Ed Earns

Once again, I managed to receive a reply from the same reader, Lorie. And I’m posting my response here as well as her message, with permission of course.

Hi, Ed! It’s Lourie, actually.

Thanks for the prompt response in Istorya! Yes, I’ve read both of your blogs and will try my best to continually visit soloflighted.com to help increase your traffic there…to support you in my own little way. Okay, I won’t call you nice, but I still think sharing this information is nice enough for me. Hehe!

Wow, so this is really helpful…I mean, getting paid to blog (or advertise products by word of mouth). I’m glad it has helped you out. I can’t believe why I have not known about this in my years and years of online life. Hehe! I’m glad to know all about it now. Thanks to you! I actually have a job, too, but like you said it’s still not enough. =) Question. About your post on earnings, was it good for how many weeks? Was it your first pay since signing up for these sites?

I actually checked out those sites that you mentioned. I browsed around and found out that their terms and all are interesting. I also read those blogs of one of their members and I got amused. I think I can do it. I hope my blog gets approved. Or if not, I’ll just create a new one and build it up for three months before I apply.

I have a question about domains. Do you really have to buy one? I mean, can you not get a free account from blogspot and use that? My current one is on Wordpress, and… It’s privated and I’m not that active in posting. I might have to open it up if I’m deadset on using it for earnings…and post as often as I can.

I actually use my Unionbank Visa card to purchase groceries and stuff. It’s a debit card, right? I can’t use it to buy stuff if it doesn’t have any money inside. If it’s not okay, then I’ll just create another one.

I agree that it should be balanced; it shouldn’t be all advertising or marketing. I read this one blog last night from a member… xxxxxxxxx.com. She’s one of their top earners but most of the entries are advertisements. You can only count the personal contents. Haha!

Sure, you can go ahead and post my message in your blog…just edit out the email address though. It’s hard if we get spam. Hehe!

Again, Ed, thank you so much! I might have to bug you every now and then for questions. I hope you will not mind.

Take care, too, and best regards.
Lourie

This is my reply again:

Hey Laur.. I mean Lorie. toinks. Of all the things, why’d it have to be the name that I misspelled?

Yeah, at first I didn’t like the idea of advertising products because like I said, I was really a blogger for blogger’s sake. It seemed that my site became commercialized because of these paid posts. Even now, sometimes I don’t like the idea of advertising, it’s because I was able to create a network with pure bloggers before. However, in a more practical perspective, I’d rather do this rather than not blog at all. Instead of me looking for another job, I’d rather blog as a sideline.

Anyway, what’s good if you’re already approved is you have full control on your site and the content. Because there’re a number of advertisers out there that has a number of topics to choose from. So you don’t have to worry about posting a topic that you don’t like because you’re the one who’s going to pick the topics of your interests to post. Also, you don’t need to get some Online Degree Programs just to earn, okay?

However, it’s not everyday that you get to choose any topic you like, because these advertisers have certain requirements (e.g. you need to have a page rank of X, etc.) These tasks can range from $3 – $200 or more.

It’s easy once you get approved. I have a colleague at work that’s a mother of 2 kids and wants to earn online. She just kept on posting everyday for about 2 months. But it came to a point that she became frustrated because she felt that she’s not making any money because of the less number of traffic. I encourage her to keep on going though; cause it’ll be like that the first months. Until the time came that her blog was approved, she became ecstatic.

About Unionbank, I believe it’s okay. You can check this entry so you can apply for paypal. hehe. Shameless plugging:

http://edearns.blogspot.com/2008/04/paypal.html

About the domain, I don’t think you really need to purchase one as there are some bloggers who are still earning despite their accounts are hosted. However, if you wish to maximize it, it would be better if you purchase one. Because there’re some advertisers that don’t accept blogs that are hosted somewhere else.

What I do usually with paid post entries is post them in between personal entries. That’s also one of the requirements in some paid post sites; that your post should be sandwiched between personal entries.

It’s okay if you still have some questions, you can take advantage of emailing me. As long as I’m not that busy with life, you can email me!

And thanks for letting me publish your message; I just realized I write very long replies. Am I really that talkative? hehe.

Thanks.

