Earn Money Online Working At Home

Warning To All Website Traffic Sellers

2011-11-29T22:21:00.008-04:00

As anyone who knows me on all the various webmaster forums can attest, I'm a very reasonable person and I'm willing to help out wherever I can. I'm very honest and listed in the top 1% of the largest webmaster forum online, Digital Point, and a top rated seller at Fiverr with close to 1000 transactions there.

I mention this not to brag, but to explain that I do a lot of business online and I work hard to make sure buyers are happy when they purchase anything from me. I process about half a million visitors in traffic sales EVERY MONTH and have only ever had one complaint, and that was from a guy with a splog that just wouldn't have worked well with ANY traffic source.

Well, an hour ago a buyer with the username Printsteals on Fiverr ordered one of my traffic gigs and then cancelled it just 5 minutes after placing the order. Since I hadn't even processed the order yet (I still had 2 other Fiverr ones in my queue that I was working on), I just figured the buyer had changed his mind...nothing wrong with that.

Then I logged in to review the order and he claimed I sent him bot traffic from ip address 184.105.140.157 which seems to be from a company called Hurricane Electric in California. Since the buyer's site, www.printsteals.com , is a business printing company, it just looks to me like a regular visit from a company maybe looking for printing services. However, since according to Alexa, most of Printsteals traffic comes from India, maybe this USA visit confused the buyer.

Anyway, he accused me of sending this bot to his site and that's his reasoning for cancelling the order. I tried to explain to him that I have nothing to do with that visit, bot or not, as I couldn't possibly have even processed his order in the amount of time between his purchase and cancellation. He wouldn't listen to reason and continued to be unreasonable throughout our conversation on Fiverr.

He said he would reorder and I told him not to because I don't need the abuse. Can you imagine what this guy would be like in another order? It would be hell! "I got a visit from Maine. I don't like Maine...its YOUR fault!!" or "That visitor only stayed 37 seconds. It's not my site they didn't like...it's YOU!" Every single thing he doesn't like would be blamed somehow on the traffic, even if it wasn't even from me!

If he feels reasonable to cancel an entire order based on ONE hit from somewhere else that had nothing to do with me, then imagine how bad it would get with an actual processed order! He would be complaining about every single visitor!! It's not worth the hassle to me, and I told him so. I've attached a screenshot of our conversation, as I think it's important to put it in context and to note that he never even apologized for his mistake and somehow still thinks I sent him fake traffic, when I never sent ANY traffic at all...that's how bulb headed he is. I always try my best to please a buyer, but I'm not about to accept being wrongly accused of something I did not do!

I don't usually air my grievances in public, but I'm doing so here because I sincerely want to warn other traffic sellers about this guy, as he plans to buy traffic from someone else and I feel sorry for anyone who accepts his order. Do not sell traffic to, or send visitors to, PRINTSTEALS as it will only cause you aggravation, like it did for me.

If anyone reading this is a seller who has dealt with him, or anyone like him, before then please sound off in the comments so we can warn other honest sellers not to get burned.

Thanks for reading!!

Free Website Traffic Offer

2011-10-30T14:41:00.003-03:00

I sometimes give newbies a hard time about not having their own website with an original domain because the reality is that it's MUCH easier to promote something when you have control over your own content, meta tags, ad placement, etc. Promoting ANY program, opportunity, product, affiliate link or whatever is harder when so many other people are doing it. The advantage comes with creating your own site that is well optimized through SEO for your keywords and that contains your own ads placed on it.

It's not nearly as complicated as it might sound at first. You simply buy a $10 .com domain from a registrar like Godaddy (specials can be found through the banner on the right) and then get a basic "unlimited" hosting plan to host your site files (such as the Hostgator "Baby" plan, also on the right). That way you can always expand your online "empire" in the future and the cost won't increase at all, as your hosting provides free scripts to build sites (including forums, blogs, classified sites and more), plus your own personal email addresses so you have that professional edge over your competition.

To get you started I have worked out a deal where you can get free traffic to kick start your shiny new site, once you have it setup on your new hosting plan. You can read the details at the free website traffic offer here. The visits are good for getting a targeted visitor flow going right away, so you don't have to worry about the usual wait time or exhausting promotions to get a fresh website "off the ground".

Good luck!!

Redefining Scams And Learning From Them

2011-10-15T12:05:00.005-03:00

I've been reading a lot of forum threads lately about "get rich quick" schemes and other scams that online money seekers fall prey to, so I thought I'd address my thoughts on the subject here.

The biggest problem is that these scams feed into the desperation and lack of knowledge that newbies have when starting out seeking their "fortune" online. The sheer amount of ways to earn money online is overwhelming to anyone just learning the ropes for the first time. Some are legit...most are not. Telling the difference takes knowledge and common sense that amounts to quite a steep learning curve.

It happens to almost everyone. These desperate economic times cause more and more people to search online for ways to earn extra cash, but the first thing they are exposed to is usually some mile long scammy program squeeze page that promises instant riches with headlines like "GUARANTEED INCOME", "RETIRE WITHIN A YEAR" or, my favorite, "TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A PERSONAL CASH POURING ATM OVERNIGHT!!".

It may seem ridiculous, but yet 1000's of reasonably sane people every day push all common sense aside and actually BELIEVE the hype and flashy sales pages full of sweet rides and fancy mansions. Smoke and mirrors is all it is. They con people out of their hard earned money by promising MORE in return. It's a bad combination of greed and desperate times.

However, I don't totally blame the scammers. I dislike them and I think they're sleazy, but like most things in life, the path you choose is YOURS to take, so it's ultimately up to you to decide what is right and wrong. Too many people refuse to accept personal responsibilty for their own failures and that needs to change before you have any hope in succeeding in life or online.

We learn from our mistakes, hopefully. Trial and error is how we know what works and what does not. Most of these "get rich" programs involve telling others about it so you get referrals and make money from them joining. That's marketing. The truth is that most people are REALLY BAD at marketing and that's the real problem.

We've all seen testimonials that say in very small print at the bottom: "Results Not Typical". That means most people do NOT acheive those results that the entire testimonial just bragged about and impressed you into believing. It's the same with online money making programs: MOST people will fail (some statistics say around 97% who try to earn online will fail within 4 months)...97%!!!!!!

Does that mean you should give up? No, it means you shouldn't try to climb a mountain using a strand of spaghetti. In other words, realize your strengths and weaknesses and either adapt or prepare to fail. That philosophy can be applied in all aspects of living, whether it be online or offline.

Are you a great marketer? Could you sell ice to an eskimo??? If so, then maybe you'll do well with a money program. Look at a super marketer like Stone Evans (Google him)...the guy is everywhere. He shows up in top lists all over the net for highest selling marketer...he's a marketing genius and there are few people like him out there. We've heard the names of those that are successful...Evans, Shoemoney, Chow, etc. They provide inspiration to others to show it CAN be done, but they are also among that 3% success rate. Are you? Do you have what it takes?

I titled this post "Redefining Scams And Learning From Them", not because I wanted to expose how bad scams are. That should be obvious...use your head!! What I wanted to do is change your way of looking at a scam. Don't look at a money program as a way to realistically make a million dollars overnight...instead, look at it as a learning opportunity. Could you sell that idea to someone else? Are your marketing skills strong enough to make it work for YOU, even if most other people would fail at it? If the answer is "YES!", then you might be able to make a living from online work as part of the successful 3%. Maybe not with a scam, but by using your great skills on a legit opportunity that others couldn't make work for them.

If, however, you expect to get rich by simply flogging a gateway page from a crappy program that 1000's of other people are also promoting by spamming forums, blogs and traffic exchanges, then be prepared to be gone in a few months as part of that other 97% group. CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK!!!

The reason I'm still earning a living online after several years is not because I'm some marketing genius (I'm not), but because I have the will to succeed and the stubborness to keep at it. Like I said before, it's trial and error when learning. If something doesn't work after a trial period, then I drop it, but when something DOES work then I fine tune it and continue to improve upon it until I am happy with the results.

Be prepared to either succeed or fail, but always be aware that the choice is yours. To your success!!!

Commission Junction CJ Payment Proof

2011-08-04T17:56:00.003-03:00

After the postal strike finally ended it took a few weeks for all the backed up mail to catch up, including this Commission Junction (CJ) check from June for $170.50 USD that I have just scanned as my payment proof from them.

The thing I like best about CJ is that they have both physical and digital products that can be promoted and most are from brand name companies that people know and trust. This makes it MUCH easier to make a sale and all you have to do is paste the code they give you right into your website for whatever product you like.

Of course with marketing ANY product, you should make sure you choose wisely and pick something that fits the niche and audience that your own site attracts. DON'T post a banner for furniture on a car site!

The other nice thing is that some of their sponsors have really good payouts. I made $100 just for one lead to a psychic phone line! Sweet!!

I hope everyone is having a great summer. Bye for now!

Instant Passive Profits Reviews

2011-06-29T22:59:00.006-03:00

"OMG! HI!!" says the hot girl...lol

Yes, that's how the video starts in the intro to the new Instant Passive Profits money making program by Andy Parker. I know that a beautiful woman showing lots of cleavage could probably sell anything, but this is hilarious! I think she, uh...really expressed what it takes to be an MMO guru...yup. Lovely.

The vid itself is pure genius and will have you watching right until the very end. You can see it right here (there was no way to embed it in this blog post, so I'm just going to link to it). My one word review is "Brilliant!"

Seriously though, are there any Instant Passive Profits reviews out yet? What are your thoughts on the product or marketing strategy? After watching it, do you see this humorous "in your face" approach as being the wave of the future?

I like that there is a mobile form option and I think we'll be seeing more of that. This one will be worth following...

Slow Month

2011-06-24T14:27:00.002-03:00

I know I've talked about the "summer slowdown" before and how things online are slower when the weather here is warmer and more people are outside, but this month is worse for me because of a postal strike going on here in Canada. This means that my weekly checks are being held up as nothing is being delivered. I've been scrambling to have payments sent out by other methods, but since most networks pay by Net30-60 terms it means the checks were already made up before I could do much about it.

I've always said that "persistence, patience and perseverance" is what it takes to be successful online, and this month is putting that to the test. Just hang in there a little longer...

On a more positive note, after 6 weeks of almost steady rain, it's finally nice outside, so it's time for the beach! Have a great weekend everyone!! :)

Times Are Tough All Over

2011-04-05T12:46:00.008-03:00

I've never been one to sugarcoat reality, and that goes for online as well. Times are tough, the economy sucks and it takes REAL effort to earn money online, so if you're looking for the "lazy guide to riches", then I suggest you give up NOW!

There has been a series of events recently that hit me very hard. The first is the latest Google algorithm change, called "Panda", that has many established webmasters upset that they have lost their site rankings in favor of the search engine choosing long, spammy websites, including many blackhat sites created with content stolen from the previously high ranking sites.

It's a shitty system, to be quite frank, and one that makes the Google search results LESS relevant than ever before. Currently, it's mostly spam sites being rewarded with high spots in the SERP and good quality sites are being penalized. Luckily, searchers have noticed this, and Google recently lost a percentage of it's search engine dominance to people moving over to Bing and Yahoo for more relevant results. It's much easier to optimize good content for Yahoo, and it's more of a buyer's market there anyway, as I've mentioned many times before.

The next problem I encountered recently was with a scammer from Egypt who is selling one of my scripts illegally on his website 7turnkey.com (he doesn't deserve a backlink from me) and also selling scripts from other webmasters which he has no right to sell. I sent his host (mellowhost.com, the hosting for scammers) a DMCA takedown notice and they ignored it. Then the bastard had the balls to send ME a takedown notice! I filed a counterclaim and won and now I'm faced with the exhausting task of sending notices to all the forums where he has posted sales threads for my script.

I managed to get the scumbag banned from DP and V7N forums so far for trying to sell my script, but I'd like others to help me in the battle. If you see a forum thread offering an online TV script with a link to buy it on the 7turnkey site, then please report it to me with a link to the thread either by commenting below or via email. Thanks in advance for your help!

The final problem (for now) was the worst one. I was on Facebook and got hit with a terrible virus that wiped out my whole computer and rendered it dead and useless! While I do keep regular backups, as everyone should, on several external drives, it was still a huge pain in the ass to have to get another computer and piece everything together like I had it before.

The disturbing thing is that these new viruses seem to be served through seemingly normal ads on trusted websites. It's no longer a matter of worrying about opening up a shady looking attachment in an email message anymore. Now the viruses are loaded when the ad is loaded on the page without even clicking on it. There were several malicious ads served through the sidebar of Hotmail recently, plus networks like Clicksor and Trafficrevenue are notorious for serving up this crap, but this one was on Facebook and it was a killer.

I never even clicked anything! My antivirus tried to block it and I noticed it had a .in extension before everything died, but it was too fast for me to prevent it. Be careful!

Those are my tales of woe for now. Thank you for reading this and I hope others can learn from my mistakes.

UPDATE! The script issue has been resolved, as I simply bought the site. I am now the new owner of the 7turnkey revenue sharing scripts website (with link!), so feel free to pay a visit and say hello there anytime :)

Affiliate Clickbank Payment Proof

2011-03-10T16:22:00.004-04:00

I'm going to focus on the affiliate Clickbank payment proof here because the vendor program is set up differently and I plan to write a post explaining how that works in the future. All CB affiliates get paid every 2 weeks and this is my latest check in the amount of $153.53

Making money with Clickbank is mostly about matching the right product to your audience. I recently wrote a related post about website monetization that is relevant here as well. Basically, you want to find something to promote in the Clickbank marketplace that your own website visitors will WANT to buy. This is important! Get it wrong and you WILL fail!

For example, I've noticed some sites that are very poorly monetized lately. One was a site about depression that had ads for hosting on it (do depressed people suddenly have the desire to build a website?). Another was a site with baby products that had an ad banner for a CB ebook about forex! Unbelievable! Repeat after me: MATCH YOUR NICHE!!!

I'll admit that when I started in affiliate marketing years ago I made the same mistakes, so let's chaulk it up to newbie inexperience. I made NO sales at all until I finally got smart and put up a popular game strategy guide on one of my arcade sites and finally made my first sale. I found out game guides sell VERY well, but I also learned the number one lesson about making sure you spend some time finding the right product to promote. It's well worth the effort.

For those of you getting started with Clickbank, it's important to be aware of the biggest issue that faces all CB newbies: the dreaded "CDR". It stands for Customer Distribution Requirement and states that you must have sales from at least 2 sources (Paypal, Mastercard, Visa) AND 5 different credit card numbers BEFORE you get paid! For some people who only get an occassional sale, this can be a daunting task, esp. when you consider that most sales online come from Paypal and that's not even included as part of the 5 number requirement!

You could actually have 10 sales broken down into, let's say, 6 from PP, 3 from Visa, 1 from MC and STILL not get paid. At a sale a month average it would take you almost a year to earn about $200 and yet have nothing to show for it. I've read people complaining that this was a deal breaker for them and they gave up using Clickbank because of it.

One "trick" that many affiliates do is to simply buy through their own link as an easy way to meet the CDR. If you already have sales and you need that last one to come in to make up the fifth CC number and you're tired of waiting, then just find a product in the marketplace that is dirt cheap (the lowest is 3 bucks) and create your own hoplink for it. Then simply purchase the product through your link using your own credit card. A few dollars is a small price to pay to get all your earnings released to you after meeting the full requirements, if you have over $100 or so tied up there. Consider it like an extra 3% fee to get your check. I personally don't think the CDR is fair, but it is what it is, so it's best just to find a solution around it, since you can't change it.

They also hold back 10% of each check as a “return allowance” to cover any refunds or chargebacks. That rule isn't much fun either, but it's needed when dealing with some products that have a high refund rate, so they have to cover that possibility.

A final word of advice: mask your hoplinks! Some affiliates will attempt to steal your commissions, so it's good practice not to leave your affiliate ID "out in the open". It became such a problem that now Clickbank provides encrypted links in the form of a "hoplink shield", but it wasn't always that easy. Protect your links!

Good luck!

Adbrite Payment Proof

2011-02-16T17:57:00.003-04:00

Here is my Adbrite payment proof from last month that just arrived in the mail today. The check was for $88.20, which isn't huge, but not bad considering I really only use them on 1 site. I've only bothered to put them on 2 sites of mine, but 99% of the revenue is just from the one that gets around 3000 views a day. The 2nd site earns maybe a buck or so a month from it. They pay monthly and checks are issued in the 1st half of every month.

While Adbrite is easily one of the best known and most common Adsense alternatives, I'm still on the fence about them. They seem to pay a little higher than Adsense for North American clicks, but not so great for international traffic. Also, their ads really work best with a certain kind of audience, as they seem to all be amateur looking banners for weightloss and how to make money online.

As with any CPC based network, make sure you experiment with ad placement and keep an eye on the CTR as you move them around. A 250x250 banner above the fold seems to work best, but you might find a good 160x600 sidebar ad that works better for you.

Good luck!

Website Monetization

2011-02-03T19:25:00.003-04:00

There was a thread on the V7N forum recently about the right time to monetize your site...when building it, or AFTER the traffic has already started flowing. Webmasters seem to be divided on this issue, with some saying you need to build up traffic first and not scare away your visitors, while others say it's all about the money, so why not monetize right away? Well, here's my 2 cents, for those who care...

I personally put the ads up on any new site I build right away, while I'm building it, and it's not because of the money. I do it for layout and SEO purposes. The layout part should be obvious: I want to know where everything is going to go and how it will really look when I launch it. I don't want any surprises where I put up a banner weeks later only to find out the template I used breaks when anything is added and I should have used a different one.

The SEO reason is even more important. The search engines rank your site according to your content (yes, there are other reasons too, but I'm refering to "on-site" optimization) and ANY changes to that content will change your keyword density and, therefore, your ranking. This includes outbound links (OBL) and banners, which is why you should never link out to a "bad neighborhood".

I take that density factor very seriously when creating a website and I create the content KNOWING where the ads (OBL) will be placed among that content. That way, all variables have been accounted for right from the start. Think of it this way: Imagine working hard to get everything "perfect" WITHOUT placing your ads at the beginning, then waiting a few weeks to rank well in the SERP and you're excited that you're now in the top 10 results for your keywords. You then start to get great organic traffic from the SE's and life seems great.

THEN you decide to finally put up a few ads to make some bucks. However, during the next crawl of your site, the search engines now re-examine your keyword density and adjust for all these new links and your site suddenly begins to drop in the SERP. You are effectively reversing all your hard work!

As with all topics I write about here, I learned from my own experience (and mistakes). I have a music website that focuses on a specific niche which I did not place ads on at the beginning. Instead, I waited until it ranked well and then put up 3 sidebar banner placements. One was for a tattoo shop and a week later my analytics showed visits coming from the tattoo keywords, which had NOTHING to do with my own site's content! My ranking then started slipping because these new keywords were messing with my density.

I recovered from it by strengthening (adjusting) my own keywords on the page, but it was a lesson learned. What if that had been a big money earner that was in the #1 position in Google and suddenly it got canned to page 2 because of further website monetization that should have been left alone? Basically, if you're already ranking well then DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING!!!! "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Website monetization is like a game of Jenga...you have to be very strategic in building and making your moves or the whole thing can come crashing down on you...

