SocialSpark is Now Live!

Okay, my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers...since I joined SocialSpark about a month ago while it was still in beta, you've seen the cute little fiery-red-haired guy waving at you from the "Join SocialSpark" banner in my sidebar and you've been reading my enthusiastic posts about IZEA's new combination of blogger social networking (a la Blog Catalog or MyBlogLog or Zimbio, for example) and paid posts.

Now, the moment we've all been waiting for...drumroll please...SocialSpark is live, and it is time for you (Michigan Rafter, Berryvox, Wally, JoeCool, Rache and Diva, to name a few) to sign up and get in on the fun (and the $$$).

While I've often joked here at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives that I have "no friends" (if you're looking at MySpace or Friendster or Facebook), I have made all kinds of blogging friends at SocialSpark (over 1,000 and counting!), not to mention "faving" familiar faces from BlogExplosion like Mariuca, Tricia and Lady Java. Check out SocialSpark by clicking the "Join SocialSpark" referral banner in my sidebar or one of the bold text links in this post, then swing by my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives profile on SocialSpark, add me to your friends, and give my profile and my blog a PROP! I'll do the same for you.

Now is the time! There are lots and lots of new paid posting opportunities available for verified blogs. So get yourself over to SocialSpark and start the process! Or take a moment and read the steps I have outlined below.

I know I have "spoken privately" with a few of you about some of the issues with any form of paid posting. To combat the problems other paid post services have had with Google PageRank, SocialSpark has a solid code of ethics:

• 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure (those cute little banners you see on some of my posts)
• 100% Transparency
• 100% Real Opinions (would I lie to you?)
• 100% Search Engine Friendly

So joining SocialSpark and starting to take opportunities for paid posts on your blog shouldn't cause Google to spank your blog....but if they do, IZEA, the owners of Social Spark, have created a new ranking system called RealRank to save the day. Mr. G may have given me a big fat zeeero on April 30th, but take a look at my IZEA RealRank badge smiling at you from the sidebar??!! A sweet little number in the low 400s??!! Go ahead, click on it and get a RealRank of your very own.

Now, let me take you through the steps for joining and getting to know SocialSpark:

FIRST: Click any of my SocialSpark screenshots or text links in this post to sign up.

SECOND: Create your SocialSpark Blogger profile (I also have a SocialSpark Advertiser profile that I can use to create free Sparks or even my own paid post opps, but we'll get to that later). Here, you'll choose your profile display name. This name should represent how you think of yourself as a Blogger, no matter how many blogs you have, but you can change it later if you decide your name no longer suits you. My profile name is Roxiticus Desperate Housewives since that's really my online identity as well as my most popular blog (200 hits per day and growing, Roxy says proudly). Then you'll fill in some basic demographic stuff, which you have the option of keeping private.

After you enter the basics, it's time to upload your Avatar. As you might expect, you'll see that I have chosen Bree as my large avatar, but due to a funny cropping issue with SocialSpark, in my small square avatar only a glimpse of red hair shows up...just a little tease for all of my friends).

A friendly IZEA developer (and fellow blogger) named Dang (that's his fun avatar on the left) assures me that you and I can now use his new cropping tool to get our avatars right.

THIRD: It's time to register any and all of your blogs. You can add as many blogs as you have, even if they don't qualify for paid post opportunities. I have four blogs up on Social Spark (Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, Roxiticus Best Blogs, Makin' the Bacon Online, and Bay Head New Jersey Blog), but only Roxiticus Desperate Housewives currently qualifies. Later, after you've met SocialSpark's criteria for your blog, there's a button you can hit to re-submit your blog for verification.

That's it...you're ready to go explore SocialSpark! Once you join, I'll send you a message asking you to be my friend, you'll say yes, and then you can click on that little glimpse of red hair square to hop over to my profile and give me a PROP! Leave me a comment on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives profile, and I'll scurry right on over to your new profile to check out your blog(s) and give you a PROP!

I'll post more later on how to explore and get to the goodies once you've signed up. You'll want to check out the opportunities and sign up to take them (you'll only have six to twelve hours to finish each one). There are still a few glitches in the SocialSpark system, and Customer Love is slower to respond, probably due to the overload of almost 4,000 new members, but all in all, I'm having a great time.

So what are you waiting for? Go to my sidebar. Click the banner....visit my profile....stay up all night making new friends....enjoy!