If you are new to blogging or have been blogging for a few years, you would have probably heard of blogging networks. They are blogging communities that allow you to put a link to your blog, discuss your blog and even pay to advertise your blog......all to other bloggers. That is the problem, you are singing to the choir. Most avid blog readers are not bloggers themselves.
One well known blogging network that is now gone was EntreCard. I was a member for several years until Google started to down grade websites and blogs for high bounce rates. EntreCard was well known for encouraging high bounce rates among their users. In order to curb high bounce rates on my blogs I removed all the EntreCard code.
So what do you do to encourage new visitors or engage your readers? Simple, use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook or Google+. Google the search engine really loves social networks and if it finds links to your blog on them it will boost your blog pages in searches. To Google the more people talking on social networks about your blog means your blog has value.
So forget the blogging gimmicks and engage your readers naturally and socially.
Showing posts with label Website tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Website tips. Show all posts
The risks of putting code on your blog
Just discovered one of the risks of putting advertising code on your blog without keeping a close eye on it. I have one blog that I allow banner advertising to run via an advertising network. When setting up permissions for the ad space I only allow ads to run after I take a look at them and pre-approve them, and I am glad I do. Today I had just one ad to look at and I was shocked to see it was 2 banners for porn sites in a language other than English. I have never seen that ad network have ads for smut so I have sent them a heads up and also warned them that I would remove my blogs (I have 2 listed with them) from their system should I see another ad like that.
Now I don't mind having an ad run for eBay, Walmart or one of those 2012 best buy coupons but I do draw the line at any of the ads that Google does not allow on blogs that run Google Adsense. I am lucky that all of the ads that Google does not allow, I also don't like. What I have found very strange is that Google will sometimes run ads that are the very types of ads they don't allow.
Now I don't mind having an ad run for eBay, Walmart or one of those 2012 best buy coupons but I do draw the line at any of the ads that Google does not allow on blogs that run Google Adsense. I am lucky that all of the ads that Google does not allow, I also don't like. What I have found very strange is that Google will sometimes run ads that are the very types of ads they don't allow.
Looking for work, set your Facebook page to private
It is no secret that companies do some research on potential employees nowadays. One of the first places they often look is Facebook. If you are looking for work there are a few things you can do, first is to set your personal page to private so only your friends and relatives can view your posts and photos. Next you can create a page just for employers to visit. This would be strictly for you to promote yourself and your career. It should remain separate from your personal page. It is the page that if companies are trying to find you on Facebook, they will find. You can also change your name on your personal Facebook page to a nickname rather than your legal name.
Other steps to take if you are looking for work is to remove anything you don't want them to know about you online. Simply Google your name and see what comes up. If your Twitter account shows up then you should look at that to see if you need to remove some of the tweets you put on there, change your name on the account or remove it entirely. If your name shows up on old websites that you once had you can simply go and change them or remove them.
Looking for work is hard work to begin with. You don't need to be shooting yourself in the foot by having your name all over the internet that puts you in an unfair light.
Other steps to take if you are looking for work is to remove anything you don't want them to know about you online. Simply Google your name and see what comes up. If your Twitter account shows up then you should look at that to see if you need to remove some of the tweets you put on there, change your name on the account or remove it entirely. If your name shows up on old websites that you once had you can simply go and change them or remove them.
Looking for work is hard work to begin with. You don't need to be shooting yourself in the foot by having your name all over the internet that puts you in an unfair light.
Is Coupon Suzy a great deal?
You have perhaps seen those ads on TV for couponsuzy.com a place to get store coupons. I checked it out and I am warning you to steer clear of that website and here is why.
A tried to print out at least 3 of the coupons on the website and came up to a page that said I needed to install their coupon printer -WTF!! I have printed many, many coupons off of websites and used them without problems so why do they need to have me install some software on my computer? That was a big red flag so I checked it out.
I typed in the words "coupon suzy scam" into Google and came up with the facts that the printer program that they want me to install is full of malware and computer worms. Here are 2 websites that computer security programmers are telling their experiences with it:
Is installing a coupon printer safe?
Coupon Suzy - NO THANKS
If any website asks you to install anything on your computer in order to use their website, either stay away from that website or do some research first, like I did. You will save by not having to pay someone to fix your computer once the "bad" software takes it over.
A tried to print out at least 3 of the coupons on the website and came up to a page that said I needed to install their coupon printer -WTF!! I have printed many, many coupons off of websites and used them without problems so why do they need to have me install some software on my computer? That was a big red flag so I checked it out.
I typed in the words "coupon suzy scam" into Google and came up with the facts that the printer program that they want me to install is full of malware and computer worms. Here are 2 websites that computer security programmers are telling their experiences with it:
Is installing a coupon printer safe?
Coupon Suzy - NO THANKS
If any website asks you to install anything on your computer in order to use their website, either stay away from that website or do some research first, like I did. You will save by not having to pay someone to fix your computer once the "bad" software takes it over.
