No Longer Promoting NeverBlueAds
Since this post I have been compensated by Neverblue and have continued using them. You can view my follow-up post. Overall earnings for me in their network is now close to $1,000!
If you are not a Neverblue affiliate yet, make sure to join now.
I have been a NeverBlueAds affiliate for a few months now. I have earned just under $100 and have been generally happy with it. That was up until about a month ago.
My NeverBlueAds Experience
Neverblueads has a lot of freebie offers, which is perfect for my freebie blog. Getting conversions for certain offers has been nice. Most pay about $1.50.
I’ve promoted, referred, and encouraged people to join NeverblueAds. I’ve referred 14 members. We even had a huge contest with NeverBlueAds as the sponsor…
Where NeverBlueAds Went Wrong
The problems started when I referred someone to NeverblueAds, or so I thought. He started earning money (I was supposed to get 2%), but my referral earnings stayed the same. By the time we got it straightened out, he had made $400, which would of been $8 for me. They told me there was nothing they could do, no compensation.
Total lost $8
That was a little irritating, but it went on.
When I finally received my first check, what they were supposed to send was $2 off. After wasting an hour talking to my affiliate manager about it, they didn’t fix anything. She was supposed to email me why this happened, but never did. The extra $2 they didn’t pay me was from my affiliate earnings.
Total lost $10
Then maybe a week ago, my affiliate earnings were cut in half, resulting in me losing another $6. I emailed my affiliate manager with no luck. She wrote a long email basically saying nothing, never mentioning why my account was $6 less.
Total lost $16
Instead of NeverBlueAds handling it, my affiliate manager is no longer my affiliate manager. Usually when you log in, it says their name and picture. I currently have no one. How convenient, I wonder why? I’ve tried to be polite as I could, there isn’t a point in being rude. But really, enough is enough.
I’ve also referred people using my $2 referral link and never seen a dime from it. I was using two referral links together (one for $2 per referral, one for 2% of earnings). So if I referred 14 on the 2%, the other had to be close. That would of been about $20.
Total lost $36
Now $36 isn’t going to break my bank, but it’s significant enough. I was never offered any compensation to basically say, hey we are sorry let’s make it better. Any real effort at all would of made me happy. That they actually care.
Instead I have been ignored. I made sure to mention I haven’t even made $100 through them. I am by no means a big affiliate, but I should count regardless. I did refer someone who made them $100’s of dollars, shouldn’t that count for something? They got paid, he got paid, but being the referral, I got nothing.
I understand this is a long story and maybe some complaining, but I am very disappointed with how I was basically a lost voice. It may be that I don’t earn enough or that they don’t care. I took time to write this post so I was fair and not out of line. I didn’t want to write it still a little angry.
So, not only did this cost me approximately $36+ but also a lot of time disputing it. I don’t want to have to constantly watch my earnings, or make sure I am getting paid the correct amount. If you are going to alter my earnings, at least tell me, not ignore me.
I hope this is the last time I have to mention NeverBlueAds.
The Amatureist Financial Journey – Jason Crews
I first found Jason Crew’s blog from the contest he had in February. Sadly we didn’t win, but that’s okay. There is always this month!
March Contests and Promotions
I’m always for helping out a good cause. At Jason’s Blog he is dedicating March to give back. All the advertising from his ad space is going to charity. The charity will be selected from a public poll. I started the bidding at $1 so get your bids in.
The other part of his March Promotions is the March Contest, Blog Scavenger Hunt. The prize will be anywhere from $5 to $100 (amazon gift card) depending on the number of entrants. Answer easy questions to be eligible. Hope there is a question about BAYB coming up!
The Amatureist Financial Journey in Review
What is it about?
“I started this blog with the idea to keep all of my research on financial issues in one place, and to facilitate the sharing of that information with others.
I am not a financial expert. What you see is what you get with this site. That said, I hope you find some or all of the information I have compiled useful and interesting.”
I thought I would also add what I like and dislike about the blog.
I dislike the theme, its pretty busy and simple. He might want to go with a two column theme in the future. It just needs to be cleaned up a bit. Of course a nice custom header would be a nice addition. I’d also like to see more updates and maybe the number of posts on the front page condensed.
I like that everything is pretty easy to navigate through. The categories and archives as well as lots of tabs are prominent. The feed and advertising is right there, not overdone with it. I haven’t gotten deep in the content yet, but I have a few favorite posts already.
A huge thing with his blog is that it needs more of a direction. There are many different categories and things involved. Tons of contest updates. Spend more time updating and marketing your contests, but not on your own blog.
Favorite Posts
Pay Per Post Nightmare – Any avid user seems to have had some problem or another with PPP. I can only imagine that they are losing more of their regular users due to these problems.
Share In a Frame – This is an interesting concept. Basically giving stock certificates as a gift. I would imagine this be great for grandparents for grandkids.
Top 5 Hardcore Investing Blogs – These type of posts are what the audience want. I think its a great type of post with great viral potential. I stumbled it, give it a look.
Wrap-Up
Make sure to give Jason a read and subscribe to his rss feed for more updates. Don’t forget to bid for charity and get a little advertising in the process.
