Review of Medium Partner Program: Should You Pay to Earn?

What is the Medium Partner Program?

Image by PixLoger from Pixabay, edited on PicMonkey

I joined the Medium blogging platform in 2016, before the beginning of the Medium Partner Program (MPP.) A blogging friend had said the platform was a good place to have a presence. I discovered it was a good place to keep some of my posts from sites that had died until I could post them elsewhere. So in 2016 old posts I'd republished were all I had on Medium, and only a few of them. I didn't post anything else because at the time there was no way for someone like me to earn money at Medium.

In February 2019, my HubPages friend Glenn Stok told me about the Medium Partner Program that now provides an opportunity for writers like me to earn money. But there's a catch.

It takes money to have that opportunity. One must pay $5.00 a month or $50 a year to join the Medium Partner Program. That link provides all the program details and everything else you need to know in order to join the MPP. Only you, though, can decide whether it's worth the money to get this opportunity.

Should You Join the Medium Partner Program?

I asked Glenn, "Is it worth the money to become a MPP member?" His answer convinced me to give it a try. No one gets any affiliate commission by recruiting members, so he had no reason to exaggerate his results and I don't think he would anyway. He wrote a comprehensive article on Medium and the Partner program so I see no reason to try to rehash it here. He did an excellent job. Here's the link to Glenn's article: How to Make Money Writing Articles Without Ads on Medium. I prefer to tell you my own opinions based on my results and the other opinions I found was I was surfing the web.

My Experience as a Medium Partner Program Member

February 2019

I joined the Medium Partner Program on February 5, 2019. At the time I had nine posts there left over from 2016. I put five of them behind the paywall. The other four did not meet the content guidelines for the program. The pay period ended on February 24, so my work was only behind the paywall for 19 days in February.

Here is a chart of my first payday on February 27, and the money did go into my account on time. Post titles are on left. Earnings for each post are on right. Red letters are for posts removed from dead or non-paying sites. Green letters show posts I removed from HubPages, revised, and reposted on Medium. Blue letters show the name of Medium publication where a post was accepted and now appears. You can see that not all my old posts made money, but some did. Articles published on Friday-Sunday of a week often don't start getting views counted until the next week. Pay weeks go from Monday - Sunday. Where there is no publication, it means I didn't submit to a publication or the publication didn't accept that article.

During this same period, with 44 featured hubs, I earned $5.10 on HubPages.

March, 2019

In March I revised and republished more of my old stories and added some new ones. Here are the results. Again, the blue script shows what publications accepted the articles. The red shows where the revised articles originally appeared if they weren't on the last February image. PP stands for Persona Paper. Bub stands for Bubblews. Some articles from either of those sites may have appeared on both and I can't always remember which only came from Bubblews. Green still represents hubs (HP) revised and moved here.

During this same period, with 44 featured hubs, I earned $9.27 on HubPages.

April 2019

I have not repeated the sources here, but I have included the publications that accepted my posts. I did not  repeat the publications for the articles that earned nothing this month. You can see that although I made more money this month, some of the articles that earned money last month earned nothing this month. Unlike sites like HubPages, an article may have a short earning life.

During this same period, with 44 featured hubs, I earned $12.45 on HubPages. (Note: I have not written anything new on HubPages for a long time and interact there rarely now, but I do publicize my Hubs on social media. )

Update January 29, 2020

I added many more posts in 2019. The list is so long now that it would not fit on one screen in an image. There were only three months when I did not make at least $5. Those three months occurred during and just after the time in July when I went back to listing and selling books online and had to transfer a lot of records and establish new selling venues.

Selling on Instagram took much more time than selling from my Biblio store. In spite of not having time to write more than about 2-4 posts a month during and after July, my total earnings for 2019 were $123.61. After taking out my membership fee, I still had $73.61 left. This month, I've earned $5.58 so far. I will renew my membership next month.

 Even if I'd not broken even, I still would have been happy with the value I received from all the posts I read by others daily. Many were on subjects like brain health, written by experts, that I might not have searched for, but were conveniently served on Medium.

