Making it easy!

Hey, all, I’m just making another entry. Two in one week, isn’t that something?

I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve pretty much stopped using PPP. Google dropped my ranking to zero for having the sponsored posts. PPP didn’t allow “No Follow” tags, which left Google chewing up blogs with sponsored posts. I understand the need to prevent comment SPAM and unethical marketing practices, but I think they went too far.

I did, however, start using SocialSpark. They are a part of PPP’s parent company, Izea. Their ethics are a little bit higher, and they require links to be no follow. Now that I have my PR coming back up again, I’d hate for Google to knock me down, so this makes perfect sense. Anything that’s search engine friendly will generally help improve your page rankings overall, as long as you’re being honest and following the right practices.

But, anyway, check out some of the cool features. The first thing I checked out was the code of ethics. I really wanted to make sure I could make some posts and still keep my integrity. I really like the fact each individual post has a disclosure, rather than site wide. I don’t do a lot of sponsored posting, so site wide wasn’t right for me. Plus, the in post disclosure sets off the marketing, which some advertisers don’t like. I try to keep my integrity when blogging. Here’s a picture of their code of ethics.


It's a very nice touch that their user interface makes navigation and selection easy for everyone, regardless of technical skill. I was able to get the whole thing figured with relative ease. I haven’t gone over everything, but I know where to find opportunities, friends, and my account settings. A nice touch, if you ask me. Here’s a pic of the opportunities page, listing available opportunities.


The opportunities are nicely laid out. It’s simple to understand the offers, and they have help buttons to explain everything you need to know. And if an opportunity is booked, you can still put in to accept it, by selecting “Wait for a Slot.” That certainly helps me to choose the ones I like and have a chance to make a post. Here’s a screenshot of an opportunity.


The last feature I’ll mention is account management. I can access everything from one page to ensure my account is always they way I want it. Everything can be viewed from the one page, including previous opportunities, my profile, and I can manage the blogs I submit. I think that’s a nice feature. One last screenshot of that page here.

To sum it all up, SocialSpark is what I look for as a blogger for post sponsorship. They are easy, intuitive, and friendly. Sponsored posts have integrity and are transparent. All this and they are search engine friendly, too. If you’re looking into sponsorship, definitely click SocialSpark You won’t regret it, I haven’t.