Pauls Rants and Revelations

If anyone has read The Mist by Stephen King, then they could see how interesting this could be as a movie.

The premise is that a scattered group of townsfolk are trapped in a super market when a mysterious mist (hence the name) rolls in and brings with it some, well, unfriendly things.

I wont spoil it for you (although the trailer does a good job of it for me) but it does remind me of time when a buddy of mine and I were heading through a somewhat dangerous part of L.A. when we got cornered by a group of gangsters. This ‘friend’, as I refer to him in type now, unceremoniously pushes me forward toward the group, vaults the wall we were against, and disappears into the alley. I was seriously standing their with a classic ‘what the fuck’ expression at the behavior of my friend; enough so that the gangsters were even saying “Man, thats fucked up.”

Turned out that they were only playing, and let me use a phone to call a real friend to come and get me. It was an hour before she showed up but my and my new gangster friends passes the time by playing Super Punch Out on the SNES (at which I sucked at).

OK. Enough reminising. If you are interested in it, I would suggest reading the book first as the book is always better then the movie. But if you just like movies (or cant read, which if you cant then why are you reading this post?) then by all means just see the flick. Either way you won’t regret it. Until, that is, you go to sleep that night, anyways

-Cheers

At the time of this writing, Friday 9:15 pm, I am sitting in Barnes and Noble waiting for 11:15 to come around so I can purchase my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

The crowd here is, to say the least, eclectic. There are many folks from all walks of life from young to old and from normal (like me) to the entirely too bizarre (such as the teenager dressed like Draco Malfoy sitting next to me; his name is Cory). There are also at least 100 young women dressed in Hogwarts colors whose pseudo-school uniforms would have been frowned upon at a strip club.

You just gotta love the bookstore.

Anyways, I ran out of battery power so I moved over to “geeks corner” where the wall plugs are. Most of these chaps (and one lady) are IM-ing their mates on the east coast as they already have copies and are giving them a chapter summary every few minutes. Im trying to ignore them but its hard when every so often a “No way” or “I cant believe it” escapes my would-be HP comrades.

But enough about me (for now) and more about the book…. What the hell am I going to say about the book?! I haven’t even gotten a copy of it yet. I’m not telepathic you know.

So far its been, well, a long ass wait. Ill post more when I actually get the book (or someone dies from the excitement; which ever comes first).

-Cheers

*Update: It is now 11:15 pm and they are starting to line up the first purchasers (A - C). Seeing as I am have an “I” on my wristband, I think Ill just keep re-reading Starship Troopers until they call it.

**Update: It is now 1:30am. I have been standing in line for 2 hours and have, finally, obtained my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I am sitting in the Starbucks next door in a comforatable armchair waiting for my frappichino. I intend to read the entire book this weekend so no time like the present to begin.

On a side note; I can now understand all those wack-jobs who were dressing up and cursing each other in the isles. It is a pretty good book and, were I 15 years younger, would probably have put on a dementor outfit as well.

Well, to be more clear, Payperpost Direct is, as the name suggests, a more direct method of paying bloggers to blog on their blog (say that 3 times fast).

For those who don’t know, PayPerPost is a great way to make money blogging. They pay your to do what you do anyway; review or write about services and products and give your opinion.

Anyways, Payperpost Direct is even better. Normally they charge a 35% fee for posts; as in the amount of money you get is 65% of what is paid by advertisers. This is far less than other companies charge but still too much in the opinion of the PPP folks. So they launched their Direct service which works thusly:

1. You put a badge on your site stating how much a review will cost on your blog
2. Someone clicks on the badge on your site, fills out the form and sends it
3. If you accept it, you just make the post and collect your money (less fees)

I say most of it because you get 90% of the revenue from it. PPP takes 10% for processing fees (half of which goes to Paypal for their fees) and that is it. So if you say a post on your site is $100, you get $90 of it. Pretty simple, huh?

This is better than most of the paid services I have seen in that their fees are less and their opps are a little more accurately targeted for your blogs content. That, and they are always coming out with better services at least once a month (sweet).

