Get Some Good Links For Free!

Here's something new that could get bloggers a few links and free reviews as well. It's from the ever reliable Rhys. His new website is called Fair Review and it's aim is 'growing blogs together'.

I like the idea behind Fair Review because there shouldn't, hopefully, be any losers - at least not if you get in now at the beginning.

So what's it all about?
It's quite a simple idea.

(1) You write a review, with links, to any blog that is listed in Fair Review's directory. It only has to be 100-150 words.

(2) In return you then get listed in the directory so that other bloggers can review and link to your blog.

How easy is that? If you think about the system it's good because you could possibly get lots of reviews, with those important links, to your blog. And we all know the benefits of lots of inward links, don't we?

Now, at the moment, there are only 10 blogs listed in the Fair Review directory. This, therefore, means the odds of your blog being chosen for review, by any new participants, must be good.

Get in early and give it a go. More info on their Frequently Asked Questions page.

Okay, to show that I really do like the idea, I'm joining and my review, on a blog from the Fair Review directory, is below. There is only one listed under the Business category, at the moment, so that's the one I've chosen. I've never seen the blog before - so hope it's okay! Here goes ...

My New Hustle - Make Money Online
On first appearance My New Hustle is pleasing to the eye. It's crisp, clean and looks professional.

My first thought was to try and find out who was behind the blog but I didn't get far with this as there are no personal details. There is an 'About Da Hustle' page but this only tells you what the blog's aims are:

'My New Hustle is about getting your (legal) hustle on! Whether it’s online or offline, I’ll show you different ways of leveraging opportunities so you can benefit and either add to your existing hustles or jump full-time into a new one.'

I'd have liked to have known who Da Hustler is, but I'm just nitpicking.

This is a fun blog, published since late May of this year, and is well written and presented. The latest post is Hustle Hoarding: Coupons...and Dating. It's all about saving money using coupons out of newspapers. Da Hustler says, "I once saw my grocery bill go from $165 to $75 strictly by using the coupons."

There's a picture of Mr.T, remember him, plus some words of wisdom: "Like Mr. T says, I Pity the Fool who doesn’t know the value of a coupon!"

I've always said that saving money is as good as making money so useful tips here. There are also money making hustles like 'Turn $15 Into £50,000 Per Year' and 'Make $100,000 Giving Directions.'

Written by someone with style, go take a look for yourself. It made me smile.

This review is part of the Fair Review Project.

Good luck,
Mike.

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Pssst! Want Over 10% Click Through Rate?

I wrote a post last month which I, tongue in cheek, titled Scrap The Money Making Banners. The theme was that I thought that most banners, especially those hateful flashing kind, didn't return a decent CTR (Click Through Rate).

I usually get way less than 1% CTR on such ads and, with some, I get less that 0.5%. Having previously been in the mail order business, though, I'm used to seeing figures of a 1% return on mailing campaigns as being the norm.

I'm told that with Google AdWords 0.5% to 1.5% is about average and I see with AuctionAds I'm only getting about 0.7%.

But just look at this for an average ctr - 10.545%!

This is what PayPerPost are averaging with their sponsored posts - some will, of course, be lower and some higher.

They have now got data from over 40k bloggers and 8k advertisers which proves the worth of sponsored posts.

I must admit I was very surprised by these figures. I thought that sponsored posts were often overlooked on blogs and that readers simply scrolled down the page without a second thought. Obviously, from the PayPerPost stats, this isn't the case. You can read more about this on their blog here.

What these PayPerPost CTR figures show is that sponsored posts are actually good value for advertisers. And the blogger who writes the post makes some money as well. Everyone a winner!

Food for thought.

Good luck,
Mike.

The Formula For Making Money With Free Blogs

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My personal formula for making money with free blogs is: Post content of value > Attract visitors > Keep visitors on your blog > Make visitors want to return > Monetise your blog ... and then back to > Post content of value etc. and on for infinity.