Scam to get writers and authors
There is currently a Craigslist job listing for Writer Needed.
Here is the ad:
Our magazine is looking for Writers -- Freelance -- to write stories about people who are role models in Oregon communities. To see what we are about, Visit our web magazine at the Following Hyperlink ...
http://winnerswithinus.com/
If You Like What You See and Want to Write for Us, You Should Either Email Us at -- winners.withinus@gmail.com -- or Use "Contact Us" at the Website.
Because We Work in the Virtual World You Can Live Anywhere in Oregon. However, Because We Sometimes Assign Articles Based on Your Proximity, It Is Very Important That You Specify In the Body of Your E-Mail Response The Metropolitan Area You Live Closest to.
I Hope to Hear From You ASAP,
Thanks,
Alex N Scandalios
Publisher/CEO
Winners Within Us, Inc.
Since I am always on the look out for opportunities, I checked out the website which was ho-hum and it was not clear what it was aimed at and then Googled the guys name.
Now the fun part begins. I found out that he has ads in every state and pretends to be local, in that state. Several bloggers have written about the website being nothing more than content farm so Alex can make money from the ads. Hey, isn't that what magazines do? I think that they were complaining about was that there is no pay for the articles. But that was not all I found.
It seems that Alex has an interesting background, including claiming to be a real estate agent when he is not. Below is what I found in the Oregon Real Estate News-Journal April 2010
Scandalios, Alex N. (Corvallis) Broker
#200403058
Stipulated order dated January 25, 2010.
Scandalios advertised property for sale on craigslist.org without the permission of one of the owners to do so; Scandalios failed to file the required form with the Agency identifying the existence of and authorizing the Commissioner to examine client trust accounts; Scandalios used an unregistered name, CyberFarm, in his e-mail advertising; Scandalios stated that he was associated with Coldwell Banker, but he has never been licensed with Coldwell Banker; Scandalios advertised on craigslist.org using an incomplete licensed name; and Scandalios failed to place a sign at his designated place of business.
Violations: ORS 696.200(1), 696.241(2)
and (3), 696.301(1); OAR 863-015-0125
(2)(b) and (e), and (3)(a)
So then I Googled "CyberFarm Scandalios" and boy is this guy busy. He has CyberFarm all over the place with different addresses and it is even mentioned as a listing in Spain.
So a word to the wise, investigate before you apply for work of any type if you see the opening online.
Here is the ad:
Our magazine is looking for Writers -- Freelance -- to write stories about people who are role models in Oregon communities. To see what we are about, Visit our web magazine at the Following Hyperlink ...
http://winnerswithinus.com/
If You Like What You See and Want to Write for Us, You Should Either Email Us at -- winners.withinus@gmail.com -- or Use "Contact Us" at the Website.
Because We Work in the Virtual World You Can Live Anywhere in Oregon. However, Because We Sometimes Assign Articles Based on Your Proximity, It Is Very Important That You Specify In the Body of Your E-Mail Response The Metropolitan Area You Live Closest to.
I Hope to Hear From You ASAP,
Thanks,
Alex N Scandalios
Publisher/CEO
Winners Within Us, Inc.
Since I am always on the look out for opportunities, I checked out the website which was ho-hum and it was not clear what it was aimed at and then Googled the guys name.
Now the fun part begins. I found out that he has ads in every state and pretends to be local, in that state. Several bloggers have written about the website being nothing more than content farm so Alex can make money from the ads. Hey, isn't that what magazines do? I think that they were complaining about was that there is no pay for the articles. But that was not all I found.
It seems that Alex has an interesting background, including claiming to be a real estate agent when he is not. Below is what I found in the Oregon Real Estate News-Journal April 2010
Scandalios, Alex N. (Corvallis) Broker
#200403058
Stipulated order dated January 25, 2010.
Scandalios advertised property for sale on craigslist.org without the permission of one of the owners to do so; Scandalios failed to file the required form with the Agency identifying the existence of and authorizing the Commissioner to examine client trust accounts; Scandalios used an unregistered name, CyberFarm, in his e-mail advertising; Scandalios stated that he was associated with Coldwell Banker, but he has never been licensed with Coldwell Banker; Scandalios advertised on craigslist.org using an incomplete licensed name; and Scandalios failed to place a sign at his designated place of business.
Violations: ORS 696.200(1), 696.241(2)
and (3), 696.301(1); OAR 863-015-0125
(2)(b) and (e), and (3)(a)
So then I Googled "CyberFarm Scandalios" and boy is this guy busy. He has CyberFarm all over the place with different addresses and it is even mentioned as a listing in Spain.
So a word to the wise, investigate before you apply for work of any type if you see the opening online.
Does your blog have enough comments?
One of the ways that makes your blog more appealing to advertisers and paid blog companies is the number of comments that your blog receives. To them it is one way to measure the popularity of your blog. I know of several bloggers that have very popular blogs and yet use that "delete" button relentlessly when they get comments that don't agree with their blog post. While I am fully aware that everyone who runs a blog is entitled to what comments they allow to appear on their blog they tend to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to making money from their blog.
