Kind of a slow day…
TRAVEL
Incredibly beautiful pictures from the 2013 Tour De France!
The Worst Place in the World: See what life is like in Somalia.
Alex Honnold climbing Half Domme and Moonlight Buttress without a rope. First seen at The Adventure Blog. I saw this kid in 60 Minutes. This is just nuts without a rope, suicidal! How do they come back down, helicopter?
Flying over Niagara Falls, Wow! I mean it when I say Over!
Did you ever want to have the hamam experience in Istanbul? Here is a detailed play by play of the whole thing: “My first time at a Hamam: Review of Nur Hamami! By The Efficient Asian Man. I always wondered what goes on in there! I would not let a Turkish man scrub Mrs. TBB:-)
MILES/POINTS
Travel is Free (it’s not) had a fantastic post about United’s award routing rules. My head was spinning I saved in my Evernote files for further study! Warning: Not newbie friendly!
Interesting. First 2 Board launches Fare Magnet and AwardSeat.com (award booking service: $99 for 2 seats in same reservation). It’s getting crowded in here now!
Remember when Aeroflot whined a bit about Delta and their roles in Skyteam Alliance? I said something is happening in Skyteam (Korean Air also took it on the chin courtesy of Delta!). I stated here “where there is smoke, there may be fire”. That renowned expert who was recently even recognized by (my idol) Colbert in his TV show initially dismissed the notion Aeroflot was serious. Only to post this: “The End of Airline Alliances:Is Skyteam crumbling and will it be just the first to fall?” on View from the Wing.
ON MY MIND
I love 711 stores with no gas stations;-)
Ann Arbor Art Fair DO weekend!
ODDZ & ENDZ
A clearly mega WTF parenting moment! What is wrong with some people? Mom Seeks Experienced Girl to Take Harvard-Bound Son’s Virginity You can tell this kid would spend lots of time in counseling…
BLOG BUZZ
Delta Points wrote a post about 2,000 Flex Points and a cash-advance. Shaking.My.Head.Again.
Million Mile Secrets interviewed some kid who is going to “retire” by age 32. Oh the youth of today:-) I took a look at his site and I spotted this in his “About Me” page: “I plan to Create businesses that produce passive income streams”. Ahhhh, I see. Retiring while producing passive income streams. Could one of these streams be, you know, just maybe by accident, affiliate credit card links?:-) In the interview post, “Traveling with Grant” (another MMS graduate on an affiliate post spree) asks the personal finance “expert” this question: “what is your experience/opinion of cash value life insurance as a LIRP and IRC 7702-A?”. The 23 year old without a job asking the 32 year old software developer/finance guru…I want to start pulling my eyebrows one by one! Hey Grant, stay the hell away from that product at your age! Is this entertainment or what?
Milevalue continues to sell the inferior US Air card. Putting readers first!
Very Good Points wrote “Applying for the US Airways Premier World Mastercard”. It looks like First2Board is in the affiliate game now? Am I one of the last few not in the bandwagon or what? Oh, this is the same inferior link some bloggers are pushing when there is another one available in Post #1 here that gives you 35,000 miles AND no annual fee and 10k miles at one year anniversary which, apparently, is still working fine! (let me know if not so I can eat my words!)
Bloggers: There is NO excuse to push links that pay you when your readers will benefit with links that don’t pay you. NO EXCUSE! It is, in my own opinion, shameful!
Everything appearing on this blog is my own opinion only! TBB reviews BLOGS and speaks his mind. If you don’t like it PLEASE do not take it personally, I don’t.
first!
Friday night. Must be the night Jeff goes out with his parents for pizza and root beer? 🙂
Ouch
Oh the irony of MileValue arguing with Very Good Points over the crappy US Airways affiliate offer is too much.
Seriously, VGP uses some horrible, horrible financial logic.
Yes, what an irony indeed!
Just make it to the top five, and I am waiting to see your featured interview with MMS. Thanks.
When that happens you will know that TBB has…
Haaa,not quite my experience as a female at a hammam in IST! ou la la…..
Ok:-)
Retiring at 32 yrs of age? I hope he doesn’t plan on getting married or raising children. 60 years living on passive income & spending 1/2 your time in developing countries. What could possibly go wrong?!! SMH. Fantasyland.
