Bits and Pixels accepted at PayPerPost!

Bits and Pixels has been accepted at PayPerPost, a paid blog reviews site! I've been hearing about all these people who earn a ton of money from their blogs, and I really wanted to start earning some money too so I could help my parents pay the bills.

So I signed up with a few paid-to-post sites, but my blog has not been accepted yet because it either doesn't get enough traffic or it's page rank is too low (Google hasn't assigned me a page rank yet). I also signed up on Social Spark, but my blog wasn't accepted because apparently I had too many sponsored posts, when in fact this post is actually my first sponsored post! I have resubmitted my blog, but they take a while to answer, and so I thought I'd sign up with PayPerPost in the meantime.

PayPerPost is owned by the same company as Social Spark, so I thought I'd have to wait a while for a response from them too, but they actually answered me the very next day! Granted, it was to reject my blog, but it was still an answer :P This time the reason was because my posts are truncated, and advertisers want their posts fully visible on the front page.

Now, I had decided to truncate my posts for three good reasons:

1. To make my blog faster to load. This helps especially when there are images in my posts.
2. So my readers could find posts that interest them faster and more easily.
3. To keep accurate statistics of which posts are the most read. This is also needed for the "Popular Posts" plugin I'm using.

I wrote back to them explaining why I truncate my posts, and asking if it would be okay if I left just the advertisers' posts full-length, and they sent me an email the next day agreeing. So far PayPerPost is the paid-to-post site with the most prompt customer service!

Something else I like about PayPerPost is that advertisers can also specify the tone in which the post must be written (positive, neutral, etc.), so bloggers can choose whether they agree or not. I have often wondered if certain posts I read on other blogs are sponsored, because they sound fake and positive, with no objective comments. This makes me trust the blogger less, so I'm glad I won't have to do that to earn from my blog. If that was the only way then I don't think I'd do it.

However, there aren't many opportunities I can take, because my blog hasn't been assigned a page rank yet. I would also prefer to only take opportunities that my readers would be interested in reading about. Hopefully I will get a page rank soon, and then I can take more offers!

With my first payment, I think I will buy a new domain name so I can start a personal blog - I often have things to post about, but I can't because they have nothing to do with Bits and Pixels! :P

So stick around or subscribe to my RSS feed, and I'll let you know when my new blog is up and running! ;)

Bloggers at risk

Bloggers and other people who use computers all day, whether for work or play, run a risk of injuring themselves or getting headaches. Yesterday I woke up with a terrible migraine - a result, I think, of working too much on the computer.

I often switch on my Mac to check my mail as soon as I wake up, and then start using the computer after I've finished my chores, but sometimes even while I'm eating breakfast. I then use the computer practically all day long - posting on my blogs, gathering info for the posts, dropping Entrecards, entering contests, and looking for ways to earn money. Then there's always making graphics, reading ebooks, and I could go on and on - there's just so much to do!

So yesterday I woke up with this terrible migraine, and any light made it worse - when I switched on the computer the pain immediately spiked up and I even felt nauseous. I tried to bear it because I had to fix up my new blog, but after a few minutes I had to give up and go lie down again.

But headaches are not the only things bloggers are risking - RSI is also a common problem with people who work on computers all day. My uncle even had to get his arms operated, because they had become almost unusable from the pain - he is now slowly starting to regain strength in them.

I bought an application called "MacBreakZ 4" to help prevent RSI - it monitors my keyboard and mouse activity and warns me when I'm putting myself at risk. It also pops up a window periodically with exercises for me to do that should help prevent RSI. The problem is, I often get irritated by it and switch it off! Then after a few hours I start feeling pain in my arms and I switch it on again, but I really have to learn to leave it on all the time and take breaks when it tells me to.

How much time do you spend in front of the computer every day? And do you do anything to prevent yourself from getting headaches, burning eyes, or RSI? Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your answers!

Prizes I won in June 2008

To everyone who never enters contests because they don't think they'll win: if you don't enter, you can be sure you won't win! Since I started my blog I've run across many contests with great prizes, and often the only requirement to enter is subscribing to the blog via email! I haven't won any of the BIG prizes yet, but I have won a ton of Entrecard points and quite a few high quality WordPress themes.

