I was talking to a friend today that I have been blogging for a long time now but have never networked. Most of my family members and friends do not even know of my blogs.

However, these couple of months, I have started to network and build backlinks by leaving comments on other blogs. I do read blogs but I am what people term as a lurker. Previously, it was not easy to make me leave a comment unless the post is so compelling that I feel the need to make my thoughts known.

Since I started networking, I have been acquainted with quite a few foreign bloggers and do drop by some blogs on a daily basis and leave comments as well because it is one thing to read but another to show support to the blogger by leaving an appropriate comment. Bloggers feed on comment count too, that was that I found out.

Recently, I got to know of a BenSpark contest which I find very interesting so I gave it four buzzes. Unexpectedly, Drew, the author of BenSpark, gave my blogs and my posts linkbacks. I was so surprised and touched. Like I said, I did not expect it and I did not even write my buzzes hoping for anything in return but Drew so kindly provided me with all the links. Thank you.

Bloggers are an amazing group of people!

I read in a forum that Blogathon is just around the corner. Last year, when I just started to go into blogging, I came to know of Blogathon for the first time. I was impressed that people would and could set aside twenty four long hours to blog. No doubt, it is in the name of charity but at the expense of sleep? I am not sure if it is worth it but from the reception, many people believe in the power of blogging.

This year, Blogathon starts on July 28, 6:00am Pacific time. I don’t know how many Malaysians will participate. Last year, I got to know of a few teams of people who took turns blogging on one blog. While that is commendable, I am more in awe of people who are going solo.

If it were me, I would run out of ideas, if I do not collapse from fatigue first! I think I am one of those who would rather contribute cash or kind to charitable bodies that I believe in rather than blog and wait for sponsors.

What about you? Do you plan to participate in Blogathon this year or some time in the future? While I would love to try it out, I don’t think I am committed enough to do it for 24 hours straight so I think this isn’t something I will ever do!

“Bloggers who write for PayPerPost also write for a host of other companies so you may want to make sure that the said opp is from the PayPerPost marketplace and not somewhere else because Trish explained that this is the way to go for LoudLaunch campaigns.

This may be the norm in the old days where the fastest submissions get the opps but after PayPerPost changed their system to allow a 30-minute window to write and submit an opp, I don’t think anyone is still as ignorant to do so. Long time posties will remember that Suni has a Blogger blog called Postie Patrol or something like that to “catch” violators. That was very effective in stopping people from repeating their mistake.

Moreover, now that there is a six-hour window (let’s not talk about the glitch of losing an opp before the time is up), there is no reason for anyone to cheat. Really, six hours is so long, check out the things that I could do within this time frame.

I would like to point out that publishing a post on our blog DOES NOT equal to a submission. Posties who have written opps like Wirefly would remember that we were asked to grab images of mobile phones from the advertiser’s website and upload them to our own server/blog and not hotlink the images.

With three to five images in the published post without the write up does not equal to a submission. We still have to write out the post and then submit. This goes for some other complex opps where we have to embed videos. Well, not all videos will work the first time round. So of course we would only know when we have it published. These are just a couple of examples.

I blog hop a lot and have come across many violators, the most rampant are bloggers who use sponsored posts from other marketplaces as interim posts, unless it is a Linky Love wedging post because Brett says so or publishing the same original posts (text, links, images and all) on two different blogs. When I come across the same posts on two different blogs, I get a sense of deja vu. My first reaction was, “If you can’t upkeep your blogs with original content, then don’t start so many.”

I let the blogger know by contacting him/her that someone has discovered such an issue. Who knows, maybe sometimes a blogger may have started writing a post on one blog and then the post took a different turn that the blogger feels that it is more appropriate to publish it on another blog and forgot to delete the first post.

My friend told me that I am making enemies for myself what with all the jealousy already on PayPerPost (just talk to any top earner this side of the globe), but then I think that hey, it is better for me to let them know in private so that they have to chance to rectify it than being reported by someone else for a genuine mistake. I am not bitchy enough to put sand into another person’s rice bowl after all we are all here to cari makan.

Anyway, I think by now bloggers who blog for pay (not only PayPerPost Posties) know that once they submit a post, the advertiser gets an instant email alert and should the advertiser come to a blank post, the blogger runs the risk of being banned, flagged and even booted out of the system entirely. I don’t think anyone would be THAT dumb!

The way to truly alert violators of their wrongdoing, if you want to give them a second chance, is to let them know in private and not sound a forewarning without even sure if the violators read your blog.”