That was my point exactly!
“passive income” – riiiigggghhhhtttt. He means affiliate link income. This guy will end up being a third rate realtor – like so many other similar loser DBs before him.
From the top: watching Honnold climb always makes my palms sweaty. And there are trails to hike down from both Moonlight Buttress and Half Dome. I did the cables up Half Dome a few years ago (before permits) and have little interest in doing it again.
The mother offering her son’s virginity is an obvious fake.
Agreed with a commenter at VFTW: Gary needs to stop rolling his eyes at Garuda Indonesia. It’s an above-average airline (certainly better than US domestics) going to awesome places for divers and adventure travelers (and probably investors) in the fourth most populous country in the world. (Granted, most Indonesians live on Java.) I’d be pleased if Garuda were coming to Star, where I have more miles. Currently nothing more is coming to Star, and it’s losing most of Brazil (the fifth-largest country by population).
The US Air card’s better offer still works. I applied two weeks ago, made a purchase, and my statement closed Wednesday. 35K points already in my account with no ann. fee, and my paper T&C specifies 10K bonus miles at anniversary. Both MV and VGP are pushing inferior offers, without disclaimers. I hope they feel shame about this.
The heat finally broke here, which is nice. Hope it’s a nice day to be outdoors in AA.
Right on about the fake story. Lots and lots of fake stories being pushed by the propaganda agenda machine that is the media for decades but now that the masses are getting more aware, it is easier to spot the media fakeries these days. This isn’t just a media faked event but a small local hoax, but yes this is what is getting fed to gullible masses on a daily basis.
I agree harvson3, I would have preferred Garuda to join Star Alliance or even One World. They are an excellent airline. It would be great to book Garuda from BNE to the far reaches of Indonesia on one award! I’m hoping that given the proximity of Indonesia to Australia, Garuda may offer us a credit card partner.
I’m going to have to further investigate Sky Team/Flying Blue as there is one other airline that I need an award on-KQ for the JRO-NBO-TNR route. Getting to Madagascar is a PITA!
harvson3: Like it when you take it from the top…on down! Thanks for the feedback on the climbs down. I still think that kid is crazy! Ok on the mother story…still makes for a hilarious read, my mother never did such things for me lol. You and Tara have convinced me that Garuda is more than fine to fly! Ditto on the US Air card, we are on the same page. Heat finally broke here in Ann Arbor, perfect timing for the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO.
AgendaGuy: Ok, see my response on the Virgin story above. Satire is ok:-)
Tara: One day I will make it to Madagascar and will fly Garuda. One day…
The better offer on US Air card still works. I got it and had my points post about a month ago. I”m very confused by First2Board, I thought they did not do affiliate links? So much for being different, and it figures they would be just like most other bloggers and push an inferior offer. Love that Milevalue and VGP are arguing over the inferior card. What a joke.
My gut feeling (and my own opinion) is that F2B are hitting the economic walls of reality. It is awfully hard in this space to turn a profit without going the cc affiliate route. Hence, the disclosure language change (I think it is different). Perhaps they should have never made the initial pledge; not a smart move in this super fast moving online world! I think the best route is to come out and just disclose honestly the reasons of not continuing the pledge and lay it all out, no fuss no muss. We understand. And apologize for making that initial pledge. Ok to eat words, I do it all the time when I screw up:-)
My 2 cents.
I actually think its really unfair on the blogger to face these better offers.
The affiliate provides a lesser offer.
The blogger is told if they don’t sell enough links they will pull them all.
You cannot survive with links by just having a ‘credit cards tab’ you have to write about the offers in order to create indexed sales and ‘credibility sales’ but you are forced to lose all credibility by pimping inferior links.
To be honest, I haven’t seen the argument, would like to see their maths but on the surface I think the US air is not an obviously inferior offer as it seems to have quite a different structure. But on the other hand I was given a link yesterday that is clearly inferior.
Mine (not the US card) was all the same other than one card has 0% BT and one had a positive return of 1% if you do a BT- clearly better.
However I still need to post the link to the inferior link, I just find it immoral to write a credibility sale post about it knowing there is a better offer.
