A Guest post by Akila from The Road Forks
Last week, I had a revelation when, after spending ten minutes fiddling around with a VPN in Podunkville, China, I opened my email and found four link exchange requests, including one asking to exchange links with “The Toad Forks” rather than our website, The Road Forks. As I slammed my laptop lid down, I realized that link exchanges are the mosquitoes of the blogging world.
Imagine that all of us bloggers — interesting and interested people engaged in making our blogs the Next Best Thing — sit down at a summer table with platters of thick-grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob next to an open cooler of dripping beers. The mosquitoes hover, pinching our legs and arms. We slap them away but their brothers come to replace them. They bloat with our blood, gorging and feeding on our health, and we develop unsightly rashes. That, my friends, are link exchange requests and we bloggers are helping these mosquitoes breed.
What is a link exchange request? A link exchange request is one where a site offers to link to your site in exchange for a reciprocal link. The key to this request is the requirement for a reciprocal link; in other words, if you don’t link to me, I don’t link to you.
Link exchange requests come in various forms. Some are from corporate entities seeking to promote blogs or sites by selling text links, though Google slashed PageRanks in 2007 in response to this tactic. Others are from bloggers — often, well meaning, newbie bloggers —- who send mass generic e-mails that cause me to inwardly groan, along the lines of, “Hey! Cool blog! Want to exchange links?”
Let me be clear, though: link exchanges are not e-mails from bloggers to others in the same genre inviting them to consider reading or linking to their blog because they have shared interests. If you are producing valuable content, you need to spread the word and e-mailing and networking with other bloggers is the best way to increase traffic to your site. Darren’s 11 tips to increase your chances of being linked to by another blogger boil down to two central tenets: get to know the person whose link you are asking for and produce content worthy of that link. A polite request that a person consider reading your blog is not the same thing as a request for a link in return for a link of their own.
Why do websites/bloggers want link exchanges? Link exchanges are an easy, get-rich-quick scheme to drive traffic and increase search engine results. In the short term, readers will jump to your blog, leading to more pageviews, ad revenue, and perhaps RSS subscribers.
Over the long term, links build your site’s “importance,” in the eyes of Google (and most other search engines, for that matter). A link exchange means more links for your site as well as theirs, more links leads to a higher Google PageRank, and a higher PageRank will cause a site to show up closer to the front page of Google search results, generating greater traffic for a site. Greater traffic means more ad revenue, fame, and the resulting glamour of being a hot-shot blogger.
The bad news: By participating in link exchanges, you risk injuring your reputation, the reputation of others, and angering Google. What do all successful bloggers have in common? Trust. A link might send new readers to your site but they are only going to keep reading your site if they trust that you will produce great content every week. The links on your blog are part of the content on your site; by linking to another site, you represent to your reader that the link is of good quality and will provide something valuable to the reader. If a reader clicks on a link that takes them to a site filled with ads for pills and dating programs, or to a blog that produces worse content than your own, the reader is going to question your judgment and wonder why you chose to link to that site. Nobody likes the guy who has to buy his friends. Unfortunately, by linking to one lousy site, you also devalue the other good sites on your blog. Bad for you, bad for your friends.
And, you certainly don’t want to irritate the most powerful player on the web. Google carries 71% of the search engine market and they hate link schemes. Google is in the business of providing the most accurate website hierarchy for a particular search term and falsely inflated links to a particular site lead to poor search results. In no less than three places in their Webmaster Guidelines, Google explains that participating in link schemes, including excessive link exchanges, could “negatively impact your site’s ranking in search results.”
Welcome to the new Internet where content is king.
Link exchanges are part of the old Internet, a system in which PageRank ruled and social media was a fancy word for e-mail. Today, Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon drive more traffic to my blog (and, I suspect, most blogs) than links from other bloggers. In the last week of July 2010, Facebook not only dominated the social media sites but was the most visited website in the world – even more than Google – accounting for over 9% of all web traffic in that week. Facebook’s Like button and Twitter’s instantaneous communications reward interesting or useful posts without using artificial means to game a blogger’s popularity.
Google is taking advantage of this revolution with Caffeine, its web indexing system launched in June 2010 that crawls blogs, social media sites, commercial sites, and user generated content at a 50% faster rate. Previously, Google used to crawl pages once every few days or even less, resulting in stale web search results. Now, when you hit publish on your blog post, it will appear in Google search results in less than 30 minutes. This means that fresh content – whether in the form of blog posts, tweets, or Facebook posts – may be the key to landing at the top of Google searches. In fact, Google has recommended for years that webmasters stop obsessing about PageRank because it is only one of 200 factors used to determine search results.
The bottom line is that if you want to increase your readership in today’s Internet, focus on networking with other bloggers, effectively using social media tools to produce fresh content, and, most importantly, producing link-worthy content, rather than populating the Internet with infestations of spam-filled links. Maybe soon, we will all be able to sit back and bask in the sunny glow of a better, more usable Internet.
Read more from Akila at The Road Forks
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
How I Make Money Blogging: Income Split for July 2010
BY DARREN ROWSE WWW.PROBLOGGER.NET
Over the last few months I’ve been sharing a monthly breakdown of where my income comes from in the hope of illustrating some of the methods bloggers might like to look at when making money from blogging (see previous months linked to below).
The month of July was the second month in a row where eBooks were the biggest money maker for me. Here’s a pie chart showing the percentage breakdowns.
Screen shot 2010-08-16 at 4.47.55 PM.png
Before I say much more let me show you how the different income streams have tracked over the last 4 months (note I’ve expanded ’speaking’ to be ’speaking and events’ to include the ProBlogger Training Day (which wasn’t a massive earner as we kept the price down – but because it’s something I’d like to try again). I have also added a ‘total’ line to this chart to track total income.
Screen shot 2010-08-16 at 5.04.20 PM.png
A few comments:
* Obviously there was a big eBook spike in June as we launched a photography eBook that month. July was down on the launch month but still very healthy – partly because of a few specials that I ran in July (I did a ‘Christmas in July’ special as well as offering a few communities a discount on the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook).
* AdSense was also pretty good last month – there’s no real explanation for this as traffic was steady. I can only guess that some advertisers were involved in a bit of a bidding war on Digital Photography School which drove prices up a little.
* Affiliate programs were quite down – that can be explained simply by me not doing as many promotions in July – mainly because there were not too many product launches in my niches (for some reason they always seem to come out at once).
* Direct Ad Sales are on the rise and you’ll see this continue to grow next month as I’ve been working with a direct ad sales rep who is now selling ads for my sites which has already led to some new clients.
* Over all it was a good month. While not as spectacular as July it was up on the previous two months significantly.
* Continuity Programs – a few people have asked what they are. In short – they’re membership sites – ProBlogger.com and The Third Tribe.
Next month is shaping up to be an interesting month. Later this week I’ll be launching a product here on ProBlogger (at a fairly inexpensive price point) which will be interesting to track. I’ve also participated in a couple of affiliate launches and have seen some interesting direct ad sales. I’m not quite sure whether it’ll be as good as July but am working toward it.
Over the last few months I’ve been sharing a monthly breakdown of where my income comes from in the hope of illustrating some of the methods bloggers might like to look at when making money from blogging (see previous months linked to below).
The month of July was the second month in a row where eBooks were the biggest money maker for me. Here’s a pie chart showing the percentage breakdowns.
Screen shot 2010-08-16 at 4.47.55 PM.png
Before I say much more let me show you how the different income streams have tracked over the last 4 months (note I’ve expanded ’speaking’ to be ’speaking and events’ to include the ProBlogger Training Day (which wasn’t a massive earner as we kept the price down – but because it’s something I’d like to try again). I have also added a ‘total’ line to this chart to track total income.
Screen shot 2010-08-16 at 5.04.20 PM.png
A few comments:
* Obviously there was a big eBook spike in June as we launched a photography eBook that month. July was down on the launch month but still very healthy – partly because of a few specials that I ran in July (I did a ‘Christmas in July’ special as well as offering a few communities a discount on the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook).
* AdSense was also pretty good last month – there’s no real explanation for this as traffic was steady. I can only guess that some advertisers were involved in a bit of a bidding war on Digital Photography School which drove prices up a little.
* Affiliate programs were quite down – that can be explained simply by me not doing as many promotions in July – mainly because there were not too many product launches in my niches (for some reason they always seem to come out at once).
* Direct Ad Sales are on the rise and you’ll see this continue to grow next month as I’ve been working with a direct ad sales rep who is now selling ads for my sites which has already led to some new clients.