Conclusions from My Results

Unpublished Posts Moved from Other Sites Can Earn On Medium

I currently have thirty posts on Medium. Twenty-six are behind the paywall. Four are not. Of those behind the paywall, only eleven were written just for Medium. "Starved for Attention," which made the most the first month, made nothing the next two months. It was previously on another site, revised, and moved to Medium. "Jason, I'll Always Love You" was picked up by a popular publication, P.S. I Love You, and earned only .18 in February. In March it was my highest earner. It still did well in April.

Articles Published by Publications Usually Get Seen by More People than Those Published Independently

In the second month, some of the articles were picked up by publications, some of which I didn't even submit. Articles that appear in popular publications with lots of subscribers are distributed more widely than those one self-publishes. However, inclusion in a publication does not guarantee more earnings.

Curated Articles Get Wide Distribution and Usually Earn the Most. 

My three curated articles have performed best for me so far. When you put your article behind the paywall you can also choose to have it sent to the curators for consideration. They pick which articles Medium itself will promote in its newsletters that go out to all Medium subscribers. Curation gives articles the best chance to be seen by lots of eyes. These are my curated articles so far.

• How Social Media Has Sabotaged Deep Communication - curated in Writing and Social Media (No earnings show because it was published the first day of a pay period not yet tallied, but it has 98 views since March 28. 
• Does the Resurrection of Jesus Offer You Hope? - curated in Religion
• Jason I'll Always Love You - curated in Family

Medium Earns More for Me Than HubPages on New Articles

On the other hand, older Hubs retain more earning power than older Medium posts. Working together Medium and HubPages give you the both of best worlds. Would I make more on HubPages if I kept submitting more hubs and interacting as much as I do on Medium? Possibly. The statistics I gave for HubPages above my earning charts are for my original account. My Squidoo transfer account makes almost nothing there, and it's those articles I plan to revise and transfer to Medium or somewhere else. 

Image by isuru prabath from Pixabay, edited in PicMonkey 

Medium Is a User Friendly Site for Readers and Writers

After a struggle with the quirks of the WordPress and even the Blogger editor, Medium's editor is simplicity itself. One can just concentrate on writing. It's the words and the images that are important. No quizzes, polls, videos, etc. are considered important post ingredients as they are on HubPages. The focus is on what you say. I  like not having to sell anything to make money. I would like to focus on stories and ideas as opposed to products. 

As a reader, I also like reading Medium posts because they're not full of affiliate links and ads. You can read all the way through a Medium article without encountering one pop-up asking you to subscribe to a newsletter. Readers can concentrate on content. I think many people subscribe for that reason. 

There is a wealth of interesting content on Medium. Many Medium members are not writers, but readers. They are not part of the Medium Partner Program, but they are the ones who read our work and help us earn for our writing. 

What I Like Best About the Medium Partner Program

Medium allows me as much freedom as I want. I can write in any genre. I can apply to a publication or not. I can write on any subject, though some subjects won't earn as much as others. As long as I follow the guidelines for the Medium Partner Program, I can put any article I want to behind the paywall. Of course, that doesn't mean it will earn anything. 

Medium treats me like an adult. It lets me take responsibility for my own work. I can publish it independently without submitting it to a publication editor and waiting for approval and publication. That means I am also free to publish inferior work that is less likely to earn than more polished work.

Proofreading is my responsibility alone. Publications want quality, so they do have editors to make sure what they publish is worth reading and is free of errors. But they don't correct it for you. They send it back to you or reject it outright. If a publication rejects your work, you are still free to publish it yourself. 

For an article to earn, other Medium subscribers need to see it, read it, and interact with it. Curated articles are most likely to get a kick start leading to more views on Medium. Articles in publications also get help from a newsletter the publication sends to its members listing new articles. In late 2019 this payment plan changed. Now payments depend on how much time paying members spend reading one's work. This suits me even better. A writer will be read more, not just clapped for by people wanting return claps. It's harder to game this system. 

Views from promotional links on social media don't usually bring in paid views. Traffic from Twitter automatically gets past the paywall for free. Most writers usually post a friend link when they post to social media so that readers can bypass the paywall if people click through. That means a well-promoted post with lots of traffic may not earn much if the readers aren't Medium members. 

