Blogging Days and Blogging Nights

Redecorating For Spring

2011-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

What is it about spring that makes you want to clean and redecorate? I don't know about you, but I've been cleaning up a storm and have been moving some furniture around to give my house that deep clean. When it's done I'm sure it'll be just begging for something new on the walls. I'm not sure I'd choose zebra print wallpaper, but I definitely think a new coat of paint just might do the trick.

I just painted my bedroom not too long ago, but sometimes all a bedroom needs for a little sprucing up is a bedspread. There's lots of choices like chenille bedspreads or for more of a country look, a quilt bedspread like I have. Add some pillows and shams and it can change the whole look of your room.

It's always nice to add new furniture when you redecorate your living room. Just adding one piece, like a sleeper chair can add just the right touch without buying a whole new set. You can also add a little change and comfort using throw pillows in patterns and different colors to tie everything in the room together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T19:52:00.001-08:00

Browsing For Furniture

2007-11-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

I've been furniture shopping before and I didn't enjoy it. Mainly because you have to go from store to store. Add in a stop for lunch and a bathroom break and it can turn into an all day event before you settle on something you like. Shopping online tends to be a little more pleasant. At least you can come and go at your leisure without physically exhausting yourself. However, it does have it's drawbacks.

If you go to Yahoo and type in the keyword furniture, it will give you over 438,000,000 websites. So you start from the top and work your way down...or do you? This can get very old, very fast. You'll come across sites that aren't user friendly, the furniture is way over-priced, they don't have a large selection or you seem to get dropped in a rabbit hole. While you're trying to look at Bedroom Furniture, you're met with "look at Dining Room Furniture" or "look at Bar Furniture" instead of what you're actually wanting to see. Frustration can eventually have you rethinking your online shopping experience.

There is a website that offers everything you could want from an online furniture store. Discount prices, a large selection of furniture, and a very user friendly site stand out among the other competitors. Discount Furniture Warehouse is based in Long Beach, California and they carry several nationally recognized brands, including Tempur-Pedic®, Ashley (Millenium) and Wesley Allen just to name a few. They make shopping online for furniture an enjoyable experience.

Ya Know What....

2007-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

...working full-time, being a full-time mom and a full-time wife is really, really hard, but somehow I'm doing it even if I'm not doing it well. The good thing is that Jeff is probably doing more around here than I did when I wasn't working full-time. If I would have spent more time actually doing things than stressing out I probably would have gotten a lot done. Oh well. I'm very thankful that I have a husband that helps around the house AND he brings me dinner every night when I'm at work. How cool is that! Tonight he's going to church while I'm at work so I'll be at work being thankful for the nights that he has brought me dinner while I munch on a bag of chips and a sandwich. Speaking of...I'd better go make my dinner. I've got to leave for work soon. If you stop by while I'm gone leave me a comment!

Blogger of the Week

2007-11-19T16:39:00.001-08:00

Sorry I'm so late getting this up today. The Blogger of the Weeks is..........

Pia and I became blogging friends not long after I started blogging a few years ago. She's always inspiring and encouraging regardless of her own circumstances. Pia also does paid posts and has recently started publishing on Associated Content. Go by and check out her blog and read her articles on AC!

If you'd like to be considered for Blogger of the Week next week, all you have to do is leave a comment!

eHow $50 Holiday Program

2007-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

If you haven't signed up with eHow yet, now is a good time to do it. Just recently, Rich, the eHow Community Manager, sent out a message to eHow contributors offering them a chance to make $50 just in time for Christmas. In addition to the $50, you'll also earn money from their Writer Compensation Program. He gave me permission to share this opportunity with you, but he said that you'll need to sign up as soon as possible.

____________________________________

Hi, The holidays are just around the corner, and we’re offering eHow’s high contributors a chance to earn $50 Christmas spending money. We have noticed you’ve been submitting quality and resourceful content to the eHow library. On top of the Writer Compensation Program earnings, we would like to extend a bonus of $50 for 10 articles. Thus far you’ve submitted “5” articles, and if you have “15” articles by 11/30/2007, we will give you $50… It’s as simple as that!

All we ask of you is to follow these minor rules—
1) MAKE SURE to write on these following category topics: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Sundance Film Festival, Winter X Games, Awards Season (such as the Golden Globes, etc.), NFL Playoffs, or Internet. Please limit on recipe and food articles.
2) Proof read for spelling and grammar.
3) Article is at least 4 steps.
4) Add at least 2 photos to article (if possible).
5) Make sure your profile is filled out (if it hasn’t been).