The Direct service can be compared to the services of Review Me; but instead of putting up a rather hideous badge and loosing up to half of your “advertised rate” you get more from PPP. This is good in that if you really only want to charge $50 for a review, you can just put in $55 with PPP Direct. Othewise, you would have to put in $100 with other services, which will only turn away customers.

If you havent heard of Payperpost before now, check them out. And if you are a Postie, definitely check out this service. I’m currently trying to gauge how much to charge for a review here, but its tough. I think $1000 is a fair price, but somehow, I can’t see myself getting may review that way.

Thoughts on prices are welcome in the comments. And if any of you use the Direct service, let me know how its going.

-Cheers

Posting! Actually, paid posting. I have been using Payperpost, a blog marketing service, for the last few months now and I have to say I’m digging it. Ive made a little under $100 for all the posts that I have done (about 10 or so) and the total time I have used was about 2 hours total for all of those posts. Mostly I have used the money to buy nights out for the family, but I have picked up some books and such for me as well.

Also, from the PPP forums I have found a good many tricks and tips about getting better posts and all around good writing info. A lot of the posties are quite good writers and really enjoy giving out their knowledge (and I, strange as it may seem, enjoy using it). I have even made a few friends among the posties and we always enjoy trying to out-do each other for writing the best posts.

If you get the chance, or want a little extra cash, head on over and sign up. Its a great way to earn some extra cash and perhaps learn a thing or two.

-Cheers

I have been using Sponsored Reviews for a few weeks now. And although my public profile isn’t exactly mind blowing, the service they offer is one of the best as far as paid-to-blog services go as they actually let you negotiate on the price of a review. This coupled with their well thought out and help tips (more about that in a sec), makes them a force to be.. well, blogged! (OK, that was probably as stupid sounding to you as it is to me, but it sounded funnier in my mind.)

One of the articles that they have just posted is “27+1 Tips for Building and Maintaining a Blog Audience“, which covers, in detail, helpful advice and tips for those of use not blessed with the mammoth sized and rabid readership of sites like Endgadget or ProBlogger.

Some of the information I found to be pretty “Well, duh!” type stuff. most of the tid bits of knowledge though I found to be quite interesting. In particular, the section on post length was helpful as I tend to ramble on about things without regard for my readers time constraints. Another bit was about not alienating your audience. This isn’t usually a problem for me as people either hate me (most) or love me (much less than most), but letting some success go to you head is often the downfall of a good thing (see Microsoft, file sharing, Britney Spears, etc) .

Aside from the advice that SR givea out, there are several comments on the article that also make a lot of sense and can be useful when going about your review or rant. I’ve read what was up there, but I’m sure there will be more by the time you get to reading it, and most of it was pretty good.

In semi-short, its a great read and a useful resource for those just getting into blogging or those that are old hands at it. It never hurts to get back to the basics , even if you’re an “uber blogger”, and it is always nice to get a helping hand when starting something.

Originally when I start this site, I thought “I could make money from AdSense like I see on every other site on the planet”. This turned out to be wrong in many and varied ways.

For starters, AdSense is great if you have a busy site with thousands of visitors an hour. Then it would make sense. But for smaller sites (and I mean much smaller) it just isn’t really a big earner and often it doesn’t do anything except take up screen real-estate. And, I feel compelled to point out, that the people who have 2 AdSense blocks on their sites side bars, a header and footer block of ads, and ads within every freaking post, are not going to be making any more money than if you had one ad block on a page. I don’t think Google will count the impressions from the 4-6 ad blocks on a page so you are left only with click thru’s which are becoming more rare. And I believe, as most people are turned off by an ad overloaded site, that site owners will be waiting quite a while to get the minimum cash out amount ($100) from Google.

There are, of course, exceptions. A niche site for example that has a lot of back links and content to offer will probably do well with an ad block or a random ad somewhere in a post or page. However this also, once again, proves the rule that content is king. So most exceptions aren’t truly exceptions as they just follow the standard good practices of writing which is, basically, write well and write often.

So, for all of you with sites that have 100 ads on it, take away all but one ad block and see what you are left with. This is what Google is actually looking at and what your visitors would like to see. If you don’t like what you see build up more and better content. And for those that say “You’re crazy! I’ve made oodles from AdSense”, please comment and post your site and let us know how you did it whether it be one busy site or 50 kinda-busy sites. Or if you bribed Google. If you did that (and it worked) please post the name and address of whom to send it too.

