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PayPerPost v4.0 Now Live

This post sponsored by PayPerPost

Everybody wants to make money on the Interne. Many think they’ll do it by blogging, but the bloggers that actually make a living at it usually leverage their blog to make the big bucks. The blog itself is just a means to an end. Even with that being the case, there are a few ways to make a little money on even the smallest of blogs. PayPerPost is one of those ways.

PayPerPost Beta 3.6953

The old PPP site actually has a more social feel to it. The home page shows various stats about your account like how many posts you’ve done and how much money you’ve made. You can see, at a glance, what opportunities are paying out the most and which opportunities are featured. You will also find the top earners, featured blog of the day, and the latest posts from the Izea blog.

PayPerPost v4.0 Alpha

PayPerPost v4.0 is the new alpha version of the popular pay-to-post site run by Izea. The new design looks really nice, but there are not many opportunities currently available. This is understandable since the new site hasn’t been live that long. The post you’re currently reading is the only opp I saw available.

It’s very basic right now. All of the features that exist on the original PPP site are nowhere to be found. You can’t even access a link to the referral program or the PPP Tools code that allows you to accept direct posts from advertisers.

One thing that caught my eye in the new interface is what seem to be more flexible pay options:

pppv40

I have had reservations about participating with sites like PayPerPost because of the whole credibility thing, but you guys already told me you’d still love me if I PayPerPost and, well, I got kids to feed.

How do you feel about bloggers getting paid to write posts about specific topics? Do you get paid to post? If not, go sign up and let’s get this gas money.

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Why Should You Do Everything As If It Matters?

Sometimes we find ourselves faced with tasks that are beneath us. Many of these things are simply part of our day-to-day lives like laundry and taking out the trash. Others we have chosen to complete in order to reach our goals in life. You have to step up on something beneath you before you can reach the next level, so it’s imperative that these things get done.

Most people have jobs that they hate, but need them to pay the bills. Sure, you’re working on that blogging thing and your new album is almost finished, but the things you love to do don’t always keep a roof over your head. One of the hardest things to do in this situation is keep a positive outlook and your eyes on your prize.

I was at work the other day (no, I do not love my day job) and we were slammed. Wall-to-wall customers. I was processing orders, which meant constant face-to-face customer interaction with a smile and sunny disposition. I’m sure my fellow introverts are feeling my pain right now.

Rather than get upset, cop an attitude, and put on my screw face, I decided to do exactly the opposite. I decided that I was going to make sure each and every customer was treated like an honored guest in my own home. I decided that my smile would pierce any dark clouds that dared enter my presence. I decided to cross my T’s and dot my I’s like nobody’s business.

At one point, things calmed down a little and a customer asked to speak to the manager. I found it odd, because I was pretty confident I was doing an awesome job of making sure things were going smoothly. The guy spoke to the manager for a bit and I could see him gesturing toward me.

Finally, he came over to me and shook my hand. He said he had been watching me work and believed me to be a man of integrity. He thanked me for “bringing some good into his life” that day and said I would definitely go far in life.

Now, I have no idea who that guy was, but I was definitely moved by what he said. We only interacted for a minute, but whatever vibe he got from me prompted him to remind the manager how awesome I am. Could this result in a promotion? A raise? A general heads-up to my superiors that I’m more awesome than they had originally thought? This guy could be a link in my golden chain of success and I just made the best impression possible.

The moral of the story is, no matter how much you dislike the work you are doing now, do it with the same passion that you would put into your dream occupation. The journey to success is just as important as the destination. Your character, integrity, and self-discipline are of utmost importance. Plus, you never know who is watching.

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bit.ly is the Authority on Bookmarklet Design

bitly1

Ever since I first saw their sidebar bookmarklet, I was hooked on the bit.ly url shortener (now the biggest of them all according to TC). It is the epitome of what a bookmarklet should be. I remember being amazed because I didn’t even think you could make a bookmarklet so sexy. There are other services (FriendFeed, Tumblr, Posterous, Diigo) with nice bookmarklets, but bit.ly was the first I’d ever seen of it’s kind. There are a few reasons it rocks:

  • It opens up right on top of the page I’m on
  • It not only allows me to shorten and copy the current URL, but also gives me stats on the URL
  • At no point am I forced to break my workflow and actually visit the bit.ly site
  • At no point does it open another tab or window for me to deal with
  • It’s pretty to look at

Bit.ly even updated the sidebar bookmarklet today so that you can share the shortened URL on Twitter, Facebook, and via email. You compose and post your update right there in the bookmarklet. Completely awesome.

