Making Money

Revisiting the Boards: On Segmentation

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A lot of PPP’ers have had problems with segmentation‘s arrival. While it’s more than likely a good thing overall for advertisers in general, and bloggers in general. I wonder if there’s another side to segmentation, that hasn’t been explored as much. In other words, is segmentation a sword that cuts BOTH ways, for both advertisers and bloggers?

For advertisers they get more focused postings, perhaps from higher rated blogs than before. But they may no longer get a breadth of postings from different kinds of blogs: is that good or not? E.g. you may have a blog tool that you want different postings from, but because of segmentation, you only get bloggers posting about tech stuff or web stuff…MyHTML1

For myself as a blogger, I realized that since segmentation has come, I’ve started segmenting my own opps much more carefully. I guess this is something we all did from the beginning, actually.

It’s odd: I used to post more PPP than I do now. In fact, now I’m much more selective than I used to be. Days can go by without my posting a PPP opp now, though I post twice or more on my blog most days.

In fact, this is (for me) my own form of segmentation in fact.

  1. I don’t do opps that don’t fit well, even though they are in my category and pay WELL.
  2. I don’t do opps that require too much (unless it fits really well).
  3. I don’t do opps that pay poorly (200 words for $5). I don’t chase the more popular opps (no more multiple clicking on opps for me).
  4. I resubmit opps that have problems quickly, UNLESS the problems can’t be fixed. In that case, I remove the post.
  5. I don’t do opps that have websites that don’t work, look sloppy, look like scams, (and these are the ones allowed by PPP!), sell snake oil like products (you know what I mean!), or opps that would likely have a negative effect on my blog or its PR ranking (this is very open!) (I have a finance blog).
  6. I no longer do opps that repeat often, even if they are from different advertisers, I can only do SO many posts about credit cards and loans.

Since I began blogging I have kept the basic stats about the number of posts, price, and so on. Reviewing my stats this month, I was quite surprised at how segmentation has changed my blogging.

The numbers tell an interesting story by themselves (apart from Sept.). The more I blog, the less money I got per post. In Dec, I did 27 posts, but in Feb. I only did about 55% of that number, yet I achieved a markedly higher return per post, despite the total dipping. In March (to 28th) I only took 12 opportunities, that is the lowest number since I joined except for October, but I earned nearly $12.50 per post on average. In addition, with my blog, I was able to earn additional revenue through Blogsvertise and private postings that came my way.

As I expected, it seems with PPP segmentation, plus my own, I’m becoming more careful in which posts I take, preferring to take higher paid postings when possible, not worrying about taking $5 opps much now. Result: a more efficient return on the time spent.

However, I don’t know if that was PPP’s intention or not. But it has clarified my own intentions regarding the program: to cut the number of times I post, to cut my dependency on PPP somewhat, and to try to take the better paying opps. Perhaps PPP’s intention is to help bloggers who would post sporadically rather than bloggers who post opps 2 or 3 times a day on the same blog (I’m guessing).

However, PPP’s success is solely dependent on the bloggers’ goodwill who make up the ranks. For most bloggers, it is NOT a full-time job posting opps for PPP. Therefore their requirements can’t be too onerous as it will drive away the contractors and/or it will drive up the price (see above).

A blogger wondering where it’s all heading… Could it be just a mirage of white elephants stampeding towards Shangri-La? Comments, please!

TLA: my site under review?

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With my recent review of TLA, I was quite thrilled that I earned some money from some good sponsors. It really helped to encourage my blogging! But I logged in today, and noted that my site was ‘under review’. I tried to re-register the site but the system wouldn’t let me do it. I’ve written for support, now.

Hope it’s just a glitch in the system. I loved the simplicity of TLA and the hassle free installation and operation. Most likely, the removal is because the blog dropped from PR5 to PR4, though traffic has been rising. In the meantime, I’ve disabled their plugin and removed the widget from the left-hand sidebar.

Kenneth

Group ISO’s Merchant Accounts: Best for larger operators!

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For online business, having a merchant account is not just a luxury, but an essential. Many online businesses used to use Paypal, but there has been a lot of controversy caused by Paypal’s handling of merchants, including the freezing of accounts with suspicious activity.

So, having a merchant account would allow legitimate online sellers access to credit card facilities, with considerably less risk to their business from credit card fraud, mishandling by Paypal and virtual scams run by other less ‘reputable’ online payment services (cough)Stormpay(cough).

I have looked at Global Payment Services in this article, and I’ll review them from the perspective of my own website. In other words, could a blog or website that offers services like mine does find a Merchant Account like theirs of value.

Actually, the answer is an equivocal yes. Why do I equivocate on such an issue like this?

The upside:

  1. An internet based terminal will allow small bloggers and merchants like us to accept credit card transactions, until recently though the costs have been quite high. If you are likely to generate an increasing amount of sales from your website or small business, you might find their rates attractive.
  2. Many smaller merchants, especially stores, would like to offer a mixed mode for shopping, to compete with the likes of Wal-Mart (who offer online/offline shopping). This service would allow you to accept orders in a variety of ways, over the internet, through a call center, in a store, etc..
  3. The online nature of their system should allow you to manage the entire credit card transactions from anywhere in the world that connect using a standard web browser! So that’s ideal for small retailers who have no ‘fixed’ abode! Or who live in an island paradise!
  4. They offer a shopping cart system with coupons and discounts, amongst other features. I don’t know if the cart integrates with the like of Zencart or OSCommerce yet! I’ll post if I find out!
  5. For online newsletters and regular publications, you’ll need a recurring billing option to enable subscription based services: memberships, subscriptions, newsletters, etc.
  6. And, last but not least, you will need support both from anti-fraud software and systems, as well as help and advice from the help desk. Fraud is serious, much more serious in some industries than in others, so you need to make sure you’re covered in that respect!

The downside:

  1. For really small operators, websites and retailers, the regular nickel and dime charging that Group ISO use may be frustrating. If you are uncertain that your order level will reach sufficient volume, you may not wish to pay regular standing charges, in addition to the transaction fees.
  2. Given the concerns over money laundering, their registration requires a voided check, a legible driver license, a business license, and some kind of product information. Naturally, this will protect both them, their banks, your bank, and your business, in the long run. But for a really small operator, some of these may be difficult to come by if you are just starting out. Though registration is quick typically, you may wish to use this service once you are more established, and have an idea of your order catalog, your sales levels, etc..
  3. It seems targeted to physical goods, rather than electronic goods. If you are into selling software, e-books, etc. you will need to inquire if these products are acceptable. Some merchant account operators may turn their noses up at such products, because of the level of charge backs and fraud that permeate these businesses.

Overall, I would use them if my volume of sales exceeded about US$1000 per month. I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting Paypal handle that much money!

Disclosure for this Post
I’m writing this review for them, though it is not paid. I initially accepted the Review from ReviewME, but was forced to decline the review because it coincided with a major holiday weekend here, and so I couldn’t make the deadline.