How do I love thee, PayPerPost? Let me count the ways!

At the risk of sounding like a PayPerPost fangirl, I need to tell you that I'm really excited about their latest offering. PayPerPost Direct makes it easy for advertisers to contact you (me! any and all bloggers!) directly through your blog with an advertising opportunity.

By placing a PayPerPost Direct badge on your blog (see mine above) you indicate that you are willing to take direct opportunities from the advertiser. By cutting out the middleman you get more of the money!

Let me explain. Let's say an advertiser sees my running blog and is wowed by it. (No stretch there. ;) ) He wants me to write a post reviewing his website that sells running shoes. Rather than listing the opportunity via PayPerPost, he can now contact me directly via my blog and the two of us can hammer out the details.

Now some companies would like to take anywhere from 50 to 100% of the payout for their (limited) services. Here's where PayPerPost rocks. If I had accessed this opportunity via the PayPerPost site, I'd be giving up 35% of what the advertiser is paying. (Still better than the competitors, don't you think?) But with PayPerPost Direct, I'm only losing 10%! That means if the aforementioned running shoe store owner is looking to pay $50 for a review of his site, I'm keeping $45. Not too shabby.

PayPerPost makes the whole process easy, from installing the code for the badge to ensuring that I'll get my payment & the advertiser will get a fair and well written review of his site.

Thanks PayPerPost, for making my life even easier...and more lucrative!

Vacation time for me!

It's been too long since I've had a vacation. (Yes, I know I had one a few months ago. I said TOO LONG, didn't I?)

Tomorrow the family and I are headed to Aspen Grove, Utah. Can I tell you how psyched I am? Swimming, camping, rock climbing, FREE BABYSITTING, food, FREE BABYSITTING, crafts, hiking, more food, and FREE BABYSITTING.

I've got to get packing, so I'll fill you in when I get back. I can't wait!

Cool new twist on the contest idea

When I first heard of Bid4prizes I assumed that it was similar to eBay. (OK, I guess the word prizes didn't register in my brain.) But then I went to the website to check it out and realized that it's not an auction site at all. It's a site where you can get AWESOME PRIZES for FREE.

The first thing you'll want to do is figure out which prize(s) you want to bid on. I am drooling over the Panasonic 42" TV and accompanying Bose DVD Home Theater system. The plasma TV is HD ready & the Bose system is just plain awesome.

The person with the lowest unique bid at Bid4Prizes will be the winner. Understand that although you are bidding, you are not actually expected to pay for the prize. The prizes are 100% free (that's why they're called prizes!). I recommend checking out the website to understand how the bidding works and you can even get tips so you know how to place the lowest bid. And hey, don't outbid me on the plasma!

Running isn't the only thing I'm learning

I've got my first race, a 5k, coming up in about 2 weeks. I haven't been running long & I'm both scared and excited. My original goal was to run the entire race without stopping to walk. I've been following the Couch to 5k training program at Cool Running, but I'm not going to be finished by the time race day rolls around. Not to mention the fact that I run so slowly, it'll take me around 45 minutes to finish.

What I'm learning from running, is to persevere. I'm learning that my limits are more mental than physical. I'm learning that if I focus on the task at hand I can outperform myself everytime. I'm learning to be a doer, not a watcher, and to never give up.

Person.com is a pretty cool site

I visited a new site tonight (new to me anyway). Person.com has webcams, chat, personals, and more. I admit I was intrigued by the things that make this site unique.

First and foremost has got to be the live video cam. As soon as I hit the site I was immediately able to view various people & get a feel for what kind of person they are. It's nice to know what someone looks like & head shots don't always tell the whole story. You can open a chat window and chat and view at the same time, even.

What was really cool in my mind was the hot or not feature. I mean, I have never seen such beautiful people from around the world in my lifetime. Some of them could have been celebrities, they are that beautiful. The photos in this section are broken down by personal photos, studio photos, or erotic photos. I like that things are classified that way; there are no unexpected surprises.

Person.com also has a fun "Play and Flirt game". I haven't played it yet because you have to upload a photo to participate & I need to find one I like. But the idea behind the game is that you ask players of the opposite sex questions and then rate their responses. It reminds me a little of the Dating Game.

There are enough different things on the site to easily keep you entertained for hours. They have over 267,000 members from all over the globe. The site is free to join and loads of fun to experience.

Positive thinking does the trick every time

I've been concentrating on keeping my thoughts positive lately. I recently read an interview with an athlete who makes it a point to try and focus on only positive things. If something negative creeps into his mind, he follows it up immediately with a positive thought. I thought this was a pretty good idea, and I've been trying to follow it.

At first I felt a little silly but I figured I'd "fake it 'til I make it" and I think it's working. The more positive I am, the better I feel. And the easier the whole thing is.