Contest Roundup: March 16th
It’s Sunday and new blog contests are ready for you all… Give to your blog the chance to make you happy!
Win $100 from Blogetition
Blogetition, another interesting blog about online contests where you can submit your contest for FREE (like About Blog Contests, of course), is running an easy competition where you can win $100 (via Paypal). Several ways to enter: subscribe to Blogetition feed by mail (+2), write a post about this contest with link to the contest post and to the homepage, write about the site using specific anchor texts. For the last two options the number of your entries depends on your site Page Rank.
Ends on April 16th
Tons of stuff from the WWW Observer
The WWW Observer has launched his new contest. There are a lot of interesting prizes for three winners: cash, Entrecard credits, T-shirts, WordPress themes. Check out the contest post for details. To earn points simply leave a comment on the contest post (+5), subscribe to his RSS feed via e-mail (+50), leave a comment during the contest on any post (+1 each), write a post about the contest (+20), and answer the weekly riddle (+15).
Ends on March 31st
1500 Entrecard Credits
A monthly giveaway from Detector: the winner of 1500 entrecard credits will be selected random every last day of each month (until the end of 2008). To enter do the following things. Drop off your EntreCard on his blog, subscribe to his RSS feed, leave a comment on the contest post and write a post about this contest on your site including the following code: “Find out new ideas for new era by reading Detector“.
And don’t forget to visit About Blog Contests, your daily source for the latest, simplest and greatest blog contests around the net!
Blogger Interview with Mark from MeAndMyDrum.com
Welcome to another edition of Blogger Interviews. Last week we interviewed Karthik.
It was another easy decision to select this weeks interview due to their dedication to BAYB.
I’d like to introduce Mark Sierra from Me and My Drum.
I asked Mark several questions about blogging in general. Here is his answers
What is your age? Where do you live?
I’m over 40 and live in North Texas.
What do you do when your not blogging?
My day job is to implement web-based software applications for clients. These applications are meant to help in their recruiting and managing talent within their companies.
A hobby of mine is that I enjoy baking desserts and breads on occasion. I used to do it as a side business for a few years, but other interests and demands on my time have caused it to take a back seat, which I’m fine with. Cookies and brownies are something I usually bake for my family most often to satisfy our sweet tooth. Birthday cakes were the usual things I’d bake for people back in the day. One-, two-, or even three-layer cakes in all shapes and designs were quite common. It’s something I still enjoy doing when I have the time.
What are your favorite blogs? What type of blogs do you usually read?
That’s tough because there are so many I enjoy. First, I’ll start with the types. The topics vary greatly: technology, blogging, personal, make money online tips, and so on. The blogs I look for first in GoogleReader are Brown Thoughts, ThingsByMike, and Garry Conn dot com.
What do you enjoy most about blogging?
The interaction I have with my readers and authors of blogs. When my posts go comment-less I feel slightly disappointed, but then there are times that the responses I get are overwhelming and they make up for it.
How many blogs do you have?
I currently have 10. Three of those I would categorize as social blogs. The rest are niche blogs whose primary purpose are to be found by search engines and for people to click on the ads.
What is the best feature on your blog?
I’d have to say the layout is clean and attractive. But equally as important (and evident) is the interaction I have with readers. I try to reply to every comment that readers leave. I never want them to think that their words have gone unnoticed or that they’re unappreciated.
Why do you blog?
A variety of reasons. The topics that my three social blogs focus on are parts of me that want to speak out. For example, MeAndMyDrum, allows me to voice my interests in technology and blogging as well as concerns over current events.
Another blog, Family WebWatch, which was my first blog, is centered around my interest in family and helping parents be more aware of the darker side of the Web. But it’s also about providing educational and entertaining things I find so that they and their children can have a more fulfilling online experience.
When you add it all up, it comes down to helping out others and learning from them.
Do you have any upcoming projects?
I think my primary focus for the short term is to get organized and not spread myself so thin. As I mentioned earlier, I have 10 blogs, but some of those I’ve neglected because I have allowed myself to be spread so thin. So I want to polish them up a bit. I’m also a contributing author on other blogs, so I’d like to get back into those (especially BAYB) once I feel I’ve got a firm handle on things.
Why did you start blogging?
Family WebWatch first started out as a website. I wanted to help educate parents on a topic that their kids were already experts in. Then I saw the benefit of transitioning to a blogging platform, which allowed me greater flexibility and a better way to communicate.
What are your goals?
To market my flagship blog, MeAndMyDrum, to a broader audience and increase my subscriptions. Get my niche blogs to a point where they generate a steady stream of income. And maybe some day, I can make blogging my full-time job.
Where do you get the majority of your traffic?
StumbleUpon, direct, Google, and Entrecard, in that order.
We’d love your opinions of BAYB, anything you’d like to share.
I think BAYB is doing a fine job of providing useful information to its readers. You have developed a strong following here and that’s something to be proud of. It’s also great that you offer it as a platform for bloggers like me to have another voice.