Sad thing is that if I do the right thing by the readers I lose the links thru lack of clicking.
Affiliates fault IMO to make this dillema for bloggers and force them to whore themselves out, then kick them to one side if they lose credibility, or create sites that are packed with affiliate links and no content…
Translation to common, blog reader (not writer), English please: “Mine (not the US card) was all the same other than one card has 0% BT and one had a positive return of 1% if you do a BT- clearly better.”
OHHHH…BT == Balance Transfer. Anyone doing this hobby who needs to use a BT is an idiot. And I never use that word. 🙂
Either an idiot or very shrewd.
http://saverocity.com/finance/monetization-of-0-balance-transfers-for-an-interest-free-loan-and-profit/
Maybe it’s shrewd or maybe it’s a time-consuming headache with many possible mistakes, all for very little (IMO) payback. Good luck to those who try it…not worth it for vast majority of us.
Hey, maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but at least it’s different- you didn’t understand the concept and now you do.
And that post has links to cards that I don’t have affiliates to.
Plus, when it scales up to say, 100k what do you think then?
People were doing thins like this about 10 years ago and holding interest free loans around 500k and paying off mortgages for free, or earning 4% interest on the funds for $20k a year profit.
I never wrote that I didn’t understand the concept; it was your post in this thread (with references to “BT”) that was not clear.
Sure, when the spread is 4%, and you have a credit line of 100K, then it might be worth 4K a year (say, 3K after taxes). But this is NOT the case we are talking about, is it? Even for the 3% Navy Federal CU CD, we are talking about a $90 profit after one year. And that requires you opening up a checking account and doing direct deposit. AND it assumes you are already a NFCU member (or can find a way to join). Lots of hassle for very little payback.
This idea is too much work and, if people don’t follow all the rules to the letter, there is a big potential for a screw up. You point some of that out int he post, Matt, but I think you neglect to say that this is a lot of work to keep track of everything. OTOH, I move money around as per your Fidelity brokerage idea and this works extremely well for me (and my wife). 100K Miles (no taxes need to be paid on mile rewards!) every year, for doing very little work!
Hey Blue cat,
Sorry, couldn’t reply in thread format for some reason…
No, it is not 100K in that post. It is a concept, that works. Could it be 100K? Absolutely.
You did go out and say only an idiot would want to BT, but having seen this I would think that isn’t a fair comment.
You raise two fair points too:
1. How much work are you willing to do for miles and points – I think that is subjective. Personally I think I could set up this BT scheme with very little effort, but some people might think that effort is way too much for them. Your point about switching from Fid accounts is valid, but not everyone has 100K spare to do this with their own money, so perhaps Other Peoples Money would allow them skin in the game.
2. Should we as bloggers share concepts that have a high damage ratio if misunderstood ? I had a couple of ideas last week that I consider sharing, but am on the fence about now. To take that to the silly extreme should a conscious person even write about using cards in a positive manner, as I am sure that many readers go off half cocked and end up paying interest on the cards. Are we kidding ourselves that we are ‘gaming the system’ and are we doing damage?
I am struggling with these questions now, and have to find a way to write that fits into my own moral code.
Matt, Yeah, my “idiot” comment was specifically directed at people who NEED to do a balance transfer, not those trying to game the system. Sorry if you took offense…I did not read your post until another poster mentioned it.
In any case, as I wrote, I think those doing a balance transfer to “game the system” are working too hard and could potentially screw themselves, but, as you point out, that’s a subjective call. I myself have worked far too hard to get points sometimes and have to stop myself from wasting time, gas, and unneeded stress just for a few stupid points.
You’re right that bloggers are caught in a dilemma when better offers are made publicly available. It’s personal integrity versus making money. And some bloggers are refreshingly clear that they’ve chosen the latter.
The affiliate US Airways link, though, is clearly inferior, by at least $139 in benefits.
Non-aff: 35K at first purchase, no 1st year ann fee, 0% APR on BTs for 15 months, same travel benefits.
Aff at MV/VGP: 30K at first purchase, $89 ann. fee, 0% APR on BTs for 12 months, chance to do a BT for up to $10K for one mile per dollar, at cost of 3%, same travel benefits.