If this is something you would be interested in, please message me back and I will make note of your enrollment. I will check back on 11/30/2007 and if you have 10 more articles than what is noted on this message, you will be given $50, BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CONTACT ME AND TELL ME YOU ARE GOING TO BE ENROLLED FIRST. Another thing, the prize doesn’t stop there; we will be giving away one website domain to 10 different enrollers of the $50 bonus program. Our editorial staff will pick the 10 best New Year’s Day articles (make sure to submit at least one New Year’s Day article to be eligible), and winners will receive a ChannelME.TV website. Our friends at ChannelME.TV will offer you your own personalized domain name with cool web/social networking tools to make your web building experience as easy as 1-2-3. For more info on this product, check out http://www.channelme.tv/. Make sure to contact me ASAP so I know if you’re interested :) Thanks. -Rich

________________________________________

Go to eHow and get signed up and then Click here to send Rich a message letting him know that you'd like to be enrolled in the program. Let him know that Annette at Blogging Days & Nights told you about the program.

What Mommies Say

2007-11-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

The First Step

2007-11-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

There's probably a million work at home sites on the internet. Of course that's a pure guess. I haven't taken the time to count them. The majority of the ones that I have read seem to lean toward getting rich quick. While I think it's good to have high hopes, I try to keep them realistic. Besides, my aim isn't to get rich. It's simply to pay my bills and God willing, have a little extra to share.

My hope is to give you an honest opinion about working at home by doing what I do which is writing online. It's so easy to get focused on making it work that you can start to lose sight of the other important things going on in your life, such as your family and your home. Odds are you're not going to make a quick million in one night, but if you wait and perservere you might actually start to make a decent income.

The first thing I did was to create a blog. When I first started blogging it was mainly for the purpose of having a diary or journaling. I didn't think of it as a tool to make money, but because that's what this blog has turned into, I'll try to give you my perspective from if I was to start from scratch. So, the first thing you need to do is start a blog. I use blogger because it's free and in my opinion, easy to use.

I think the most important thing to do when starting a blog would be to do it based on one or a couple of interests. You can have as many blogs as you want so I think it's best to have a separate one for your personal blog if that's what you decide to do. Niche blogging, where you blog about one thing instead of a broad range of things, will attract more readers and possibly a better ranking in the search engines. Since I've ressurected this blog, it's been almost like starting from scratch. I've been posting about one general interest which is working at home and so far it's working. I have a few loyal readers! Later on I'd like to start another blog about a different interest. I'm not exactly sure what I will blog about, but I do know that I want it to be unique.

Once you've started your blog, it may be a little while before you can get approved to get paid for blogging or paid to post because they require that your blog be active for so long, be indexed by Google or Yahoo and/or have a page ranking. However, in the meantime you can go and sign up for Associated Content, eHow and Shared Reviews. You can get paid for things you write for their site and also advertise your blog there. Those sites also pay you for page views, so you can advertise the articles you write for them on your blog. This past week my page views on Associated Content went from just under 6,000 views to over 13,000 views.

Well, I'm off to clean my kitchen. I'm doing a video on how to make turkey stuffing for Associated Content and it has to be done today. After that I'm working at the grocery store so I probably won't be posting again until tomorrow. I'm happy to share any knowledge I have, so if you have any questions at all that I can answer, just let me know and I'll try! Leave me a comment while I'm gone if even just to say hello and I'll come visit you and leave you a note to let you know I've been there!

Featured Blogger of the Week

2007-11-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

The featured blogger of the week is..............

Mee Moe is a 47 year old female single parent of 3 beautiful girls, ages 17, 19, and 25. She also has a grandson that is 10 yrs old. She enjoys internet blogging and making money from ads placed on her blogs. She loves comments, so drop by and congratulate her for being the blogger of the week on Blogging Days & Nights!

Work At Home, Work At Store, Work At Home

2007-11-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

I've come to realize that my house may never get cleaned. I don't see how people with full-time jobs can clean their house and work. Of course, I've never been able to work even part-time and keep my house cleaned. I think it has to do with being just a little overwhelmed. I tried to break it down and just do one thing each day, but that didn't quite work either. Well, instead of beating myself up over it, I think what I'll try to go back to what has worked for me before. Flylady says the best way to get a grip on your home is to start with your kitchen sink and the rest will fall in place. Tonight before I go to bed, I will try to get my dishes washed and put away and get my sink cleaned.

