Apologies - My Blog Was Identified As Spam!

I've had a bit of trouble with Blogger. They identified this blog as a spam blog - which it isn't!

Their email to me said:

"Your blog at mikes money making mission .blogspot .com has been identified as a potential spam blog. To correct this, please request a review by filling out the form at xxxxxx

Your blog will be deleted in 20 days if it isn't reviewed and your readers will see a warning page during this time. After we receive your request, we'll review your blog and unlock it within two business days. Once we have reviewed and determined your blog is not spam, the blog will be unlocked and the message in your Blogger dashboard will no longer be displayed."

This made me none too happy!

However they went on to write:

"We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy and occasionally a blog like yours is flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologise for this error." (My bold print)

So if you did arrive here over the last few days. and saw a warning notice, this is the reason.

Google, it seems, is trying to stop various forms of Spandexing which includes such things as Keyword stuffing, Link spam, Mirror websites and similar methods. For more info on Blogger disabling blogs see Why is my blog disabled?

It's very frustrating when things like this happen but I guess it's all part and parcel of blogging. I think the Google robots identified this particular blog as possible spam because I have published lots of links recently.

Anyway, such is life.

Good luck,
Mike.

Real Spam available here!

Money Making In The Sunshine

I've returned from my holiday in Madeira and am now wondering if I should go away more often! Not being about seemed to have made no difference to the traffic on my blogs. In fact I had some excellent days on my celeb blogs.

If you read the 'blogging rules', which many experts spout, it's necessary to write posts daily, keep up to date and so on and so on. No doubt this is good advice but there is no need to beat ourselves up if we miss a few days (or even a fortnight) because things will carry on okay without us.

Amongst the checks/cheques I had waiting on my return were two from ClickBank. There's a fair amount of criticism about this affiliate program, I've had a few moans myself, but once you qualify for payments things seem to work like clockwork - and fortnightly payments are very acceptable.

It's strange as, on the 18th of February, I wrote a post saying I hadn't had any recent ClickBank orders and then, like the London buses, you wait for ages and several arrive at once. Another reason to go on holiday more often!

Oh yes, nearly forgot to mention, got my first payment from Squidoo. Okay it was only $14.06 but it shows that they payout as specified. This is payment direct from them, via PayPal, and doesn't include spin offs from affiliate programs I have promoted on various Squidoo lenses.

I can now see that it is possible to make some decent money with Squidoo if you have the stamina to keep going at for at least six or seven months. It's something that could gradually build to something worthwhile.

In the meantime I'm planing my next holiday. The idea of making money in the sunshine while not doing anything is very appealing!

Good luck,
Mike.

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Money Making While In Madeira

I'm having a break / holiday / vacation for about 15 days. I'm off to Funchal in Madeira, somewhere I haven't been before. As per usual when my wife and I go away I always promise her no computers, no telephones, no business. This way we unwind properly and usually feel raring to go again once we return - that's the theory anyway.

In the meantime here is a selection of money making affiliate programs that have made me money, so I can confirm that they payout okay. This is only a small selection - in alphabetical order.

AdSense
Some bloggers grumble about AdSense but for me it's always been a winner.
I receive payments (monthly) direct into my bank account.

Amazon UK / Amazon USA
We all know Amazon. I promote both UK and USA Amazon mainly because most of my visitors arrive from those two countries. It's necessary though to sign up for both.
I have received payments (monthly) paid direct into my bank account.

ClickBank
1000's of products but have to admit that some of them are a bit 'dodgy'. It's a matter of finding the good ones to promote.
I have received payments (fortnightly) by check/cheque.

Commission Junction
Lots of money makers under one 'umbrella'. Simply choose the affiliate programs you want to promote. Lots of top names available.
I have received payments paid direct into my bank account.

DIY Dating
They offer you a free website, choose your own name, and use their database of millions of profiles.
I have recieved payments by check/cheque.

FriendFinder
Over 20 websites to promote and it's something that can be promoted anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world.
I receive payments (monthly) by check/Cheque.

myLot
It's not too easy to make worthwhile money from the website unless you refer others. I joined this initially as a way to promote by blogs. Members can list their blogs.
I have received payments by PayPal.

YouGov
A genuine surveys company plus if you introduce other people you can make extra commission.
I have received payments by check/cheque.

Voxant
Videos for your blog - news, sport, entertainment, odd etc.
I receive payments (monthly) by PayPal.

I'll see you all again in just over two weeks.

Good luck,
Mike.

