MelvinBlog

A blog that chronicles my journey on online marketing, blogging, social media, technology and life.

Archives for September 2008

The Flip From Market Leverage

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Last month some of you knew that I won a contest by Collin Lahay which was sponsored by Market Leverage. After a month I finally was able to get the Flip from the post office and well they charged me some tax amounting to $45 to it. I just thought this is an example of how corruption has swallowed the Philippines entirely. 🙁 Anyway, thanks Market leverage… After I have opened the flip I got a short video by someone on their staff (Debby or Dina or who?) and well I really appreciate it. I took me some sweat to get that Flip as there was a typo on my name on the package…

So in return I did a video of my mine saying my appreciation! (I suck at doing videos!)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmu5j2QNsww

The Pleasure Of Being Read

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Once in a while, I got a question and answer here and someone asked a question like this:

Wess Stewart: What motivates you to blog? What made you want to blog in the first place?

I just said for the pleasure of being read and for money. Well I think I would love to say more about that. The money, of course everyone in the blogosphere has believed they can become rich and they can put up a decent amount of money having their blog. It’s given, I mean not so many people can continue a blog that you have to pay $10 a month and get no moolah for it.

Back again to the pleasure of being read. I was looking at my stats and it says I am getting 800 page views a day and 350 uniques. About 1/4 of that probably is just because of AdWords and some PPC. So thinking of having about 150-250 readers a day reading the simple thing that you say about something, man don’t you feel happy for that? Being read from US to Australia to India, New Zealand, Philippines and etc. just seems to be a pleasurable thing for me. I even have some offline friends who says “oh dude, you’re post about this topic pretty got a great response!” And I was like “oh I thought you’re not reading my blog”.   I know a lot other blogs there have bigger number of readers but for someone like me who’s just a dork and a cool student, it’s really amazing. I also got about 100 feed subscribers and its great!

To be honest, I never think at first blogging can be this  fun. Back to my first day I just posted how I think making money online being not for everyone and I think receiving no responses to now getting 5-10 comments per post and keeping on growing. I also meet a lot of people and learned from a lot of people who commented on this blog to share something about what they think and how they disagreed and such stuffs!

I see people who are getting depressed with their blog not piling up hundred of dollars for them every month but with great readership. I know its hard not to get a lot of money but well you just always have to think that a lot of people are following you. You may not be gaining money but for sure you’re getting the traction that most people couldn’t get. And believe me, this will be more useful for you and your journey!

If you like this one you can stumble it!

Oh My, Pay Per Click!

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Hard times! I was doing some hardcore pay per click the past 2 days with a certain offer from Copeac and although I was not really failing that bad, it still didn’t look well in my eyes. Basically I had about 5 different campaigns there each with 600 PHP daily budget ($10+) and each of the campaigns have different ad types. I have been focusing on some email and zip submits that pay $1.55 per conversion. On some, I was doing dating niche that pays $3 per signup. I guess since I took a break on Pay per Click I really had my skills declined a lot. Although I was never really that succesful in ppc, I always enjoy it. It’s not really easy to get your ad in front of 20,000 impressions per day for free.

Well going back, I think the first day was a complete flop as I never really noticed my ads were disapproved by not complying to the quality guidelines. The dating try was really a flop! I was paying the max of $7 CPC per a $3 offer! The dating has became more saturated and its just harder now! A certain email submit was doing well as i net $26 on 1 1/2 days w/me spending $15 on that campaign. Here’s a quick look (Click for larger image) :

And here’s the adwords cost:

So, what I made in that email submit is $26.35 and the cost for everything is 1,000 PHP ($30). Not bad! Well I do really hope for something better than taht! If I would be losing money in PPC, I would be elated to accept it if I learned from it 😉

How bout you, how’s your PPC campaigns doing?