Success In The New Year

2011-01-02T20:58:00.002-04:00

Well, 2010 is finally over and now the New Year is upon us. It's a time to look back on what worked and what didn't, and to look ahead on the challenges we will face in 2011.

Last year was my best ever from a monetary point of view, but it wasn't so great health wise, so hopefully 2011 will bring better days all around for everyone.

To my loyal readers, I wanted to kick off my first post of the year with some sincere advice. You CAN do it! Yes, I know I've said that before, but there are some of you who still aren't "getting it". Earning money online can bring in a REAL INCOME, but you have to take it seriously.

To succeed you MUST TRY FIRST!!

I still see people constantly signing up to money making opportunities, such as the Cpalead network, and they don't give any information on the form at all and then wonder why their application got rejected. Anyone seriously interested in earning online would give their website address, a description of the site and how they run it, as per the basics of the webform. I've made literally several 1000 dollars with them, and so could anyone else, but they need to see it as a legit opportunity first.

That's just ONE example of a real opportunity that many people are missing. Look around this blog...there are MANY honest examples of what works, but you have to take action as you would any other business. QUITTERS NEVER SUCCEED!!!!

Sorry, I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but I think to start the year right it's important to get across that there is REAL MONEY to be made by simply taking action. It's as simple as that, honestly.

To your future success!!

Have A Prosperous New Year!

2010-12-19T20:59:00.004-04:00

I would like to wish all my blog readers a Happy Holiday and I hope everyone has a very prosperous New Year! Now that we are nearing the end of 2010, it's time to reflect on the accomplishments we have all made online, including what worked and what didn't and what we have all learned from past mistakes.

Make a plan to work toward your future financial goals and STICK TO IT!! Remember the 3 P's: Patience, Persistance and Perseverance and don't give up! I see far too many people get discouraged because they haven't made any money overnight. They've set unrealistic goals because they read some scammy squeeze page saying they'll be making bags of cash in a week or they can "retire super rich in less than 3 years" or 3 months or whatever. It's utter BS. Use your common sense and WORK toward your success and you WILL make it!!!

Unlike the "gurus" (scammers), I'm actually here to help you. That's why I created this blog, and now, 3 years and over 100 posts later, I'm STILL here while many others have stumbled and fallen behind. I'm open, honest and accessible...feel free to contact me through my email in the sidebar at anytime you need help or encouragement. I want you to succeed as much as you do!

As always, to your success!!

Gwallet Earnings Proof Updated

2010-12-15T01:05:00.004-04:00

I must say that I was surprised to get this check, as I thought the Gwallet CPA network had forgotten about me. I posted awhile ago that I was owed some Gwallet earnings but due to a transparency issue, I thought they were lost.

Well, here is the proof that they finally paid me, in the form of the last check from November payments in the amount of $1471.35

I tip my hat to them...thanks!

Matomy Payment Proof

2010-12-08T01:26:00.003-04:00

Here is a screenshot of my Matomy payment proof for my $1323.60 worth of earnings from the previous 2 week period. They pay out every two weeks and this is my 2nd payout from them.

They are a CPA company, but the thing I like best about them is they have the nicest looking offerwall I've seen so far. All the others are trying too hard to blend in with the Facebook design because they are mostly used on apps there, but Matomy's grid looks great on standalone sites as well, which is important when you have a reward site network like I do. It's easy to configure as well to fit your own page dimensions.

They also have lots of great survey offers that you can promote to your site members to keep them happy (and you in the money, of course!). Recommended!!

Free Hostgator Coupons

2010-11-23T20:39:00.006-04:00

It's obvious that you need your own website to get ahead of the competition when trying to earn money online because you need to be able to control your content to set yourself apart from all the similiar affiliate pages competing for everyone's attention. You need to be unique in any way possible.

I've written an article explaining a simple approach to setting yourself apart from the rest, called "Learn to Earn Money Online Now". Please read that first on this page.

The basic idea is to create a blog on paid hosting where you have complete control over content, meta tags, ad placements, etc. This will attract search engines to your keywords which, in turn, will bring targeted traffic for your affiliate products and promotions (or to your own stuff, if you make your own).

The purpose of this post is simply to provide another Hostgator.com promo code in case the article link is removed anytime in the future. There are a couple of free Hostgator coupons listed there and here is a bonus one that never expires:

4ONECENTHOSTING

Apply the above promo code word at checkout for 1 cent hosting on the "Baby" plan for the 1st month and get started on the road to success for almost nothing!

Stop promoting those same gateway pages that everyone else is doing and start branding yourself as a business! You'll be glad you did when you notice the higher profits and easy traffic coming in!

Leave your competitors in the dust!! :)

My 7 Simple Money Makers Ebook

2010-10-26T15:07:00.006-03:00

I've written an ebook for newbies looking for easy, straightforward ways to earn money online. This is not a long read, and is only 15 pages, but will help those looking for uncomplicated methods.

It features "7 simple money makers by Asmodeus", as the title states, and none are longer than a couple of pages. There is no long term business plan, as these are all geared towards kick-starting your earnings NOW, rather than 6 months in the future. Some of them can literally be up and running within minutes and make a few dollars, while others may take a few hours setup time, but earn $XXXX a month! As with anything online, you get out of it what you put in, so the more effort, the bigger the earnings.

You can view my full sales thread and the great reviews posted for the ebook on DP forum here and either purchase through the link there or use the Paypal button below for only $7 (just a buck a method!):

All buyers will receive my full support if they have any questions or need anything explained further.

I will help you succeed!!

MyVoucherGeek CPA Postback Files

2010-10-24T15:51:00.007-03:00

This is just a quick post to let people know that I'm offering to sell the postback files I've created for the following CPA networks: Gwallet, Offerpal (now called "Tapjoy"), Matomy and Sponsorpay. These will ONLY work with the "MyVoucherGeek" reward script, which comes with the Cpalead postback.php file by default, and many rewards site owners aren't even aware that you can use OTHER ad networks with this script as well!

These postback files were modified by me to each work with their respective CPA network callback parameters and I include instructions for setting it up, which is very straightforward. I'm also here to answer any questions you may have.

You can buy any one individual postback file for the CPA company you want to use on your website for only $3 or purchase all 4 for just $10! It will save you the hassle and expense of hiring a coder to do it for you.

Contact me through the email listed in my sidebar here or leave a comment with your info, if you are interested. Have a great week!

Cheap Press Release Submission Service

2010-09-25T02:54:00.002-03:00

Since I get requests for various services quite frequently, I decided to start offering them openly in my blog here so that everyone has a fair chance to benefit from my experience in how things work online.

My first offer is a cheap press release submission service. If you're not using this PR form of promoting your site then you're missing out on easily the most powerful forms of marketing there is on the internet right now! I have literally shot to the top of search engines within an HOUR by submitting the right press release! No joke!! It's THAT good!

For only $15 I'll write a press release of 300-500 words and submit it to 15 of the top PR sites online. That's only $1 a site and it's like getting the written article FREE! A great deal for you!

To order, please click the "buy now" button and then, after the purchase, either contact me through the listed email with your website url and description or leave a note on where I should contact you. Thanks!

Leadbolt Payment Proof

2010-09-16T13:34:00.004-03:00

Here is a screenshot of my Leadbolt payment proof which I just received today via bank wire. I'm used to scanning a check or taking a shot of my Paypal account, so this one proved to be a bit tricky to put together in one picture. In the interest of honesty and transparency I wanted to show all that I could, so this image is actually put together from 3 other shots.

The top part shows the date range and I joined them on June 30th. It would have been impractical and too long to show every single day for 2 months, so I have the first week showing and then I cut to the total at the bottom of $619.04 USD. They pay on net15 terms, so payday was yesterday, but it took 1 business day to be processed by my bank. They also pay every month, but this one is 2 months because I only entered my banking details a few days ago. The final amount that was wired to my account was $594.81 after the deduction of the bank's wiring fees.

Leadbolt is a CPA network recently seen as a Cpalead alternative for those webmasters with movie sites or TV shows and game download sites, after Cpalead began removing the better surveys for publishers with those kinds of websites. Also, Leadbolt allows adult content as well, so that's a plus if you have that kind of site.

After experimenting with their content locker for a few weeks on a couple of my own sites you can see the results for yourself. A total of 577 leads equaled $619, so that's a bit over $1 a lead I made. Not bad. The only thing I really don't like with them is the lack of configuration options available. It's easy to add the gateway to your site, but there's no tease timer or customization options. I'd like to at least add a bit of text to customize it for my own content, as right now everything is very generic and the same for all niches. I think they are working on this in the future though.

Sign up to Leadbolt if you have a website that is worth completing an CPA offer to access and you want to monetize it in that way. I recommend it!!

Update: They now have full configuration options with timers, custom texts, etc...yay!!

Gwallet Payment Proof

2010-09-11T14:36:00.002-03:00

Here is a scan of my Gwallet payment proof from a check I just received yesterday in the amount of $694.92

I mentioned a couple months ago that I started using Gwallet as a replacement for Offerpal surveys on my reward sites after Offerpalmedia ripped me off for over $3000 they owed to me without giving any explanation or response at all. There's nothing worse than for any network or company to leave you in the dark about what's going on and, since they've never responded to ANY of the support emails I sent, I still have no idea what happened. VERY unprofessional.

So, I went looking for an alternative that also had a virtual currency offerwall and I found Gwallet. The thing that impressed me right away was the open communication with them. My questions were always answered promptly and professionally. There was also a phone interview that was pleasant and friendly.

They work very closely with their publishers to make sure everything runs smoothly and they have strong anti fraud checks in place, which is very important when running a survey site because members WILL try to rip you off, unfortunately. The affiliate manager lets me know when any of my website users are trying to pull a scam, so that I can swiftly ban them from my network, and I like that we can co-operate with each other to keep everything as clean as possible.

Too many of the other CPA networks will deduct any fraudulent leads from your account without even telling you what users they came from, so I have no idea who to delete from my site! Gwallet did deduct a little over $200 for bad leads (the original amount was over $900), which is fair and in their right to do so, but at least they told me where they came from, so I could take action against those users.

My point being that transparency is extremely important when dealing with CPA offer networks. You want to choose a company that has a solid history of good communication and timely payments, and they have that! They also have a great looking offer wall, which is a nice bonus.

On a side note, I had to create a postback file for the "myvouchergeek" script that worked with the Gwallet callback system. It occurred to me that other people may need this same php file and instructions, so I now offer it for only $3 to anyone who needs it, which will save them from hiring a coder to do it. Contact me through the email listed in the sidebar if you wish to purchase it.

Have a great day!!

Sidetick Payment Proof

2010-09-01T22:14:00.006-03:00

A few weeks ago I wrote a Sidetick.com review and promised to reveal the results of whether or not they actually pay it's members.

Well, the Sidetick payment proof has arrived today in the form of a Paypal cashout for the amount of $25 that was requested on August 21st. I've included a screenshot of the top part of the email and the bottom is showing the same number in the PP account from them. The site states that it can take up to 10 business days to process a request and this was on the 8th day, so it was within the time frame.

Now that I know for sure they are not a scam I will ramp up my promotional efforts, but I also want to help others by including some Sidetick tips here, so you can get paid every month from them the easy way. I've also started a group on the website with the same ideas, in case you want to join and add yours as well.

- The number 1 most important tip is to read the daily deal from Jenny and then comment on her blog topic of the day. It's simple and takes less than a minute and by doing both things you are rewarded with 1000 tickbucks every time! That equals 50 cents for an easy $15 each month. It may not sound like much, but it's likely more than what many people earn from clicking at a PTC everyday.

- Next is to get as many referrals as you can. You should post your ref link in freebie forums and "make money online" discussion groups, PTC's and GPT sites, and other social websites (invite your Facebook friends, Tweet about it, etc). For any places that don't allow affiliate links just get a cheap domain and forward it to your link or use a url shortener and post that instead.

- Be active on the site. It only takes a few minutes a day, but your tickbucks increase with every page view, so explore the communities and groups, create a poll or vote on one, leave comments, watch videos, etc. The more you do, the faster you'll reach the payout threshold!

Follow this straightforward advice and you'll easily get paid every single month without spending a cent! Sign up here and I'm positive the next Sidetick payment proof will be yours!

Good luck!!

Neobux Payment Proof

2010-08-28T01:48:00.004-03:00

I received a cashout from the Neobux PTC yesterday for the month and then I realized I've never posted any earnings proofs from them before because they don't send checks, so there was nothing to scan.

So, what I've done here for my Neobux payment proof is combined a screenshot of the top part of the email I got from Paypal showing the amount sent to me and the bottom portion shows the same number in my PP stats from this week. That way you can see that everything matches up.

It's not big money, but every little bit adds up, and the $30.50 covers my monthly cellphone bill, so that's fine with me.

- Click here to join Neobux now!

To your success!

Sidetick.com - Get Paid To Be Social!

2010-07-29T00:57:00.004-03:00

I actually hate all these GPT (get paid to) social sites like Yuwie, Peoplestring and anything else that claims to be "like Facebook, but better because you make money doing what you normally would do". The truth is people go on FB because they WANT to and they have actual friends they know on there. All the other sites are just more money making scams.

So, why am I writing a post about Sidetick.com now? Well, the big problem I have with those types of sites is how little they pay. You usually have to interact every day for a month just to make a dollar. I've seen forum posts where members said how they were active on these websites, but made mere pennies and many don't even make the cashout threshold. It just seems like a huge waste of time.

I figured ST was the same, so I passed it up, but a good friend of mine joined and has already made over $9 in just a couple of days! She also has only spent a total of 10 minutes on the site, including 4 minutes to make a profile, so it wasn't like she spent 8 hours a day trying to reach that amount.

By my calculations that works out to over $100+ a month for maybe 2-4 hours of playing around on the site watching videos, listening to music, creating polls, joining discussions, leaving comments, etc. Not bad. Better than a PTC.

I think they have a really stupid website name (sounds like an insect club), but if you can make a few extra bucks for very little work, then I'm all for giving it a shot.

You can join Sidetick here and I'll be sure to post proof that they pay in an upcoming blogpost. I have lots of new discoveries to tell you about, so look for those in the near future!

** UPDATE: I have posted the 1st Sidetick payment proof here. It's a legit program!

My Worst Month Ever!

2010-07-03T22:23:00.002-03:00

I apologize for not writing anything in awhile, but June was a BAD month for a number of reasons and I really didn't feel like blogging about it while it was happening. It wasn't my worst month ever for earnings, but it was just crappy all around.

First, my health is poor. There's something seriously wrong, but the doctors haven't quite figured it out yet. It feels like I have something similar to Parkinsons or MS or some kind of condition that makes me weak and shaky sometimes. There are days I can barely stand up and I just don't feel like doing anything.

Second, my outside well stopped working and I had no water for about a week. The entire yard had to be dug up and all the pipes and pump had to be replaced, which cost 1000's of dollars.

Then everything online suffered because I was too sick to update anything. Also, Cpalead announced a major site policy change where we couldn't use movie or tv show sites with the high paying surveys, so the income on 2 of my biggest sites dropped significantly. There were even a couple of days where those sites made ZERO income...yes, that's 0.00!!

The biggest blow came with Offerpal screwing me out of almost $3500! I tried contacting them to find out what the hell happened, but of course I got no response at all. I don't know if it was something wrong I did, or something my site members did, or if they were having trouble getting paid themselves from the advertisers or what. All I know it that the last 2 checks never showed up, so I removed their offers from my sites.

I read on many forums that a good CPA network will let you know if there is a problem and work with you to resolve it, and even Cpalead has a section where they list any bad leads you have (I've never had any so far there). However, with Offerpal there is no way to find out the problem, so I have no idea. They knew my site url because it was printed on my checks, so if they had an issue with a reward site then they should have told me. Transparency is important when working with any network.

I also read that some networks will pay you a couple of times before scamming you, so they get more when you are working harder to make money for them. They didn't seem like that kind of company at first, but they've been giving the run around to a friend of mine for over 2 months now, so maybe they ARE like that after all. Anyway, I can no longer recommend them and I advise everyone to be careful if you've recently joined them.

And that sums up my worst month ever. July is my birthday, so maybe if someone leaves a comment wishing me a happy one then it will make me feel better...anyone?

Moderating Spam Comments

2010-06-04T22:26:00.003-03:00

We all know that the internet is full of spam. It clogs your inbox every day trying to sell you everything from diet pills to things that will enlarge your...whatever!

Well, today I'd like to address the fine art of commenting without being a spammer. First, let me say that I totally understand that you think your own website is the coolest one on the WWW and you're just dying to tell EVERYBODY about it, but there's a right way and a wrong way to go about this.

When leaving a comment on a blog post or forum thread ALWAYS write something relevant to what was written there. If the blogpost is about gardening, then don't say something like "Hey! Great writing! Check out my funny cat videos site!". Most comments are moderated by the admin and something like that isn't likely to be approved.

It always irritates me to see a really good discussion on one of the threads at LR or DP get hijacked by some idiot who simply posts "That's interesting" or when the morons I call the "Jawoco Spambillies" come along and simply post "hmmm". I take great comfort in knowing at least that people who write garbage like that will soon fail online to make way for the rest of us who actually try to be helpful to others.

Look, we all want backlinks to our sites...I understand that, but it doesn't take much effort to at least post something meaningful so that others reading will actually WANT to check out your site. I used to leave this blog here open to anyone who wanted to post and get a free backlink, but I got hit with so much spam lately that I was forced to moderate everything now. I'm a very busy person and it was simply taking too much of my time sifting through all the crap I was getting every day.

One person was even posting the exact same thing that had nothing to do with any of my posts and doing it EVERY day on whatever posts were on the homepage! The irony is that I would have given them a link back to their site by approving the comment IF it looked like they had even read my blog, but none of the comments were about anything I wrote.

The other point is that Google only counts ONE link from a site to yours anyway, so there's absolutely no reason to post more that one comment, if all you want is just the link.

So, the next time you're looking to gain some comment luv be sure to put at least a little bit of thought into it and you'll be sure to get approved! It's not that difficult!!!

Adult Affiliate Programs Payment Proof

2010-05-24T23:32:00.004-03:00

I don't want to spend too much time talking about adult content because I know it may offend some of my readers, but in an effort to show full disclosure of my various online income revenue streams I though it was necessary to show payment proof from my adult affiliate programs as well (Two sources from last week are shown above). These checks tend to be smaller, not because sex doesn't sell (because it most certainly still does!), but because the payouts are more frequent.

CCbill, which is the largest payment processor for this type of content, will send out a check every week as long as you meet the $25 minimum threshold. The nice thing about them is that they do the processing for many sponsors and they all can be combined, which means if you don't make the payout threshold for one sponsor you can still get paid by combining several of them! I get about $100 each time, so it's a cool extra $300-400 a month with little effort.

I have a simple page set up explaining some of the best adult affiliate programs here and the newest player in the field, adultaccessnow, is worth a look if you already have a site set up that you want to monetize easily.

Fire off an email to me if you need any help getting started!

Offerpal Earnings - $4500 In 4 Weeks!!