- Cheers

Well, that’s what I’m expecting anyway. PayPerPost, a really nifty online advertising service, has some great big secret about some new services that they are going to start rolling out here soon, and they want the public to guess what it is. It’s like your sister saying “I know something you don’t know”. It may be bad or good, but to this day my sister and I don’t get along due to that.

But that is the past, and this is the now. And right now there is something big going on at PayPerPost. But what, pray tell, could it be? Let us start with the really fantastic and often ludicrous ideas first shall we?

One possibility is a new disclosure policy will be issued in where anyone who does not properly show their disclosure badge will be visited in the night by a flock of angry commando ninja flamingos. A little harsh some may say, but perhaps necessary.

Another possibility could be that at random times the PayPerPost FireFox extension pops up a message saying “I know what you are doing, and your mother would be ashamed”. A bit nasty for most, possibly true for some, but in the end not really productive.

I have more fanciful ideas but those can wait until another post. Some actual ideas that could actually happen would be something like the following:

A new rewards system that pays the most active bloggers or the best recruiters could be it. I certainly wouldn’t mind as I am trying to post as often as I can with PPP but only have this small corner to the internet to play with at the moment.

A better (or at least more favorable to me) upgrade would be a boosting system where new bloggers are given some code to put on their sites that automatically links them to a predefined group or a group of their choosing. In this fashion new bloggers to PayPerPost will be able to add these people to their blogroll and vice versa instantly creating a relevant group of sites that link to each other and to others as well. That would be cool.

In the end, really, we will just have to see what PayPerPost says and hope for the best that the words “commando flamingos” are no where in evidence.

-Cheers

“You’re A Rock Star!”

That’s the theme for PostieCon 07. Why? Because bloggers and internet personalities are fast becoming the movers and shakers of the information age. Bloggers attract millions of visitors to their sites for nothing more than to hear (or read) what they have to say. It’s the ultimate megaphone for your voice and what’s more, people actually value what bloggers have to say.

But what is this PostieCon that you speak of, sir? PostieCon is a conference designed to help bloggers and internet personalities extend their reach and get their name out there into the spotlight. It helps teach bloggers how to increase their notoriety and monetize their sites so that they can create value for their voice, but also add revenue to it as well. But aside from the fame and potential fortune, it also teaches you how to be a better blogger. The organizers have invited some of the biggest names in the blogging world so that you can gain insight from them and apply it to your blog. That’s why the theme is “You’re A Rock Star”.

The dates for this conference on blogging are set for June 1-2 in sunny Orlando Florida. The website has more information on the event such as who’s going to be speaking and a full schedule for the event. You will also get more info on what exactly the conference is about and it will show how it can help you in your endeavors to become an internet Rock Star!

If you are a blogger, or are thinking about becoming one, then I highly suggest that you attend and start getting your name out to the masses. Just click the badge below or follow the link to the PostieCon website.

Well, it seems that Associated Content really likes my stuff. This is the third article I’ve written that has been published. You can check it out here:

AC - Archery For Beginners

Its a beginners guide to archery (which Im a huge fan and practicer of) and is good for anyone looking to start into archery. Hopefully my archer friends wont spot any errors in it as I cant change it once its published. Anyways, check it out if you feel like it.

-Cheers

For all of you going out or sitting alone at home,
For those of you with someone and those of you alone,
A poem, I have, for you to read on this lovers day,
Some words of wisdom I lay out so please, pay attention, OK?

If you have someone who you are in love,
If you are getting some remember to “wear a glove”.
If you dont have anyone whom to shine your lovers light,
Go out to the local pub and pick up someone tonight.

For on this lovers day of ours many words are said untrue,
In the hopes of getting some, almost anything people will do.
But try to keep to truthful words while courting your choosen love,
For false words will come to light, and you will recieve a hateful shove.

So now my friends, go out and play and have fun on this night,
But please, o please, for your own good sake, keep your inner-moron shut up tight.