Comments (30)

By Les Scammell, April 14, 2009 10:28 pm

Most bloggers would be aware of google’s dislike of paid posts – more importantly, paid links in paid posts. If the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) gets its way, paid posts as such will be illegal.

The FTC is looking at plans to update its policies and their sights are set fairly and squarely on bloggers, paid posts and viral marketing. For bloggers who earn their small dollars each month writing paid posts – the time may have come to look else where.

Why the attack on paid posts? I said Google doesn’t like the paid links. For the FTC, they see paid posts as dishonest reviews – in other words, rather than writing a truthful review of a product or site, you are being paid to write a positive review.

Now I know there are a couple of pay for post sites that pay for the link. You don’t have to actually review the site or the product. If the link is to a kitchen sink site, just write any old post about kitchen sinks and include a link, it doesn’t have to be a review. Now, I wonder if the FTC will include them in their ban?

The next question is what will the FTC do to those bloggers that do write paid reviews? Will they prosecute and turn them into criminals? That is fine if you are based in the US. What if your based in Britain, Europe or Australia – will the law cross borders?

This is the biggest hurdle to any government agency trying to control the internet. You may be able to control what is happening within your own border, you cannot control the events from outside your borders. Still, I guess they will try. In the meantime, the poor old blogger is the one that will cop it on the chin – again!

Comments (6)

By Les Scammell, April 13, 2009 8:59 pm

Affiliate marketing can be a rewarding career – yes career. Some people make a good living by becoming good at affiliate marketing. However, before you go rushing out to start a career in affiliate marketing, be sure you are right for the job.

That is one of the most important keys – it is a job and like any other job, you either have the skills (or can learn them) and you have the attributes (or you can develop them – much harder).

From my observations, and from trying my own hand at it, affiliate marketing is not for everyone. There are several key areas that must be addressed.

Time: You need to be able to devote a lot of time, and the better you become, the more time it can take.

Dedication: You have to stick with it although having said that, you have to know when to move on with each affiliate program you run.

Organization: Don’t think you can get away with just one affiliate site. Some of the top affiliate earners are running 2-300 sites or more.

A Good Eye: The final attribute is to have that good eye for finding the best paying affiliate programs – not so much highest, but top as in good conversion rates.

Colin from FeedFlare is a good example. He is now making good money despite a humble start. With forty plus web sites and growing he is finding the time component difficult.

From my perspective, I find it hard to dedicate myself or my time. I am very much an instant now type person. With affiliate marketing, you build a site and work your SEO and article marketing to achieve a good search ranking.

For me, I want the good ranking yesterday and so tend to rush things. From my one attempt, I achieved a ranking of 15, page two of the results, two days later it was 95, page 10. I obviously overdid it and got a Google ping. It has climbed back to 33rd a few days ago but is on the drift out again.

My forte of course is writing, not marketing. Others can do the web design, the SEO, the marketing and the like. I am happy to spend my days researching and writing.

I have left the most important aspect to last. Desire. Desire to succeed, desire to make money and the desire to bury yourself – at least initially.

My problem is that I don’t have the desire to make ‘big’ money as in $10k a month. I would be happy to earn around the $1k each month. That is sort of no man’s land in affiliate marketing.

If you want to get into affiliate marketing, don’t think of it as easy money. It takes time and effort to succeed. Colin is a good example of someone who has dedicated both and is succeeding.

For me, I will stick to article writing and ghost writing. One day I will get to my target of $1K per month.

Comments (10)

By Les Scammell, April 6, 2009 11:21 am

I had an online conversation with a fellow blogger recently and we were discussing guest posts and whether or not they were worth doing. I mentioned that I did a lot of ghost writing which half caught his attention.

He had two hurdles he couldn’t get his brain around. The first, why write for someone else and not at least have a by-line. The second related to the dollars – funny how things all come down to the holly dollar!
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Ghost writing for fame

To cover the first aspect. I have spent half my life writing for others with no by-line. I have written in house training materials, letter templates and, more recently, worked with the unemployed to write resume’s and job applications. I have never thought to have my name added to any of these documents – it was just work and I am sure there are millions of others out there who have done the same.  photo credit: peasap

I have to admit there are times when I write what I feel is great post and would love to have my name attached to it – but as a ghost writer you can’t – that’s life. I know in the past I have written training materials that are still in use today – it would have been nice to have my name attached.
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Ghost writing for dollars

As to the dollars – ghost writing doesn’t pay a fortune but that is in your own hands. I can type at around 40-50 words per minute. A 300 word post takes 6-10 minutes. If I can knock out around 4 posts an hour and make around $20 per hour (Australian $) then I am happy. That equates to an annual salary of $40k roughly and I am working from home, at my leisure, with no overheads. photo credit: hartboy

What about research? I subscribe to a lot of blogs and my subscriptions are always email based. If you don’t have an email subscription service then I don’t subscribe. I also prefer full post feeds. Each day I go through all those emails scan reading and absorbing what is important to me.

I like bloggers like Andy Beal and his Marketing Pilgrim blog. He may publish several posts in one day but only sends out the one email. I can scan read and if I find anything of interest – it gets stored away in the brain and comes to the surface when I need it. Subscribing to these emails is also a good way to find what is important – what other bloggers are talking about – it’s all research. As I surf the net, even in leisure, the back of my mind is always on the lookout for useful bits and pieces.
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Ghost writing because I can

What is important for me is that I am doing something that I am reasonably good at – and that I enjoy. Allen Taylor on his post - Why You Need A Ghost Writer – makes a really good point – I am not a motor mechanic! In fact, with the fancy engines in use today, I open the hood and I am lucky to find where the water and oil goes. I leave the motor repairs to the experts.

The same can be said for the online world. Business people are busy running their businesses – they may just be that mechanic. They use a professional ghost writer to keep their blogs up to date the same as I use a professional mechanic to keep my car running.

Yes, I am a ghost writer and I am proud of the work I do. I may not be able to show you what I do – but then, I have my own blogs for you to judge on that. As a footnote – if your looking for a ghost writer, let me know. You would be surprised at the range of niche’s I can cover.  photo credit: maistora

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Comments (5)

By Les Scammell, April 3, 2009 12:50 pm

There has been a lot said about the Iraq war and how all foreign troops should brought home.

I cannot agree more!

However, sometimes statistics can make for interesting reading.

For example, there are an average of 160,000 US troops in Iraq. There have been around 2,100 deaths which is a death rate of 60 per 100,000.

Washington DC is one of the most violent cities in the US. It has a death through violence rate of around 80 per 100,000.

Statistically, you are 20% more likely to die a violent death in Washington DC than you are in Iraq.

The moral of these stats – the US needs to consider pulling out of Washington before they pull out of Iraq.