Make Money With PayPal Credit Card Merchant Program

PayPal For Business
Accept credit cards in just minutes
A little ad like the one above, or a banner ad with the same theme, could make you money - up to £750 in the UK and a roughly equivalent amount in the USA. Not to be sniffed at!

I'm sure most of us have got PayPal accounts and, if we have, why not run ads for their Merchant Referral Bonus Programme promoting the fact that small businesses, and indeed large ones, can accept credit cards via PayPal.

If any new merchants sign up then you'll get some commission. As PayPal put it:

Each time a new merchant signs up for a PayPal Business or Premier account via the link or banner that you provide, you'll be eligible for a Merchant Referral Bonus. Your referral bonus is tied to the amount the merchant receives via PayPal's Website Payment Tools or Send Money. You'll immediately start earning 0.5% of the new merchant's revenue ...

Realistically with a small blog it's unlikely that you'll sign up dozens of new merchants but even a few could produce a decent revenue stream depending on their volume of business. There must be lots of new and small businesses looking for a way to accept credit cards - it's an option that anyone selling must have.

To help promote the Merchant Referral Bonus Programme there are links, a banner ad and also the following suggested email:

"When you signup for PayPal, you can start accepting credit card payments instantly. As the world's number one online payment service, PayPal is the fastest way to open your doors to over 150 million member accounts worldwide. Best of all, it's completely free to sign up! To sign up or learn more please click here."

If you are already a PayPal member simply click on the referrals link at the bottom of the page after you have signed in. This will lead you to the full info on how to promote the Merchant Referral Bonus Programme.

Good luck,
Mike.

Also: How To Get 90% Discounts On Amazon Products

Deep Thinking Links

Most advice is that we need as many links to our blogs as possible, and preferably that these are of good quality. Even the major search engines themselves agree with this.

Most of the links that we go for, however, are usually to our home page address but what we should also be looking for are Deep Links.

Deep Links are to other posts or pages on our blogs or websites. These not only help with search engine optimisation but can help attract a different set of visitors to those who would normally head for the home page.

As an example the majority of links to a blog, like this one, are directed to Mike's Money Making Mission. But I can also link to individual posts such as How To get 90% Discounts On Amazon or 40 Ways To get More Free Blog Traffic and then attract visitors who may not normally be interested in my main niche of making money with free blogs.

Over the last seven days 25.72% of visitors to this blog arrived on the Amazon link mentioned in the previous paragraph and 7.2% to the Traffic link. That's 32.92% more visitors than I would have had by just using MMMM as a link.

These are still good quality referrals / hits / visitors / readers or what every you want to call them.

Also it's a good idea, but without taking it to extremes, to link various posts or pages together. I must admit I have been a bit lax with this on MMMM for quite a while.

If we write about a subject we can link to other places, where we have a similar topic, or even to something completely different that may just raise a readers curiosity. This helps to keep visitors for longer.

Back links, deep links and internal links are worth giving some thought.

Good luck,
Mike.

Similar subject: Promotional Posts Make More Money

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Currency Rates Give Me A 28% Rise

The media is full of gloom and doom in the UK about the recession and, yes, things are serious for many people what with losing jobs and so on. But that old saying about 'an ill wind' is true.

With my blogging I've had a pay rise and it's all down to currency rates.

I'm with several USA affiliate programs where I receive US dollar checks (cheques) and the UK pound (I'm in the UK) is considerably down on the USA dollar recently, and this has worked in my favour.

I banked some USA checks last week for $603.13. Now in December last year I was getting less than $2 for £1 so, on the amount I paid in, I would have ended up with less than £300 after charges.

This time, however, I received £385.10 which is about a 28% increase. And that's why I say I've had a pay rise - and a big percentage one at that.

So bloggers, if you are in the UK like I am, it's a good time to be promoting USA affiliate programs.

Don't let cashing USA checks put you off. I save them up until I have three or four and sometimes many more and pay them into my bank in one go. This way the bank charges work out less - well they do at my bank.

Most USA checks clearly state how long they are valid for - anywhere between 90 and 180 days. The only thing you have to watch out for is the difference between UK and USA dates.

In the UK we put the day first and then the month. In the USA they put the month first and then the day. In the UK 1/7/2009 means the first of July but in the USA it's the 7th of January.

Several payments from the USA I get paid direct into my bank (with Google AdSense for example) and others to my PayPal account. This makes things easier but unfortunately not all affiliate programs are willing to do this.

