The Sounding Board

A postie. I said, I’m a postie. What is that, you might ask? Let me start with a little background.

I have my own blogs for both business and personal blogging. (If you’re really brave…you can visit my personal blog at www.sandijohnson.com ) I do a lot of work on clients’ blogs. Understandably, I’m always interested in learning more about blogging and blog marketing. I’ve read about SEO for blogs, how to monetize a blog, how to promote a blog, how to write great blog post titles, etc. I’ve even done some more in-depth research about blog sponsorship and paid blog marketing.

In doing research on the various ways to improve a blog’s performance and generate revenues from a business blog, I stumbled on paid blogging sites like PayPerPost, Social Spark, and others. I even joined PayPerPost so I could get a first-hand look at how these sites work. I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. That’s understandable. There’s a certain initial ick-factor to getting paid to post on specific topics when we’re talking about a business blog. However, after having experienced PayPerPost myself for the last 3 months, I’m thinking it’s not bad. Not bad at all, actually. Some of the opportunities posted in the last 90 days were from companies I’ve actually done business with & could therefore write intelligently (and ethically) about.

Granted, there’s no “big” money to be made by occasionally picking up an opportunity here or there. At least not the way I do it. (Only accepting opportunities for companies with whom I actually have experience to draw from/share with readers.) However, even just the small scattering of paid posts I have done for PayPerPost in the last 3 months have been enough to cover the cost of my site hosting for this year. And, they pay on time - as promised, which is a huge thing for me. (Don’t make me waste my time crafting a sponsored post, only to have it not be profitable.)

Check them out for yourself and see. They may (or may not) be a “fit” for your blog. If they are, you can definitely earn more through being a PayPerPost Postie than by using those tacky search engine ads all over your site. Just remember that if you’re going to do paid posts or blog sponsorship, do it ethically and let your readers know what you’re doing.

Okay, so I’m a day late with my Link Love post. Sue me. I’ve been busy.

This week’s link love goes out to a special colleague - one who always lifts my spirits and reminds me what a wonderful community of VAs we have out there in cyberspace. Most recently, this particular colleague invited me to join a wonderfully warm and friendly networking site for women business owners. It’s called Divapreneur. I’ve had a blast getting to know so many great women out there making it on their own with their businesses.

So, in light of having such a fun weekend with a new community, I just knew I had to give Mia Chambers of Acumen VA a little link love this week. Mia’s a wonderful friend and colleague. She’s infectiously happy and always in good spirits. Mia prides herself on helping her clients bring their authentic selves to their online presence. She helps clients with their social networking, Internet marketing assistance, and keep up on all those emails! But mostly, she helps out by just being Mia. We’ve worked together on projects before & I always, always look forward to working with Mia. She just has a way of making my day brighter.

Thanks, Mia - for all that you do and are. I’m proud to have you as a friend and colleague! Best of luck with the new site! :) I’m thinking VY could use a little Spring cleaning/sprucing up soon, too. I’ll probably get one of the talented ladies over on Divapreneur to give VY a make-over soon. Thanks again, Mia!

It would seem that office-in-a-box solutions are becoming the way to go for many small businesses. Most of us have heard of virtual offices and office centers. For a fee, you can access a fully functional office location when and where you need it.

Going to be in Vegas for a convention? Need Las Vegas office space? Need somewhere professional to meet prospective clients while you’re in Austin, TX? Someplace to ’set up shop’ for a few days so you can work with more than just the utilitarian desk and WiFi the hotel offers? Have a home office in Baltimore, but need a place to hold meetings with a more professional appearance? These are the scenarios virtual offices and office centers are intended to resolve for small business owners. Many office centers even offer the use of an on-site administrative assistant to route calls, greet visitors, dictate memos, etc. It’s like renting a fully functional disposable office. Kind of neat for the traveling executive or the SOHO business owner who doesn’t need a 6 month lease plus monthly utility and employee costs.

One of the companies I’ve looked at in researching this “newer” trend is Business Suites. They’re primarily located out West, but they do have locations in Virginia (a  little closer to my neck of the woods) and Maryland. Here’s some ad info from their site:

“Businessuites (BSS) offers office center space to corporations and professionals throughout the Continental United States. These executive suites are fully-furnished with an optional administrative assistant. Office space can be leased in any fashion of time.”

You can learn more about Business Suites at their site: www.businesssuites.com. Too bad they don’t have locations near me. I could use my own office space once in awhile when I need to get out of the house, but still get some work done. (I had an outside office at one point, but gave it up due to the cost vs. amount of use I was actually getting out of it - wasn’t worth $1,400 per month in rent & utilities just to have an office I used 4-8 hours a week at the most.)