Tonight I was excited to discover that PayPerPost has implemented the ability for its bloggers to cash out balances lower than $50. Unfortunately, they assess a $2 fee in order to do so, so unless you don’t care about $2 (I’m a cheap-skate that does care!), you should use this feature wisely.

Screenshot:

Here’s more information from PayPerPost themselves.

In my last entry, I mentioned the double-edged sword issue with PayPerPost v4.0. Basically, while you specify how much you wish to be paid per word and per link, so far the existing opportunities are designed to pay you per word only, and you are required to include the link (which the advertiser is essentially getting for free). Well, I had mentioned this issue on the PPP message board several weeks ago, but since it got no “official” response, I went ahead and posted a new topic at the IZEA Get Satisfaction page. And here is the official response from an IZEA employee:

We’re going to release a change next week to the pricing that you will love. The new pricing strategy will add the price of the link to the price per word for opps that have minimum word requirements. So for example, say you have $5.00 for a link, and $0.03 per word. A 100 word opp would earn you

$5.00 + (100 * $0.03) = $8.00

Sweet!

As many of you know, I blog for PayPerPost. I don’t do nearly the amount of blogging I did for them at this time two years ago, but that is primarily because 1) paid blogging has evolved, and not necessarily for the better and 2) I am too busy with my regular freelancing work. But I do pick up decent sponsored posts as I see them.

Well, in addition to PayPerPost and SocialSpark, the company behind it all — IZEA — is working on the up and coming PayPerPost v4.0. v4.0 is definitely different. Unlike PayPerPost and SocialSpark, where opportunities are basically first come, first serve, v4.0 gives you the assignments. You fill out your profile, list your blogs and their specs (categories, tags, etc.), and sit back and wait for the advertisers to come to you. You’ll be notified by email about any new available opportunities, and you can always login to your v4.0 dashboard to check over the list of available opportunities for your blogs.

Another big difference with v4.0 is the pricing. With PayPerPost and many other paid blogging companies, the price is pre-set by the advertiser, so it’s up to you to take it or leave it. With v4.0, you are in control of the pricing. There are two prices you will need to set: how much you want to get paid per WORD, and how much you want to get paid per LINK.

However, this is a double-edged sword, as there is a huge potential to get ripped off, so to speak. You could specify $0.05 per word (so a 200 word post would pay $10), and then $5 per link, but if you’re offered an opportunity that specifies 200 words and 1 link, you’ll only be paid for the words, and not the link. I am strongly hoping that IZEA/PayPerPost will fix this obviously glaring issue, but since I know that to a large extent it is all about the advertisers and what they want, I’m not holding my breath.

But as I said, v4.0 is up and coming. It’s still deeply in beta, and I’m sure the quirks and kinks will be worked out as the developers come across them. In the meantime, I’m testing out the system and racking up some money that I’ll be able to cash out once my account balance hits $50 (another difference from PayPerPost and its standard paid-after-30-days deal). If you’re interested in trying out PayPerPost v4.0 yourself, you can request a beta key on the PPP blog.

IZEA has finally launched SocialSpark in its alpha mode. So far, around fifty or so members of PayPerPost have been selected to receive alpha login keys. The key enables a selected member to create a blogger profile on SocialSpark, explore the site, try out any live opportunities that may be present, and give lots and lots of feedback on using the site, what works and what doesn’t work, what would look good, what should be changed, etc.

Suffice to say, yours truly was given one of those highly coveted keys, and I have been having a blast exploring SocialSpark. I’d love to share more details, and even post screenshots, but alas, I have been sworn to secrecy. But I promise, when SocialSpark does finally launch for everyone, you’ll love it!

(New to paid blogging? Check out What is paid blogging?)

PayPerPost is the granddaddy of paid blogging. While they may not be the first paid blogging company, they are surely the first to make paid blogging mainstream. PayperPost and paid blogging go hand in hand.

PayPerPost, who is also often referred to as PPP, was established in the summer of 2006, and currently operates several other companies under its parent company, IZEA.

PayPerPost has the following basic requirements for an eligible blog:

• the blog must be at least thirty days old
• the blog must be written in English
• the blog must have original content
• the blog must have only one author
• existing advertisements must not obscure the blog
• the owner of the blog must be at least eighteen years of age

PayPerPost’s paid blogging assignments are referred to as opportunities, or opps. Each opp outlines everything that you need to know in order to successfully write an accurate post. This includes what advertiser, product, service, event, website, etc., you are writing about, the tone the post should have (neutral, opinion, positive, buzz), what link(s)s and anchor keyword(s) you must include, what images, if any, you must include, and the minimum number of words the post should have (50, 100, 200 or 300).

Most opps will also have a transparent tracking image that you will be required to insert somewhere in your post. Some opps may also have a press release or other information that must be copied and pasted into your blog entry.

When you are ready to submit your completed post, you will be required to select the blog the post is on (only necessary if you have multiple blogs listed in the PayPerPost system), and specify the title and permalink URL to the post. Upon submission of a completed opportunity, the post may or may not be automatically approved. It then goes for manual approval, and another manual review right before the blogger receives their compensation.

A blogger is paid exactly thirty (30) calendar days from the date of their submitted blog post. All payments are made via PayPal.