MelvinBlog

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

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I’m Making Money Online

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Update: I am still accepting sponsors, so if you are godly then you can contact me

Back to the days when I was starting out my venture on making money online, friends usually ask me “What the heck are you doing bro?” I normally respond and say “Im trying to make money online. They didn’t mind and never asked a follow up questions anymore.

So some time early this year and recently I was showing them some checks and moneys from affiliate programs and my records on paypal and that’s the only time they have got interested into what I am doing. Problem is, they ask me now seriously. How did you do it? How are you doing it? How can I do it also? Can I also get rich doing that? I respond by saying “I do affiliate marketing, I promote other people’s product and get paid by commissions”. Then they respond with so many many more follow up questions. Because for them it’s hard to understand technical terms such as CPA, CPL, Adwords, Squeeze page and so. Now I want to ask you guys, how would you explain this to someone who knows literally nothing about internet marketing. I mean when they ask you “How do you make money online and how can I too?” How can you answer them (meaningful answer that would enlighten them and not confuse them) in less than 5 sentences?

Ok, actually this one is a little contest. Everyone is running big contest just to boost their feeds and I don’t want to be the same with them. This one is just a small contest with very small prices (can’t even see them). And here are the prices first:

  • 2 copies of how a newbie could make “$500 a month in affiliate marketing sponsored by Simple Cash Blog.
  • 1 copy of the “Atomic blogging ebook” which I have won in the contest
  • Mega PLR package hosted by Me… 😉
  • Update 3 links for 1month free from Zigtur
  • Adsense Profit Unleashed by Zigtur Again
  • 2 125X125 ads at the sidebar
  • 5 text-links at the sidebar

As you can see I did not even include the price for the prizes. Let the quality do the talking. 😉 You see, just a very little contest that benefits other people and great value of prices. What do you have to do to get points?

  • Answer the question – Obviously this is what the contest is all about, right? This would not benefit me, but others who have very little knowledge of this one. Only 1 answer please. 5 points + 5 to the best answer.
  • Stumble this post – Obviously I was getting very little traffic from social media except reddit so maybe you can help me. 3 points
  • Linkback from this one – 2 points

As you can see I didn’t even include you subscribing to my feed because I know you guys are subscribed. But if you aren’t the best way to give back is to subscribe to my feed. Another way of gaining points also is by signing here (available only to United States and Canada)

That’s it. Everything would be randomized and the higher the points the better the chances of winning. 10 winners will be taken and I will post the result here next week since my exams are pretty close. Goodluck to everyone and happy blogging… 😉

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Advertise On MelvinBlog.com

MelvinBlog.com is an established blog that is focused on tackling topics related to internet marketing, monetizing websites and blogs, search engine optimization, freelancing, blogging tips and making money online in general. The blog is targeted to various readers who are: online marketers,  bloggers, work at home aspirants, businessmen and even simple internet users. So far the blog currently gets over 5000 unique visitors, 10,000 pageviews and over 50,000 hits a month. Below are traffic screenshots from various sources (click the image for a larger screenshot).

Note: The stats are not real time. This is usually the average stats for half  of a year.

Through Google Analytics

MelvinBlog Statistics

Through Webalizer

melvinblog-webalizerstats

Here are other notable statistics and press mentions around:

Ways of Advertising (ads sell out fast)

All Square Ads – $18 – Square ads are also also known as 125X125 banner ads. They are normally place at the side of the blog. The rotating 6 banners there could give you exposure without spending big money on it. To purchase a space click here

468X60 – $25 – This is the premium banner at the top. The 468X60 banner receives the most exposure and should really give your product/brand the boost. To buy a space click here

Text Links – $13 – These are the small text links under the square ads. They are not rotating and they are cheap! To make a purchase click here

Paid Review – $70 – Paid review is a great way to get a ton of exposure and traffic to your product, brand or website. All reviews are going to be honest reviews that would certainly strengthen your brand. Paid reviews are going to stay at the top for more than 24 hours. To order a paid review click here

For other concerns related to advertising please use the contact form to discuss this further.

Laying Out My Initial Plans

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Most of the contestants for the blogging idol have already revealed what they are planning to do to gain rss subscribers on the first week. I have read most of it and I can say that they really have a nice plan to gain subscribers. Today I am going to share with you what are my initial plans that I have thought of. Of course writing good content, doing some forum promotions and others stuffs are obvious. My thoughts are a bit of out of box but I think is very very effective. So how do I start promoting this feed? Well I have started doing it offline. 😉 But of course I also had some great plans for online promotion

  1. Begging – yeah I am going to admit this one is a little unorthodox. But so what? I did some statements that would surely touch the readers heart on some discussion sites. Of course I made sure the statements wouldn’t look exaggerating to them. So where did I do it? First is Smorty Forums. I have a pretty good image there as I have helped a lot of people earn (or at least what i think). Another is in the Blogcatalog discussion area. Obviously Blogcatalog is a high-trafficked site averaging about 50,000 page views per day. The problem there is that all members want to take the spotlight so if you had posted there, come back after 2 minutes and you’ll see that you’re thread is already in the second page.
  2. The family and friends – this one is so easy to understand. The great thing here is that the more friends you have the more chances that there are more who will subscribe to your feed. Filipinos are very close to each other and it’s not hard to see why they would do what you requested for.
  3. Using my University – As I have said before I am an officer of an organization in our university. And not that just I am an officer, I also have a huge influence all throughout the org. So the thing would be simple, you’ll ask everyone in the IT and CS department as well as the students to subscribe.
  4. Giving away free stuffs! – Here in Philippines, people hold a lot of bloggers party. And I have a lots of giveaway cards printed that has my feed address at the back asking to subscribe. Now what do I say about Filipino people?

