Squidoo Still in my Good Books

It has been a while since I have talked about my lenses and since the September earnings have just been paid to lensmasters, I thought that now is a good time to update you on how I am doing with Squidoo at the moment.

I am not running to buy a new car yet (although I could really do with one) but yesterday Squidoo credited my Paypal account with a whooping $30.77, my highest payout yet from Squidoo!

Granted, there were $9.58 included in that figure which I had been accumulating from previous months because Squidoo only pays lensmasters who have earned $10 or more, but even considering that fact, November has brought me my record revenue from Squidoo so far of over $20.

My best lens for the month of September (shared advertising revenue is being paid 2 months after the actual month in which it has been earned) was my Squidoo Lensrank Experiment which was a real success for me as it stayed in the top 2000 lenses for most of the month, earning me a handsome $11.52! I also had 4 lenses that didn't rank too bad and earned me $1.92 each and 3 lenses that made $0.08.

In case you are wondering about the total not adding up, my November payment also includes Amazon affiliate revenue (I am not an Amazon affiliate but can still get a small portion of this through Squidoo) earned in October from my Halloween lens; this was a lens that I created at the end of September and ranked pretty well throughout the month of October so I should see more royalties for October that will be paid in December.

Here's for you if you'd like to see what I am up to on Squidoo:
All my lenses so far.

P.S. Christmas is coming soon so why not experiment on creating a Christmas wishlist lens like I did here? Join Squidoo today, it's free! A word of warning though: you could actually enjoy this a lot (I know I do!).

I Got My First Clickbank Check!

I was going to post a picture of it here but since my scanner hasn't been working for the past 2 years (don't use it often enough to have it fixed or replaced) and the photo I took with my camcorder is ridiculously small (I don't have a digital camera), I just won't bother. Anyway, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you I have received a check from Clickbank for $84.48 (the figure isn't big enough for you to think I am lying!).

It won't finance my Christmas yet, but if I add the €130 on my Paypal account (that's about $160) and my Adsense balance of $49.78 (another $50.22 to make payout yet), I reckon I'm not doing too bad!

Now let's think: $290 in about 12 months; I made an average of $24 per month or $0.80 per day. Yep, I'm definitely wasting my time online! Now, let's try a new career as a hooker (maybe I'll just marry a rich man instead, which is quite the same thing really).

6 Days Without Internet Connection!

I have just had to have a forced holiday after not being able to connect to the Internet for 6 whole days!

Luckily now the problem is sorted (and so is my bank balance after paying the computer repairshop) and I am back in action. I was lucky enough to have a few plr articles downloaded and I was able to use these to write 3 new articles that I am now going to publish on Associated Content. I could have written more, but with the kids and a house to tend to, I just got a bit lazy.

I spend yesterday afternoon catching up on emails and Morachat and was happy to find out that I had been paid from a few sites while on this forced break:
- I got $10.88 from Squidoo,
- Associated Content paid me $3.28,
- ForumBooster paid me $15.10 for forum postings and $6 for an article (yippee!).

I meant to write a post about Forum Booster but this came when I lost my internet connection, so I guess that will be my next post.

Top 5 Get Rich Quick Schemes and Why You Should Avoid Them like the Plague

Whether we like to admit it or not, we would all love to find a way to get rich quick.

A few months ago I read somewhere that Oprah Winfrey had been talking about an online chain letter that could make you $800,000 richer in about 90 days! I almost got sucked in but a few online searches saved my wallet and my Paypal account.

If you want to know the truth about chain letters, MLM, HYIPs, gambling and work-at-home programs that claim they will make you rich quick, read Top 5 Get Rich Quick Schemes and Why You Should Avoid Them like the Plague.

Free Mini-Sites Recipe for Adsense Success

I sometimes complain about how information overload can be a staller instead of a helper when you are trying to find new ways to earn money online. Well for once, I must say that my subscriptions paid off!

I already talked about Caroline Middlebrook and her Wordpress e-book on this blog. Although I am not a Wordpress blogger, her idea of creating mini-sites monetized with Adsense using static Wordpress pages seduced me and even though I did not put her e-book to practice (yet), it has been lurking at the back of my mind since I've read it.

Well, it's a good thing that I didn't jump in and started creating a few mini-sites yet, since Josh Spaulding (another blogger I am starting to learn a lot from) has just released a new report, called the $5 a Day Mini-Site Formula, which is free and full of no-nonsense information on how to create a mini-site that brings in at least $5 a day from Adsense in just 7 days.

While Caroline's e-book concentrates more on the Wordpress technicalities of creating a mini-site, Josh's report explains how to find a profitable niche and profitable keywords using free online tools and article marketing.

Combine these 2 e-books, rinse and repeat as many times as you like and you have got an explosive money-making recipe, using Wordpress static pages, PLR articles (tweaked to make sure they include the desired keywords) or your own written articles, free online tools to find profitable niches and keywords, Adsense, plus it can't hurt to throw in a bit of free SEO advice (from Josh the man himself) and a few affiliate links here and there!

My Alphabet Blog Flop: I Am Still Looking for Internet Gold

Looking for ways to make money on the Internet is like the Gold Rush: innovators will make the most money, while the followers must struggle to find the right advice and earn the odd cent. At the moment I am afraid I am one of the followers but I have learned a lot and I am trying to find new strategies to make money online.

