I signed up for SocialSpark! Is it bad?

SocialSpark

I used to dislike bloggers who sign up to Pay-Per-Post or those paid postings, but I never imagine to become one :| What I dislike about the posts (I registered at Pay-Per-Post once but never taken any opportunities yet), are that most of them are biased. You need to please the advertisers about their offered products/services in order for them to approve the posts. I hated it and decided not to follow to that “evil” path.

I don’t want to be judgmental and judge bloggers that do it (they have their own reasons and they have to put a “this post is sponsored” tag anyway). However I like to mean what I say and I don’t want to be a hypocrite and pretend that I like the product/service just to get some cash. Again, if you are doing some paid posts and you really mean what you say on the posts, then it’s fine with me, no offense at all.

SocialSpark is a new idea from IZEA. It allows you to make some cash from accepting “opportunities” from the advertisers. Read on why I like SocialSpark.

What I like about SocialSpark

 

SocialSpark offers varied opportunities

Browse Opportunities

SocialSpark’s opportunities are varied:

  • Review a product/service
  • Mention of a site (This is a good one, as I usually love to tell the world about a good site, if it is worth mentioning)
  • Write an article about something (I saw an opportunity about energy saving for the global warming opportunity)
  • Write stuffs on how to get freebies (Who doesn’t want freebies, assuming it’s not a scam)
As you can see, it gives variety and also control on what opportunities you want to grab. I’ll choose mine carefully, as not to anger you, my loyal readers, on bad quality posts.
Each opportunity has a price and a qualification whether you are eligible to take it or not. The price can be $5, $10, or even a blogback (a link back to your post) as a reward.
SocialSpark Opportunity

SocialSpark is also a community

SocialSpark is also community based. You can view other bloggers and other blogs from your dashboard. You can send private messages, gives a thumb up on other blogs (a la StumbleUpon), and get to know each other from the opportunities’ comments. I’ve traded a few messages to some bloggers there, but of course, none can beat Entrecard :)

You can get a bit of traffic from here as well (as with other online communities).

My Blog on SocialSpark

 

SocialSpark uses a No Follow link

One of the reasons I didn’t want to go for Pay-Per-Post was that Mr. Google doesn’t really like paid links. SocialSpark has learnt from the past mistakes and decided to use a no-follow link for all paid posts. Meaning, Google shouldn’t get angry about you getting paid to provide a link to another site.

 

The post’s requirement 

The requirement of a post will be the number of words being written on the post, and not about how good the product/service is. I think I read that some paid post programs require you to write good things about the product and the advertiser can reject it if it’s not good enough. Hello? If it’s a bad product, shouldn’t a critic mean a good indication to improve your product’s value even more?

 

What I don’t like about SocialSpark

 

It takes some time to be accepted in an opportunity

Sometimes you’ll have to wait for days to be accepted on an opportunity that you requested. In a way, it’s good though, because it means that you are being chosen carefully by the SocialSpark team and not simply some bloggers who just want to rack some cash quickly.

 

It can be confusing for newcomers

SocialSpark has a great layout and navigation. However, there are a few stuffs in there that require some learning process. It’s currently in beta and you can also see that they are doing some tutorial videos (coming soon), so for the moment, you either have to figure things out yourselves or ask around. There are a lot of nice bloggers there that will answer your questions nicely.

 

Conclusion

So there you go. I actually have to write only about 250 words about SocialSpark, but I feel like I have to be honest on what I say and what I think about the service. As of now, this is my first opportunity that I take in there. There are a few that I’m interested in, but I need to filter them out.

If you can earn some cash to pay for your hosting and blog’s expenses while blogging, why not? SocialSpark is heading on the right direction and since it’s still in beta, I guess time will tell on how successful SocialSpark can be. Join in, have a play, and see if you like the idea.

Social Spark “code of ethics” :

  • 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
  • 100% Transparency
  • 100% Real Opinions
  • 100% Search Engine Friendly

SocialSpark

So, do you hate me for “joining the dark side?” :)

Sponsored by SocialSpark

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