P.S. I've still been working away trying to make money with Squidoo. Here are a few of my lenses, the most visited being World War 2 Photos followed by Awful Jokes / Making Money With Free Blogs / Top Ten Tips To Live Longer / Funny Humorous Letters / How To Give A Talk, Presentation Or Speech / Everything Perry / Elvis Presley The Early Years 1935-1960. And if you want your own free Squidoo space click here.

Make Money With Ghostwriting

Have you ever thought about making money by Ghostwriting? No, not ghost stories but writing for other bloggers or absolutely anyone else.

I came across another Mike, this time Mike Moore, on Squidoo who has written some excellent information about this subject on his lens Tips for Breaking into the Ghostwriting Industry.

It's certainly something worth reading if you enjoy writing. Mike writes: "For ten years I drove a truck for a living. Slowly, I learned the ins and outs of the ghostwriting industry, and now I would like to share some of those tips with you." And that's exactly what he does.

With being a ghostwriter you can set your own rates of pay $15, $30 or whatever per 500 word article. Or maybe your customer will want an ebook or something more elaborate, the scope is enormous. You could start your ghostwriting money making part time and Mike gives hints on how to do this.

If you like writing this could be an avenue worth finding out more about - go take a look at his Squidoo lens.

Mike has also started a blog: Mike's Writing Nook.

Good luck,
Mike.

Other reading:
Lots Of Ways On How To Make Money

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Increased Yahoo Referrals Anyone?

I have noticed that I have been getting more Yahoo search engine referrals recently especially on my Celebrity Insider blog.

I've also heard from some Squidoo lensmasters who say they are now getting more referrals from Yahoo than from Google. Though this hasn't happened to me, Google still rules supreme.

All of this has come about because Yahoo have been fiddling with their algorithms. They reported the following a few days back:

"We’ve rolled out some changes to our index with fresh web data and updates to our crawling, indexing, and ranking algorithms over the last few days. We have had two updates since last November: one in December, 2008, and another in late January this year. We expect the update will be completed very soon. Throughout this process you may see some changes in ranking as well as some shuffling of the pages in the index."

What we don't know, of course, is what the actual changes were and therefore it's difficult to know how we can take advantage of this.

It would be interesting though to know if anyone else has been getting increased Yahoo referrals. No doubt someone will crack the algorithm - or at least pretend/say they have.

Good luck with the referrals,
Mike.

How To Give A Talk, Presentation Or Speech: Tips and a formula for giving a speech or presentation.

February Top Money Making Posts And Stats

That's another month gone - slow down please!

Here's a list of the Top Ten Most Visited Blogs on Mike's Money Making Mission for February. I say this most months but it still surprises me what this list brings up. A strange mixed lot of posts going back to 2007. The top one shows that it isn't necessarily the best written that gets the most readers - far from it in this instance.

What the list does show is how valuable a blog's back catalogue of posts is worth traffic wise.

Top Ten Most Read Posts For February 2009

1. Mar 2007. How To Make Money With Chain Letters
2. Dec 2008. 40 Ways To Get More Blog Traffic
3. May 2008. How To get 90% Discounts On Amazon
4. Jan 2009. Over 50 Social Networking Websites
5. Dec 2008. How To Disguise Your URL
6. Mar 2007. Making Money With Zlio
7. Jan 2008. Make Money With Paypal Credit Card merchant program
8. Mar 2007. Money Making With Free Blogs Part 1
9. Feb 2008. 40 Blog Directories Offering Free Listings
10 Nov 2007 Money Making With DIY Dating

As for my Squidoo Trial it's going okay. Still too soon to say if it will make any decent money - I'm thinking middle to long term. Here's my three lenses which were most visited. Again I don't necessarily think these are my best lenses. What I have found out with Squidoo is that it's important to use the right keywords.

Mike's Top Three Most Visited Squidoo Lenses For February

1. World War 2 Photos
2. Making Money With Free Blogs
3. Awful Jokes

And moving on to my celebrity blogs all I can say is that 'sex sells' -well it does in the celebrity world.

Mike's Top Three Most Visited Celebrity Blogs For February

1. CelebTease.com - over 18's only.
2. Celebrity Insider
3. Helen Flanagan

As for my blog income, I don't give this any more for various reasons, but these were my three top money makers.

Mike's Top Three Money Makers For February

1. FriendFinderGroup
2. Google AdSense
3. Voxant

Lets now see what we can do with March - fingers crossed.

Good luck,
Mike.

Latest three Squidoo lens: Top Ten Tips To Live Longer / How To Give A Talk, Presentation Or Speech / Funny Humorous Letters