As most of you know, I am a very vocal blogger. I voice my opinion openly and I do so not only here on my blog but also on message boards, comments on other blogs and even the occasional online newspaper article. I don't go overboard on commenting but if I read something that sparks my interest or stirs up my emotions I will leave a comment. I have left comments about poorly made products, overpriced software (a pet peeve of mine) and bigger issues like the environment.That brings me to comments left on my blogs.
Yes I do allow almost all comments to be published on my blogs. The only exception is when the comment has several links in it and the comment is merely seeking link juice. I do allow comments with links if that link is adding to the conversation. For example, if the blog post was a product review on zamberlan boots and the comment left was a link and a suggestion to a sale on those boots then I would publish it because it would be helpful to my readers. On the other hand if the comment contained an affiliate to a store selling those boots I probably would not publish it as the person was now using the post to line their own pockets with cash from my product review.
Commenting is also a hot button item on several community websites. I have left what I thought was an innocent comment on an article about global warming and the author of the article came unglued on me. She sent me several "rip me to shreds" emails about how dare I leave a comment on her work that disagreed with her. She didn't approve the comment anyway so I didn't see why she had to read me the riot act. I thought that was the end of it until yesterday when she sent me another email about the same thing only the wording was different. This has been going on for a month now and I wish she would let it go. By the way her article was about global warming and Al Gore's version of it, while I pointed out in my comment that global warming is a natural occurrence and that we (the Earth) is still coming out of an Ice Age. I pointed out those facts per Geology 101 from a recent college course I just had.
Leaving comments can be a risky business as you can see, but having them appear on your blog is a valuable step in the right direction to making money with your blog.
As most of you know, I am a very vocal blogger. I voice my opinion openly and I do so not only here on my blog but also on message boards, comments on other blogs and even the occasional online newspaper article. I don't go overboard on commenting but if I read something that sparks my interest or stirs up my emotions I will leave a comment. I have left comments about poorly made products, overpriced software (a pet peeve of mine) and bigger issues like the environment.That brings me to comments left on my blogs.
Yes I do allow almost all comments to be published on my blogs. The only exception is when the comment has several links in it and the comment is merely seeking link juice. I do allow comments with links if that link is adding to the conversation. For example, if the blog post was a product review on zamberlan boots and the comment left was a link and a suggestion to a sale on those boots then I would publish it because it would be helpful to my readers. On the other hand if the comment contained an affiliate to a store selling those boots I probably would not publish it as the person was now using the post to line their own pockets with cash from my product review.
Commenting is also a hot button item on several community websites. I have left what I thought was an innocent comment on an article about global warming and the author of the article came unglued on me. She sent me several "rip me to shreds" emails about how dare I leave a comment on her work that disagreed with her. She didn't approve the comment anyway so I didn't see why she had to read me the riot act. I thought that was the end of it until yesterday when she sent me another email about the same thing only the wording was different. This has been going on for a month now and I wish she would let it go. By the way her article was about global warming and Al Gore's version of it, while I pointed out in my comment that global warming is a natural occurrence and that we (the Earth) is still coming out of an Ice Age. I pointed out those facts per Geology 101 from a recent college course I just had.
Leaving comments can be a risky business as you can see, but having them appear on your blog is a valuable step in the right direction to making money with your blog.
Writing more articles for Associated Content
I am so thrilled to becoming a popular writer on Associated Content. I am now a featured contributor for 3, yes 3 sections. AC kept sending me emails asking that I join the sections (pets, technology and finance) that I finally gave in and joined.
I have been a member on there since 2006 but did not start writing for them until 2007. The advantages of becoming a featured contributor is that you write 3 articles about your chosen subject each month for $10 each. That means I will earn $90 minimum for maybe 4 hours work each month. Of course that does not include the other articles I write which I can get paid a minimum of $6 each and most of them are in the $10 to $15 range. I can easily earn $200 a week if I wrote 3 articles a day.
I have noticed that many new writers on there do not have a clue how to be successful on the site. They write articles that the subject matter can be found else where. For example, articles about "how to get rid of acne fast" will not get many views if that subject matter is covered in-depth at the Mayo Clinic website. The same for almost any subject. Your article has to not only be unique but on a subject, but also not covered in-depth all over the internet.
Another thing that the new article writers are doing is writing their articles in the style of a blog post. AC is stepping in and removing those articles - thankfully. "Open letters" and "updates on what they have been doing" to their "fans" is not what Associated Content needs or wants on their website.
If you think that having an extra few hundred dollars a week is just what the doctor ordered, then join me at Associated Content (click on the badge in the side bar) and start writing and get paid for it.
Happy Halloween
Are you enjoying this rare Halloween Sunday? I know I have been watching all of the shows on TV that told how Halloween came about and how "trick or treating" became a necessity to cut down on vandalism. I also found out that adult Halloween parties and costume balls are what is fueling the big money making for Halloween sales. Costumes sure have changed in style and quality since I was a kid.
I think that Halloween masks have seen the greatest change in the last 15-20 years. You hardly ever see those old plastic masks with the elastic band to keep it on your face anymore. Now it is either face make-up or latex masks.
Costumes are now made from regular material rather than those thin flimsy nylon things you bought in the box, along with those old style plastic masks. People will often hunt down Parada accessories, Rebecca Minkoff handbags, wedding dresses and pinstriped suits in second hand stores for that unique looking costume.
My daughter will be busy volunteering at a local haunted house this night. She gets to dress up and scare people to death. No parties are planned but I might make a big batch of Halloween cupcakes.
Happy Halloween.
Using affiliate programs to generate income
Can you make money using online affiliate programs? You can but the real trick to making money with them is having targeted traffic. It is pretty useless to slap banner ads that are from affiliates all over your website or blog unless you have huge amounts of traffic. What you have to do is talk (write) to your readers about a product, service or item. You are in fact the salesperson. If you cannot do that or you just don't have the knack of how to do that then leave affiliate programs alone until your website or blog gets huge amounts of traffic. Then just slap those banners all over the place. At the same time keep your fingers crossed that at least .01% of your visitors will click on an ad and buy something.
As I mentioned, having targeted traffic is the clue. If you have a car website then just partner yourself with an affiliate program that has lots of car parts, or after market car accessories. Showcase those products on your pages in the form of projects and then have the ads for where your readers can get the parts. You are more likely to make money that way than just slapping an ad on your site.
Affiliate marketing works but you have to WORK at it to make money from them.
As I mentioned, having targeted traffic is the clue. If you have a car website then just partner yourself with an affiliate program that has lots of car parts, or after market car accessories. Showcase those products on your pages in the form of projects and then have the ads for where your readers can get the parts. You are more likely to make money that way than just slapping an ad on your site.
Affiliate marketing works but you have to WORK at it to make money from them.
What to do when your blog runs out of steam
If you have chosen to blog about something that is a high income earner but holds a low interest for you to write about, you will eventually run out of steam (things to write about), so what do you do?
Should you move on and let that blog die a quite death? That will happen if you decide not to blog in it for weeks or months on end. Or do you do something with it?
Here is what I did and it works:
I have a weight loss blog that I post to about twice a week. After 2 years I was running out of different ways to write about weight loss supplements and exercise, my mind just could not think of anymore articles. So rather than just quit my blog, I decided to change the title (not the URL) to a general health blog. Now I could write about cancer, aroma therapy and even plastic surgery and by doing so I will attract those higher paying Google Adsense ads to the blog. A big plus for me is that my mind is now no longer restricted to weight loss articles but is free to think about a larger picture.
It boils down to the fact that niche blogging can be extremely limited and will burn out after awhile, but a good well written blog will last forever and will continue to generate income for years.
Should you move on and let that blog die a quite death? That will happen if you decide not to blog in it for weeks or months on end. Or do you do something with it?
Here is what I did and it works:
I have a weight loss blog that I post to about twice a week. After 2 years I was running out of different ways to write about weight loss supplements and exercise, my mind just could not think of anymore articles. So rather than just quit my blog, I decided to change the title (not the URL) to a general health blog. Now I could write about cancer, aroma therapy and even plastic surgery and by doing so I will attract those higher paying Google Adsense ads to the blog. A big plus for me is that my mind is now no longer restricted to weight loss articles but is free to think about a larger picture.
It boils down to the fact that niche blogging can be extremely limited and will burn out after awhile, but a good well written blog will last forever and will continue to generate income for years.
It is official, Digg has died
Digg, the very well known social bookmarking and promoting tool of the past 6 years has died, at least in my experiment. I had joined Digg about 2006 when it was still on the rise to becoming a force to drive traffic to any website that I submitted to them. I had several hundred followers and I in turn followed many hundred people and their "diggs." Just submitting an article or story to Digg would often result in 200+ visitors in under the first hour to that story. As I got more involved with Stumble (which is still around and in my opinion still a great tool) and Twitter, I forgot all about Digg, that was until last week.
I decided that I should drop in on my old friend, Digg and see what was going on. My several hundreds of followers were now down to 34. The people I followed were gone and only 65 were left. I did hear the rumors that 13 million members had vanished from Digg around April 2010 and looking at my stats, it looked to be true.
I decided to submit a few articles and see what would happen. I submitted 3 and then waited overnight to see the results. Well the results were dismal. No visitors, no comments and worse yet, I could not find them in my own account. I had to do a search for them.
Digg is now over run with non-stories. It seems that they have "partnered" with media providers and those providers are swamping Digg with "story ads." There are "stories" about laptop keyboard specs and weight loss supplement reviews which are thinly disguised ads. What I didn't like was the fact that you can no longer "bury" a story should it be just plain awful.
Yep, Digg is dead, officially buried by Twitter and people leaving because big media companies now rule it.
I decided that I should drop in on my old friend, Digg and see what was going on. My several hundreds of followers were now down to 34. The people I followed were gone and only 65 were left. I did hear the rumors that 13 million members had vanished from Digg around April 2010 and looking at my stats, it looked to be true.
I decided to submit a few articles and see what would happen. I submitted 3 and then waited overnight to see the results. Well the results were dismal. No visitors, no comments and worse yet, I could not find them in my own account. I had to do a search for them.
Digg is now over run with non-stories. It seems that they have "partnered" with media providers and those providers are swamping Digg with "story ads." There are "stories" about laptop keyboard specs and weight loss supplement reviews which are thinly disguised ads. What I didn't like was the fact that you can no longer "bury" a story should it be just plain awful.
Yep, Digg is dead, officially buried by Twitter and people leaving because big media companies now rule it.
Modern media is using the internet as a cop out
This is an open message to all TV networks and local TV stations:
Dear TV producer,
I know that you have a website. I watch TV to not only be entertained but to get the latest news. When watching TV, my computer is usually turned off for the day. In fact I have spent enough time on the computer that I am almost sick of it......at least for today.
What I am writing to you today for, is that I am totally pissed off about the fact that during your news shows your reporters constantly tell viewers to find out more at your f****** website. I am NOT interested in finding the "rest of the story" on your ad ridden, slow loading, piece of s*** website. I want the story on TV - NOW. If I could jump through the TV screen and give you a thorough colon cleanseing (and I don't mean that in a nice way) I would. In other words - you are anal.
I would like to add that although you think that most people have a computer in their homes, not all are connected to the internet. Most people that are strapped for cash have dropped their internet service and now find free wi-fi service at the library (if they have a laptop) or outside a fast food place.
Now please start reporting the whole story on your TV news and forget you even have a web presence, your viewers don't care.
Dear TV producer,
I know that you have a website. I watch TV to not only be entertained but to get the latest news. When watching TV, my computer is usually turned off for the day. In fact I have spent enough time on the computer that I am almost sick of it......at least for today.
What I am writing to you today for, is that I am totally pissed off about the fact that during your news shows your reporters constantly tell viewers to find out more at your f****** website. I am NOT interested in finding the "rest of the story" on your ad ridden, slow loading, piece of s*** website. I want the story on TV - NOW. If I could jump through the TV screen and give you a thorough colon cleanseing (and I don't mean that in a nice way) I would. In other words - you are anal.
I would like to add that although you think that most people have a computer in their homes, not all are connected to the internet. Most people that are strapped for cash have dropped their internet service and now find free wi-fi service at the library (if they have a laptop) or outside a fast food place.
Now please start reporting the whole story on your TV news and forget you even have a web presence, your viewers don't care.
Specialized job search websites
Are you just plain sick and tired of looking for a job and can't seem to find any out there? Try a specialized job board. There are job boards online that just cater to one particular type of employment. There are job boards dedicated to pilots, machinists and even tailors.
Unfortunately there are lots of junk job boards out there too. Take my last example of tailors, I took a look at what is out there in regards to sewing jobs and job boards dedicated to them.
What I found was a large number of junk websites that seemed to be put together for one purpose only and that was to attract people with keywords then slap ads all over the site, with little or no jobs listed on the website. Under the sewing jobs I found sewingjobs.org and sewingjobs.net - both are junk. They seemed to be run by the same person and the jobs listed were so old that I am sure that they were forgotten on the site. On one of the sites I found just 3 jobs squeezed between the huge blocks of ads. So did I find a good sewing jobs website? Yes I did. I found one that apparently only opened up on Labor Day (yesterday) and when I was on the site there were 4 other visitors at the same time (they have a widget that shows current visitors). They have zero Google ads and just a straight forward jobs board. You can check it out at the Pro Sewing Jobs Board It also looks like they are getting people to pay for the ads that appear on there so it must appeal to those who are visiting.
So you can see by my small experiment that not all job websites are created the same. Anyone can slap one together but it is the quality of traffic that will make it a good or junk website.
Unfortunately there are lots of junk job boards out there too. Take my last example of tailors, I took a look at what is out there in regards to sewing jobs and job boards dedicated to them.
What I found was a large number of junk websites that seemed to be put together for one purpose only and that was to attract people with keywords then slap ads all over the site, with little or no jobs listed on the website. Under the sewing jobs I found sewingjobs.org and sewingjobs.net - both are junk. They seemed to be run by the same person and the jobs listed were so old that I am sure that they were forgotten on the site. On one of the sites I found just 3 jobs squeezed between the huge blocks of ads. So did I find a good sewing jobs website? Yes I did. I found one that apparently only opened up on Labor Day (yesterday) and when I was on the site there were 4 other visitors at the same time (they have a widget that shows current visitors). They have zero Google ads and just a straight forward jobs board. You can check it out at the Pro Sewing Jobs Board It also looks like they are getting people to pay for the ads that appear on there so it must appeal to those who are visiting.
