Tag Archives: PayPerPost

Blogging

IZEA Insider: First Look at Sponsored Tweets

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No doubt you have been hearing about Sponsored Tweets all over Twitter. Danny Brown event ponders whether this is the future of Twitter. Maybe it’s just me who is because I stalk Ted Murphy and anything said about him and IZEA using TweetDeck. I kid, not about the stalking, I’ve seen talk of Sponsored Tweets everywhere. It kicked off big time about a month ago when the story came out well before the site was ready and before anyone was using the service. Since that time I’ve had the privilege of being one of the first people to use Sponsored Tweets.

As with PayPerPost v4.0 (link is #spon) it is a really stripped down stream lined process. Tweeters sign in to Sponsored Tweets and they are authenticated by Oauth so you don’t need to leave your twitter ID and password.

When a Tweeter sets up their account they have a few choices to make.

What will they charge per tweet or per click. Will you write your own Twitter or will the advertiser? How do I wanted to be notified, via e-mail or a DM on Twitter. And what type of content will I tweet content suitable for Everyone, for Mature Audiences or Adult. I’m not thrilled with the adult option on this or PayPerPost v4.0. The Tweeter must also choose their category and provide some keywords to help advertisers pick the correct people for their messages. The screen looks like this.

stweets

So you can see that the interface is pretty simple and it should be. You want to be able to go in, update your information and see what opportunities you have available. This now brings us to the second tab and that is the Opportunities tab. This is where you see the opportunities that advertisers have for you. You can see what ones are being offered, which ones are pending and the ones that you have completed. I completed two opportunities from advertiser IZEA.

stweets2

Now, I don’t know the exact date when this is going to be available to the general public but it is going to be soon so you want to be ready. To make sure that you know as soon as the doors open you need to sign up at http://app.sponsoredtweets.com.

Blogging

PayPerPost v4.0 Alpha – Be Excited!

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PayPerPost has completely revamped their user interface to make their platform more inviting to both bloggers and advertisers. I am part of the team testing out PayPerPost v4.0 Alpha before it is open for more bloggers. So far I’ve taken one post about Sponsored Conversations from IZEA. Now I’ve gotten a second opportunity through PayPerPost v4.0 to tell you all about the new platform.

First, take a look at the user screen. This is such a nice clean look. You can click for a larger screenshot

PayPerPost v4.0

Here is the great thing about the new PayPerPost, you don’t have to fight for opportunities. Opportunities come directly to you and you can choose to accept them or not. You also do not have to wade through the opps to find ones for specific blogs. That took a very long time in the previous incarnation of PayPerPost. I found that the things that I wanted to blog about were only available to one of my blogs and those times when I found things available to the blog I wanted to post on others people had already taken them.

With PayPerPost v4.0 quality is going to rise to the top. There is more interaction between blogger and advertiser. Good blogs and good advertisers are going to succeed based on their Blog Scores and Advertiser Ratings. When you get an opportunity you have three days to complete the opp. That means that you can really take your time and craft your posts. No scrambling like crazy to finish one opportunity, write an interim post and then hop back on to get another opportunity. You work hard and do a good job then your blog score will go up and you will get more opps.

Here is something that bloggers are really going to like. This is from the FAQ

Will my blog be approved? How will I know it’s been approved?
Blogs do not go through an approval process, so there are no minimum eligibility requirements and you will not receive any notification that your blog has been approved. Your blog is eligible to receive offers as soon as it is submitted.

That means that the moment you sign on and enter your blogs you could be getting opportunities.

I’ve been working with this version of PayPerPost for the past few days, ever since it was announced on the IZEA Blog. I read the entire FAQ and Glossary. I’ve been working with IZEA’s development team with feedback on things I’ve found of issue (hardly anything actually). I am excited to work with this new platform as it develops.

Some people are not going to like this version because it means that they are going to have to step up their game. Ted Murphy announced that stepping up to the A game means:

* Get your own domain
* Create a true brand if you haven’t already
* Consistently create quality content
* Focus on spelling and grammar
* Drop the in-post display ads
* Drop any ads that talk about paid blogging (including our old ones)
* Drop widgets that don’t provide value

I think I have taken care of most of that and if I haven’t I’d love to hear what else I should do to step it up. Now, I said that some people are going to hate this version, that is basically because you have to be a better blogger to make it. The flip side to this is that other people are going to love it. People who have consistently worked hard to become better bloggers. People who saw many of the junk bloggers scooping up opportunities left and right. That won’t be happening with V4.0 of PayPerPost. Advertisers will have more control over approval of opportunities and bloggers will have more control over what opportunities they want to take.

The feature that I like the most about the new PayPerPost is that I can control the disclosure. I want to be able to put in post disclosure on all my posts. I avoided advertisers that wanted no disclosure at all. Site wide disclosure was a grey area, I’d much rather you know that I was being compensated. Letting you know that I was being paid for a post is important to me. So, only those advertisers that fit my qualifications will make the cut on BenSpark.com. I’ve worked hard to be a trusted blogger and do not want to lose that trust.

It is time to take off the training wheels folks. PayPerPost v4.0 is here!

I’ve started a thread on the IZEA Boards about PayPerPost V4.0 so we can discuss the Alpha. If you’d like an Alpha Key leave a comment on the IZEA Blog.

Disclosure: This post is about my experiences using the brand new PayPerPost. I am an IZEA Insider who works closely with IZEA. I am being paid by IZEA to start this conversation with my readers, the opinions are honest and they are all mine.