If you are using Adsense on your site then you must update your privacy policy by April 8, 2009. This update is in relation to the new changes enacted on Adsense in March of 2009. The new changes effect how Google collects information on your surfing habits using third party advertising vendors who leave cookies on your browsers - notably the Doubleclick DART Cookie.
The basic changes to Adsense revolve around the addition of Interest Based Advertising as opposed to the previous Placement Targeted Advertising. You can visit Google for a description of what Interest Based Advertising entails.
Your updated Privacy Policy should inform your users about the use of third party cookies on your sites and provide them with information regarding their opt out options should they wish to not have cookies placed on their browsers. See Opt Out of Behavioral Advertising
As an Adsense publisher you also have the option not to use Internet Based Advertising and may Opt out by following the instructions posted in Google Adsense Help. I do not recommend that you opt out but the choice is yours. These changes should help increase your CTR and CPC in the long run as you will become less susceptable to being smart priced. (ie. Conversions should increase as users are presented more advertisements based on their interests)
It is still too early to give any conclusive feedback on how successful Internet Based Ads are but early results seem to be positive. Unfortunately March was a bit rocky for publishers as all the new changes to Adsense caused a number of glitches - several days saw CTR under-reported which Google admitted was an error on their part as they were not showing relevant ads. They maintained that it was only for a few hours but it lasted several days. You may have also experienced higher than normal pageviews for a few days.
Personally I have seen and am still experiencing strange CPC highs and lows as recently as yesterday. I'm not too concerned as I think it will take a little while to iron out all the bugs and caution everyone to just wait things out for the month of April before making any major changes to your Adsense sites. (ie. Don't concern yourself with smart price tweaking for the time being)
If anyone has seen definitive results either good or bad regarding Internet Based Ads please feel free to leave a comment.
FYI - I am on holidays with the kids at the moment (spring break here) so have been neglecting my comments but should be back to work next monday.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Site Build It - Lessons Learned
Site Build It Aftermath
One of the more humourous (international spelling) things I see online are people that use link baiting. And the people who think others are link baiting. Link baiting is simply writing contentious posts and titles designed to attract attention. A useless endeavor for making money as the visitors don't click ads or buy things. Link baiting attracts social traffic. The only good that can be said for it is that they may leave you gobs of comments full of rich keywords to feed the Google bot. Keywords that will bring you targeted long tail traffic in future.
Lissie was accused of link baiting with her recent posts concerning SBI or Site Build It. She wasn't, she was simply using a tried and true technique known as Keyword Targeting her post in order to rank well in the search engines. The point was to obtain targeted search visitors who do click ads and buy things. She wrote a second follow up post in order to link to the first post. The reason? That is how you can obtain double indexing in Google. (You have to use the exact same keywords anchored in both posts though) I wrote a post about Site Build It as well and have now linked to it and will link that post to this one.
If you use keyword targeting and people link to you then they are likely to use your post title in the anchored link pointing at you. If that happens then you will rank better for that keyword.
How did Lissie make out? (click images to enlarge)
- and that's how you make money with Adsense. Let the people flogging a program pay you to flog it for them. They do all the work - you collect the money. When one batch of affiliates have lost enough money using PPC another batch will replace them. You will still be making money with a program like SBI long after the current crop of users have quit blogging on SBI. Just be sure to target a program like Lissie did - it has been around a long time and probably will be for some time to come. To find the right programs just look for fanatical cheerleaders, and lots of fake review sites. Simply post a contrary review and the fanatics will get your post noticed. Once noticed many people who have been scammed or are simply not happy with the program in question will link to you. Google will also give your post a nice position even without the links. See Justin's SEO blog for a technical explanation of why this is so.
Lissie's post is done, ranked and she will never have to do another thing and the search traffic will show up every day and make her money should she add Adsense to the post. (assuming there is search traffic for the term - if not use the post to send authority for a term that does get search traffic - ie. Site Build IT, Site Build It Review etc) Ideally you want to rank number 1 for all the terms. I have discussed how this is done previously.
Oh... and how well does social traffic convert?
Some of the folks on Digital Point Forum seemed to think my Niche Blogging with Hot Topics post was designed as link bait. Let's see why I don't bother with forums or chase social traffic.
This past week my 5th highest source of traffic came from a thread in Digital point.
Source: Google Analytics
And let's see how well my traffic sources converted into Adsense Earnings.
Source: Google Analytics
Some of you may think $12 bucks is worth spending your time chasing 1100 social visitors but it will take a lot of work to keep that traffic coming daily. Do what Lissie did and you won't have to chase anything - Google will send them to you.
So? Does SEO work?
Lesson completed. (insert smilie dude)
Cheers
Griz
Related Posts
Site Build It Review Update
Honest Reviews Online
Site Build it - Don't Buy It
This is not a fake review with a sales pitch for Site Build It - I am simply telling you not to buy it.
Lissie wrote an article entitled Site Build It Scam Review. If you read her post and I encourage all my readers to do so you will see a prime example of how many online systems work. Develop a canned project, target beginners looking to make money online, set up a sweet affiliate program to entice people to sell your product and then send out your core cheerleaders to attack and bash anyone who so much as criticizes your product. Read her post and see if you would like to be associated with the cheerleaders pimping this product.
In my experience every time I see a swarm of cheerleaders like Site Build It has, you are looking at a program that makes money by selling the program and not by using it. MLM is notorious for using this method. Is Site Build It MLM? I have no idea - doesn't matter. What matters is that the only reason you get cheerleaders to swarm en masse is to protect their source of money - ie selling "the program" - not "using it" to make money online.
If the program developed successful internet marketers then no one would give a damn if someone like Lissie writes a negative review about the program. They would know it works and are making money using it. If others dissent so what - their loss. You wouldn't care because it worked for you. On the other hand if your only means of income is selling "the program" to unwitting noobs then you can bet you will be out in full force defending "the Program". If people start reading negative opinions then your source of income is gone.
I make money doing what I do and could give a rats ass if someone doesn't agree with me, or like me or bashes me and I would never ask my readers to defend me or my system. In fact I wish you would all stop mentioning me on the noob forums like Digital Point and Warrior. Please.
If you do a search for Site Build It on Google all you see is fake affiliate reviews simply gushing over how wonderful it is. Such bullshit. There isn't a real review on it which simply tells me that real internet marketers have nothing to do with it (I wouldn't use it) - just noobs doing the noob affiliate review trick that is as old as the hills. Is that what Site build it teaches?
Thanks to Lissie's post a number of cheerleaders left their URL's. It took less than 10 minutes to review their sites and guess what? They don't know SEO, they don't make money, they don't know how to find profitable niches and they don't know how to monetize. They just have the usual generic sites like all the other millions online, neither good or bad. Nothing worth spending $300 to learn. You can learn far more reading my blogs for free. I could outrank every one of the niches I looked at in a heart beat using a free blogger blog.
I have a favor to ask all my readers who have a site - please write your own review about Site Build It. You will save future beginners from wasting their money. The serp's are full of affiliate reviews pimping this product and could use a few real reviews so that people have a better idea of what this product is really about.
Our good friend Vic has surfaced long enough to post Site Build It Noobs are Funny on Blogger Unleashed.
Steve spreads the message on his blog Is Site Build It a Scam?
Video Presentation Is Site Build It a Scam?: No It's Just Bullsh*t - by Allyn Hane (This Video is excellent and not just the content - you have to see Allyn - some serious talent)
I am sick of scum bag cheerleaders trying to bully people online especially as they are doing it simply to make money by sucking noobs into programs they don't need.
Read Justin's post if you are interested in understanding the SEO aspect of all this.
Related Posts - These are real reviews and not affiliates of SBI.
Site Build It Scam? by Jeremy
How Not to Make Money with Site Build It - by Terry Didcott
Dr Ken Evoy SiteSell.com Scam? - by April
Site Build It is a Waste of Money - by Splork (My friend Splork has wasted more money on more crap than anyone I know. If you are a beginner then listen to him - he has been there - done that!)
Site Build It Review for Beginners - by Medic
Site Build It Scam? - by Wayne
Site Build It Scam Controversy - by Archie
Site Build It Scam Review - by Ad Tracker. (Quite humorous)
Site Build It Scam Trolls - by Fiar (Excellent commentary that covers the real point of this exercise)
Make Money Online for Free - Not with Site Build It - by Denise
Is Site Build It a Scam? by Christy
Site Build it Review or SBI Review or Whatever by Vic (lol - for your entertainment pleasure folks!)
What Constitutes a Scam? - by Bruce
How to Earn Cash Online with Site Build it - by Frank Carr (A considered opinion by one of the fairest reviewers online - well worth the read if you are considering Site Build it.)
Site Build It: The Scam - by Nick
Can I Make Fast Money with SBI? - by Matt
The Blog War - by Costa
Site Build It Action Guide - by Andy
The Soap Opera of SBI Scam Review - by Simonne
Fake Scam Product Reviews - by Tracey Edwards
How to Avoid Site Build It Scam - by Jeff Lopes
Site Build It Websites without the $300 - by Hijinks
Ken Evoy Defends Site Build It - by Dennis Jr.
