Blogging Tip: Maximize Revenue with Adsense.

AdSense is likely the easiest and most profitable way to monetize your blog in most
situations. I say most situations for 1 reason, every blog is different. This blog for example works with AdSense, the income is decent, but it's nothing to quit my day job for. Although for some blogs, AdSense doesn't make sense, so for those people, don't read this, your post comes later.

Tip 1: Make sure AdSense is part of your blog, if your viewers trip over it to get to your content, first of all, they wont click anything, but secondly and most importantly, they wont browse your sight, viewers want ease, no matter how good it is that you have to say, I don't want to work for your knowledge, I'll find it elsewhere.

Tip 2: Keep everything above the "Fold"; in layman's terms, make sure your viewers can see your AdSense box when they first visit the page. The fold is the part of the screen in which the browser sees before they have to start scrolling down. This is where most of your information should be, this goes back to the, I don't want to work for your knowledge piece.

Tip 3: Experiment, over and over again. Normally, I live by the rule, If it ain't broke, don't fix it, but when it comes to my money, I prefer to make more of it, and since this isn't my main job, I can afford to have a slump of a week where I move the AdSense box.

Tip 4: Don't be afraid, but also make sure to keep in moderation. Per your agreement with Google, you cannot have more than 3 AdSense windows on your page. Which is good, the last thing you need is more advertising than content. Also, don't worry about AdSense, monetizing your blog is like entering your child in a beauty pageant, sure, it's exploiting, but it's your creation, why not get something in return.

Examples; look at the AdSense on www.stevepavlina.com I actually almost missed it, although his AdSense is right in the smack dab of the middle of the screen, it blends very nicely, he also has a bunch of affiliate links as well, but according to him he is under-monetizing. Also, www.problogger.com makes excellent use of the fold. Advertising, recent posts, most popular, and RSS, all available without needing to scroll anywhere.

Blogging Tip: Using social bookmarking to maximize blog traffic.

There are 3 major linking programs I will be covering on this post, Digg, Stumbleupon, and Del.icio.us. They are the items that make sure up and coming blogs even have a chance. Starting with Digg:

1. Digg is fairly easy to use, in a nutshell, you post a link, and depending on how many people "digg" it, the higher your rating.

This can be extremely beneficial, or it could fall on it's face. Case in point, Digg has never really taken off on my blog, as you see, the most digg's I have is about 4, this generates some traffic, but not server melting. If you do make it to the front page of Digg, your traffic levels will skyrocket, this is based on one factor, which is similar to the "Gomlich Effect" from South Park, on southpark the law states:


"The law of physics that states that if one teenage girl is screaming for something, other nearby teenage girls will begin screaming for it, and the mass of screaming girls will grow exponentially until every teenage girl within a four-mile radius is screaming."


In short, one person likes it, then another, and soon, a lot of people will be visiting your site based solely on the fact that other people said it was good.

The only problem with Digg traffic is it's Bounce Rate, the amount of visitors that will enter your site and then leave without visiting any other pages, they came in for 1 post, they left after they may or may not have read it all.

Tips and Tricks for Digg
a. Make sure your topic stands out, if I write a book report about the Cat in the Hat, and label it as "Book Report - Cat in the Hat," not many people will read it. Make it exciting, give people a reason.

b. Make sure people know what they are reading from the start, if someone knows what they clicked on, they are likely to stay and read, and possibly move around a bit.

c. Use "Power Words." Certain words entice someone to do things, words like, new, fresh, first, and top make the reader feel like they are part of something up and coming, and more likely to click the link. Words like how and why make the reader feel that what they are about to read is important, they might learn something to better themselves. Finally Digg readers like photos and videos, this isn't one you can control, if I said hot new video from 03 cent, people would be, first very confused as there likely isn't any new rap sensation named 03 Cent, but also angered that I mislead them, because this site is nothing of the sort.

