MelvinBlog

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

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Q and A Round 3 – Fire Away…

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Secret Entry: Sign Up for Pepperjam Network and Get a $10 Sign On Bonus. For a successful sign up with PepperJam you will get another 20 points in the contest.

It’s been a long time since I did the last question and answer here in this blog and I also noticed that bloggers (midcaps and A+) have already forgotten about doing this (or just lost interest). Anyway, since the next 3-4 days is our exams I believe this is the best  time to do it. 🙂

So fire away your questions now and at the end I’ll pick two of the best questions. They will get a free 125X125 ($10) and text link ($5) for one month on this site. Deal?

How To Get Sponsors For Your Contest

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“How do I get sponsors for my blog contest?”

There were about 4-5 people who ask those types of questions to me via the contact form. I believe getting contest sponsors is something that has been talked about a lot but I just felt I would add something so that more people can understand more about it.

Just last month I held a contest which is known as The Melvin Blog’s 2009 Contest. There were about 40 entries right now and some really great prizes up for grabs. Anyway back to getting contest sponsors, I think getting some sponsor is SO EASY but getting QUALITY sponsors is what you really have to work a lot. Normally when you hold a contest, the first and easiest way in getting sponsors is by heading into forums that is related to your niche. The downside though is that you’ll pretty much be slapped with tons of free advertising offers from blogspot blogs with over 5,000,000 in Alexa rankings. Since most contest nowadays are really all about like that, I highly suggest you to stay away on accepting those types of prizes.

How bout info products? Well you should and always should ask for a copy first before thinking whether it’s of a nce quality or not. For god’s sake most make money online ebooks are just rehashed PLR products that have ZERO value in real life. It pays to read after all!  My favorite way of finding sponsor is by basically finding sites that link to you. Yes, in my experience these sites will more likely bite your offer because they know your brand. And because they have linked to you it means they (possibly) like you! 🙂

If you’re an affiliate marketer like me I believe you’re way ahead than most people. You can just basically contact affiliate networks and ask them to sponsor your contest. Because they know you’re one of their good affiliates, they have no other choice to make. 🙂  Just be sure you’re not just a dead affiliate like most people. If you signed with them and never produced any lead then forget about it!

You must also never be afraid to contact persons whom you feel can help you in your contest. If they declined to sponsor something, so be it! The thing is you’re putting out your blog in its extended reach. Of course, they’ll look at your blog and if they find out you have a nice blog, then they’ll be receptive to help.

Getting sponsors can really vary. Another thing that I would want to emphasize is for you to be as transparent and honest as you can. You can’t just say lies about your sites. Basically sponsors sponsor something because they want something in return. Exposure, brand awareness, traffic, Search engine boost and etc. If you’re blog is just getting less than 100 uniques a day and you tell them youre getting thousands, what would you think they would expect? The thing is don’t make them feel disappointed by not having their expectations met. Just tell them what your site can give. Like for example this blog, when I started the contest I have a PR0 (still pr0 up to now), then only about less than 200 uniques a day and so. It’s just a so-so figure I must say but look how I rake up some really good quality sponsors!

At the end its just like putting yourself in the situation of the prospective sponsors you’re contacting and asking yourself “what will i get if i give three shirts in melvinblog.com’s contest?” “Will I get something good in return?” Wht do you think?

Valentines Is For Everyone

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Hey everyone I just want to greet you a happy and nice valentine. Most people take this day off, turn their computers off, to spend this time of day with their own love ones. Some would like to spend it with their girlfriends/boyfriends, some with their friends and some with the relatives and family members.

Really Valentines day is for everyone. Before I used to think Valentines is just for lovers but its not the case. What is in my plan this Valentine? Well how I wish I can spend the night of that day with my “girl” in a nice restaurant with some retards playing romantic violin music. It’s not possible. 🙁 I will be in duty for the whole Valentines day itself so what I planned is just to give a present to her in the 13th. and tell her I love her! LOLZ… Then on the 15th (the day after the Valentine) I am going to spend some time with my family and hopefully go into dinner or something. 🙂

Anyway what is the best flower for Valentines? They say its Tulips, other Rose. A friend told me Carnation is cheap but it can last for a week. Also, what’s the sidedish for a flower? I had in mind, chocolate cake, chocolate, figurine, heart-shaped pillow..err… stuff toy and so. Any suggestions?