Review of Site Build It - The Bashing - By Nick
SBI - The Evoy Empire - by Vic W
Is SBI Site Build It a Scam? - by Derrick
Site Build It Review - Positive or Negative? - by Neena
Is Site Build It a Scam? - SBI Review - by Zania
Site Build It is Unlikely to Make you Much Money - by Lorecee
Site Build It Vs Steve Pavlina: Which is the Scarier Cult - by Personal Development for Dummies (Funny and quite perceptive)
The Great Site Build It Scam - by Max Wolfe
Site Build It - Is Site Build It a Scam? - by Lin Burress
Site Build It Scam - The SBI Cult VS Lis - by Xel
Fake Site Build It Affiliate Reviews - by Carla
When 'Site Build It' Zombies Attack - by RT Cunningham
Site Build It is Not Worth It - by Damien
SEO for Small Business - Buyer Beware - by Larry G
Lissie's Site Build It Scam Review - by Cliff Edge Consulting
Site Build It Scam - by Scooter
WTF Is it with Site Flipping - by Bill The Blog Entrepreneur
Site Build It Review: Is SBI a Scam - by Ditto
Don't Buy Site Build It! - by Niche Writer
Site Build It Scam: No Need for SEO Web Design by Norman Sheppard Web Design
Is Site Build It a Scam? - by Janetra Antigua Web Solutions
Site Build It Scam Review - By Adam
Site Build It SEO Video from Vic - By Online Stock Trading
Site Build It Review - by Bastilar
Make Money Online The Real Deal - by Lissie
The Site Build It Controversy - Carla
Site Build It - No Naysayers Allowed - by Chanya
What is the Site Build It! Stink About - by Elliot
Site Build It? Forget It! - by Thai
How to Make Money Online for Beginners for Free - by The Chetty Bear
"Site Build It" - by BK
Site Build It Scam Reviews - Reviews Collection - by Joe
Watching the Fireworks - When MMO Implodes - by MJ
Are Site Build It Reviews a Scam? - by Michael Erickson
Site Build It Blog Reviews - by Online Stock Trading
Site Build It Review Site - by Grey Brother
A Negative Review of Site Build It! - by Toban
5 Things that won't Make Beginners Money Online - by Jordan Pierreza
The Dirty Little Secret Behind the Law of Attraction - by KuleKat (Kat adeptly discusses the Western world's penchant for self help, Steve Pavlina and SBI)
Get Your Green on
How to Pinch a Penny
Billiga Bilforsakringar
Lissie wrote an article entitled Site Build It Scam Review. If you read her post and I encourage all my readers to do so you will see a prime example of how many online systems work. Develop a canned project, target beginners looking to make money online, set up a sweet affiliate program to entice people to sell your product and then send out your core cheerleaders to attack and bash anyone who so much as criticizes your product. Read her post and see if you would like to be associated with the cheerleaders pimping this product.
In my experience every time I see a swarm of cheerleaders like Site Build It has, you are looking at a program that makes money by selling the program and not by using it. MLM is notorious for using this method. Is Site Build It MLM? I have no idea - doesn't matter. What matters is that the only reason you get cheerleaders to swarm en masse is to protect their source of money - ie selling "the program" - not "using it" to make money online.
If the program developed successful internet marketers then no one would give a damn if someone like Lissie writes a negative review about the program. They would know it works and are making money using it. If others dissent so what - their loss. You wouldn't care because it worked for you. On the other hand if your only means of income is selling "the program" to unwitting noobs then you can bet you will be out in full force defending "the Program". If people start reading negative opinions then your source of income is gone.
I make money doing what I do and could give a rats ass if someone doesn't agree with me, or like me or bashes me and I would never ask my readers to defend me or my system. In fact I wish you would all stop mentioning me on the noob forums like Digital Point and Warrior. Please.
If you do a search for Site Build It on Google all you see is fake affiliate reviews simply gushing over how wonderful it is. Such bullshit. There isn't a real review on it which simply tells me that real internet marketers have nothing to do with it (I wouldn't use it) - just noobs doing the noob affiliate review trick that is as old as the hills. Is that what Site build it teaches?
Thanks to Lissie's post a number of cheerleaders left their URL's. It took less than 10 minutes to review their sites and guess what? They don't know SEO, they don't make money, they don't know how to find profitable niches and they don't know how to monetize. They just have the usual generic sites like all the other millions online, neither good or bad. Nothing worth spending $300 to learn. You can learn far more reading my blogs for free. I could outrank every one of the niches I looked at in a heart beat using a free blogger blog.
I have a favor to ask all my readers who have a site - please write your own review about Site Build It. You will save future beginners from wasting their money. The serp's are full of affiliate reviews pimping this product and could use a few real reviews so that people have a better idea of what this product is really about.
Our good friend Vic has surfaced long enough to post Site Build It Noobs are Funny on Blogger Unleashed.
Steve spreads the message on his blog Is Site Build It a Scam?
Video Presentation Is Site Build It a Scam?: No It's Just Bullsh*t - by Allyn Hane (This Video is excellent and not just the content - you have to see Allyn - some serious talent)
I am sick of scum bag cheerleaders trying to bully people online especially as they are doing it simply to make money by sucking noobs into programs they don't need.
Read Justin's post if you are interested in understanding the SEO aspect of all this.
Related Posts - These are real reviews and not affiliates of SBI.
Site Build It Scam? by Jeremy
How Not to Make Money with Site Build It - by Terry Didcott
Dr Ken Evoy SiteSell.com Scam? - by April
Site Build It is a Waste of Money - by Splork (My friend Splork has wasted more money on more crap than anyone I know. If you are a beginner then listen to him - he has been there - done that!)
Site Build It Review for Beginners - by Medic
Site Build It Scam? - by Wayne
Site Build It Scam Controversy - by Archie
Site Build It Scam Review - by Ad Tracker. (Quite humorous)
Site Build It Scam Trolls - by Fiar (Excellent commentary that covers the real point of this exercise)
Make Money Online for Free - Not with Site Build It - by Denise
Is Site Build It a Scam? by Christy
Site Build it Review or SBI Review or Whatever by Vic (lol - for your entertainment pleasure folks!)
What Constitutes a Scam? - by Bruce
How to Earn Cash Online with Site Build it - by Frank Carr (A considered opinion by one of the fairest reviewers online - well worth the read if you are considering Site Build it.)
Site Build It: The Scam - by Nick
Can I Make Fast Money with SBI? - by Matt
The Blog War - by Costa
Site Build It Action Guide - by Andy
The Soap Opera of SBI Scam Review - by Simonne
Fake Scam Product Reviews - by Tracey Edwards
How to Avoid Site Build It Scam - by Jeff Lopes
Site Build It Websites without the $300 - by Hijinks
Ken Evoy Defends Site Build It - by Dennis Jr.
