Making Money With Donations

I'm sure you have read the requests, and seen the buttons, where bloggers ask for donations on their blogs. Personally I'm not too sure why anyone would want to donate cash to another blog unless there was either (a) a benefit for themselves or (b) the reader had gained something of real value. In a effect there isn't much difference between the two.

There is a mountain of good information on the Internet (as well as lots of rubbish) and all for free with no request for payment. As I see it if anyone was posting something really special, and of great benefit, they could ask for a set subscription.

To be honest I almost feel embarrassed when I see some of the pleas for money with big donation buttons on run of the mill posts.

There are, however, a few cleverly written requests around that are done almost tongue in cheek and with a sense of humour. These I like.

One of the first I saw like this was on Rhys's blog The Gospel According To Rhys. Following his blog post he has a small icon of a glass of beer and next to this is written: If you've enjoyed this, why not buy me a beer? If you haven't, why not contribute to my death by alcohol poisoning by buying me a beer?

I think that Rhys can get away with this perfectly because he has developed a relationship with his readers and writes in a relaxed way. This wouldn't work though on every blog, it's the character of the blogger that is important.

When talking about donations, as a way of making money with blogs, most people seem to throw up the name of Jason Kottke .

His story is that in the early part of 2005 he decided to quit his employment to take up being a professional blogger for one year.

His blog doesn't offer any form of service or product, and there is no advertising. His income, I'm told, is (or at least was) purely from donations. In February of 2006 Jason revealed that roughly 1450 'micropatrons' had donated over US$39,900 over the course of his one year experiment of being a full time blogger.

In this case Jason already had a good following and donations were to become a micropatron. He also had that relationship established with his readers.

To sum up: For me donations are a 'no no' unless there is something of 'real' value on a blog or it's done in a fun way by a blogger who is known, established and respected. It's definitely not for newbies.

There are always exceptions ...

Following the dreadful bomb attempt at Glasgow Airport a website/blog has been set up in the name of John Smeaton. He's the guy that tackled one of the terrorists at the weekend. On the blog, as appreciation for what he did, you can buy John a pint of beer. The idea is to get 1000 pints lined up for him at the Holiday Inn near Glasgow Airport. Having just been to the blog they are already through the 1000 pints target. This is a nice idea and much more worthy than giving to some anonymous nondescript blogger. Just my opinion of course!

Good luck,
Mike.

---

Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Yesterday we broke the news of the LA Mayor's affair with Mirthala Salinas plus news on Kylie Minogue joining Dr.Who and also snippits on Elton John, Charley Uchea, Prince Edward, Daniel Radcliffe and the duo of Pete Doherty and Kate Moss.

---

Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission
Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email

78 Year Old Tramp Has Thousands Of Friends On Facebook

After writing yesterday about MySpace and how, with lots of friends, it may be a way to make money I read today a story about Facebook.

The question of getting a 'brand' and lots friends seems to be possible in all sorts of ways. Here is an extreme example.

To quote from today's Daily Mail newspaper:

'The Social Networking phenomenon that is Facebook has found an unlikely star in Gordon Roberts - a 78 year old tramp.

The Gordon Roberts site has more than 4,500 members after just a five weeks. And it is turning a local (Bournemouth, UK) character into an international cult figure.'

There is now a group featuring Gordon which invites friends to share photographs and memories of him. An average of 200 members have joined the group every day including people from Australia, America and South Africa.

This all goes to illustrate the power of Social Networking if you can find a way to put a different slant on your, or someone elses, profile.

Moving on ...
I wrote in my last Money Making Weekly Report that I hadn't made any money with AuctionAds . Today, however, I see that I have broken my duck and have made the grand sum of $4.58!

It's still not very impressive as my stats show that, to earn this, I have had 37,775 page impressions which produced 392 clicks. At this rate of conversion it will take quite a while to make any decent money from the program. I'll carry on for a few more weeks and will let you know how I progress.

And finally ...
Gordon Roberts, the tramp as mentioned above, has the ability to tell the time accurately without using a watch. There is a very short video on YouTube showing him doing this here. There is some bad language on the video.