Yesterday I posted 3 articles for PayPerPost, 1 for Smorty and wrote an article for Associated Content. So far today I've posted 2 articles. One for Smorty and one for PayPerPost and if I don't get a case of writer's block, I'm going to try to write an article for ehow. I'm up to 75 cents, but like I said before, I haven't even tried to market views for my articles yet. You can sign up for any of these by clicking on the button on my sidebar.

This afternoon I have to work at the store. I'm really not looking forward to working until 9, but I'm not complaining. It's a job and we definitely need some money coming in. Our gas got turned off yesterday. That was a bill I totally forgot about, but the good news is that we only need about $50 and will be able to get it turned back on. The other good news is that God doesn't give you more than you can bear and I actually lived without gas for over a year not knowing when I would be able to have it turned on. It's just a little inconvenient, but nothing we can't bear for a couple of days.

That just reminded me how fun washing dishes will be tonight...ugh. That gives me another idea though. Maybe I'll write an article on how to survive without a water heater! And when my gas does get turned back on I will definitely thank God for reminding me to be thankful for the things I have started to take for granted.

If you've left me a comment, I'll be picking at site Sunday for the featured blog of the week. If you haven't left a comment, leave one if you'd like to have your blog considered. Well, I'm off to write some more!

Smorty

2007-11-08T16:01:00.001-08:00

I have to tell you that Smorty has been really good to work for. No, there not paying me for this post or any posts on this blog. I wanted to tell you about a new program they just started a few minutes ago...literally. They started a new program today to refer new bloggers. The thing you'll probably find out with Smorty is that they want blogs that have a page rank and are indexed. For some reason this blog isn't indexed or page ranked so I use my other blog for Smorty's posts. It can't hurt to try to submit your blog for approval. For the first week or so the selection of things to write about wasn't that good, but here lately there has been more variety. Also, I don't think there is a limit to how many you can post. I do try to keep my blog with at least half personal posts and half paid posts so I try to do at least one to two posts a day for Smorty. They have paid me every week and even paid me early this week. I highly recommend them.

Is It Wednesday Already?!

2007-11-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

I'm working at the grocery store today so I'm not sure how much I'll get done and I don't have time to post too much this morning, but while I'm gone check out my other posts! Don't forget Monday I'll be featuring a blogger for the week so leave a comment if you'd like a chance at being selected.

I'm Stoked

2007-11-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

One of my articles on AC is showcased under News in the top slot! Another article I wrote has already gotten 8 comments from my last check. Write an article about politics and people start ranting. It's crazy! Anyways, I'm thrilled and Republican by the way. I managed to write 3 articles for AC yesterday in the span of about 2 hours and they were all approved and paid today! You can read my articles by clicking here. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

New Site and an Update

2007-11-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday didn't go completely as planned. However, I did manage to get one load of laundry completely done...I think. The grocery store down the street called and asked if I wanted to come work, so I ended up running down there and working for a few hours. I'm still going to do the featured blog, so don't leave before you leave a comment. The featured blog will start this coming Monday.

So here's the rundown.
Smorty sent my payment Sunday night. I wrote 3 articles between the end of the week before and earlier this week and they all were approved. I'm waiting on 3 more articles to get approved and I'll be paid on those this coming Sunday. The only problem I have with Smorty is there's not a wide selection of things to write about, but they do pay better than average so I'm not complaining. As they grow, I'm sure there will be more opportunities. The more bloggers that are working for them, the more advertisers will be attracted to them and so it goes. For right now, I feel pretty confident I can average about $25 a week.

I may have to break down and write about things I'm not so interested in to get in my 3 articles a day limit with PayPerPost. It's okay though. I'm sure there will be good days and a few bad days with them. I just have to keep checking back for new opportunities. They pay 30 days after you submit a post and my first one was submitted at the end of October. I've talked to several other people and they all say they pay so I'm not worried about it. I'll keep writing so in 30 days I'll have a steady drip of income coming in that should average about $20 a day. That will be nice!

