A Penny for Your Tweets?

John S. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:50:26 +0000

Would you pay someone to have them promote your company through their Twitter account? What about getting paid to tweet about products or services from advertisers through your account? There are plenty of services that offer these advertising opportunities today.

Sponsored Tweets is a new way to advertise your company using one of the fastest growing media outlets – Twitter. It is also a way for tweeters to earn income by tweeting advertisements out to their followers. I have been doing a lot of research lately on how Twitter can be used to build passive income. Getting paid for tweets seems like a potential opportunity to leverage the popularity of Twitter and one that I will be looking to capitalize on.

Is Sponsored Tweeting Legitimate?

As I investigate new opportunities to make money online, it is very easy to come across questionable practices that are not legitimate ways to make money. Let’s face it – there are a ton of scams out there just waiting to take your hard earned money.

So is Sponsored Tweets a legitimate money making opportunity? I believe it is for 2 reasons.

1. IZEA – IZEA is the parent company of Sponsored Tweets and is a legitimate operation. They also run SocialSpark (their social media marketing platform) as well as PayPerPost. I have used both of these services in the past and have been pleased with how they are run.

2. Pay Per Tweet Ethics – Sponsored Tweets requires 100% disclosure on any tweet that is sent through their service. Full disclosure has become very important to me, especially after the new FTC guidelines came out. Using the Disclosure Engine provided through this service helps tweeters easily add full disclosure to any tweet they may be receiving compensation for.

Building My Twitter Followers

I don’t know if getting paid to tweet will be a viable and sustainable passive income stream. What I do believe is that Twitter is around to stay and that I would be losing money if I did not try and take advantage of what it has to offer.

As a result, I plan to work to build my Twitter followers. There are a few things I have already done on this site like add the twit this button to the end of every post. I also have a few other updates that I plan to make as a way to attract more followers.

Outside of this site, I am working on several activities aimed at signing up more legitimate followers. As my followers grow, so will my opportunities to leverage Twitter as a passive income tool. I will be sure to keep everyone updated on my progress!

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Affiliate Marketers Beware – Have you Studied Up on the Latest FTC Guidelines?

John S. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:21:13 +0000

Have you heard the news? The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a guide to crack down on bloggers who do not properly disclose their affiliates. The rules and guidelines created are actually much more complicated (and confusing I may add) than that. If you are currently profiting from any online affiliates or advertisements, it may be a very good idea to check out the FTC Guidelines (not that it will make any sense) to protect yourself.

May I point out that the new guidelines are not just for bloggers, but for advertisements in many different media outlets. Since I use affiliate marketing and advertisements on several online sites, that is my main concern.

So how does this actually impact my online income streams? That is a very good question that I am not sure I can answer yet. In fact, I have been reading up on what others are saying and it seems there is plenty of confusion going around. It seems that some of the details and guides are a little vague. Here are a few articles from some well respected individuals on the matter.

Pot Pie Girl writes – Who is the FTC After?
ShoeMoney writes – What You Don’t Know About The New FTC Rules On Disclosure

After reading through all the materials I have found myself with more questions then when I started. Here are a few questions I have that could have an impact on me.

Will I need to disclose affiliate links on my eHow articles?
How does this impact affiliate marketing on Twitter? Since you can only post 140 characters, it seems difficult to add in a disclosure as well.
Do I need to go back and disclose links already published on Ezine? What about HubPages and Squidoo?
Is a generic disclosure statement enough, or do I need to be specific in how much money I get if you purchase something through my site?
What about AdSense?

Maybe some of these questions are out of scope from the new FTC guidelines? If they are, how can I be sure? These and many questions I still have to answer.

Building Your Online Business the Right Way

In my opinion, regardless of the FTC guidelines, I believe it is good practice to disclose information whenever you can. Including disclosures and using best practices in the online world is just good business.

I know there are a lot of people out there making a ton of money online marketing questionable products (i.e. weight loss pills). I personally don’t have an issue if that is how others want to earn their income. It just isn’t for me. I believe in karma and doing the right thing, so profiting off of products that I would never use will never be included in any of my online income streams.

Additional Actions I Have Taken

As to my point earlier, I think the most important thing to keep in mind is to use best business practices whenever possible. There are a few things that I have actually updated on PFI to disclose certain information. I have added a Disclosure Policy page to my site where I point out that I do receive compensation for various articles and advertisements on this site.

I have also added some special coding that will display a “disclaimer” box in the footer of every post I publish. There is also a link included in the statement that references the sites disclosure page. You can check out the information in the footer of this post to see what I am referring to.

While the disclaimer statement and page are generic throughout the site, I think it is a best practice that I will begin adding to other online income streams.

How are you planning to disclose information on your site based on the new FTC guidelines?