Do You #Wahooly?

Social Media sites come and go like 90's hair-fads these days, but one new website caught my eye recently.

It's called Wahooly, and promises you a piece of the pie for hundreds of startups in the coming year.  The way it works (in theory) is you as a blogger/tweeter use your influence to promote a company.  In turn, this company gives you a stake in the profits.

This includes Wahooly itself.  They offered 25,000 spots for people to split a 5% profit share in the company.  Yes, that means that I'm only getting 2-ten-thousandths of a percent, but that means I get $100 for every 20 million this company makes.

Not a lot of cash, no.  But I'm not exactly putting 40+ hours a week into this.

Their goal is to show followers about 200 startups in 2012.  The design will be similar:  Use your influence to promote the startup, and get a piece of the profit pie.

Is this going to make a lot of people rich?  Maybe, maybe not.  But it seems like a novel idea.  The internet seems to fuel the modern world these days, so why not try to tap into that power?  And why not reward those who help make you successful?

Imagine if Facebook did this long long ago...

I'm not sure if there are any spots left, but give Wahooly a look.  I received my invite due to a high(ish) Klout score, so there may be some criteria to get in.  Regardless, money is money.  Check it out.

And if you see a lot of Twitter-spamming coming from me about @TeamWahooly, you'll know why.

So you blog to make money, eh?

If so, you have probably heard of (or used) Google's Adsense Program.

Well, there are good and bad experiences with it, if you ask the blogging masses...

If you're new to the whole "I'm gonna use ADSENSE and blog to make MILLIONS!  YAAAY!" I have news for you.  If you don't do your homework, you're not going to make any money.

And if you are too good, and make too much too soon, google will END YOU, like they did me (more on that below).

Here is an awesome infographic I found from Wordstream:

Source

If you're going to do it, do it right.  Optimize your site for maximum search traffic.  Advertise on blogs (like mine) to gain more viewers and followers.  And if you're blogging purely for the money, pick a topic that will yield a high cost-per-click (see above graphic).  Use social media to your advantage (remember my Stumbleupon post??  Yeah, like that) and keep growing as much as you can.

If you blog about everything, your ads are going to be about everything.  Google has tools that let you focus your ad material on more relevant topics, but be careful:  If they think you're playing their system, they can shut you off without notice.

I started blogging in January.  By the end of February, I had enough traffic to net me $10-20 a day via adsense.  About 1.5% of my viewers were clicking ads, and I was making roughly $0.78 per click.  It added up, and my first check from Google was almost $200.  They eventually cut me off (without reason, just "we decided to end your account") but it was fun while it lasted.

Most other advertising sites don't have the same monetary yield as google, so focus on adsense if you can.  Blogher's ads look like they may be decent, but I'm not going to go down that pathway again.  (and I hear Blogher is very VERY picky about who they let in...)

For those of you with adsense success stories, feel free to share them by commenting below.  I'm sure newer people to the game would appreciate it...

...oh, and have I mentioned you can advertise on my blog?  You know, just in case I hadn't already...

Love what you do, and make money doing it.

I'm always looking for ways to flex my entrepreneurial muscles.  If I can find a way to do something I like, and make money doing it, I'm going to jump at the chance.

For example, I started blogging because it was a good way to vent about my current situation.  When I found out I could make a little sidecash by placing ads on my site, I gave it a shot.  After a month of blogging, I got a check for almost $130.  I was stoked.  Ads are in limbo right now, which I may play around with this weekend, but I still love blogging for blogging's sake.

Another thing I love doing is graphic design.

A logo I designed for a graphics design business.
IF I ever decide to start one, that is...
(Last name is Pearson.  Hence the pear)

I used to do this for a living, and I miss it from time to time.  I got paid to play with pretty pictures all day.  Sure, I did a LOT more than that (I was often referred to as "the glue that held the company together") but the main aspect of my job was marketing, promotions, and graphics graphics graphics.

A flyer I created for my former employer, promoting
an Open House event.

Designing something as simple as the header for my blog (or various buttons/logos) is always a fun adventure.  Not only do I love doing it, but I think I'm fairly good at it.

Now and then, I help a friend or family member with a project, like I did with my girlfriend and her scrapbooking business.  Not only did I design her website, but I also made this snazzy logo using a vacation picture of her brother.

So when I was reading other blogs and found one mentioning a band who was doing a "design our logo" contest, I jumped right in.  Not only were there goodies if I won, but my work would be on a bigger stage than ever before.

They're called Five Finger Death Punch, and the contest info can be found here.  Sure, by linking the contest, one of you may join in on the fun, and possibly beat me.  But still... half the reason of doing it is the sheer fun of doing it.

So all you graphics-nuts, what do you think?  What should I work on?  What do you like, and what don't you like?  Do you think I have a shot at turning this into a career, if I devote a little more time and training into it?

Let me know.   In the meantime, here is my submission for 5FDP:

I CRUSH YOU!