I'd like to send out a big thank you to all the sites that held these contests, and to all the sponsors that donated the prizes! Here's what I've won since about the beginning of June, when I started entering these contests:

• PhotoshopStar contest
  Blog Perfume - Blubs theme
• Entreblast - 554 EC
• BloggerJesse - 2050 EC
• WPThemeDesigner contest
  WPelements - TV.Elements theme
• Blog Premiere contest
  PowerTheme - MagPress theme
  PremiumThemes - Ecstasy theme
• Rockfuse - 3100 EC

Thanks to all of you, I really appreciate the prizes! As you can see, I'm using the Blubs theme on Bits and Pixels, and I'll be using the two themes I won in the Blog Premiere contest on blogs I'll be opening soon (subscribe to my RSS feed to stay updated!). The TV.Elements theme, on the other hand, will have to wait a while before I can use it - I have some great ideas for a video blog, but I'll need a camcorder first! :P

The Entrecard credits will also be very useful for promoting Bits and Pixels and my other new blogs once they're up and running. I have also donated 1000 EC to Entreblast's "Summer Credit Splash" contest that will be starting soon, with at least 20,000 EC up for grabs!

What you don't know can hurt you

A couple of weeks ago I clicked a link to a blog post that was announcing a contest with some absolutely fantastic prizes - and almost hit the back button! The reason? The content of the post was written in huge, red writing - even bigger than the title of the post! Not only was it ugly, but to read the whole post you had to scroll and scroll and keep on scrolling down the page.

It was reminiscent of those pages you find all over the net trying to sell you the secret to becoming a millionaire, and my first impression was that the blogger either didn't know what he was doing, or that his blog was a scam. The only reason I stopped myself from immediately leaving the site was because I had read the list of prizes on the referring blog, and I had nothing to lose by entering the contest.

So I subscribed to his blog to enter the contest, and was pleasantly surprised by the posts I received in my inbox. So I went back to his site and looked around, and found it was full of useful info on the blog's subject. This guy obviously knew his stuff, so why the horrible design? Couldn't he see how bad it was?

A few days later I was checking the contest post again to find out how many entries everyone else had, but this time in Firefox - I  have no idea what made me use Firefox that day, as I greatly prefer Safari. And surprise surprise, the text was now black and the usual size! It turns out that there was an error in the code of his theme, just a </h2> after the post title instead of </h1>. The page was a mess in Safari, but the blogger didn't know it because he hadn't tested his blog in different browsers. I don't know how long he had that layout, but he probably lost a whole lot of potential readers because of that one little mistake.

So the moral of the story is, always check your websites in as many browsers as you can - and if you can't check them in the browsers like Internet Explorer or Safari because you don't have the right operating system, then use an online service like BrowserShots, which will show you a screenshot of what your site looks like in the different browsers. Remember to check not only your homepage, but your other pages and individual posts as well.

Laptops shock barefoot users

The other day I was typing on my MacBook Pro when suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my wrist. I got a huge fright, but I didn't know what it was so I just carried on typing. Then it happened again, and when I cautiously touched the casing of my Mac with my hand, I felt an uncomfortable tingle.

I did a search on Google to find out why my Mac was suddenly emitting shocks, and found many results not only for MacBooks but other laptops as well. They were all complaining about getting shocked while their laptops were charging - apparently it's a common problem with the grounding, and can be fixed by using a grounded plug.

But I was only getting shocked when my MacBook wasn't charging. I wondered what I was doing that day that was different from every other day I had used my Mac and never got shocked, and then I realized it - I was barefoot! Sure enough, if I lift my feet off the ground and touch my Mac I don't get shocked, and if I put them down again - zap! Click here to read a forum thread in which this problem is discussed.

I bought my Mac in the winter and have been wearing shoes all the time, so I only noticed the shocks now that it's summer and I go barefoot around the house. My Mac could have had this problem since the beginning :(

Does anyone else have the same problem?

P.S. If you're wondering why my little vetor portrait is a bit on the grey side, that's supposed to be ash from the "electrocution" :P

The Dream Job

Oh my gosh people! Check out this video:

A bunch of great prizes for bloggers

Blog Premiere is giving away a whole bunch of very useful prizes for bloggers! Check out these fantastic prizes: