MelvinBlog

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

make money online

Top Commentators, Prizes and Incentives

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So again I am stucked on a very busy weekend with all people making me look like a slave. Like what I have done last month I have given the top commentators some gifts back for commenting a lot. Last time it’s an ebook about incentive marketing. This time it will be entrecard credits and one will get a free advertising on this blog via a link. 😉 If you do not, I just won a contest on Grademoney’s blog and I won 5000 entrecards from Bloggernoob who will also do a review on my blog.

Also I was able to finally receive the Atomic Blogging package worth $37 which I have won Carl Ocab’s Contest. The ebook is a great book and there are some items there that is well worthed. Another thing to say is that I will doing some incentive marketing here on my blog and on some forums. Incentive marketing is something that I have NEVER tried before so i think i’m gonna try to put up some efforts to it. This one is a great and busy week with some great post from all over the world. Check them out:

Now who said its bad to give a lot of outgoing links? 😉

The Polluted Make Money Online Niche

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blog pollutionWell I was looking over at 45n5 top 100 make money online blogs and have seen my blog already there in the top 300. I also have seen some of my friends blog already there. I always had a thought that everyone nowadays or even as early as last year is trying to get into the make money online niche. Almost every minute there are new “make money online” blogs springing over and over. I can so much say that that this niche is like a river full of feces garbage and craps.

People are jumping into this niche because they are thinking that creating a make money online blog (or something similar) will make them money. That alone can summarize they are so wrong on doing and believing on it. Make money online blogs are blogs that help people make money maybe online or from other sources. Most bloggers nowadays think that because they have this kind of blog they can make money from it easily. Naah! That’s why I always have the feeling that people want to create a blog like those because they want their readers to help them make money while in truth, they should be helping the readers! MMO blogs are so many nowadays, like the rapist on every corner of the street. And I have listed here why it is so much polluted.

  • Make MMO and you’ll get tons of comments. Now this is what I think in general. It’s a proof because most people who do this are always looking for blogs to comment and they do it on a lot of blogs. i’m not saying it’s wrong, but you see it’s just a proof that this niche has a lot of spammers bloggers. Just take a great look at my basketball blog, most of the comments there are just under 10 and that’s because there aren’t a lot of people interested on reading basketball blogs.
  • The top 100 list. Remember 45n5 top list? Well no offense but I can say that most blogs there in the list are a crap (I’m not saying mine is better). Most blogs there are just full of anchor links that spam Google and some are just made for affiliate links and so. The list only shows how many people are egging to jump into it.
  • Do not promote it. and you will still get pageviews. it’s just like in the first one. People are always looking for something that can boost their blog’s exposure and it’s exactly it.
  • Ever increasing scammers. Well as these make money online blogs occur, so as the advertising networks who are promising to overdeliver and overpay only to suck at the end. Everyday I always get about 2-5 emails through the contact form on my blog suggesting me to use their services and I will earn a lot. Are they scam? Perhaps! But the thing is most newbie will just jump to it not knowing they are still untested and will later whine for not being payed.

As I have said before the numbers would easily quadruple for the succeeding years. But is it a problem? Heck No! Some really make good chunk of money from it! It’s just a proof that while the mmo niche is gettin polluted and competitive, it’s also getting to be milked easier as you no longer need to promote it very hard as bloggers will find you. But then is it enough to make a good chunk of money from your blog? Are you also polluting the niche? Maybe it’s worth to rethink after all,

Why Pepperjam Worths A Look

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Update: As many people still ask me so I will now say it again. The $10 signup bonus is extended until August so hurry now and sign w/pepperjam under me…

PepperJam Network is an affiliate network by affiliate marketers themselves. One thing that got into my mind was this is interesting and worths a look.. Well I have joined pepperjam network early this February and have made earnings from them all through out.