So you can see by my small experiment that not all job websites are created the same. Anyone can slap one together but it is the quality of traffic that will make it a good or junk website.
Google to drop the use of PageRank
What would you do if Google's PageRank disappeared from the Google toolbar? If you have a website or practice some sort of basic SEO, you would probably panic. A Google employee hinted at just that in October 2009. Since then Google has only updated PageRank twice on the toolbar, the last time in April 2010. It would not surprise me in the least that Google might remove the page rank part of the algorithm to their search engine.
Now I have some thoughts on PR:
Around April-May, Google released Caffeine into the world wide web. At the same time Matt Cutts made a few videos that stated that Google will be actively searching the web for unique content. So now you have the real clue as to what is going on with Google, they don't want linking as much as content, unique content at that. So bye-bye paid linking, bye-bye link farms, and good riddance to websites that are nothing more than a few paragraphs set up for Adsense only. Who knows what might be next, maybe real quality websites!!!
Now I have some thoughts on PR:
- If Google did remove all reference to PR, how many companies, that broker link selling would go belly up?
- How many blog owners that currently make money selling links would have to find real jobs or learn real online marketing?
- What method would webmasters use to show others that their website is worth advertising on? Would it be pure traffic, Alexa rating or something else?
Around April-May, Google released Caffeine into the world wide web. At the same time Matt Cutts made a few videos that stated that Google will be actively searching the web for unique content. So now you have the real clue as to what is going on with Google, they don't want linking as much as content, unique content at that. So bye-bye paid linking, bye-bye link farms, and good riddance to websites that are nothing more than a few paragraphs set up for Adsense only. Who knows what might be next, maybe real quality websites!!!
Experimenting with Adsense
I have never made that much money with Google Adsense so I thought I might start up 2 new blogs that were just geared to generate income only using Google Adsense. I found some great information online on how to do it. Most of the SEO I already knew but it is finding the right high paying keywords that I could wrap an entire blog around that stumped me. For example I love crafts and animals but none of the words I looked up in my own Adsense account showed that they were worth more than a dollar. As you know, the cost of an keyword has very little to do with what a publisher gets so I was aiming at words or phrases that would cost at least $5 or more. Next I tried the shopping angle and put in everything from video games and iphones to LED TV's - nothing over $1.40 Next I tried womens items and checked cosmetics to ecco shoes and still nothing. I did find out that expensive services are high priced keywords. Medical procedures, legal services, loans and even insurance were all in the high priced keyword area. So that gave me a brilliant idea. I would start up a blog devoted to one medical problem and another one devoted to expensive travel and see how each one would do.
The one beautiful thing I know about blogging for Adsense is that you don't have to have a lot of traffic for it, just the right words in your articles to show up in Google searches. I currently have one blog that gets a few cents a day with Adsense and get maybe 20 visits a day so it doesn't take many visitors to generate Adsense clicks. The ads are not large either, they are just a small list at the bottom of the blog post - not plastered all over the place. What makes the difference in the content, it is unique and Google loves unique content.
Another thing for those grammar hounds out there, guess what, lousy grammar makes no difference to Google at all. A blog with misspellings, wrong words or looks like it was written by a 6 year old will often show up high in searches along with the "perfect" blogs because of their unique content. I should know because several years ago my young daughter had a blog on Wordpress.com and she would get 150 to 300 visitors a day! Dumb me, thought I could monetize that blog so I moved it to blogger and added ads and started to write blog posts. My style of writing and proper grammar killed it.
Back to my experiment, I did find out from the "gurus" that for a good Adsense generating blog you only need 12 - 20 in depth articles on your subject that are 500-1000 words long. I figured if I write one article each week then in about 3 months I should start to see some extra income coming in from those 2 blogs just from Adsense. I am aiming for at least $20 a day income from those 2 blogs in a few weeks. It should be easy to get just $10 a day from each of them. Let's see if this works out.
The one beautiful thing I know about blogging for Adsense is that you don't have to have a lot of traffic for it, just the right words in your articles to show up in Google searches. I currently have one blog that gets a few cents a day with Adsense and get maybe 20 visits a day so it doesn't take many visitors to generate Adsense clicks. The ads are not large either, they are just a small list at the bottom of the blog post - not plastered all over the place. What makes the difference in the content, it is unique and Google loves unique content.
Another thing for those grammar hounds out there, guess what, lousy grammar makes no difference to Google at all. A blog with misspellings, wrong words or looks like it was written by a 6 year old will often show up high in searches along with the "perfect" blogs because of their unique content. I should know because several years ago my young daughter had a blog on Wordpress.com and she would get 150 to 300 visitors a day! Dumb me, thought I could monetize that blog so I moved it to blogger and added ads and started to write blog posts. My style of writing and proper grammar killed it.