Services like Ping.fm, surprise me because you would think they’d have a snazzy bookmarklet. You would think they wouldn’t drag you away from what you’re looking at. I just want to post an update and I don’t want to have to leave what I’m doing to do so. Hell, whatever I’m looking at right now may have absolutely nothing to do with what I’m about to post.

Why does a URL shortener have such an awesome way to post updates and a service for posting updates does not?

bit.ly’s Publisher Plugin

Besides being available as a bookmarklet, the bit.ly sidebar is also available as a site publisher plugin. With a single line of javascript, you can enable your readers to Tweet links to one of your pages without ever having to leave your site. By not requiring users to leave your site to share a link, you will increase engagement and user retention.

This paragraph caught my eye because it gave me an idea of what the issue here may be. Competition for traffic. As a publisher, I don’t want people to leave my blog. As a reader, I don’t want to stop what I’m doing to share something.

Besides adding up the page views, there’s no reason any service should force me to visit their homepage to use their bookmarklet. The point of a bookmarklet is to be easy, useful and quick.

Don’t screw up my workflow for pageviews.

Check out this screencast of bit.ly’s new design and publisher plugin:

Know of a service with an awesome bookmarklet that I didn’t mention? Do you actually enjoy visiting a homepage everytime you click a bookmarklet? Tell me about it.

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Turn Your Inbox Into Hot Lava

Toes of a pāhoehoe advance across a road in Ka...
Image via Wikipedia

I hear people lamenting about their overflowing email in-boxes all the time. Even me own mother has trouble keeping the evil email demons away. Where does it all come from? What are you supposed to do with it? Will it ever end?

Well, this post should get you on the road to conquering your inbox and getting rid of that uneasy feeling that you may have missed, misplaced, or forgot something.

Unsubscribe From Everything

Why did you subscribe to all this crap, anyway? Your inbox is bulging at the seams because you have authorized all these different individuals, organizations, and companies to email you with updates that you never actually pay attention to. Even if you do enjoy these updates, they may get lost in the deluge.

The very first thing you need to do is go through your inbox and unsubscribe from every newsletter, mailing list, and auto-responder that is not of utmost importance. Do you really need an email every time someone pokes you on Facebook? Let’s be real, all the special  reports, groundbreaking videos, and  member’s only discounts are not doing you any good.

Filters Are Your Friend

If your email client of choice doesn’t have a method to filter a message on contact, I feel sorry for you. You need to set up your email like it’s hot lava. Nothing should touch it. Anything that does make it in should get burned up instantly. This is not as hard as it sounds. The key is in knowing beforehand what types of messages you receive and having your client handle them automatically.

Mailing Lists

Every newsletter and mailing list that you did not unsubscribe from needs to be automatically filtered out of your inbox and filed under a label.

Open up one of the messages that needs to be filtered:

  • The key feature that you’ll need for this step is “Filter messages like these…” in the “More Actions” menu.
  • You want to check “Skip Inbox”. This will Archive the message so that it doesn’t show up in your Inbox, but you can still find it by labeling, starring, or searching for it.
  • Choose a label that the message will be filed under, creating a new one if necessary.
  • Apply the filter to all matching messages

Important Emails

There are certain emails that I already know require me to do something. You should be able to easily identify these. Not just emails from your boss, but emails that definitely require immediate action. I automatically Star these types of emails and archive them so they aren’t sitting in my inbox.

Follower / Subscriber Notifications

If you’re like me, you have given up on keeping track of followers via email. If you do still have these activated, they should definitely be filtered out of your Inbox and labelled. There is no reason to have these sitting in your Inbox.

Use Your Imagination

Filters are very powerful and can also get pretty intricate. Email is pretty subjective. Given these two facts, you need to identify which emails in your inbox fit specific patterns and use the filtering feature to get them out of your inbox and either filed away and labelled for later, or starred/flagged so you can take action on it.

Maintenance

There is a more complicated version of this whole Inbox Zero thing, but this is the simplified version I use. When I go to check my mail, I check my Starred items first because those are priorities based on my filters. Once I’ve checked those, I hit the actual inbox:

  • Is this a task that I need to complete? An action item? Star It.
  • Read and archive everything else. Get it all out of your Inbox.
  • Go back to your Starred items and knock out your tasks / action items.
  • At your leisure, read your subscriptions and handle your email notifications

What Do You Think?

I’m just putting the basics out there to give you a starting point. This should work for most of us, but there are definitely specific situations that require special attention.

That said, I’m opening this up to questions, comments, and concerns that you may have with your email. I’m pretty good at this productivity stuff, so I look forward to helping you solve your issues.

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