It’s been about two weeks now since I started my blog for money experiment. I began it because I kept seeing advertisements for people to get paid to blog, and I thought it made sense for a blog to pay for itself. I’ve signed up with several sites that offer blog advertising, but so far my favorite is Smorty.

Here’s what I like about Smorty: they require the blogger to disclose that some of their posts are sponsored. To be honest, most of the ethical sites where you can get paid for blogging require this, but I’d never contract with a site that didn’t.

Here’s what I really like about them: they pay weekly, instead of making you wait a month. I was a little dubious about that, but I made my first post for them last Saturday, and my first paypal deposit showed up this evening. That’s pretty impressive.

Here’s what I think completely rocks: unlike most other sites that offer people the opportunity to get paid to blog, Smorty requires a 3:1 ratio of original, non-sponsored content to sponsored posts. That means bloggers have to be bloggers first, and paid advertisers second, and I think that’s appropriate.

In addition to their timely payment schedule, Smorty also has helpful, friendly customer service. When I asked a question about how long it would take them to review my blog, they not only answered the question fairly quickly, but also apologized for any delay. (There was no delay, but that’s okay.)

To sum up? If you’re going to try blogging for money, try Smorty. They’re a smart choice.