So bloggers stand to make whatever they make off the affiliate link and
newbiessuckerstheir readers lose out by over $139.I’d actually like to see a defense that the affiliate link provides a better offer, if anyone has it.
Thanks Harvson3 glad I’m not a total idiot :).
Now, another thing to consider: bloggers aren’t given all the details of their offer either.
To get the details they have to click their own link (very frowned upon as it influences stats) and then compare to the market.
I only found out my card offer wasn’t as good by setting up a incognito page and reading the T&Cs. Again – the affiliate is not helping the situation and it requires integrity to work.
“Now, another thing to consider: bloggers aren’t given all the details of their offer either.
To get the details they have to click their own link (very frowned upon as it influences stats) and then compare to the market.”
This just is not credible. In a world with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and threats of massive fines for misleading credit card marketing, the card issuers ABSOLUTELY want you to understand the offers you’re pimping.
If you don’t fully understand the offers you promote that is truly disgraceful, and you should not pass them on to your readers. Shame.
Huh? I’m just telling you the truth- what’s not credible about that?
I’m telling you the system in place doesn’t encourage exactly what you are saying and that I break the rules to find the truth.
Where’s the shame pointed at?
“I actually think its really unfair on the blogger to face these better offers.”
VFTW and Lucky and I think even Mommy Points manage to write about best offers only and do just fine.
That it’s tough to make money when affilaite links aren’t the best offer, “the affiliate company and my deep desire for cash made me do it” just is not persuasive.
No one requires any blogger to fleece their readers, to do this full-time, or to live the lifestyle that’s only supported by hiding information from readers. If you make make it work, GET A JOB.
My point, that perhaps you missed? Is that the affiliate networks are creating this environment, and forcing the blogger into a conflicting moral decision.
Blogging costs money and takes time, there is nothing wrong with monetizing it, to offset these things. but there is something very wrong with knowingly lying to the readers.
Once bloggers start losing their integrity it becomes hard to be honest and still be able to monetize.
The problem with some of the bloggers you just mentioned is that some posts are clearly written for the purpose of trying to get more affiliate income. How many times every week wee see a “Top 5….” or “Top 10…” or “Why is the Chase ……. card one of the best?” from VFTW.
Why is that a problem? Sometimes there’s good content anyway, sometimes I just skip those. As long as there’s disclosure and only best offers, doesn’t bother me if they put up posts that might.. shudder.. generate income. I have bigger things to be Angry about.
This has been the BEST comment exchange in the history of my blog! VERY educational, THANK YOU TO ALL!
I am thinking of copying and pasting this exchange and making it a separate blog post because I want my readers to read and learn.
If just one of you has a problem with it, I will NOT. And yes I will include a link to Saverocity’s site, I think he earned it for giving the perspective of a blogger who tries to do the right thing and the inherent conflicts that come with this “job”. These are the decisions that haunt me and I avoid by….continuing to review blogs until something forces my hand:-)
Fine by me – I’m happy to share a peek inside the rabbit hole. I gotta say thus far my experience with affiliates has been sketchy to say the least.
Last week commission junction (CJ), which runs other affiliate programs, primarily non cards informed me that my account was closing down due to inactivity (I had no links to actually ‘push’ with them in the first place so no sales were happening)
I asked them to give me some links that were actually valuable to promote (IE actually offered a good signup bonus to the consumer), they suggested that I apply for any old program that wasn’t attractive, but was easily available and ‘buy through my own link’ in order to keep things in good order…
Makes you wonder…
Am new-ish to the miles/points world and found your blog yesterday. I’m loving it! Keep it up, I’m looking forward to reading more!
Thank you Jen, I appreciate the kind words. TBB’s mission is to “Entertain. Inspire. Educate”. Or at least one of them three well, I always aim high:-)
Today’s TPG Paris hotel reviews features great toilet bowl pictures (didn’t they get the TBB memo to cease and desist on this)? Always good bathroom info at this site lately.
The few times I took a hotel bathroom pic I avoided the toilet because I thought of you:-)
I would much prefer hotel toilet photos over post-marathon foot and toe photos!