* Over all it was a good month. While not as spectacular as July it was up on the previous two months significantly.
* Continuity Programs – a few people have asked what they are. In short – they’re membership sites – ProBlogger.com and The Third Tribe.
Next month is shaping up to be an interesting month. Later this week I’ll be launching a product here on ProBlogger (at a fairly inexpensive price point) which will be interesting to track. I’ve also participated in a couple of affiliate launches and have seen some interesting direct ad sales. I’m not quite sure whether it’ll be as good as July but am working toward it.
Monday, August 30, 2010
THE LAW OF ATTRACTION FOR BLOGGERS..
This is a principle that works every time with every person
you do not think about what is impossible but what is very
possible....
This is the most powerful law in the universe
It states that what ever you want if you can set your
mind towards it you can succeed .
its just for you to be positive minded .
when you believe in your self you have the determination
and then you have a successful blog...
If you can apply the law of attraction in your business,
work and other aspect of life, you definitely will attract
every thing positive in your life . a lot of people have
used this law and they have succeeded.
what ever you are feeling is what is in the process of
becoming.
THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SECRET...
EZEH EMMANUEL JR (MUSANAHIM)
WWW.ARENA-ONE.BLOGSPOT.COM
you do not think about what is impossible but what is very
possible....
This is the most powerful law in the universe
It states that what ever you want if you can set your
mind towards it you can succeed .
its just for you to be positive minded .
when you believe in your self you have the determination
and then you have a successful blog...
If you can apply the law of attraction in your business,
work and other aspect of life, you definitely will attract
every thing positive in your life . a lot of people have
used this law and they have succeeded.
what ever you are feeling is what is in the process of
becoming.
THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SECRET...
EZEH EMMANUEL JR (MUSANAHIM)
WWW.ARENA-ONE.BLOGSPOT.COM
Sunday, August 29, 2010
LEARN FROM THE TOP MOST BLOGGERS
LEARN FROM THE TOP MOST BLOGGERS
This posting should do a lot to help you be on top
especially for people just starting to blog.....
1.) Find any of the top bloggers
2.) Search for their Errors
3.) Search for where they got it right
4.) search for their feasibility studies
5.) make your research broad
6.) make contacts with other Bloggers for co-writing
7.) This i discovered lastly find what you like much
i mean your passion and write about it.
For instance while i was starting i talked to Daren
Of www.problogger.com,I also talked to some guys at
wwww.blogcatalog.com they gave me their advise
I also wanted to know if yahoo and google which is the
best.
This points i made really helped me as a rookie blogger
which i still am.
HEY GUYS I WOULD LOVE SOME COMMENTS HON HOW IT HELPED YA
IN THE MEANTIME PEACE
Ezeh Emmanuel JR(MUSANAHIM)
www.arena-one.blogspot.com
This posting should do a lot to help you be on top
especially for people just starting to blog.....
1.) Find any of the top bloggers
2.) Search for their Errors
3.) Search for where they got it right
4.) search for their feasibility studies
5.) make your research broad
6.) make contacts with other Bloggers for co-writing
7.) This i discovered lastly find what you like much
i mean your passion and write about it.
For instance while i was starting i talked to Daren
Of www.problogger.com,I also talked to some guys at
wwww.blogcatalog.com they gave me their advise
I also wanted to know if yahoo and google which is the
best.
This points i made really helped me as a rookie blogger
which i still am.
HEY GUYS I WOULD LOVE SOME COMMENTS HON HOW IT HELPED YA
IN THE MEANTIME PEACE
Ezeh Emmanuel JR(MUSANAHIM)
www.arena-one.blogspot.com
More Jobs for Bloggers
CasJam Design Blog
Description
The CasJam Design Blog is hiring writers for one-time articles and ongoing positions!
We're paying $40-$100 + performance bonuses!
Topics include (but not limited to):
Web Design, Usability, Branding, Online Business, Mobile Web, Freelancing, Photoshop, Design Inspiration, Apple, Web Development, WordPress, Tumblr, and other related topics...
We're looking for all types of content:
Articles (350+ words), In-depth tutorials (500+ words), Video screencasts, interviews, design inspiration posts, and more.
How to apply
Check out all of the submission guidelines here:
http://casjam.com/blog/contribute/
Description
The CasJam Design Blog is hiring writers for one-time articles and ongoing positions!
We're paying $40-$100 + performance bonuses!
Topics include (but not limited to):
Web Design, Usability, Branding, Online Business, Mobile Web, Freelancing, Photoshop, Design Inspiration, Apple, Web Development, WordPress, Tumblr, and other related topics...
We're looking for all types of content:
Articles (350+ words), In-depth tutorials (500+ words), Video screencasts, interviews, design inspiration posts, and more.
How to apply
Check out all of the submission guidelines here:
http://casjam.com/blog/contribute/
JOBS FOR BLOGGERS
Description
We are looking for a passionate Apple user to create posts that are tutorials and hints/tips about these subjects
* Mac OS X
* iPhone / iPad
* iPhone / iPad apps
Rather than being news focused or review focused we are interested in posts that are sharing your experience, 'how to' and tips.
How to apply
Please send email to peter@theinternetincubator.com
Subject should be "Apple Blogger"
Along with a brief introduction of yourself please send:-
* 3 samples of your work online
* List of Apple products that you have
* What kind of work you do with Macs
Ideally we are looking to keep one or two bloggers working on this project posting 2 posts each per week.
Description
Looking for talented writers who can quickly research and produce unique quality articles on education-related topics in a short span of time.
We need writers who are willing to immediately come onboard as fulltime freelancers, producing a minimum of 6-8 well-written 500-1000 word articles per day on assigned topics.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Strong writing and internet research skills
- Ability to work fast and under deadlines
- Ability to produce written work product that requires little to no editing
- Strong attention to detail
- Creativity
PAYMENT:
Writers will be compensated between $20-$40 per article depending on length.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Paypal Account for all payment transactions
How to apply
Please write a 250 word article on obtaining an online degree for the profession of your choice. The article should include (1) What the degree is; (2) Why someone should get that degree; (3) The educational requirements for obtaining that degree; (4) A list of jobs someone who obtains that degree can perform and the expected pay/job prospects; (5) Any other information you deem relevant. The article should be written in a formal tone. We will be looking for clean, crisp, readable, and informative writing.
Please send a resume and the writing sample to bradsmith818@gmail.com.
Please include the word “Education Writer” in the subject of your email.
We are looking for a passionate Apple user to create posts that are tutorials and hints/tips about these subjects
* Mac OS X
* iPhone / iPad
* iPhone / iPad apps
Rather than being news focused or review focused we are interested in posts that are sharing your experience, 'how to' and tips.
How to apply
Please send email to peter@theinternetincubator.com
Subject should be "Apple Blogger"
Along with a brief introduction of yourself please send:-
* 3 samples of your work online
* List of Apple products that you have
* What kind of work you do with Macs
Ideally we are looking to keep one or two bloggers working on this project posting 2 posts each per week.
Description
Looking for talented writers who can quickly research and produce unique quality articles on education-related topics in a short span of time.
We need writers who are willing to immediately come onboard as fulltime freelancers, producing a minimum of 6-8 well-written 500-1000 word articles per day on assigned topics.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Strong writing and internet research skills
- Ability to work fast and under deadlines
- Ability to produce written work product that requires little to no editing
- Strong attention to detail
- Creativity
PAYMENT:
Writers will be compensated between $20-$40 per article depending on length.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Paypal Account for all payment transactions
How to apply
Please write a 250 word article on obtaining an online degree for the profession of your choice. The article should include (1) What the degree is; (2) Why someone should get that degree; (3) The educational requirements for obtaining that degree; (4) A list of jobs someone who obtains that degree can perform and the expected pay/job prospects; (5) Any other information you deem relevant. The article should be written in a formal tone. We will be looking for clean, crisp, readable, and informative writing.
Please send a resume and the writing sample to bradsmith818@gmail.com.
Please include the word “Education Writer” in the subject of your email.
How do I get visitors to my site
1. Submit you site to free search engine directories.
like www.addme.com
2. Check for local government directories - it is easy to get into local, online listings.
3. Use forums and discussion boards. The best way to answer people's questions is by creating a short walkthrough on your site that teaches them. Show them where to find it and you have yourself a link.
4. If you don't have any friends, get some quickly.
use:- twitter facebook and other sites.
5. Review products on other sites like e Pinions. You can quickly establish yourself as an expert by writing thorough reviews of products in your field. Some of the traffic that hits your review will follow the trail back to your site, leading to links.