And on that note ...

Good luck,
Mike.

---

Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Yesterday 888 people wanted to read about Cynthia Rodriguez - find out why.

---

Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission
Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email

Money Making With Christine Dolce And MySpace

I'm aware that the 'in' Social Networking site at the moment is Facebook but, when a respected publication like the Economist writes about MySpace, you have to listen. Especially when the theme is money making.

The Economist writes:
'MySpace seems to offer a chance for companies to take their marketing into new, potentially more lucrative territory, by becoming, in effect, members of their customers' network of 'friends'. A growing number of firms have established their own pages on MySpace, to which users can link.'

This is of interest but they also talk about someone who has been dubbed as the Queen of MySpace, Christine Dolce. It seems that a lot of companies and commercial enterprises are wanting to link up with Christine Dolce. In fact some already have.

The giant company Unilever, for example, has hooked up with Christine to promote a deodorant called Axe.

So what is so special about Christine Dolce?

Well she's a bleached, buxom, blonde but this isn't why a company like Unilever goes courting.

What they want is access to her MySpace friends.

Ms.Dolce is one of the top profiles on the Social Networking scene and she has 900,000 friends. This is what makes her Forbidden page on MySpace so attractive.

It's all about Friends! It's all about Christine Dolce becoming a brand.

Was Unilever's promotion with the Queen of MySpace a success? Yes!

Unilever wanted to get at the 18 to 24 year old young men, which is the market for Axe. Christine Dolce hosted an interactive game, called 'Gamekillers', based around dating tips and designed subtly to promote Axe. Some 75,000 MySpacers signed up.

This illustrates the mammoth potential of Social Networking sites for making money.

From becoming a MySpace Queen Christine now has her own website forbiddenxo.com and her own line of denim fashion wear. She also does photo shoots, public appearances and so on.

Okay Ms.Dolce has certain advantages. She's attractive, in a sort of Pamela Anderson style, and doesn't mind posing half naked - and, funnily enough, this appeals to many male MySpace members.

There must, however, be other ways to become known and a brand within the Social Networking world.

I know a while back I wrote a post Friends - Are They A Waste Of Time? but maybe I'm changing my mind about this. I'm looking at the whole thing now from a different angle.

Friends might just equal money making - in a subtle way and without spamming of course.

Since thinking about this I see there is even software downloads that can help with getting friends. Friend Adder is an example.

In writing this post all I want to do is to give some food for thought. Draw your own conclusions.

It's like the alchemist looking for gold.

Just one idea, one special post, one chunk of publicity can work in a viral way to create a new stream of income. Perhaps Social Networking could be the key. It's worth thinking about.

CNN also have an interesting article on Making Friends And Money On MySpace.

Good luck,
Mike.

---

Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Yesterday 973 people read about Ana Paula Oliveira and said Happy 40th Birthday to Pamela Anderson.

---

Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission
Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email

Money Making Weekly Report - Week 38

I'm now at week 38 of my Money Making Mission. The aim being to try and earn money, using only free blogs and without any capital outlay.

It's so easy to get distracted from the main objective of a money making blog - which is to make money! There's always a good excuse, of course. In my case I tell myself it's because of limited time for blogging and the fact that I have been concentrating on building my new blog Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. They are both true but somehow it's necessary to keep everything going and not lose track of why I'm actually blogging.

Anyway, here are some of the things I'm involved with.

AdSense $308.11
I'm sure we all know about AdSense. It's improved for me since I started the new blog - but I'd still like a lot more. Must think about the ads positioning, the headline colours etc. and see what I can do to improve.

Amazon UK £3.80 ($7.22)
My Amazon aStore Blogging Good Blogs doesn't bring in much - perhaps that's because I don't promote it or Amazon books and products properly!

AuctionAds Nil.
As I said last week I joined this on June 11th but no income as yet - that's despite 31,002 page impressions giving 334 clicks. I'll continue for a full month but, if no cash forthcoming, the space will have to be put to better use. The ads are in the right hand column, towards the bottom of the page.