2010-05-17T10:30:00.007-03:00

For the past couple of months I've been earning a steady $200+ a day online ($561 was my best one so far this year) and I wanted to show an example of a recent 4 week period of income showing that. The picture here is a scan of 2 Offerpal earnings checks back-to-back (they pay every 2 weeks) in the amount of $4493.44 earned with them.

That's from just ONE network. Once I add all the other CPA networks and affiliate programs I earn from online, the figure averages the $200 mark almost daily for this most recent time frame. Again, as I've stated in the past, I'm not telling you this for bragging rights, but rather to stress the point that ANYONE can acheive this, including YOU!!

FAR too many people are stuck in some dead end program without realizing the amount they COULD be making, if only they changed their way of thinking. We've all heard the phrase "think outside the box", and many people believe that quitting their 9-5 to work online is doing just that. The problem is that the first thing they do online is start promoting some generic affiliate page that everyone else is promoting and then they give up 3 months later after making maybe 10 bucks, or nothing.

STOP DOING THAT!!!!!!!! I'm telling you right now, from my experience and the wisdom I've gained online that you will NOT make anything significant from promoting someone else's program and making THEM rich!! You may as well stay at your 9 to 5 job if you're going to do that!

Someone on the LR forum just yesterday asked how many programs others were promoting and he proudly stated he joined 10 of them. There's another person who will be gone in a few months, frustrated after making 6 dollars a month online. My response was that the REAL money is in OWNING the sites, not joining what others have made!

Let me give you an example. There are many social networking sites out there that offer money for you to join and promote them. Sites like Peoplestring and Yuwie became popular fast because it sounds great to get "paid for doing what you do anyway, such as read emails, make friends, etc"...blah, blah, blah...

The problem is that you're not REALLY doing what you would normally do, as you are actually spending time specifically on their sites, making pennies, and promoting more gateway pages that everyone has already seen before, so after a few months you notice you've only made a few dollars. That time could have been spent making far more running your OWN social site instead of making the owners of PS et al rich!

So, now you're thinking "I can't do that!!"...sure you can! Yes, the above sites cost a lot to build, and I'm not suggesting sinking your life savings into that. I'm merely trying to get you to THINK differently. There are many social networking website builders that you can use that are FREE, such as the Dolphin community software and various Youtube clones to build a video network complete with profiles and commenting enabled for YOUR site members...yes, YOUR SITE!!

Like any site you start, be sure to base it around a niche and do the proper keyword research to get the SEO right. Build your site around a community of people who love sharing recipes, or how about a dating site for people who like a certain TV show? What about a video sharing site with cute puppy tricks? The possibilities are endless!! THINK!!!!!!!

The formula to success here is simple: Create a social niche site, then put some CPA offers and affiliate banners on it and you'll have earnings checks like mine in no time! Plus, you'll be promoting your own website for a change, so every hour you put into it is for yourself and not to benefit someone else!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!

WPRewards Wordpress Rewards Plugin

2010-05-12T13:40:00.005-03:00

I don't very often directly sell, endorse or recommend products and, to be totally honest, it's because I think most things sold to webmasters online are just hyped filled crap. I'm sure you're already on several "guru" mailing lists where they email you constantly with recommendations on what will make you a lot of money, but there's only ONE person getting rich there, and you can guess who that is!

Well, I'm not like that at all. You'll notice there's NO list to sign up to on my blog anywhere. People who like following what I write can simply grab my feed and read what they like...I never spam anyone with crappy offers, EVER! I prefer to talk about ideas, methods and products that work "out of the box" to earn money for you right away. I think I've only recommended maybe 2 or 3 purchases in the entire 3 year history of this blog!

Today is one of those rare times where I'm going to suggest making an investment in something that will earn a great deal of money for you. It's called Giel WPRewards and is a Wordpress rewards plugin that will turn any WP blog into a reward site! If you've been reading my previous earnings posts you'll notice that around 70-80% of my income is from running CPA offers on these types of incentive sites!

It's extremely easy money to make, as you are straight up offering something in exchange for a visitor to complete your advertisers offer. You don't have to worry about whether or not your traffic clicks on your ads or buys anything...you are being upfront in telling them "Do this and I'll GIVE you something!". This is MUCH more effective in making money from your site! Just make sure that what you give them is of lesser value than what you make and the difference is your profit made!

The WPRewards Wordpress rewards plugin is very easy to install and is activated like any other plug-in addition simply by uploading 1 file and then activating it in your dashboard. Then you just add descriptions of whatever items you are giving away in trade to your users for completing your surveys/offers. It uses incentivized surveys provided by the CPALead Network (read and sign up on that page and your application is instantly approved so you can start right away!)

You can view a demo of this Wordpress rewards plugin in action at my free Godaddy gift cards site. Check it out! Users register to the blog, do a few surveys to add credits to their account and then use them to "buy" whatever it is you're offering as a reward. Simple as that! They get free stuff and you get paid!!

Click the button to purchase this at E-junkie using Paypal now!

Future updates of the WPRewards Wordpress rewards plugin are FREE to all buyers and, as always, you can contact me if you have any problems, questions or concerns. To your success!!

Always Check Your Links!!

2010-05-07T19:50:00.000-03:00

This is a very basic bit of advice, but I have noticed that far too many people have broken links on their sites. You should always check your links when posting them to make sure they work and go where they should!

I'm not just talking about old, dead links to sites that no longer exist, as we all miss a few of those from ancient posts we haven't seen in months or years. I'm referring to fresh, new posts and site links in forums where you typed in the wrong url or missed a letter somewhere and now the link goes nowhere.

I've seen several of these in LinkReferral lately and it amazes and disturbs me that someone would go through all the trouble to set up an account there to promote their website and then not check to make sure the link to their site even works!

This mistake happens far too often on blogs as well where someone is promoting an affiliate url or download page and when you click on it there is nothing, so you lose the potential customer. Don't let that happen to you!

Always check your links when posting to make sure they all work!!

Free Facebook Money Making Ebook

2010-05-05T00:58:00.004-03:00

I know I've been talking a lot about how lucrative Facebook is lately, but I haven't really given any specifics to follow. That's mostly due to the fact that making money on Facebook isn't about any one technique or method but, rather, taking advantage of it as a viral marketing windfall.

FB is the largest social networking platform on the internet and, as such, it's millions of members are your potential market...you just have to get their attention! That's where viral techniques come into play to get your offer or website seen by as many Facebookers as possible, and get them to tell their friends, who tell THEIR friends, etc...you want them to "like" your site and then share it with as many others as possible.

To help you understand this concept and to get started in turning this very lucrative money making field of dreams into reality, I am giving away a free ebook to explain it in simple terms to anyone who wants it. No catch...no mailing list to join...just a freebie for you to enjoy!

* Download the "$500 Every Day With Facebook Fan Pages" PDF Here! *

I hope you do well with it!!

Contest To Celebrate My Best Month Yet!

2010-05-02T18:04:00.005-03:00

I just tallied up the figures today and last month was my best yet for total online income earned at $5477.86!! Sweet!!

For those of you who follow this blog and my monthly earning statements you'll notice that's DOUBLE what I usually make online! I'll be providing the usual check scans as proof as they come in throughout May, but for now I wanted to celebrate by holding a contest here. I've never tried this before, so please be gentle with me :)

The rules are simple: Tell everyone about this site by linking to either http://adegreeofsuccess.blogspot.com (the "earn money online" homepage or any individual post you like) and the person who sends the most traffic by the end of the month will receive either a $10 USD Amazon egift certificate or the same amount direct to your Paypal account (your choice). To be eligible you must email me at the address listed in the sidebar to let me know your email and what site(s) your traffic will be coming from.

You may NOT send visits from any PTC's, exchanges or anything like that because it would be too easy to cheat simply by buying 1000 hits for a dollar and winning that way. I want to be recommended by people who sincerely believe in what I write and who want others to know about it too. That means the links to my blog should come from your own blogs as "recommendation" posts or links directly placed on your own websites.

When you send me the email I will add the sites you list to compare with my referrer stats to see that everything checks out. The one listed as the top referral during the 30 day contest period will be contacted by me to arrange payment to them. Just so everyone knows I run a fair game, I will request that the winner post a comment here in June to let everyone know they received their prize.

If everything goes according to plan, then I'll run more of these contests in the future for higher amounts, but this is basically a test run to see how it turns out. Good luck all!!

This Blog Does Not Make Money!!

2010-05-01T15:25:00.003-03:00

I've had a few people contact me recently about how to earn from their blogs and the simple answer is "you don't". Blogs are traffic magnets because of the constant writing involved, so the best use of one is to bring in lots of visitors through it and then point them to your sites or products that DO make money!

Oh, sure, there ARE some exceptional cases of pro bloggers making gobs of dough, such as John Chow and Shoemoney and I'm sure you've heard of those people as well. Why? Precisely because they ARE EXCEPTIONAL! It's like a late night infomercial where the small disclaimer on the bottom says "these results are not typical". There are only a select few people who actually make money online by showing people how to make money online, because most people will never acheive the followers that are needed to make that strategy work.

When you have 10's of thousands of loyal followers, like they do, then you could sell bags of dirt on your blog for a dollar and at least SOME people would buy it, if you told them it would somehow benefit them. Well, I'm not like that. I have a small following who seem to appreciate my down-to-earth, realistic approach to earning online, without all the hype and promises of riches, and I prefer that too.

But, of course, that also means that this blog does not make money. My reward is simply in helping others succeed through what I write. If I've helped even just a few people make enough to survive in these tough economic times, then that makes me the richest person on the internet! To your success!!

Clickbank Sales Tip

2010-04-09T15:09:00.000-03:00

Here's a quick Clickbank sales tip today: match your product to your audience!! Yeah, I know, it sounds obvious, but I've noticed an alarming number of sites recently that just don't follow that very basic marketing strategy. What are they thinking???

There are WAY too many websites with clickbank product ads on them that have nothing to do with the content of the site, like a gardening site with adverts for forex...WHAT????

You'll get a much better conversion rate if you match up similar advertisements to your own site's niche. Currently, my best CB sales are coming from selling Facebook game guides on my network of arcade sites that get traffic from gamers. It works!!

Google Adsense Payment Proof Check

2010-04-07T14:39:00.003-03:00

I got my Google Adsense check for the month in the mail today, so I thought I'd do a quick scan of it to post here. As usual, all identifying information has been cropped out (such as bank numbers) or concealed due to privacy reasons (there are strict laws for that where I live in Canada). It's for $134.03

I only present payment proof like this solely to show you that a program is legit and does pay and to show my own proof of income to back up what I wrote in previous posts about it. There are so many "make money online" (MMO) blogs out there written by scammers who actually aren't making ANYTHING online, that I wanted to set myself apart from them by proving that I know what I'm talking about.

I'm truly amazed by complete newbies who start up an MMO site, but have no idea what they're doing. They've been told (lied to) that it's easy money to simply create a free blog and put up some links and banners on it and suddenly the money comes rolling in...WRONG!! How can you tell someone the RIGHT way to earn an income online if you haven't actually done so yourself? Think about it.

Creating a banner farm of ads trying to get others to join your various PTC's and MLM schemes is NOT going to earn you a living wage income! Sure, you may get a few sign ups and a few pennies here and there, but that's peanuts compared to what you COULD be making by reading and learning about what works and what doesn't from someone like myself who has tried pretty much everything there is on the net.

Read. Learn. Adapt. Survive.

Facebook Money Methods

2010-04-05T16:24:00.003-03:00

How to make money on Facebook is easier than you might expect, and there are people who regularily make 4 figures DAILY using this site. While I haven't quite made it to that point yet, my best day so far was $561 last week and that's not bad at all, right??

To do well it's important to first understand that all the best Facebook money methods revolve around one basic concept: "have fun". People go on FB to have a good time, to play games, chat with friends, and post pictures of them having a blast at parties. This is your core audience...remember that. They don't want to be bored to tears with a sales pitch about some crappy program you are promoting that doesn't appeal to them at all. Leave the MLM junk at the webmaster forums. FB fans want fun!!

So, what can you do to make money on Facebook? Well, many things, including creating your own game application, and then monetizing that with Cpalead, Offerpal, Cubics, Rockyou ads, or even Adsense, although I only suggest something like that for extra income and not as your main source on the app. Now, before you scoff that you could never create a game yourself, let me just say that there are plenty of places where you can buy premade apps online that you can use for exactly this purpose.

I only paid $20 for mine and then another $15 for a nice looking landing page made to my specifications (I'm not a graphics guy, so I hired someone) and about $60 for initial promotion. So, for about $100 in investment I made so far over $2000 in revenue. Not bad at all. Setting up a Facebook app is a bit more complicated than installing a script for a normal website, but you'll get instructions with whatever one you choose, so follow them carefully.

One extra tip is to choose your application name wisely when signing it up at Facebook, as like Twitter, the url created to it will be whatever you choose and that should have a keyword in it. Do NOT call it "Myapp" or something similar, but instead call it "dragonrpg" or whatever, as the url created will get good SERP's in the SE's according to the name, since FB has strong authority.

Other methods you can try are creating funny groups and fan pages around either a cute picture, joke, quote, movie, tv show or anything like that. Think entertainment. You want to entertain people who will recommend your page to all their friends to give you that wonderful viral effect that FB is known for. This is how people gain massive amounts of traffic from members joining their fanpage or group. I've seen MANY of these with over 100,000 or even a million fans to a page that is just one funny pic...that's it! It's as simple as that!

So, once you have a few thousand fans, then what do you do? Well, a couple of important things. One, you can send messages to your new member base suggesting a website to visit (yours) or post a status update about the same thing. FB has a cool function in the status updates that automatically gives site info when you input a url.

Second, you can SELL these message spots and updates to others for good money. There are plenty of webmasters fighting to get good spots on a large group who will see their website ad posted in the status area. I know one guy who quit everything else he was doing online and selling FB updates is solely what he does now...at $60 a pop...several times every day. You do the math!

Basically there are several ways to take advantage of the viral functionality of Facebook...you just gotta be creative. Too many people complain that they can't make money there, but yet the only thing they've ever tried is paying for those ads on the side. Those don't work unless you have a huge budget behind you and are willing to take a loss at first, because people need to see them several times to become familiar with them before they're willing to support whatever it is you're selling. That's how marketing works. Everyone trusts a name they've seen many times before over something unheard of.

I'll leave you with one last thought. One game app, called Farmville, recently hit over 80 million players (probably 100 mill as I write this) and a few days ago had even surpassed Google for most hits on that day. The company behind it, Zynga, is raking in the dough...wouldn't you like a piece of that pie??? Sure you would!! Go get it!!

Cpalead Earnings Check

2010-03-26T00:43:00.004-03:00

Here is another Cpalead earnings check that I scanned but forgot to post until now. I get paid every single month from them, but I don't always remember to scan it, so that's why I've only posted 2 so far. This one is for well over $600!

Their payment threshold is a very low $50, which is ridiculously easy to make and that means a nice extra monthly income with little effort. Isn't that what we all want? YES!! Of course it is!!

Oh, and forget everything I said in the past about Cpalead being difficult to get into, because now they have INSTANT approval! That's right! Every application is now automatic, so if you apply to Cpalead right away you can be literally earning money by the end of the day!

I can already see the dollar signs in your eyes...go for it!!! lol

I Am NOT A Guru!!

2010-03-24T15:09:00.004-03:00

I'm sure most people reading this blog can understand why I am doing this, but I wanted to clarify my mission for those who aren't familiar with my numerous posts on webmaster forums all over the internet.

I HATE SCAMMERS!! I am extremely anti-guru and I loathe people who take advantage of newbies and rip people off online. You will NEVER, ever, see me making unreasonable claims of riches anywhere on the net. I am NOT a guru!!!

A "guru" will try to lure you in with a fancy looking landing page full of pictures of hot cars and expensive houses and then tell you it can all be yours, if you just pay him $XX amount of money for this "valuable" information. My site, on the other hand, is plain looking on purpose because I'm not trying to blind you with false promises. The info I present to you is FREE. I don't want your money. I want you to succeed!

To that end, I write posts about the actual methods I've tried when earning money online and I provide payment proof to show you when something is legit and pays on time. Sometimes I only make a few dollars and other times I make 100's. Sometimes I do well at a method and others I fail miserably.

I'm human. I'm not perfect and much of learning how to make money online involves constant trial and error. I try to show the mistakes I've made to prevent you from making the same ones and I also explain clearly (I hope!) what DOES work, so you don't waste time on what doesn't.

I don't make exaggerated claims of making $1000 overnight or $40,000 a month "passive income" (you DO know there's no such thing, right?? Everything involves at least some effort to sustain). I show REAL, achievable goals that ANYONE can attain, with patience, persistence and motivation.

My average monthly income online is around $2500, which is $30,000 a year. I'm not rich, but I'm not poor either. It's a comfortable amount that pays the bills while still working for myself at home, and to me that is important, since I cannot work a "normal" 9-5 job.

A few years ago I developed an intestinal condition which prevented me from continuing at my job in an office, so I started to look for alternative income possibilities. I didn't want to go on a government disability program, as I wanted to maintain my independence and "pay my own way", as they say. Earning online was the answer!

As a newbie, I made plenty of mistakes when I started, but I learned from them and kept going. This is my own journey of discovery, but I'm hoping that my story will inspire others to understand that it CAN be done.

You CAN be your own boss working from home, but only IF you stop listening to gurus and following their hyped up programs that never work. Instead, try setting a REALISTIC goal that can be met with effort and patience and you'll be amazed at the results! Don't let the poor economy force you out of a job...work for YOURSELF and leave the stress behind!! I believe in you!!! :)

Offerpal Payment Proof

2010-03-18T13:15:00.002-03:00

I just got my first check from Offerpalmedia, so I thought I'd post it here. This is a company I just started using on a couple of my sites and I wasn't sure if they paid or not, but now that I know they DO pay I will be ramping up my promotions more for them in the coming weeks.

They payout in net15 terms, which is cool because I'll get money from them every 2 weeks, instead of having to wait a month or two, like you do for so many other networks. This Offerpal payment proof check image is for a 14 day period in the amount of $684.37 and is generated from social networking sites and Facebook applications, which is a hot trend right now.

I'll be writing more about trends, and how to take advantage of them, in a future post. For now I have have some more promoting to do...

Chat Roulette Money Methods

2010-03-10T18:37:00.004-04:00

There is a new website called chatroulette.com that is quickly becoming the latest internet sensation. It's getting talked about everywhere, as well as being on the news several times as well. It's a live cam site that was first described as something like "webcam speed dating", but has since become a source of many funny pictures and videos, as people go on the site dressed as superheroes, and in other assorted weird costumes to play pranks on others.

When you go there you will see it is nothing fancy at all. No splash page or "Enter" button, or even any writing at all explaining what the site is! You will immediately see the chat roulette chatbox and the navigation buttons, where you can click "next", and each time you will be connected with a random stranger. The internet is a strange place...

This can get either boring or addictive, depending on your perspective, but the purpose of this post is to explain how to make money online with Chat Roulette because earning on the net is what I do! The first lightbulb that should go off in your head is the common method called "ewhoring", where you pretend to be interested in someone to get them to join your dating affiliate website (I recommend using Datinggold). You tell them you have a profile for them to check out and then give them your ref link to the site. Use one that pays you for free joins and you'll make a couple bucks for every person who signs up!