I’m so glad that somebody took the time to email me when I posted a topic in istorya. With her permission, I’m putting her response here since she’s interested with how I’m able to earn online; so in turn, people who are interested with the idea may also find some useful tips in return.

This is an edited version, I converted some words to English. hehe.

Hi, Ed…is your name Ed?

Anyway, I find your post here about earning through blogging very interesting. It’s very nice of you to share this information to help others.

I’ve been blogging for a year now (on and off though), and I didn’t know you could get paid for your blog posts. I would love to know more about it, if you don’t mind helping me out. I spend quite a decent amount of time online, and I think it would be best to get something good (like money, perhaps) out of it. I’m married with kids, and I could use whatever little (or big) income that I could get to help the husband with the expenses.

Anyway, I’ve read your blogs, and and I got intrigued by them. So all I need to do is do the same things that you suggested there? I have an existing Unionbank savings account (Visa), can I use that? How do I link that to a Paypal account?

As for posting…how exactly do you post to get paid? I mean, should you always write about products all the time? I read your Siargao series and it was fun. Did you get paid for it? Can you blog about personal stuff, too? I’ll read more of your blog to be able to understand more about this paid post thing. Hehe!

Sorry, I have so many questions. You don’t have to answer any of them, but I would appreciate any help or input though. Here is my email address: xxxxxxxx@gmail.com. You can email me there if you’re not comfortable with Istorya or anything.

Again, thanks for sharing your “secret” to success. Hehe! Godspeed to you, and may your blog continue to rake in all those moolah. Hehe!

Best regards,
Lourie

This is my reply

Hi Laurie… Laurie is your name as well, right?

Thank you for your long message. That’s actually what I want to share here to other people. Since I know my blog’s not that high in traffic, and I believe I can reach out to more people using forums. I’m trying to regularly update my other site. Here’s the thing, my own blog is at http://soloflighted.com, while the entries on how I was able to earn online is thru http://edearns.blogspot.com. Don’t call me nice though, hehe.

Anyway, thanks for reading my post in istorya! hehe. I was able to blog for 3 years for the sole purpose of blogging. Until a friend informed me that I could earn while at it. Honestly, there was a point that I stopped blogging, but I was able to return to this hobby because of this new-found interest of earning money. Especially since my family and I are not that well-off in life. I have 4 other siblings and my parents don’t have a stable job. I stopped school cause it’s a bit expensive and there are a number of things I want to do that I can’t. I already have a job but I feel it’s still not enough. That’s why I just want to help other people as well, just to spread the news. When I talk to people at work about blogging, some wouldn’t believe and find the idea tiring. So I decided to just find other people to talk about it.

About posting… you need to apply for paid post accounts online. That is your blog needs to be approved by paid sites. There are sites who are accepting advertisers and bloggers. The advertisers are the one who are looking for bloggers to write a particular topic and link it to their website. All you have to do is meet their requirements (e.g. you have to update your blog regularly, there should be an X minimum of entries, it should be at least 3 months old, etc.).

Honestly, I’m not the one who applied for my site, since my domain, soloflighted.com, is still a bit new. I didn’t have enough hits or traffic. I was just able to migrate all my entries from an old blog to my new one so that explains why I don’t have a lot of visitors despite the long list of entries since 2003.

About paypal, I’m not so sure about the savings account. But it should accept a credit card. I think it’s okay cause you said it’s a Visa. First you have to sign up for a paypal account, then it will ask you to type your card number so you can link them together. From there, you will most likely know what to do.

Lastly, about Siargao, no, those were personal entries; your entries should be balanced.

Thanks again for taking the time to read and actually sending me a message! Remember, you don’t need to have an online degree to earn. By the way, is it alright if I put your message in my blog to let other people know about it? So I can add another entry to my site. hehe.

Take care,
Edcel

I never thought I’d get some responses from people in Istorya. Well, I did, but I didn’t think someone would really care to understand how I was able to do it, earning online. I’m just overwhelmed by the replies; which makes me want to blog more in this site. Pardon me, I’m still new at posting comments or topics in forums. hehe.

Here’s the link of the topic I created:
http://www.istorya.net/forums/index.php/topic,189081.0.html

Thank you for the people who’ve responded!