The past few days I've had a little bit of writer's block as far as writing articles for Associated Content. However, I did manage to write 3 of them yesterday and submitted them for upfront payment. There is discussion about whether they are trying to lean more towards Performance Pay only, but my experience is that they pay even better for unique articles. If you join AC, make sure you browse their content before submitting anything so you won't be disappointed if they don't offer you an upfront payment. On the other hand, Performance Pay isn't so bad either if you can get people to read your articles. I have a widget I've posted everywhere I can so I can attract readers. See the purple box on my side bar? Clicking on it will take you to my articles that I've written. I haven't figured out what I can average with AC yet, it will have everything to do with "my" performance (how often I write).

I got paid!!! I was holding my breath wondering, but it's true. SharedReviews does pay. Now I need to find more things to review. Of course, I have plenty of stuff and I can even review things I've tried. It's just a matter of sitting down and thinking about it. They pay $2 a review. Once you have 5 approved, they will pay you $10. They pay every Monday. Right now they are in beta status and you can make up to $150. After the full launch I'm sure they will still be paying, but they're not saying how much, but while there's $150 up for grabs, you can be sure I'm going to try to get it!

Now for the new site. Everybody knows how to do somethings that others don't and this site is paying for you to tell others "how to." Ehow.com has just launched and I've been looking at it for over a week now. I even reported some kinks in the system which they've worked out. I've submitted 4 articles and they have all been published. The only thing is your pay is determined by views and possibly ratings. I haven't quite figured it all out yet, but I think it has potential. It doesn't take long to write a how to article and their format is very, very simple to use. So far I've generated a whopping 11 cents, but I haven't been advertising my articles either and I've only written 4. After you accumulate $10 in your account they send you a payment. If you sign up, leave me a comment with your email address so I can add you to my friends list.

Well, I have a few errands to run today, but I am going to try to do 2 loads of laundry and finish cleaning the kitchen. Tomorrow I'm working at the grocery store again so I'm not holding my breath on getting anything done around here as far as housework. Anyways, leave me a comment while I'm gone and I'll be back to post again tomorrow!

Good Morning

2007-11-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

So chocolate milk and chocolate covered donuts probably isn't the most nutritious thing I could have for breakfast this morning, but I blame it on not being awake yet while I was dashing through Wal-Mart at 5 this morning grabbing stuff for breakfast and lunch. If you've been reading my other blog, you know I got married yesterday and breakfast and lunch for today wasn't on the top of my priority list. As a matter of fact, I didn't even think about it until last night when I was laying in bed and thought thank goodness I went to bed early so I can get up and run to the store. Thinking it wasn't as bad as actually doing it, but I did manage to drag myself out of bed at 4:30 this morning, make coffee, start a load of laundry (everybody needed clean clothes in addition to food), get myself dressed, run a brush through my hair, grab the dog and head out the door at 5 a.m. It's amazing what you can do when you have people depending on you. I figure the sugar rush that I'm bound to get will help with getting some housework done around here today. Okay, so maybe that's just wishful thinking, but it can't hurt to hope.

If you've read all the above and you're still reading, then hopefully this will make it worth your while. Remember BlogExplosion, that seems to have deteriorated into nothing? Well, that's beside the point. My point is, that I really liked "renting" my blog and it's really sad, for me anyway, that I can't do that anymore. So, I'm going to try doing it myself and throwing a little twist to it. Sometime today I'll make a little featured spot at the top of this blog and my hope is to feature a blogger a week. I'm hoping that the featured blogger will do the same for me or someone else, but it won't be a must for me to pick you. If you want to be featured on my blog for a week, starting Monday of next week, leave me a comment. The one thing I will be looking for is to see if your blog is about you or something interesting to you. Basically, I won't be featuring blogs where it's all about making money on the internet. If I don't pick you next week, I'll keep your name in the running for the week after and so on. If I don't get any comments, then I'll just hunt somebody down to put in that spot.

Well, I'm off to throw a load of clothes in the wash! Leave me a comment while I'm gone!

