Squidoo Money Making Update

I thought I'd do an update on Squidoo.

If I'm honest it's not going as well as I hoped in respect of making me money. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with Squidoo, it's a good site and there are benefits other than monetary.

I enjoy using the website, time permitting, but my major point of joining was to make money and this has been disappointing so far.

To earn commission the lenses (pages) you have made need to have a good Squidoo ranking. One that is under 2000. Now, as there are millions of lenses, it can be seen that to have one of the best 2000 is no easy task. I've done this and had several in the category but, through lack of time, the rankings have gradually dropped.

So what decides your ranking? Well it's another mysterious algorithm. From what I can see this is based on various things relative to the lens.

These 'things' include:

(a) Traffic - same old chestnut!
(b) Ratings stars - how other members rate your lenses
(c) Clicks Out - how many clicks are made to Google ads, Amazon, etc. etc.
(d) Goods Bought - have readers bought anything from, say, Amazon and eBay modules.
(e) Latest Updates - length of time since the lens was updated.
(f) Angel Blessings - some established members are called angels and they can bless lenses they think are exceptional. Blessings improve a lens ranking.

So there are quite a lot of things to constantly think about if you want to make money by having decent lens rankings.

It's not an easy money making ride and I feel it will take several months of continued effort to make anything worthwhile. Though you could just do it for the enjoyment and possible contacts you might make.

As I said earlier there are also other benefits to making lenses. They could, for example, be for your own products or affiliate programs or maybe to help drive traffic to your blog or website.

A few Squidoo lensmasters do claim to be making decent money but these appear, in the main, to be long established members.

To sum up Squidoo is a well run program and quite easy to use but getting regular, direct payments from Squidoo will take time and effort.

Good luck,
Mike.

A few of my Squidoo Lenses as examples: A Year In My Cornish Garden / Sidney Sock Goes Missing / Funny and Humorous Letters / Awful Jokes / Golf Jokes and Golf One Liners

Wonder Wheel For Michael Jackson Keywords

Have you been using the new Google Wonder Wheel to help find more keywords or other related searches?

I've only just come across this and have found it useful when writing articles and posts. All the more we can establish popular keywords and phrases and what is being searched the more successful our search engine optimisation.

Better seo brings better traffic, at least that's the theory.

To find the Wonder Wheel do a normal Google search (and remember the suggestions in the drop down box are also very useful as keywords) and on the results page at the top left you'll see 'Show options'. Click on this and the Wonder Wheel link is towards the bottom of the list shown.

The Wonder Wheel will show usually 6- 8 phrases associated with whatever you searched. The example below shows the current Wonder Wheel when searching for 'Michael Jackson'.


The 'Show options' list (to the left of the example above) also includes other helpful links to stuff you are searching for - which, again, may come in handy when writing your article or post.

Every little extra helps. The right keywords and phrases make the world of difference to attracting traffic from search engines - especially Google. And, of course, more traffic = more money.

Good luck,
Mike.

YouGov: Make extra money by completing surveys and polls for payment - genuine company.

Received Money from YouGov

I've received another cheque / check from YouGov. They are the surveys and pollster company who are genuine - there are many dodgy ones about.

YouGov won't make you rich but I know that there are a section of readers who want to make a little extra cash or pin money. As you will see below my cheque is for £50 - which is about $100, to keep it in round figures.


So who are YouGov? This is how their Panel Manager Tom Burgess explained things:

You have probably seen reports of YouGov in the media: we are regular pollsters for the Daily telegraph, The Sunday Times, Sky News and others. We also do research for a wide range of other clients from businesses to charities to local government to utilities. In giving us your views, you are therefore providing your input in a wide variety of areas, from informing the debate on a public policy issue, to ensuring that a product meets the needs of consumers.

Though the above refers to the UK YouGov are active in USA, Austria, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Middle East, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

From my own experience and enquiries they are a genuine, trustworthy organisation. To join click here. If you are outside of the UK, after clicking, you will see a Non-UK Resident section on the right of the page where you can click on your country.

As I've said it won't bring you in a heap of money but it will make you a little extra for completing surveys. Give it a try and see what you think.

Moving on: Further to my previous post, below is a genuine copy of my commission statement for one of my FriendFinder accounts!


My commission now runs into millions - and that's just for two weeks! They 'pay-out' every two weeks. I won't hold my breath!

Good luck,
Mike.

What A Lot Of Money!

I thought I'd show you a genuine copy of what I saw when I logged into one of my affiliate accounts with the FriendFinderGroup.


It made me smile.

What do you reckon?!

Bing Referrals To Blogs

I've noticed that Microsoft's new search engine Bing is now making referrals to my blogs. On most of my blogs it has shot into second position after Google (of course) for search engine referrals.

I look at this as being something positive. Microsoft are keen to see Bing out-search Google, which would be quite something. It's still very early days of their five year plan but they seem to be already catching Yahoo (at least with my blog referrals!)


As can be seen above, on one of my blogs over 9% of the traffic is by way of Bing.