Oh no, sounds equally gross:-) Unless it’s one of them fancy Japanese toilets perhaps lol.
For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure that having a man scrub my female friends was pretty atypical of hamams, as was the fact that all of us were sharing the same facilities. But it’s perhaps something to make clear prior to getting naked 🙂
A Turkish man scrubbing your female friends has made Mrs. TBB (she is a devoted reader!) totally non receptive to this hamam thing. Thanks buddy:-)
Not that Very Good Points had much credibility left after defending Mr. Pickels, but it seems that she’s decided to discard whatever remained.
After such high-minded sanctimonious announcements as these:
and
I guess she’s come to the conclusion that a flexible definition of virtue is preferable to missing out on credit card commissions.
And not content with just being a hypocrite, she’s has gone even lower and jettisoned here integrity too by pimping her readers with an inferior credit card offer.
She should quit making such a sad spectacle of herself and just give up blogging and go away.
Ouch. Tough stuff Mr. Karma!
I made a comment above on this and I stand by it. There is no doubt in my mind that the founders of F2B started their venture with great intentions. I think the reality of online publishing and our little travel miles/points niche is…just brutal without the influx of the affiliate cc income. I have learned a lot about this space in almost 9 months of blogging. And I learn every day still. The day I stop learning and not having fun it is time to…retire and stick with my real job:-)
This is my little voice expressing my thoughts in the wilderness. It’s better therapy than my therapist sessions…I cant’ afford her anymore. Besides, there are so many blog posts to review I don’t have time to visit her anymore:-)
I must admit pumping that clearly inferior offer clearly crosses a line. I would totally understand if it was the Ink Bold or Plus because, gosh darning, they are worth it:-)
If you start a miles/points blog to make money, you shouldn’t be here.
And I disagree about how our niche is brutal without the influx of affiliate cc income. Just look at you and me.
Of course, you hint at working with Flex everyday!
You are a student, you do not have many obligations…yet:-)
As you get older, you have more responsibilities and…obligations. Your TIME becomes more precious and valuable. You have tradeoffs!
What bothers me the most is I am in the red for 4 figures. I do not like LOSING hard cash. I am okay with my time, it is my own choice. But losing cash ON TOP…just bothers me a lot! It’s the principle of it all!
The niche I chose is indeed time consuming. After almost nine months doing it for free…it is exhausting and taking time away from more valuable things in my life. At the same time, it has been very emotionally rewarding, very educational and quite fun even as I continue whining about it:-)
Folks who got into this game purely to make money grab the affiliate links as soon as they can grab them (or as soon as they get their MMS Interview done lol). Readers have the final say on everything. I do not want to become the cc pump machine. As Saverocity mentioned, if you do not pump, they make the links away. Now if that is NOT brutal, I don’t know what is. I am NOT a pumper,I can tell you that. So, is there a way to stay in the game and continue to provide an entertaining/inspirational/educational read and continue to devote all this time & perhaps more money? I doubt it…When is the breaking point? I don’t know! I am a glutton for punishment, that’ s for sure, like to test my internal pain limits haha.
So…I keep going until God gives me a sign of my next move. It will be one of the following:
-Internet Brands make me an offer I can not refuse (please ALL LOL at me now!!!!)
-Family gives me the ultimatum (been very supportive so far, always been a little quirky and obsess about certain things, this is my latest obsession!)
-Get a whiz intern who works for free to take care of all the techie stuff to allow me to breath & focus on reviews/content
-Give up some ownership/control & partner with a sharp person who will monetize the site the way I WANT (no inferior cc offers EVER…over my body!!!) to allow me to breath & focus on reviews/content
-Invitation by an aggregator with clear benefits to me!
-Me doing it on my own, plowing along & doing what I can…slowly building the site…in other words, continue what I have been doing it and taking it day by day lol.
-Completely changing the focus of the site away from blog reviewing and commenting to…something else that will not be as time consuming. But it will not be the same…definitely. Might as well give it up then….I just can’t just slap something together as many bloggers do (we call if fluff or filler material) and then have the cojones to assault readers with sleek placements of affiliate links. Just not my cup of tea.
I like your Pay what you want approach. But in life it is probably not a good idea to compete on price in anything.