Writers for publications often have their own Facebook groups for promotion. Koinonia is one of my favorite publications for Christian writers and it has an active Facebook Group. I know of three other active Facebook groups that are open to any Medium writers for discussion and threads for sharing posts. All these promotion opportunities and the support from other members is very helpful to new Medium writers. 

Most Medium publications encourage personal articles. They like authors to share what they've learned about  relationships, family life, work, mental health, business, and a number of other topics. Unlike HubPages, they prefer articles written in the first person rather than the third person, unless they deal with science or other very objective subject matter. Articles that speak directly to readers with a personal voice seem to do best.

Medium makes it easy to build your own following. You can even start your own publication on Medium if you don't find another that suits you or you want to keep your work in one place to make it more accessible to your followers.

Writers Block Funny Quote Humor Tea Coffee MugI blog therefore I am Coffee MugBlogging is my REAL job - Blog Life Mug

The Downside of the Medium Partner Program

You are making an investment of five dollars a month or fifty dollars a year. There is no guarantee you will earn it back within those time frames. I'm on my eleventh week. If my earnings hold to their current pattern I will have covered my first year's membership by the end of the twelfth week and the rest will be profit. There is no guarantee that will happen. But I've never yet earned back with ads and affiliate links what it cost me to self-host a WordPress blog, and that was a far larger investment. My membership also allows me unlimited reading behind the paywall, and that's been worth the fee by itself.

You cannot include affiliate links or a call to action in a post that goes behind the paywall. You can, however link to another Medium post you have not put behind the paywall. In that post you may have an affiliate link or a call to action. You just need to make sure it's not interpreted as writing a post behind the paywall that only exists to point to another site.

If your posts aren't curated or promoted by a publication, they may not get much traffic. I have four posts that have received no fans or applause. Three were first published somewhere else between 2014 and 2016 and their original publishing dates followed them. If I publish older posts again, I will not use the importer which retains the original date. I will unpublish from the first site and revise for Medium.

The other unloved post was a rant published just for Medium. A few people read it, but no one liked it enough to applaud. That happens. I'm wondering if I should tweak the title and republish it.

If my current results on Medium hold up until the end of the year and my earnings keep growing, I will join again next year. A full year will help me see whether this is the direction I should go. But even if it's a wonderful year and I earn even more than I expect, there is that final downside. Medium can change the terms of the MPP any time they choose. They could stop paying. They could even close the site, though I think that's unlikely.

I have written the obituaries for many sites. One was What Can We Learn from the Fall of Bubblews? It was first published when Bubblews was still alive -- to answer questions about the living site. Some of the original predictions remain intact, but the post itself has been updated many times as things changed. I updated it once again and changed the title when when Bubblews finally died. Many of us who used to rely on Squidoo for income were crushed when it died.

We can never depend on any site we don't own for future income. It's always better to own your own site if you can make a profit. Meanwhile, as we build an audience, we can introduce ourselves to new readers on sites like Medium and  HubPages.

Possibly the biggest downside to writing for Medium is that you may be tempted to to neglect your own blogs. I have. I've also neglected other sites like HubPages. It's always a good plan to back up one's work on all sites, just in case, and not to put all one's eggs in one basket.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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How to Create a Static Home Page on Blogger

Blogger is a great blogging platform that is perfect for beginners, as well as experienced bloggers.   However, as our blogs grow, we need to find ways to make them easier to navigate.  We want our older posts to be easier to find by our readers.

Those of us who write on blogs already know that the newest article will be featured at the top of the blogger site.  The older articles will be shoved down the blog landing page and eventually to the "next" page.  Depending on the frequency of publishing, that can actually happen pretty fast.  Articles that are still very relevant are no longer seen on the landing page and become harder to find.  One could almost even say they are "hidden" by the newer content.  So, what can we do?  

We take navigation very seriously on Review This!  In addition to having every article listed in our drop down tabs, we have a "Quick View Home Page".  Each week, our contributors select articles to feature on that page.  It looks & feels like a Home Page on a website.  

We opted to have our Quick View Home Page set up as a separate page that our readers can easily visit, as opposed to setting it as our static home page.  However, you can certainly set one up just like it to be the landing page for your blog. 