It's no good us moaning about the recession we have to try and do our best to overcome the problems. Get stuck into promoting those USA affiliate programs while the currency rates are advantageous (to us Brits).

Good luck,
Mike.

Other Bloggers Make Me Money

I know I've mentioned this previously but it's something I feel is important if you want to make money with blogs.

Below you will see that I have just received $428.73 from the FriendFinder Group. This wasn't for work I have done myself but for business done by other bloggers who I have introduced to their website.


I've also other money pending such as FrenchFriendFinder $61, KoreanFriendFinder $51, FilipinoFriend Finder $39.75 and so on. And this is just in the 'Friends' niche.

Now it's unlikely that I'd ever have made money with French, Korean and Filipino speaking countries but, with people I have referred in those countries, they make the money for me - which is great.

So the point I'm emphasising is:

With any affiliate program never overlook the potential to make money by introducing others to the scheme.

It won't cut your own earnings in any way and it's not really competition for yourself. There's plenty to go round. The world is a big place and we are still only scratching the Internet surface.

What it will give you is about 10% of what they earn (percentages vary from program to program) and with most schemes this is for life!

Now a reality check!
When you introduce others to an affiliate program the majority of them won't do any business at all. This is a fact, don't let others kid you differently.

So if you sign up a few people, and they do nothing, don't get downhearted. It's the way of any sales business. You simply keep going and introduce more people. Eventually you will find a few who will make you money.

It's worth the effort. Supposing you could only get one referral a month. If you think long term that's twelve people making you money in a year's time. But what if you were doing this with several different affiliate programs - I'll let you do the maths!

Hopefully you'll do better than this but, even if you don't, it's still extra money and all profit is good profit - especially when others are earning it for you.

Good luck,
Mike.

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Over 50 Social Networking Websites

Many bloggers believe that the way to build their business is with the help of some of the Social Networking websites. There are literally dozens to choose from and with most you can enter links, within your profile to your own blogs or websites.

The potential is therefore vast - if you have the time - to get yourself some good quality links plus build a network of contacts and/or friends which could well increase your blog traffic and/or affiliate profits.

Here is a list of over 50 Social Networking websites, there are many others besides. The list is in alphabetical order and they are all live at the time of posting. Most have quotes from the websites describing their service.

AmieStreet: Niche music.
"Amie Street is a place to discover, download and share music of every genre, from all over the world. Whether you come to Amie Street for two minutes or two hours, we'll help you find new music you'll love."

aNobii: Niche Books.
"List books, share thoughts."

athlinks: Niche endurance sports.
"Explore the world's largest endurance sports database"

Avatars United: Niche gaming.
"Unite with your in-game friends,old and new Share in-game photos and videos. Create groups and plan events."

badoo: Niche general.
"Badoo is the best place for finding all parties, clubs, and events and meeting the cool people to enjoy them with. Chat, flirt, simply socialize, share and have fun!"

Bebo: Niche general.
"Bebo is a social media network where friends share their lives and explore great entertainment."

BlackPlanetL Niche African Americans
"BlackPlanet.com is your place to meet and connect with African Americans around the country. Chat or post photos and videos to share your black experience."

BOOMj: Niche Baby Boomers and Generation Jones.
"The name BOOMj derives from the two primary audiences we serve: the Baby Boomers Generation and Generation Jones - both born during the big 20-year, post-World War II boom in births from the mid-1940's to mid-1960's."

BUZZNET: Niche Music Pop culture.
"Is a vibrant social media destination representing the next evolution of social networking.Buzznet distinguishes itself from traditional media sites and social networks that are focused on profile pages and communication tools by enabling Web users to program dynamic multimedia communities around the music and pop culture topics they are most passionate about."

cafemom: Niche Moms and Moms to be.
"CafeMom is a place for moms and moms-to-be to connect with one another."

care2: Niche activists, green issues.
"To help make the world a better place. The idea is simple: Make it easy for everyone to live a healthy, green lifestyle and impact the causes they care about most."

classmates: Niche previous class friends.
"The company's online social networking website enable users to locate and interact with acquaintances from high school, college, work and the military."

deviantART: Niche Art
"The largest art community in the world! Membership is FREE to share and sell your artwork, start your Art Collection and track your favorite artists."

DontStayIn: Niche Clubbing.

Elftown: Niche fantasy, science fiction.
"Elftown is the fantasy and science fiction community for artists, writers and hangarounds. It should be easy to find other people here and to discuss whatever you like."

eons: Niche babyboomers.
"Boom. Boom. Boom. Have you heard it? It’s the beat of our generation of boomers—many of us at Eons included—who are lovin’ life on the flip side. Eons.com is the online community for “BOOMers,” those of us born between 1946 and 1964 and beyond, who want to learn and do more to make the most of every stage of life."