How to Make Money Outside Internet Marketing

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Although the title looks like that one you have been seeing in email spams and “get-rich quick sales pages, it’s actually not. A lot of people jumping into internet marketing always have this question “How do I start? I dont know anything about internet marketing?” The answer is always read, try to learn, test, then learn again.

But as always there are a ton of ways on how you can make money online if you’re dumb and poor about internet marketing. We all know it takes time before you can completely grasp the whole concept of it, but whats the need on learning it if you can make some cash without it? 🙂 Today I have compiled ways on how you can actually make money online without any knowledge about IM. The only thing you need is the basic read and write knowledge as well as some persistence on your part. I believe all of them costs nothing (although if you have the money, the better)  Here they are:

  • Forum Posting – Forum Posting is basically posting in a forum and getting paid. It’s not really that big but if you can work quick, then you can definitely have your earnings up. ForumsFirst.com is one that pays for it. They are probably the most reliable and better forum posting company. You can also look at some forums like dp and v7n, as normally there are people that look for forum fillers.

SECRET TIP: With this type people often whine “I don’t type fast” While typing fast is a huge factor in this one, it’s not totally the only thing that can give you success with it. Why not use a dicatation software? In my previous stints with doing it, I use Dragon Naturally Speaking. If you’re a Mac user you can use Mac Dictate. What is a dictation software? Basically its a software that converts your voice to text. COol? Definitely! You can make $50 a day easily with forum posting with this type of software. $50 a day? Yeah, something most affiliate marketers cant even reach!

  • Get Paid To Sites – GPT sites are sites that pay people to complete an offer. Maybe a short survey, or signup to a free site, or maybe something that requires a credit card. Believe me there’s no shortage of this sites. Why? Because some affiliate marketers are incentivizing some offers, thats why they come to these sites, pay them and earn. Win-Win situation for all! Jim of TNF has a list which he personally recommends
  • Freelancing – Contrary to what most people are saying, freelancing is really a lucrative thing. A lot of people are looking to outsource (including me). They look for designers, article writers, coders, data entry personnels, and many more. I mean Im sure at least you know how to do one of it right? Freelancers are the one whom I often called as “partners in business”.  Elance.com is one company which probably is the biggest.
  • Starting A Contest Blog – I hate doing stuffs like this but basically lets face it, you can actually make some cash/gadgets with contests nowadays. 85% of contests require blogging and doing it costs you nothing. What are you waiting for? Create a free blogger blog, fill it with some content, then start hunting for contests. I know a lot of people making good use of contest blogs and taking advantage of contests.

SECRET TIP: How do you know a contest is live? Easy, just look at other contest blogs and you will know it. Contest bloggers try to find contest as much as they can so they are actually doing the work for you. Search Google for terms “contest blogs” “blog contests” or so and you’ll find a ton.

  • Selling Photos – Selling photos is something that I have never done and will never do in my entire life. But after countless hours of doing research about it I found out it can really be a good business. If you have a camera, then go into a peaceful place (cemetery?) and take shots. Then sell it to  sites like iStockPhoto and StockExpert.

Now with this list, I dont really see any reason why people cannot make any money online. Although it doesn’t make you that big, I believe seeing your first dollars would make you more inspired. And inspirations do a lot. Anyway if you can add anything valuable to this list then don’t be shy to put it in the comments. Or if you have some questions, then ask them.  My goal is to get more to add in this list and hopefully share it in some of the local forums here in my country. 🙂 What say you?

Don’t Have Domains, Start Picking Up Now

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When I was just getting started with my online ventures I was wondering why people are spending their dimes buying up domains and never really using it as a website. I mean they buy about a hundred a only put 10% of it to real websites/blogs and 90% being just parked. I was pretty much wondering why should people jack up themselves registering domain names and only have it unused

Well now I was year older, I looked at my namecheap account and have seen about 35 domains in it and quickly realized buying domain is really a part of business.  35 isn’t a big number but most people don’t even get pass 5 domains because they think its retarded to get a lot of it. I mean you’ll just never know. Maybe 10 years ago, you had a thought of a domain douchebag.com and well before it was unknown. But if you would sell it right now, seriously you’re easily off to 5-6 figures just for that domain.