Back to my experiment, I did find out from the "gurus" that for a good Adsense generating blog you only need 12 - 20 in depth articles on your subject that are 500-1000 words long. I figured if I write one article each week then in about 3 months I should start to see some extra income coming in from those 2 blogs just from Adsense. I am aiming for at least $20 a day income from those 2 blogs in a few weeks. It should be easy to get just $10 a day from each of them. Let's see if this works out.
SupaSwap - review
In their own words they state that they are like eBay but you can swap children's items with other people. You can also place bids and buy and sell. Of course SupaSwap wants their cut of the action at a whopping 10%!!!
Now don't get me wrong, they have a good idea going except most people will go to freecycle (one of the biggest swapping sites online) or craigslist for swapping. If they want to straight out sell then eBay is the way to go.
Another big turn off was this statement on their FAQ page:
Q: The item I bought was not 'as described'?
A: You must communicate with the seller if there are any problems with the transaction. SupaSwap are not responsible for any disputes between a buyer and a seller. Remember there is a feedback section that is designed to ensure honest and accurate trades take place between our members. However, if you report a problem then at our discretion we can investigate the matter and we reserve the right to remove a members access to SupaSwap.
At least on eBay you can get your money back or have some recourse, on SupaSwap there is almost nothing.
I am going to have to give SupaSwap a BIG thumbs down for now.
How to monitize your blog for best income results
I bet you have tried everything to get just a few pennies from a blog you have put your heart and soul into. So what are you doing wrong? The most common mistake that I personally see is ads plastered all over the place and the worst offenders are those flashing red banners. Blogs that have that going on will see a high bounce rate in there readers. What they are doing is assaulting the senses.
Here is what you should be doing. Say for example you have a health foods blog. First you need to find an affiliate program that has lots of companies that have products or services that a reader to a health foods blog might be interested in. One of the best ways is to go to the main companies' website and look around to see if they have an affiliate program. If they have a product that they either make or distribute then they might have an affiliate program too. Join it and then start to promote that product.
The best way to promote a product or service is through your own personal review of the product or service and I mean a genuine review. Your readers want to hear what YOU thought or experienced with the product. For example, on that health foods blog, you could write a post about "diets for quick weight loss." In that post you could mention some of the products you have used including the one you are promoting.You want to be able to put several text links to that product in your review as well as a banner in the article itself (not at the beginning or at the end). People will only click on those links should your article be, #1 well written and #2 believable. Fail on either of those points and you won't get any clicks.
Lastly I want to point out that you must pick a product or company with a good landing page. You can sell your heart out all you want and send customers to those products all day long but if the page you sent them to is terrible then you have lost a sale. You have to pick and choose where you want to send your readers to and that page had better be the place they can buy the product right away.
Here is what you should be doing. Say for example you have a health foods blog. First you need to find an affiliate program that has lots of companies that have products or services that a reader to a health foods blog might be interested in. One of the best ways is to go to the main companies' website and look around to see if they have an affiliate program. If they have a product that they either make or distribute then they might have an affiliate program too. Join it and then start to promote that product.
The best way to promote a product or service is through your own personal review of the product or service and I mean a genuine review. Your readers want to hear what YOU thought or experienced with the product. For example, on that health foods blog, you could write a post about "diets for quick weight loss." In that post you could mention some of the products you have used including the one you are promoting.You want to be able to put several text links to that product in your review as well as a banner in the article itself (not at the beginning or at the end). People will only click on those links should your article be, #1 well written and #2 believable. Fail on either of those points and you won't get any clicks.
Lastly I want to point out that you must pick a product or company with a good landing page. You can sell your heart out all you want and send customers to those products all day long but if the page you sent them to is terrible then you have lost a sale. You have to pick and choose where you want to send your readers to and that page had better be the place they can buy the product right away.
Just a few ideas on how to make more money with your blogs
I was over on You Tube a few days ago and watched almost 50 short videos on internet marketing. Most were by people that didn't have a clue to what they were doing and they just re-hashed the old visit other blogs and make comments and of course have a Twitter account and a Facebook page (remember when it was a MySpace page?). Then I stumbled upon a great guy that was actually the head of a big company and he was teaching SEO tactics to affiliates. Although he was showing how to market a product, some of the same concepts could be applied to marketing a blog.
He was saying not to bother as much with the making comments on other blogs or even using Facebook, he was saying that you should let Google do the work for you. The number one thing he was emphasizing was to write unique and well written content. Do not duplicate any content since Google will notice it and put your little article in never-never land. If you start to write unique in-depth articles of more than 1000 words then Google will start to take notice of them and put you up higher in the search engines. But your content MUST stay in line with the rest of your blog subject matter in order for this to work. Say for example you have a blog about skin care. An in-depth article about adult acne causes would fit right in, but one about muscle cars would not and Google would penalize your blog for doing that, because it does not contain relevant content. Don't forget that in your in-depth articles you can place your affiliate links and suggestions for where to purchase items that you have mentioned.