pepperjam

As you can see I’m not a super affiliate, not even a good affiliate. But heck for a small person like me, earning $40 onwards a month on a single affiliate program really helps a lot. Well back to the PepperJam, they are using web 2.0 in terms of all. They call themselves “the next generation affiliate marketing” because they offer industry leading SID-level tracking and reporting – this robust technology is especially beneficial to search marketing and sophisticated super affiliates that want to take advantage of the most up-to-date technology available to track at the keyword level. The interface looks so much nice. Another thing I have liked is the PepperJam Chat (any other aff.program that has it?) There was one time I was making gold on a dating merchant there, then all of a sudden it drastically goes down. I have had chat with the merchant himself and he said they have changed some of the terms. You see, this is a feature that is very important. Being able to talk with the merchants themselves. You can certainly ask all questions you would like.

They have hundreds of merchants and more probably it will increase more. The thing here is just to focus on you’re market and then target your potential customers. So, if it’s still not enough for you then this might change your mind. Pepperjam and I (and some affiliates) had a great partnership. Everyone who will sign under us will get a $10 sign up bonus. This means you may not get this one if you directly there. 😉 If you still had any doubts then you can ask your questions in the comments section.
Pepperjam Network is Now Offering a $10 Affiliate Sign On Bonus. Join Today.

Blogote vs TechTreak, Clash of Two Tech Blogs

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So today it is going to be the technology blogs turn to face each other in this week’s featured ‘Blogger Head to Head”. Technology blogs are blogs that blog about technology. Well, that was before. Now, technology blogs tend to expand their reach. As the technology expands it’s channels, so as the blogs. Just take a good look at techcrunch.

For this week, it’s going to be Blogote and TechTreak. Honestly I have a difficult time remembering (pronouncing) their names but hopefully I can get over this hump. Blogote is a blog that I have visiitng since months ago while Techtreak has also a great one which I am reading lately. Here are the questions I fired to their faces. 😉

TechTreak Blogote
Describe yourself in less than 5 words? crazy, Contest(too many to say) freak, helper, smart, geek Indifferent,Simply and Smart! 😉
What is your favorite breakfast? Almost all indian foods Bread butter Jam 🙂
Any story behind choosing that domain name? Me and my brother just wanted to have a tech blog so we just searched through godaddy but all the good ones are booked then my brother came up with TechTreak(we still dont know what treak is ) and we took it, at first it is a bit tough to remember but after some weeks we just getting good response and we made it so far! yes, Blog + promote = Blogote
Why did you choose the technology niche? Coz am a big tech freak and just wanna try the lastest gadgets so it will be fun to blog about them! Tech is a part of life,So experiencing the Tech and writing about it is not a tough task.
How many hours per day do you spend blogging? Almost 3 to 4 hours but in busy day i cant blog for even 4 days Not even 1 hour 🙁
How many uniques are you getting monthly? 14000 before 3 months stats but now due to some personal(father expired) problems i just stopped everything and now started to get on the track back(its really hard)! First month I received 16k+ http://blogote.com/2008/site-news/blogote-june-2008-monthly-wrap-up.html
What is your average blog income? around $800 before 3 months but now just $250 due to bad days! This is the beginning.. I will post about them in the coming months!
Do you read other blogs feeds? How many do you track? Yeah i love to read others! i have more than 50+ No I dont read blog feeds.I do visit some of my friends blog to pass my time.
What keeps a blogger from making money from his blog? Content + Traffic + Good Circle and with good management! Motivation and discouragement..These two things make a blogger reach any of his goals.
When does a blogger have to consider monetizing While having a great content, traffic and decent link love After writing first 10-20 posts,he has to find out his niche and then Quality seo readable posts will do the job.Also submission to social sites is recommended for every blogger.
What makes your blog unique from others? Style in posts, good design(some self made ), covers almost all interesting stuff like mixed juice! I have No answer,I cant say if my blog is really unique bcoz Blogote is yet to be discovered and nourished.
What’s the biggest goal for this blog? ha…biggest!? almost every month is a sucessfull month for TechTreak coz as a contest freak i try to get on as much as possible and try to make most of my content with a better traffic each month so it just going to increasing!
But to the most hardest part i ever faced is face off with johnchows blog review, i dont know about johnchow that much untill then, when i seen him in a RuffPC(worth $3000) contest, that is the month i tried to make most of my blog to get nore votes and win but with both our votes euqual the whole contest rules and schedules are changed because of us but sadly i lost it and it still hurts(i even cant says that tons of xxxxxx comments i got from a month from JC fans) me the most! but the only hope is one day i’ll be there to break the chains!!!		 For now it is to break the traffic shackles obviously to be the best blog with quality content.
Give me a blog you admire and why? Problogger.net since in the beginning i learnt a lot from darren I don’t admire any blogs,why to admire a blog when you have the capability to blog better than others..