Not Giving Up

2007-11-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

The hardest thing I think about working at home, is not giving up. Finding a system that is reliable and that works for me has been difficult, but I'm making my way through trial and error trying hard not to waste my time. This coming week I'm going to work hard on balancing my time working on the computer and working on my home. I'm sure I'll be making changes to accomodate unforseen things that come up, but tentatively here's my plan:

Everyday - With PayPerPost, I can post up to 3 opportunities a day so I'm trying to post 3 a day. They like for there to be a balance of paid posts and personal posts, so that means I have 3 personal posts I need to do as well. Then there's Smorty. I'm averaging about 1 post a day for them. I like to do a personal post in between those too, so that's 4 paid posts and 4 personal posts. One of my hopes is to use one of those posts to promote my designing skills so be sure to check my other blog to see what's going on over there. Right now I'm thinking about giving away some blog headers that I've designed and possibly giving away a blog layout. I'm also thinking about offering to promote someone else's blog once a day, so if you're interested, leave a comment either here or there when I do a post announcing it, which will probably be sometime today.

Somewhere in between all of that, here's my plan to tackle my housework Monday:

Monday is grocery shopping day. My laundry is piling up so this week I'm going to try to get it under control and start out by doing 2 loads of laundry. That means washing, drying and putting away. If it doesn't get put up then it only creates another mess. Since I'll be getting groceries Monday night, I really need to get the kitchen cleaned and the refrigerator cleaned out. I'm hoping that for every hour I spend on the computer, I can spend at least 15 minutes cleaning. I'll also try to make a plan for Tuesday and post that here on Monday.

Of course I'll be checking out some other sites I've been researching. Hopefully I'll have some news on my review of those soon. By the way, SharedReviews has approved the 5 reviews I did and should be paying me $10 for those on Monday. I spent about an hour doing them so that's not bad for an hours worth of work.

Work At Home Update

2007-11-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

If you're a new reader of this blog, here's what's happening. Basically, I've found several pay to blog and pay to write sites that I've signed up for and am making an honest effort to use. Here is where I give you the scoop on what I do, what I make and try to give you as much information as possible so that you can make an honest decision in whether you think it's worth your time and effort. Most of my posts are on my other blog because it has a Page Rank of 3. Clicking on some of the links in my post will take you to the previous post I've done on the site, to the post I wrote for the site or to the site itself.

I believe that while we should work, and if you're here you're in need of money, it's also very easy to get caught up in being online all day and all night and other areas of our lives will tend to get neglected. I'm hoping to help you be able to select the sites that will help you find a balance so that you can make money and have time to take care of your home and family. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions and I'll answer quickly and as honestly as I can.

Bloggerwave
The post I submitted on Bloggerwave for Bloggerwave on October 30th still hasn't been approved and my other blog that I submitted for approval on October 23rd is still pending. Bloggerwave had some sort of issue and they had to change everyone's password sitewide. This tells me there is someone working on the site, so maybe, just maybe, they'll have more jobs posted soon.

Linky Love Army
Still no new missions.

Smorty
So far, I've written 7 articles. I've already been paid on my first post ($6) and yesterday my second post ($10.80) was approved. They don't have a huge selection to choose from, but I've learned if I keep checking back every now and then I'll find some postings that pay pretty well. They do send an email when a new campaign is posted, but they don't do this for every campaign. Also, by the time you get the email and get to the site, the opportunity will most likely be gone.

PayPerPost
This will be my 3rd day with them. I've written 6 articles and the status on them is still pending. However, I've heard from other posties that it's normal for them to be approved and paid thirty days from the time you submit your post. You can only claim 3 a day. I've figured out that you can check through the day and different opportunities will be posted, some pay pretty well. Yesterday, I thought I would go ahead and post my 3 for the day early in the morning, but I ended up posting 1 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 1 in the evening. I'm glad it worked out that way because one of the posts I did pays really well and the opportunity didn't show up until that evening.

SharedReviews
Still waiting to see if my 5 will be accepted.

myLot
Hmmmm....don't really know what to say about them. I may go back and look at them again, but right now there's a few other sites I'm looking at that pay more for less of my time. Cindy at Cindy's Korner invited me to sign up with them and I'm waiting to hear back from her to see what she thinks about it.

There is a brand new website I'm researching and reviewing right now. So stay tuned and I'll be telling you about that one in the next few days.

An update on my progress

2007-10-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

As of now I've signed up with Smorty, Linky Love Army, Bloggerwave, PayPerPost and Shared Reviews. I also signed up with MyLot, but haven't gotten past that part to really research it. So here's the rundown on what's going on.