That E-whoring method is quite common, but can still be effective, if used correctly. However, I use a different approach with the ChatRoulette site where everything is automated so you can earn in your sleep. Rather than write it all out here (and also not to offend my readers who don't read adult content), I'll let you download the Chat Roulette Money Methods ebook and you can read it for yourself.

Don't be afraid to try anything unique! Be Creative!!

AdultAccessNow Site Has Officially Launched!!

2010-03-09T17:57:00.005-04:00

I announced back in January that there was an adult version of Cpalead but that it was still in the beta stage and I was among the first chosen to test it out. Well, I can now let you know that the AdultAccessNow site has officially launched and is ready to accept publishers like yourself to make money using their widget on your content!

It's very easy to get started. Simply apply to AAN now and, when you are logged into your dashboard there, just create a widget to put over your adult content (movies, downloads, etc) and you will make money for every visitor who clicks it and fills out a survey! It's that simple!!

As always, anyone who signs up under my ref link will get my help and advice for free! Here's to your success!!

*** UPDATE: AAN has closed, but may open again in the future. If you're still looking for a monetization locker for adult content, then try Leadbolt instead.

Monthly Online Earnings Updated

2010-03-03T16:59:00.004-04:00

Well, it's that time again where I add up what I made the month before, now that February is finally over (let's hope spring gets here soon!!). The reason I don't make these sorts of posts EVERY month is because it would get boring, as they are pretty much always the same, but I added a new program this time, so I thought I should update how it's going with the new sponsors in the mix.

So, here are my monthly online earnings updated from last month:

953.59 (I just started with Offerpal, but so far it looks good!)
659.04 (Cpalead - I earned more, but donated some of it)
344.48 (from online tech work and doing SEO for others)
286.93 (various affiliate program sales)
163.28 (secret shopper assignments)
72.78 (Ad space selling)
49.86 (Website Script sales)
41.67 (PTC earnings at Neobux)

Total = 2571.63

There are a few things to keep in mind here. One is that there were only 28 days in the last month, so the total is a couple of days less than normal. Also, I donated some of my income and the overall total would normally be about 3k, since I average $100 a day online.

Plus, some of the amounts are LESS than usual. This is due to the fact that I started working less hours since the beginning of this year. It was my New Years resolution to earn about the same, but spend less time in front of the computer (smarter, not harder!). So, I'm working less hours, but technically making MORE per hour!

This change is most noticeable in ad sales where I would normally make $200+ a month by offering deals on webmaster forums and taking the time to make sales threads, but this time I didn't do any. The $72 I did make was solely from renewals and not from new ad selling.

Also, the new sponsor amount is high because I put their CPA offers on my existing sites and just swapped the ads out, so the old ones were replaced with better performing ones. Always test your conversion ratios to see what ads perform the best for your traffic!!

You may also be wondering why I bother with PTC's at all when they pay so little. The answer is not in how much it pays, but how much time it involves. It literally takes me only 3 minutes a day to click a few links on the one site I use, so here's the math: That's 84 minutes total work in February for a 41.67 return. Making over 40 bucks for less that an hour and a half of work isn't so bad, is it? You can make a LOT more by building up referrals, but I let most of mine go because they were just too lazy to click for that few minutes daily and for "paid to click" sites to work you really have to put in that effort every day. That's the reality of it.

I'll be posting more checks as proof over the course of March, so feel free to grab my feed for updates! Have a great day!!

Make Money Online Scam

2010-02-24T22:58:00.006-04:00

So, you've just discovered the concept of how to make money online and you excitedly look at all these wonderful, flashy websites with pictures of shiny new sportscars and expensive houses saying that you, yes YOU, can become the next internet millionaire in just 1 week!! "WOW", you squeal, "I want that!!", and then you proceed to get sucked into the most common online scam there is: How to get rich quick. The answer: You don't.

I'm disheartened whenever I see such ads with all the photos of hot cars, jewelry and giant homes because I know someone will get blinded by them. The cold, honest truth is that MOST people who try to earn some money on the interent will FAIL, and miserably. They either make nothing at all or they make a few bucks and end up quitting 3-4 months down the road because it's a waste of time for the amount earned.

The biggest part of the problem is not that you CAN'T make money (because, in fact, you CAN), but rather, that you've been lead astray by "gurus" and scammers into believing it's EASY (which it isn't). Most people are first introduced into the whole "making money online" concept by some catchy landing page for an ebook telling you how simple it is to make huge piles of cash in your sleep and the "proof" is always some garage full of cars and a beautiful woman holding a wad of cash. You DO know that's fake, right??

So, you're basically already set up for failure because of unrealistic claims of making $20,000 in 2 days or $1,000,000 by next Tuesday, before you even get started. If someone, like myself, had told you instead right from the start that it would be a lot of hard work with many hours put in every day, AND you probably wouldn't even make anything at all for at least 3 months, would you still be as enthusiastic? Would you even bother to try then?

I'm sick to death of all these false, totally unrealistic claims made by scammers just trying to con you out of your money and then leaving your dreams shattered on the floor. The really ironic thing is that you actually CAN make some money, if you do it the right way, but so many people start off by getting conned that they give up completely, without even trying something that could truly work out for them!

That's why I started this blog...to show you what can be accomplished, if you're willing to work hard for it. Am I rich? NO, of course not!! But I do own a house that's paid for, with no mortgage, plus a brand new Honda that is also paid off with no monthly payments. I make a living working from my own home, with no boss, and you can too!

Just be realistic in your expectations. Do NOT expect riches overnight and do not pay attention to any of those crappy ebooks that say you can earn in your sleep and "wake up to piles of cash" sent by "hungry buyers" while you do nothing. They're junk! Someone even put together a parody website to show everyone just how ridiculous these sites really are. Check out the buy my stupid ebook page!

Last month I was arguing with a woman in a forum about a sales thread she had made that claimed you could "Retire in 10 weeks" using her program. I asked her why she was making such wild claims and told her she definately would not be retiring in 10 weeks! Of course she got mad at me, and defensive, and said I didn't know what her network could do. Well, no, it's true that I don't know everything, but I certainly know hype when I see it, and while I explained that I never said her program was a "make money online scam", I DO think she was lying, misguided or misled into believing such over-the-top claims.

After further discussion she admitted that she didn't think she'd be retiring anytime soon, but that she had made SOME money with this company. Ahhhhh, see? That wasn't so difficult now, was it?? That's what more people should do! Instead of making wild, unrealistic claims that smell of online scams, they should just try being honest for a change. "No, I didn't get rich, but I DID make $XXX amount of dollars." I'd be MUCH more willing to join someone who was honest with me right from the start than one who is trying to pull the wool over my eyes from step one! Wouldn't you agree?

That's what I try to do here with full disclosure, including screenshots and actual scans of the checks I've received. You won't see me holding some fake check for $100,000 but you WILL see honest earnings proof from an average guy who earns a living working from home.

How To Backup Blog Posts

2010-02-18T10:45:00.004-04:00

It's important to always make a backup of your blog posts EVERY time you post to save you from potential trouble in the future. As the saying goes "Shit DOES happen" and you have to be prepared for it. Your blog might get deleted or your host could go down or any number of technical difficulties.

I learned my lesson the hard way with a free hosted blog site where all the blogs there got hacked and everyone lost what they wrote. I had 6 months worth of blogposts there that were lost! While many people spent hours putting together the pieces of their broken sites, if we had made backups then it all would have been fixed in less than a minute!

So, here is how to backup your blogposts for the 2 most common ones, Wordpress and Blogspot:

- In WP you simply go to the left side of your dashboard and look under "tools" where it says import and export. Click on "export" and then download for ALL authors (to make sure you get everything) and save it to your computer. What you are downloading is what is called an XML file containing all your blogpost content, as well as the comments made by others for each post. Then, if you ever need to rebuild your blog, or if you decide to transfer to another host, it will be an easy move!

If you ever need to use the file to recover your website or restart again on a new host account, then simply click "import" wherever your fresh new blog is installed and pick "Wordpress" from the list. Then browse to where your XML file was saved and, like magic, your empty blog will be filled with all your old posts intact!!

You'll also notice there are many other blogging platforms listed under the import section. That's because you can transfer your posts from many other sites into your WP blog, including taking what you have written at blogger.com and importing it to a WP blog!

So, how do we get all the posts from Blogger/Blogspot?

- When logged in, go to "settings" and under the basic section you'll see import/export. To save all your blog posts as a backup file to your computer, just click "export" and then "download blog". You're done!

The "import" function works basically like described above. Just click browse and find your XML file and follow the directions.

Creating blog backups should never be a scary thing. It literally only takes 10 seconds just to grab the export after each post, so do it EVERY time you write something!! That goes with ANY website you have. Be sure to save website mysql database zips to your comp on a regular basis too. Don't wait until it's too late!!

Templates Vs Keywords

2010-01-29T19:22:00.003-04:00

Ok, I know I've rambled on about the importance of keywords in other posts, but this time it's different, I promise!

I've noticed a disturbing trend lately of webmasters somehow thinking that flashy graphics are more important than words on a website. WRONG!! It doesn't matter how pretty your website looks, if no one sees it (yes, I've said that before). It's going to be your WORDS (specifically your unique, keyword rich content) that will bring the search engines, and their searchers, a' callin'...

Case in point: there is a popular script that many people are using right now to build their website that comes with only one default template. I've read site owners who are using it complain that everyone's website looks the same and they can't get sign ups because of it, so they scramble to change the look of it in hopes that their new graphics will attract more traffic.

The problem is that the template itself doesn't attract traffic...the words do. Search engines can't actually "see" what your website looks like! So then there were all these webmasters with now great looking sites who were still getting no visitors because the wording in the default template was the same and they were getting hit by duplicate content penalties left and right. Sure, they LOOKED different, but as far as the SE's were concerned they still all seemed the same, so they got buried.

My approach is the exact opposite. I use the default template with just a different logo, but I completely change the wording throughout the entire site. I make sure it is SEO'd for maximum effect with my keywords and that it gets indexed for the written content without any dupe penalties.

The result? While everyone else was complaining, I was getting 20 sign ups an hour when I first launched it. Even now, after things have died down, I'm still getting around 100 UV's a day of highly targeted traffic from the SE's looking for what I have to offer, and that adds up to $$$!

Conclusion: Don't get hung up about how your site looks to others (unless its REALLY ugly! lol). Instead, concentrate on writing good quality, original, content with keywords and phrases that people actually search for (always do proper keyword research first!). Good luck!

Turn Links Into Cash URL Shortener

2010-01-19T20:00:00.004-04:00

I know a lot of my readers use a url shortener, like tinyurl, when posting their long affiliate urls or hard-to-remember links around the internet, especially when space is limited for posting, like on Twitter, so I thought I'd write about an alternative where you can make a little extra money for using this service instead.

The site motto is Turn Links Into Cash at Turnlinks.com and it works like this: Sign up for free and create a shortened url by inputing the one you want to change and simply click "convert my link!". You will then be given a very short, easy to remember link to post anywhere you would normally put your referral links, such as on blogs and forums, and it won't look like an affiliate post!

Now, here's the best part: Besides the obvious url shortener advantage, you also make extra money for promoting your own links!! Each link page displays a small banner or linking code from an advertiser at the very top and that revenue is shared among everyone promoting those ads pages. So, you are still promoting your own stuff, but there will be an ad at the top-frame that you get paid for having there!

You can learn more about it on the Turn Links info page. To your success!!

Cpalead Adult Gateway Widget - Adultaccessnow.com

2010-01-13T02:52:00.004-04:00

Well, it's finally here! The Cpalead adult gateway widget at adultaccessnow.com is set to be the biggest thing to hit the industry in years! It's still in beta and I was approved as one of the first to test it out, so I'm still "looking under the hood", but it appears to be exactly like the set up at CPALead.com with the only difference being the dashboard colors and the surveys themselves.

I'll keep you posted on how well I do in the future, but right now there's not really enough offers to give it a fair assessment. I'm letting you know about it now because if you apply early you can be among the first to try something truly revolutionary online!!

*** UPDATE: AAN has closed, but may open again in the future. If you're still looking for a monetization locker for adult content, then try Leadbolt instead.

Cpalead Wordpress Plugin

2010-01-01T12:12:00.001-04:00

For my first post of the year I'd thought I'd clear up 2 technical questions that I get asked quite frequently about using Cpalead with blogs. The question usually goes something like this: How do I insert the cpalead gateway code in my Blogspot or Wordpress blog?". The answers are unique for each platform.

For WP, you can download and install the Cpalead Wordpress Plugin to give you full control over which posts have the gateway and which ones do not. You simply upload it to your plugins folder and then activate it in your Wordpress dashboard. Then go to settings and fill in the fields with the title of your post and paste in your code and click create. That's all there is to it! You can choose specific posts or entire categories using this plugin!

Another way with WP, if you just want the gateway to appear in ALL your posts without specifying anything is to add the code to your theme's "single.php" file. That will work for MOST themes, but a few will have a different file name for posts, so you may have to dig around to get the correct one for the theme you are using. The easiest solution is just to stick with the Cpalead Wordpress plugin though.

If you intend to use Blogspot/Blogger instead, then it's a bit trickier. One simple method is to add an html/text widget and just insert your code there, but that will put the gate way on your entire blog, which not everyone wants to do. You can also paste your code directly into your new post in "edit html" mode at the end. While that does work, it also presents an interesting problem if you have 2 or more posts back-to-back with a gateway, as they will pop up at the same time and crash. The solution is to have no more than 1 protected post showing on the homepage at one time or to use a homepage entry that leads to that post.

I've created Cpalead Blogspot sites where I only show one post on the main page and from there I link to individual blogposts. How do you do that, you ask? Easy! You just use the edit timestamp feature to make sure that post is always your latest one. It works great for anyone trying to give their blog a more static and less "bloggy" presentation, such as when you are building a downloading or ebook store site where you always want your direct product links to show on your homepage at all times.

That's it for now. I hope everyone has a happy and prosperous year!!

Seasons Greeting Home Earners!

2009-12-20T22:42:00.003-04:00

I just want to shout out a warm Seasons Greetings to all my readers and others who earn a living working from home! Cpalead paid everyone early this month, so we all have money for Christmas! My check was over $500 this time, so I'm going out to buy some presents for my family (yes, I'm cutting it a bit late! lol)

I'll be away visiting my friends for a few days, so I wish everyone all the best for a happy holiday and I'll write again in the new year!

Take care!

Looking For Website Promoters

2009-12-10T20:46:00.003-04:00

You'll notice that my blogpost title today looks like a classified ad copy. That's because I'm currently looking for website promoters to help ease my workload during this busy season. My online "empire" is expanding at a rate far exceeding what I can possibly do myself and I'm hiring a few outsource workers to lighten the load.

I will provide all training, but you must be competent and reliable. I tried outsourcing my work before, but it was a disaster due to unreliable workers who just didn't complete the tasks assigned to them and it took more time for me to fix their mistakes than what I saved from them doing it for me in the first place!

Long term placement will be given to anyone who excels at what they do and there is potential to earn as much as $300 a DAY, if you are willing to work at it. This does NOT involve signing up for anything, as I'm not looking for referrals or affiliates. You will be working for me directly.

If interested, contact me at: "info(at)adegreeofsuccess(dot)com" and let me know your strong points. Thanks!

Affiliate Degree Earnings Proof

2009-11-29T20:16:00.004-04:00

It occured to me that I used to post a lot about the Instant Degrees affiliate program back when I started with them over 2 years ago, but I've never posted any of their payment proof. I remember that my best month with them was around $800-1000 in commissions earned (over $3000 in sales), but this month is a much smaller $184.50. Still, almost $200 ain't too shabby for 1 month on just one network, right?

This affiliate degree earnings check posted here was received a few days ago for what I made last month (they pay monthly) and these kinds of online degree programs work best if you have sites with traffic in the late teens to early 30's age demographic, although it can work for anyone looking for a career boost.

Have a great week earning money online everyone!

WorkFor3Dollars Payment Proof

2009-11-24T19:28:00.006-04:00

Well, it's Tuesday and that's payday for the WorkFor3Dollars (WF3D) list builder program, so I thought I'd continue with my earnings posts and show theirs for today. They don't pay by paper check, so I had to show my Alertpay screenshot for this one.

My WorkFor3Dollars payment proof is only $3.12 USD because the cashout is at only 3 bucks, so it never gets very high, and this is from an account under my main one. Still, it's an easy way to make a few dollars and they do payout on time, like clockwork. Even when the admin was away on vacation in the summer a few months ago he still made sure everyone got paid!

Since this program works best by members helping to promote each other, here are a few affiliate links to join under, and rather than ask you to join me, I simply ask you to pick someone else from my team and we can all help each other to succeed!

Links to learn more:

http://workfor3dollars.com/earn
http://workfor3dollars.com/readmore

As always, to your success!!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

2009-11-17T17:58:00.002-04:00

The old saying "If at first you don't succeed, then try again" is even more true when trying to earn a living online. There are literally so many opportunities to make money on the internet that it can sometimes feel quite overwhelming! I know when I first started years ago that it felt like my head was spinning just figuring it all out.

Much of the learning process involves simple trial and error. However, that can get expensive if you start investing a lot of time and money into things that just don't seem to be working out for you. My general rule is that if I don't see a positive return within 3-4 months, then I abandon that project. I know some people will get on my case about that one, saying that it can take YEARS for something to pay off, and while thats true, there is also a saying along the lines of "you can always get more money, but you can't buy more time".

In other words, my time on Earth is limited, and there ARE ways to get more income that don't involve the long wait. So, keep trying, but don't waste too much precious time on something that clearly isn't working for you. Everyone is good at something, so it's a matter of finding out what works for YOU personally. Just because someone else claims to make $1000 a month selling affiliate products does not mean that it will come easy for you. Perhaps your strength is in promoting an idea, or writing content, or running a forum online, or any one of a number of things...try and you'll succeed at SOMETHING eventually!!

As a final note, this all applies to anyone trying to get accepted into a prestigious CPA network like CPALead as well, since they reject more applications than they accept, now that so many people are trying to get in. I can't stress this enough: It IS worth the effort!! I'm making more with them every month and the latest affiliate who joined under me is already up to $37 earned so far today, which is awesome for a newbie!

Even I got rejected the first time I applied, but that was because my site was down at the time they checked it (bad hosting and I moved the site right after that). Almost always when someone gets denied it's simply due to lack of information on the form. Put down as much as you can about your internet marketing experience and qualifications (like a job application), and make sure there are no mistakes (Jacqueline, if you're reading this: you put your email addy where your website url is supposed to go, so there was no site to see!). Everyone can simply apply again...there's no shame in making mistakes, but don't give up!

If at first you don't succeed...you know what to do!! :)

Cpalead Payment Proof

2009-11-05T13:53:00.011-04:00

As promised, here is my Cpalead payment proof in the form of a scan of my latest check for $441.72 USD (as referenced in my monthy online earnings post). The vast majority of this comes from just a couple of main sites that I have their survey offers on right now, but I'm launching a few new ones, so I expect to hit $1k a month early in the new year.

UPDATE: See a newer earnings check from them here!

