Bum Blogger Learns How To Do Bum Marketing

It's good to be a Bum Blogger. And I guess I must be one without previously realising I was. No, it's nothing to do with the photo on the right!

So how do I arrive at this conclusion?

I was looking through a few of the ClickBank affiliate offers and came across one that said it was suitable for Bum Marketing.

Now to be honest I hadn't heard the Bum Marketing expression before but bum, in this sense, means without money. In other words the affiliate program could be promoted without using any cash. This is providing, of course, that you know the Bum Marketing methods to do this.

As I have made thousands of dollars with my free blogs, all without laying out or spending any money, I must therefore be a Bum Blogger - and proud of it! How I've done this is all on Mike's Money Making Mission, right from my very first days when I knew absolutely nothing about blogging. But let's move on to Bum Marketing.

How Do You Do Bum Marketing?

First you have to find a product which you want to sell. You then sign up and become an affiliate for this for free. There are thousands of affiliate programs out there, including those on ClickBank.

Obviously you want to find something that you think will sell and will fill a need.

Stage 2 is to write an article all about the product, preferably a positive one! This you then submit to as many free article directories as possible.

Let's enlarge on this a little though.

(i) Keywords: What are your keywords for the product? If you are not sure what these should be use a free Keyword Suggestion Tool.

Don't necessarily pick the top ones as these may have reached saturation point. Use some further down the list. See also Long Tail Keywords.

Once you have decided on your keywords they should go:
(a) in the title of the article
(b) once in the first sentence and
(c) a few times in the body of the article, but without overdoing things. No spamming.

(ii) Writers Resource Box: Following each article you, as the writer, are entitled to a link or links. Where possible you use this to link directly to the product's sales page.

Now a few article directories won't let you do this. In which case you'll need to set up a free blog and use this for your link - I would suggest the title of the blog should be your keywords. From here you will have to redirect readers to the product's sales page with a further link(s).

In this Writers Resource Box you have to make the reader want to click to go to the sales page. Tell them exactly what to do and the benefits they will get for doing so.

So what now?

The theory is that if you have done everything properly people will start reading your article, clicking on your links and you will start to get sales - subject to getting sufficient clicks. Yes, it's a numbers game no matter what others may claim but ...

If you have chosen your keywords wisely, and used them properly, your article may start to appear in search engine results. You will then have two places from where you might gain clicks (and possible sales).

Plus why not also promote your articles on forums (in your signature) and anywhere else that it is possible to leave a link to your article: free ads, blog comments (but don't spam), exchange ads if you have a blog etc. etc. Once you start looking there are dozens of places to leave links. This will all help to get clicks, sales and also a higher search engine ranking.

Will this really make money?

It's hard to give a definite yes or no. There are too many variables. Was the article well enough written? Was there an incentive to make the person want to go to the sales page? And so on, and so on but ...

... what if you wrote lots of articles on different products. Even if they only make a few dollars each, if you have 100 articles that could add up to a decent total. How may articles could you write in say three months? Could things then start to grow exponentially - a sort of snowball effect?

And if all fails?

What have you lost? Well it hasn't cost a penny, cent or whatever. Yes, it's taken time but it's better than sitting there hoping to win a lottery. Also once you start to do things you learn and develop and will come across all sorts of other opportunities. Sit moaning and doing nothing and you won't.

Bum Blogger

I've found and proved that I can make money with free blogs - but I didn't know this when I started out. I was willing to make the effort and have a go.

If you are, or plan to be, a Bum Blogger or want to get into Bum Marketing ..

Good luck,
Mike.

P.S. I'm having about a week's break, so I won't be around for about 6-7 days.

Link to this Post

<a href="http://mikesmoneymakingmission.blogspot.com/2008/09/bum-blogger-learns-how-to-do-bum.htmll">Bum Blogger Learns How To Do Bum Marketing</a>

Money Making Test Update On ClickBank

As regular readers will know I have been doing a test on ClickBank to see if the claims made about making money with the program are a reality for the average blogger.

I must admit that I haven't got on as well as I had hoped.

One snag I have found:
I have made a total of $64.72 and, as I had requested checks to be sent once over $50, I thought I would receive payment. But this wasn't to be the case.

My payment was marked as CDR (Customer Distribution Requirement). On checking what this means this is what I found:

Payments are held unless the following criteria are met:

(1) Sales are made with 5 or more different credit card numbers and
(2) Sales are made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

So if your sales are all with say Visa then you have to wait for your money. They say that this is to stop affiliates using ClickBank to collect rebates (on their own orders) or extending credit to others. I gather that this is only when you start out - at least I hope it is.

