If you are an advertiser who gets the word out through blog marketing you may have already heard of Pay Per Post and Social Spark which are but two offerings from the IZEA company.
Both are Social Media Marketing services which have proved very effective for advertisers. Through blog posts, blog sponsorships, and one of my favourites, product sampling, IZEA gives you a unique voice and presence on the World Wide Web.
I joined Pay Per Post as a postie in July, 2007. At the time I was simply looking for a way to make some household money without having to go into an office or elsewhere. My child is home for the summer and has many breaks throughout the year and I preferred to be home working than working somewhere else.
Having had 5 solid years blogging experience (and several more forum writing), blogging for advertisers really wasn’t much different for me than when I’d write about something I had an opinion about anyway. In fact even now–a year later–because I write about things I do, products I use, movies I see and places I go, as a seasoned blogger I offer my honest assessment all the time. It matters not if it’s paid, I still have an opinion to share with my readers.
Social Spark and Pay Per Post have much in common but there are distinct differences between them which distinguish them. To find out about the differences between Pay Per Post and Social Spark as very effective methods of getting the word out about your product or service, please click the “blog marketing” link above.
Glenn Beck is a stand up comedian who does political satire comedy. From what I understand, comedy when compared with other modes of entertainment is very hard to do. Especially stand up comedy made up of political satire. But from the video I saw on his site, Glenn is very outspoken and tries to cram as many words into a sentence as he can possibly fill.So Glenn Beck must be pretty brave and daring to not only take on live audiences on his summer tour in the United States but on July 17 as part of his tour and for one night only he will be broadcasting LIVE through FathomEvents to “select movie theaters nationwide,” and hopefully to a movie theatre near you.
Rockport, Ontario, Thousand Islands~ 06.05.08~ Ed Huck Marine Cam
After sitting alone for nine months our cottage will once again be inhabited by mid-day Saturday. Keeping in mind that we’ll need to put in the water and of course, clean a place that sometimes becomes a haven for little creatures, I hope we travel at a fast clip and get there with enough time to get all the kinks worked out before sundown. We have reservations in Ann Arbor, Michigan to stop on the way there as younger son has school on Friday (his final, final exam).
So big excitement. I’m very much in need of letting go of the accelerated pace I’ve been keeping since the Google shake-up last year. When I think about it I’ve been going full-throttle for 6 months–working 12-14 days usually 7-days a week and I cannot wait to make this trip despite not bringing the baby (the Mustang GT) because we need to pack stuff for our next trip–our official vacation starting in July. If the satellite Internet install goes as planned I may drive ahead of son and spouse in July–maybe two weeks before them, and then I will take the Mustang. Woot! (I just need to trust that they can get by without me for two weeks!) 
Both guys have commitments here–spouse’s work that you can only take so many weeks-off of and he’s taking 2 long weekends and three weeks at the Lake this year and son–who can only fit Driver’s Ed. into his schedule by taking it during summer school. Three-hundred fifty dollars and a trip to the DMV later and he is ready for the first day of school on June 11th.
The weather forecast has in some ways changed for the better for us. Now we have warmer temps and less rain (see below) but the bug report is looking a bit scary as the temp is forecasted to soar to 30C at Maple Lake on Saturday. Unless Maple Lake is sealed by ice nothing is keeping me out of that Lake on Saturday.
I caught some lovely still photos as the sun was setting today with the one above taken in Haliburton County on Lake Kawagama on ~ 4.30.08.
I wanted to bring those that have been doing searches for “Internet Haliburton” and “Internet Maple Lake” up to speed on what the most recent developments have been.
Firstly, if you are on Maple Lake or you were depending upon the relay station that would serve it from Carnarvon, according to a recent conversation I had with a W3Connex representative, the news is not good.
Without disclosing too much I’ll just say that there has been as of April, a problem with the location of the relay station in terms of the property it is situated on. The tower must be moved and the W3Connex people do not yet know where they will put it. With this such a question mark, despite the nice man from W3Connex asking me to call back in a month when he could tell me more, I’ve opted to go with something I have a bit more control over, Cottage Country Internet .
Cottage Country Internet will be bringing satellite high speed Internet service to Maple Lake starting with us. I’m very happy about this as I’ll be able to enjoy the pleasure of living on the lake whilst I take care of the necessity of having to work part of the time while I’m there. Other family members will be able to work and play as well so as a longer-term type deal, this should work well for everyone.
By everyone I mean everyone living on Maple Lake because this first installation will allow everyone who wants it to ask for and have service installed.
Chapleau River, Mulligans Bay, Ontario~ 4.30.08
Lake of Bays, Baysville Ontario~ 4.30.08…but where’s the Bay?
Haliburton~ Eye in the Sky Cam~ 4.30.08
It looks like we can do three weeks at Maple Lake this summer. Plus Labour Day weekend, I think (we have been for a few years in a row now).
