June 17, 2016 at 3:41 pm

@peachpurple I don’t write many short posts, but even recently my 500-word posts were consistently earning 22 cents. This is quite a bit lower than my maximum pay for a single post, though.

@swalia If I compare by the month, my earnings have actually gone up during June. But I did feel as if the pay went down this week.

I can still say that I can consistently earn a good bit more than 22 cents on a longer post. I know a lot of people think it’s less work to write shorter posts, but if you have to write 3-6 or even more posts per day, I’m not sure. As I spend time on titles, graphics and promoting each post, for me the longer ones (600-700 words minimum) are paying off.

June 17, 2016 at 3:32 pm

@sunil I haven’t checked to see if my bank matches with the point history after a post publishes, but with so many visitor referrals it would be difficult to keep track. It could also be a delay in the bank balance that makes it seem the amount is off.

@swalia I thought maybe this week my amounts had gone down, but I’m not sure if it’s just a perception. I intend to keep an eye on the rates for the next few weeks to see if anything changes. My monthly amounts look like they have gotten better. But of course, several of my earlier posts were published when rates had been very low.

June 17, 2016 at 2:53 pm

@bestwriter I am so happy they work! 😆 It’s very 😎 to have a few extra emoticons. It looks like maybe we could get support to add to the collection later too.

June 17, 2016 at 9:15 am

@peachpurple I’m sorry to hear you’re having to work harder. But I should congratulate you on reaching your $10!

Do you think it’s just getting harder to earn in general, or have you noticed that some of your posts do get better money? I have a suspicion the rates went down just a touch, but I can’t be sure….

June 17, 2016 at 6:19 am

I was able to find a list of emoticons that are supposed to work with the WP forum plugin. Assuming this is what we have here on LB, the emoticons on this list should work:

https://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies

Does work here?

June 17, 2016 at 6:14 am

I’ve done a category challenge on Persona Paper that asked us to write a post for each category. I can say in all honesty I wouldn’t want to repeat the experience here. I have nothing intelligent say about SQL servers or Oracle, much less about “Oracle DB 11g: Administration I!”

I believe I was the only person to take up the challenge on PP, where categories were broader and didn’t require any special knowledge or expertise.

Perhaps a more realistic challenge could be to try out a fixed number of categories, of the writer’s own choosing? I think it would be a much less daunting task to choose 3 or even 5 new categories, rather than to attempt them all.

BTW, we do have a group forum set up just for writing challenges, to make them easier to find:

http://172.104.9.193/groups/writing-challenges-tips/

June 17, 2016 at 6:02 am

I am sorry that you don’t feel the site is a good for you, @lolaze. Do you have a blog? Your content is not only intensely personal, but also more of an ongoing story that would be really well suited to your own blog. I think people would enjoy reading a more episodic account of your experiences, interspersed perhaps with some explanations of the more technical side of medications, treatments, etc. I think it could be quite successful!

@4cryingoutloud If personal content is written in a way that search engines can figure out where to file it, and that somebody would search for it, then it’s SEO. Otherwise, it’s an online diary. The problem with writing a diary on a site is that your posts don’t all appear together (unless it’s a site like BlogJob, where you post to your own blog on the site.) People won’t be as interested in your personal story if it’s just a post here or there – except people who already know you.

June 17, 2016 at 5:31 am

@bestwriter I will not subscribe to email notifications. Nor will many others. It’s too cumbersome to navigate back and forth when I’m already on the site anyway, and it creates extra work for me.

If you want a reply from me it’s simple: tag me. I do check all my mentions and whenever a response is indicated, I give one.

Nobody here is obliged to respond to comments. In fact, some members may not be used to responding because they’ve been writing on sites where it’s discouraged. I do think it’s good to reply to comments if we can, and when I receive comments in a manner that I can easily check for new ones, I generally do reply as soon as I can.

But it’s never been a requirement. Many people will feel it’s more fitting to reciprocate the attention by visiting the profile of the person commenting, and to choose a post where one can leave a comment. Why not? This also boosts that individual’s earnings and affords an opportunity to share her writing on social media. That is much more helpful than a reply on one’s own post.

June 17, 2016 at 4:58 am

I have to agree with @scheng1 that email notification is not the answer.

Those of us who are members here, and who realize there is no notification system on-site, should just take the extra few seconds to tag one another – especially if we wish to receive a reply.

Another thing we should do is to write a comment that has some substance to it. Replying, “Thanks!” to a comment of, “Nice post,” looks spammy and could be perceived as cheating. It also messes with the SEO of a post if there are too many comments that don’t make any mention at all of the subject matter.

June 17, 2016 at 4:32 am

@grecy095 I think this is exactly what happens: instead of replying, they go straight to work! But it would be helpful if @support would email, and if LB would keep up their presence on Facebook or Twitter. It would really help a lot to reassure members a lot, especially during times when they can’t login.

June 17, 2016 at 12:49 am

@peachpurple I’m very pleased you were able to get such prompt help! And I’m happy that we’ve now found one another on Facebook too 😀

@grecy095 I know Peachy had already sent a message to support through the contact form. But I think sometimes it helps to follow up in the forum.

June 16, 2016 at 8:02 pm

@grecy095 That’s exactly what I said to her about the error message. I’m so glad she found me on FB too!

She just told me she can login now, so I guess Support was already on it from when she sent them a message in the contact form. It’s good that they’re so quick to help with problems like this 😀

June 16, 2016 at 8:23 am

@shavkat I think sometimes breaking up is the best decision a couple can make. Not because people should ever give up on true love, but because too many people who are in relationships are with people who are not suited to them at all.

June 16, 2016 at 3:11 am

Keywords depend a great deal on your topic. You can’t really compare keywords with other writers unless you write about the same topics.

But there are always topics that are going to get a lot of attention. Yes, Facebook is one. Anything to do with money or sex will also get a good bit of attention. And as @scheng1 has pointed out, topics relating to the US elections are hot right now and will continue to be, right through the fall.

If you need a tool to generate keywords for your posts, you can use Google’s keyword analyzer or the popular alternative, Jaaxy. I believe both of these are now membership-based services, so if you’re looking for a free service you can use only when you need it, you might try this one:

http://keywordtool.io/

June 16, 2016 at 2:57 am

I dislike watching most team sports, but I do love to watch more artistic sports like synchronized swimming, figure skating, gymnastics, dance competitions, etc. I particularly appreciate the military precision of such things as a drumline or drill competition. And I also enjoy some of the martial arts competitions, particularly in Judo or Ju-Jutsu.