Think of that as you will. In fairness it is on their website but, to come across this, I think you would have to one of those very thorough people who wade through a lot of Q&A's.

Orders Per Click
I've found the orders per click so far to be poor. I've had over 2,300 clicks but have only made $64.72.

I don't know how many clicks I've actually had in total because, as far as I can see, ClickBank only give stats for 30 days.

I feel I've done okay with generating clicks. I've averaged about 76 per day, but this hasn't produced sufficient sales as far as I'm concerned. (I do some programs where I can average 1 in 25 sales, though not of such high amounts dollar wise).

I'll press on for a few more weeks as the blog, Good Health Source, I started to tie in with ClickBank is beginning to build up steam.

I'll get back to you with how I eventually get on with ClickBank.

Good luck,
Mike.

YouGov: Complete surveys and polls for payment - genuine company.

Make Money And Traffic With 20 Article Directories

A lot of bloggers get very enthusiastic over the benefits of writing articles. These they then publish in one, or several, article directories and doing this, they claim, gets them lots of traffic.

In view of this I have listed below 20 Article Directories where you can publish articles. I also did another list quite a while back of 40 Article Directories

These directories are also places where you can obtain free content for your blogs, but personally I wouldn't go down this route. It's much better to produce your own original stuff for various reasons.

For those, who may not know, traffic from articles comes from the footnote and link which you can publish following your masterpiece.

There are hundreds of article directories so, with the twenty I have listed, I have also included their PageRank. Quality backlinks may help with search rankings and your own PageRank.

There are also several websites such as Helium whereby you can earn cash from your articles. Most of these, however, don't allow links to your own blog or website. So it's a choice of cash or traffic. As a trial with Helium I have built up a balance of $21.59 with just two articles.


20 Article Directories
PageRank 6
EzineArticles
Buzzle.com
Go Articles
ArticleManiac

PageRank 5
Articlesbase
Article Alley
ArticlesFACTORY
articlecube
site reference

PageRank 4
SearchWarp.com
A1 Articles
Free-Articles-Zone
Article Garden
Content Corner

PageRank 3
rightarticle.com
Article Wisdom
Article Biz
Internet Home Business Articles
ArticleTrader

PageRank 2
ArticleSnatch.com
Good luck,
Mike.

Instant Article Submitter. Submits articles to over 200 article directories.

Create High Quality Articles on virtually any subject in just minutes.

You Can Make Money With Genuine Surveys

Surveys - the very name is often associated with scams and it's true that some of the websites involved aren't all they are cracked up to be. There are, however, genuine survey companies. One example is YouGov.

Strictly speaking surveys are not a lot to do with money making blogs but they can be if you are willing to introduce others via ads etc. on your blog.

A lot of blog readers are interested in earning a little extra money. Surveys, in many instances, can fit this bill. They certainly won't make anyone rich but it is possible to make a little extra cash.

As a ballpark figure I've made about £85 ($170) with YouGov. It's nowhere near being one of my main blogging income producers but I always say that 'all profit is good profit'.

Countries covered by YouGov, as well as the UK, are Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Middle East, North Africa, North America, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden

I don't fill in many surveys, unless they are something that particularly interests me. So how have I made $170? By introducing people to YouGov who are interested in completing surveys.

This is what you can make by referring others - in YouGov's own words:

"For each new member that signs up, via your personalised registration link, you will receive equivalent amounts in survey credit for each survey they complete during their first three months of membership."

In other words if someone you introduce makes £10, in their first three months, then you will also get £10. And if they earn £50 in that period you will get £50 and so on.

Refer a few people and you have an income, even if only small, for doing very little - other than maybe placing a few text ads at the end of a post, which is all I do occasionally.

Note that you won't get loads of span by joining YouGov. To quote the company, "Your contact details will only be used by YouGov to contact you for YouGov research."

So that's the world of YouGov. In the UK their survey results are often used in national newspapers and on television. There was actually one on the ITN news today about the current worldwide money/banking problems and what people thought about this.

Genuine surveys can be of value.

Good luck,
Mike.

myLot. Make a little extra money joining in and starting discussions about blogging, money making or absolutely anything else (well almost).

ClickBank Money Making Update

I wrote on the 8th of September that I was doing a ClickBank Test to see if it was a viable money making program. There are lots of well hyped stories on the Internet as to what some people are supposedly earning with ClickBank. I wanted to see for myself if there is any truth in them.

It's only been a couple of weeks but I thought I'd still do a quick update of how I have got on so far.

I've made $64.72 in the last two weeks.

