Get Paid to Post to Your Own Blog

Some people reading my headline might say, "Really! Cool, I have a blog - count me in!" and of course, others may get indignant and insist they can't be bought. I don't fall into the second category because as a freelance writer, I most certainly can be bought (every time I sell an article!) for the right price and the right product.

Also, as someone who has been paid to post, I have not felt the pain of compromise because I've had the presence of mind to reject blogging about certain subjects that either don't fall into my niche' or I find to be outright offensive. The bottom line is that bloggers have a choice to either accept or reject any project proposal due to the growing number of advertisers ready to pay bloggers to write.

The idea of paying bloggers to post was introduced to the blogospere by Marqui.com causing a few indignant rants from individuals insisting that such a thing would cause "spamlogs" or cause bloggers to offend their audience enough so they'd never return to their website. Well, for some blogs that may be the case, despite the fact that all the people who raved about it had a good ol' Adsense banner right next to their post negating all their arguments. They get paid to blog anyway!

So what's the difference if your ad is written by someone else, taking up space in your sidebar, or if it's written by you in the "content" part, giving an honest opinion with a disclosure stating that what you are writing is sponsored content?

The truth is that every blogger has to make the decision to use pay per post services on their own and decide whether or not it's an acceptable practice for their target audience. Perhaps some are reading this and are still saying, "no way!" but for those of you who want to give it a shot, I have done my research and found a whole bunch of sites that will introduce you to advertisers who are willing to pay between $1.00 and $200.00 per post depending on many different factors. Most offer a small rate under $10.00, and others, like ReviewMe.com will price your blog according to popularity and subject matter. But truthfully, a $200.00, or even a $100.00 post is going to be rare unless you own an extremely popular niche' blog that gets thousands of hits per day.

So the question is, can you make a steady income off being paid to blog? I'm going to say "yes". But only of you play your cards right, be honest, and maintain your integrity without compromise. Advertisers also realize that having their product or service introduced in someone's "spamlog" is not a good business practice and most pay per post services screen bloggers in order to protect their paying clients.

Do your homework. Pick a niche' and be passionate about it. Promote your blog. No one wants to pay a lazy blogger... Well, Creamiad might, but they're quite the exception. Go to Google and type in "blogging tips" because there are tons of professional bloggers out there willing to share their expert advice with you for free.

Also, if you don't know how to start blogging I suggest beginning with Blogger.com because they offer a very simple, user-friendly platform for people who are technically challenged.

Now for the cake. The following is a list of "get paid to blog" services that I found while researching this subject.

BloggingAds.com says:

* Your blog must be in cached in Google's database. Check to see if your blog is cached by typing this in Google: cache:http://sitename.com/. If your search did not find any documents your blog is not cached.
* Your blog must be family friendly.
* Your blog must be in English.
* Your blog must be 3 months old.
* Your blog must be updated regularly, at least two posts per month.
* Your blog must contain original content.

Blogitive.com says:

"We have basic requirements to get approved for Blogitive. Mainly we require that your site receives (or can receive) some level of traffic. All blogs currently in Blogitive must be indexed into Google and Yahoo search engines. We also do not accept blogs with content of a violent or hate related nature, and we do not accept adult content. We also require that the blogs be maintained with at least 3 postings per week on average, and that they are at least 3 months old."

Blogsvertize.com says:

* You must have a blog/journal setup with written content on your url/website in order to use the service. I'm sorry we do not provide any blog/journal hosting. Check our list of free blog services, for blog service sites.
* Blogsvertise Administrator may or may not approve your account or blog entry for any reason, and is sole discretion of the administrator.
* Blogsvertise Administrator may terminate your account at any time and is sole discretion of blogsvertise.
* You will be assigned tasks by the administrator to write about in your blog. Within your entry you must include 3 links to the website url in your blog. You do not have to necessarily endorse the advertiser's website products or services, just mention them in your blog. You can relate to in your own life, review the site, compliment or even complain about it, it is entirely up to you.
* At least 1 paragraph of approx 50-60 words or more is required for blog entry approval.
* The task/entry must be completed within 1 week of being emailed to you.
* Blogsvertise Administrator may withhold or cancel payment due to user account at its sole discretion of blogsvertise.
* Your blog entry must remain online and be a permanent entry in your blog.
* Blogs that are new (less then 30 days), have little or no content, may be rejected or put on Probation status at a reduced payout rates.
* I'm sorry pornographic/adult oriented blogs are not permitted in blogsvertise at this time , due to paypal rules regarding adult content.