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Having been around blogging now for 43 weeks I receive various emails and enquiries wanting advice on how to go about making money with free blogs.

Someone recently wrote: 'Your website does not explain what is involved (in making money with blogs) and how a person like me would succeed.'

When I started my first blog the idea was simply to try and make money and write about my experiences. It was never to set myself up as some sort of expert. Obviously I've learnt a bit over the weeks and I've tried to cover these points in posts. Every post is in the archives.

Unfortunately what I can't say is, "If you do this, this and that, you'll definitely make money with free blogs." I don't think anyone can. There are too many variables and all of us are different.

My advice is that if you want to make money, you read as many posts as possible on blogs such as this, but then you have to actually get on with it. Nothing comes free and without effort. You'll make mistakes but so what - this isn't important.

As that old cliche keeps telling us 'a journey starts with the first step.' And this is right. We have to get on with it, start the adventure and learn as we go.

If you are new, or just starting out, I did write three posts a while back that are my nearest attempts at saying how it's possible to make money with free blogs.

These aren't step-by-step instructions but they will give anyone the basics - as I see them. Other bloggers, also with 43 weeks experience, may well see some things differently. These are the three posts:

Making Money With Free Blogs - Part 1
This covers: Blog and Post Content, Retaining Visitors etc.

Making Money With Free Blogs - Part 2
Has suggestions on how to get visitors and also about keywords.

Making Money With Free Blogs - Part 3
This is the money making bit - but needs Parts 1 & 2 have to be in place first.

I have made about $2900 from free blogs and without any capital outlay. Some have done better than this but usually have laid out money to do so. I like to do things the difficult way!

I hope I haven't come across as being unhelpful from what I have written. I'm always pleased to help but I wanted to emphasise that there is no short cut or magic wand. It's down to that formula at the top of this post and doing it.

Good luck,
Mike.

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The Postie Way To Make Money

"So why did you join payperpost?" someone asked in an email.

"Erm," I thought, being a very decisive person, "Because ... because ..."

I had to think about it. I suppose I joined because I saw that other bloggers were making money from payperpost. As this is a money making blog it therefore seemed something I had to try out. I don't remember being actually recommended by anyone in particular. I just followed the crowd - which isn't always a particularly clever thing to do in life. You can end up in some very strange places.

Becoming another postie for payperpost has worked out okay for me though. I haven't been led down some dark, musty alley or anything like that.

I've only written five sponsored posts to date but the good news is that, in doing so, this has been trouble free - and that's what we all want.

I've simply written the posts, they have been approved and thirty days later (from when they were first published) the money has been paid into my PayPal account - exactly on time. Can't be bad!

"How much can you earn with payperpost?" the email went on to ask.

How long is a piece of string? I've only earned $58.52 but the top earner has made $14,108.35. It all depends on how many offers, or opportunities as PPP like to call them, you take up. If you have several established blogs obviously it would be possible to rake in more cash.

A postie in the UK is a Postman or a Postwoman - like Postman Pat in the picture - you know, a mail man who delivers the mail. A payperpost postie must be a lot easier way of making money - definitely better than walking the streets ...

I'm now at week 43 of my Money Making Mission. The aim being to try and earn money, using only free blogs and without any capital outlay.

I thought I'd vary things a little this week. I usually do cumulative money figures but for a change here is what I have made this week (i.e. last seven days). The one I'm most disappointed about is Google AdSense - some of their ads seem a way off beam on my celeb blogs.

Anyway here are this weeks figures: The money making programs are in alphabetical order.

AdSense - $22.39
Amazon UK - 36c
DIY Dating - $24.90
FriendFinderGroup - 48.24
Helium - 13c
myLot - 02c
PayPerPost - $18.50
You Gov - $1.00
Advert Revenue - $15

Week Total $130.54

The Cumulative earnings are: $2860.54 below are all of the programs I am currently promoting - or perhaps I should say trying to promote. The figures are cumulative money earned.

