I reckon it goes without saying that the amount of bloggers making a good living out of bogging via avenues such as Google Adsense or the various affiliates that they promote is quite minimal when compared to those of us who are plodding along trying to make enough to just cover our hosting and other expenses. The thing that these bloggers have over the rest of us is that they have taken the time to create a physical presence on the blogosphere, which has the added advantage of credibility when promoting affiliates, and the huge number of page views adds to their Adsense, Chitika or other PPC revenue. The question arises as to what we can do to ensure our blogs become more profitable.

The answer is a simple as doing paid posts. This is where we, as professional writers take on various tasks offered to us by advertisers who are willing to pay us to do a post advertising a product or service they are promoting. I did a post rating nine paid to post sites that act as a medium between bloggers and advertisers, something you may consider reading at a later date.

The problem with doing these sort of posts is that the almighty Google absolutely frowns on bloggers who decide to go this route and the punishment meted out to them is that they usually lose their Page Rank. It seems such a shame that we are denied a legitimate way of earning an honest income, but perhaps there are certain methods available to us that will allow us to take on paid posts without alerting Google through its sneaky spider bots. What a lot of bloggers have done in the past is to virtually stand there with their hands in the air shouting “Hey, look at me GoogleBots I’m doing paid posts, so there!” Naturally the bots do the thing they were designed for and report to their master resulting in all those bloggers getting Google Slapped.

The following are some of the steps you should take if you want to do paid posts and still keep your PR.

1. Disclosure Policy: Whilst it is something you should have you should steer away from those generic policies that are copy and pasted into your blog as well as those auto generated ones that are offered by certain websites. Brian of That’s Right I Said It fame did a post on one such service titled Your Disclosure Policy In Minutes. It’s way better to make one up using your own words than to use these prefabricated ones.
2. Sponsored Post: Many bloggers use these words to show their readers that the post is sponsored, well I reckon you are highlighting it to Google as well. Perhaps something along the lines of, “This post brought to you from our friends at so and so” would be better and changing it every now and again would also be a good idea.
3. Hire Me Badges: You’ve seen them, bloggers proudly portraying to the world that they are for hire, which is fine if you don’t mind being Google Slapped, but if you do then do not use these or those get paid to posts badges on your blog.

Ok, that’s my top three methods of laying low and not making it obvious to Google that you are doing paid posts. What are some of the methods that you use?

As I lie basking under the warming sun, memories of a time long ago,when bloggers wielded a great amount of power, came flooding back to me. It was the year 2015, five years before the holocaust. The place happened to be the historic Adelaide Festival Theater  where the latest blogging convention was being held and I just happened to be the guest speaker. By that time I had reached Pro Blogger status and my popularity was so great that the room was filled to capacity.

I remember when I stepped on the stage how the murmur of the crowd rose to a roar as soon as my presence was noticed. After a moment of basking in the adulation I raised my hand to signal that I wanted them to settle down. As soon as the roar subsided and I knew I finally had their attention I commenced with my  speech. It was completely off the cuff as I hated the time it took to prepare those planned and delivered diatribe. As usual I thought that I would start off with a joke;

I would like to welcome all those of you who have visited or commented on my blogs especially the fluctuating 30-45 subscribers…pause for effect….damn, only a couple of snickers, will have to try something more dramatic…., I remember another  occasion such as this where I decided to get the audience involved and so I asked if any of them had sex once a day. Quite a few of them raised their hands, their faces all lit up with satisfaction. I then asked how many had sex once a week and a greater number of hands were raised and the rest of the audience started to warm up to the subject. OK, I said, how many of you have sex once a month? This time quite a large number had raised their hands and I noticed, by their rings that most of them were married. Finally I asked how many actually had sex only once a year, and this little man in the fifth aisle jumps up excitedly and virtually  screams out ‘”THAT’S ME, I HAVE SEX ONCE A YEAR!” Really, I said, astonished. But if you only have sex once a year, why are you so excited? Still jumping up and down he replies, “BECAUSE TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT!” The crowd roars with laughter with a spattering of ‘We love you Sire’ all around the room, and one young woman throws her G string at me which I snatch deftly out of the air, give it a quick whiff and then place it in my jeans pocket for DNA testing. I smiled, as I had them in the palm of my hand.

Thank you, thank you, as I once again raise my hand to quieten them down.. I have noticed lately that many of you in your efforts to gain readership have lowered your self to holding many a competition on your blogs and I find this lowers our standards…… this causes a few ‘You Suck Sire’ comments from around the room and I even had to duck a ripe tomato…

Wait, listen and you will come to understand where I’m coming from. I realize how we all look for adulation in our readers, how we want to inspire loyalty from them so that they come back time and time again. But do you really think that you can buy that with a T Shirt or some crappy 125×125 ad on your blog?  Shit, I think to myself,  I’m doing something wrong, as more and more abuse is being hurled at me and the woman climbs onto the stage to get her G string back….

YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, I scream,  YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT! They quieten down but it took a bloody long time, perhaps the tear gas from the security guards helped…. It’s not the contests that will gain you true love and loyalty from your readers, as that only comes from within you! From your most innermost being where you pluck out those emotive words that will then form the quality content on your blog! That is what will ultimately capture the heart and souls of all those who come to land on your blogs.

There is silence, and then a voice from the back, ‘That’s bullshit Sire, you suck you moron’, and then a chanting of ‘Sire sucks, Sire sucks Sire sucks’ and suddenly I am dodging more and more missiles… exit stage left….

Yep, those were the good old days, I thought to myself as the sun was setting in the sky giving the clouds a crimson hue. Reckon I better head on over to the village tavern and see what sort of tucker they have on tonight.

