May 24, 2007

Payperpost Direct

It’s been almost a year since Payperpost created a marketplace that brings bloggers and advertisers together. The PPP team has continued to develop their innovative concept which spawned a copycat following. Today they’ve thrown down the gauntlet to those wannabees by introducing Payperpost Direct, where bloggers and advertisers can negotiate with each other while having a professional team supporting both sides of each transaction. Others have offered a similar concept in recent months, but PPP has taken blog advertising to the next level, adding increased value to both ends of the deal. Sponsored Reviews quotes a price to their bloggers and then keeps 35% of it, while ReviewMe keeps a whopping 50% of advertiser fees for each review. I know how that feels from the bloggers side of the fence, and can only imgine how an advertiser must cringe at paying the bulk of their money for facilitation instead of using it to attract high-quality bloggers. Payperpost Direct has shattered the old pricing models by charging the the advertiser only 10% over the blogger’s proposed fee. It has a built-in negotiating function that assures that blogger and advertiser can always form a satisfying partnership. Payperpost Direct makes advertising on blogs more affordable for the advertiser looking for customized selection and more profitable for the blogger offering specialized service.

Vistors to my site can select my blog for their ad placement by clicking the new HIRE ME badge on my sidebar, and satisfied past clients can find me in their history and request me for future campaigns. They’ll be taken to the Payperpost Direct interface, which is designed for ease of function by all parties. Here’s a look at the order form my advertisers will use when they select skeet’s stuff for their next sponsored post:

The ease of drop-down menu choices is combined with a text box that allows full explanation of an advertiser’s requirements. A brief tutorial clearly explains the process so that bloggers and advertisers can get down to the business at hand.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve signed on for a few other services and sampled their offereings. Astute readers have noted that the sampling has been meager. Like a picky eater at a buffet table, I’ve tasted a little from each dish, then filled my plate with the tastiest morsels. Payperpost has always offered me the most opportunities for the largest payouts. Now they’ve sweetened the deal, starting with this sponsored post. They’ve even added the most succulent dish to the dessert tray. My post fee will be paid immediately upon acceptance by the advertiser. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next!

Technorati Tags: advertising on blogs, blog advertising, marketing services, Payperpost

May 20, 2007

My world is a happier place

I love my hose reel. I really do. Well, except when I don’t. I love having a neat little place to store my hose out of the way, but I hate that blasted thing when I’m trying to wind my hose back up onto the reel after I’m through using it. See, it wants two hands keeping the hose untangled and guiding it while a third hand turns the crank. Being blessed with the usual configuration of two hands, I always end up with a tangled mess. Sometimes the hose slips between the parts of the caddy and I can’t turn it all. When that happens I end up having to unwind the whole hose off of the wheel and starting over. Or leaving the hose in a messy pile for another day. I either need to get an accommodating roommate or find a hose reel that’s easier to use.

Ha! A clever inventor must have overheard my lament because the hose reel of my dreams is now available. You’ll have to go watch the video at No-Crank.com to see just how perfect the solution is. The only thing I can’t figure out is why it took someone so long to make the obvious connection. Water power is one of the first energy sources discovered and here you’ve got a hose full of water that needs moving in an orderly manner. 1 + 1 = a water-powered hose reel!

Ahhhh! That’s better!
Sheer genius, actually! It’s even got a little arm that guides the hose as it enters the reel so you don’t get tangles. I’m telling you, it’s the perfect solution to a problem that has vexed mankind for far too long. Now if we could just get someone to work on the whole war and poverty mess we’d have a pretty near perfect world.

Technorati Tags: garden hose, hose reel

May 16, 2007

New consumer review site

Do you remember a few months ago when I asked for your help in selecting a camera? Anytime I’m buying something more durable than my groceries for the week I try to do my homework. Y’all were pretty helpful as I looked at the various features I wanted and the sophisticated digital engineering that perplexed me. I’m happy with the camera I chose and I hope you’ve all been enjoying the photos I’ve shared. There’s a new search tool just coming online that could have helped me also. Testfreaks.com draws information from numerous product review sites into one location so you don’t have to surf around endlessly to find comparisons.

It could have been a great benefit to me to see their digital camera reviews when I was still shopping. I searched and compared for several weeks before I bought. I thought I had found the best camera for my needs at the best price available. I learned this morning through Testfreaks that I could have saved an additional $40.00 off of the discounted price that I paid. It’s good to know they’ll be fully functional the next time I’m ready to shop because finding the best price is as important to me as finding the right product. The site is a little rough right now, but they’ll be launching soon and I predict it won’t be long before they get a lot of traffic from folks like me doing comparision shopping. If you’re a webby type and want to help them polish up their site, they’re also launching a web-developers forum and you’re invited to lend your expertise as they build the next generation consumer information site. I’m glad they sponsored this post so I’ll know where to start next time!