Cpalead is an easy way to make money online without selling anything because it's CPA lead (cost per action) based and not through any sales commissions payout structure. Therefore, you don't have the usual concerns about sale ratios and conversion rates. All you have to do is give your website visitors something for free and you get paid! If you don't have a product to offer as a freebie already, then simply get a cheap PLR item or anything with reseller or giveaway rights and use that.

It's really easy to do and, as always, anyone who signs up under my own Cpalead affiliate page can email me at any time to get mentoring at no charge until you are earning on your own each month. You can't lose with that deal!

You WILL succeed if you try!!

Cpalead Help

2009-10-26T17:58:00.004-03:00

There seems to be a lot of people looking for Cpalead help lately, so I thought I'd offer my assistance to anyone with specific questions, such as "How do I add the Cpalead gateway to Blogger or Wordpress posts?", "What kind of sites work best with Cpalead?", how do payments work, etc.

If you are completely new to this way to monetize a site then read my Cpalead network post first to get an idea of what you're missing. I'll be posting my payment proof in a few days when the latest checks are issued, but it's fair to say that the average person online can make an extra $XXX amount of money on top of what they already do and there are MANY affiliates making well over $1000 a month (some even per DAY).

I'm not to that point yet, but my earnings have increased with them every single month since I started and it's now my biggest earner online! If you need any cpalead help then feel free to leave your inquiry in a comment here or email me directly through the address listed in the sidebar if you'd like a personal response, and I'll try to answer as soon as possible.

Here's to your success!!

Yottacash Affiliate Earnings Proof

2009-10-22T17:56:00.003-03:00

I thought I'd post my Yottacash Affiliate earnings proof today because I've noticed that there isn't a whole lot of information about this program on the net yet, so I wanted to do my part to assure my readers that they DO pay on time.

Payouts are made every 2 weeks, once you have made at least $100 in commissions, but you should be aware that they deduct and hold back 10% of your earned amount in case of any future chargebacks or refunds issued from your sales made. The held percentage is then released and paid to you after 6 months. It's no big deal to me, but just something you should know in case your total seems a bit less than expected.

The $148.50 check shows the money I earned in September, which was issued in mid October (a few days ago) and I received it in the mail today. You only need 3-4 sales (up to $40 commission!) to reach payout, so it really didn't take very long at all. The bank numbers and my address have been cut off for legal reasons (I'm not allowed to show it in Canada, where I live, due to our privacy act laws).

The Yottacash affiliate program is perfect if you have any sort of entertainment website traffic, as they sell games, music, and movie content that appeals to that sort of audience. Just put their ads on your site and watch the money add up...simple as that!

Unlimited Bandwidth Hosting

2009-10-18T14:42:00.005-03:00

Today's post goes back to the basics because sometimes it seems so obvious that people actually miss it. You NEED a web site host if you are truly going to succeed online. Yes, there are lots of free hosts out there, but they can only take you so far. These services are great for "testing the waters" or trying out an idea before investing any money, but you're going to need unlimited bandwidth hosting if you ever want to make it big on the internet!

Why? Because to earn money online you want to be taken seriously, and that comes from having your own domain on paid hosting. There is only so much you can do by going the freebie route and there are many drawbacks, such as not being able to control your own advertising space, limited design potential with "cookie cutter" templates and, most importantly, being on a subdomain (ie. yourusername.weebly.com) limits your ability to do well in the search engine results, since you are not on your own top level domain (TLD).

I learned this myself the hard way. I had a few websites when I started years ago that were hosted free and they were not doing well in the SE's (Google buried them), so after 4 or 5 months of going nowhere I decided to take the plunge and ordered Hostgator unlimited bandwidth hosting for just 10 bucks and to this day it was the best decision I've ever made online.

Their hosting packages include easy installation of many scripts to give you a professional design and presentation, such as full blown site layouts, Wordpress and other blog software and forums, plus informative webstats and your very own email address (which is miles better sounding than a Hotmail one!). It simply elevates you to the next level of success at a very low cost.

Literally, within 2-4 weeks all my sites then started moving up the search results page and I was rewarded with many page one top 10 listings! I was now being taken seriously as an online business (because that's what a website is!) and I've been successfully creating profitable sites ever since that time. You can too, really!!

Monthly Online Earnings

2009-10-02T16:05:00.002-03:00

Another month has just ended, so I thought I'd give a breakdown of my monthly online earnings for September to show you that anyone CAN earn money online, if you do it the right way and are willing to work for it. So, here it is...

- $845.51 in affiliate sales (includes Yottacash and others)
- $441.72 from CPALead survey gateways
- $128 in payloadz site scripts and websites sold
- $126 through selling adspace (includes ppc like Adsense)
- $201 from mystery shopping (internet based)
- $300 of misc stuff (many small things like a buck or two here and there from the odd ptc and other networks)

- $2042.23 Total ($68.07 daily average earning)

You can have the same results, if you only set your mind to achieving it and STOP promoting all those nonsense affiliate programs with a generic gateway page! Nobody buys into that stuff anymore and the net is so full of scams that everything has become too much of a hard sell these days.

It's almost 2010...time to think outside the box for a change!!

Linkbait - A Cat With Two Heads!!!

2009-09-07T20:19:00.003-03:00

Did that title get your attention?? Were you actually expecting to see a picture of a cat with two heads???? Great!! My linkbait worked!!

Linkbait is simply the name given to posts with sensational titles created for the purpose of getting people to read it. It's based on an old method, as newspaper editors and magazine publishers have been using headlines like that for many years. It's kinda like the circus barker calling people to come inside to see the bearded lady. It makes you WANT to click that link, just out of curiousity.

Some linkbait titles are outright lies just to get surfers to click, while others are merely sensationalistic rewording of the truth. For example, if you have an online jewelry store and wanted to announce a sale, then instead of the usual "We Now Offer 30% Off All Diamonds", you could say something like "Internet Thief Stole Our Jewels!!", and then explain that your new sale is so great that it's almost like stealing!

It's about doing what you can to grab a surfers attention as they bounce from one site to another. You want them to STOP at your site and take notice of what you have to offer. Think of those endless commercials you've seen on TV and which ones piqued your interest. Now it's your turn to write the commercial!! You can do it!!!

SEO Joke: What do you call Zelda (from Legend Of...) wearing lingerie? Link Bait!! yuk-yuk...

Adsense Proof Of Earnings

2009-09-01T14:43:00.005-03:00

I'm showing a pic of my adsense proof of earnings today for a few reasons. One, because a member of the LR forum seems to think that Google is running an adsense scam and that they don't actually pay anyone ever. I thought this was a bit silly and I told him so, but he wants to see proof, so here you go...

This is the check I received yesterday for money earned up to the end of July. They issue checks at the end of every month for the amount made up to the month before, as long as you reach the $100 minimum payout. I just made it this time with $110 earned!

I blocked out any identification numbers and I put a piece of paper with my site url written on it instead of my name so you would know it was posted on this blog first, in case someone tries to steal the pic for their own site "proof". I think that's better than a photo of some smiling guy holding a check for 40k in his hand...you know the one I'm talking about. I'm too homely to pull that off! lol

If you noticed, there are NO Adsense ads at all on this blog though. That's because of all the cheaters and scammers going around committing click fraud by asking people to click on their ads if you click on theirs. I prefer to earn money online the honest way, so I don't want any part of those schemes and I've removed Adsense from this blog to prevent anyone from trying that here.

I'm an Adwords user as well, and these cheating idiots can affect your campaigns with inflated clicks that have no value to you as an advertiser. If you cheat the system you WILL get caught and your account will be banned, so just don't do it! There are far too many legitimate ways to earn money online than to resort to cheating.

The other reason for posting the adsense proof picture is to give more transparency to my readers who follow my rantings. I know it's not always easy to believe what someone says if it's just typing and so this is my response to the "show me the money" request.

In the future I will be posting more pics and screenshots to prove more of what I have been saying all along...you CAN earn money online!!

Neobux PTC

2009-08-14T13:46:00.004-03:00

Generally speaking, I hate those "paid to click" sites that you see all over the net. Most of them either turn out to be a scam or you have to wait months to get paid. I don't know about you, but I'm here to earn money online, and when I've EARNED it through spending my valuable time working, then I expect to be paid within a reasonable amount of time.

Like many others, I've been burned by these sites as well, even recently (see the nomincashout scam), so now I'm down to a VERY short list of ones that I know will pay me and that I trust with my money and time. They are listed in my sidebar here, but the one I'm giving special mention to in this post is the Neobux PTC.

Why them? Because they've been around for a LONG time and have very active members who actually care about the site. You also get INSTANT payments when requesting a cashout, so no waiting! The forum has lots of payment proof and the admin even gives tips for maximizing your earnings there. The owner is not going to close up and run away next week, like so many of the "fly by night" websites.

Earning money with these types of sites has a strategy, and not everyone gets it. People often get discouraged and give up before reaching payout, but that's where I can help. If you join Neobux PTC through my blog, then simply send an email to me using my contact info on the side here and I'll give you a guide on how to make up to $50 a day with them for FREE! And by free, I mean you don't have to spend a cent on ANYTHING...not even the upgrade. I'll show you how it's done!

Yottacash Affiliate Program

2009-08-11T23:10:00.003-03:00

The Yottacash Affiliate Program is one of those sponsor networks that work better on entertainment sites. They have several movie, music, tv, sports and game sites that you can promote on your own website and make up to $40 per sale. Sites with movies are especially hot right now, so it's an easy way to monetize that genre.

They have a member backend that features great stats reports and campaigns to keep track of all your ad placements. You can also use them with PPC, or simpy put their link or banner on your site to one of theirs and make money from your traffic whenever someone makes a purchase. It's the perfect alternative for people who were making good coin promoting those Clickbank download sites and are now looking for suitable replacement ads to put up instead.

If you sign up at Yottacash under my ref link, then just email me anytime you need help and I will give you all the free mentoring you need. That goes for ANY program I promote. I will help you to succeed as much as I can! All the best to your success!

Schedule Twitter Tweets

2009-08-05T17:55:00.003-03:00

I can't stress enough the importance of automation and using the tools available to you in order to ease the burden of the sometimes overwhelming amount of tasks that need to be done to succeed online. To make money online you need to work hard, and I've established that as a fact a long time ago, but you also need to work SMART as well! Take advantage of whatever software and programs you can find that will make your job that much easier.

I've already written a post about how to schedule a blogpost in advance, so now I'm going to tell you about using a Twitter scheduler to post ahead there as well. Many of you already know of the advantages to marketing to your followers, but I see a lot of people are still getting it WRONG!!

You do NOT want to come across as a spammer, or members will simply unfollow you, so don't make every status update just a link to some product you hope your followers will click and buy. Write most of your tweets about everyday, normal stuff that anyone else would write about and then just recommend a site or item for users to check out every few posts. Spamming does not work!!

To help you market to your fellow twits I suggest using this website where you can schedule Twitter Tweets ahead of time. This helps enormously when trying to market to a demographic from a different time zone, when you would normally be sleeping, or if you are away and want to still keep connected to your followers. You can also simply post tweets in advance to go on vacation or even if you don't own a computer, as I know many readers use a cyber cafe to connect to the internet.

Use these tools to your advantage! That's what they are there for...to help you!

Blog Warrior Freebie

2009-07-18T17:15:00.004-03:00

I'm going to start offering freebies of software and ebooks to help people to earn online and put them all together in a section on my sidebar, so that you have access to them whenever you need it. I've wanted to do this for awhile, as I have many useful tools to giveaway, but the problem was a matter of how to offer these downloads. This site is not hosted on my server, so I have to link to the files on an uploading service.

Unfortunately, most of the remote file upload services are crap and full of pop ups and installers and I care about my readers enough to not want them to get bombarded with that when getting something free from me. I tried a test file and uploaded it to several of these remote hosts and then downloaded it as a user to see what I ran into and there was only one that was ok with me. So, I can now offer some cool freebies that should dramatically help you ease the work load of earning money online!

The first one is the Blog Warrior freebie to find blogs and comment on them. I've mentioned in several places how important it is for getting free backlinks that you comment on blogs within your niche, but it can be quite time consuming to find these sites. With this free program you simply start it up, input the keywords you are targeting and it will produce a list of urls where you can leave your comments, including the site's PR and Alexa rank! It's simple to use and quite helpful.

Other webmasters are offering this program in exchange for you joining their mailing list so they can spam you every day, but I'm not like that. I would like you to follow my blog, if you want to learn more about earning online, but there is never any obligation for you to do so. I never ask for anything in return...your success is my reward!!

Download Blog Warrior Here!

Think Like A Webmaster!

2009-07-14T12:43:00.004-03:00

It has come to my attention that many of you struggling to make money online do not realize you must start to think like a webmaster, because that is what you are now! Anytime you start a new job, whether on the internet or offline, there is a learning process in which you are trained for that position. Doctor, lawyer, pilot, webmaster...these are all jobs that you can do for living, but you must study and learn to become one first!

Recently, I've noticed people making mistakes online simply because they aren't thinking like a webmaster. If you were surgeon about to perform surgery, would you think like a bartender??? NO!! Well, it's the same on the web...you must change your thought process!

I've used the term "thinking outside the box" often, but now I'd like you to think INSIDE the box, but in the CORRECT box...the "webmaster" box!

Being a webmaster involves knowing your audience and building your site accordingly. Don't put beer ads on a health site or don't buy PTC traffic to a website selling tractors! Look at more effective ways to utilize your resources.

Another thing is that you shouldn't become easily impressed by anything too flashy. Quite often on webmaster forums I read sales threads for really plain looking sites or ones using common templates that are earning for the owner, but potential buyers will pass because the website doesn't look "pretty" enough for them. A beginner webmaster will be easily impressed by flash intros and colorful graphics and will usually get caught up in that, even if the site for sale is making ZERO revenue.

You must realize that just because you've seen a template before doesn't mean that your visitor will have ever seen it. I have arcade sites using default skins that get FAR more traffic than anything with a custom look. That is because surfers care about website CONTENT, and not looks, and that should be your concern as well. An impressive looking site with no content is going to lose traffic quickly and gain no return visitors.

An experienced, REAL webmaster will see the potential in even the ugliest of sites and will be more interested in it's earning stats, regardless of what it looks like. One of my most ugly, plain and totally boring looking sites just made over $700 in sales last week. Why? Because it's full of CONTENT. No fluff, no filler, no blinking gifs or buttons...just information about an "in demand" product and where to purchase it. That's it!

Content should be your focus and not how cool your new website looks! Which brings me to this blog you are reading right now. It's jam packed with information on making money online with no filler or anything fancy. It gets right to the point. Some members of LR have left reviews saying the look is very boring. Yes, it is and yes, I could change it to something fancier, but I won't because that's not the focus of this blog.

The focus here is to provide info on how to earn online and, if you follow my posts, you WILL make money, so I don't feel I need to impress anyone with a video slideshow or lightning bolts flashing across the page. Read, learn and concentrate your efforts on your new job as a webmaster and you will eventually be earning a living from that career in the future! To your success!!

Work At Home Freedom

2009-07-07T19:58:00.004-03:00

I'm going to take a break from the usual "make money online" post and, instead of telling you HOW to earn, I'm going to tell you WHY you should be making money online working from home. It's quite simple: when you work at home you earn more than just money...you earn your FREEDOM.

I know that sounds rather dramatic, but it's very true, and it should be important to you. The economy is being flushed down the drain. Workers are being laid off everywhere. Even big car companies that have been around for more than a century, are now faced with financial disaster. There is no longer any such thing as job security. Your employment could be taken away tomorrow or next week...at ANY time!

When you work from home you are your own boss, so you can't get fired! Plus, you can take a break whenever you want to. No more early mornings scraping ice off the car in the middle of a storm to go to work. No more traffic jams when commuting back and forth. Never have to deal with an annoying co-worker or supervisor. You never have to eat a quick "bag lunch" in 15 minutes because of a limited breaktime, or rush to get errands done during your lunchbreak.

Perhaps most importantly is the fact that you never have to go to work again when you feel sick or have the flu and your whole body aches in pain. Yesterday I felt exactly like that. I had a headache and I was tired and I thought I was catching a cold, so what did I do? I dropped EVERYTHING I was doing and went to the beach...and slept. All afternoon just laying in the sand. Then in the evening I stopped at the canteen and had a nice plate of fish n' chips. It was good! By the time I got home again I felt much better.

You don't have to live near the ocean like I do to take advantage of this work at home freedom. You can go anywhere you want to, whenever you want to. When you don't feel well, you can just stay in bed all day watching TV, if you want to.

But this freedom to be your own boss working from home does have a cost. No, it's not money. It's discipline. You have to know when NOT to be lazy, and to be willing to work like a driven donkey most of the time. It's ironic because most people drawn toward the lure of working online do it because they ARE lazy and have bought into the myth that it's easy money when, in actual fact, it's probably about the hardest way to earn a living there is. It's NOT suitable for lazy people at all!

That's why most people fail online. It's not because they CAN'T make money, or they think it's impossible, but because they aren't willing to work at it. I work my ass off online, sometimes 16 hour days, building sites, placing links, promoting for traffic, working on new ideas, etc, etc...and sometimes I'm exhausted, but I do it because it affords me the freedom NOT to do it on days when I just don't feel like it.

I earn a living doing this from home, and it's worth it to me to not have to be part of the daily grind that everyone else has to deal with at work. I choose to work hard now, so that I don't have to later. You can as well. You can do anything you set your mind to do, if you want it badly enough. Think about it, for your own freedom from the rat race....

Multiple Revenue Streams

2009-06-20T11:38:00.005-03:00

The key to long term success online is to fully utilize multiple revenue streams. This is due to the fact that earning income on the internet is not consistant. Some days I make $100+, while on others I may only make $10 total. My goal is always to make at least $50 per day, and usually around $100, but there is no guarantee of earnings and you must be prepared for that.

When working at a regular 9-5 job offline you know exactly how much you will make. If your pay is $10 an hour, and you work an 8 hour day, then you have earned $80, minus any expenses related to that, such as dues, gas/travelling, etc. Working from home online for 8 hours, however, is different as you are not being paid hourly by someone else, so you can't expect that same consistency, but you CAN still average the same amount daily over time. You just have to be patient and persistant and combine all your mulitple revenue streams together.

The other benefit to having more than one earning stream is that you are helping to stabilize factors and variables that are usually beyond your control. A good example of this is when a site gets banished to the Google sandbox, which happens quite often now. I've seen forum threads by panicked webmasters who had their traffic cut off overnight after their site gets dropped from the search results and their income from that website is suddenly GONE! They are now in financial trouble because they relied too heavily on one income source.

Then there are things like the "summer slowdown" period which makes work at home income almost a seasonal job. Plus affiliate products that are hot one month and not the next. You need to weigh all these variables into your overall strategy for success.

Even if you only have 10 revenue streams and each one averages only $5 a day, then that's $50 a day. Again, I must stress on AVERAGE, since some earners will make $0 some days and over $100 on others. I've reached over $700 in a day and mere pennies on others.

Here is a breakdown of my earnings from last month, so you can see the real results of how it works...

