Footprints on the Mountainside

I write and write, and imagine people reading my blog, clicking through to something else, reading that. Nameless faceless creatures in the dark known to no one, except server logs.

The only thing I guess I know about you, is that you are probably interested in the outdoors, considering that you are here.

Could you take a moment and drop me a line about yourself and your interests? I’d like to know more about you.

There are people who want to pay for reviews and blogged links for their products and websites and there are companies like Review Me and PayPerPost managing this chaotic demand and supply scenario.

I see this as a great opportunity for people who want to earn some money on the side. If you have a regular blog, that’s all it takes. Even if you don’t, there are loads of free blogging services that you can start from. It is all really about how well you can write.

Some tips for those who would like to use blogging for money:

1. Be genuine. We all like to earn money, but would you pay someone for the kind of writing you are doing? Find out about what you are writing for and write with that insight, rather than churn out words to create posts.
2. Practice. There are ways to warn money from your blog - not every post has to be a paid post (this one isn’t). Write about things you genuinely like and present them in a way that tempts the reader with your perspective.
3. Practice, practice.
4. Read around. See what other bloggers are writing about. Create relationships, comment, get to know them more as people rather than quick ideas for your own work. What goes around comes around.
5. Use other methods of generating revenue from your blog, so that you are not too desperate about writing only paid posts. Adsense for example will deliver targetted ads to your blog no matter what your posts are (of course, no porn and gambling and stuff)
6. Promote your blog. Put links in signatures on forums, emails, etc. Submit to directories, do link exchanges….. the usual.
7. Have patience. Signing up for something and earning from it is a process, not a “push button and get results” kind of thing.

Where to begin generating income from your writing?

Loads of places - please note that some of the below are affiliate links, but do no harm to you. In fact, clicking the review this post button below will actually earn you money along with your sign up with PayPerPost.

Get Reviewed At ReviewMe!

AuctionAds: Increase the bid on your site’s income!

PayPerPost is something you can join directly by going to their site, but if you review this post, you will actually begin your account with earning money.

There are others as well - Watch out for updates on this post.

I was scavenging for ideas to use in my next youth programme, and found a wealth of them on blogs. I think I’m developing an affinity for blogs. Regular posts, inspiring ideas….. some people have a talent for looking for the unusual and thought provoking in routine life.

It is sad to see that blogging seems to have a bad effect on careful writing though. Is it only me, or do many outdoor and travel blogs not maintained by professionals have terrible spelling and next to no punctuation?

I only hope this doesn’t rub off on me as I roam around reading the exciting, but messy world of blogging everything that catches the eye.

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I find that the internet acts as a barrier to the morals of many people. Many people who wouldn’t be causght dead stealing in their day-to-day lives steal without hesitation online.

A regular visitor here just brought it to my attention that another blog (which I will not mention here) has been steaking content from this site. She found out accidentally when she forgot the exact url (she has this site in her bookmarks at home) and tried to search for the site from some specific words she remembered in the article she wanted to access. Our site showed up as expected, but another site showed up too, with the same article.

Thinking that it was something I used for a reference, she browsed through it, to see if it was of any interest. What she found is the exact same article, copied word for word, including links in the article to other pages in the site at specific areas. The thieves didn’t even bother to pretend to cover their tracks.

Our logs here show plenty of hits coming from that site, so I’m not complaining. The articles refer to the links in a tempting way, so the thief is actually losing traffic, because people are very likely to click on those links. I’m not complaining
I doubt if it matters to him though.

I wonder what makes people want to steal people’s content. I freely allow anyone to use any information from this site, as long as a live link is maintained to this place. The reason is as much one of credibility, as the fact, that most of my articles and experiences are closely related to my knowledge and experiences from the very off-beat life I’ve led. It will simply sound fake if copy pasted, and the rest of the content in the site is obviously someone else.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter to me, because they can’t really steal in terms of removing content from here. This place is more important to me than some scraper who cares nothing about visitors.

Situational hazard. I shrug and move on.

I had blogged about the children’s outdoor education programmes Wide Aware is currently conducting at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. I’d like to share a brief and rather rough video of the proceedings.

Do share information on similar programmes you come across