Review of Site Build It - The Bashing - By Nick
SBI - The Evoy Empire - by Vic W
Is SBI Site Build It a Scam? - by Derrick
Site Build It Review - Positive or Negative? - by Neena
Is Site Build It a Scam? - SBI Review - by Zania
Site Build It is Unlikely to Make you Much Money - by Lorecee
Site Build It Vs Steve Pavlina: Which is the Scarier Cult - by Personal Development for Dummies (Funny and quite perceptive)
The Great Site Build It Scam - by Max Wolfe
Site Build It - Is Site Build It a Scam? - by Lin Burress
Site Build It Scam - The SBI Cult VS Lis - by Xel
Fake Site Build It Affiliate Reviews - by Carla
When 'Site Build It' Zombies Attack - by RT Cunningham
Site Build It is Not Worth It - by Damien
SEO for Small Business - Buyer Beware - by Larry G
Lissie's Site Build It Scam Review - by Cliff Edge Consulting
Site Build It Scam - by Scooter
WTF Is it with Site Flipping - by Bill The Blog Entrepreneur
Site Build It Review: Is SBI a Scam - by Ditto
Don't Buy Site Build It! - by Niche Writer
Site Build It Scam: No Need for SEO Web Design by Norman Sheppard Web Design
Is Site Build It a Scam? - by Janetra Antigua Web Solutions
Site Build It Scam Review - By Adam
Site Build It SEO Video from Vic - By Online Stock Trading
Site Build It Review - by Bastilar
Make Money Online The Real Deal - by Lissie
The Site Build It Controversy - Carla
Site Build It - No Naysayers Allowed - by Chanya
What is the Site Build It! Stink About - by Elliot
Site Build It? Forget It! - by Thai
How to Make Money Online for Beginners for Free - by The Chetty Bear
"Site Build It" - by BK
Site Build It Scam Reviews - Reviews Collection - by Joe
Watching the Fireworks - When MMO Implodes - by MJ
Are Site Build It Reviews a Scam? - by Michael Erickson
Site Build It Blog Reviews - by Online Stock Trading
Site Build It Review Site - by Grey Brother
A Negative Review of Site Build It! - by Toban
5 Things that won't Make Beginners Money Online - by Jordan Pierreza
The Dirty Little Secret Behind the Law of Attraction - by KuleKat (Kat adeptly discusses the Western world's penchant for self help, Steve Pavlina and SBI)
Get Your Green on
How to Pinch a Penny
Billiga Bilforsakringar
1.5 Million Visitors in 8 Days - Niche Marketing
Make Money Niche Blogging with Hot Topics
The early bird gets the worm when there is no competition.
1,512,246 visitors in 8 days.
Click images to enlarge
Translates to $9,268.05 in earnings.
I told you how last post... it's money season folks.
Most of you ignored me. Hot topics are not glamorous - they are not long term - and they won't make you famous.
But I don't really care... they make money.
Sorry I haven't had time to get to the comments... been a tad busy.
Cheers,
Griz
(before you all ask - there were 3 celebrity centered events this past week and I'll say no more)
Update:
For two days I have been getting a constant stream of "experts" from Digital Point filling my inbox with troll crap - the usual "nobody will tell you how to make money online for free", "he must be selling something", "it's a fake" and so on. It is ironic that DP and Warrior are full of people flogging crap and noobs looking for answers and yet when someone mentions that you can learn everything you need to make money online for free just by reading a blog the trolls come out in force. It says a lot about the mentality online and why people don't succeed - a smart cookie might wonder how a PR0 free Blogger blog ranks on top of the make money online niche and do a little reading. The losers will never figure it out but it doesn't stop them from voicing their noob opinions.
For your entertainment folks... Digital Point Drivel
March 18 - Update. There is a new post on the Adsense blog for those who have been waiting - the feed update won't go out until the morning.
The early bird gets the worm when there is no competition.
1,512,246 visitors in 8 days.
Click images to enlarge
Translates to $9,268.05 in earnings.
I told you how last post... it's money season folks.
Most of you ignored me. Hot topics are not glamorous - they are not long term - and they won't make you famous.
But I don't really care... they make money.
Sorry I haven't had time to get to the comments... been a tad busy.
Cheers,
Griz
(before you all ask - there were 3 celebrity centered events this past week and I'll say no more)
Update:
For two days I have been getting a constant stream of "experts" from Digital Point filling my inbox with troll crap - the usual "nobody will tell you how to make money online for free", "he must be selling something", "it's a fake" and so on. It is ironic that DP and Warrior are full of people flogging crap and noobs looking for answers and yet when someone mentions that you can learn everything you need to make money online for free just by reading a blog the trolls come out in force. It says a lot about the mentality online and why people don't succeed - a smart cookie might wonder how a PR0 free Blogger blog ranks on top of the make money online niche and do a little reading. The losers will never figure it out but it doesn't stop them from voicing their noob opinions.
For your entertainment folks... Digital Point Drivel
March 18 - Update. There is a new post on the Adsense blog for those who have been waiting - the feed update won't go out until the morning.