Smorty
I've written 5 articles. Sunday I was paid on my first one. This morning I was approved on one post and I still have three pending. I like this site, but it seems to be slim pickin's. Since I signed up with them, I've only received one email letting me know there was a new campaign, but by the time I checked the site, all of the opportunities had already been taken. So, I go and check the site several times a day to see if there are any new opportunities. Odds are I will probably end up writing about the 2 opportunities that have been posted on there and then we'll see what happens after that.

Linky Love Army
Still no new missions :( I'm really disappointed. This site has a great founder/owner/moderator, not sure what you call him and I really would like to see them get some more business so I can write for them. To this day I've had 2 missions and have been paid on both.

Bloggerwave
I did my first post yesterday, which was about Bloggerwave. There are no other opportunities posted, but I'll keep checking back. My first post is still pending.

PayPerPost
Yesterday my other blog was approved and I wrote 2 posts. They are both still pending approval. This site has tons of opportunities. You can post up to 3 a day, so I'm going to try to get 3 more posted today.

SharedReviews
I found out about this site yesterday and instantly started to work. They pay $10 for every 5 reviews and will pay up to $150 for right now. For more information on this site, scroll down and read my post from yesterday. I wrote 5 reviews yesterday. My reviews were a cell phone, coffee maker, battery charger, wireless keyboard and laser mouse, and a wireless mouse. Eventually you'll be able to read what I wrote. That is, if they get approved and after the full launch of the site. As of right now I'm waiting to see if my reviews get approved.

As I find other opportunities and get a chance to research them a little I'll keep you posted. Are you a blogger? Are you participating in any of these or other opportunities? Leave me a comment and let me know what you're doing. If you'd like me to add you to my blogroll, leave that in your comment as well. I'll take a look at your site and if it's a good fit with mine I'll exchange links with you. Talk to you later!

Another Something New

2007-10-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

I found another website called bloggerwave where you can make money by posting on your blog. About a week ago, I submitted both of my blogs. I just checked and this one was approved! After I post and they approve my post, they pay by PayPal. As with the other paid to blog sites I've been telling you about, I'll keep you updated on this one too.

I Found Something New

2007-10-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

As I was wandering around on AC today, I visited a forum where they were discussing other online opportunities. Normally, I would wait, try this out myself and let you know how it goes, but because they are in Beta testing right now, by the time I do all that it may be too late to get you in on the opportunity while it's good. Now, I will tell you this, other people in the AC forum said that they do pay once a week and have received their money.

The site is called Shared Reviews. You simply write a review about a product you own or have tried. Your review has to be a minimum of 750 characters, not words. They pay $10 for 5 approved reviews. I spent one hour and wrote 5 reviews. So if all 5 get approved, then I've made $10 for an hour. Then on top of that since they are a growing site, it's not a bad idea to get in on it now. It seems like it's going to be even better for you the longer you've been in it especially after they do the full launch of the site.

Once you get to the site, you may be a little confused since it hasn't been totally launched yet. No problem, I've thoroughly examined it for the most part so I can probably answer a few questions anyway. As with anything else I do, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment or email me. I'm usually somewhere near the computer and if I'm not I will be soon. I'll help you out the best I can.

Work From Home

2007-10-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I got put in a position where it was either sink or swim and right now I'm swimming for my life. I'm very fortunate that there is another paycheck coming in my home from my soon-to-be husband (this coming Sunday we're getting married!). I wouldn't advise you to quit your job today and start working from home, but if you're already at home or are interested in working from home, this is definitely worth your time to read.

Opportunities to work from home are sought after every day by stay-at-home moms and moms that wish they could be stay-at-home moms. It seems that legitimate work from home opportunities are very few and far between. However, I have found a few places that are legitimate and if you work hard at it, can be used to bring in an income. In the days and nights to come, I'll be giving you a rundown on the ones that I've found and am actually using. Also, I'll tell you honestly what you can expect and give you tips on what I've learned on how to make the most of the service you're using.

The services I currently use are paid to blog or paid to write sites. Later on I may have other things I'm doing besides this, but for right now, this is what I'm doing.

Associated Content

My first article was published by Associated Content on June 3, 2006, called When Relationships Fail We Are Still Loved By God. Three days later, I was paid $5.00 to my PayPal account. Over the next few months I wrote a few more articles and was paid between $5.00 and $6.00 for each. Since that time, AC has gotten a little more picky about what they pay you upfront to publish. However, they will still pay you to publish articles, it just may not be upfront. I will say this though, I've never had an article completely rejected by AC.