Technorati Tags: comparision shopping, consumer information, consumer reviews, digital cameras

Providing quality service

I have only recently begun to understand just how important search engine optimization can be. Placing oneself in the Top Google Rankings is the key to online marketing, plain and simple. If you expect to succeed with any service offered via the internet, you need Google to drive traffic to your site, and the only way to do that is to select the words and phrases that people will search for. I’ve beeen studying Apogee’s Search Engine Marketing Glossary so that I can improve the service that I offer to my advertisers through my blog. Marketing through blogs has been found to be an effective tool for driving search engine traffic and, whatever your opinion of it, it’s here to stay. Since I’ve chosen to offer my blog to that market, I owe it to my advertisers to educate myself in the ways of the market so that I can provide them with a quality service and good return on their advertising dollars. All of us who have chosen to monetize our blogs owe it to our sponsors to offer the best possible service. Learning the vocabulary is a good place to start.

Technorati Tags: Apogee Search, Google ranking, Payperpost, search engine optimization

May 15, 2007

Guys! Win a date with Mirelly Taylor!

I’ve done a little matchmaking in my day. Setting up blind dates, arranging introductions and engineering “accidental” meetings are all things that I’ve done in the past. Alas, I’m as lousy at fixing other people up as I am at finding the right someone for myself. Still it’s a fun thing to do and usually no one get hurt. If you’re a guy who’s serious about finding your dream date, though, I have a hot tip for you today.

Mirelly Taylor, who has appeared in the movies Kiss Me Again and Serving Sara, and in the television shows Punk’d, Las Vegas and Numbers (a favorite of mine!) is looking for a date! She’s uploaded Free videos at GoFish.com describing what she looks for in a date and wants you to tell her why you should go out with her. If you think you’re man enough, go make your own video telling her why she should select you. It’s a new twist on the old dating game shows on TV. Some of the entries made so far are hilarious and all of them have, shall we say, their finer points. You’ll need to put some real thought into finding the right approach, but if you nail it you’ll be a bit of a celeb in your own right. Make sure you tell me when you’ve made your entry so I can vote for you.

Gals, we’re not being left out. Everyone gets to vote on the best candidate, with Mirelly making the final decision from the finalists, of course. And there will be more contests in the future, so we’ll have our shot at celebrity hunks some day. I’m a little old and shopworn for such antics, but I have to say that if William Petersen is ever on the auction block, I’d go for him!

Technorati Tags: celebrity dates, contests, date a celebrity, video dating contest

May 14, 2007

It’s HDTV Tuesday

Tomorrow will be HDTV Tuesday again! Payperpost has always treated its posties well (that’s us, folks who make money on our blogs with PPP.) Lately they’ve upped the ante. They’re still the best place to blog for money on the entire web, but Tuesdays have become sort of postie appreciation days. First there were huge cash jackpots available to the lucky posties who were first to click on some very special opportunities during April. Then more of our sponsors got involved and wanted to show their appreciation, too. April $1000 Tuesdays have now evolved to become May HDTV Tuesdays. Each Tuesday there are opportunities to win some pretty cool prizes in addition to opportunity fees. Posties have already won Apple TVs and a PS3. This week the special prizes are a Slingbox, Nintendo Wii, Yamaha Surround Sound System and/or a Logitech universal remote. At the end of May we’ll all have chance to win a new HDTV.

This week the prizes are sponsored by Bid 4 Prizes. You probably already know about them, but if you don’t you should check them out. They’re a contest site that awards auction items to the lowest unique bidder on any given item. Right now they’re running a contest that can get you a chance to win a million dollars.

It’s time to get yoursef in gear. If you’re not blogging for PPP, today is a great day to start. You’ll earn money for blogging about the things you love and be eligible for the awesome HDTV Tuesday prizes. Check out Bid4Prizes, too and take your shot at a million bucks. Tell them skeet sent you. It won’t improve your chances of winning, but it will give me a good dose of warm fuzzies. Hey, you’re online anyway. Get going!

Technorati Tags: contests, games, PayPerPost, prizes, sponsored blogging

May 11, 2007

Who Gets Prizes?

Here’s a fun-looking site. Go to whogets.com and register to enter one of their contests. Since contests are the only thing they do, there’s always one going on. Just pick the one that has the prize you want to win. You won’t have to buy anything or “complete this offer” or any of that nonsense. WhoGets promises its members no spam. Prizes range in value from $10.00 to $600.00 and you can enter each contest once so you’ll have a shot at every prize. Seven finalists are chosen randomly for each contest. The finalists get to make a statement as to why they think they should win then the members vote on them. That’s it. You have as good a shot at it as anyone else. I just entered to win a black freshwater pearl necklace, so you pick something else, okay. This post is sponsored by arcavate.com who run all kinds of fun sites.

Technorati Tags: contests, online contests, win prizes

May 8, 2007

Bug movie

It’s no secret that I like bugs. Sure, I’ve been wiping them out for a couple of decades, but that hasn’t kept me from liking them. I respect them, actually. They’re adaptive and persistent. I’ve spent hundreds, more likely thousands of hours studying insects. I’ve examined them in detail under a microscope. The more I learn about them, the more I admire them. I also like Ashley Judd, who has never made a bad move, and Harry Connick, Jr. - well, I’m a mature woman and need to maintain my dignity, so I won’t tell you exactly where my thoughts go when they dwell on Harry Connick, Jr.