Which is great as long as there’s Internet. I know I’m a broken record but I’m not the only person that can’t afford to take weeks off of paid work. And dial-up in my hyper-competitive online world won’t do it, regardless.
I think need to call the Haliburton County-affiliated W3Connex cable guy.
I’ve talked to him once on the phone and he seems very nice but with service orders for exactly what I need at about 800 online inquiries ahead of me in the email queue.
That’s why I’m thinking maybe going to the cottage a bit later so there might be a chance to get the cable people out our way? Oh please, oh please?
Info courtesy of Amy Brohm
Tourism and Marketing Co-ordinator
County of Haliburton
705-286-1777; 1-800-461-7677
Though my family and I cannot attend, we will absolutely add this to our “things to do/ places to see” list which is growing ever-longer. 
In other “news,” I’m still stressing over getting Internet and thereby altering my (our) entire summer for the better.
It’s hard to get a bead on what exactly is the Internet situation in Haliburton County.
One the one hand, there is W3Connex with it’s display on the Official Haliburton County website. It’s troubling however that there has been no updates on the status of the progress of making high-speed Internet connection available in the area.
More troubling: Though he was extremely nice, the fellow manning the phones (and I suspect doing many other tasks as well) at W3Connex essentially indicated that there could be 800 people with the same request as I have ahead of me in the line for high speed Internet access.
OTOH, Cottage Country Internet is ready to hook me up now. For $700 ($675 plus tax). Granted, this is a one-time install fee but I just don’t have that kind of cashola hanging around. Not to be all whiny but I am on full disability and this online writing I do– more than half is for free–the other part-time income–you know, to pay for “extras.” Seven hundred smackaroos is more than an “extra,” I’m afraid.
I just won’t be able to swing more than a couple of weeks at Maple Lake unless I get hooked up as I don’t have the luxury of taking the summer off.
Son will stay with me if we get hooked up as hid life revolves around school, books and online MMRPG games. Take away the games and interaction with his chums–well he’s a great kid but he’ll burn through any reading material he has. We use the Internet for everything–at least here in the States.
If only the nice people at either W3Connex or cottage Cottage Country Internet would take pity and realize that though my American dollars are not so big anymore I would still love to spend them in Haliburton County.
The people at Cottage Country Internet have been very helpful in aiding me in my quest for information about getting high speed Internet access on Maple Lake.
They are partnered with Candlelight Communications, who were the first to provide the service in the Haliburton area.
Here is the good news:
It looks like we can service you today, directly from our tower.
And the not-so-good:
Installation would cost $675. Monthly fee would be $59.95/month.
The monthly fee is good. The install I realize, is a one time thing but for me to swing it alone is not within my current budget.
But here’s more good news:
Your location also qualifies for a relay site, which would drop your monthly fee to $39.95/month.
I need to be able to work at the Lake to be able to be at the Lake and to do so must have high speed Internet access I would really like to see Maple Lake be ushered into the 21st Century. And with me/us being the very first patrons on Maple Lake, we would in fact be bringing the capacity for Internet to the entire lake.
While I puzzle about how to pull this off please enjoy thenice picture that I took on Maple Lake last summer.
This was kind of disappointing to get in my email today.
Hi Cynthia,
The current basic install price is $675. We’re just starting to pull together the details for our expansion to Maple Lake, so I don’t have specific dates just yet, but our hope is for before the start of summer.
If you know of others on the lake who are interested, please ask them to fill out the inquiry form on our website blah, blah, blah.
Um. no thanks. $700 plus $60 per month for three months, tops?
Sorry. I’ll drive in to Haliburton and pony up cash to use their Interweb.
The things that these people are not getting that “Frank’s Way” is a street with access after one travels to closer to shore, to a number of cottages. I would think the possibility of snagging so many customers at once would affect that ridiculous installation fee. I’ll wait or find something else. It’s never easy. <sigh>
OK, so here’s a nice picture. No date on it. My bro and his wife.
My bro and his wife.
The photo is of my son Jim in his first visit to Maple Lake — at about age 4 months and his grandpa, also named Jim.
My son Jim turns twenty five years old today. Very hard to believe how quickly the years have gone by. It makes me a bit sad that Jim has not been to the cottage for many a moon. If the Internet access comes through and I can spend more time up there this summer perhaps he’ll be able to come up for at least a long weekend.
I’m hoping to not sound like a broken record but I am ready to leave–in my mind.
The reality of a bunch of (paid) work flung my way in the past few days has slowed me down–but I am truly not complaining–just explaining.
It’s going to be late by the time I depart here tomorrow but that’s my schedule for you.
I’m just about to do a complete upgrade to Maple Lake Ontario -did a full backup just now–go me. I’ve got fingers crossed that it go off without a hitch.
I will of course, be blogging from Maple Lake . I have fingers crossed that the satellite internet guys have things ready for me to hook up and log on.
Here goes.
Ciao!
C.