Right now, as the contest goes on I am seeing how little, I mean very little, a bloggers chance are. But this does not stop me from getting motivated! This is a great challenge for me and on how can I improve things that I am not really an expert in. So far I only had a 20+ increase in my feed count but I am very optimistic. How about you? How motivated are you? Well, if you are, then you may like to subscribe to my feed. 🙂

I Forgot The Top Commenters!

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Everyone in the blogosphere seems to be talking about the launch of Blogging Idol. Of course I know everyone is getting themselves ready to launch their attacks to gain rss subscribers. I’m not gonna talk about the competition. Today I am giving something away to the top commentators last month. As you may have remembered I told you that I’m giving something for those people who have commented even w/an almost unseen comment form. So I just feel they deserve to get credited for doing so. So here are the top commenters for last month

As you can see, the criteria of top commenters is based per month. BUT it isn’t just end there. I have an algorithm done by a friend that detects people who are just running up their comments. As I have said before I’m not strict in comments but of course I don’t tolerate trolls. Another thing to add is that I have the editorial decision to remove a commentator who is sporting a spammy keyword. That’s why I always believe that when you put a comment, then you might as well want your name to get credited for it. For winners to claim your prizes shoot me a mail or a comment stating you’re email address. Don’t forget to put [@] to avoid spam on your inbox.

And before I forgot of course, everyone is doing it so do I. I’m not forcing you but see I can say I have something to be proud of my content. You can say I’m great, I’m sloppy, I’m lazy, I’m not ugly, but the best thing you can do is say nothing and subscribe to my feed. 😉

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University Kid vs. The Net Fool Blogs Head To Head Premiere

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So today is gong to be the premiere of the bloggers head to head. You can recall a couple of weeks ago that I have really worked for this one. I am very elated that at last this head to head has now started. I wanted to thank Mr. Daniel Scocco because he had allowed me to use this very popular face-off. You can visit his blog at Daily Blog Tips.

Ok so for the premiere, we have Jason Pereira of The University Kid and Jim of The Net Fools. I think this is a great premiere as these two blogs have really established something in the blogging and internet marketing world. They also interact well with people as their content is very natural and has a lot of humor packed into it. And thank you so much for the interview. 🙂