Step by Step Instructions for Creating a Blogger Static Home Page 

Blogger has a default "Home" that takes any guests to the "line up" of published articles.  It is necessary to do a redirect in order to have a static home page on Blogger. 

1)  Create a new page with an appropriate title and Publish it.

2)  Set the Redirect on your Blogger Dashboard.  Go to Setting > Search Preferences > Custom Redirects

Fill in the blank squares.  The site url is auto-filled:  
  They will look something like this.  Be sure to add the / at the end of your current home url

      From:  www.CurrentHomeURL.com/
      To:   http://www.YourSiteName.com/p/home-page.html 

 
 
3)  Check Each of the Boxes Click Save

4)  Click Save Changes

5)  Check the main url link to make sure it is properly redirecting to your new home page.

6)  Go Back to the Page you created at the beginning of this tutorial and add the content you want showing on your new Home Page.

You Now Have A Static Home Page on Blogger!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Click the button below to see the Review This Quick View Home Page.  Each week, I use EPD, Easy Product Displays, to generate the code for the page that allows the images with captions to be set side by side.  

I have published a step by step guide "Using EPD to Create Home Page Featured Articles" in a separate post.  Please click this link to see that companion tutorial.
 

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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BlogJob in Transition: A Review

A Review of the BlogJob Blogging Community in a Period of Transition 

When I first joined BlogJob in October of 2015, I was very excited about the community. I believed BlogJob was the writing community that had it all. It not only provided free WordPress hosting and a ready-made audience, but also issued points just for posting blogs. The points could be redeemed for gift cards or deposits of cash into PayPal. What was not to love?

I immediately set up six new blogs. I started to earn points. One could earn the most points for a blog post, because it was important to keep people writing on the site. One could also earn points for interaction with others in forums and groups, for making a new friend, and for commenting and answering on blog posts. Hosting was free, the community was active, and the sky was the limit.

Well, not quite. New members who hadn't completed any projects yet could only earn 150 points per day. If one posted three blogs, that used the point limit. No more points for interaction that might normally be earned would be issued. If you had earned your daily limit, your point pot for the day was full. If you had 125 points already and posted a blog post, 25 of your fifty points would just be overflow that would not help you in any way. It would be like pouring water into a full bottle. The rest would run over the sides and be lost. Nevertheless, members just tried to be careful not to earn above their daily limits and most people were quite content.

Photo Courtesy of Pixabay

We were disappointed when BlogJob stopped accepting new members shortly after I joined. Referring new members was an important step in completing the first project. Finally the administration removed that requirement and we were OK with that. They said the reason was that referrals weren't being credited properly and they needed time to fix it. I saw that as a tiny red flag. By May, 2016, the door opened to new members again. More of my friends joined.

Then, on April 26, BlogJob members logged in to discover their daily point limit had decreased. Suddenly, I could only earn 100 points a day, not 150. This didn't trouble me too much, since I had enough to do on my own sites that I never reached my limit anyway. Those who depended on BlogJob most for earnings were hurt much more than I. But I began to worry a bit. I had formerly been a happy member of Bubblews, a site that showed similar signs that it might be in financial trouble and later closed, denying payments that members had earned. But they tried to keep members in the dark.

The adminstration of BlogJob has been upfront about what's happening, and membership has closed once more. The site had just been migrated to a new server and had been down more than up for several days. Once it was back up and new members started arriving, the loss in traffic white the site was migrating had affected the advertising rates. It takes time for traffic to build again.

On May 4, 2016, just as everyone was in gear again, the administration said they would have to stop issuing points until enough traffic returned to generate enough income to start the earning process again. The administrator said those who had enough points to redeem would be paid. Many people were paid if they were eligible. But no one is earning points again yet.

Image photo courtesy of  Pixabay, text added on PicMonkey

What's Next for BlogJob Members?

Current members find themselves in a dilemma. Do they stay, and wait? Or do they stay and participate as usual, even without earning points? Or do they take their work and move it elsewhere? Almost everyone at BlogJob had once been on Bubblews and was wondering if BlogJob would also go under. Do you cash out and leave? Or stay and hope the site will come back and do all you can to help make that happen? Different members have chosen different paths.