As you can see that's $14.38 last week and $50.34 this week - Clickbank weeks end on a Wednesday.

To make this amount I have created a new blog Good Health Source and have also put text ads on a few of my other blogs.

My promotional work has meant I've had 1865 clicks to 25+ different offers but 1239 of these were to a Reverse Phone Lookup program - see ad at the bottom of this post - which hasn't pulled any orders at all - an absolute zero response. I wouldn't, therefore, recommend this!

This means the other 629 clicks made me $64.72. You can form your own opinion as to how this adds up.

I don't think a couple of weeks is a long enough period to draw any definite conclusions so I intend to keep going to see if I can make a worthwhile amount.

It's probably all about finding the right offers and that can only really be done by trial and error. ClickBank do give all sorts of stats for individual programs but I haven't, so far, found this to be a very good guide.

I'll get back to you on ClickBank when I've had a few more weeks trial or if anything dramatic happens.

Good luck,
Mike.

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Make Money With Your Old Blog Posts

This may sound pretty obvious but I must admit that it has only recently dawned on me.

From most blog statistics it's usually possible to see which posts are pulling in the most visitors. I usually find there are about ten that get the most referrals from search engines and often from other places as well.

So I used to look at these and say to myself something like, "Look at that! One of my old posts from last year is still attracting traffic. Who would have thought that." And then I would move onto something else, some other statistic or interest and that's it.

Well that's what I used to do anyway.

What dawned on me was that these particular popular posts were potential money makers - or at least they should be.

If a lot of people are visiting these posts doesn't it make sense to check them over and see if they could become more profitable? Perhaps by adding or amending an advert or program on the post, for example.

As I've often said I believe the most money is made from individual posts and not from the banners in blog side columns. If this is true, and it is as far as I'm concerned, then it makes sense to see that high traffic posts are monetised to the best possible advantage.

By this I don't mean flooding them with ads but there should be something on them that could possibly make you money. If there isn't, then an opportunity has been lost.

I would therefore suggest checking which posts are pulling in the traffic, say monthly, and then double checking that these are 'selling' whatever it is that you are currently promoting.

Good luck,
Mike.

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Five Ways To Get Traffic To A Blog

How to get traffic to a blog is always one of the secrets bloggers want to know.

Fact: Bloggers need traffic to make money.

There are thousands of posts written on the subject so I won't regurgitate what everyone else has already written. Instead today I'm going to show you five places that have sent me a fair amount of referrals for one of my celebrity blogs. (I don't get any commission etc. for recommending these!)

I'm not saying these will definitely work for you. What I will do, however, is to show you the proof that what I'm saying isn't purely theoretical. It's what I have experienced and has worked for me - I can't really say or guarantee any more than this.


The chart above shows my twenty-three highest referrers to Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. The entries circled in green are the ones I want to show you.

These circled entries are from five websites and between them, as you can see for yourself, they have sent Celebrity Insider 42,660 referrals. Actually they have sent a lot more than this but I want to just show the above so that I don't have to bore you with lots of lists.

The five websites, and the number of referrals are:

(1) Buzzfeed - 23579 referrals
(2) Zimbio - 10634 referrals
(3) Wikipedia - 5507 referrals
(4) Mahalo - 1531 referrals
(5) MyBlogLog - 1409 referrals

I'm not going to add a lot more to this post as everything is self evident. But I will mention Wikipedia as this isn't really considered a source of hits by most bloggers. What I've managed to do is to get my celebrity blog listed as a source of information for various celebrities. This gives me a free link on a very high traffic and well thought of website.

I'll also mention MyBlogLog as a lot of people don't seem to see the point of the site. However, as members current blog posts are all entered, there's a good chance that other members may click on them. Plus your blog posts may also at times appear on Google search pages, with the MyBlogLog URL - but clickers in most cases will then go to the actual blog.

I won't go on any more as all the information is there for you to use if you wish. All I can say is that these five websites have made me money. If you think that even if only 0.5% of these had clicked on any of my ads that would be 2133 chances of making money. If 1% clicked that would be 4266 opportunities to make money and if 2% had clicked ....

As I keep saying some traffic will make some money but lots of traffic will make lots of money.

Good luck,
Mike.

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Why Blogging Is Addictive

It's what makes blogging so addictive.

There I was in the last couple of posts saying that Amazon wasn't too productive for me and that with ClickBank I had failed to make a sale.

Checking yesterdays stats I see that I had 8 (eight!) sales with Amazon and had my first ClickBank sale.

Also, following on from yesterday's post, my new blog Good Health Source, which I set up five days ago, received it's first Google referrals.