Cashlinkr $4.50
Nothing to add from what I said last week.

Convergence Inc $142.60 (over 18's only)
There are only a few places I can promote this, because of it's adult nature (adult products). They are efficient, however, pay on time and give affiliates a free website. If you can market the products there is enormous potential.

Daytipper $3.00
Same thoughts as last week. I don't see them as a realistic money maker. Nothing wrong with the website though.

DIY Dating £53.07 ($95.52)
I did a recent post on DIY Dating, How To Make Money Dating. Briefly: They provide a free website and you choose format and sector of people you wish to include on your site from their database. Payout exactly as they say. Worldwide opportunity.

FriendFinderGroup $593.15
This one works! Affiliates can promote over twenty websites with one sign up. There is also a choice of ways to earn - either per click, by order or by percentage. They have always paid me regularly and as expected. I did a report on this program in January Money Making Test: FriendFinder Group.


Helium $11.00
Another few more cents this week. As I said last week I like this website even though I've never done much with it. If you like writing lots of articles / reports I'm sure it could prove profitable.

myLot $58.15
Haven't had time to go on the site over the past week but made a few dollars from having introduced new members.

PayPerPost $40.02
They pay out fine but I can't find any suitable offers to write about for this blog. With the right subject matter and niche some bloggers have made thousands of dollars

Sexy Ads $287.76 (over 18's only)
Another excellent friends and contact program for affiliates. Lots of sites to promote and good promotional materials. I only bother to check my stats on a monthly basis.

You Gov £39.00 ($74.10)
A few more pounds this week. This is a genuine survey and polls company. They want more members from UK, USA and Middle East. UK residents get £1 for joining. For more info this post.

I've also made money from Commission Junction and Adbrite but no longer promote these.

Additional blog income of $240.16 made from advertising revenue.

No, I'm pleased to say, I'm well through the $2000 barrier.

Moving on to Search Engine Referrals.
833 referrals this week from the various search engines to this blog. This takes the total received from this source to 12,014.

As for my new blog, Celebrity Insider - Photos & News, I had 1403 search engine referrals for the last seven days and 5079 hits (average of 725 per day). This is really where my efforts have been concentrated over the week in my alloted blogging time.

My Mike's Top Ten Referrals From Blogs is in the side column this week. I hope to do a June list during next week and will publish this when completed.

Thanks for reading this post.

Good luck,
Mike.


Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission
Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email

---

Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Recent posts include Noelia and 'that' naughty video, Spice Girls reunion and tour dates, Tatiana Golovin, Ana Paula Oliveira etc. I real mixed back from around the world.

---

Thank You Links

My thank you links for this week.

The links are because they left me comments - blogs taken at random from last seven days, but my thanks to everyone who contributed and visited Mikes Money Making Mission.

What to do when you've got no connection
I've linked this to a particular post. This New Zealand blogger normally writes about money making on this blog - recent posts on VuMe and CREAMAid but, as the title suggests, his Internet connection was down. He's a talented photographer so he got clicking and even saw pictures in his floor! The photo on the right is Mary! There are eleven interesting photos on this post plus a video. Something different. He also has several other blogs including one on the paranormal. Some interesting stuff here.

Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low-Carb™ Blog
Jimmy, from South Carolina, writes, "In just one year I lost 180 pounds and I have kept that weight off by making low-carb my permanent lifestyle change." It seems he once weighed in at 410 pounds. If you have some surplus inches join him on his healthy journey - his method looks like it works.

revenue ROBOT
Andrew (Andy) Alexander is from 'beautiful' Orlando, Florida where he works from his home office. He says that he's, "... pretty much always online researching ventures to make money from or to invest in." His blog has mixed posts ranging from money making to music. A nicely designed blog on blogger.

Money Money Money
I picked this comment because this 'British female' gave me some useful advice in a comment. I wrote a post about having my posts pinched by other blogs. I also said in a comment that many of them are 'automated blogs using feeds' which steal other bloggers content.