I have six blogs on BlogJob that I worked hard on. I was planning to move more there from other sites. Now I'm not sure that's wise. Although those with BlogJob blogs are allowed to monetize them, it's not as easy as it is on a self-hosted site. An affiliate marketer will do better with a self-hosted site for reasons I explain here. It's also true that one depending on third-party hosting never knows when she will wake up one morning and discover the site is gone. I don't think BlogJob will close its doors without warning, since it has been upfront with us so far.

It seems some of the traffic loss was due to an attack from Romania, and that it has now been dealt with. The site is faster now. Hope is building that points will start being issued again soon. I believe it's too early to tell. Who knows? Maybe the very act of my posting this will get the ball rolling, as per Murphy's Law.

Most BlogJob members who are still posting in forums are taking an optimistic view, believing problems will be resolved and the giving of points will return. No one has had their point balance erased. Payout requests from those with enough points are being honored and paid. I don't think this is Bubblews II. People who monetize their blogs will still be able to earn independently of BlogJob points. They can still enjoy socializing with each other as they do on other sites for free. Many members are putting in more time on myLot, which most of them also belong to and which does pay for participation.


Hope Springs Eternal Mug
Browse more Boomspress Mugs

Like other BlogJob members, I sincerely hope the site will soon  be issuing points again. I think maybe those points should not be given as freely for actions like creating groups and making friends, since that rewards actions that are often abused on the site. I'm looking forward to the next act in this drama. I hope it all ends happily for the BlogJob members who depend on this site for income. I do believe the site owner will do all in his power to keep members informed and start letting them earn again. I believe his intentions are good. I hope he has the skills and the knowledge it takes to carry out those good intentions.

Update, March 1, 2019

I closed my BlogJob account several months ago. More and more bugs appeared that made posting hard. My ads were not formatting properly, and I was tired of fighting with the editor with no real hope left the site would ever pay again. I have backups of all my work and will gradually be moving it to other sites. I do not expect BlogJob to last much longer. I talked to a still active member today and she shares that opinion. She is also beginning to move work to other sites. 

When something seems too good to be true, it often can't last. That's why I advise bloggers, especially affiliate marketers, to self-host. There's no such thing as a free lunch. 

See Why It's Important for Affiliate Marketers to Self-Host WordPress Sites

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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New Year's Countdown!

It's Official!  We are now on the Countdown to New Year's Eve!

By Viscious-Speed [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Christmas is officially over and all the wrappings, running around, visiting and partying with family and friends has come to a trickle, we can now gear it up again for the New Year.

Traditionally it's a time to reflect on the year that has passed and look to the future and what 2016 will bring our way.

Now without a crystal ball, it will be difficult to figure out exactly what will happen in the year ahead, but with some foresight, we can make sure that certain possibilities do happen.

What do I mean?  Well, let's just say that instead of trying to project what we hope will happen, how about we make sure by our actions, that changes we want see,  actually do happen.

I'm talking about making changes in our lives that will actually result in some of our expectations coming to fruition.

For a good many writers, that will mean something like:  making sure that you have your blogs in place for publishing when they are expected, especially if you belong to a group of writers!  If you are running your own website, it means learning the skills to make that website successful.  It will mean taking the time to learn and then put into practice those lessons that have been imparted to you.

It will also mean that you need to focus! Focus on what you wish to accomplish with your blog and/or your website.  There are people out there who are doing what you wish to be doing and to that end, they are sharing their expertise, so that you can do this as well.


From personal experience I can also tell you that there are two ladies out there who have had years of experience and are sharing their knowledge with many bloggers and website builders.  They have even shared how they earn make money, blogging and building their websites,  from home.  They offer courses in how to blog for money, build a website in a day, and how to learn to place affiliate links that will earn you an income, and all for reasonable investment.  They are the real thing, and I can tell you from personal experience, there are many more out there who just want to hook you in and then let you sink!  Not so with Pajama Affiliates!

Just as Review This is a site to find out all kinds of information, your website can be the place that people go to, when they are on the look out for the information, that you are sharing.

Learning how to rank your website and then properly doing the work to make sure that your website is optimized properly, will draw those people that are out there "searching" through the different search engines, like "google" or "yahoo", "ask" or "search".