6. Find quality blogs and leave a comment with a link back to your site.
7. Use free advertising! Tell your friends about your site.
8. Add a link to your site in the signature of the forums you post on.
like www.addme.com
2. Check for local government directories - it is easy to get into local, online listings.
3. Use forums and discussion boards. The best way to answer people's questions is by creating a short walkthrough on your site that teaches them. Show them where to find it and you have yourself a link.
4. If you don't have any friends, get some quickly.
use:- twitter facebook and other sites.
5. Review products on other sites like e Pinions. You can quickly establish yourself as an expert by writing thorough reviews of products in your field. Some of the traffic that hits your review will follow the trail back to your site, leading to links.
6. Find quality blogs and leave a comment with a link back to your site.
7. Use free advertising! Tell your friends about your site.
8. Add a link to your site in the signature of the forums you post on.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Big Content Monetisation Ideas for the Little Guy
Creative Monetisation
When we discussed content strategy earlier in this series, we talked about the importance of having a grip on your content inventory so that you can achieve the best possible return on your investment in content.
How can you achieve that ROI? There are many options. In fact, as we’ll see, being creative about your monetisation strategy really can pay off.
To get you in the mood, take a look at the blog of illustrator and artist James Jean (Warning, artistic nude drawings there). Check his store to see some innovative approaches to the concept of “content monetisation”.
Whitepapers and Ebooks
Whitepapers, reports, and ebooks are established means by which to repackage quality content you’ve published on your blog into new, cost-effective formats. But don’t forget physical products, either — it works for James Jean, and it could work for you, too.
Before you begin, consider existing competition in the space — if leaders in your field release quality research or insight free, you’ll have to do something different, and do it well, if your audience is going to pay for your offering. Simply republishing a selection of your current blog content as an ebook won’t cut it. Augmenting that content, as a basic platform from which you can provide a range of value-adds, tools, and philosophies, might.
If you’re constantly immersed in your area of interest, you’re likely to come across information that, while it makes for good blog posts, also fuels your creative fire. It might start you innovating and exploring, and the resulting insights and experiences may generate new content or new perspectives that can augment and extend your existing content in other formats.
Products like these are usually most successful if you can provide solid practical value, unique insights, and compelling evidence. Don’t neglect to give your customers a means to assess the information for themselves, independently, as well as under your guidance. Interpret the results of your research in a paid report, by all means — but provide the raw data to allow users to conduct their own analysis, too.
Paywalls and Subscriptions
We’ve all heard about the News Corp decision to charge for access to its news sites — a plan that’s now going ahead in the UK and USA. Although opinion is divided over charging for web news, many blogs offer premium subscriptions that provide access to suites of value-added content such as research and interpretation, or deep insight and opinion. The free GigaOm network does this with its GigaOm Pro subscription service. Subscription services may also take in alternative media formats, such as videos or podcasts, that aren’t available through the free area of the blog.
Subscriptions won’t work for all blog types — expert content on business and academic topics seems to be one area in which paywalls have proven successful, but the average hobby blogger may have trouble justifying this tactic to an audience that can obtain parallel content free of charge elsewhere. If you do go ahead with a paywall, you’ll have to think carefully about how you’ll communicate the value of a subscription to your readers: will you offer a free trial? A demo? Will you let users pay on a weekly or monthly basis, or have them purchase a longer period, perhaps at a discount?
Users are already skeptical of paywalls and subscriptions. They can work, but usually they’re best left to the larger players who can afford to take such risks.
Content Syndication that Pays
An interesting alternative to the online news paywall approach has been developed by the UK’s Guardian news organisation. The Guardian is launching a service that allows others to syndicate Guardian stories free of charge — with the caveat that the content must appear as provided, and that includes an advertisement.
Syndicating your blog’s content with automatically-included inline ads may not be an option just yet. But are there other forms of “syndication” you can use? Could you arrange to republish selected posts regularly in another industry publication — perhaps in print — for payment?
Reselling your posts can be tricky, since you don’t want to dilute your brand or readership. By the same token, a well-planned strategy can serve to build your audience and your income. For example, you might syndicate time-critical content to other publications for a payment, but publish timeless, evergreen content, posts that build and engage community, and articles that provide great educational value, exclusively on your own blog.
Finding outlets that will pay to republish your posts may be a challenge, particularly while you’re still establishing your foothold in your chosen space, but as the Problogger income split posts prove, the small steps — and approaches that aggregate a range of income sources — really do add up.
What techniques have you used to monetise your content?
Continue reading this series of articles on questions surrounding blog content.
About the Author: Georgina has more than ten years’ experience writing and editing for web, print and voice. She now blogs for WebWorkerDaily and SitePoint, and consults on content to a range of other clients.
When we discussed content strategy earlier in this series, we talked about the importance of having a grip on your content inventory so that you can achieve the best possible return on your investment in content.
How can you achieve that ROI? There are many options. In fact, as we’ll see, being creative about your monetisation strategy really can pay off.
To get you in the mood, take a look at the blog of illustrator and artist James Jean (Warning, artistic nude drawings there). Check his store to see some innovative approaches to the concept of “content monetisation”.
Whitepapers and Ebooks
Whitepapers, reports, and ebooks are established means by which to repackage quality content you’ve published on your blog into new, cost-effective formats. But don’t forget physical products, either — it works for James Jean, and it could work for you, too.
Before you begin, consider existing competition in the space — if leaders in your field release quality research or insight free, you’ll have to do something different, and do it well, if your audience is going to pay for your offering. Simply republishing a selection of your current blog content as an ebook won’t cut it. Augmenting that content, as a basic platform from which you can provide a range of value-adds, tools, and philosophies, might.
If you’re constantly immersed in your area of interest, you’re likely to come across information that, while it makes for good blog posts, also fuels your creative fire. It might start you innovating and exploring, and the resulting insights and experiences may generate new content or new perspectives that can augment and extend your existing content in other formats.
Products like these are usually most successful if you can provide solid practical value, unique insights, and compelling evidence. Don’t neglect to give your customers a means to assess the information for themselves, independently, as well as under your guidance. Interpret the results of your research in a paid report, by all means — but provide the raw data to allow users to conduct their own analysis, too.
Paywalls and Subscriptions
We’ve all heard about the News Corp decision to charge for access to its news sites — a plan that’s now going ahead in the UK and USA. Although opinion is divided over charging for web news, many blogs offer premium subscriptions that provide access to suites of value-added content such as research and interpretation, or deep insight and opinion. The free GigaOm network does this with its GigaOm Pro subscription service. Subscription services may also take in alternative media formats, such as videos or podcasts, that aren’t available through the free area of the blog.
Subscriptions won’t work for all blog types — expert content on business and academic topics seems to be one area in which paywalls have proven successful, but the average hobby blogger may have trouble justifying this tactic to an audience that can obtain parallel content free of charge elsewhere. If you do go ahead with a paywall, you’ll have to think carefully about how you’ll communicate the value of a subscription to your readers: will you offer a free trial? A demo? Will you let users pay on a weekly or monthly basis, or have them purchase a longer period, perhaps at a discount?
Users are already skeptical of paywalls and subscriptions. They can work, but usually they’re best left to the larger players who can afford to take such risks.
Content Syndication that Pays
An interesting alternative to the online news paywall approach has been developed by the UK’s Guardian news organisation. The Guardian is launching a service that allows others to syndicate Guardian stories free of charge — with the caveat that the content must appear as provided, and that includes an advertisement.
Syndicating your blog’s content with automatically-included inline ads may not be an option just yet. But are there other forms of “syndication” you can use? Could you arrange to republish selected posts regularly in another industry publication — perhaps in print — for payment?
Reselling your posts can be tricky, since you don’t want to dilute your brand or readership. By the same token, a well-planned strategy can serve to build your audience and your income. For example, you might syndicate time-critical content to other publications for a payment, but publish timeless, evergreen content, posts that build and engage community, and articles that provide great educational value, exclusively on your own blog.
Finding outlets that will pay to republish your posts may be a challenge, particularly while you’re still establishing your foothold in your chosen space, but as the Problogger income split posts prove, the small steps — and approaches that aggregate a range of income sources — really do add up.
What techniques have you used to monetise your content?
Continue reading this series of articles on questions surrounding blog content.
About the Author: Georgina has more than ten years’ experience writing and editing for web, print and voice. She now blogs for WebWorkerDaily and SitePoint, and consults on content to a range of other clients.
