Too Good To Be True

Many of us with blogs try our best to “monetize” our sites. Tales abound of bloggers making tons of money with their blogs, and I am absolutely positively certain, without a doubt (not to be redundant or repeat myself) that some people do.

I haven’t figured that part out yet.

I’ve made a few dollars, but about all I’ve been able to do is buy a “meal” or two at Sonic with the money. I’d love to make a living blogging (I promise I’d get serious about it if I could make money), but right now I seem to be sidetracked with a charity project. It’s hard to concentrate on blogging when I’m busy shuffling crocheted squares around.

Oh, I’ve done as other bloggers have by putting BlogHer ads and Google ads on the sidebar in the hopes that I will get billions of clicks and make a dollar (that’s about how many clicks it takes to make a dollar). I’ve tried putting text link ads. Some folks even do “Pay Per Post,” where they write a review for a product and are paid to do it.

That pay per post might be fine for some people, but it’s something I can’t see myself doing. It would make me feel as if I was selling my soul to the Devil. It worked for Robert Johnson when he went down to the Crossroads, but I don’t think it would work for me! My credibility is shot to heck, anyway. If I were being paid to write about a product, y’all would never believe a word I say.

Do you ever believe a word I say?

Well, I want you to believe these words, especially if you blog: You have to be careful, because there are people willing to dupe anyone who is gullible. They have scams designed to get us where we are vulnerable, too: by appealing to our greed!

I got a strange contact on my e-mail the other day. Someone had hit the “Contact” link on my blog and written to me, seemingly interested in placing advertising on my website.

Hmmm.

Well, I knew darned well it would violate my agreement with BlogHer ads and had no intention of actually doing it, but I couldn’t help but be curious about what I might be worth. A gal’s gotta know, right? So, I answered the e-mail instead of sending it to the Spam box where it belonged.

So, what am I worth?

Not a whole lot it seems.

AND, I’m pretty darned sure that this was spam, so I want to make sure that none of you fall for it. The posts they chose as the ones where they wanted to put text link ads had nothing in common, so I don’t know what they expected me to think they were selling. But, when they asked for my PayPal id, a noise started in my head that sounded like, “Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”

I don’t know what the scam is, but see if this sounds fishy to you. Here’s the e-mail correspondence:

Contact:Hi,
I am interested in purchasing advertising on your web site “http://thiseclecticlife.com/”. Please let me know if you are interested then we will discuss more in detail. I can offer you best to make it worth your time.
Thanks

Me: Tell me more about what it is, and realize that any other advertising has to go under the BlogHer ads, in accordance with my agreement with them.

Contact:Hi,
I am looking forward to place paragraphs on 7 different pages of your website. I will provide you paragraphs with my links adjusted in them. You can see an example of this paragraph at this page [deleted because I don't want you to get a virus or something!] . It would be 7 different paragraphs on 7 different pages of your website. Pages that I have selected are mentioned below at the last with their price. These paragraphs will be custom written after analyzing your page, so that the content written will be matching the current theme of your page.

All the links would be non-spammy, business-related and the sites linking to your pages would be rich in content helping your users to gain knowledge.

USD $10 for one paragraph on these pages (mentioned below) of your website,

Denton As A Destination
Happy Birthday Wishes
Dreaded Vacation Pictures
Wipe
Coffee Keeps Me Perking
Storytelling Festivals
Wicked Good Eggnog Recipe

TOTAL= 70 USD
You are free to choose any of the deals above and if you wish to place my paragraphs on all the pages mentioned above, then my offer would be USD 80. This would be a one time fee and the paragraphs will stay permanently.

PS: If this works I would be offering you more on other pages of your website.

Thanks

Me: I went to that page and am assuming that the final paragraph is yours. Before I could agree, I’d need to know exactly what you want to add to each post AND I do have to make sure it doesn’t violate my agreement with BlogHer. Give me an example for the eggnog post, and I’ll check with BlogHer staff about it. It sounds reasonable, but I can’t know for sure until I check with them.
Thanks

Contact: Sounds goood! Now I am preparing the exact paragraph for the above specific pages, then you can place them after proving them from blogher. In the mean while send me your paypal ID?

Regards

Me: Got the cart before the horse. First, you tell me what you want to put, then I run it past BlogHer, then you give me your paypal ID and I send you an invoice if I can do what you ask.

Contact: Ok!

That was several days ago, and guess what?

How did you know?

That’s right. They haven’t contacted me again. Imagine that! There hasn’t been a peep out of them since I asked for their PayPal id.

That scammer must have thought I was a blonde or something [not that there's anything wrong with that---I'm not a redhead, either].

I tell you this, because I don’t want you to believe that there is easy money out there. There isn’t! Those folks who are making serious change with their blogs work hard and dedicate a lot of time to their sites. If somebody e-mails you offering you a deal that sounds too good to be true—IT IS!

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Tagged as: advice, All Things "Blogging"