AdSense $500.68
Amazon UK £4.16 ($8.32)
AuctionAds $22.17
Autograph Dealer Nil
Convergence Inc $142.60 (over 18's only)
DIY Dating £65.52 ($131.04)
FriendFinderGroup $667.51
Helium $12.33
IcePoster Nil
myLot $59.09
PayPerPost $58.52
Sexy Ads $287.76 (over 18's only)
You Gov £45.25 ($90.50)
I've also made money from Commission Junction, Adbrite, Cashlinkr, Daytipper, but I no longer promote these. I have also received additional money from direct advertising and misc. revenue.

Think that's all for this week, thanks for reading this post.

Good luck,
Mike.

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Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Photos and news on worldwide celebrities.

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AuctionAds: Increase the bid on your site's income!

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AuctionAds Money Received

I received a couple of payments today, one of which was my first from AuctionAds. The other was another check from the FriendFinderGroup.

It was the AuctionAds payment that interested me most, even though it was only for $22.17, because it's proved to me that they pay out on time and as specified. This now gives me the confidence to promote them further. The money came via PayPal.


I must admit, however, that I'm not 100% convinced that AuctionAds is a big money spinner for the average blog. My own clicks per page impression is only 0.73%. I feel that double this would be more realistic.

Now that I've had a payment, and seen that the system seems to work okay, it's time to experiment a little.

As you no doubt know AuctionAds is all about displaying live eBays auction products on your blog or website.

To determine what eBayads are displayed it's necessary to choose a keyword, or keywords, relevant to the subject matter of your blog. With the AuctionAds on this blog (they are in the right hand column towards the bottom of the page) I have, up to writing this, used the keyword 'money' - as this is what this blog is about.

It's with these keywords that I want to experiment. Will different subject matter attract more clicks? Who knows, perhaps it's actually my fault that the results haven't been better. Also the position of the ads no doubt also has a relevance.

I'll see if I can up the clicks and commission for August with AuctionAds. The results will be seen in my Money Making Weekly Reports.

As for the other payment received I think I've said enough about the FriendFinder group previously. In my experience they have been efficient, made payments on time and have lots of promotional material. I've made over $600 from them to date.

And changing the subject completely invesp consulting have a competition whereby you could win $400 with possibilities of even more. The comp is based on subscribing (free) to their website.

Who are they? This is how they describe themselves: 'We offer a wide range of optimization and conversion solutions that are designed to drive traffic, convert traffic, and build a community around your site.' Use the link for the full competition info. $400 is a worthwhile amount to try for.

Think that's all for today.

Good luck,
Mike.

Make Money & Friends with FriendFinder. Promote 20+ websites, top commission paid.

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Make Money With Your Own Social Network

Social Networking - it's big on the Internet, and within blogging, but do the well known websites fit your personal needs? Are they too big, too impersonal, too varied on subject matter etc. etc.?

Yes, it's always easy to find fault, even with something as potent as Social Networking.

But what if you could start your own Social Network, based on any niche or theme that you wanted. And better still what if it could be as big or as small as you wished and could be private or public. That would be pretty good wouldn't it?

Think of the potential of forming a group of like minded people - and yes, the money making possibilities as well.

Well all of this is possible with a website called Ning. A good example of a recently set up social network on Ning is Matt Jones's BlogLight.ning which he has set up for bloggers.

The interesting feature about Ning itself is that it is believed to be the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds.

There are already thousands of different social networks created on Ning. You can see a list by clicking here. The choice of niches is vast. I saw networks set up as varied as those for BMW Geeks, Viet Music Fans, Blog Writers, Film Makers, Hypnotists etc. etc.

Such networks could dovetail nicely with lots of different blog niches.

There is more info about Ning on their Frequently Asked Questions page.

Food for thought!

Good luck,
Mike.

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IcePoster. 200,000+ photos of celebrities, movie stars, sports people etc. Search for your favourite.

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