- $821.23 (combined affiliate sales from several networks)
- $143.46 (selling adspace, includes all PPC programs - slow month!)
- $187.99 (websites/script sales)
- $90.39 (referral sales)
- $104 (ptc earnings)
- $200 (working from home as a mystery shopper)
- $55 (odd small jobs that don't fit other categories)

- $1602.58 total (average was $51.69 daily earning)

This does NOT include my highest day of over $700 because that is not a typical day and, therefore, it would throw off the overall average. Plus, as the weather gets warmer, less people are online, so a few numbers, such as ad selling were lower than normal. These numbers include ALL my multiple online revenue streams and it is how I earn a living working from home.

Even though I just barely made my $50/day minimum goal last month, it is still a fairly decent wage, considering it happens EVERY day, including on weekends when most people aren't making any money. I also take days off when I go out of town frequently or just goof off at the beach...lol

There is no reason why you can't acheive this same goal. Just try several things, then drop what doesn't work and strengthen what does. Then try a few more things and repeat your success until you have several streams of earning programs that DO work and, if some things stop working later on, there is no need to panic because you now have multiple revenue streams at your command all working for YOU. To your success!!

My Online Money Making Secret

2009-06-11T16:17:00.003-03:00

I've decided to reveal my online money making secret out of sheer frustration at seeing so many people fail to make money online. Are you ready for it? It's a combination of these 3 elements: Honesty, hard work and enjoying what you do. Yeah, I know, it sounds kinda boring and isn't really very "sexy", is it?

I have no cool sounding "system" like the "reverse funnel", "spiderweb", "arbitrage conspiracy", "GDI", "People Search" or any of the other multitude of affiliate schemes that are meant to sound impressive, but are really just full of hype and shattered dreams. All those scams are well thought out by the "guru" who invented each one to get others to pay their $67 (or whatever the cost) to make THEM money, irregardless of whether you make anything at all.

And don't say "but it's FREE to join!", so it won't cost me anything, because that's BS. There's ALWAYS a cost. It just may not be obvious at first, but money MUST be spent somewhere for money to be earned somewhere else. That's simple economics. Remember that.

Any program you join that is based on getting you to sign up others to earn anything is going to leave you disappointed. That's because people are poor, the economy is bad and no one can afford to invest in anything. That's why so many people join these so-called "free" programs, but then no one is buying into it, so you aren't making what the original guru claimed you should be making.

Sure, THEY are making money, but you aren't. The gurus get rich because they suckered you, and then you have to sucker others to earn anything in return. Think about it. I mean, REALLY think about it. If you are currently promoting any sort of affiliate scheme, how much have you made? Was it as much as you expected? Do you actually ENJOY promoting this to others? Seriously?

So, what is it that I do differently? Well, first, and most importantly, my income does not depend on trying to push some system onto others to get them to join in order for me to make money. Yes, I have joined MANY affiliate programs, but mostly to test their claims, and I'm never pushy about them. I'm honest about it and I present the facts, which are that 95% of them are crap and only a couple really work, and only then if you put some effort into it. That's the cold, hard truth.

Keep in mind that I work from home and this is what I do. I make my entire living at home, with no boss or daily grind. No traffic jams either! I do what I enjoy. I like to write and blog. I like playing video games, so I run an arcade network of sites. I love to watch movies, so I have movie and TV sites. I have a series of fun, entertainment sites including joke sites, funny videos and pictures, music, webmaster advice and more. This is what I enjoy doing and I make money from it.

I earn from this network of sites specifically by NOT being pushy, or desperate to make a sale of some crappy product that no one wants or can afford. Surfers play games on my sites or have fun interacting by submitting their own fun stuff and, if they click an ad, that's ok, but if they don't, then that's ok too. I also have CPA surveys on some of my sites. These are the fun entertainment type and, if a visitor wants to fill one out, great! If not, I'm ok with that too. NONE of those things costs my visitors anything!

The point here is that I have multiple streams of income and I don't depend on any one thing to pay my bills. They all combine to create a sustainable, living wage working from home. So many people fail online because most of them are just doing it wrong. Trying to promote some affiliate gateway page to some program that 1000's of others are also promoting and you don't even really like using yourself is NOT going to make you rich!!! It amazes me that 97% of newbie marketers miss that very basic logical reasoning.

If you are not making at LEAST an extra $100 per month with anything you try after 3-4 months, then it's time to drop that and move on to something else. Try something FUN, that you enjoy doing, and STOP wasting your valuable time trying to make some guru rich!!! I mean it!!

Free Website Script Contest

2009-06-01T01:01:00.000-03:00

I'm running a contest on one of my webmaster sites where you can win a free website script just for referring people to the site! All you have to do is sign up through the contest widget at http://www.webmastertechs.com/?uid=1 and then post the referral link you are given during registration.

You can post your unique ref link on your site, blogpost or anywhere else that people visit. It does not work through email, so you must post it on a website where surfers will click it to go to my site. You get credit for every click you send and the registered username with the highest number at the end of the month will win the website script of their choice from my "buy website scripts" page (retail value up to $18).

When signing up, when it asks for your real name, just type in a username instead for your first name, as that is what will show up in the widget. If you have any questions you can email me through the address on the sidebar or just post a comment here.

Good luck!

How To Schedule A Blogpost

2009-05-27T22:49:00.003-03:00

Someone asked me how to schedule a blogpost yesterday so I thought I'd post the instructions here to let everyone know how easy it is and that you should use it often. Many bloggers complain that it's time consuming to update their blogs, so here is a useful tip! When you find yourself with any extra time, then simply write a few blog posts in advance and just schedule your blogposts to publish at various times over the next few days, weeks or even months! That way you always appear to have fresh content, even when you're not around! It's a great idea to use during the hectic summer vacation period as well.

Here's how to do it with the 2 most popular blogging platforms:

Blogspot: After you are done writing your blogpost just click on the bottom left corner where it says "Post Options" and then manually type in the date and time you would like it to be published, according to the format shown in that box. That's the only change to make!

Wordpress: When you are done writing then you go to the right side where it says publish immediately and you click to edit that section. There is a drop down and field boxes to fill in with the date/time you want changed and then you click "schedule". You're done!

...and that is how you schedule a blogpost. Now you can finally leave your computer and go on that trip you always dreamed about! lol

Comment Posting

2009-05-19T13:23:00.003-03:00

Comment posting on blogs is a simple and effective way to get lots of easy, free backlinks to your site. Just click to leave your comments and fill out the form. It's very easy to do and you should get used to doing it as often as you can.

The trick when leaving comments on Wordpress blogs is to make sure the "name" field is filled in as your website anchor text and NOT your actual name! So, don't put "John", but instead type in "make money online", or whatever keywords fit your site. That will give a direct backlink to your site.

This is a form of off-site SEO and helps get your site a higher PR (page rank) in Google.

But what if you are the blog owner? Spamming by comment posters is by far the biggest problem when it comes to comment posting. Many webmasters simply copy and paste their info on a high volume of blogs that don't even have anything to do with their own site niche. Some of these posters use bots and programs to do this to mass effect and, as the webmaster who owns the blog being commented on, it can be a headache deleting all the crap you get posted to your site every day. Fortunately, you can enable comment moderation so it has to be approved by the administrator (you) before it is published.

Wordpress (WP) has a plugin called Akismet that, when activated, will catch most spam and hold anything else to be moderated by the blog's owner so it can "learn" what is a bad comment and what isn't. If you are an honest webmaster just looking to get some good backlinks, then be sure to only leave a comment on sites that are relevent to your niche and write something related to the blogpost you have just read. DON'T be spammy!! Join in on the post discussion, but Do NOT drop a spam comment like "hey! check out my site at www....", as that won't work and it will be thrown in the cyber dumpster.

Personally, as the owner of several blogs, I can be quite generous when allowing people to comment on my sites, as I know how important it can be, but I'm also a tyrant when it comes to deleting spam. If you leave a comment, then make sure what you write is related to the topic of the blogpost or else it WILL be deleted by me.

Today someone left a comment on my CPA post that was about getting readers to check out their dating site. That is a perfect example of what NOT to do, and it is now gone, but if you do comment posting the right way, then it's a great method for getting free, permanent one way links to your site. Good luck!

Lazy Affiliate Referrals

2009-05-12T18:45:00.006-03:00

Today I'm going to rant a bit about lazy affiliates, and no, I'm not talking about the "bum marketing" method! To succeed in making money online takes a LOT of work, and I'm not even remotely kidding here. You have to learn website building, html, promotion, stats, link management, marketing and signing up to so many sites it would make your head spin!

The amount of effort it requires can be overwhelming, and that's the problem. MOST people just don't have that drive to succeed. They've been mislead into believing it's easy, so they sign up to a program and expect the riches to flow. WRONG!!!!

I'm sure anyone reading this has at least one sponsor program they are promoting right now by trying to get people to sign under them. Everyone is in some sort of affiliate program in an attempt to make some money at some point. So, how's that working out for you? Ready to retire yet? No??

I'm going to give specific examples of the problem here to give you some perspective. One of the affiliate programs I promote is Eye Earn and I've personally recruited 156 people through my efforts. Now, from those 156 referrals they have recruited themselves a COMBINED total of 187 referrals. Think about the math for a minute...156 people TOGETHER only referred slightly more than I did by myself! That's horrible! It's an average of only a bit more than 1 ref per person! If you can't get at LEAST a few referrals from your own efforts then it's time to pack it in and find a new line of work!

Oh, and if you think I did exceptionally well myself because I'm some brilliant marketer, then think again. I actually HATE internet marketing and promotion. I don't want to jam anything down someone's throat that they have no interest in. All my efforts were from passive methods like making a couple of blog posts, posting a few ads and popping my affiliate site in a few ptc's. That's it. I'm not pushy at all and I'd rather someone sign up because they WANT to and not because I'm twisting their arm.

Here's another example: I also promote the instant degrees affiliate program and so far have made well over $5000 in sales. A total of 16 referrals have signed under me, but only 2 sales have been generated from ALL of them combined! Is it really that difficult for them to make sales? No, it's not. They are just lazy affiliates. I always look over the websites of anyone in my downline and most of them don't even have ads up! One guy has the link so buried in a link farm that no one will ever see it! See where MY link is for the program?? At the TOP of my site in a very visible location!

One last recent example: CPALead is the EASIEST way to make money online right now and if you can't start off by making at LEAST $1 a day then you need to get a McJob and stop working online. Someone signed under my referral link with a perfect website for this niche (anything entertainment related), but yet hasn't made a dime. So, I checked his site and he doesn't have even ONE cpa offer added to the website yet! Not one! Yet this is the perfect site for it. The guy could be rolling in dough by now, but he's too lazy to take 30 seconds to post the affiliate code to his site. Amazing!

Conclusion. STOP trying to make money online if you're just going to sign up to something and forget about it. It's a waste of your time that could be better spent practicing how to say "Would you like fries with that?". Look, I'm a very laid back kinda guy and I always offer my personal, free mentoring to anyone who signs under me for ANYTHING I promote and is struggling to make it work for them. I'll help you all I can, but you really have to WANT to succeed. I have no time to deal with the lazy affiliate referrals.

Anyone left reading this who is ready, willing and able to succeed...step right up!!!

CPA Lead Network Program

2009-04-07T21:54:00.006-03:00

For those of you living under a rock and completely out of the loop, I'm about to tell you THE hottest way to monetize a website and it's content that there is on the internet right now! The method is called CPA offers, which means "Cost Per Action", and it usually comes in the form of a survey or simple email submit that visitors fill out on your site.

The huge advantage to these offers is that they don't involve any selling at all. You are simply providing leads to well known companies who pay for each lead you provide to them. That's it. No worrying about sales ratios or conversions and, best of all, it's recession proof!

To get started in this lucrative field, you need to join a good cpa lead network program that will provide you with offer surveys that are fun and your visitors will actually WANT to fill out. They will use a gateway to your site content that has the survey in it, so this works best if you have content that surfers can't easily find somewhere else. The type of sites that do well are movie and tv show sites, wallpapers, music, ebook and script downloads and really any type of unique content that you can offer them.

The CPA Lead incentive program works perfect because you can use your content as incentives for visitors to fill out your surveys to get to it. Most other networks won't allow incentivized offers, but they do, and it works great! You can easily make 10 times more per day than you ever would with a standard PPC monetization! Plus, you don't need loads of traffic to make money, like you do with CPM and the like.

I'll leave you with a "real world" example for you to think about. Let's say you have a website with a great ebook that you have been giving away free with your own email submit form to capture emails for your own use. Now, try just changing it to a direct download link, but with a cpa gateway to it instead. Your surfer is then presented with a quick and fun quiz to fill out about their favorite drink (or similar question), which they fill out in only a few seconds and are then rewarded with your ebook. They get the download for free, so they're still happy, and you get an average of $1 per submit, so you've made money!

Even with only a few visitors a day it's pretty much impossible NOT to make money everyday! The only "catch" is that, since these programs are so lucrative, everyone and his grandma is trying to get in, but they only accept certain quality sites, so the approval rate is low. If you do get rejected when you first apply then just try offering more content and apply again. It's worth the effort, believe me! Good luck!

UPDATED: They now instantly approve everyone, so JOIN CPALEAD and start making money today!!

Easy SEO Technique To Get To Number One!

2009-04-01T16:38:00.002-03:00

Hey! I know SEO can be overwhelming sometimes. There are so many factors and meta tags and optimization techniques and various other things to learn, that it can sometimes seem pretty dense and complicated.

So, today I thought I'd help by giving you a VERY simple and easy technique for getting your site in the #1 position in the search engines for ANY keyword you want!!

It's a new, super secret metatag that only a few gurus and myself know about. All you have to do is add the tag to the html head section of your site, so it's really easy to do. Here's how it works...

The tag looks like any normal one and you form it like so:

meta name="serp position" number="1"

and then your keyword tag would look like it already does with your chosen keywords in it. You can change the serp position number to whatever you want, but I recommend "1" if you want to be in the top spot. This works in ALL search engines within 24 hours!! Your site can be #1 for ANY keywords today!!

That's it! Really simple and easy, right??

Oh, I almost forgot...HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!! ;)

Win $100 Cash and 2000 Entrecard Credit Contest

2009-03-23T14:41:00.003-03:00

Check this out for an interesting way to make some money!

This contest is open for everyone who own blogs site. Even more participation in the contest entitles you for a fabulous prize.

Your mission is to post the entire descriptions given below along with the prize list in your blog sites. All you have to do is copy the entire description and paste it in you blog and publish it. Every blog post will earn you $2. For example, if you make 10 blog posts you earn $20 and so on.

Memberwind.com

If you are on the lookout for a one stop shop for all your web needs, memberwind.com is the right place for you. Memberwind.com is the mother of six product websites that provide free web products, such as website templates, brochure templates, logos, icons, illustrations, and banner templates to the members. Memberwind.com offers a low-cost membership that lets you access all the six sister websites.

The group includes templatewind.com a website that has high quality website templates; iconswind.com a website with creative icons designed in accordance with XP and Vista styles, brochurewind.com a website the specializes in readymade brochures; illustrationwind.com a fantastic place to pick incredible graphics; bannerwind.com a website that has various types of banner templates; and logowind.com the ultimate spot for ingeniously designed logos.

The conglomeration is a never before phenomenon in the web world. All you have to do is join as a member of memberwind.com with a low membership fee of $39. Using the login details, you can access any of the six websites and download anything you need. The membership is good for a year. There will be frequent addition of new products in every one of the website.

Memberwind.com’s affiliate program is yet another highlight. Affiliates get up to 30% commission for every sale initiated through their website. It is needless to say that such a rare offer of a variety of products with a single membership can attract the attention of every web visitor. The website has an excellent 24/7 customer support, making it the choice of good number of web developers. Join and benefit from the services of memberwind.com. To join as a member or as an affiliate, visit www.memberwind.com now.

How To Enter

Post a comment (click here) and include with the post URL- compulsory
Post this contest include the sponsor and the prizes – compulsory
Winners Will be selected using Random.org

The Prizes

These are the prizes for 3 winners:

First Prize

Get $100 Cash Award
Get 1000 EC from thingsaboutcomputer.blogspot.com

Second Prize

Get $50 Cash Award
Get 1000 EC from thingsaboutcomputer.blogspot.com

Third Prize

Get $25 Cash Award
Any Two Html Website templates form templatewind.com worth $60

Every participants will get $2 cash prize isn't that FUN! If you posted our contest on one of your blog you will get cash prize $2. Posts the contest on your other blogs and get more Cash prize.
Note : Payment through PayPal only
The Cash prizes are sponsor by BuyTemplates.net - Professional web templates

Closing Date

The contest will end in April 2nd 2009. So hurry up and submit your entry URL by posting a comment please! ;).
Don't forget to subscribe to Teachme-Buzz Blog to receive updates about this Gift contest.

If you have a question or even willing to contribute as a sponsor, you can always contact us by email: mailto:suwari2000@gmail.com

Rules:
One Participant can post this contest in 25 different blogs and redundant post in the same post will not be count.
Payment through PayPal only.
Copy the contest detail and the review.-compulsory
Please include your email in the comment.-compulsory
Make sure the blog where you publish your post is 3 month old and the must have at least 20 quality blog post.-compulsory

No Minimum Cashout PTC!!

2009-03-14T21:22:00.005-03:00

***READ THIS FIRST!! Since writing this post a few months ago, the nomincashout site has stopped paying its members! They did pay me in the past but now they owe me over $20, so I'm no longer recommending them. Instead, try the most trusted, established PTC site on the net, Neobux, where you get instant cashout payments as soon as you request them, with no waiting at all to get paid!

******************

Yes, you read the title right! There is a new PTC that just launched that has NO MINIMUM CASHOUT!! This, of course, effectively eliminates the biggest negative about any "paid to click" site, and that is having to wait for months to make the payout threshold before getting any money for your efforts.

With this one you can cash out and be paid within 24 hours. That way, if you have any doubts about a potential nomincashout scam then you can just try it yourself and find out in a day! That's certainly a much better plan than clicking ads for 6 months, only to find out you've been scammed and there is no money.

It's free, so I recommend you join nomincashout.com ptc today! To your success!!

Work For 3 Dollars Community

2009-02-17T15:44:00.003-04:00

I want to make a quick update about the Work For 3 Dollars program. One of the differences I've noticed with them is the community feel and how everyone pitches in to help each other. Most other affiliate programs that you join tend to leave you to sink or swim on your own without much help from other people. That's because you're basically each others competition to get referrals, so why would you help your competitor?

With the WF3D plan, you succeed more if others do as well, so it actually makes sense to help promote your downline because you are also helping yourself! You only need 3 referrals to start making money, and I already have that and have also been paid, so now I want to help others get paid as well.

So, here is what I propose to do. ANYONE who has or will sign up in my downline from here on in will get FREE promotion from me for their own referral link! I have quite a few sites, so that means a lot of exposure to your own affiliate link. Simply email me at the address on the sidebar of this blog to let me know your personal WorkFor3Dollars link and I will add it on my sites for free to help promote you.

The only thing I ask is that you are also actively promoting it as well, as I dont want to waste my promotion space on anyone who isn't willing to also put the time into it themselves. Always remember that you CAN make money online! It's the lazy ones who sign up and do nothing who get nowhere and then they complain about it later. If you got hired to do ANY job and then refused to show up for work, then you wouldn't be paid, and online work is no different.