I must admit that I haven't used Bing all that much myself to do searches but it has a certain likeability about it. Perhaps it might just be the competition needed to rival Google - well, one day at least.

Microsoft says of Bing:

Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today's search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

So what does the word Bing mean? According to Microsoft it's the 'the sound of found' - not too sure about that. Some say it stands for Bing Is Not Google.

Whatever it means, a quality search engine to (eventually) rival Google must be a good thing.

Good luck,
Mike.

Golf Jokes and Golf One Liners

Make Money By Giving People What They Want

It seems a bit of a glib answer but, when asked how I managed to get quite high traffic on some of my blogs, I answered that it was because I tried to give people what they wanted.

If readers want, say, Katy Perry it's no use giving them the Rolling Stones, if they want Internet Riches it's no good telling them about The History of Money.

This means that you have to try and tailor your blog to your readers requirements.

There are two basic ways to do this.

The easy way is to get it right from the beginning. In other words you define your exact niche before you set up the blog.

Doing this should attract the right readers - they will find you. Providing, of course, that your niche is in demand and not some flight of fancy. It means a little groundwork, prior to setting up the blog, to make sure there is a decent possible readership, for whatever it is you wish to impart on the world.

The second way is to follow trends. Pick ones on the way up, new things, before the mass of bloggers cotton on.

It's better to write about a celebrity, for example, who is just getting known than to hone in on the likes of Paris Hilton or Angelina and Brad where there will be hundreds and thousands of other posts - most churning out the same stuff.

Blogging to make money is simple, at least in theory. Give people what they want and tie this in with compatible products and affiliate programs.

QED.

Good luck,
Mike.

YouGov. Make extra money by completing surveys and polls for payment - genuine company.

Clicking Traffic Makes Money

When I start looking at blog statistics it does make me wonder if I have made the most of the traffic I have received.

On one of my blogs, for example, I am coming up to 1 million unique visitors, which equates to getting on for 2.4 million page views.

When I look at figures like this I ask myself the obvious 'if only' things like ... if only all of these vistors had paid me $1 or even 50c each visit. Of course life and blogging isn't like that, or that easy.

The reality is that the pages have to have something of interest to visitors which makes them want to get clicking.

I've always said that traffic = money and I stick with this statement, as a percentage will always click on something - it's simply what happens. But it's clicking traffic that = big money.

So the more people click the more money we will make. It's one of the reasons why ads should be geared to whatever is being written. And this is why I like text ads following a post. The post then becomes a selling opportunity in it's own right, with the side columns and maybe header postion there as 'back up.'

I guess it's getting the balance right.

Best results, I find, are always from posts where they contain links within the body of the article. They have to be relevant and helpful to the subject matter and, if they are, readers will click.

If you can get traffic and thenentice them to click there's a lot of money to be made.

Good luck,
Mike.

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My Love For Cheesecake recipes. If you love cheesecakes take a look here.

Making Money With Diamonds

Amazon USA have moved into the world of diamonds whereby customers can create their own style rings and at a price within their budget. Perhaps this could be a good money maker for bloggers.

A special Create Your Own Ring page has been set up on Amazon which has sets of sliding bars to help choose diamond shape, price, carat, cut, colour, clarity and so on. Customers can click the 'see results' button at any time.

It all sounds ideal for engagement rings and the like. Instead of plodding round the shops, hoping to see the right design, this can be all done from the comfort of home and customers will get exactly what they are looking for.

Plus, of course, there could be some decent commission to be made as diamond rings are generally good value items.

As far as the customer is concerned Amazon state: "We can sell the same ring as a conventional jeweler, for about a third less than their price." Now that must be a real incentive to buy from Amazon.

Other plus points quoted by Amazon, "... all of our diamonds are graded by highly trained gemologists and come with a certificate, you can be confident our diamonds measure up to their stated qualities. And because our diamonds are certified conflict-free in accordance with the Kimberly Process, your customers can buy with a clear conscience."

As with any product you need the right customers but, with a 'third off' normal prices, Amazon diamonds might be worth a test on various niche blogs.

Good luck,
Mike.

YouGov: Make money by completing surveys and polls for payment - genuine company. (I have recived payments from them - Mike)

Get Spidered More Often For More Traffic

Updating a blog regularly does have advantages, providing you have the time and the inclination of course.

One of these advantages is that your blog will be spidered more often by Google. I have found this to be the case on a couple of blogs which I update at least once a day.

"So what," you may say.

As I see it the more often your blog is spidered the quicker you get seen in the search engine results. In the past, where I have followed hot trends, I've had a number one or two ranking on Google within one or two hours of posting.

If you can therefore get in on an early trend, something on the way up, it can pay dividends in the way of big traffic. I did this with a celebrity story, on a blog I update regularly, and got over 40,000 hits in a day which were mainly Google referrals.

So, yes, a regularly updated blog, with the right content, can help towards making a decent income from blogging.

Good luck,
Mike.