2. Stumbleupon is a toolbar based web browsing program that, in essence, allows you to channel surf the net.

The way stumbleupon ranks sites is still quite a mistery, but it's also very similar to Digg, the more thumbs you get, the more visitors you get.

Tips and Tricks for Stumbleupon
a.Use stumbleupon regularly, when you get bored, click the Stumble! button, ANY website you see that you like, give it a thumbs up, little is known about the Stumbleupon algorithm, but one thing is true, you have a rating, depending what your rating is, more people will be sent to your clicks. Improve your rating by discovering new items, the better their SU rank is, the better yours becomes.

b. Review your pages, if you submit your own pages, make sure to write a review about it. This goes for any page, if you review it, it generates higher traffic.

c. Make fans, be a fan. If you have fans, then your discoverys and thumbs will mean more, if you become a fan of someone, they are likely to look to see who this new person is, in turn, possibly adding you as a friend, this also increases your score.

d. Join groups that are about your blog topic. People in your group are, usually, more likely to visit your pages when they click the stumble! button, if they like it, they give it a thumbs up, this in turn, sends it to their friends, which after a few days, can put you in the thousands of pageviews. Tada!

3. Del.icio.us is a very straight-forward social bookmarking site, same rules as Digg apply, only on a more basic level. You click the bookmark button, add it to your bookmarks, people search for tags, your site comes up, they like it, they bookmark it themselves.

Tips and Tricks for Del.icio.us

a. Use a lot of tags, the more tags, the more exposure, the more exposure, the more clicks.

b. Same thing as Digg, make sure your title is captivating, people will read what you have to say, as long as it grabs their attention.



Thanks for reading, and plenty more to come, make sure to bookmark this, digg it, thumb it, RSS it. Actually just spread the word.

Blogging for Money

This one of the most widely used online money making techniques, blogging. A blog is easy to set up, easy to operate, and all you really need is something to say.

How do you know if blogging is for you? Here's 5 questions to ask yourself.

1. Do you have time for it?
If you are serious about blogging for money, you want to be able to put yourself in it. This blog will never take-off like some out there, for one simple reason, I don't have the time to put my whole self into it.

2. Do you have enough to say?
Sure, you can sit here and ramble off a couple ideas that may make great blog posts, but if you run out of steam within 2 weeks, you blog will sink and that will be the end. Give your readers something to come back for and they will.

3. Can you keep up with the times?
No one wants to read about something they already know about. Stay with the times, post as it's happening. As of 1/25/08, Congressional Economic Plan, Heath Ledger, both big items, already old news, stay with the times, know whats happening NOW.

4. Can you keep up with the technology?
Technology changes, you want to be able to master the art of traffic, without vistors, you're writing a diary. Know how stumbleupon works, submit to digg, make sure you have an RSS feed, without these, your hoping someone falls upon your site and tells 500 people, the odds of this? 1 in a million, with the rise of social bookmarking, you can go from 0 to 100 visitors in a matter of hours if properly used. I will write a later post about this so you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed.

5. Do you really want to do this?
Sure, I can stand here and say,"leik omg, blogging is so totally cool and everyone should like do it!" and everyone will jump gleefully and start posting their own blogs. But in order to be successful in blogging, you have to want to do it. A writer not involved in their work shows. It seems like easy sailing, but it does take a little work, although blogging is much easier than some forms of work involving writing.

So you decided to stay, good to hear. Hopefully over the coming months, we can share some good ideas on making a successful blog, for testing purposes, I have created another blog where we can compare techniques for adsense placement and various other ideas. Head on over to 02sense.blogspot.com to check it out, I'm going for a humor/satire angle for the site, tell me what you think.

So let's get started:

Step 1: Find yourself a good host, I use blogspot, obviously, it allows me to alter the html for the template and also add any widgets of my liking. This is very nice when it comes to posting adjustments, say the digg window on the right side, or the bookmarking tools on the bottom, all edited on the template. Wordpress is nice as well, loads of customization, the only downside to wordpress is the need to host your own site. The wordpress hosting site will not allow javascript, so you will be unable to monetize.