BEING PLAYFUL WITH YOUR BLOG
Well im back now after a long break due to circumstances beyond my control.
I wolud like to lay emphasis on certain things that would rekindle our spirits
towards achieving much in blogging.
One of the things that I’ve learnt over the years is that the more I try and use stuff, the more I discover what works and what doesn’t work for me in my style, but also for my readers, for blogging and the medium itself.
So, I’d like to ask you today:
* how have you played on your blog?
* How have you experimented?
* What have you tried?
* What has worked and what hasn’t worked?
I’d like this to be a discussion. For me, I’ve tried lots of different styles of writing over the years.
For example, I’ve done a few rants on my blogs. I discovered that, you know, me ranting doesn’t really work. Occasionally it does because, I guess I really believe in what I’m ranting about, but as a rule, ranting doesn’t really work for me.
I’ve also tried writing in the third person at times that sometimes has actually worked for me. It’s had a real impact upon people.
I’ve also found asking questions like this video post itself works for me.
It’s just about experimenting with different ways of communicating. With using images, with your design, it translates across your blog in lots of different ways.
So, what have you played with on your blog? How have you been a bit playful? How have you experimented? What have you learnt? What has worked for you in your style and what doesn’t work for you in your style?
I’d love to hear your comments.
Ezeh Emmanuel Jr.
www.arena-one.blogspot.com
I wolud like to lay emphasis on certain things that would rekindle our spirits
towards achieving much in blogging.
One of the things that I’ve learnt over the years is that the more I try and use stuff, the more I discover what works and what doesn’t work for me in my style, but also for my readers, for blogging and the medium itself.
So, I’d like to ask you today:
* how have you played on your blog?
* How have you experimented?
* What have you tried?
* What has worked and what hasn’t worked?
I’d like this to be a discussion. For me, I’ve tried lots of different styles of writing over the years.
For example, I’ve done a few rants on my blogs. I discovered that, you know, me ranting doesn’t really work. Occasionally it does because, I guess I really believe in what I’m ranting about, but as a rule, ranting doesn’t really work for me.
I’ve also tried writing in the third person at times that sometimes has actually worked for me. It’s had a real impact upon people.
I’ve also found asking questions like this video post itself works for me.
It’s just about experimenting with different ways of communicating. With using images, with your design, it translates across your blog in lots of different ways.
So, what have you played with on your blog? How have you been a bit playful? How have you experimented? What have you learnt? What has worked for you in your style and what doesn’t work for you in your style?
I’d love to hear your comments.
Ezeh Emmanuel Jr.
www.arena-one.blogspot.com
Monday, April 12, 2010
Chitika eMiniMalls – How Much Money Do they Earn Me?
Chitika eMiniMalls – How Much Money Do they Earn Me?
Chitika-EminimallsI’ve been getting quite a few excited emails from readers who have signed up for the Chitika eMiniMalls that I reviewed last week. There has been a lot of positive feedback so far from those who I’ve referred over to the program with some people earning some significant money from it so far (including ‘Rachel‘). There have also been a few (less) emails from bloggers who have failed to see them as effective.
The most common question that I get asked by readers about the eMiniMalls include:
* ‘How do the money from eMiniMalls compare to earnings of Adsense?’
* ‘How much money do you earn from eMiniMalls?’
(update: the third most asked question is ‘how do I increase my earnings?’ If you’re asking this you might also like to check out Chitika eMiniMall Tips for increasing earnings)
I’ve resisted talking about specific figures of money earnt to this point because I wanted to clarify with the Chitika people whether I was allowed to do so. Today I just got confirmation that it’s ok for me to talk about daily earnings figures but not CTR, impressions etc. The reason I want to talk about this is simply because I really believe in this ad system – as you’ll see from the figures below – it’s had a pretty amazing impact upon my earnings and I’d like readers here to have the full picture of what the potential to earn money with it is.
So let’s look at yesterday’s earnings for me with both Adsense and Chitika were. Update: due to Adsense terms (that I misread) I have been told that I cannot reveal my daily Adsense figures but only gross payment figures (monthly totals). So I’ll do that here instead of a daily figure for yesterday. You can pretty much work out what the Adsense earnings are from the figure if you know how many days are in August! All I’ll say is that yesterday was a bit under August’s average.
Adsense earnings for August – $15,849.73
Chitika eMiniMalls earnings Yesterday – $702.45
Let me follow the figures up with a few statements of qualification:
* Yesterday Adsense was a little below average for me
* While I can’t mention how many impressions there were for either program – they were very similar to one another
* The Chitika eMiniMalls figure is before their auditing process takes effect. From what I’ve seen of this process last month – this is likely to decrease that figure by around 10% – update this turned out to be an accurate estimation of the audit figure for this day.
* The ads appear across a range of sites (17 or so – NOT just this site). In most cases they appear on the same pages as one another (remember that you need to disable the contextual ad function of the eMiniMalls to do this and stay within Adsense’s TOS
* The CTR for Adsense is significantly higher than it was for the eMiniMalls
* The click value for eMiniMalls is significantly higher than it was for Adsense
* From what I can tell from these results and those of readers who are trying eMiniMalls (Chitika is yet to add channels) – the best performing sites seem to be product related blogs including blogs about gadgets, clothing, etc. Having said this I’ve heard from a number of bloggers with VERY general, non product related sites that are doing reasonably well out of them also.
* These are not just one off or fluke numbers – I’ve had no major increases in traffic over the past few days – I have added the eMiniMalls to more pages in the past week – but the numbers seem to be consistent over the past few days. Time will tell whether they will remain at this level but I have no reason to believe that they will not.
* The above figures are in US dollars.
As you can see from the numbers – I personally have reason to be pretty excited about eMiniMalls. If these numbers continue they will more than double my daily earnings and taken them to a level that is over $1000 per day. This is less than some of the bigger blog networks out there but for an ordinary guy like me who has only been at this blogging thing for under 3 years – I have to say that it’s very promising. I can’t guarantee that they work on every blog – but they are definately worth experimenting with.
Disclaimer: the links to Chitika in this post are affiliate links – if you sign up using these links I earn a small amount as a commission. It does not impact what you earn from Chitika but rather is paid by Chitika. While these links are affiliate links I genuinely believe in the product and have endeavored to point out both its benefits and weaknesses in all my writing about it.
Chitika-EminimallsI’ve been getting quite a few excited emails from readers who have signed up for the Chitika eMiniMalls that I reviewed last week. There has been a lot of positive feedback so far from those who I’ve referred over to the program with some people earning some significant money from it so far (including ‘Rachel‘). There have also been a few (less) emails from bloggers who have failed to see them as effective.
The most common question that I get asked by readers about the eMiniMalls include:
* ‘How do the money from eMiniMalls compare to earnings of Adsense?’
* ‘How much money do you earn from eMiniMalls?’
(update: the third most asked question is ‘how do I increase my earnings?’ If you’re asking this you might also like to check out Chitika eMiniMall Tips for increasing earnings)
I’ve resisted talking about specific figures of money earnt to this point because I wanted to clarify with the Chitika people whether I was allowed to do so. Today I just got confirmation that it’s ok for me to talk about daily earnings figures but not CTR, impressions etc. The reason I want to talk about this is simply because I really believe in this ad system – as you’ll see from the figures below – it’s had a pretty amazing impact upon my earnings and I’d like readers here to have the full picture of what the potential to earn money with it is.
So let’s look at yesterday’s earnings for me with both Adsense and Chitika were. Update: due to Adsense terms (that I misread) I have been told that I cannot reveal my daily Adsense figures but only gross payment figures (monthly totals). So I’ll do that here instead of a daily figure for yesterday. You can pretty much work out what the Adsense earnings are from the figure if you know how many days are in August! All I’ll say is that yesterday was a bit under August’s average.
Adsense earnings for August – $15,849.73
Chitika eMiniMalls earnings Yesterday – $702.45
Let me follow the figures up with a few statements of qualification:
* Yesterday Adsense was a little below average for me
* While I can’t mention how many impressions there were for either program – they were very similar to one another
* The Chitika eMiniMalls figure is before their auditing process takes effect. From what I’ve seen of this process last month – this is likely to decrease that figure by around 10% – update this turned out to be an accurate estimation of the audit figure for this day.