To get paid upfront for an article, they want articles that are not already common to AC. You can find out what they already have in their inventory by going to their website and using keywords to search their content. I've been paid between $8.00 and $9.00 for an article with unique content. So, while they won't accept just anything anymore, they do seem to pay a little better for what they do accept. There is a monthly newsletter that will give you ideas on what kind of content to write about.

AC also has what they call Calls for Content. After you sign up, you can check under your messages tab and every so often they will have different articles they will offer you an upfront amount for. Generally, I check this tab several times throughout the day and night. It will give you a description of what your article should include, what the minimum number of words in your article should be and how much time you have to submit it. I've published several articles this way. It seems to have the quickest turn around time in getting your article reviewed, published and paid for within 24 to 48 hours. I submitted this article, Where to Buy the Best Xbox 360 Game Bundle, and had $7.50 paid to my PayPal account within about 6 hours. Other articles I've submitted generally get published and paid for within 3 to 5 days, but it can take up to 2 weeks. I've never had any take this long, however, I did submit my first video 4 days ago so I'm thinking videos may take a little longer. I'll keep you up-to-date on the video and let you know what it pays.

The other way that AC pays is called Performance Payments. These are paid once a month and are determined by how many views your articles get. For every 1,000 views you get $1.50. While this doesn't seem like a bunch of money, it potentially can be if you work at getting people to read your articles.

Linky Love Army

I've just recently started with Linky Love Army, but I'm already thrilled to be writing for them. Anytime I've had questions, and I've had a few, my emails have been replied to very quickly. It's a growing company, so it's a good opportunity to get started on the ground floor and grow with them. They have some very good ideas that are in the making and I expect that in the future I'll be making some decent money with them.

I signed up both of my blogs with Linky Love Army and they were both accepted. I'm not sure exactly how long it took between signing up and getting my first mission, but obviously it was an acceptable amount of time since I'm far from complaining! Unfortunately, I was cleaning up my inbox this weekend and unintentionally deleted a few emails that would have contained this information. However, I'm pretty sure I signed up Monday morning and was approved later that day. I completed my first mission Thursday that was assigned to each blog and was paid today. They pay once a week to your PayPal account.

Depending on what page rank your blog is, determines how much you will get paid for your mission, but they are upfront on what you will be paid if you accept the mission. On this blog, which doesn't have a page rank yet, I was paid $5.00, but on my other blog, which has a page rank of 3, I was paid $8.00. Like I said before though, they are a growing company and so far I've only received one mission for each blog and there aren't anymore missions posted yet, but because I'm signed up with them now, I know in the future I will be first in line when more missions come rolling in.

If you're interested in signing up for Associated Content or Linky Love Army, click on the buttons below. If you have any questions, leave a comment or email me and I'll respond quickly, as I'm normally near the computer!

Red Clay Media - A Marketing Solution For Mortgage Companies

2007-10-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

We've all heard on the news how the real estate industry is doing. Many homeowners that were approved for sub prime loans with a high interest rate have gone into foreclosure. On the other hand, if you’re an existing homeowner, it's a great time to refinance at a lower interest rate. Red Clay Media is a website that is offering mortgage companies an edge with what they call a marketing intelligence opportunity. They help mortgage companies find a balance between the good and the bad of the industry, by providing them with solutions to market to the consumers that mortgage companies can most likely turn into customers.

One of the many services Red Clay Media offers is a direct marketing mailing list. Specialty lists and leads, as well as exclusive mortgage leads that are pre-screened and pre-qualified, can be generated from a comprehensive homeowners database of over 200 million records. Their response modeling tool software can analyze leads and provide the mortgage company with only the customers who are most likely to respond, increasing their sales and response rates from 20% to 80%.

Red Clay Media offers a vast range of direct marketing products and services, including mortgage lists, consumer mailing lists, business mailing lists, opt-in email lists, mortgage leads, insurance leads, direct mail, data analytics, response modeling, creative design, internet marketing and strategic consulting.

Changes

2007-10-22T11:35:00.001-07:00

Hi all! I've decided to start using this blog again. It won't be a continuation of where this one left off because of course, that was continued on another blog. Anyway, I hope you bear with me as I get things situated here and come back to read what's going on in this blog!

Technorati Profile

Annette Is Moving!