Step 2: Find a topic, this could really be step 1, but if you don't know where to put it, no sense in having an idea. Finding a good niche is always a good idea, if you're too general it will be hard to keep traffic, but also beware of being too specific as it may alienate some readers, think of it this way.

If I write a blog aimed at "Men" or even "Men aged 18-45" it's too broad, different men always have different tastes, a 20 year old college student in NYC may find something very different intriguing than a 35 year old father of 2 living in TX. Also, you don't want to be too specific, how many left handed women, aged 32, living in Oklahoma, who's favorite color is teal, can there be?

Step 3: Read up on the topic. Things change, make sure what you're writing is up to date. If you want to come across as an expert in your field, make sure you know it, having a career in the field is good, who better to write about computer programming than a computer programmer?

Step 4: Monetize. Go with adsense first and foremost, there is NO reason why not to. Also look into specific companies to promote with commission junction.


What you do after this is totally up to you, please check back in with me as I will be adding some more blog tips to the site. Also check out other blogging sites like ProBlogger, there is an abundance of information there for you to read.

Making money with Commission Junction.

This post is a playoff of my original Ebay + Craigslist Post. Instead of using Ebay, your CJ login will link to other companies. Here's how it works:

For new users, start with Step 1, for existing CJ members, skip to step 3:

Step 1: Visit www.cj.com, follow the promts in creating an account.

Step 2: Make sure to find out where your PID is located, see corresponding image:

Step 3: You will want to find a company that sells a product you know about, in my case, I work for a large credit card company, so if I wanted to pitch say, a credit monitoring service, it would be easy for me. You can find the companies that CJ works with under the "Get Links" tab on top.

Step 4: By clicking on the company name on the get links icon, you will see their payout structure, find one that suits you and click the apply for program link.

FYI: Depending on the company, you may get approved immediately, or reviewed.

Step 5: This step is optional: Register a domain name for your affiliate link(s). Which would you rather click www.monitoryourcredit.com or http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-2737229-10432997? My point exactly.

Step 6: Now what you can do, take this new link to somewhere like yahoo! answers, or really any Q and A forums and answer questions about your topic.

Q: Hey, I just went to apply for a car loan and I was told I have an account with xyz credit company. I'm afraid I might be a victim of ID Theft, what should I do?
A: Hi, Soandso, What you should do, contact the company the card was opened with and tell them you didn't apply for that card, follow their requests, they may need a police report or something, and then you might want to check out www.monitoryourcredit.com and check out the offer from Equifax so you can make sure you're on top of your credit report.

Step 6: You may not need to register a domain if the forum you are posting at has HTML options, many times you can simply just replace the link with words with the code: < href =" link "> Name< /a >. By doing this, you can save yourself some cash and simply say "Visit Equifax and see what they have to offer."

Another FYI, make sure you know the rules and regulations for your company, the last thing you want to do is find a marketing idea only to learn its against the Terms of Use. Many companies will not allow you to register adwords with the companies name or something of the like.

Again, this is hardly the only use for Commission Junction nor are they the only affiliate marketing company available, my frequent viewers may just like it because you can try multiple ideas with one company.

Get paid to give advice online!

With this program, it will allow you to make money in your spare time by answering questions and giving advise to people online.

The company is called BitWine, it will connect you and your customer via a toolbar powered by Skype. For anyone who has worked in a call center for any corporation, it's very similar, the toolbar will hang around in the background while you do whatever, you computer will then "ring" and you will be connected. As soon as the call is introduced, you decide whether or not you can assist the customer, and when you do, click the begin charging button.

Depending on how successful you are, you could do this for an hour a day, or even make a career out of it if you turn out to be an online Dr. Phil.