Thanks for making me think out loud more and for reading and taking the time to comment.
George
I would rather see your blog die out quickly and gracefully than have you mutate to become “one of them”. We will all have a good memory (for a short time at least) of what you did here.
Almost 9 months is quite a long time:-)
Do you consider the way Frequent Milers continues to do what he does as being “one of them”? I can assure you if he could not earn a living doing what he does he would be looking for a real job and we all would not enjoy reading his content!! There are a few others who do it the right way or, for the most part, appear to do an honest job going about it! You HAVE NO IDEA how much work this blogging thing is, NO IDEA! If I knew then what I know now I would have NEVER started it, seriously. I had a very comfortable non stressful life in my preblog era. Now I have my readers I do not want to let down and abandon them. But the current way of doing things is, well, quite suicidal if you know how much time I spend on this baby. Seriously!
I see it as a journey…and, oh boy, has it been quite a learning experience!
Based on the feedback I got at the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO (shockingly 100% positive—well mostly, there was one blogger who left after the first meeting after he found out I was TBB lol) they want me to keep doing what I am doing…This is what I am doing…I need to do some soul searching canoeing in Lake Louise and feeding some elk:-)
I see your point about it taking way too much time. But how does turning it into a business make it take less time? Right now, you can keep it sloppy and you can even dial it back a little because we have no strong expectation. (Well, you *do* set some high expectations with all your responses to these posts…)
No offense to you at all (because I like what you do) but what do you think your niche will be in the blog world once you “go pro”? Do you want to continue to be The Critic, and The Guy Who Points To Cool Stuff He Found, and the Guy With a Good Sense of Humor ? Do you think people will “reward” you (by following your links) for doing that sort of thing, or will they reward those guys that turn out something original that they can use for earning or burning? Even Delta Points has a really good niche and I know to search his blog if I have questions about his area of expertise.
To answer my own question, though, yes, I would use some of your links. Right now, so many bloggers have soured me on them, though, that I “go direct” to the banks when I can.
Good luck. I know you are in over your head. (You should always have an exit strategy for anything you get into, or buy, though. Unless you love it, in which case you should not worry about the money)
I want to keep it EXACTLY the way it is and keep focusing on my blog review niche and the dude who finds some cool stuff and keep it as funny as I can!!
I have people telling me they will reward me (including you!) simply because they like what I am doing and are enjoying the blog and, like you, so many have soured on most of the bloggers. But that initial work I need to do appears to be too much for me and I just keep going back to doing my thing…reviewing blogs:-) Maybe it’s a mental block I have. You know, all the talk about selling out and stuff:-)
I do not run a traditional business in my real job. I have always been a little bit “out there”. I still have the rebellious phuck the system/establishment blood in me and I have turned down a lot of money simply because I would have to adjust/compromise my way of doing things. Maybe this is the fear that is blocking me!!! If I was out for the money I would have jumped on it a long time ago!! I am not even close because…I am an idiot. I had a reader asking me if I am a Communist lol!!!!
I laid out my Plan B strategy earlier in the comments with ideal Plan B is to have Internet Brands buy me out:-) I bet my retirement fund that this is not going to happen anytime soon lol.
I am laying out all here bluecat. It is like therapy to me. I do not say I love it. But I can assure you if I did not derive some benefit from it (clearly not monetary so far!!) I would still not be doing it.
And so on and on it goes…
Thanks for reading and coming along for the journey. To infinity and beyond:-)
To answer your question I’ve been blogging quite a bit and my out of pocket cost was around … $90. I did the original design (before the move to BA) myself, and all i paid for was $10 for hosting.
Glad to say I’ve picked up 10,000 AMEX points from a referral so far. :/
Holy Crap..3 minutes of my life wasted…..7/21 FTG>>>> How To Make a 5-Tier Wedding Cake During a Monsoon in Africa……………..I have to really kick myself lately when I click on the FTG’s D.I.Y. post’s there. I have to kick myself for clicking on the site at all. Note to self delete FTG from your daily Blog searches. Replace with Travel With Grant. Just kidding. Replace with ______, Buzz fill in the blank for me.