So I tried that method on one of my blogs. First I Googled the title of my blog post to see how many other results I would be up against. There were only 3 pages and most of them were not really relevant. So I wrote my article and it took several hours to put it together and another 2 hours to get my affiliate links placed just right. After the post went live, I pinged it with ping-o-matic and then Tweeted it. About an hour later I typed in the same search terms I used before and there was my article on Google search, 3rd from the top!!! It had been indexed already. Now I just have to sit back and let that article make money for me.
Now if I do, say 2 in-depth articles a week for each of my 5 active blogs then it should take only a month till I start seeing a dramatic increase in traffic to my blogs and I have let Google bring that traffic to me.
By the way the article was about manipulating graphics between software programs. I just thought you might want to know.
He was saying not to bother as much with the making comments on other blogs or even using Facebook, he was saying that you should let Google do the work for you. The number one thing he was emphasizing was to write unique and well written content. Do not duplicate any content since Google will notice it and put your little article in never-never land. If you start to write unique in-depth articles of more than 1000 words then Google will start to take notice of them and put you up higher in the search engines. But your content MUST stay in line with the rest of your blog subject matter in order for this to work. Say for example you have a blog about skin care. An in-depth article about adult acne causes would fit right in, but one about muscle cars would not and Google would penalize your blog for doing that, because it does not contain relevant content. Don't forget that in your in-depth articles you can place your affiliate links and suggestions for where to purchase items that you have mentioned.
So I tried that method on one of my blogs. First I Googled the title of my blog post to see how many other results I would be up against. There were only 3 pages and most of them were not really relevant. So I wrote my article and it took several hours to put it together and another 2 hours to get my affiliate links placed just right. After the post went live, I pinged it with ping-o-matic and then Tweeted it. About an hour later I typed in the same search terms I used before and there was my article on Google search, 3rd from the top!!! It had been indexed already. Now I just have to sit back and let that article make money for me.
Now if I do, say 2 in-depth articles a week for each of my 5 active blogs then it should take only a month till I start seeing a dramatic increase in traffic to my blogs and I have let Google bring that traffic to me.
By the way the article was about manipulating graphics between software programs. I just thought you might want to know.
Affiliate marketing and why I am going to try it out
Affiliate marketing has always intrigued me. Years ago I thought you just put a bunch of affiliate banners on a website and that was it to affiliate marketing, but I was wrong, so wrong. A good marketer has to convince the reader to want to buy what ever they are writing about. How can people just write a good article and get people to click through a link and buy something? That was the part that intrigued me. The successful ones were not the scam artists but just damn good writers. So I have decided to try my hand at it.
I will write about what I am passionate about and leave the diet supplements and cell phone article writing off of my list. I also spent most of yesterday watching several CEO's of SEO companies give seminars on YouTube about affiliate advertising and my eyes were opened way up. They gave some very insightful guidance on how to go about affiliate advertising without being a jerk or scammer and become known as an expert in your field. That was exactly what I had been looking for.
I will write about what I am passionate about and leave the diet supplements and cell phone article writing off of my list. I also spent most of yesterday watching several CEO's of SEO companies give seminars on YouTube about affiliate advertising and my eyes were opened way up. They gave some very insightful guidance on how to go about affiliate advertising without being a jerk or scammer and become known as an expert in your field. That was exactly what I had been looking for.
The internet allows people to earn money even if there are no jobs close by
I am so glad that I am able to make money online. The extra few hundred dollars a week certainly makes up for the fact that the area I live in has a very small number of job vacancies. If you have the ambition to make a go of making money online then you can do it. What I love about making money online is the fact that I don't have to physically sell anything. That means I don't have to handle shipping or processing a purchase (other than the odd item I sell on eBay) to make money. I either sell advertising on my blogs or get affiliate commissions from ads that I put on my blogs. Yes I also have Google ads but they don't pay me nearly as much as straight advertising does. What I like is the fact that I can have a niche blog and put affiliate advertising on there that pertains just to that niche. If I had a blog about hip hop clothes or skiing you can bet that I would find an affiliate that I could partner with that sold items pertaining to those subjects.
The only thing I have learned is that not all affiliate programs are equal. Some have a bad track record. One that I was a member and will not deal with again is Commission Junction. They do not answer the emails I send them and I have found out they have a bad reputation of ending a publishers account for no reason and then not paying them. If you are interested in any affiliate program, check them out before joining them. Just doing a simple Google search with the affiliate's name and the word "scam" or "ripoff" added to it should get you enough results to help you decide.
The only thing I have learned is that not all affiliate programs are equal. Some have a bad track record. One that I was a member and will not deal with again is Commission Junction. They do not answer the emails I send them and I have found out they have a bad reputation of ending a publishers account for no reason and then not paying them. If you are interested in any affiliate program, check them out before joining them. Just doing a simple Google search with the affiliate's name and the word "scam" or "ripoff" added to it should get you enough results to help you decide.
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