* The ads appear across a range of sites (17 or so – NOT just this site). In most cases they appear on the same pages as one another (remember that you need to disable the contextual ad function of the eMiniMalls to do this and stay within Adsense’s TOS
* The CTR for Adsense is significantly higher than it was for the eMiniMalls
* The click value for eMiniMalls is significantly higher than it was for Adsense
* From what I can tell from these results and those of readers who are trying eMiniMalls (Chitika is yet to add channels) – the best performing sites seem to be product related blogs including blogs about gadgets, clothing, etc. Having said this I’ve heard from a number of bloggers with VERY general, non product related sites that are doing reasonably well out of them also.
* These are not just one off or fluke numbers – I’ve had no major increases in traffic over the past few days – I have added the eMiniMalls to more pages in the past week – but the numbers seem to be consistent over the past few days. Time will tell whether they will remain at this level but I have no reason to believe that they will not.
* The above figures are in US dollars.
As you can see from the numbers – I personally have reason to be pretty excited about eMiniMalls. If these numbers continue they will more than double my daily earnings and taken them to a level that is over $1000 per day. This is less than some of the bigger blog networks out there but for an ordinary guy like me who has only been at this blogging thing for under 3 years – I have to say that it’s very promising. I can’t guarantee that they work on every blog – but they are definately worth experimenting with.
Disclaimer: the links to Chitika in this post are affiliate links – if you sign up using these links I earn a small amount as a commission. It does not impact what you earn from Chitika but rather is paid by Chitika. While these links are affiliate links I genuinely believe in the product and have endeavored to point out both its benefits and weaknesses in all my writing about it.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Here’s What You Should Do to Improve Your Blog Today
Earlier in the week I was asked this question – what is one thing that I can do tomorrow morning when I sit down at my desk that will improve my blog?
My answer was this:
Identify a reader’s problem (or that of a potential reader) and produce a post that will solve it.
I’ve covered some of how to identify readers problems in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook (day 16) but this has been such an important part of my own blogging that I want to emphasise it again here.
Ultimately if you are solving someone’s problem you’re doing something that creates an impression and when you do that you do a number of things including:
* increasing the chances that they’ll come back and become a loyal reader
* increasing their trust in you – which helps build authority, credibility and influence
* increasing the chances that they’ll tell someone else about you
I attempt to solve problems for readers on two main levels
Big Picture – What Problem is your BLOG solving?
I find it helpful to have a ‘big’ and overarching problem in mind as I start and then develop a blog. It helps keep me on track and is great for attracting new readers if you communicate it well.
For me on my photography blog the problem that I’m attempting to solve is that most people who own a camera are not using it to its potential. They take pictures that could be improve greatly with a little knowledge and so I want to give them more control over their cameras.
Small Picture – What Problem is your new POST solving?
With your big picture problem in mind you can now begin to break it down into smaller and more specific problems that your readers may have.
For me this means tackling problems like – taking blurry photos, not knowing how to take a decent social media profile picture, not knowing which DSLR to buy and not knowing the basic settings that most cameras have.
Some of these problems are more basic, common and general while others are more specific or advanced – but they all aim to help those who face the problems leave the blog better informed and equipped to solve the problem.
Ultimately this is all about being Useful. Of course being useful takes many forms and the problems that your readers might have could include a large list of things including some like:
* “I’m bored”
* “I want the latest news about….”
* “I want to learn how to….”
* “I want a laugh”
* “I am lonely”
* “I want to improve….”
* “I need a review of….”
* “I need advice about….”
* “I think I’m the only one with the problem of….”
The list goes on and on.
Here’s what to do Today
If you’re looking to improve your blog and you have a few minutes right now – start making a list of the types of problems your readers (or potential readers) have. (if you need help on identifying these problems check out the 31DBBB workbook (day 16) if you have a copy).
Once you’ve got your list of problems – select one and produce something (a blog post, a video, a podcast, a PDF report or even a tweet if its a small problem) and publish it.
My answer was this:
Identify a reader’s problem (or that of a potential reader) and produce a post that will solve it.
I’ve covered some of how to identify readers problems in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook (day 16) but this has been such an important part of my own blogging that I want to emphasise it again here.
Ultimately if you are solving someone’s problem you’re doing something that creates an impression and when you do that you do a number of things including:
* increasing the chances that they’ll come back and become a loyal reader
* increasing their trust in you – which helps build authority, credibility and influence
* increasing the chances that they’ll tell someone else about you
I attempt to solve problems for readers on two main levels
Big Picture – What Problem is your BLOG solving?
I find it helpful to have a ‘big’ and overarching problem in mind as I start and then develop a blog. It helps keep me on track and is great for attracting new readers if you communicate it well.
For me on my photography blog the problem that I’m attempting to solve is that most people who own a camera are not using it to its potential. They take pictures that could be improve greatly with a little knowledge and so I want to give them more control over their cameras.
Small Picture – What Problem is your new POST solving?
With your big picture problem in mind you can now begin to break it down into smaller and more specific problems that your readers may have.
For me this means tackling problems like – taking blurry photos, not knowing how to take a decent social media profile picture, not knowing which DSLR to buy and not knowing the basic settings that most cameras have.
Some of these problems are more basic, common and general while others are more specific or advanced – but they all aim to help those who face the problems leave the blog better informed and equipped to solve the problem.
Ultimately this is all about being Useful. Of course being useful takes many forms and the problems that your readers might have could include a large list of things including some like:
* “I’m bored”
* “I want the latest news about….”
* “I want to learn how to….”
* “I want a laugh”
* “I am lonely”
* “I want to improve….”
* “I need a review of….”
* “I need advice about….”
* “I think I’m the only one with the problem of….”
The list goes on and on.
Here’s what to do Today
If you’re looking to improve your blog and you have a few minutes right now – start making a list of the types of problems your readers (or potential readers) have. (if you need help on identifying these problems check out the 31DBBB workbook (day 16) if you have a copy).
Once you’ve got your list of problems – select one and produce something (a blog post, a video, a podcast, a PDF report or even a tweet if its a small problem) and publish it.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Instant 50 ways to earn money online
I want to show people who are new to internet marketing or who are interested in making money online that there are lots of ways to make money online.
The options are limitless so you just need to find out what you think will be the most suitable way for you because everyone has different interests. I would recommend concentrating on a couple of these ways to make money... there are but so many hours in a day and the more rabbits you try to chase the less you may actually catch.
1. Write an info product for a well established niche, this is one of the easiest ways that i use to constantly make money online . If your info product has anything new or innovative then it should sell well. However, just don't write the ebook! Build a business. Gather visitors emails that comes to your site and offer them complimentary products through affiliate programs. Go ahead and offer upsells, and backends, and memberships for recurring income. If your just offering an ebook your leaving potential of thousands and thousands of dollars right on the dinner table, don't think of it as “YES! I made a sale,”think of it as a real business and increasing the amount of profits you make per sale.
2. Start your own online country, that’s right. What I mean by this is basically your own unique online community that is catered towards a group of people that allows them to share content and information with each other. Look at myspace, facebook, and youtube. Million and Billion dollar ideas in just a couple of years.
3. Build your virtual real estate. I'm not too much of a adsense site type of guy, im into building businesses instead, i prefer making social networking sites that will gather people's attention... and a good way to go about this is make it FREE, thats the magic word. Once you get people to register to your site you can then allow them to share it with their friends which will help make your site grow bigger. If your website is getting traffic then you can monetize off this with adsense or by selling advertising which can be a killer money maker by you literally doing nothing.
4. Help a friend get a job. Its funny while you’re out to start working for yourself, you are out to know help connect people you know with better jobs. Many people are looking for jobs, just take for instance craigslist one of the most populated websites in the world has a large section for connecting employers and job seekers. Also, monster.com is also a huge network for connecting employers with job seekers as well. If you can help connect someone then the rewards could be huge, as big as in the 1000 range, not really no chicken change.
5. Advertise and sell other people's products from your website which is known as affiliate marketing which is such a hot field because people are looking for ways to make money online without having their own product, and this is one that you can accomplish this. Some affiliate networks to check are commission junction, Amazon, and linkshare. The popular one for selling digital product is clickbank.
6. Sell yourself . Now, don't get it the wrong way. There are some sites online known as freelance services in which web masters or companies will pay you money if you do certain tasks for them. If you can build websites, program, or do any other technical skills then join these sites.
7. Write. This is something that anyone can do and there are no technical skills required except being able to use the computer and research. Look for writing jobs on freelance services. It will help to have a portfolio of some of your writings in order to help increase your chances of getting chosen.
8. Do you take pictures? You can sell linceneses to web masters or individuals to use the photos that you take and you can usually charge a good amount for these as well.