The Proper Way Of Doing Paid Posting

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So I have never posted anything this month that has something to do with blogging. I just thought I would post one. 🙂 Well, paid post or paid reviews is a thing that is really in right now. I mean almost everyone has given their a blog a go signal to have it. It’s just surprsing how many people do not actually know how to do it the proper way. In forums and discussion threads, I always hear “you have to choose between the pr and the money” and some “oh, I don’t want to piss Google” and such stuffs. The thing is there is really nothing wrong with paid posting and links and blah blah. Matt Cutts has explained it well and still I thought many didn’t get it. So here are the guidelines (very few)

  1. Disclose it! – This is the first rule first and foremost. Unless you’re doing a review from those networks that are taking a cut, you should always tell your readers and Google that what you wrote is a paid review or some sort like that. I know a lot of people (including me) getting away with it with not disclosing but believe me you will hurt your blog in the long term if you do not disclose it
  2. Rel=’nofollow’ – How hard it is to put that simple stuff on your code? Well basically Google frowns on links that pass pr juice and you could get penalized. Although I do see a lot of bloggers nowadays not nofollowing links and well they do disclose though, that it is a paid post. And I think the disclosure would automatically mean something to Google as those sites pr were never dropped. Or Maybe I can tell Google they’re passing PR Juice. 😉

So thats it. Basically those are the only things that bloggers should keep in mind when doing paid posting. People who told you that the end of paid links and postings are near are stupid. The thing you always have to remember is that Google is the largest and the best search engine and they always say they can weed out any spam. Follow what they say and you’ll be all fine!

Answers On The First Q and A

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Hi guys, I just thought the question and answer went well. I received a lot of personal questions and some of the questions really had made me think. So here are my response to your craps. 😉

Royle: What is the thing that you’re doing online/offline that makes you the most money?

Melvin: Obviously affiliate marketing is the answer. I was doing affiliate since January and I have drastically learned a lot. The poker niche made well for me. I think during February I made $180 in 15 days before it went down as the offer got penetrated well by other marketers. The dating niche, though is what I love the most.

Moolahking: I’m so sorry if my question a bit sarcastic. “Do you think you will be live long enough to see the world become worst?”

Melvin: Yes! Right now I can see it and I am scared and we should! People killing each other for some trivial things. Selfish Government. People risking their own lives just to do a worthless suicide bombing. Hell! I can’t imagine this world when I became 50

Rajaie Alkorani:

Could I please ask you a question?

Seriously, what do you prefer? Building a few large websites generating a high revenue, or building tons of mini websites with small revenue?

Which do you think is more profitable (in regards to the above question)

Melvin: Of course anyone wants a large project but sometimes for me I just couldn’t afford it! Large sites imposes larger risks as they have to be well funded. I always go with mini sites. If it doesn’t work, you can just drop it and you’ll not lose much

Stratosg: i will be a bit more personal… does blogging (or online presence in general) make you loose your sociality? do you have friends? which are the best ones? online or offline?

Melvin: Honestly it’s surprising that one thing I have learned online is better communication. Before I am not a social person. I mean I have a lot of friends but then its just that I dont always want to associate wiht people. Well blogging doesn’t made me lose my friends, in fact it has grown up because my offline friends were still my friends and some blogging perks have pretty much became close to me even though I haven’t met them. The best,  still are offline friends and I can say everyone would agree. 😉

Gel: Is it hard to “negotiate” with other websites when it comes to advertising and stuff? How do you draw a crowd (I mean visitors) here in your site? Which is easier? Making money online or offline (if you tried).

Melvin: Its not. Actually companies are very RECEPTIVE with what youre offering w/them as they dont put so many question marks on you. I mean my blog isn’t big and ranking superbly but I know I have earned more than some blogs who have better readership. Visitors? Actually tons of ways and it varies. But it’s just all about creativity! 🙂

Static: Why not themelvingblog.com? Your title is The Melvin Blog anyways

Melvin: because my name is Melvin and not Melving.

Wess Stewart: What motivates you to blog? What made you want to blog in the first place?

Melvin: First is the pleasure of being read. I think that alone is something I can always be proud of. And second of course money!

Jeba: Why you think we should read your blog ? what makes in unique ??