How To Get That Advertising

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Disclaimer: This is an article based on my experiences and wouldn’t guarantee anything on your part. People do things differently and I can say this is what worked best for me all throughout.

So I was being asked by my friends on schools on how did I get that many ads on my site while my site is new and unpopular? I told them “I just flaunt with advertisers”. That statement though, is just 1/4 behind the real thing about selling ads on your site. Many blogs have struggled immensely on finding advertisers on their blogs. The truth is you would really struggle! I know most people doing selling are new and unestablished blogs. Selling the spot is really hard especially when you’re content is a little out of place. So I have written here some thoughts on how to get advertisers for your blog (preferably for new blogs):

  • Putting affiliate links – It’s a rule of thumb that when your blog is new, then just try placing affiliate links there! It’s good and bad on some point, let me explain what I think. When affiliate ads are placed on your site, advertisers will come to think that spots are full and/or it would give them an ugly impression and will ask themselves “What am I getting here being the first one to advertise?” Obviously that’s a great point. When there’s only one advertiser on your part, make sure he’ll feel special because he’s the only ONE! It’s ok to put affiliate links as long as in moderation. For example in my blog, the only affiliate banner there is sponsored reviews and revresponse at the links part.
  • Sell yourself cheap! – This is always an issue on whether you are going to sell your blog’s space for cheap or not. Actually I pretty much believe starting out low is good, why? Because people love cheap prices? There are tons of people in digital point looking for super cheap advertising. If you are selling $20 on a banner and only getting 1 advertiser per 2 month, then why not sell it for $5 and get 4 in a month?
  • Show your booty hole what you’ve got. – This is one of the biggest misconceptions of people/bloggers. They tend to create an advertising page, then feel lazy and then just rush it. BIG mistake! Just saying you’re getting 1000 uniques a day is not enough. People look for proofs, they look for informations, they look for pictures. Showing it, makes people expect what they can get for a very cheap advertising. It also builds a good reputation around the blogosphere. Tell them your uniques, alexa, technorati, serp, countries where visitors originated, such those things. Maybe like this advertising page 😉
  • Contact them – This is common nowadays because it’s very effective. Most bloggers look for other blogs advertisers and contact them directly offering advertising. What I have learned here is that you have to be keen and logical. You cannot look at Shoemoney’s blog and then contact Clickbooth and asking them to advertise. Just look on how the advertisers are targeting channels. Some target niche blogs, some do target blogging tips blogs and so. Example here in my blog is the Blogriffic advertisement. I have seen that advertisement on some small blogs around the blogosphere. From that point, you can see that this is an advertiser willing to take advertising on small blogs and not on risky and costly ones. After that I contact Salwa and offered him her my advertising page and she said she would. That easy!
  • Get a great theme – This one is a no brainer. You don’t expect to handle ads with a Kubrick Theme. Heck this one is so easy as there are so many many many themes compatible with block ads and others.

Again this is what I have used for the past few years and have found it effective for me. You may not agree with me at some point but I am sure some of this are self-explanatory. If we are different in thoughts here, then how do you do advertising on you’re part?

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… 😉

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