9. Assist businesses. Yes, businesses and web masters always need help and you can help them with everyday tasks by becoming their virtual assistant.
10. Know something about a subject and love to talk? Well, you will love blogging. Blog about the topic and write in a manner that attracts people. You can monetize your site with adsense, sell affiliate programs,sell advertising, you name it. www.blogger.com is a free blogging software.
11. Don't know a thing? No worries you are not alone, but that shouldn't stop you from blogging as it doesn't stop others, you can still make money just by blogging on topics that are interesting. You can blog about your everyday tasks, blog about your plans to lose weight, or blog about your plans to make money. Some marketers have started money making challenges such as the 30K challenge, or Willie Crawford's 1 million in 90 days challenge. These types of challenges can gather huge interests in people.
12. Fill a need. I own and frequent many forums and i have come to a conclusion that people love to complain. Thats great! Whatever they are complaining about provide them a solution, this equals more money in your wallet.
13. Make money by managing domain names. For example, domain name services like Sedo and Afternic gets paid just for regulating domain names. This can be nice steady income for having no products to sell yourself, or by not even selling other people's products... but just by being the middleman.
14. Buy and resell domain names for quick cash. I once purchased a domain name at the right time and then flipped it for $200. Domain name flipping takes some time to master like any other skill though.
15. Purchase a domain name, build up the pr (pagerank), gain backlinks, and then sell the domain name. If you can get a pr6 domain name then you should be able to sell this for a hundred or two on ebay.
16. If you can find a domain name that is keyword rich and is getting steady traffic then purchase it and park it and watch the money come in overtime.
17. Build a house and flip it. By this I mean purchase a domain name and build a website for it and then try and sell it for profit.
18. Get paid to post a forums. I would only recommend this if your looking for quick side cash because this is by no means a way to make a killing online. Some web masters will pay individuals to make posts at forums. Sometimes, an individual has a new forum up and running and want to get it active so they will pay individuals to post there under multiple usernames. Or, web masters could pay individuals to post on forums so that they can get more traffic to their website through signatures. Or, a webmaster could be the owner of a forum and pay forum users for each post they make in order to help them stay, and in order to help build up traffic.
19. Go ahead and try to start your own article directory, but you better do something to make it unique and beneficial to the article submitter. What’s going to make an individual submit to your article directory as opposed to ones that they are accustom to submitting to and “plus” get results with. The good news is most of the other article directories are doing pretty much the same exact thing that everyone else is doing, you just have to be that much different and find your unique positioning.
20. Learn the ins and outs about a large network and teach people how to use it effectively, become an expert in that field. For example, look at eBay. Even though it may be simple to use to the average Internet browser, there are still tons of people offline that has no idea about the INS or outs about it.This can be an easy way to make some extra money. Some offline services charge people a whopping sum of money just to sell their products for them on eBay, so that is something for you to think about.
21. Think of a crazy innovative idea thats newsworthy. Ever heard of the milliondollarhomepage http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com selling worthless links? Well, it got in the news and people swarmed to the site, proof that its not incredibly hard to make big money online.
22. Moderate forums, some forums get crazy traffic and some of them also get crazy amounts of spam that needs to be moderated...badly.
23. Make funny videos and then register for an account here http://www.thevideosense.com/ and post them.
24. If you are technical then offer support for software programs especially wordpress. People are always having issues with this software and there is money to be made by installing and customizing wordpress blogs.
25. If you like surfing the Internet then AGLOCO is a program that pays you for your browsing information (at the stake of your privacy though). You will need to download their tool bar into your desktop.
26. Sell tools and useful items to myspace users like templates, layouts, and backgrounds. Too many marketers try to spam this service which is against their tos, so just build real friends and sell themcheap items that they can use on myspace, easy money! Make money on myspace by selling users things that they can use while they are on myspace.
27. Write a newsletter and im talking about a real one. A list of subscribers is an incredible asset for your business because you can keep selling to those people over and over again but at least give some good content instead of only emailing when you have something to promote. You can promote your products as long as affiliates once you build trust with your subscribers.
28. Build your own forum. Thee are plenty of free scripts out there that will aid you in the process such as http://www.phpbb.com or http://www.simplemachines.org. This is an incredible way to monetize on giving something away for free. When people register they will enter their email and this is an unorthodox way to build a list. Not only that but you can build multiple streams of income by selling advertising as well as monetizing the forum with adsense.
29. Learn seo (search engine optimization), it can be very profitable for you in the long run. Web masters tend to be too busy and that is one reason why many do not get where they want, they cant manage their time too well. So, you can offer to get web masters links to their sites by writing and submitting articles to directories and even optimizing their pages for them.
30. Start selling on eBay, eBay is a goldmine. See what is currently selling hot here http://pulse.ebay.com/ and see if you can find any whole sellers with these items at an affordable rate. Make sure that you’re dealing with a reputable seller because there are many scams in this industry so beware.
31. Create an award website. Awards have been tested to increase the credibility of a website (which equals more money) so make a website with a fancy logo and offer it to web masters that meet your award's standards.
32. Make money online by researching and finding statistics, facts, or quotes for individuals that needs them.
33. Write articles. Some networks will give you money for how many view certain articles that you write get. Here is one such network: http://www.associatedcontent.com.
34. Learn the ins and outs of myspace, a lot of web masters are looking for people to do marketing for them on myspace and if you know about this network then you can make some money by offering your expertise.
35. Make money by referring individuals to paypal and eBay. Yes, these both have affiliate programs (doesn't pay much) but this could be an easy way to make money if you know people that are looking for ways to make money online.
36. Try using Co registration to generate some money online. What this means is that a company or service will pay you money when you can generate a lead for them. For example, you place a text banner on your site and once the individual clicks they will usually be sent to a form in which they can enter their personal information, and once they have done that you get paid for it. Its obvious that to get people to enter their “personal information” online you must have an incentive offer or copy, because people are fearful of spam (i am too). However, this shouldn't discourage you because this is very possible though.
37. Are you skilled at photoshop? I see a lot of talented individuals on online forums that be photo shopping images like crazy. You can seriously turn this skill into a business by start offering photo shopping services to web masters or individuals that are looking for such work.
38. If you can photoshop then try selling your images on ebay because you never know, some peoplecould very well purchase it. You never know if your images will become the next Internet phenomenon.
39. Are you knowledgeable in anything? Come on, i know you are smart in something everybody is good at least one thing. Well, what you could do is offer a inexpensive tutorial that teaches an individual how to learn the particular subject in an easy to follow manner.
40. Can you do screen printing for t shirts? Well, you are most likely an alternative to an online service www.cafepress.com. You can upload images of t shirts or what type of works you do at photo sharing services such as www.flickr.com.
41. Are you good at audio? You can get paid money to turn written text into audio or to turn audio into text (transcription).
42. Can you speak more then one language? Some companies or web masters may want text translated into more then one language.
43. Like software and scripts? Can you install these things? Webmasters who are not as technical may need your help, look around on freelance services to see who you can cater to.
44. This is to those who are always anxious to get money fast online. This is about the quickest way that I know to make money online. First, you join affiliate programs, and second you send traffic to your affiliate link through Google adwords. However, this takes some prior experience to master, such as being able to pick the appropriate keywords.
45. Can you code software? If so then you should code a software that will fix a much needed problem, there are many software coders selling their inventions online for good money.
46. Offer online tutoring. There are always people looking to learn something new and the Internet makes it not only easier for you to do so but also effective. Never before have there been such an easier way to communicate with individuals live from all the way across the globe. By having your own website on your own server, you will help make yourself stand out from the majority of your competition.
47. Like sports? Make a sports site of some sort and monetize it with one of the methods that i mentioned earlier. Golf is a very expensive sport which makes this a good niche to tap into.
48. Start a website that relies 100% on backends. This is an easy way to make money and to also get individuals to sign up to your website. Just look at eBay, and paypal. Both websites are FREE to join and sign up but there are many hidden fees. It costs every time you receive money through paypal, and it costs every time you sell something on eBay, it relies 100% on backend sells a nice and effective business structure.
49.Try network marketing. One of the fastest ways that an individual can grow their business is by leveraging the resources of others and a lot of beginning online business owners are always looking for other web masters to partner with. If you can help broker or bring webmasters together, then this may be a profitable business for you in the end. You could charge money for each connection that is made.
50. Online dating is a popular niche and there are many affiliate programs that pay you for each lead that you give them which can be some easy money if you know a lot of people. Or, if you have a unique idea you can go about forming your own dating site.