Are you confused yet?  If so, the best place to start is with someone who can help you make your site the best and be totally committed to helping you learn the "right" way to make this possible.

I joined and I have not regretted this for one moment.  Lesley and Robin are there for you.  Once you join, if you need help, they are there to help you along.  Do you need more coaxing?

When you join the Pajama Affiliates group, not only do Lesley and Robin help you with any problems you might have, but the whole community of bloggers will help you with their knowledge as well.  That is just one of the many perks of belonging to this group.

Your New Year's hopes and aspirations are waiting for you to make the first move.  Get blogging and learn how to turn that into some extra income for you and your family.

Now I would like to wish you and your family a very Happy, Health and Prosperous New Year!

Let's meet back here and see how 2016 turned out!

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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A Review of BlogJob.com: A Great Free Host for Your WordPress Blogs

Is BlogJob a Writing Community That Has Everything

Update, May 4, 2016

AS of May 4, 2016, BlogJob has "temporarily suspended" its rewards program as described below. You can still blog there, but you will not get points for any site activities or blog posts until the site straightens out certain issues. It is still a good place to socialize, and those who have monetized their blogs themselves can still earn from them. I would not advise anyone to join at this time, though. Although the site may solve its issues and begin making enough income to begin paying again, there is no guarantee that will happen.  I have posted an updated review of BlogJob in Transition. 

Have you been thinking of starting a blog? Perhaps you are already an experienced blogger who would like to start a new blog. Maybe you'd like to  use WordPress without the cost of buying domain names and paying expensive hosting fees. It would also be advantageous to be paid something for your efforts as soon as your posts are published while you are waiting for traffic to build. I believe you will find a happy blogging home in the BlogJob writing community.

I want to emphasize the word community here. I've not been so happy at a site since Squidoo died.  Here's why. BlogJob is like Facebook, Tsu, and just about any content writing site that shares revenues all rolled into one. It functions well as a social network with forums, groups, and friends. The active friends interact with each other often and comment on each other's blogs as Squidoo lensmasters used to comment on each other's lenses and as Hubbers comment on each other's hubs. You can start or join groups. You have forums for discussing whatever is on your mind. You write your content on your own WordPress blogs which are hosted for free on the site as folders on the BlogJob domain. You earn for everything you do.

Blogging on BlogJob

On BlogJob, you  have almost total control over your WordPress blogs. It's not limited and difficult to use as it was on Seekyt, a site that finally closed to most writers. As long as you follow the usual Google content rules and keep everything G-rated and free of spam, you can decide what to post without any unreasonable restrictions. You can use affiliate and referral links to reputable sites. You can choose your own theme and customize it. You can add widgets. You can place Goggle ads or others. You can do almost anything you could if you  were hosting the blog on your own domain.  Your blogs must be at least 300 words long. Most of mine are about three times that.

There are some limitations,  however. Aren't there always? As this point in time, some of the tools that make affiliate selling easier don't function because of software conflicts. Amazon native ads don't work unless you use them in place of a regular ad, like one from Google. I haven't tried that yet. Easy Product Displays only show buttons and links, no images, when viewed. I'm hoping the EDP developers and the BlogJob website owner will figure out how to make it work. Meanwhile, Zazzle and Amazon regular codes work just fine.

 Another limitation is that you don't fully control the placement of all ads on your site. BlogJob administration places a couple of them where you might not want them to be, but I found when I complained they changed the placement and type of ad where it would not be so distracting.

Can't I Get Free Hosting Elsewhere?

BlogJob is a Community

Yes. You can use Blogger or WordPress.com to host free blogs for you. They also network you with other bloggers, but not in the same way. Those networks offer little incentive for bloggers to interact with each other. BlobJob bloggers are motivated to read and comment on other members' blogs because they are rewarded for it. They are also motivated to share the blogs of other members on social media. Blogging on your own can be a lonely business, especially at the beginning. Building traffic takes time, and income only arrives with traffic. BlobJob bloggers get help with both traffic and earning at this early stage.

How You Earn

As of may 4, 2016, what follows has been suspended until further notice. People may redeem points they have already earned, but cannot earn any more points. We don't know if the rewards system will be reinstated or not at this point in time.

