Remember the other day when I did a big writeup about SocialSpark? I was going to do it anyway, but found just the fact of writing about SocialSpark could earn our blog $5.50 (and a huge bonus if it was chosen as the “best” post somewhere down the line).

Well yesterday the CustomerLove team approved that very post and in 30 days we’ll be receiving the $5.50 via paypal!

How easy was that?! (LOL, keep reading to find out)

Here was their process so you’ll have a feel for what’s what (including a screenshot of our SocialSpark inbox):

Sunday, June 15

I “Reserved” us the right to make a post about SocialSpark and get paid for doing it, assuming it met all their criteria after I posted. Since the queue was full, I did not expect to hear from them… ever (to be perfectly honest).

Criteria to “reserve” the opportunity included: specific links they supply; specific bottom button that had to go at the close of the post; and they wanted images which I supplied. In addition, they did have a few other things like the blog had to be older than x amount of day; getting good traffic (more specific but this is a general post); and a few other details.

All the information was right there when I went looking in their “marketplace” for “blogging opportunities.” You will need to read, and take your time, again the site is very pretty but slightly confusing initially.

Sunday, June 15 (later that day)

Just before I was ready to call it an early evening, at 9:04 p.m., into my inbox (on my computer thankfully not their inbox) arrived a message from SocialSpark letting me know that if I wanted to continue with their opportunity, I had to have the full post up - images, links and all - within 12 hours. Yikes LOL!

Here’s what they sent to my Outlook inbox:

* * * * * * * * * * *

From: support@socialspark.com
Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2008 9:04 PM
To: Removed by Diane for Privacy
Subject: Reservation created for I Signed up for SocialSpark!

OIMS,

You’ve recently reserved the Opportunity I Signed up for SocialSpark! at the $$5.5 offer price into your SocialSpark account. Now I’m not saying you have do it right. this. second. However, remember that you have 12 hours to complete and submit to this Opp! So, now that it’s in reservation, feel free to take a stretch or even a shower. Don’t forget to wash behind those ears!

Thanks,
The SocialSpark Team

* * * * * * * * * *

Their sense of humor caught my eye and gave me a warm fuzzy feeling about them, LOL, but there was no way I could write the post right then, more or less brain dead from a very long day, late nights and much earlier early mornings. So making a mental note to get up in plenty of time to meet a 9:04 a.m. deadline, I headed for bed.

Monday, June 16

Since I was already going to write about SocialSpark, in the back of my brain I knew what I wanted to say (thankfully). Sat down, started writing, grabbed the image of the opportunity itself for visual display, got their links, did my thing. Published the post and headed off to SocialSpark to tell them “hey I’m done, come grade me!”

Logged into SocialSpark, clicked on Account, chose Manage Blog Account, and picked the window that told me basically “look here for your opportunities.”

Followed their fairly straightforward instructions which included, for speedier approval, pasting the HTML code from Wordpress into a box, putting the links up they give you (you get these at this stage, so be aware); and making sure I’d included everything they wanted mentioned in our post.

One thing this particular opportunity insisted on was physically including the SocialSparks “Code of Ethics” within in the post (which I did gracefully I hope!)

The order in which you do things is up to you. You can either write, post, publish, and come to SocialSpark to finish up (which requires your re-editing) or you could try getting the links ahead of time. Since republishing is a click of a button I opted to get the post posted and edit it afterward.

The approval process began - or as we like to call it - “and now we wait.”

NOTE: At this point a little while later although I had done my due diligence by creating the post properly and submitting it to SocialSpark well within the 12 hour time limit (I had about 35 minutes to spare), I did get a notice telling me the opportunity was “pending” and had “arrived late.”

Oh no it had not LOL! So I wrote to CustomerLove (as they call it) and explained that I was well within their timeframe and to please take that into consideration. Remember I was going to talk about them anyway, but now it was also a “test” on our end of their system. Would they or wouldn’t they.

Monday, June 16 (see screenshot below)

We received an email in our SocialSpark inbox (for a grand total of four emails by the time the opportunity came to a conclusion) that notified us that the “Post has passed automated review.” This meant all the little boxes, links, and things they’d asked for had been found within the post. Their bot was happy LOL!

Then… I forgot all about it LOL!

Yeah, you would not believe what I’ve been doing into the wee hours of the night (after work of course), but think “desert and BUGS” and you’ll have a clue… YUCK!

Anyway, I digress…

This morning, Thursday, June 19th, I logged into SocialSpark to see what if anything had happened to the post. I was thinking if anything it would still be in review. However, I was most pleasantly surprised to receive the following email:

* * * * * * * * * *

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 01:16PM EST
Subject: Your Post was approved!

Your post, Fire Up Your Online Earning and Advertising Potential With SocialSpark!, is now available for payment in 30 days.

* * * * * * * * * *

Yeah! Thanks SocialSpark! This means we’ll be $5.50 richer in 30 days - deposited directly into Paypal - just for writing about something I was going to write about anyway!

And for those still struggling to make their FIRST DOLLAR (not an issue with us, thankfully, by a long shot - Scott and I are very busy!), what a great opportunity! Or for those wanting additional income throughout the month, how great is that!

So, to wrap all this up (and by the way the post I was going to make yesterday that got pushed has gotten pushed again until tomorrow - hint, it’s another way to make money doing what you love online and you don’t need to be a blogger for this one - or own a website for that matter - so stay tuned)…

SocialSpark rocks (okay getting the money in 30 days as promised and they rock) for making money online. If you’re a writer or an advertiser taking your business to SocialSpark and the whole IZEA experience should definitely be on your “get it done” list!

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: What has been your experience with SocialSpark? If you’re participating, let us know. If you’re not, what is your impression overall of this post, etc.?

IN OTHER WORDS PLEASE COMMENT! WE LOVE COMMENTS!

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