Knowing that, you would think that if someone made a bug movie that starred Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon and Harry Connick, Jr. I’d be the first in line. You’d be wrong. I’ve just watched the trailer for Bug, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be going to see it. I don’t do suspense well. I get nervous and sweaty and come pretty close to having an anxiety attack when I try to watch movies that build too much tension. The Chicago Tribune has called Bug “one of the most disturbing horror movies imaginable.” Just from the clip I’m inclined to agree with them. I’ve had insects crawling on me more than a few times. I’ve handled them in a lab, both dead and alive. Bugs don’t bother me. They don’t generally cause me to feel creepy and uncomfortable. As far as I know, though, I’ve never had them in me.

They live in your blood … and they feed on your brain.

Sure, that’s what I want to be thinking about the next time a client saves a couple of insects found in a dark corner and asks me to identify them.

Look at Ashley Judd. She’s beautiful. Poised. Confident. I’ve just watched her trying to rip her own skin off. Look at the silhouette of a bug on the other poster. Beautiful. I’d like to have that to hang on the wall of my office, right alongside the “wood detroying insects and their damage” poster. It’s considerably classier than any of my insect i.d. charts. But could I ever look at it and not see Ashley Judd trying to rip her skin off? Probably not. The trailer is that powerful. I’m pretty sure my nerves would not allow me to watch the suspense building, to feel the bugs crawling under my skin, to wonder what it feels like to know that they wanted to feed on my brain, if I were to try to sit through Bug. I think I’ll have to skip it.

You go watch the trailer. If you think you can stand the suspense, go see the movie. You can come back and tell me all about it. Just leave out the details, please. I still have to make a living, you know.

Mahalo to Lionsgate.com for sponsoring this post.

Technorati Tags: Ashley Judd, Bug - movie title, bugs, movies, suspense movies

May 5, 2007

Parenting teens

Being a parent is one of the most awesome experiences one can have in life, and I’m using the word awesome in the context of its dictionary definition. I found it terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time. My responsibilities seemed so tremendous as to be overwhelming, especially when I looked at the prospect of helping my son get through his teen years. Teaching him to tie his shoes and to say “please” and “thank you” paled in signifigance when I considered the influences he needed to be prepared for. I studied a lot of parenting books, looked with a critical eye on my parents’ methods and spent a lot of time consulting with people I admired who had raised happy and well-adjusted teens. I can’t claim any great personal victory for the ease with which my son and I cruised through his high school years. His natural enthusiam for sports and our church youth programs helped him develop a strong character and gave him wholesome after-school activities to keep him busy while I worked. Still, I spent many a restless night worrying about the peer influence, especially regarding drugs and sex. I know that he felt a lot of pressure to conform in order to fit in and that he struggled with the teen angst that everyone has to go through.

The internet has opened doors that didn’t exist for us. There’s a wealth of resources available today to help parents educate themselves and influence their teens toward making good choices. A good starting point is to evaluate what your son or daughter might be struggling with so that you can focus on helping in those areas. I found a helpful tool for that called Struggling Teen Assessment - Does your Teen Need Help? Your answers to this short quiz will help you define how at-risk your teen might be. That will, in turn, help you determine how you, as a parent, can be most effective. It’s a great starting point for your journey together through those hazardous teen years. My special thanks to Lifelines Family Services for sponsoring this post and making this resource available!

Technorati Tags: family, teens, troubled teens, parenting teens

May 3, 2007

Cool AccuWeather.com widget

Take a scroll a little ways down my page and look at my new toy in the right sidebar. I just installed a weather widget from AccuWeather .com. You’re always asking me what the weather is like in Hawaii. Now you can see it every time you come for a visit, whether I’m standing by to tell you or not. Right at this moment it’s 73 degrees F with light winds out of the East at 6 miles per hour. There’s even weather radar function. It’s got an enlarge button; wait a second and I’ll tell you what it does. Ah, nice. It takes you to a map that is large enough to tell that there are light rains in my neighborhood right now. (Yep, it’s raining right now.) Click on “weather forecast” or “weather maps” and you’ll be taken to their site where where you can get more detailed reports along with all the latest weather news. Look around while you’re there. You’ll find some community features on their site and free web, blog and nature features. (If you’re a weather geek like my dad was you’ll especially enjoy the vidoes of severe weather, too.)

I got to select the color and dimensions for my weather widget. That’s because AccuWeather .com netWeather v3.0 is customizable so you can select feature that feel just right for you. I like the sidebar placement, but if you want a larger widget placed at the bottom of your page you’ll even have a video viewer and some other advanced functions. Did I mention that it’s free?

Shall we discuss my technophobia again? No need this time! I installed it in about two minutes using three easy steps. I put in my location and language preference, selected a theme that goes with my blog and and copied and pasted the code that was generated. That’s it! Easy enough even for me! My Spanish-speaking friends? Gotcha covered because you can select either English or Spanish. Very cool. I’ll let you quit reading now so you can go get your own free weather widget.

Technorati Tags: technology, local weather, weather widget, widgets