Hey all,

It's Friday again and as usual I'm surfing the net and searching for things for my hobbies {especially scrapbooking}. It's always so fun to search for new things, but it's even more fun to actually buy new things. And that's why I love Blogging & Money, as I call it. Writing posts for money gives me the opportunity to earn a little bit extra cash to support my Scrapbook projects! And don't get me wrong, I love my blog and I'll always continue to write here for myself {as in not paid!}. But making a few extra bucks to support my hobby is something I can't say no to, could you? So let's talk a bit about earning this little extra cash!

Pay Per Post
Usually I check the web about once a week for opportunities on Blogging & Money. As I told you before I'm using multiple companies for this. One of those companies is Pay per Post. This company's specialty is blog advertising. I can hear you thinking: "Why did you choose for this company?". Well, if you haven't read any of my previous posts, here's why {and in a way it's simple}: This was the second company that accepted my blog for ads on blogs and the first company where I had several posting opportunities almost instantly. With Pay per Post I also get more opportunities available when my stats {visitors and other sites who link to mine} are improving, which is of course very fun!
And although Pay Per Post has it's basis in the United States, bloggers from all over the world can participate here, as long as you have a Paypal account. And that's the beauty of it. Nowadays it's very easy to get a Paypal account. I have an account for several years now, so participating with Pay Per Post is no problem for me!

Posting for Pay per Post
I've been writing for Pay per Post since March 3, 2007, so it has been about 10 weeks ago that I started. In that time I've taken 5 opportunities {6 with this one included} and earned $35.50 with those opportunities! That makes an average of one opportunity per two weeks and $7.- per opportunity. This might not seem that much to you {at least if you're looking for a way to earn a lot of money with your blog} but I see it as a start. When you start a new job in an area of expertise where you haven't worked before, you don't get paid the highest salary from the beginning either.
Although it doesn't seem like much at the moment, things are changing. Granted, they change slowly..... Since my stats have improved I'm seeing more opportunities with higher payouts available. In fact, I've found about 5 possible opportunities yesterday. I'll have to dig into them a bit deeper, so that I know what to write about, but it's a good thing.

Meeting new people
One of the fun things is that I've gotten to know a few new people too. Pay per Post has a Blog of the Day and I regularly check those blogs, just to see what these posties are writing about. It's fun to see the sites and I happen to come across some scrapbooking sites as well. That's what I really like a lot! Another way of meeting fellow posties is through the forum from Pay per Post. We're all exchanging ideas and learning from each other. That way you can really lift your blog to a higher level. And not necessarily for more posting opportunities, but also just for in example improving your writing skills.

What I've learned since blogging for money
As I said before, I'm not only blogging for money. I'm blogging for me. That's my starting point. Many people use their blog as an online diary, as do I. That's why I'm always using opportunities that actually mean something to me. I've learned very soon not to take each opportunity I see. The best way for me to write about something, is when I'm really connected to the subject, one way or the other.
While writing about those subjects and visiting other peoples blog, I'm also learning to improve my writing skills. That's something which will always come in handy. For instance, I have a job where I have to write several big and small texts / plans and I have to make sure it's something everybody can read and understand. Writing in my blog and improving my writing skills helps me to make me better in my job.
One last thing I'm beginning to learn is how others blog for money. Some just take every opportunity they see. Others really only take the opportunities they have "something" with, like me. I think the latter is the best way. It makes it possible for you to really write a post "from the heart".

Downsides
And of course, it's not always "Rozengeur & Maneschijn" (the icing on the cake). The fact that you'll get paid only 30 days after you've written the posts is a downside for me. I have to wait a full 30 days before I get paid! On the other hand, this is not something I do for a living, so it's not THAT big of a deal. I hope I'll be able to pay for my scrapbooking hobby in the future. For instance, if I would make enough money per month to pay for one of the big kits at Club Scrap. I'm dreaming about the A la Carte Club Scrap Hearty Appetite. Granted, it costs about $110.- per month {excluding shipping costs to Europe} but it has sooooo much!!!!!!! I just love it!!!!! Anyway, that would mean I have to make about $150,- per month, if I want to have shipping included. I can dream, can't I? :) Until then...... I'll just dream, and finish the stack I still have from the time I was a member, but hardly could use it, due to my RSI problems.
Okay, back to the downsides. One more downside is that it takes a few days before your posts get approved. I'm alway curious if I've done the right thing and in those cases I'm not that good in waiting for approval. On the other hand I do understand they have a lot of entries to check, so they don't have the time to finish everything in a day. And another plus on this subject is the fact that {like I said above}, once your post has been approved, you'll get paid 30 days after you've submitted your post and NOT 30 days after your post has been approved. That makes a huge difference!
One other downside is the fact that I have the idea the actual advertisers are hardly reading the blog entries we write. I've hardly heard of any comment advertises actually made on an entry. It would be good to know what they think of your entry. At the same time I know this is also a tough job for advertisers because it's possible they'd have to check dozens or hundreds of blog entries. So the time to check them all........................

Goals
As I told you before, one of my dreams is to be able to pay for my hobby entirely with earnings from blog. I think I'll reach my goal some time in the future. I know several Pay per Post members are making quite a lot of money with their blog and they all manage to seamlessly integrate all their posts for Pay per Post into their blog. The top posters even make between $500.- and $ 900.- per month. So I know it's doable! I'm really looking forward to a bit more money then $30.-!

Having fun!
The most important thing for me is that I still have fun in writing those post. Having these opportunities does encourage me to write more about everything that's going on in my daily life, by the way. I get inspired by other peoples blogs, I get inspired by the subjects from the opportunities and much more! That is why I love to do this!

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Have fun and as always, thanks for your comments!