Today.com Pays You for Usless Traffic
As many of you know I signed up for a free sub-domain on Today.com. In my short time on the site I have used the domain's juice to rank a number of keywords in decent position in the serp's. Next up - "How to make money with Adsense". This wasn't hard thanks to my friends who graciously supplied me with anchored backlinks. Thanks guys and I'm repaying my debts using the SEO and Adsense page. If you have sent me a link and I have missed you please let me know. (If there is a keyword you would rather have me use then let me know that as well.)
Lissie from How to Make Passive Income Online alerted me to the fact that the blogger's on Today.com were a bit green - and she was correct. If you have been following my advice for any lenght of time - say a week - then you are already an expert compared to the folks plodding about on Today.com. This isn't to demean them - they are truly nice people but they are completely new to the ways and means of internet marketing or even just blogging in general. Moreover the moderators are just as green. Even more astonishing is the fact that the powers that be behind the domain don't seem to have a great deal of knowledge either. And this brings me to the topic at hand.
Today.com encourages people to use social networks to attract traffic. The screenshot below is from the forum and one of the "Administrators" actively encourages people to use Entrecard.
Click image to enlarge
For those of you who don't know - Entrecard is easily the most useless traffic producer online. It consists of wasting an hour or two or your day loading 300 URL's in your browser and then clicking on them in order to visit 300 websites. You never actually look at the websites you visit - you just open it in a tab and by the time it loads you are already 4 tabs away loading another url. By the time you have loaded all the sites you simply close the browser window and wait for 300 other entrecard users to load your url in their browser - none of whom bother to read your posts either. When it is all done you pat yourself on the back because you had 300 unique visitors to your site. None stayed more than 2 seconds but what the heck it makes you feel like you are popular. Oh and gee - look at that - Alexa gives you a ranking.
Most of you learned long ago that you sure don't make any money from entrecard users. This also applies to the stumblers and diggers and redditers and sphinners and twitterers etc. Useless traffic that sucks your bandwidth and leaves without so much as a comment. Traffic that you waste hours trying to garner. One huge time sink if you are trying to make money.
However - and this is the point of this post - a lot of my readers still spend their days courting social traffic. You do it because your site isn't really set up to make money - you still hold onto the fact that maybe you will get famous because of your writing. Maybe targeting the search engines is a bit too much work. Maybe you will get around to doing what Griz says... one day but for now you're just gonna go with what you started with. If that is the case then Today.com is for you.
Why?
Because they will pay you for all that useless traffic. $2 for every 1000 useless unique visitors. It ain't much but I bet it is better than what most of you make right now with your social blogs.
Now some of you are thinking that getting 1000 visitors a day is hard - even useless visitors. Nope - not really. (I can't believe I am going to tell my readers how to get social traffic - lol)
Target Celebrities, Gossip, Tech/Gadgets/Gaming, Politics, humour and hot stories (ie - American Idol is back again)
Use images - lots of properly alt tagged images.
Post photos - tag em', keyword the photo with a short blurb
Post ten times a day - 10 posts per page.
Use Linkvana, Backlink Solutions, RT's ConnectContent, and buy anchored backlinks for all the targeted keywords.
Use my niche support page - it is free.
Use all the social sites to stumble, digg etc but if you use the link networks mentioned Google images will send you a ton of visitors all by itself.
Because you are using a free sub domain you need not worry about G. Just don't link it to any of your real sites.
This is the kind of stuff I did plenty of in the old days and I still have a couple of tropical fish sites that receive in excess of 10,000 visitors a day each - most from Google images. The sites make me nothing - the odd ebook sale but if I was getting $2 for every 1000 visitors I would build more.
If Today.com wants to pay for traffic then give them traffic. You can also set up affiliate links provided by Today.com and if approved by them they will also pay you $1 a post as long as you don't do self promotion posts.
The best thing about this is that you don't need to write much content. Just small keyword optimized blurbs about the photos. This is exactly how I used to use Technorati to drive thousands of people to my hot topic sites before Technorati canned the "what's hot" page. I posted photos with scandalous post titles and short keyword optimized blurbs. Social traffic loves crap and will bounce all over the net looking for it.
Here is the most visited site on Today.com http://whybenormal.today.com/ - 7000 daily visitors. Take a look at it. How much work do you think it takes to do that? (I mean no offense to the owner - good on her I say) $300 a month for posting humorous photos. Nice.
Unfortunately Today.com doesn't accept people worldwide. They don't publicize what countries are acceptable but it appears that N. America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia (Tiawan, Japan) are ok. I'll update this post if people leave comments regarding their own country - pass or fail. If any of my readers that specialize in sneaky tactics have some ideas on circumnavigating the home IP blocking then feel free to leave your ideas below.
If any of you sign up or have an account already send me an email with "Today member" in the subject and I will let you know of another way to drive traffic - a very simple system. I won't respond back until I have everyone included so be patient. Let me know your today.com url in the email.
Today won't make you rich but I suspect a lot of you wouldn't mind a few extra bucks in your pocket given the current recession. Those of you who want to work a little harder can probably make some decent money using the affiliate ads provided if you target your sites to the right traffic.
I know a lot of you aren't making anything with your social sites - you may as well do the same thing you are doing now on a site that will pay you for the visitors.
Note: To all my "I'M In" participants. I haven't forgot you. Just ironing out a few things and will send you all an email shortly. Frank and RT - haven't heard from you but would like to...