The options are limitless so you just need to find out what you think will be the most suitable way for you because everyone has different interests. I would recommend concentrating on a couple of these ways to make money... there are but so many hours in a day and the more rabbits you try to chase the less you may actually catch.
1. Write an info product for a well established niche, this is one of the easiest ways that i use to constantly make money online . If your info product has anything new or innovative then it should sell well. However, just don't write the ebook! Build a business. Gather visitors emails that comes to your site and offer them complimentary products through affiliate programs. Go ahead and offer upsells, and backends, and memberships for recurring income. If your just offering an ebook your leaving potential of thousands and thousands of dollars right on the dinner table, don't think of it as “YES! I made a sale,”think of it as a real business and increasing the amount of profits you make per sale.
2. Start your own online country, that’s right. What I mean by this is basically your own unique online community that is catered towards a group of people that allows them to share content and information with each other. Look at myspace, facebook, and youtube. Million and Billion dollar ideas in just a couple of years.
3. Build your virtual real estate. I'm not too much of a adsense site type of guy, im into building businesses instead, i prefer making social networking sites that will gather people's attention... and a good way to go about this is make it FREE, thats the magic word. Once you get people to register to your site you can then allow them to share it with their friends which will help make your site grow bigger. If your website is getting traffic then you can monetize off this with adsense or by selling advertising which can be a killer money maker by you literally doing nothing.
4. Help a friend get a job. Its funny while you’re out to start working for yourself, you are out to know help connect people you know with better jobs. Many people are looking for jobs, just take for instance craigslist one of the most populated websites in the world has a large section for connecting employers and job seekers. Also, monster.com is also a huge network for connecting employers with job seekers as well. If you can help connect someone then the rewards could be huge, as big as in the 1000 range, not really no chicken change.
5. Advertise and sell other people's products from your website which is known as affiliate marketing which is such a hot field because people are looking for ways to make money online without having their own product, and this is one that you can accomplish this. Some affiliate networks to check are commission junction, Amazon, and linkshare. The popular one for selling digital product is clickbank.
6. Sell yourself . Now, don't get it the wrong way. There are some sites online known as freelance services in which web masters or companies will pay you money if you do certain tasks for them. If you can build websites, program, or do any other technical skills then join these sites.
7. Write. This is something that anyone can do and there are no technical skills required except being able to use the computer and research. Look for writing jobs on freelance services. It will help to have a portfolio of some of your writings in order to help increase your chances of getting chosen.
8. Do you take pictures? You can sell linceneses to web masters or individuals to use the photos that you take and you can usually charge a good amount for these as well.
9. Assist businesses. Yes, businesses and web masters always need help and you can help them with everyday tasks by becoming their virtual assistant.
10. Know something about a subject and love to talk? Well, you will love blogging. Blog about the topic and write in a manner that attracts people. You can monetize your site with adsense, sell affiliate programs,sell advertising, you name it. www.blogger.com is a free blogging software.
11. Don't know a thing? No worries you are not alone, but that shouldn't stop you from blogging as it doesn't stop others, you can still make money just by blogging on topics that are interesting. You can blog about your everyday tasks, blog about your plans to lose weight, or blog about your plans to make money. Some marketers have started money making challenges such as the 30K challenge, or Willie Crawford's 1 million in 90 days challenge. These types of challenges can gather huge interests in people.
12. Fill a need. I own and frequent many forums and i have come to a conclusion that people love to complain. Thats great! Whatever they are complaining about provide them a solution, this equals more money in your wallet.
13. Make money by managing domain names. For example, domain name services like Sedo and Afternic gets paid just for regulating domain names. This can be nice steady income for having no products to sell yourself, or by not even selling other people's products... but just by being the middleman.
14. Buy and resell domain names for quick cash. I once purchased a domain name at the right time and then flipped it for $200. Domain name flipping takes some time to master like any other skill though.
15. Purchase a domain name, build up the pr (pagerank), gain backlinks, and then sell the domain name. If you can get a pr6 domain name then you should be able to sell this for a hundred or two on ebay.
16. If you can find a domain name that is keyword rich and is getting steady traffic then purchase it and park it and watch the money come in overtime.
17. Build a house and flip it. By this I mean purchase a domain name and build a website for it and then try and sell it for profit.
18. Get paid to post a forums. I would only recommend this if your looking for quick side cash because this is by no means a way to make a killing online. Some web masters will pay individuals to make posts at forums. Sometimes, an individual has a new forum up and running and want to get it active so they will pay individuals to post there under multiple usernames. Or, web masters could pay individuals to post on forums so that they can get more traffic to their website through signatures. Or, a webmaster could be the owner of a forum and pay forum users for each post they make in order to help them stay, and in order to help build up traffic.
19. Go ahead and try to start your own article directory, but you better do something to make it unique and beneficial to the article submitter. What’s going to make an individual submit to your article directory as opposed to ones that they are accustom to submitting to and “plus” get results with. The good news is most of the other article directories are doing pretty much the same exact thing that everyone else is doing, you just have to be that much different and find your unique positioning.
20. Learn the ins and outs about a large network and teach people how to use it effectively, become an expert in that field. For example, look at eBay. Even though it may be simple to use to the average Internet browser, there are still tons of people offline that has no idea about the INS or outs about it.This can be an easy way to make some extra money. Some offline services charge people a whopping sum of money just to sell their products for them on eBay, so that is something for you to think about.
21. Think of a crazy innovative idea thats newsworthy. Ever heard of the milliondollarhomepage http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com selling worthless links? Well, it got in the news and people swarmed to the site, proof that its not incredibly hard to make big money online.
22. Moderate forums, some forums get crazy traffic and some of them also get crazy amounts of spam that needs to be moderated...badly.
23. Make funny videos and then register for an account here http://www.thevideosense.com/ and post them.
24. If you are technical then offer support for software programs especially wordpress. People are always having issues with this software and there is money to be made by installing and customizing wordpress blogs.
25. If you like surfing the Internet then AGLOCO is a program that pays you for your browsing information (at the stake of your privacy though). You will need to download their tool bar into your desktop.
26. Sell tools and useful items to myspace users like templates, layouts, and backgrounds. Too many marketers try to spam this service which is against their tos, so just build real friends and sell themcheap items that they can use on myspace, easy money! Make money on myspace by selling users things that they can use while they are on myspace.
27. Write a newsletter and im talking about a real one. A list of subscribers is an incredible asset for your business because you can keep selling to those people over and over again but at least give some good content instead of only emailing when you have something to promote. You can promote your products as long as affiliates once you build trust with your subscribers.
28. Build your own forum. Thee are plenty of free scripts out there that will aid you in the process such as http://www.phpbb.com or http://www.simplemachines.org. This is an incredible way to monetize on giving something away for free. When people register they will enter their email and this is an unorthodox way to build a list. Not only that but you can build multiple streams of income by selling advertising as well as monetizing the forum with adsense.
29. Learn seo (search engine optimization), it can be very profitable for you in the long run. Web masters tend to be too busy and that is one reason why many do not get where they want, they cant manage their time too well. So, you can offer to get web masters links to their sites by writing and submitting articles to directories and even optimizing their pages for them.
30. Start selling on eBay, eBay is a goldmine. See what is currently selling hot here http://pulse.ebay.com/ and see if you can find any whole sellers with these items at an affordable rate. Make sure that you’re dealing with a reputable seller because there are many scams in this industry so beware.
31. Create an award website. Awards have been tested to increase the credibility of a website (which equals more money) so make a website with a fancy logo and offer it to web masters that meet your award's standards.
32. Make money online by researching and finding statistics, facts, or quotes for individuals that needs them.
33. Write articles. Some networks will give you money for how many view certain articles that you write get. Here is one such network: http://www.associatedcontent.com.
34. Learn the ins and outs of myspace, a lot of web masters are looking for people to do marketing for them on myspace and if you know about this network then you can make some money by offering your expertise.
35. Make money by referring individuals to paypal and eBay. Yes, these both have affiliate programs (doesn't pay much) but this could be an easy way to make money if you know people that are looking for ways to make money online.
36. Try using Co registration to generate some money online. What this means is that a company or service will pay you money when you can generate a lead for them. For example, you place a text banner on your site and once the individual clicks they will usually be sent to a form in which they can enter their personal information, and once they have done that you get paid for it. Its obvious that to get people to enter their “personal information” online you must have an incentive offer or copy, because people are fearful of spam (i am too). However, this shouldn't discourage you because this is very possible though.