BlogtoProfit.com:

They offer no acceptance criteria on their site, but I tried it and they insisted that I make posts on a topic of their choice otherwise I would not be accepted into their program. I rejected them altogether due to ethical compromise, but they paid me before I could even do that. I had a moral obligation to refund their money and warn them that not all bloggers would be so honest and they should pay only when the job is done. I hope they rethink their business policies before they do any more damage to their industry. Try them if you think you can make three posts on plastic surgery without going off on some ugly diatribe about snooty upper-class vanity that will leave your visitors scratching their heads in wonder.

Creamaid.com:

Criteria varies per "conversation." Joining a conversation is simple: You click on a conversation widget and follow their instructions by posting according to the conversation rules and embedding a widget in your blog. If your post gets accepted, they pay you the royalty and you can earn more when people are referred into the conversation by clicking through the widget you embedded. I like Creamiad because it's also an innovative way to draw more traffic (even if it's only temporary traffic) to your weblog. A nonpaying version of this system can be found at Plugaid.com.

InBlogAds.com:

This site actually offers two services. One of which is the pay per post service which requires the following:

* Your blog must have at least 20 posts.
* Your blog must be indexed in Google.
* They do not accept any adult blogs.

The other service is a system that places links to sponsor's websites within the context of your post. For example, if this article were posted in my blog and the catch phrase was "blog," every time you see the word "blog" it would be linked to the sponsors website. For this you receive a fee ranging from $4. to $25. a month depending on your blog's popularity. To sign up for this, InBlogAds says:

* Your blog must be indexed in Google to be approved.
* Brand new blogs or blogs with very low link popularity will not be approved.
* If your blog system is Blogger (not the beta), you will be responsible to manually add the links each time a link gets sold, it is not automated.

PayPerPost.com:
Probably the most popular service paying bloggers to date. PayPerPost says:

* You must be 18 to participate or have written consent by a legal guardian. Please fill out and e-mail this form to support.
* All posts must be in English on a blog written in the English language.
* You must first submit a blog url for approval prior to submitting any blog posts for an opportunity.
* Your blog must also be at least 90 days old, verifiable by a third party index of the site.
* If over 90 days old, your blog must have at least 20 entries in the past 90 days. If just around 90 days old, your blog must have 20 pre-existing entries.
* No blogs with gaps over 30 days (no entries posted for 30+ days) will be accepted.
* The content of each post must be unique (paid and unpaid). You may not post the same thing on different blogs and you may not copy someone else's post (except when specified by the advertiser).
* We reserve the right to deny any post and cancel any account at any time at our sole discretion.

ReviewMe.com says:

* To be accepted into ReviewMe, a blog must meet a minimum number of citations, subscribers, and traffic. If your blog is rejected, you may want to return in a few months' time and submit again.
* In the ReviewMe system, advertisers choose which blogs review them. So basically, sit back, and let the review offers come to you.
* We like to keep the guidelines loose, so bloggers can write in a way that makes sense for their unique niche and audience. We do require that all reviews are at least 200 words long, and that the review post is disclosed as being sponsored in some fashion.
* Our payments are calculated and paid out on a monthly basis. On the 1st of each month, earnings will be calculated and shown in the earnings section of your account. Payments will be sent out shortly thereafter, no later than the 4th.
* Please write reviews in your blog's "normal" language. If your blog's category is German, for example, advertisers will generally expect the language of the review to be German.

Finally, there are a few other sites of note. These are not pay per post websites, but they are glorified blogging platforms that insist that your blog will have much more Adsense click through's if you use their service. I haven't tried them and I'm not sure that I recommend bothering with them because they only offer a 50 percent chance that it will be your Adsense account that will receive the click through; they also place their own Adsense ad on your blog and you can't customize your presentation. WritingUp.com, BlogFeast.com, BloggerParty.com, and ReviewParty.com all offer easy traffic and instant results, but in the long run you're better off generating your own traffic to your own niche' blog on your own domain.