Lissie from How to Make Passive Income Online alerted me to the fact that the blogger's on Today.com were a bit green - and she was correct. If you have been following my advice for any lenght of time - say a week - then you are already an expert compared to the folks plodding about on Today.com. This isn't to demean them - they are truly nice people but they are completely new to the ways and means of internet marketing or even just blogging in general. Moreover the moderators are just as green. Even more astonishing is the fact that the powers that be behind the domain don't seem to have a great deal of knowledge either. And this brings me to the topic at hand.
Today.com encourages people to use social networks to attract traffic. The screenshot below is from the forum and one of the "Administrators" actively encourages people to use Entrecard.
Click image to enlarge
For those of you who don't know - Entrecard is easily the most useless traffic producer online. It consists of wasting an hour or two or your day loading 300 URL's in your browser and then clicking on them in order to visit 300 websites. You never actually look at the websites you visit - you just open it in a tab and by the time it loads you are already 4 tabs away loading another url. By the time you have loaded all the sites you simply close the browser window and wait for 300 other entrecard users to load your url in their browser - none of whom bother to read your posts either. When it is all done you pat yourself on the back because you had 300 unique visitors to your site. None stayed more than 2 seconds but what the heck it makes you feel like you are popular. Oh and gee - look at that - Alexa gives you a ranking.
Most of you learned long ago that you sure don't make any money from entrecard users. This also applies to the stumblers and diggers and redditers and sphinners and twitterers etc. Useless traffic that sucks your bandwidth and leaves without so much as a comment. Traffic that you waste hours trying to garner. One huge time sink if you are trying to make money.
However - and this is the point of this post - a lot of my readers still spend their days courting social traffic. You do it because your site isn't really set up to make money - you still hold onto the fact that maybe you will get famous because of your writing. Maybe targeting the search engines is a bit too much work. Maybe you will get around to doing what Griz says... one day but for now you're just gonna go with what you started with. If that is the case then Today.com is for you.
Why?
Because they will pay you for all that useless traffic. $2 for every 1000 useless unique visitors. It ain't much but I bet it is better than what most of you make right now with your social blogs.
Now some of you are thinking that getting 1000 visitors a day is hard - even useless visitors. Nope - not really. (I can't believe I am going to tell my readers how to get social traffic - lol)
Target Celebrities, Gossip, Tech/Gadgets/Gaming, Politics, humour and hot stories (ie - American Idol is back again)
Use images - lots of properly alt tagged images.
Post photos - tag em', keyword the photo with a short blurb
Post ten times a day - 10 posts per page.
Use Linkvana, Backlink Solutions, RT's ConnectContent, and buy anchored backlinks for all the targeted keywords.
Use my niche support page - it is free.
Use all the social sites to stumble, digg etc but if you use the link networks mentioned Google images will send you a ton of visitors all by itself.
Because you are using a free sub domain you need not worry about G. Just don't link it to any of your real sites.
This is the kind of stuff I did plenty of in the old days and I still have a couple of tropical fish sites that receive in excess of 10,000 visitors a day each - most from Google images. The sites make me nothing - the odd ebook sale but if I was getting $2 for every 1000 visitors I would build more.
If Today.com wants to pay for traffic then give them traffic. You can also set up affiliate links provided by Today.com and if approved by them they will also pay you $1 a post as long as you don't do self promotion posts.
The best thing about this is that you don't need to write much content. Just small keyword optimized blurbs about the photos. This is exactly how I used to use Technorati to drive thousands of people to my hot topic sites before Technorati canned the "what's hot" page. I posted photos with scandalous post titles and short keyword optimized blurbs. Social traffic loves crap and will bounce all over the net looking for it.
Here is the most visited site on Today.com http://whybenormal.today.com/ - 7000 daily visitors. Take a look at it. How much work do you think it takes to do that? (I mean no offense to the owner - good on her I say) $300 a month for posting humorous photos. Nice.
Unfortunately Today.com doesn't accept people worldwide. They don't publicize what countries are acceptable but it appears that N. America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia (Tiawan, Japan) are ok. I'll update this post if people leave comments regarding their own country - pass or fail. If any of my readers that specialize in sneaky tactics have some ideas on circumnavigating the home IP blocking then feel free to leave your ideas below.
If any of you sign up or have an account already send me an email with "Today member" in the subject and I will let you know of another way to drive traffic - a very simple system. I won't respond back until I have everyone included so be patient. Let me know your today.com url in the email.
Today won't make you rich but I suspect a lot of you wouldn't mind a few extra bucks in your pocket given the current recession. Those of you who want to work a little harder can probably make some decent money using the affiliate ads provided if you target your sites to the right traffic.
I know a lot of you aren't making anything with your social sites - you may as well do the same thing you are doing now on a site that will pay you for the visitors.
Note: To all my "I'M In" participants. I haven't forgot you. Just ironing out a few things and will send you all an email shortly. Frank and RT - haven't heard from you but would like to...
Make Money with Adsense - February Income Report
Hi Folks. As you have all noticed I have not posted in a few weeks as I have been concentrating on my new Adsense for Beginners blog. Actually - the previous post was simply a funnel to send traffic to the new site. Over the past couple of months my social traffic has increased considerably on this site and I am attempting to send the beginners elsewhere in order to reduce my social traffic/search traffic ratio on this site. I have said this often - if you want to make optimal returns with Adsense then you need to increase your search traffic (targeted) and reduce the amount of social traffic (un-targeted) that are clicking your ads. This will drastically improve your CPC and CTR.