theuniversitykid

Jason

 netfool

Jim
Describe yourself in less than 5 words? Never serious, always lazy. 🙂 Determined businessman focused on success
What is your favorite breakfast? The full English breakfast – eggs, sausages, bacon, hash browns, orange juice etc. More of a brunch I guess because I can’t eat all of that unless I’m real hungry. Cocoa Krispies, of course. It says “I’m professional, but I like to party”
How long have you been blogging? Since November last year, however I only took an active interest in networking and promoting in the middle of January 2008 I’ve been blogging for just a bit over a year to this point, it’s been a long road to get to where I am now… but once you get a foothold somewhere, ventures in the future are a lot easier
Any story behind choosing that domain name? I was out of ideas, thought that there weren’t too many established university students with a blog that were making money online, and had to pick a domain that came free with my hosting, there wasn’t much risk. I was just brainstorming for a name and I wanted something fun that would be a good bubble term for all the stuff I was attempting to write about. The “fool” seemed like a good approach and “net” is just
How many uniques are you getting monthly? Anywhere between 10,000 on a bad month to 30,000 on a good month. Somewhere around 10,000 every month
What is your average blog income? Around $500, give or take a couple hundred. This is direct income from the blog itself, from ad sales, reviews, affiliate sales etc. However, indirectly I have developed an $X,XXX income from the blog, in the form of joint ventures and project launches. I’m averaging about $500 a month
Do you read other blogs feeds? How many do you track? I’m subscribed to about 15 but haven’t checked them in ages. I’m more the traditional type, prefer reading blogs on the actual website… I’d say I read about 20 – 40 daily, some A Listers, some B Listers, some friends and the rest people that have commented on TUK. Yeah, I have a whole mess of feeds in my Google RSS Reader. Probably around 40-50 names in there, it’s essential to keep in touch with as many people as possible to succeed in this business
How did you gain your feed subscribers? Contests and guest posts. Can’t beat them for getting you a truckload of subscribers fast. However, I’ve not promoted it like I should have; if I put the energy into the blog I’d have five times the subscribers I have now. Gaining recognition etc is not too important for me and TUK; I have a small group of friends that read it and that is enough (although that circle of friends seems to be growing daily  ) If I knew that, I’d be a very rich man, haha. Lots of my readers have come out from contests I have run, others have just stumbled upon my website and still others have been referred over to me. You never can tell exactly what is happening when people are subscribing. I like to think its my superior content that got me readers.
What keeps a blogger from making money from his blog? Laziness, nothing else. Lack of knowledge is one of the things, but if people were not lazy they’d do research and everything so it all eventually leads to laziness. By doing simple things – things that anyone can do… link building, guest posting, networking for contests etc, people could easily (and I’m including myself in this) get thousands of readers daily and make lots of money. However, few do; partly because they’re lazy and partly because for a return on time, blogging is not one of the best ways to go. Wasting time is the number one thing. People spend so much time monetizing and analyzing stats that they forget to write good content and stay active on other blogs to drive traffic
When does a blogger have to consider monetizing From the get go, especially if you’re in any niche related to internet marketing. It’s gotten to the stage where people expect ads on the websites they visit and if you keep your site clean and then suddenly pop some ads on them, they are going to be pissed off. Let it be known from the beginning that you are looking to make money from your blog and you won’t have a problem. Consider monetizing from the get go. People that tell you not to monetize until you have a cult following are out of their minds. It’s essential to have a game plan from the start, regardless of whether or not you actually put the ads up, for functionality purposes. I would start right of the bat selling ads to make some extra revenue and appear as an authority on the blogosphere
What makes your blog unique from others? Me. Hehe. Well, that’s the main reason – the blog is about my personal entrepreneur experiences and projects, which differ from other entrepreneurs, good and bad. My blog is unique because of the design and what I write about. Look as hard as you want, you aren’t going to find another stock market blog that talk about affiliate marketing on the internet
What’s the biggest goal for this blog? Probably to meet more people I can network with, and eventually sell for five figures. No urgency though. 🙂 I want to eventually hit 1,000 RSS subscribers,that would be a big moment for me and the blog. I really am a lot more concerned with my readers than making money or any of that. Every little bit helps, and so far I am on pace to break 1,000 within the year. Of course, things do become more challenging as you work along
Give me a blog you admire and why? It would probably be Darren Rowse of Problogger or Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips. Despite being relevant giants in the industry, they’re always honest and haven’t done anything that’s pissed me off yet. 🙂 I admire GarryConn.com because his content is honestly some of the best I’ve seen and he isn’t afraid to start a fight. The fact that he puts out so much content all the time is really eye-opening, and he recently got into competition with John Cow… who honestly had a lot more going for him. Despite this, Garry knows that even if he doesn’t come out on top, he’ll be a winner. I admire that

To Monetize Or To Not

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monetize or not?So today I am going to set my views about monetizing blogs and when should you start it. I have read several blog posts about this but I think I’m going to have my share of what my thoughts are about monetizing blogs too early. Doing my own research, I have found out that 80% of blogs that are created have goals of putting advertisements on it and make the most out of it. And if I’m gonna base it with what I have seen most, I can say that out of 80% only 10-15% make decent money from their blog.

Monetizing a blog too early is an issue for a long time. I remember a great friend Carl Ocab writing a post that one should monetize early. Obviously I commented explaining my side and he had his reply to my comment. So back to monetizing I think it’s not really bad to monetize the blog very early. In fact you can sell your space cheap if your blog is new. But what I think most people are forgetting is that you don’t really need to expect a lot from it. Oftentimes, one would put a chitika banner and upon seeing that the blog hasn’t even made a dollar on a week, he would put the banner out and say that chitika isn’t effective. Net Business Blog owner Matt Coddlington said that monetizing your blog early will help you understand that it doesn’t go that easy.

Why not monetize? Well I think the single reason I can say people must need to understand is that they have to work their traffic first. In my experience when you’re traffic starts increasing then money wouldn’t be that hard. The problem when people start monetizing is that their focus shifts from acquiring a lot of traffic first to working so hard on monetizing. They keep on signing on different programs, work hard on ad placements, tweak their layouts to accommodate ads so they already forgot the need for traffic. I know you guys heard it already that you can’t focus on two things. You must always set your priorities and then do what should have been done.

I hope I made a point here. I’m not against monetizing new blogs. In fact you may see me work for monetizing this blog in few weeks or so. The key is always the traffic. In every income report of the famous John Chow you always see him stress in the last paragraph to drive truckloads of traffic first, before starting to explore monetization options. If you intend to monetize you’re blog early then just don’t expect too much. I know it’s hard to be patient but if you really want to reap the fruits of you’re blog then you must work well for it.

I think it’s like having sex. You don’t enjoy your partner if she’s just around 10-16 years old (tell me if you do). And you would certainly enjoy her when you do her on her peak which 18 years old onwards. Am I missing something?

If you like this post you may want to sphinn it or digg or reddit or just subscribe to my feeds.

Photos

I love taking photos and currently a self-studying student of photography during my spare time. Below are some photos from both Flickr and Instagram that I don’t mind sharing here in this blog. Hopefully there’s something to enjoy! 🙂

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