As mentioned in the interview we hope to have Mark more involved here again. Keep on the lookout from great posts from Mark Sierra.
Do you think you should be interviewed? Contact us and tell us why! Next weeks interview will be with Forest Parks.
Comment Friday for March 14th
With the excitement of yesterday I completely forgot about Comment Friday! It was a great day for us. First we got back our google page rank. Then our stumbleupon captcha post went crazy and received about 50 stumbles.
If this is your first Comment Friday we give one lucky person a free weekly blogroll spot as our “blog of the week“. Along with that we are also giving that winner 200 entrecard credits.
Our post about encouraging readers to subscribe got a little swept under the rug yesterday. Now that we know why you should get rss subscribers, HOW do you get them? What is your method? What has worked best for you?
Stumbleupon Now Using Captcha for Reviews
*Update* Israel reports that the captcha is only on some posts, but it’s been on all of mine so far.
A disturbing discovery while trying to stumble and review a site today. Stumbleupon is now using captcha!
With stumbleupon obviously being gamed by different website services, I suppose this was inevitable. I’ve heard of automated programs as well as “stumble hacks” going around. Adding Captcha helps stumbleupon stay more legit, but more annoying to use.
One of the biggest benefits of stumbleupon was the ease. Adding a toolbar, easy. “Thumbs up” on articles you like, simple. Reviewing the website or article that you like, not bad. Throwing captcha in the mix makes it a little more annoying to use.
If you aren’t sure what captcha is, it is the little box of words. You have to correctly type in the words in order for you to complete the action. In this case your captcha has to be correct in order to leave a review.
I never subject my readers to entering captcha to leave a comment or do anything. I’d rather manually delete spam etc. However that’s not possible with sites that are huge.
Enter Captcha
With captcha, reviews will decrease, it’s inevitable. I can only imagine the importance of reviews going up.
What do you think about the Captcha on Stumbleupon? Will it last? Are you done writing reviews?
Why Should You Encourage Your Readers to Subscribe?
Bloggers often tell you HOW you can increase your subscribers, but not why you should. Why do RSS subscribers matter? Why does John Chow mention that he has so many subscribers every week?
Chris from Wat da Wat asked this question about encouraging your rss readers to subscribe on the Bloggeries Forum. I thought I would answer.
Encourage your Readers to Subscribe
Loyalty
The first reason definitely has to be for loyalty. Once you get someone to subscribe to your blog, the chances are they will stay subscribed for a while. Getting someone to read your blog, gets them to visit, to comment, and participate.
Relationship
By getting them loyal to your blog, you can build a relationship with the reader, whether they never visit your blog or not. Getting them involved in your content gets them involved in your website or blog. Many times I’ve gone back on my RSS reader and searched for old posts I’ve read from bloggers. Usually I would then link to the website or post.
Ease
If you’ve made the switch from visiting every website to a RSS feed reader you know what I’m talking about. At times I’m sure I have had over 100 blogs I’ve followed in my google reader. It’s a lot easier to keep updated with blogs you like. That offers your reader that ease.
Numbers
This isn’t as important. Yet blogging, especially blogging for money, is about numbers. RSS readers are valuable. If you decided to sell your website with 1,000 readers compared to 10, it would be worth a lot more.
Likely to Join
A reader that finds your blog from a search engine are likely to click one thing and leave, it may not even be an ad. Unless they subscribe to your blog, you may never have that reader ever come back. A RSS subscriber will click and come back. By building a base from RSS feeds, it is a lot easier to get referrals for different websites you want to promote.
RSS Subscribers
The argument to oppose it can be that you will get less website visits. This is partially true, but you should include those reading your feed. If I had to chose more traffic or more subscribers, I would definitely have to go with the subscribers.
Also mentioned in the forum post, is that a better indicator of your rss feed is the “reach”. Make sure to get a Feedburner Stats Pro (free) account to get the “reach” to be displayed. You can go to your Analyze page of your feedburner feed.
Reach is the total number of people who have taken action, viewed or clicked, on the content in your feed.
Why do you encourage your readers to subscribe?
RSS feed buttons taken from AKoogle
Be Careful Advertising – Literally
Recently Dennis from Direct Sales Web Marketing contacted me about our Scratchback widget. I was aware of the problem, but I was glad he let us know about it.
Be Careful Advertising
The problem was that Pepperjam Network bought a link from us. What the problem with that is, they put the link as:
http://www.www.pepperjamnetwork.com/
Simple mistake, especially if you are buying a lot of advertising. The thing is, I can’t change it for them. That is the link that they paid for and with scratchback I don’t have the ability to edit links.
One of two things can happen. I can either let the link go as is (like I have) or delete it. I’m actually not sure what would happen if I deleted it. One of us would be out the $2 that they pay. Why should it be me?
Not only do you have to be careful where you advertise to get the most out of your money, you need to make sure that the link you are buying is correct.
Imagine if Pepperjam decided to spend $100 or more on scratchback widgets and put the wrong URL. Don’t make that mistake, double check!
While you’re at it make sure to buy one of our top spots for only $2.
Thanks to Dennis for the idea of the post!