A secondary concern I have is the amount of questions I get regarding Adsense. I thought it best to start over from scratch so that beginners can find all their answers in one place and not have to try and navigate this site for them - an impossible task and the result is that new comers tend to ask the same questions over and over on every post. Hopefully the new site will be easier to navigate and it contains current info - this site has a lot of info but much of it is out of date spanning the last two years. There have been a lot of changes in two years and I am far to lazy to go back and update old posts. It will be much easier in future to just point people to the new blog rather than answer the same questions over and over on this blog.
That's the official story - now the unofficial story.
I have talked a lot about dominating niches. Many of you have taken that to mean build a site, optimize your posts and then work your targeted anchored backlinks until you rank number 1 on the serp's for your term or keyword. If you have been following this path then you are doing things correctly and will see results. However - this isn't how you dominate a niche - you are simply dominating a keyword or phrase.
The next step is to dominate ALL the keywords and phrases associated with your niche. This will greatly increase your overall volume of targeted traffic. If you have followed my system - long winded posts using lots of long tails then you will have noticed that you can start driving traffic to your sites in short order. When starting a new site the traffic may not find you using your main keywords but they will find you for all the long tails. Ranking well for your long tails will help you rank for your main keywords if you choose your long tails properly. I have re-demonstrated this technique and urge you to read the following post if you are still not clear on how to choose and use keywords effectively in your posts and in your backlinks. Keywords and How to use them for Backlinks and for Post Content
There is still one step left in dominating a Niche. The final phase is to use your authority on your main site to support several other sites and vice-versa. There are 10 spots on page 1 of the serp's for every keyword. You don't have to stop at just one.
I have four sites now (that you know of) working their way up the MMO niche. You know about them because I am demonstrating what I do. I don't recommend you do the same - keep yours anonymous. You can build any number of legit sites anonymously and use them to support each other. Can you build a network without fallout from G or your competition? I don't know - I don't advertise them elsewhere. This blog as usual pushes the bounds of what you can or can not do. My sites are legit and shouldn't run afoul however my content tends to discuss things that may get me into trouble at some point.
February Adsense Income For Make Money Online for Beginners
A slight dip from January's numbers - 3 less days accounts for approximately $300 but this still leaves a drop of about $500 compared to last month. Not a concern as February is back on par with earnings posted throughout the fall. November and December had dropped enough to make me wonder if the economy was beginning to affect earnings. The January/February earnings have alleviated those fears. Perhaps Adsense is recession proof - time will tell.
Click Image to Enlarge
On a side note and something my Canadian readers have benefited from - the drop in the value of the Canadian Dollar has actually helped me earn more money. Last months income of $4k USD converted into an extra $1000 in Canadian currency. Very Nice...
Helping Others
I have benefited greatly from the help given to me by my friends. Your friends can be your greatest asset and one of the things that I have been attempting to do is build a community of people who will help each other out. While this has greatly benefited me I would like to take a more active role in helping others get immediate results. Several of you have reached a point in the serp's where you could use an extra push to get to the top of your niche. I will say no more in public but ask all of you who would like a little hand to contact me directly with the subject line "I'm In".
I know who my long time readers are and this is available only to you. I don't like excluding anyone but if I am not familiar with you I ask you to be patient and get yourself known in the community before asking to be included. For now I want to do a trial run with my regulars. The basic jist is I am going to ask you all to do something for someone else and ask others to do something for you. What we do won't be publicized. Nuff' said.
A secondary concern I have is the amount of questions I get regarding Adsense. I thought it best to start over from scratch so that beginners can find all their answers in one place and not have to try and navigate this site for them - an impossible task and the result is that new comers tend to ask the same questions over and over on every post. Hopefully the new site will be easier to navigate and it contains current info - this site has a lot of info but much of it is out of date spanning the last two years. There have been a lot of changes in two years and I am far to lazy to go back and update old posts. It will be much easier in future to just point people to the new blog rather than answer the same questions over and over on this blog.
That's the official story - now the unofficial story.
I have talked a lot about dominating niches. Many of you have taken that to mean build a site, optimize your posts and then work your targeted anchored backlinks until you rank number 1 on the serp's for your term or keyword. If you have been following this path then you are doing things correctly and will see results. However - this isn't how you dominate a niche - you are simply dominating a keyword or phrase.
The next step is to dominate ALL the keywords and phrases associated with your niche. This will greatly increase your overall volume of targeted traffic. If you have followed my system - long winded posts using lots of long tails then you will have noticed that you can start driving traffic to your sites in short order. When starting a new site the traffic may not find you using your main keywords but they will find you for all the long tails. Ranking well for your long tails will help you rank for your main keywords if you choose your long tails properly. I have re-demonstrated this technique and urge you to read the following post if you are still not clear on how to choose and use keywords effectively in your posts and in your backlinks. Keywords and How to use them for Backlinks and for Post Content
There is still one step left in dominating a Niche. The final phase is to use your authority on your main site to support several other sites and vice-versa. There are 10 spots on page 1 of the serp's for every keyword. You don't have to stop at just one.