Money Money Money came up, in part, with the answer to this: 'The only way to stop your feed getting used like this is to change your feed to "short" within your blogger template. That way, if the feed is used, only the first paragraph is shown and they have to click through to your blog to read the rest.' Don't know why I hadn't thought of this!

Good luck,
Mike.


Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission
Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email

---

Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Recent post include: Spice Girls Reunion, Tatiana Golovin and her red knickers, Ana Paula Oliveira the Brazilian foorball referee who is posing for Playboy, Chantelle and Preston etc.

---

Stop Thief! Someone's Stolen My Money Making Post

I wanted to make a few comments today about copyright and my feelings when other bloggers publish, in full, my posts without having the decency to ask first. I found six instances of this yesterday copied from this and my celebrity blog.

Firstly, articles etc. posted on the web do have copyright protection, even if they do not display the copyright notice. There are exceptions to this, but generally this is the rule.

Plagiarism is paramount to stealing. It is IP Theft i.e. Intellectual Property Theft. I believe that permission should be requested if we want to publish something in full that another person has written. Nothing should be copied in it's entirety without approval.

There is, however, something known as fair use which I am sure we are all happy with. This is whereby other bloggers can use excerpts from a post or article, when it is relative to what they are writing about. Again, it must be stressed, this does not extend to using the whole of a post or article.

When using excerpts bloggers should give credit, where credit is due, and a link should be made to the permalink of the post and not to the blogs's main page.

It's really just a matter of etiquette and good manners.

My Brazilian friend Julio wrote a useful article on this subject, a while back, titled What to do when someone steals your content.

If any bloggers need content, and can't be bothered to write it themselves, there is plenty to be had on such websites as Go Articles and Ezine Articles - but follow the rules.

Think I must have got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning!

Good luck,
Mike.


Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission
Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email

---

Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Recent posts include Big Brother's Charley Uchea.

---

Volcanic Money Making Trends

I have a bit of a 'thing' at the moment about search trends on the Internet. As I see it, it stands to reason that if you can associate a post, with something that is being searched for in great numbers, this could send hits to your blog.

I don't mean in a spamming way, but if we keep an eye on trends there could well be something that is relative to the subject matter of our blogs.

Probably one of the best places to view these trends is on the aptly named Google Trends. This is the websites own description of what is on offer:

'With Hot Trends, you can see a snapshot of what's on the public's collective mind by viewing the fastest-rising searches for different points of time. You can see a list of today’s top 100 fastest-rising search queries in the U.S.'

Hot trends are updated hourly, so you can always have an up to date picture of the top Google searches. You may, however, have noticed one drawback from the above description. They are USA trends only at the moment, though this will change in the future. I feel that, as the USA is the major player on the Internet, the information is still useful for all countries.

When you go to the site you can get a list of the top 100 trends. If you click on one of these a graph will come up, as below, plus lots of other info on the subject.

The above screen shot is for yesterday's number three trend - Ye Li. I'd never heard of her but she turns out to be a Chinese basketball player who is going to get married.

Now if you had a sports or basketball blog, yesterday, it may well have been a good idea to have given Ye Li a mention. As you will see from the graph above, in a search sense, she was classed as 'Volcanic' - the top rating possible. As you work down the list of 100 keywords other classifications include On Fire, Spicy, Medium and Mild.

Looking at today's trends (at 3.30 p.m. UK time) there is nothing shown as Volcanic. The highest is a Medium. This could change rapidly at any moment, depending on what happens in the world or USA.

All I would suggest is that you watch any trends relative to your niche and then capitalise on them when you can.

I'm aware that some bloggers won't like this idea but I believe you have to give people what they want - not what you think they should want or what you want them to want.

What a lot of wants!

Get in on the volcanic action, just as the lava starts to flow.

Good luck,
Mike.


Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission
Subscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email

---

Celebrity Insider - Photos & News. Recent posts include Paris Hilton (out of jail + video), new Pamela Anderson photos and Victoria Beckham.

---