Last month I shared with you my Magic Formula to Make Money Online From Blogs. Following this, I created 2 new blogs and decided to update my first blog (a blog I had created to try and increase traffic to my website).

I had to delete my Alphabet blog, as I found it the most difficult to update it regularly: I had decided to find a new word, not very common, every day and try to link to an article using the word but it just took too long to search for an intelligent word, and then finding an article that I liked, using this word. On top of this, Adsense decided to display public service ads on the blog, which didn't bring me any income; my Alphabet blog being in no way related to making money online (or saving money), I decided to drop it. There is no point in keeping something that drags you down (funny, this is also exactly what I did with my ex!).

Internet Junkie is now the centre of my attention, and I update my 2 other blogs about once a week. I am not going to push them very much here, at least not until they have a bit more content. I also plan to create more, that is if I find the time; I do have a few more money-making projects, but I don't want to reveal anything until I know for sure that they work, so if you want to learn from me, I would advise you to follow up on my search for making money online, maybe even subscribe to Internet Junkie!

Maximize Your Earnings Potential

It is all very well to join lots of online money-making programmes, but remember that just joining them will not make you rich!

Most programmes require you to work hard and can be very time-consuming for the opportunity-seeker who is serious about making money online; joining every money-making opportunity that comes your way is a bad idea as reaching pay-out point will take you longer and you will lose your motivation to make money.

Everybody is different and for each type of person, a different kind of money-making scheme can work differently. Whether you are a Facebook freak or an introvert writer, you can find the right opportunity for you.

Having a blog can be rewarding in the long term but only if you are prepared to write regularly and put yourself out in order to promote it. It takes commitment to keep a blog running.

Writing articles is great for someone who can write well structured and long enough pieces. The artistically gifted can even write short stories or poetry.

If you enjoy photography, submit your photos to a website that will pay for them.

If you don't want to tie yourself to a blog or write long articles, but love trying out new products or just check out new websites and share your opinions with others, choose the get paid to write reviews website that works best for you.

If you are the chatty type but not the committing type, join a forum.

If you are a player, gamble (as long as you can do it responsibly), or join a few get paid to play programmes.

Of course you can combine several methods, depending on the amount of free time you have. Choosing the money-making opportunities that best suit your own personality will allow you to maximize your earnings potential.

Do Not Break Any Copyright Laws

My last post about making money from blogs made out from articles taken from free article directories received a comment saying that this system is against the law. I wanted to respond to this quickly because I don't want anyone to think that I am encouraging people to break any copyright laws.

To illustrate my point of view I would like to quote Article Marketer's publication guidelines:

Xxxx Xxxx offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
- Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only.
- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to dfcinvestments1@ yahoo.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
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Of course, when you choose an article to republish on another website, you must comply with the article directory's terms and conditions. Not all article directories allow you to do this, but Article Marketer and Ezine Articles are among those that do.

I was pretty flattered that someone found my article good enough to copy it and republish it on his blog; I knew it was a possibility when I submitted my article to Ezine Articles and honestly this was what I was hoping for; as long as the links from my "author box" work and no changes were made to the article, I am getting links to another blog and free publicity, so what is there to complain about?

The Magic Formula to Make Money Online from Blogs

Well, I did not create it but I found a blogger using an ingenious system to make money online, having no less than 39 blogs, all linking to one another. If you are interested in making money online, I will reveal to you the magic formula for making money from blogs.

I don't actually know if this is a man or a woman, for all I know it could even be one of these smart baby bloggers (teenagers that seem to have a knack for blogging and earning from it), so to be practical I will assume that Chalacuna is a "he".

How does he find the time to write on 39 blogs all at the same time? He doesn't; he visits websites that let him copy free articles and updates his blogs once in a while with good quality articles that relate to his various niche sites, and then he makes money for displaying ads on all of his blogs.

I came across one of Chalacuna's blogs, Earn Money Blogging, while I was checking on Technorati who was linking to my own blog: I found out that an article written by me and published on Ezine Articles had been copied (with live links from my Author's resource box) and published as a post on Earn Money Blogging.

When I looked at the rest of the blog, I noticed that nearly all of the blog's posts were articles taken from free article websites. I then checked Chalacuna's blogger profile and found the list of his 39 blogs; each of them relates to a particular topic, and most posts on the other blogs are also free articles taken from article submission websites.

Each of these blogs link to all of Chalacuna's other blogs; they also contain the links to the article websites and any links contained in each article's author resource box. I don't know if this blogger does any kind of promotion to get traffic to his blogs: he seems to be a member of 3 or 4 blog directories and I don't see many comments on his blogs but most of them have a Google PageRank of 3, one of them has only 5 posts in total and still manages to get such a PageRank!

Adsense is on every single one of Chalacuna's blogs; I guess this is how he makes money and surprisingly enough, there are a few Amazon ads here and there but other than that, the blogs are almost free of advertising.

I guess this is not for everyone and the quality of the blogs on the Internet would surely deteriorate if everybody did this, but I reckon keeping one original blog and a network of article blogs would not be such a bad idea for someone desperate to make money from Adsense or any other advertising programme.