Points add up to gift cards or PayPay cash at BlogJob

BlogJob has a reward system that works on points. You get points for almost anything you do -- commenting on blog posts and in forums, responding to comments of others, making friends, starting a group or interacting in a group, referring new members and site visitors and making blog posts. You get 50 points for each blog post. As the points add up, you will be able to redeem them for gift cards or PayPal payments. You can get a $25 payment to PayPal with 5,000 points or $100 for 10,000 points. Patience pays off.

I accumulated 5,818 points between November 5, 2015 and April 30, 2016. That's an average of 33 points a day, and that's because I did not have time to do at least one blog every day. You are limited to earning 100 points a day until you are able to complete a project. That means if you earn all 100 points a day, it will take you 100 days to cash out for $100 in your PayPal account.

A completed project raises your point ceiling. A project is something like a merit badge was in scouting. You have a step-by-step list of jobs to do and then you apply for the project. They involve blogging and attracting people to your blog or to the site. The first project most people complete is Social Networker. It includes instructions for getting your blogs set up.

Promoting Your Blogs

On every BlogJob blog you publish, there are special sharing buttons for social media. (See screen shot above from one of my blogs.) When you use them while logged in, they will include your referral in the links. If people use those links to visit your blog, they  are considered referred visitors and if they come as a referred visitor and sign up, they will become part of your network of referred new members. Only referred visitors give you points and count in completing  a project. As I update this on April 30, 2016, the site has been migrated to a new server and the sharing buttons have not been put back yet. Members have been advised to use a compatible plug-in for sharing, but referral codes must be manually added at the time being.

You will not work alone in getting more visitors to your blogs. Other logged in BlogJob members who use the buttons will also send visitors, but those who come to your blogs on their links won't be credited to your account. They will, however, see your ads and affiliate links. You don't get points for visitors who haven't come via your referral links, but you don't really get anything for visitors to your self-hosted blogs either unless they buy something or their view increases your Google earnings. You can profit the same way from un-referred visitors to BlobJob blogs.

One thing I like about the built-in share buttons is that there is a Hootsuite interface for posting to Facebook and Twitter. That means I can schedule tweets to all three accounts at once and then go back to Hootsuite and refine the scheduling.  Facebook links can be posted to your personal profile, a page you manage, or a group. Unfortunately, it can't post to a specific group thread in the way some groups require. (This is no longer the case unless you use the recommended Super Socialize plugin with both Hootsuite and Buffer interfaces.)

I Highly Recommend BlogJob

Would you rather not start your own self-hosted blog or website for your unhosted articles or posts you still plan to write? Please consider BlogJob as an alternative. It has a built-in community where you can connect with friends so you can work together to make each other successful. It has integrated promotion tools. It helps you begin to earn before your blog is established. Please join me at BlogJob by clicking this referral link. It may  be just the solution you've been looking for.

Keep in mind though that when writing on any site you don't own, you don't have full control. If you'd rather self-host and you want to start a blog you can monetize properly from the beginning, I recommend you enroll in the Pajama Affiliates blogging course described below that meets your particular need. There is usually at least one course on sale at any given time.

To be up and running quickly you may want to start with "WordPress Site in a Day". If you're serious about making an income blogging as your business, you may want to go all in for the Affiliate Marketing Business Bundle that has the works. You will find a full description of each course when you click through. I have purchased these courses and can tell you they are worth every penny I've spent on them. The teachers are making thousands of dollars a month from affiliate marketing in their blogs, so you know you won't be getting useless information.

 If you aren't sure about making even this small investment, there is even a trial course for a dollar that not only gives you access to some of the most useful videos in the course, but also admittance to the private Facebook group for those taking the course. You will probably discover that you already know some of the others if you've been writing for third-party sites.

This has just been a whistlestop tour of all the features BlogJob offers. BlogJob also provides business opportunities for network marketers if you are inclined that way. There are job and resume boards, as well, where you can look for blogging jobs or submit your resume if you would find that useful. Most members will probably never even click on the tabs that lead to those extra earning possibilities, but they are still available if you need them.

Hope to see you at BlogJob soon.

Update, After being temporarily closed to new members, BlogJob is now open again. Those now wanting to join need to fill out an application that demonstrates they can write in English.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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