Melvin: Basically to learn from my experiences. Btw, the blog has never been a niche blog I can say as its more of a personal blog wherein I have photos with my friends and so. Thats unique!

Trixie: Hi friend, What’s harder, school or what you’re doing here? Explain your answer!

Melvin: Definitely school! And I’m not just talking about studies. Im talking about dwelling with depressions and stress with traveling from house to school, waking up early, managing your time, seeing your crush and a lot more. By far, offline is harder.

Badboy23: What is the most know site on the internet that everyone comes back to even though they got kicked off it before?

Melvin: I don’t have an idea! I don’t know, maybe its not an easy question after all!

Zappoint: Ok, Here is the question: Do you have a gun? Why/WHY not? Thanks for the oppurtunity

Melvin: I don’t have simply because I am too young. And i think its expensive

Oliver Carding: I have a question for you Melvin.
Have you ever kissed a girl ?
If so did you like it ?

Melvin: wtf! 😉 Of course I kiss every beautiful girl I see my mom at the cheeks. But well, for other people not yet. I never had any relationships in the past and am always commited keeping myself single until I earn $10K a month. 😉

Bingu: Do you like/love ads?

Melvin: I do love ads. I click a lot of adsense ads and its just like they provide info to users. Now if the site has ton of ads then you dont hate the ads, you hate the site.

Andy: hi
have you ever riden a harly like you stole it??
andy

Melvin: I have never.

And well the winner of the $10 straight to his paypal account is…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  stratosg <<<<<<<<<<<<<

Contact me using the contact form

Publisher Spot – Professional Reviews Of Ad Network

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This is a paid review sponsored by Tyler Cruz

These days there are tons of things that exist. I mean even in an offline world you’ll probably come across with a lot of stuffs that boast all the same portfolio but you’ll never really know unless you do a research. Same as online! When I was starting out I was like joining and joining every of all these affiliate and ad networks in hopes that the more I have joined, the more I would earn. And definitely it’s a flop most of the times. I guess this is where Publisher Spot comes in.

Publisher Spot is basically a site that provides “informative” reviews of all of these networks and companies that an online entrepreneur should look to. I know Publisher Spot when it was in its early days. Honestly I thought it was just like one of those “run of the mill” sites that provides reviews, everything positive so that people would get in there, sign w/that affiliate link and boom profit! But then it was not

The site has a clean layout, and a sleek design. The reviews are done superbly! I mean when I look at the reviews there’s even a thing at the sidebar wherein there are details about the program. The creatives, Payment Methods, Minimum Payout, Payment frequency which I think is a very great thing. I find the review great and not biased. How hard it is not to get biased on something? 😉

The review and commenting also works for those who have an account. I think it’s great that he had only supplied it for those who are registered with the site. This prevents proxies who could just easily game the rating system. Actually these new features is something that for me had made the site way way better. The site also has a forum, which I doubt that will gain any attraction and a blog. The easy navigation of the site is great and I just like it. It makes it easier for those who are newbies and maybe we can remove the word “confusing” when we’re talking about the layout.

All in all I do feel its a great project. To be honest I had something like this long planned way back last year and that it never took off because of lack of commitment from me. I commend Tyler’s effor to produce this site that many newbies starting could surely benefit from. The only thing I didn’t like much is this:

Although they are selling advertising on Publisher Spot, they are not flaunting it. The only link to itheir advertise page is at the bottom so I think its another nice idea rather than to put it uptop, announce it and have there reputation tarnished. Well I know a lot of blogs have already said their piece about it. I think its a great overall project as well as a reference for a lot of aspiring internet marketers. A great job by Mr. Cruz

Answers and Questions 1

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So I never really wanted to be mainstream, but I think this is the best way to go if you’re heading back on a busy week. Fire your questions away and the best question, not not really, but one that I like the most will get $10 on his/her paypal account.

Questions can literally be everything, if I don’t feel to answer the question then I will not answer the question… 😉

CLOSED: PENDING ANSWERS