I'm going to start today's promotion by putting the links of 2 of the people in my downline to help get them started, as they have no downline of their own yet. I encourage anyone reading this to please sign up under one of these links, and then we'll all help YOU to succeed as well!

http://workfor3dollars.com/splash.php?r=payments

http://www.workfor3dollars.com/?r=168andresng

Guru Scammers

2009-02-01T22:31:00.005-04:00

The internet has become a sort of playground for scammers and their scams to the point where it's really sometimes quite difficult to determine if something is legit or not. After many years of being online, I consider myself to be quite net savvy, but I still get suckered in by a great line now and then. This lead me to making a post here about some good tips and things to look out for when surfing around for a good online money making opportunity.

The biggest target of my disdain are those guru scammers who pull you into their web by spinning a cloud of hype so thick that you can't see straight. I've said before that anyone who calls themselves a "guru" isn't one and it's just a term that scammers use to impress newbies out of their money. Most people with REAL knowledge of how to make money online won't share their "secret" with you for $29.95, or else it would no longer be a secret and half the work at home entrepreneurs would suddenly be rich. The internet is a viral force and anything useful would get passed around to the point where it would no longer work at all.

You should always trust your gut instinct and, if it seems to good to be true, then chances are at least 99% that it is. Gurus love to show you pictures of their fancy cars and big mansions with a pool in the back and wads of cash to impress you into parting with your own money, but try to see beyond the smoke and mirrors the next time you read one of their offers.

For example, I often see "rich guys" bragging in forums of how they are making $50,000 a month with their "guaranteed" methods and how "you can do what I do to make money and for today only my ebook is just $9.99!". They always stress a sense of urgency as if you don't buy it RIGHT NOW, then you must be an idiot and, therefore, deserve to be poor.

Sure, they do find a few suckers and make a few dollars, but only maybe $200 worth of sales. Is it really worth it? Well, yes, if you're NOT actually making $50,000 a month and you need a way to make around $200 a month instead. Think about it. If you were making 50 large each MONTH online, would you bother trying to push something that's a hard sell like an ebook for 10 bucks a pop?? That would be like a doctor moonlighting at McDonald's!

Don't get scammed by the gurus! Just say NO!! I know it's tempting to believe their sales letters full of hype and yellow highlighted BOLD letters, but be strong, my friend, and you WILL survive their attack on your intelligence. Be smart and show them who's boss...YOU!!!

Work For 3 Dollars Tuesdays

2009-01-21T11:21:00.002-04:00

As stated in an earlier post, I will be updating everyone on a regular basis about the progress of the "Work For 3 Dollars" program that I recently joined. Well, Tuesday is payday there and, sure enough, I got paid!

It was only a $3 payout, but it proves to me 2 things. One is that they actually DO pay and, two, that I didn't have to wait 6 months to gain proof for number one. There are WAY too many online programs that, even when you reach the minimum payout, you STILL have to wait for several weeks or months to get paid!

With the WorkFor3Dollars (WF3D) program you get paid like clockwork every Tuesday, once a week, and for only a one time $3 membership fee. Of course, I'm not rich yet, but it's not a bad start!

Affiliate Link Cloaking

2009-01-14T17:38:00.005-04:00

I'm adding a bit more information on affiliate link cloaking to add to what I've already explained in earlier posts. To bring you up to speed, the concept of cloaking your links is to make them NOT look like affiliate links. Why? Because these links can sometimes be very long and look like spam to a prospective buyer, who may not click on something if he/she feels they are going to be hit with a pitch to buy something.

Most people use those short link cloaker url services, like tinyurl (the most popular one), but I NEVER do, and I'll tell you why. When you put anything important in the hands of someone else and their site, there is always that chance of losing your hard work. When you create a site, it becomes your "baby" and is important to YOU, but not really to anyone else.

Think about it. You register the name somewhere, then you host it somewhere else (ALWAYS host your site separate from the registrar!) and it's already basically in the hands of other companies. Not much you can do about that, except to ALWAYS make regular database backups, or get your own server. However, your links, which are the lifeblood of your site, are things you CAN control.

Here's the problem: shorter url hosting sites, like image hosts, are NOT owned by you and, therefore, can fold at any time. They don't care about your links, or information and, when they go, so do all those links you have up all over the internet using their affiliate cloaking service. Just imagine how many broken links there would be all over the web if the tiny url site owner decided to get out of the online biz!

Is it likely to happen? Maybe. It happens all the time with other services, image hosts, proxies etc. It's happened to me, and let me tell you that fixing dozens or even 100's of broken links is NOT my idea of a good time! NEVER leave it up to another site to keep your revenue streams intact, and that's what your important affiliate links are: your online revenue streams!

The solution? Simple. Use a subdomain! Both your registrar AND your hosting provider can set you up quickly with a subdomain redirection service (just like what those other cloak sites do) and then it's one less thing you have to worry about going down. You should have your own main domain name for your website anyway, and then just create as many subdomains as you need for each affiliate link.

For example, my domain here is www.adegreeofsuccess.com and for my degree affiliates program I use http://instant.adegreeofsuccess.com , which redirects to the sponsor site. Not only is it very easy to do in less than a minute, but it's also easier to remember your own links when you go posting them everywhere! It's MUCH easier for anyone to remember your new sub link than something like www.someurlsite.com/875ghy59l , which is how those things end up looking.

Oh, and one last bonus tip. When creating a clickbank username (or any other similar program), try to use a name that won't look odd in your new affiliate hop link, in case you decide NOT to cloak it. I made that mistake very early on. So many people use a "cutesy" nickname, like "babygurl" or "makemoneyguru" or whatever, and your link ends up with a "ref=makemoneyguru" at the end, which can look unprofessional and have privacy issues if you use your real name as your user login. Be careful! Try to use a series of generic letters and numbers instead.

That concludes today's lesson on cloaking your affiliate links. Now go forth and make some money! You CAN succeed online!!

Workfor3dollars Scam?

2009-01-10T17:04:00.005-04:00

Ok, I admit that I am highly selective about what programs I associate with, to the point where there's only really a small handful that I recommend. Simply put, most of these programs are scams. So, I've decided, more as an experiment than anything, to "test drive" a new program and actually report the results here for all my readers to see. Is there a workfor3dollars scam? Well, let's find out!

I pride myself on being objective. I don't gush on about anything or say something is easy when it's not. Truth is, most of these programs are hard work and a long road to riches and, in all fairness, some people will call them a scam just because they didn't do well in them, but that doesn't mean YOU can't do well!

I do well myself because I work my ass off. There is no magic answer. I'm sick to death of people who sign up to something, then forget about it 5 minutes later, and complain that they aren't succeeding online. STOP complaining!! If you can't put a little effort into something then online work is NOT for you!! There, now that I have that out of the way, let's move on to the "work for 3 dollars" topic, shall we?

Before joining anything, I thoroughly research every aspect of it (I used to be a researcher in university, so it's in my blood! lol) and I picked this online matrix program for it's ease of implementation and very low cost start up. Oh, and if you don't know that it costs at least SOMETHING to make money online, then you're in the wrong business. Success ALWAYS has a price!

The workfor3dollars program is a simple forced matrix that claims you can make over 2 MILLION dollars in ONE year simply by referring only 3 people! Sounds like a rather lofty goal, doesn't it? Could be a lot of BS, but that's why I thought it would be a perfect one to follow. $3 to make 2 million? I'm in!!

Now, I'm not gonna tell you whether it works or it doesn't, because I honestly don't know yet, but for the first time EVER I will be updating my progress and posting payment screenshots for everyone to see whether I made the $2,000,000 goal by the end of this year.

I urge you to read all about it yourself at the workfor3dollars.com info site. It's cheap enough to join at only a ONE TIME $3.00 fee and the goal is only 3 referrals. How hard can that be?? Everyone wants to be a millionaire, right???

Wish me luck!!

Update: I got paid!! It works!! They paid me on Tuesday, just like they said they would!

Triple Clicks Is Here!!

2009-01-05T22:40:00.005-04:00

Those of you familiar with the Eye Earn program will be amazed at the new enhancements made to everything at the parent company, SFI. They've combined everything into something they call Triple Clicks which will SIGNIFICANTLY increase your income!

Previously, if you wanted to become an EyeEarn EA (Executive Affiliate) to make more money, it involved either buying a share or selling something to gain your share for free, which was not always easy to do with the limited amount of products they had available for your online store. My method was to buy magazine subscriptions from my own store to give as gifts for birthdays and holidays to people I would normally buy something for anyway, so I wasn't actually out any money.

Now, with the new SFI Triple Clicks store, you can actually list and sell YOUR OWN STUFF for FREE online!! No kidding! It's now set up so that you can have an online store to sell your own used items or handmade goods, or even digital products you want to sell! Get started with a free credit through me and try it out now!

I know many of you are already using many different websites for selling your goods, but imagine one where you not only make the money for selling your goods online, but you get an EA bonus on TOP of that! I get a check from them on the 10th of every month already without selling anything, but now I can make even MORE by selling my own stuff that I have listed already on other websites.

TripleClicks is going to make 2009 a VERY good year for everyone at SFI which, as some of you already know, is one of the few affiliate programs I actually endorse, as I truly believe most of them are just a waste of your time. The above link gives you 3 FREE selling credits from me. Here's to your success in the new year!

Prosperous New Year

2009-01-01T15:20:00.003-04:00

Well, here it is, another new year and I survived it! lol

I always start off a new year by reflecting on the success and failure of the one that just past. It's important that I include failures on my list because, without them, it is much more difficult to succeed. The road to success is a long, difficult journey that will include many obstacles along the way and many failed ideas. Much of working online is trial and error, hit or miss type plans that can go wrong at any time.

I'm mentioning this not to be negative, but to prepare you for the long road ahead. The so-called "gurus" who claim overnight riches are just lying to you to get you to buy their ebook or whatever scheme they are spinning to you. I don't have an ebook and I don't have an overnight success story to dazzle you with. It took a LOT of hard work and many failed ideas to get to where I am today.

I've been scammed. I've been lied to and I've been promised things by people who just didn't deliver, but I'm not bitter or upset. Why? Because learning from my mistakes is how I succeed, and you will too. There is no magic formula to be found in some guru ebook.

Yes, the gurus do annoy me sometimes with their pictures of fancy cars and big, luxurious houses, which are often faked, to impress people. Screenshots of earnings can now easily be faked as well. Hell, with the new Photoshop program pretty much ANYTHING can be faked online these days, but that's not what bothers me the most.

What REALLY gets me is all the legions of followers that hang on to every word a guru says, as if it was some kind of golden key of knowledge. If a pro blogger like John Chow posts something, there are people waiting to lap it up like it was diamonds, yet I've been using some of the same techniques that he uses for years and I learned it ON MY OWN with no help from anyone else. I've refined my techniques through my own trial and error over the years as well.

If you were to look behind the scenes you would see that people like him are only successful because of people like you who follow his every word. He's made the same mistakes I have in the past and he's also learned to refine his techniques. You can too. Don't get discouraged and don't get lazy. There is much to be done on your journey!

If you follow my blog I promise you will learn many useful things in the knowledge that I have learned to pass on to you, and it won't cost you ANYTHING! I have no expensive ebook to sell and I have no fancy pictures of my mansion to impress you. Oh, but I DO have a picture on the bottom of my blog that shows the view from my house. I live on top of a big hill overlooking the ocean and beaches with deer frollicking in my backyard in the summer and great scenery. But still no million dollar sportscar. Hmmm, perhaps I SHOULD write an ebook! lol

Have a safe and prosperous new year everyone!!

SEO Basics

2008-12-02T22:51:00.003-04:00

After seeing so many sites with the wrong SEO and other people posting on forums that they can't get search engine traffic, I thought I'd go over some SEO basics that should be done onsite to help get free targeted traffic for Google, Yahoo, MSN and many other search engines.

I'll keep it simple, to the point and VERY basic. There are many off site factors as well, but I want to keep this as a short introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), so here goes. It's not really as difficult as you might think it is. You basically tell the search bots what your site is about by having these factors in place...

First, your title (the one in the blue bar) must have the specific keywords that your site is about. If you have a site about work at home ideas (like mine), then you want the keyword phrase "work at home" to be in the title, rather than something like "Dave's Cool Blog". Get the idea?

This is VERY important to get right and yet it's by far the most common mistake I see people make. Too many website owners just put their url in the title, but that's NOT a phrase surfers will search for, unless they already know your site, in which case they wouldn't be searching for it, now would they?

Next is content. Make sure it's relevant to your title and follows naturally. So, the "work at home" blog should have content related to that subject, naturally. Also, you need to target your specific keywords and phrase in your content. Your keyword density should be 2-3% of your content, so for every 100 words you should have your target words mentioned 2-3 times and it should include the keywords from your title as well.

This is a lot more difficult to accomplish in a blog than a static website, as blog content constantly changes much more than an average static site. A simple static site can have a title on top with a header title on the page of the same keywords and then 300 words of intro text that never changes with just the right keyword density. The correct formula will put you on top of the search engines and I've done it myself many times. It's not rocket science and I actually find the formula quite easy to understand. Mostly because it's about words and I have a university degree that involved a lot of essay writing. Lol!

However, blogs can be trickier. I find that it's better to treat each blog post as if it was a separate page, because that's how it can be found when searching. So, your blog post title becomes your main title which will be found in searches. SEO basics, in this case, and then you optimize your keywords according to how much you write for just that post.

Proper tags should be mentioned as well, even though many search engines no longer use them, there are still some that still do, so it couldn't hurt to keep them in place. Focus on the keyword tags and description and you'll be fine.

That concludes our SEO basics lesson for today!

Tis The Season To Make Money Online!

2008-11-19T11:12:00.003-04:00

It should be obvious to anyone trying to make money online that this is the busy season. Surfers are searching around looking for good online deals and checking off items from their gift list. If you aren't prepared to push your products NOW, then it will be too late!

Even if you don't have a web store or products to sell, this is still important because people are starting to settle in for the winter. They'll be online more and surfing around more during this indoor hibernation period. It's YOUR job to get their attention! Make sure your links are in place with good, eye catching anchor text to bring them to you. Get your site out there in front of as many eyes as possible!

It's not as difficult as many people think it is to make money online. Yes, it can be VERY difficult, and most times it is, but that is mainly due to the enormous amount of mistakes a person makes when starting out. There is a LOT of trial and error involved in succeeding online and that's what makes things difficult and often frustrating. Once you've found your niche and what works for you, then things will fall into place. Don't be discouraged! Tis the season!

Make Money Using Revver Video

2008-11-03T21:17:00.002-04:00

This is a simple one. Most people know the benefit of using viral video services such as You Tube to drive traffic to their site. You simply create a video with your url in it and upload it to one of the many free vid sharing services out there.

At www.revver.com , however, there is the added benefit in that you actually get PAID for posting videos there! Once you upload your video they embed relevant content ads on it and they split the revenue with you. The payout is a low $20 paid via Paypal.

Don't spam them though. Spam is evil. If you have a jewelry store, then show off your cool jewelry. If you are an expert at something, then post a vid about you explaining how to do that thing. Unlike YouTube, Revver pre-approves all videos, so if yours is crappy it will quickly be removed. Be creative and make money at the same time!

Get Paid For Your Expert Services Online!

2008-10-18T00:04:00.003-03:00

Hello everyone! I wanted to share something cool I found on the internet today where you can actually make MONEY by offering to others information that you already know! Read on...

I read in forums everyday about people who have good websites and get traffic, but just aren't making money because they don't know how to monetize properly. Sure, you KNOW lots about your niche and you have a great looking website with lots of information, but are you getting paid what you think you deserve for your efforts? Many people are making mere pennies a day, if that!

Well, here's something different! At http://www.speak-tome.com/ you can sign up (free, of course!) for a service that places a widget on your site where visitors can pay YOU for the expert knowledge you have in your field. Wouldn't it be cool to get paid for your advice, just like a lawyer, or banker??

Here's how it works. Say, for example, you know a lot about computers and people always seem to be asking you some question or other about them. Why not get paid for your answers? You simply put the "Speak To Me" widget on your site and your visitors click on it to go to you live (when you're online) and they pay a "per minute" rate to get to speak directly to you!

There is only a small percentage fee that goes to the company for providing the service in connecting you with your visitors and, since it comes out of what has ALREADY been paid for your own service, you are never out anything, but you keep at least 80% of the revenue! It's the new way to make money online!

You have NOTHING to lose and another revenue stream to gain, so sign up at http://www.speak-tome.com/ and start making money per minute now!

Website Page Rank Checker

2008-09-19T12:46:00.004-03:00

While surfing around the forums I constantly see threads from people asking how to check their website page rank. There's also the confusion between page rank (PR), SERP and Alexa ranking. Here is a clarification for all of my readers who may still be confused about all of this.

PR, or Page Rank, is assigned to a website by Google based on backlinks to your site. These links to your site act as a kind of voting system to determine how popular your site is among all the others and its ranked on a scale from 1 to 10. Contrary to many who argue this in the forums, PR is NOT about getting as many backlinks as possible! If you buy into those "blast of" type scams then you are just throwing your money away. It's important to realize that your Page Rank is determined by QUALITY over quantity. A handful of good backlinks from authority sites will raise your ranking MUCH higher than 1000's of useless ones from a "bad neighborhood".

SERP is simply your position on the Search Engine Results Page. Are you in position #1 on the first page of results for your keywords? Good for you!! Also contrary to popular myth, your SERP position has NOTHING to do with your PR! Do a search for ANY keyword or phrase in a search engine and you'll find that each website listed in the results has a different page rank. The site in SERP position #1 is NOT necessarily going to be the one with the highest PR.

Alexa Rank is based more on your website traffic. If you have a lot of visitors then your ranking with be lower (better) then when you started. This is a rank showing your position among all the other sites on the net, according to traffic stats. The site with the most traffic has an Alexa of 1, while a site just starting out with only a couple of hits a day will be something like 24 million. This used to be determined by the Alexa Toolbar, which users installed in the browser while surfing sites, but they changed that a few months ago and now bring other factors into it to bring a more realistic formula in determining a site's ranking.

They are several places on the net where you can check these various rankings for your site, but the one I recommend most is Site Rank Checker simply because it brings all these ranks together on one easy to read page. I hope your site rans well! All the best to you...

Marketing Promotion

2008-08-21T23:44:00.003-03:00

Let's face it...marketing is DULL for most people. I read in a forum about a woman who loves her handmade Etsy store, but HATES to promote the marketing side of it. She hates trying to get visitors through all the traditional methods of promotion and I really can't say I blame her.

One of the key elements to being a success online is to actually ENJOY what you do. Don't promote some long, boring affiliate gateway page if your heart really isn't in it. There are people who do like online marketing, but if you're not one of them then avoid doing something you can't stand, as that will only add to your frustration and make you want to give up your online business without giving it a proper chance.

Find something you like first, and then find a fun way of promoting it, so it will then seem less like work and you'll stick with it longer. Think of the internet as a big flea market where lots of people have stuff to sell, but with social sites you can swap ideas of what works for you. Find forums and sites related to yours and chat with others within your niche.

If you're having fun, then you're more likely to succeed. Your enthusiasm will likely spill over to other aspects of your online business and every little bit helps. Get away from anything you're not happy with now! Enjoy your new business!