Just head over to www.bitwine.com

And also, I will be glad to give any advice I can about my topics if you find me online. It's kind of rare to find me as I do have a 9-5 job outside of this blog, but if you see me, click me.

Become an Ebay seller without owning anything.

This one here has likely one of the highest returns for any of the methods I have posted about before, but also with that comes a little bit more risk, but not too much if you use it wisely. In this article, I will show you how to sell items on Ebay without having to keep an inventory of items.

Step 1: Register an account with Bravisa, this company acts as a warehouse for you. It will cost you nothing to register and they will host your "store" for you.

Step 2: Follow these instructions from their tutorial page:


1) Visit your bStore. You can do this by clicking on the "Visit my bStore" button in your bStore admin page.

2) In your bStore, locate the product you want to sell on eBay. You can search for it or browse by category or brand.

3) Since eBay requires a 7 day shipping window, look at the lead time for the product in your bStore before listing it on eBay. Some products offered on Bravisa have lead time longer than 7 days.

4) Click on the thumbnail to view the product details. You can copy and paste product information from here into eBay's description box. You might want to add some HTML formatting on the eBay side.

5) From the product details page, save the images you want to upload to eBay to your computer by right clicking on the image and doing "Save As". Some products have multiple images from the manufacturer and you can get each by clicking on the row of thumbnails next to the main product image.

6) You can use a larger version of the image by clicking on the image to zoom, and downloading the zoomed image.

7) For uploading the images to eBay you have either "Basic" or "Self-hosted" option. Upload the images you downloaded from your bStore using the "Basic" option for eBay listing pictures (the self-hosted option won’t work.)

8) Shipping costs: For products that have a flat shipping fee, you can get an accurate idea of the shipping cost by visiting the product details page. For products that do not have a flat shipping fee, you can get an estimate of shipping costs by visiting your external bStore, adding the products to the shopping cart and going through the checkout process with your customer’s zip code. You need not purchase the product to get the shipping cost estimate.

9) Once you sell your product on eBay, you can place an order in your bStore and enter your customer's shipping address.

10) Note that you are not shipping out the product yourself.

11) Bravisa will ensure that the product is shipped within the stated lead-time.


Step 3: Profit

Tips and Tricks:
1) To Minimize potential loss, post items when Ebay advertises "Post x items free this weekend." Make sure to sign up with Ebay so you make sure you receive these emails.

2) Don't list the entire store unless you want to sign up as an Ebay store($15.95/mo) as some items are just cheap knockoffs that no one would buy.

3) Browse your options well, there are some pretty nice gadgets available to you, like this Digital Picture Frame that fits on a keyring. By knowing what's available, it allows you to adapt to the market depending on the time of year.

4) Link to your store from the Ebay listing, in many cases the store will have other colors/models that someone might want.

5) If you become serious about it, you might want to look into getting some kind of credit card so you can manage the flow of money in and out of the store. Since you don't have the customers billing info, you will need to front the money and get it returned to you from Paypal. This also allows you to sell higher ticket items.

6) Sign up with Commission Junction, use the Ebay + Craigslist method to post to yourself. This will allow you to make some of the money back from the listing fees as well as make a nice lead bonus if they are a new Ebay user. (This is not against the affiliate Terms of Use, as Ebay recommends it here.

7) Read their tutorials, there is a chance to make money without posting on Ebay simply by promoting. They have great reads on posting to Google Base and other search engines.

Happy New Year

I wanted to take this time to thank my readers. I feel 2008 will be a big year for all of us. Make sure to subscribe to the RSS feed so you don't miss anything. Also, Digg it, give it a thumbs up, help spread the word.

I also want to remind you of how big holidays are for the Craigslist Method, we have Valentine's Day coming up in 2 months, a great time to show someone the wonders of Ebay and net yourself some cool cash.

Over the next week or so I will introduce you to a few more Ebay ideas; just keep checking in, you never know which one might work best for you.

Again, thank you for reading this blog, and many wishes for a prosperous 2008.