This post is a continuation of Sire, The Wandering Bard series.

Have you ever wondered why, when talking to some women, you notice that they are not really listening and how they somehow deftly change the subject to something concerning them. It could be about what happened at work, a conversation with the hairdresser or even about the latest Oprah Show! I decided that there had to be a logical explanation for this and so I spent many years of research until I finally came to the conclusion that a lot of women suffer from the “It’s All About Me Syndrome” (IAAMS). Let’s have a look at a few examples.

The Bedroom

When a man initiates sex, many women will refuse citing the old I have a headache or the I’m too tired excuse. This goes to show that they are not at all in tune with the man’s feelings or needs and instead are suffering from their own needs or wants. A man on the other hand, faced with the same situation, is more than willing to comply with their request and many actually report that it actually cures the headache.

At Work

For years women have been complaining about the glass ceiling and how they are discriminated against. Never mind that in many situations they just are not suited for certain jobs, especially in regards to jobs requiring manual labor. Still, these types of complaints are generally from women in the corporate business area. They will bitch about how there are less positions in this area being filled out by women and that it is obviously because women are being discriminated by their employers.

Has anyone ever thought that perhaps women aren’t interested in this line of work or if they are perhaps they don’t have the right qualifications. Instead rather than think about how the company will suffer from their non-experience in the field they selfishly fall into the what about me’ stance showing once again how they suffer from IAAMS

Having Babies

The modern women of today who want that either the government or employers should pay for their maternity leave also suffer from IAAMS. It’s obvious in that their main concern is what they will get out of it. Too bad if the employer has to struggle to come up with the money to pay for them while they are off work or that the government has to raise taxes to come up with the necessary cash to pay for every-one’s maternity leave. Too bad if those who have decided not to have children have to pay for those that do as long as they get what they want.

Men on the other hand just knuckle down and work their butts off to make sure that their family gets what they need.

The Toilet Seat Saga

Now if this isn’t a typical all about me situation’! Where men take the time to look to see whether the seat is up or down and adjust accordingly, women have decided that the natural position is down and that is the only way they will accept it. Woe the man who leaves the seat up.

Hopefully by now you have realized that I am only pulling your leg and that really this post was a load of bulldust.

Once again let me stress that these are not my personal views and the whole thing was meant to be funny. I see by some comments that some viewed it as ‘bad taste’ or ‘prejudice’, and all I can say is that either they can’t take a joke or perhaps some women actually do suffer from IAAMS

Step right up folks, step right up! Forget all about the doom and gloom and the world economic crisis as Sire is about to tell you of something that will brighten your day. Yes, whoever said there is a silver lining in every cloud must have previous knowledge of what I am about to tell you, so don’t walk away good sir as this knowledge could well fill your pockets with money, or for those who are more astute it will give you something for nothing. That’s right madam, where those poor unfortunates who do not have this information may be paying up to $300 to get a professional review of their website, up to ten pages deep, you can have it done for FREE! No need to flutter those pretty lashes madam as Sire does not need any coaxing to part with the news of the century!

That’s it folks gather around because you do not want to miss a single word that I am about to tell you as this could cost you the loss of this marvelous opportunity. How did I come across this wondrous piece of information you ask? Well, I can tell you that no-one was harmed in the gathering of this data, no blood was spilled, not a hair was found out of place on Mitch, the man has devised the opportunity that can change the lives of all those willing to partake in the following venture.

That’s right my good people the time has arrived for Sire to spill his guts, no, no, don’t run away young lad, it was a figure of speech meaning that I am about to tell you my remarkable news. I want each and every one of you to follow this link to Mitch’s post giving you the details of one of the biggest contests that you will ever see on the Net. How much does it cost to enter? Who said that? Don’t be afraid to step up, for only those who ask can receive the prize and nothing can be gained from sitting in the side lines. Ah, you sir, and may I say what a strapping young man you are too. To answer your question, it will not cost you a dollar, nope it won’t even cost you a dime, in fact not a  single coin of any persuasion will ever have to leave your person as the contest is absolutely FREE!

So, head on over to the RSS Subscriber Contest and do what you have to do gain any one of the three prizes on offer, that’s right folks not one but three prizes are to be one. Which one you get depends on how resourceful you are.

Don’t forget to tell Mitch that Sire sent you, as just for leaving a comment gets you one entry in the competition and what better way to get that point than by telling him what a wonderful guy I am. WELL! What are you waiting for, times a wasting and there are prizes to be had.

Don’t forget to join Cool Blog Links and increase your Blog’s exposure.

Isn’t it ironic how I can do one post on how blogging is not all about money and then  not long after, I do another one on how bloggers can increase the earning potential of their blogs by merely using the right plugins. I think it would be safe to say that  a lot of bloggers rely on adsense as the predominate source of their blogging income. This being the case we can optimize our earnings by having adsense appearing on individual posts but because it is a virtual pain in the ass to place the code in a post most don’t bother with it.

Enter the WhyDoWork Adsense Plugin, a plugin that enables you to do this automatically giving you complete control over where the ads occur and even when they occur. For example, you may not want the ads to appear on your newer posts so you set it to only appear on posts that are older than ‘x’ amount of days. This plugin is extremely versatile and comes with a whole heap of settings giving you complete control.

Although I haven’t tried it I don’t see why you can’t use  codes other than adsense allowing you to display Yahoo ads or perhaps even your affiliate banners. When displaying banners I would suggest if possible that you use rotating banners as these will give those selected affiliates maximum exposure. One thing that I hate about affiliate banners are those damn emails telling me that one ad or another has been suspended and could I please remove the banner and replace it with another. The only problem is I can’t remember which post is displaying that particular ad. Rotating banners solves that problem as only current ads are displayed.