2006-02-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not going too far. Just to a new location. Show Them Through Me is where you'll find me now. This blog will stay up, but this will be the last post. I feel kind of like a butterfly that has spread it's wings...then only thing I'm not quite sure of is what I'll turn into after being a butterfly for a while. Oh well, I'll worry about that later ;)

So come check out my new home! Oh, but before you leave...if you haven't left a comment on my last post, please do!

I Need Your Help!!!

2006-02-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, here's the deal. Today, it finally hit me and I caught it!! (for the full meaning of this, read yesterday's post) Well, God gave me a mission and you are part of it! I need your help being part of a sales pitch and please feel comfortable answering honestly. Depending on what you say, I may or may not go through with this...yikes. Well, so maybe there's a Plan B waiting in the wings just in case this one goes badly wrong. Anyway, like I said before here's the deal...

Most of you that are regular readers of my blog know that I feel God has called me to publish a magazine in my community and possibly on a larger degree in the future. He's probably just waiting on me to hurry up and start handling different things well enough to get that far! If this is your first time reading this blog, don't worry about catching up on the story because the short of it is...God has called me to publish a magazine in my community. So far I've thought I needed money to get this to happen and I have to some degree, but it's always been there right when I needed it in just the right amount. God keeps telling me that His part is to worry about the money, but I keep wanting to worry about it anyway. Every time I finally give up, and sometimes even when I don't, and let Him worry about it, whatever it was that I needed whether it was money or what I needed that could be used or had at no charge. He's been faithful to me, and I know that He will continue to be because no matter what I do, when all is said and done, the only thing that remains is my purpose fulfilled or not.

In the course of developing this magazine, I started getting quotes from different printers. The printer in town, where I had been going to get copies made of the newsletter, had referred me to a printing company about 30 minutes from here. She told me that he specialized in printing church materials and was sure he could give me a good price on doing my magazine. That afternoon I got a really good quote from a printer out of state and then a couple of days later it started looking like I was going to have to put the plans for a magazine on hold for a little while. Needless to say, I ended up losing the card that I'd wrote the information down on for this other printer. Finally, I realized that if God says He's going to do something, then He's going to do it. It may not be on our timeline, but whose to say that it won't be? If God provides the money I need on the day that I need to send my files to the printer and I don't have the files ready, then whose fault is that? Sometimes I'm still a little slow, but the good thing is I'm learning quick and I'm remembering my lessons longer!

Well, I didn't wait till the last minute this time. I started working on the magazine and it's almost ready to go to the printer. Once I knew my heart and my spirit were right, doors started flying open for me to pack this magazine full of stories. Actually, I'm very glad I'm not having to hold to my deadline because there are a couple of stories that I really, really want in this issue. It may be a couple of days beyond my deadline, but I know that it's okay, because it's just a goal to work towards until I reach it or another one takes it's place in priority. If we'd quit looking at it in man's terms of a certain day or hour and started looking at in God's terms of when it's time. He trusts us to do our part and we want to whine and say you first and all He's trying to do is say lets do this together.

Here I am talking about Him trusting me to do this sales pitch (my part) and I'm rambling on. Okay, lets catch you up...magazine needs to be printed, printer specializes in printing church materials, publisher needs a miracle...lol. My co-publisher and I talked today and decided that we want and can put this magazine in most every church in our community. Once I learn how to saturate my own community, then hopefully God will let me bless your community. I guarantee it won't take near as long as it's taking me to figure out how to do it for my own community. It's so hard once you get up and running to not want to start taking two steps at a time instead of just one. Last night was probably the first time that I only fell back one step. It kind of surprised me because I was expecting to tumble down at least a few.

Okay, on with the sales pitch...if I get several copies of this magazine in every church, at least ONE for EACH member, would it not be beneficial for the printer to advertise on the inside covers of the magazine in exchange for printing the magazine for me? Now here's where you become involved, regular readers or if your somebody who is visiting for the first time. Check me out, you are welcome to read every issue I've published before (there on my sidebar) and also every article I've ever posted (there on the other sidebar). That's me...the real me. I know you don't know the printer, but from what I've seen of his work, and heard about him, he does an awesome job and is a good man...and I'm not just saying that. It's the honest truth and the person that told me that and showed me his work will verify it. So, if you wouldn't mind sharing your opinion...if you were the printer what would you say?