Speaking of Grant, and you know I love to. He won a couple of days at the Maui Andaz courtesy of Hack my Trip. I know this kid comments everywhere like a mad scientist…. but…..Me thinks the fix was in on this contest. Will he have money to eat in Wailea? It’s pricey for even those of us who have worked all out lives. He should check with Fientist for help.
Your mind works like mine;-)
I do laugh a lot and your comments here almost always contribute to that. Muchas gracias senor! If we ever meet Ribs on me:-)
It was a different Grant that won the Andaz stay…and yes, the Grant that won has money to eat in Wailea…
TBB, would you feel better about the money it is costing you if you start thinking of it as your hobby? Or intellectual sport? Look at all the money people spend on stamp collecting or golf clubs or CDs or figurines or whatever floats their boat. Maybe just figure every hobby has a cost and forget the monetizing piece.
Great comment exchange~!
What is a normal amount of time people devote to a hobby DAILY?
I used to have more hobbies. I don’t after TBB now:-)
My life would be a lot simpler if the &^$$& affiliate companies all went away and I only had 1/10 of the blogs to review…no, 1/20th of the insane number of blogs in existence now (and no end in sight).
A person attending the DO asked me about a blog (as many do these days as I have become Mr. Ebert of blogs–most are thumbs down, waaaay down lol) and I encouraged him to start it because it is a great niche. But I also warned him that this is VERY time consuming. You are either cut out for it or you are not.
The key is how to do it and still keep up the credibility and respect of the community and continue the mission of the blog. I think doing it in a separate tab and CONTINUING doing what I am doing without constantly pimping myself MAY be a way to do it. Or, if nobody clicks on them, they take them away and that’s that. I SHOULD try that and many friends have been AFTER ME to do it and that I am a complete idiot (valid perhaps) for NOT doing it yet. Well, I need to research it, I need the web design skills, I need freaking disclosures all over the site and got to put them up. But that takes away from, you know, the mission of reviewing blogs and trying to entertain/educate/inspire my readers…and I feel like cheating you all if I research that monetizing stuff instead of focusing on the content. And on and on it goes…nearing 9 months.
Now…if I could ever finish that darn Norway trip report for crying out loud:-)
Man, VGP is killing me. I gave her a pass when she couldn’t figure out buying the right VRs. It can happen to someone who doesn’t keep up on this stuff.
But then she is pushing an affiliate link that is clearly inferior. Huge no-no. Then she tries to rationalize it as buying 40k miles for $300, which anyone with sense would immediately dismiss. Even Milevalue has enough sense to call bollocks.
And then…. she talks about buying restaurant.com give certificates ($25 cert for 500 United miles) that regularly sell for $4 so her miles don’t expire. So you’re basically getting 0.8 cents per United mile… which anyone knows is horrible. And yes, she had other options (some of which were also equally bad). Luckily Howie chimed in in the comments and tried to talk sense into her by transferring a UR point in to keep the miles from expiring.
Sometimes it’s just painful….
It is…
@ Majikow
Have you seen VGP’s latest?
In her post she includes 4 Plink affiliate links, only one of which will earn the reader the 1K points she writes about (the 1K points can be exchanged for a $10 gift card from 7-11) The other links will earn her a commission, but won’t earn the reader squat.
Deals We Like calls her out on it and reminds VGP that her personal affiliate link won’t earn the reader the bonus. VGP updated her post but only lamely mentions that one link will earn a bonus, and never makes it very clear to the reader that the other links will not.
It’s obfuscation bordering on outright deception.
She’s proved that she can’t be trusted. It’s Reader Beware over at VGP
You must be angry? 😉
You might consider putting up a ‘donation jar’ or a ‘tips link’ or whatever — so that your fans and people who love your blog can choose to pass you a few dinero in recompense for the laughs and links you provided. Rather than WORKING (affliate links, sales copy, etc.) for payment for your work: open it up, make it *easy* for us — and see if we come through! *I* would certainly send you some beer money (or “server” money) for the pleasure you bring me. Then there is no quandary about pushing cards and selling your soul (or lesser card offers)!
Thanks for the kind words. I considered that but from the research I have done this model just does not work. And I feel like begging for beer money:-)
Still searching to find a way and keep my life sane:-)