You'll probably think I'm nutty but I believe that, in life, once you start concentrating on something things start to happen. Some call it magic, some the power of mind, some coincidence but whatever it is it works!

Whatever you may believe it's what makes blogging exciting. You never know what might turn up in your stats. I reckon it's going to be a good month - and if I believe it will be then ... (draw your own conclusion!)

Good luck,
Mike.

Zlio. Make money. Set up your own free online store and stock it with the goods of your choice

Money Making ClickBank Test Under Way

As I wrote last month I have been messing around with ClickBank to see if it's worth adding to my portfolio of money making programs.

I haven't as yet done a lot promotion and have only managed 358 clicks to date - these haven't produced any sales.

I don't, however, think that this is a good enough test so I've started yet another blog and this will be mainly devoted to promoting ClickBank. I have also included my other slow earner Amazon on the blog as the products tie in okay.

The blog is called Good Health Source and I started to set it up a couple of days ago. I'm not really happy with the layout as yet but I'll give it a spin for a month to six weeks to see if I can get it off the ground.

I've got to be honest and say that I'm not 100% happy with ClickBank mainly because you have to promote the products on trust. It's not practical money-wise to purchase each product before promoting and really this is what should be done.

If you promote a product you should have faith in it and, unfortunately, I haven't confidence in all of the products and this concerns me. The only good thing is that customers have the right to cancel and get a refund so this eases my uneasiness a little.

I think for a realistic test I need at least 2000-3000 clicks. This should produce at least a few orders and make money. If it doesn't then I'm doing something wrong.

There's an interesting post on Earners Blog whereby the writer used articles and free ads to promote ClickBank and made $400 in a month. I don't think I have the time to write such articles - or the energy! He reckons that to make his $400 it needed about 10 hours work.

Anyway I'll get back to readers about ClickBank once I've got a decent number of clicks under my belt.

Good luck,
Mike.

Blogging To The Bank. Create highly profitable blogs that suck in thousands of target visitors every day.

Get Paid For Shopping & Eating Out: Make money as a Mystery Shopper and be paid $10 to $125 per assignment.

Thoughts On Making Money With Amazon

I'm an affiliate for both Amazon UK and Amazon USA but I find it tough going to make any decent money with the programs.

If I take the stats for Amazon UK as an example this is how I have done.

I've had 15570 clicks to their site and this had produced 68 orders where commission has been authorised. So that is an order for every 229 clicks.

I suppose, if you say it quickly, 68 orders doesn't sound too bad but my earnings from this are only £36.28, that's about $72. Now this doesn't sound so impressive.

There are three orders outstanding so the total will go up a little - fortunately one of these is for a television so should be decent commission.

My figures for Amazon USA are pretty much the same ratio.

I've tried different approaches with Amazon. Everything from banners, widgets, an astore and also context links where they automatically link contextually to relevant phrases within posts.

None of these were really productive.

What I have found works best is if I do the links myself within posts (as I have done in this post). If I write about a celebrity for instance I may link to their DVD's or Music CD's. This seems to get a better response than anything else.

I suppose what this in effect does is to make the links more relative to the subject matter of the post.

I've written before about what I consider to be the power of text ads and links within a post. So far I have seen nothing to make we waver from this opinion.

I'll keep going with Amazon but one of the big things against their affiliate program is the low commission rates on often lowish priced products. Somehow to make money we need to tap into the bigger priced items, like electronics or computers.

Just my opinion of course!

Good luck,
Mike.

Top Seven Most Read Money Making Posts

Another month. This year seems to be flying past. These are the Top Seven Most Read Money Making Posts for August for Mike's Money Making Mission. The Chain Letter post is on top again even though it was published way back in March 2007.

It's often said by the 'experts' that Content Is King when blogging and this is true - but only to a certain degree.

As far as getting search engine referrals is concerned then Keywords Are King. Especially if they are contained within the title of a blog's post and then again in the main body.

A search engine doesn't care how well a post is written. What it is looking for are words relative to the search and in the right positions - without spamming of course.

If you look at the titles of the most read MMMM posts it illustrates the point. They are the most read because the keywords are in the post titles. The chain letter post isn't particularly good but it attracts search engine referrals regardless.

1
How To Make Money With Chain Letters
2
How To get 90% Discounts On Amazon products
3
Make Money With Zlio
4
Money Making With Free Blogs Part 1
5
List Of 40 Blog Directories Offering Free Listings
6
How To get Search Engine Referrals With a new Blog
7
The Long Tail Way To Make Money
I hope you have a profitable September.

Good luck,
Mike.

Zlio: Get your own free online store and stock it with your choice of products from the thousands available.