Anchor Text

2008-07-25T13:24:00.003-03:00

I know most of you understand the importance of using the right anchor text, but I'm writing this with the newbie webmaster in mind and I'm including a few easy tips to get you started.

Basically, anchor text is used in a link (hyperlink) to describe the site or page that this link will take you to. It's a short keyword rich description of the destination website. For example, the proper anchor text for a direct link to my "become a degree broker" post might look like this: Be A Successful Degree Broker! It describes the content for the website, blog, post, page or any other url on the net that you're about to visit.

Easily the most common mistake that people make in writing their text is using very general words like "click here" or "visit us here" or similar, as it doesn't accurately tell the surfer where they are about to go. That may seem ok to you if you're thinking they just need to get there, but anchor text is about way more than just clicking a link. It's also used by search engines to figure out what a site is all about.

This is where it becomes important for you to never generalize your words. If you have a pet store website, then you don't want links pointing to your site that say "check this site out!" or anything like that. You want strong keywords used instead, like "Best Pet Supplies On The Net!" or whatever keyword phrase works for your situation.

One last point of caution I'd like to make is that most people who have a very basic understanding of how this works tend to overdo it by using the exact same phrase EVERY time and, at least in some search engines, this will actually get your site penalized instead of helping you. A good example is when John Chow asked everyone to point to his site using the key phrase "make money online" and, instead of a boost, he got the "Google slap" for his efforts.

The general rule of thumb, according to the biggest search engines, is to not use the same phrase more than 60% of the time. A good workaround for this problem is to use trailing or surrounding text that has your desired words within it. Example: If you want to always have "make money online" as your keyword phrase then just make sure those exact words are in your links BUT have other words with it to make unique link combinations each time, such as "Learn to make money online now!", "make money online blog ideas!" or similar anchor text combinations. You can be very creative this way and not get penalized for doing so. Have fun with it!

All the best to your success!

Free Forum Posting Marketing

2008-06-29T13:56:00.005-03:00

I assume everyone reading my blog already knows the importance of posting in forums to get valuable backlinks and a PR boost for their site, but I'd like to add something to that.

I notice many people just post quick comments in forums for the sake of just the backlinks themselves and then leave it at that. While posting a simple comment like "hey everyone!" or "yeah, I agree" will get you a link back to your site, it has very limited potential.

The goal of most web marketers online is to get real, targetted vistors to their site in order to sell to those visitors and make money. To this end, making a simple comment won't do much for you.

What you should be doing instead is being the actual thread starter with an optimized title related to your website getting the backlink. For example, if your site provides work at home money making opportunities like mine, you should start a thread called "Making Money Working From Home" or something similar and then provide useful information for the readers of that forum thread.

This has 2 advantages. One is that the direct readership of the forum can find value in what you say and then want to click the link to your site to read more, which is something they wouldn't do if you're just a commentator to someone else's thread topic. Second, and this is the most valuable, is that for most forums your topic starting post becomes a webpage all on its own which gets indexed by search engines separately, therefore giving you free website promotion.

Pick any forum thread starting topic and see if it opens to a page that looks something like forumposting.com/your-topic-title and, if it does, then you know that any thread you start there will become its own page. Then, when people search for the keywords in your title and content in your post, they could find your information even ahead of your own site, if you post on a forum with high PR. This is great for new or small sites that are buried in the search listings, because at least your thread starter topic post will be found as its own mini site leading back to your original site.

It's another form of free marketing for you!

Good Upline Sponsor Means Downline Success

2008-06-23T11:32:00.003-03:00

Here is another post I made at Link Referral. I apologize for not posting more often, but I find it's best to only post when I have something useful to say to my readers, rather than use a bunch of filler just to look active to the search engines, like other people do. I want to stress that I made this specific blog to help other newbie marketers out there and NOT to impress search engines! Now, on to the post...

I've read many stories of success and failure on both ends, from people doing very well for themselves online while others are failing miserably.The biggest reason most people fail online is the lack of a good teacher. Being successful online involves a LOT of learning and many people get buried in all the dizzying amounts of information they read everywhere.

If you participant in an affiliate program or MLM of any kind, then one of the most important keys to your success is your upline sponsor and, unfortunately, if you have one who just doesn't care about you then it can be that much harder to get ahead. When you read all those marketing newsletters, many of them mention the concept of "duplication". For an affiliate program to work it must be something your downline can duplicate to acheive success. This is extremely important.

If you are someone's sponsor and they are in your downline, then it should be your duty to help prevent them from failing. If you are successful, then you need to teach them HOW you made the program work for you. After all, if they do well, then you do well too. Problem is that most people just get sign ups and then abandon their downline with no contact or tips for duplicating their success. This is a recipe for failure.

On the other hand, if you are part of a downline yourself and have just signed up to an affiliate program, you should stay in contact with your personal sponsor and they should contact you to explain how they became a success and teach you the tricks to making money. If your sponsor never offers to help you then you should find another affiliate program that cares more for their downline.

For example, one of the programs I use is EyeEarn. I know you've seen their ads everywhere, but I'm sure you've also seen proof around that it DOES work. If you sign up under someone else and they have no interest in helping, you then you are left to sink or swim based on your own ability to survive in the online marketing jungle. But, if you sign up under me, I personally see to it that you have the tools you need to acheive success, which includes ideas I've personally come up with that no one else is using and, if you've read my posts here, you know I have some great original ideas. Using these ideas I get 5 times more sign ups per month than even the testimonial on the Eye Earn sign up page!

This is true for any affiliate program I promote in that I respond personally to any questions anyone in my downline has. Your success is my success, so I obviously have a personal interest in making sure you do well in whatever program you choose. Too many new marketers forget that fundamental principle of people helping people helping people, as your downline helps their downline etc. Let's all make sure everyone does well and no one gets left behind!

Focus SEO For Buyers

2008-06-13T23:30:00.003-03:00

This is from a post I made at Link Referral, where I am a regular participant in the advice forums. I felt it was worthwhile reposting it here to help others focus on a different approach to SEO...

Everyone seems so concerned with bending over for Google and pleasing their algorithm every time it changes that they sometimes miss the potential in the next biggest search engine, Yahoo. You'll notice that the search results in Yahoo can be wildly different from Google, so obviously they use a different set of rules to list results. That can be to your advantage if you're not currently doing so well in Google.

Yes, they have a lot less surfers, as they are a distant 2nd to Google, BUT I've noticed through my research that it's more of a BUYERS audience, and that's what you really want when trying to convert visitors into sales.

I've noticed through experimenting with some of my sites and maximizing some for Google and others for Yahoo, that the ratio of visits to sales is much better in Yahoo, and this is for the exact same products offered through all the sites. This may have something to do with Yahoo being a portal site with a wide variety of visitors, including other sellers with Yahoo stores, whereas Google is still mostly used as a search engine for people just looking up information.

Another bonus I've noticed through Yahoo is, unlike Google, they list subdomains created to get affiliate sales. Those of you who cloak your affiliate links through tinyurl or whatever will notice how Google penalizes that as duplicate site names, as well as penalizing subdomains that point to duplicate content on affiliate pages, but Yahoo allows it and I make FAR more sales from my cloaked subdomains that way.

Yes, Yahoo is a smaller audience, but it's a better converting audience. Would you rather have 1000 visits through Google with 1 sale, or 100 through Yahoo with 5 sales? Don't put all your eggs in the Google basket.

Social Networking

2008-05-17T14:54:00.003-03:00

With all the buzz about "Web 2.0" coming, the social networking sites that are at the hub of this new internet phase are gaining in popularity as a potential marketplace for online entrepreneurs. Facebook now allows you to place ads, similar to the Google Adwords campaigns, and online marketers for years have been leaving comments in forums as a way of getting the word out about their site.

It's a constantly shifting internet landscape and the possibilities are expanding as the potential for profiting from social networking increases. However, as with anything related to the fickle internet, these constant changes mean you have to constantly adapt to stay "in the game".

With Facebook ads, for example, even though you may have had a successful Adwords campaign in the past, you'll find the Facebook audience needs a different approach. I find the click thru rate (CTR) to be higher, but the conversions are lower. Unlike Google, the Facebook clickers haven't already searched for your keywords, but see your ad while logging into the site and click more out of interest even when they're not looking to buy anything. This flurry of clicking can drive up your daily ad budget very quickly.

A much cheaper (free) alternative is posting your links as comments in forums and on blogs and social networking sites. However, while posting in forums on social sites can be of a certain benefit, you shouldn't overdo it. At the webmaster forum for Link Referral, where I post often, I see people every day post comments that have nothing to do with the discussion thread they post in, but they do it just to spam the thread with their link. Some even go as far as copying the posts of others, word for word, because they're too lazy to write something original themselves.

I never spam a forum and I'll only post if I actually have something to add to the discussion. I'm honest and I don't want to send someone in the wrong direction, so I won't post in a thread on a topic I know nothing about. Spamming, while it will get your link seen, has no overall advantage since people will see your post for what it is (spam) and they'll avoid your site entirely.

I'm sure many of you with blogs have had spammers leave comments on your site with links to their insurance or pill sites. Would you buy insurance from a site that spams people? I don't think so! So, don't bother doing any comment spamming yourself.

Just find that balance between getting your site seen without being intrusive about it. Offer helpful advice on forums and in comments without being a pest and surfers will want to visit your site to read more. Draw visitors to your ad links through sincerity over hype and you'll soon find yourself with an audience who will actually want what you have to offer them. Just don't overdo it!

EyeEarn Pays! Eye Earn Paid Me!

2008-05-14T01:48:00.004-03:00

Eye Earn Pays! This is actually a funny story, so please read on. Ok, so my title sounds a bit overly excited, but it's because I had made a mistake in my early calculations of the SFI EyeEarn program and I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to find I was wrong.

I joined the EyeEarn community because it seemed like an original, novel idea to make money online and offline that was different from all the other affiliate crap out there, which I'm sure you're familiar with. They all seem to pay pennies, if at all, so I wanted something different. Eye Earn was just what I needed. All I had to do was make an initial investment of just $20 for a great kit with the EyeEarn shirt, car banner, stickers and Eye Earn "X-cards" business cards. I got MORE than I was expecting and it was WELL worth the investment.

Within a month of joining EyeEarn I already had made a few dollars and I never even had to sell anything! How many affiliate programs can you honestly claim that you made anything more than a dollar from a month later? Anyway, here's where the story gets funny.

I thought "Great! I made a few bucks. That's not a bad start!" and then went full force promoting it. However, the following month it looked as if I had only made a couple of dollars from Eye Earn still and I was a bit disappointed. Then the next month came and it was still only a bit more. I thought if I was only making a couple dollars a month that it really wasn't worth it. I figured I may as well drop Eye Earn for a crappy PTC program and be just as well off. I was very wrong.

Figuring that Eye Earn was just another bad investment, I lost interest and didn't bother with it anymore. Then yesterday I got a check from SFI and, before opening the envelope, I thought "How is this possible? I only made a bit over 10 bucks!", but it turns out that I had misunderstood their Eye Earn Earnings chart the entire time! Instead of making just a couple dollars more each month, I was actually DOUBLING the amount each month and ADDING the couple dollars to it!

For example, instead of making $10 one month, then $3 the next, $5 the next and so on, at only a few dollars each month, the REAL amount was $10, then $23, then $48, then $104 etc. Do you see where I went wrong? The amount was actually doubling each month and a few dollars added on to the doubled amount. It adds up really quickly that way!

Their own EyeEarn calculator estimates that I'll be making a couple thousand dollars a month after just over a year of being in the Eye Earn community! I didn't think it was possible. I didn't believe it at first. But now I do, and so should you. Yeah, I know you're tired of seeing the ad with the smiling people wearing the Eye Earn shirts and EyeEarn car banners, but try to look beyond that at the real money potential. You'll be glad you did.

I'm a helpful, friendly EA (executive) Eye Earner now, so if you ask me for advice I won't leave you stranded. Just join my Eye Earn team and start earning today! Does this mean I'm promoting EyeEarn again? You bet! Get Seen. Get Paid.

SEO Working With Images

2008-05-12T00:30:00.004-03:00

There is a lot of good SEO advice out there related to using keyword tags as part of your page URL, but not much is said about optimizing your website images for search engines as well. When it comes to pictures most people think of just adding an alt tag to the picture image, which basically describes what the image is about. Yes, this is useful, but there is something else you can do as well.

When saving an image file, you should always choose a name with direct search engine friendly keywords. Make sure the keywords are separated with something like an underscore character. For example, if you have an electronics store with images of each product you sell, then you should call your Sony DVD Player website image "sony_dvd_player.jpg". When a surfer wants to take a look at what DVD player models are out there to buy, your image will come up in the image search results and lead the visitor to your store!

This seems simple and obvious, but many people overlook it, especially when taking pics with their own digital camera, where the images are automatically saved on the camera memory card in numerical order (ie. img_001, img_002, etc). Simply rename the image files when using them on your website to a more search engine friendly name.

If your images have the proper SEO work applied to them, they can be a better search magnet to your site than your optimized text! This, of course, is especially true if you're selling anything visual or graphic in nature. It wouldn't be very helpful for a "work at home" site like this one, but can be very useful for many other types of sites.

Many surfers now are just as likely to do an image search as a web search, so the next time they do an image search for something they want to see first, make sure your optimized images draw them to your site ahead of the competition! You'll be glad you did that extra bit of effort before uploading your pictures.

Spring Cleaning Sales Advice

2008-05-10T18:38:00.004-03:00

Hi everyone! It's finally spring time and for most of you with online stores that means preparing things for listing in your store or on an auction site. I was reading an article that said online sales on some sites have gone up by as much as 70%! The economy is getting worse with the high cost of living, gas prices skyrocketing, food prices increasing and many related product costs rising.

The increasing amount of people listing items online has forced the asking price of many of these items to be reduced significantly. Keep this in mind when managing your online listings. With everything going on, this may not be the best time to list too many items on a site like Ebay with the hope of a decent return.

I'd advise using all your marketing logic to decide what works for you this time of year and what won't. During spring cleaning you may uncover some gems that seem worth listing, but will you really get what they're worth? Hang on to the valuables for a later time and only sell what you have to. Resist the temptation for a quick buck and you might be surprised down the road by how much extra you can make at the right time. With online marketing, timing can be everything. Don't lose sight of your goals.

Are Meta Tags Keywords Useful Anymore?

2008-05-03T17:19:00.005-03:00

I posted before about the importance of keywords in general for good SEO work, so I guess this could be considered as part 2 of that post. Here I'll discuss the importance of Meta Tags. Are they still useful?

There is some debate recently among SEO specialists as to whether or not you even need meta tags anymore. Apparently, some of the biggest search engines no longer consider them important and will either dismiss them or index them only as a general reference for your site category. I know of at least one person with a site on the the first Google SERP for their keywords of choice without ANY meta tags at all or even a site title!

Gone are the days when keyword stuffing would get you top results. Now, it's all about content, and that's how it should be, really. A site without useful content isn't of much value to anyone, so why should they read it? Search engine results are becoming more about presenting useful content to the searchers and surfers on the internet, and with the implementation of "web 2.0", this can be seen as a step in the right direction. Just make sure your site content is useful and relevant to the keyword results you wish to be found in and you'll be ready for the latest Internet revolution.

Until the search engine algorithms change yet again...

Never Give Up The Work At Home Dream

2008-04-22T23:31:00.004-03:00

I've been extremely busy lately and haven't had a chance to write in this blog, but I just wanted to post a quick note saying I'm still here! I'm working on another "work at home" article as well, so that should be published soon. You may have noticed that my Wordpress blog was removed. It's a shame because it was doing quite well.
That leads me to my tip for this week: Never give up!! If you want to succeed then you must keep working at it. Nothing comes easy, but if you put in the effort, it will be worth it in the end. Don't give up hope. Never quit. Live your dream to work at home and be your own boss!

A Penny For Your Thoughts

2008-04-03T20:48:00.004-03:00

Are you frustrated by the constant barrage of online offers that turn out to be scams? Yes? Well, so am I! There seems to be no end or shortage of all the crap that gets hurled at online marketers these days. I started this blog basically as a means of presenting all the various programs out there and review them for you in advance to explain them and separate the crap from the gold.

I used to laugh at all the obviously lame offers and the "too good to be true" offers out there, but now I'm actually a bit worried. I got an email from one of those "Get paid to read emails" sites today that offered me a penny to come back to my account, log in and read the penny email. That's right, folks...one whole cent! Ooh! A penny for my thoughts!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It wouldn't matter if this site was a scam or not, or if they really do pay, as I'm not waiting to find out. My time is valuable. YOUR time is valuable. I only want you to read this if you value my opinion. I don't know if my thoughts are worth a penny to you or not, but I do know that your time is worth more than the cent they offer to you for the time it takes to log in and view that ad for 30 seconds.

You CAN make money online, but you have to be wise about it. You need to invest a small amount sometimes to get started and you need to maximize your time in the best way possible when you start earning that online income. Don't get lured by the promise of a few pennies. You are worth far more than that, my friends...

Monetized Blogs

2008-03-15T21:36:00.003-03:00

Monetized blogs have been all the rage for some time now. However, there are a few things you should consider before accepting the hype of making easy money by starting a monetized blog.

There are many books out there about the "easy money" of creating a free blog and simply sticking some Adsense or other ads up and making money. The true part is that, if you use one of the many free blog sites, at least you won't be out a lot of money for start up costs, but you could be out a lot of time instead. Yes, it can be "easy" as well. Just create a free blog, insert some ads or Adsense code and you're good to go. Unfortunately, this WON'T make you any money.

To make money off a blog by using Adsense, Adbrite, or any one of the many other ad publisher codes, you have to have massive amounts of traffic. The average click thru rate (CTR) for most blogs is very small at only a percent or two of your traffic. If only 1 person clicks on an ad out of 100 who visit your blog, then you've only made a couple of cents per 100 visits. Unless your blog becomes VERY popular, then you will only end up with making just that couple cents per day.

I've heard of people who compensate for this low rate by starting MANY blogs, of which they still only make a few cents each, but combined they bring in more. While this is possible, the problem is that if you create 10 more blogs, then you also have created 10 times more work for yourself, and you've still only made a few more cents (NOT dollars!) a day. Is this really worth it?

The amount of effort required to bring in more traffic to make a few cents more is enormous, as good updated content is what brings in the traffic, meaning that you can NOT just start a blog, put up some ads and forget about it. You have to regularily post and update to EACH blog you create. Many people abandon their blogs after they realize it's not as easy as they've been told.

If you've noticed, I do have Adsense ads as well, but it's for more of an experiment than for making actual money. I've never made the payout threshold, and I don't expect to...ever. I have other blogs as well that do not have Adsense and they focus on music and other topics, but this one is for online business topics, so I use the ads here to put things in context to see what works and what doesn't.

If you really want to make money with a blog, I suggest creating good, original content by writing about something interesting on a topic you like and then putting some affiliate program ads or product ads on it that have the potential of making you more than just a few cents. I blog for fun and research, but I offer legitimate online degrees as a Degree Broker to earn my money from them. Yes, you can blog for fun and profit. You just have to find the right balance before you can make it worth the time you must put into it to succeed.