37. Are you skilled at photoshop? I see a lot of talented individuals on online forums that be photo shopping images like crazy. You can seriously turn this skill into a business by start offering photo shopping services to web masters or individuals that are looking for such work.
38. If you can photoshop then try selling your images on ebay because you never know, some peoplecould very well purchase it. You never know if your images will become the next Internet phenomenon.
39. Are you knowledgeable in anything? Come on, i know you are smart in something everybody is good at least one thing. Well, what you could do is offer a inexpensive tutorial that teaches an individual how to learn the particular subject in an easy to follow manner.
40. Can you do screen printing for t shirts? Well, you are most likely an alternative to an online service www.cafepress.com. You can upload images of t shirts or what type of works you do at photo sharing services such as www.flickr.com.
41. Are you good at audio? You can get paid money to turn written text into audio or to turn audio into text (transcription).
42. Can you speak more then one language? Some companies or web masters may want text translated into more then one language.
43. Like software and scripts? Can you install these things? Webmasters who are not as technical may need your help, look around on freelance services to see who you can cater to.
44. This is to those who are always anxious to get money fast online. This is about the quickest way that I know to make money online. First, you join affiliate programs, and second you send traffic to your affiliate link through Google adwords. However, this takes some prior experience to master, such as being able to pick the appropriate keywords.
45. Can you code software? If so then you should code a software that will fix a much needed problem, there are many software coders selling their inventions online for good money.
46. Offer online tutoring. There are always people looking to learn something new and the Internet makes it not only easier for you to do so but also effective. Never before have there been such an easier way to communicate with individuals live from all the way across the globe. By having your own website on your own server, you will help make yourself stand out from the majority of your competition.
47. Like sports? Make a sports site of some sort and monetize it with one of the methods that i mentioned earlier. Golf is a very expensive sport which makes this a good niche to tap into.
48. Start a website that relies 100% on backends. This is an easy way to make money and to also get individuals to sign up to your website. Just look at eBay, and paypal. Both websites are FREE to join and sign up but there are many hidden fees. It costs every time you receive money through paypal, and it costs every time you sell something on eBay, it relies 100% on backend sells a nice and effective business structure.
49.Try network marketing. One of the fastest ways that an individual can grow their business is by leveraging the resources of others and a lot of beginning online business owners are always looking for other web masters to partner with. If you can help broker or bring webmasters together, then this may be a profitable business for you in the end. You could charge money for each connection that is made.
50. Online dating is a popular niche and there are many affiliate programs that pay you for each lead that you give them which can be some easy money if you know a lot of people. Or, if you have a unique idea you can go about forming your own dating site.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Get instant backlinks that will get your site S.E.O in 24 hrs
The sites below will give you instant backlinks. All you need to do it to replace yourdomain.com with yout own domain. and the will also give you instant ranking.
This is good for new websites and older websites but older websites may already have these instant backlinks. Also this will work only for your domain homepage and not for subpages.
http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.yourdomain.com
http://www.statbrain.com/www.yourdomain.com
http://www.builtwith.com/?yourdomain.com
http://snapshot.compete.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.aboutus.org/yourdomain.com
http://www.quantcast.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.cubestat.com/www.yourdomain.com
http://whois.tools4noobs.com/info/yourdomain.com
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/yourdomain.com
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=yourdomain.com
http://www.siteadvisor.cn/sites/yourdomain.com/summary/
http://whois.domaintools.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.aboutdomain.org/backlinks/yourdomain.com/
http://www.whoisya.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.who.is/whois-com/yourdomain.com
http://www.robtex.com/dns/yourdomain.com.html
http://www.zimbio.com/search?q=yourdomain.com&btnG=Search
http://whois.ws/whois-info/ip-address/yourdomain.com/
http://whoisx.co.uk/yourdomain.com
http://searchanalytics.compete.com/site_referrals/yourdomain.com
These back links are highly ranked.
This is good for new websites and older websites but older websites may already have these instant backlinks. Also this will work only for your domain homepage and not for subpages.
http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.yourdomain.com
http://www.statbrain.com/www.yourdomain.com
http://www.builtwith.com/?yourdomain.com
http://snapshot.compete.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.aboutus.org/yourdomain.com
http://www.quantcast.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.cubestat.com/www.yourdomain.com
http://whois.tools4noobs.com/info/yourdomain.com
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/yourdomain.com
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=yourdomain.com
http://www.siteadvisor.cn/sites/yourdomain.com/summary/
http://whois.domaintools.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.aboutdomain.org/backlinks/yourdomain.com/
http://www.whoisya.com/yourdomain.com
http://www.who.is/whois-com/yourdomain.com
http://www.robtex.com/dns/yourdomain.com.html
http://www.zimbio.com/search?q=yourdomain.com&btnG=Search
http://whois.ws/whois-info/ip-address/yourdomain.com/
http://whoisx.co.uk/yourdomain.com
http://searchanalytics.compete.com/site_referrals/yourdomain.com
These back links are highly ranked.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates
Early in 2009 we simplified the process for monetizing your blog by adding a “Monetize” tab in the Blogger app. We started with AdSense, which allows you to add contextual advertising to your pages; more recently we added AdSense for Feeds to help you generate revenue from the distribution of your blog via RSS and Atom. Today we launched a third option: direct integration with Amazon Associates to search Amazon’s product catalog and add links to products that earn you commissions when your readers buy products you recommend.
With this feature, you can search Amazon directly from the Blogger editor and add pictures and links to Amazon products right into your posts. Your readers will earn you commissions whenever they buy the products you recommend, and if you don’t already have an Amazon Associates account, you can sign up for one for free without leaving Blogger.
If you’ve ever written a blog post about a book, recommended a gadget, or reviewed a toy you bought for your kids, you’ve likely gone through the process of drafting the post, opening up a separate window to go to find a site that sells the product, then going back to Blogger to paste the link to the product into the post editor.
Starting today, you can search the Amazon product catalog without leaving the Blogger interface and insert links to the products you find into your posts. Not only is the process of linking to products more efficient, but Amazon makes it easy for you to earn money whenever your readers actually buy the products you write about. This is known as an “affiliate program”, and it’s designed to let you recommend products you like to your audience — if they buy the product, you’ll earn a commission on that purchase. (For more on affiliate programs in general, here is a good overview at ProBlogger from this summer, and Darren’s “11 Lessons Learned” post about Amazon Associates is a good review of how to get the most out of the program.)
To get started, click on the Monetize tab for your blog and click “Amazon Associates”. Walk through the setup wizard, and add the Product Finder once you’re done.
Now for the fun part: when you are writing a post on Blogger, you’ll see an Amazon gadget to the right of your post editor (the “Product Finder”). You can search the Amazon product catalog from within Blogger — type in the name of the product you are writing about, and insert a link to the product, an image of the product, or an iframe containing the image, price details and a “buy it now” button. Every link that’s created contains your unique Associates ID, ensuring that Amazon will credit you for any purchases that result from readers clicking the link on your blog.
With this feature, you can search Amazon directly from the Blogger editor and add pictures and links to Amazon products right into your posts. Your readers will earn you commissions whenever they buy the products you recommend, and if you don’t already have an Amazon Associates account, you can sign up for one for free without leaving Blogger.
If you’ve ever written a blog post about a book, recommended a gadget, or reviewed a toy you bought for your kids, you’ve likely gone through the process of drafting the post, opening up a separate window to go to find a site that sells the product, then going back to Blogger to paste the link to the product into the post editor.
Starting today, you can search the Amazon product catalog without leaving the Blogger interface and insert links to the products you find into your posts. Not only is the process of linking to products more efficient, but Amazon makes it easy for you to earn money whenever your readers actually buy the products you write about. This is known as an “affiliate program”, and it’s designed to let you recommend products you like to your audience — if they buy the product, you’ll earn a commission on that purchase. (For more on affiliate programs in general, here is a good overview at ProBlogger from this summer, and Darren’s “11 Lessons Learned” post about Amazon Associates is a good review of how to get the most out of the program.)
To get started, click on the Monetize tab for your blog and click “Amazon Associates”. Walk through the setup wizard, and add the Product Finder once you’re done.
Now for the fun part: when you are writing a post on Blogger, you’ll see an Amazon gadget to the right of your post editor (the “Product Finder”). You can search the Amazon product catalog from within Blogger — type in the name of the product you are writing about, and insert a link to the product, an image of the product, or an iframe containing the image, price details and a “buy it now” button. Every link that’s created contains your unique Associates ID, ensuring that Amazon will credit you for any purchases that result from readers clicking the link on your blog.
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