I have four sites now (that you know of) working their way up the MMO niche. You know about them because I am demonstrating what I do. I don't recommend you do the same - keep yours anonymous. You can build any number of legit sites anonymously and use them to support each other. Can you build a network without fallout from G or your competition? I don't know - I don't advertise them elsewhere. This blog as usual pushes the bounds of what you can or can not do. My sites are legit and shouldn't run afoul however my content tends to discuss things that may get me into trouble at some point.
February Adsense Income For Make Money Online for Beginners
A slight dip from January's numbers - 3 less days accounts for approximately $300 but this still leaves a drop of about $500 compared to last month. Not a concern as February is back on par with earnings posted throughout the fall. November and December had dropped enough to make me wonder if the economy was beginning to affect earnings. The January/February earnings have alleviated those fears. Perhaps Adsense is recession proof - time will tell.
Click Image to Enlarge
On a side note and something my Canadian readers have benefited from - the drop in the value of the Canadian Dollar has actually helped me earn more money. Last months income of $4k USD converted into an extra $1000 in Canadian currency. Very Nice...
Helping Others
I have benefited greatly from the help given to me by my friends. Your friends can be your greatest asset and one of the things that I have been attempting to do is build a community of people who will help each other out. While this has greatly benefited me I would like to take a more active role in helping others get immediate results. Several of you have reached a point in the serp's where you could use an extra push to get to the top of your niche. I will say no more in public but ask all of you who would like a little hand to contact me directly with the subject line "I'm In".
I know who my long time readers are and this is available only to you. I don't like excluding anyone but if I am not familiar with you I ask you to be patient and get yourself known in the community before asking to be included. For now I want to do a trial run with my regulars. The basic jist is I am going to ask you all to do something for someone else and ask others to do something for you. What we do won't be publicized. Nuff' said.
Introducing Adsense for Beginners
Hey folks. I have started a new site dedicated to explaining the fine art of making money online using Adsense. You can find the new blog here; Make Money with Adsense
Due to the overwhelming amount of emails I get requesting help with or needing answers pertaining to Adsense I have decided to start from scratch and lay out the framework for my Adsense system on a site of its own. The posts are targeted to those who have no knowledge whatsoever about this business so keep that in mind if you have been a long time reader. You will have read much of it before - at least the initial posts which cover the basics. While discussing what I do I will also be demonstrating my techniques using the new site as an example of how to tweak it, SEO it and rank it in the serp's. In future I hope to send the new readers to the site for all the info they will need to earn a living with Adsense. This should reduce my emails and solve the problem of finding all the pertinent info on this blog - yes - my navigation here sucks and even I can't find what I'm looking for most of the time. Sorry about that.
The site is built as a sub-domain on Today.com and I am using it in order to demonstrate to my experienced readers my process of building a network. Like always I run the risk of showing to much but the "farm" questions that my last post aroused has led me to realize that many of you need help in establishing your own networks. This site will give you a good idea of how I go about it.
You don't always need to start a new self hosted blog. You don't really need to spend money - there are many free platforms that you can use and the more you use the better. The idea is to spread your sites out across as many C Class IP's as you can. Some sites will be anonymous or use fictitious names. Others will be flagships proudly using your name. A network consists of a variety of blogs, websites, one page sales pages or whatever you can think of. The point is to create a network that you have access to and can control the juice on. It's easy finding backlinks if you have hundreds of sites to choose from...
In any event I won't be discussing "farming" here. I am in the process of helping a "friend" set up a site dedicated to this topic though - I shall let you all know when it is ready.
Until then - go to the new site and leave a couple of hundred comments just to see if we can break Today.com's comment program... lol.
Due to the overwhelming amount of emails I get requesting help with or needing answers pertaining to Adsense I have decided to start from scratch and lay out the framework for my Adsense system on a site of its own. The posts are targeted to those who have no knowledge whatsoever about this business so keep that in mind if you have been a long time reader. You will have read much of it before - at least the initial posts which cover the basics. While discussing what I do I will also be demonstrating my techniques using the new site as an example of how to tweak it, SEO it and rank it in the serp's. In future I hope to send the new readers to the site for all the info they will need to earn a living with Adsense. This should reduce my emails and solve the problem of finding all the pertinent info on this blog - yes - my navigation here sucks and even I can't find what I'm looking for most of the time. Sorry about that.
The site is built as a sub-domain on Today.com and I am using it in order to demonstrate to my experienced readers my process of building a network. Like always I run the risk of showing to much but the "farm" questions that my last post aroused has led me to realize that many of you need help in establishing your own networks. This site will give you a good idea of how I go about it.
You don't always need to start a new self hosted blog. You don't really need to spend money - there are many free platforms that you can use and the more you use the better. The idea is to spread your sites out across as many C Class IP's as you can. Some sites will be anonymous or use fictitious names. Others will be flagships proudly using your name. A network consists of a variety of blogs, websites, one page sales pages or whatever you can think of. The point is to create a network that you have access to and can control the juice on. It's easy finding backlinks if you have hundreds of sites to choose from...
In any event I won't be discussing "farming" here. I am in the process of helping a "friend" set up a site dedicated to this topic though - I shall let you all know when it is ready.
Until then - go to the new site and leave a couple of hundred comments just to see if we can break Today.com's comment program... lol.
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