Not really talking about Domain Flipping here but basically its just that you always have to have domains as an internet property. Just as the same as in offline world, probably domains can be treated as land properties wherein you buy it and just use it when you already think something good of it.

So think of it and instead of spending $50 a month in buying shirts, why not just invest in registering domain names. I’m not really sure how to say you’ll make your money back but I assure picking up domains is a great business strategy..

Some Link Love And Some Announcements

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Ok if you have been following this blog, you will notice I have not been doing much of the mainstream link-love. One reason is that I just don’t like doing it. But one thing I’ve learned about doing link love is that its just helpful for readers as well. In my own experience reading  link love posts, it’s helpful for me in a sense that it actually lets me discover new blogs with great content. Basically you really don’t know all helpful blogs and you’ll also never know a post that probably can struck you the most so reading those kinds of posts helps me find great content sites that I don’t actually know or haven’t read yet.

For my version of the best posts of the week from the blogosphere:

  • How to Create Information Products that Sell Like Hotcakes – Gyutae from WTW wrote a great post not just about creating info products but also why creating info prods. Personally I hate the “ebook” thing and it kinda sucks for me but after reading the post, it made sense to me.
  • Why new bloggers shouldn’t post everyday – Khena from MMblog basically put up a nice post which I can say a must-read for newbies. New Blogger should not post everyday and I think its a big misconception for most people that if you’re new, you must put up content day after day.
  • Intense Debate: RSS vs. Email – Mr.Gambling Gamble wrote a nice debate post whether an RSS or email subscriber is more important. It highlights both the pros and cons and its interesting too how his readers fared with it.
  • Affiliate Marketing With No Startup Cost – theaffiliate (or whoever he is) puts up a walkthrough article on how to do affiliate marketing with literally no startup capital except for the popcorns you are going to eat. I actually hate to do things he highlighted but again when you don’t have the money, you have to pay with your effort and time.

Those are the top posts of the week. So for the top commentators last month, I had a surprise for you. 😉 Actually its not a surprise. Before I really give incentives to top commentators but I guess it requires a lot from me so I decided to give it a break. The guys here will get a free text link on this site for one month which ideally costs $5. (shoot me a private message) Here they are:

Rowell Dionicio

Zalds

Donny Gamble

IronBlogger

Gel

Blogosphere Update

The January month was a great month for the blog growing with over 6000 uniques and over 20000 pageviews. The feed count also got a spike. In case you just missed reading this blog for the whole month of January, I would like to say that there is an ongoing contest happening here with over $700 in real prizes. There are considerable entries but hey there would be 18 winners and you might not want to see an agressive guy getting it all, right?

Chilly chill chill!

Thinking Outside The Goddamn Box

Thinking Outside The Goddamn Box

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So a few days ago I was hanging out with the wickedfire guys on their forum and basically I just asked them every annoying questions you could ever think of.

Anyway I asked them some questions with regards to some dating offers on Copeac on whether they do convert well or what. And fortunately a lot of people give their piece of shiet!

So I promoted an exclusive offer there named “Spicy or Sweet” and well after some days of split testing here’s what I got:

spicysweet

It isn’t really that big of an amount but I felt its awesome. The expenses on Google Adwords aren’t really that big considering dating is a saturated niche. I also used Facebook with it using the free credit I received and although its harder to get your ads approved, it worths it when you start getting it right. So I know you’d ask how did I do it? Well first and foremost I do have a landing page. Most people promoting dating offers do direct linking which definitely adds up to the cost. Another is I targeted long tail keywords and seriously this one is the harder part of it.

The last thing is that I promoted the offer outside US. I don’t know but I feel that if you run an offer in other countries it is easier to convert. Fortunately the offer accepts traffic from New Zealand, Australia, and United Kingdom and upon studying their trends, I knew I can make some bigs with this! Still got to push my ass up!

*****Secret Entry Alert*******

Like what I have said in my contest, I would be revealing secret entries that would definitely add some points. This entry costs 5 points! Basically its a twitter entry and all you have to do is tweet this:

“Just entered to win over $700 in prizes. Just follow @melvinblog and retweet http://xr.com/melvinblogcontest”