed to only the ones you initiate contact with. Advertisers browse through the blog directory and may contact you directly to purchase reviews.
• Install a word count plugin or compose your posts in Microsoft Word to ensure that minimum word count is satisfied.
• Take advantage of the referral program. You can earn up to $175 per advertiser and $90 per blogger referred.

Keep in mind that if you are concerned about your Page Rank, SponsoredReviews may not be for you. Blogs with paid reviews may be penalized by Google with lowered Page Rank. If income is more appealing than Page Rank, I recommend signing up and giving it a try. Good luck!

I recently cautioned against paid surveys, stating that the only legitimate survey site I had discovered was Harris Poll Online. Since that time, I’ve been reading about CashCrate and the many bloggers who have had success with it. Some of these bloggers are earning hundreds, and even thousands of dollars per month with CashCrate.I signed up for CashCrate a couple of weeks ago, and though I haven’t been as active as I should have been, the time I have spent on the site has been fruitful. Just a few minutes per day participating in surveys and free offers quickly adds up. The greatest earnings potential, however, comes from referrals.

CashCrate has a very generous referral program, offering you 20% of what your direct referrals earn, as well as 10% of what their referrals earn. You also receive a $3.00 bonus for each referral who meets the $10 minimum payout. Monthly earnings are paid on the 20th of the following month, provided that the minimum payout has been met.

Another interesting feature of CashCrate is that you can be paid to shop at the online stores they have partnered with. By using the links provided, a percentage of the money you spend will be credited back to your CashCrate account. Cash back ranges from 1 to 100% of purchase price!

If you’re interested in earning some extra cash each month, I highly recommend CashCrate. My only advice is that you sign up with an alternate email address so that your main mailbox doesn’t receive any related spam. I haven’t received a lot of spam from my participation in this program, but I have received a few emails here and there.

I wish you the best of luck if you decide to give CashCrate a try!

There are a number of options for online income - paid posts, banner and text link ad sales, Google Adsense, WidgetBucks, various other affiliate programs, and tip jars. Blog contests are another great way to score a few bucks - easy money that many bloggers completely overlook.

More and more blogs are jumping on the contest bandwagon, and cash prizes are often up for grabs. Entries are usually secured by simply subscribing to RSS feeds, writing short posts about the contests, or even just by leaving comments.

I regularly read several contest blogs. I enter the contests that catch my eye, and I’ve been fortunate enough to win three prizes so far - a day planner, an exclusive list of 200 recently expired domain names along with $10 to register one of them, and Charles Trippy’s Viral Video Fever DVD set.

Here are a few great contest resources.

Blog Contests on the Net

Contest Beat

My Blog Contest

The Prize Blog

Laura Williams’ Musings

A.B.C. - About Blog Contests

By subscribing to their feeds, you’ll stay up to date on the latest and greatest contest news in the blogosphere.

When entering contests, please keep the following tips in mind.

• Check your feeds daily, so that you never miss a great contest opportunity.
• Enter only those contests with prizes that interest you.
• To avoid disqualification, read the contest posts in their entirety before entering, and follow the directions exactly.

Good luck!

I’m sure you’ve all received emails from survey companies claiming that you can earn big bucks just by sitting at your computer and filling out questionnaires. I’m here to tell you not to get caught up in the scam. I recently signed up for one such survey company. As I took the first survey, I realized that nearly all the questions were attempts to subject me to unwelcome phone calls and emails.

“Do you feel that you are paying too much for auto insurance?”

“Have you received any quotes from competitive auto insurance companies during the past year?”

Well, you guessed it. Nearly every automobile insurance company on the face of the earth is now sending me a quote.

Sure, you’ll get a dollar or two for each survey you take, but it’s not worth the hassle. Prior to signing up with that survey company, I got 15 or 20 spam mails a day. Now I’m getting 200 or more. What makes it even worse is that during the course of the surveys, you are presented with dozens of opportunities to sign up with even more survey companies, each of them promising some sort of sign up bonus. It’s an endless cycle.

That being said, I have found one legitimate survey company – Harris Poll Online. I’ve actually been a member for several years, and I’ve never received any related spam. Harris Poll Online presents you with numerous survey opportunities, each worth a certain number of Hi-Points. You accumulate Hi-points and can cash them in for merchandise or gift cards from companies such as Best Buy and Barnes and Noble. It’s not cash, but it’s the next best thing. I’ve received lots of Best Buy gift cards in exchange for my Hi-Points. It’s a nice way to add to my DVD collection without tapping into my bank account!