Scarform’s Blog

Oct 29, 20071
Paid Blogging: Smorty

Lately, I’ve been covering a few spots on PayPerPost, mainly my disappointment with them. With that being said, I’d like to talk about another service called Smorty.

Smorty works in the same as way as PayPerPost - advertisers and bloggers are brought together in a marketplace for one purpose: to talk about products and services that people might not otherwise know about. They allow people who want to blog for money make that money writing their own unique articles.

These articles are then submitted into the system and upon review and acceptance, payment is given out on a weekly basis.

The process of submitting a post is fairly easy - campaigns are emailed to each user, who must then log in, accept what they would like to write about, and are then given three days to complete the assignment. Qualifications are few, the descriptions for the post short and to the point.

And while the marketplace seems small at first, I believe that given the right amount of time they will grow into a larger network, and more people will be able to get paid for blogging.

Recently, with the unveiling of Google’s backlash upon the internet, there have been multiple sides of the discussion over paid blogging coming from both sides of the field. High ranking sites, dropping from 7s to 5s in PR, and so-on. I’ve had my say on the pro-side for Google’s decision. Now I’m going to have my say on the con-side against Google.

Paid blogging is not going anywhere. Many people have pointed this out. Blogging itself is still a generally new market. Where people once thought un-profitable, many are finding a way to turn a profit. There are companies and people out there willing to front the funds to pay for unique advertising and there are people willing to write this advertising.

I don’t believe that dropping a websites PR is going to do any harm - if their PR was high enough to begin with, then that not only means they were doing something right, it means they have a solid readership and support community. And now matter how many places they fall in Page Rank, they will still have the same users, visitors, readers, and subscribers.

Smorty, among other companies that have ventured upon the field of blog advertising are not going anywhere soon. So long as there is a market, and there is a blogging community willing to write.

Oct 8, 20070
Home Improvement

Now I’d like to talk about Home Improvement (no, not the delightful show we all remember from the 90’s but actual home improvement.) If you’re going to buy resale homes or are just planning on improving the home you already rent or own, then this can be a big task to undertake without the proper knowledge and preparation.

It’s one that I’ve been through on a countless number of occasions. I’ve been volunteered (either by myself or by my friends) to help fix up a house, or an apartment, or a shed. Anything that needed help fixing, I was usually the one that somebody would come to. (My inability to ever say no to a friend was probably got me into a lot of these situations, but that’s another story.)

We would eventually get it done, but the point is, we would eventually get it done. We never planned, we never really prepared or really thought about how big the project was we were taking on, we just knew what we wanted the end result to be.

They say that “Knowledge is power“. (We definitely needed a little more power.)

When taking on projects like this, it’s always important to plan and know what you are doing. Knowing what you want the end result to be is a helping hand, but it will not make things happen. Only your ability to do the tasks required will do this.

Doityourself.com is a free community, filled with loads of resources for just this kind of undertaking. A place to find helping hands in your projects. It even offers dvds to help, which would come as a great visual aid to any project!

With over 100 topics and forums on Do It Yourself projects, there really is no excuse to let the project you start fall apart before you can even finish.

This has been a sponsored post.

Oct 5, 20070
Raleigh in the Fall

Impressionistic art, voyages of the 1850’s, natural sciences, night clubs, performing arts, and more. These are but a few things that you can find in the hidden treasure that is Raleigh, North Carolina.

Mysteries of the Lost Colony, an exhibit found in Raleigh, examines England’s first view of America, focusing on more than 70 watercolors made by John White on the voyages to Virginia (now North Carolina) in the 1580s, and is the being shown for the first time in over 40 years, in its entirety, outside of England. Also on exhibit are items from the 16th-century that are related to the watercolors, and a look at 70 years of history, which includes an outdoor live-drama entitled “The Lost Colony”.

You can register to win a FREE Raleigh Getaway, which will include:

One night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley
$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

Some places to consider visiting while on your Fall Getaway could include the NC Shakespeare Festival, featuring “The Comedy of Errors”. Other performances apart from the Shakespeare Festival include “The Marriage of Figaro” (performed by The Opera Company of North Carolina accompanied by the N.C. Symphony), “A Few Good Men”, and “The Man of La Mancha”.

Also in the fall, “Tyler Perry’s What’s Done in the Dark”, and the Broadway performance of “Mama Mia!”.

There’s also the Capital City Bike Fest, hosted by drag racing legend Ray Price!

There is so much more to do in the fall in Raleigh than I have been able to go into! So what are you waiting for? Visit, learn, and register to win a free trip to this amazing city.