Experience Project: Niche experiences.
"Experience Project is the place for authentic stories shared anonymously about every life experience -- including your own."

facebook: Niche general.
"Facebook helps you to keep in touch and share content with people in your life."

fixster: Niche movies.
" Flixster is a community for movie fans of all shapes and sizes. Whether you are a die-hard horror fan or lover of romantic comedies (or both), Flixster is a place where you can find others who share your taste and through them discover new movies that you will love."

FOTOLOG: Niche photos.
"Fotolog is the world's leading photo-blogging site, one of the world's largest social networking sites and a global cultural phenomenon."

Friends Reunited: Niche reuniting UK friends.
"It’s free to register and free to contact your friends from primary and secondary schools, universities, streets, armed forces and teams and clubs."

fubar: Niche general
"fubar is the Internet's only online bar and happy hour where the party goes on 24/7! fubar is for anyone 18 and older who is interested in meeting new people while connecting with old friends."

gaia online: Niche anime, games.
"Gaia Online is the leading online hangout on the web. More than seven million visitors come to Gaia every month to make friends, play games, watch movies in Gaia Cinemas, Gaia's virtual theaters, and participate in the world's most active online community."

gather: Niche general.
"gather has become the premier social network for the over-30 crowd. Share your thoughts, photos and videos."

Geni: Niche genealogy.
"Geni is a private place for your family to build your family tree,
preserve your history and share your lives."

gossip report: Niche anonymous gossip
"On GossipReport.com you can anonymously talk about anyone you want. Instead of creating a profile about yourself, you can create a profile about someone else."

Habbo: Niche virtual world.
"Habbo is a virtual world where you can meet and make friends."

hi5: Niche general.
"Find friends in your home town or other parts of the world. Show off your photos. Listen to music you like. Reconnect with old classmates. Build your own page and express what's important to you."

Horseland: Niche horses.
"Horseland is about horses and dogs, but it is also about meeting people. There is always something new when you play with thousands of people from all over the world."

imeem: Niche general
"imeem is a social network that enables users to discover, interact and express themselves with media, including music, video and photos, and form connections based on shared tastes and interests."

itsmy: Niche mobile content.
"The biggest free mobile content community. Send anything"

jammerdirect: Niche music, musicians.
"Jammer Direct is designed to be a local music & artistic resource for area musicians, artists, venues, and musical and art related vendors."

Kaioo: Niche general.
"As state approved charity organisation kaioo offers its members all features of a modern Social Community - and a lot more, because kaioo is the first real Social Community on the Internet"

last.fm: Niche music.
"Every track you play will tell your Last.fm profile something about what you like. It can connect you to other people who like what you like - and recommend songs from their music collections and yours too."

lifeknot: Niche general.
" First and foremost, lifeknot makes it easy for you to meet new people and make new friends that share your interests and passions in any activity imaginable."

LinkedIn: Niche business.
"Over 30 million business professionals use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities."

LiveJournal: Niche general.
"You can use LiveJournal in many ways: a private journal, a blog, a discussion forum or a social network."

MEETin: Niche Friends.
"Our Mission: To make new friends through a local social network without the pretense of establishing business connections."

Meetup: Niche Offline meetings.
"Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face."

MOG: Niche music.
"MOG, your personalized gateway for music discovery. With MOG, you can find, share, and talk about the music you’re into, from Abba to Zappa."

Muxlim: Niche Muslim.
"Our vision is to connect the world's Muslim communities to each other, and to the wider world, through shared online experiences."

MyChurch: Niche Christian.
"MyChurch.org is a free online tool for churches to extend their communities between Sundays."

myspace: Niche general.
"Create a community on MySpace and you can share photos, journals and interests with your growing network of mutual friends!"

nexopia: Niche general.

orkut: Niche general.
"Connect with friends and family using scraps and instant messaging. Discover new people through friends of friends and communities. Share your videos, pictures, and passions all in one place."

PassportStamp: Niche travel.
"PassportStamp, the site for tracking your overseas visits."

Plurk: Niche general.
"A really snazzy site that allows you to showcase the events that make up your life in deliciously digestible chunks."

ryze: Niche business.
"Ryze helps you expand your business network. Get a free networking-oriented homepage. Make quality business contacts."

spoke: Niche business.
"Where business people connect."

Student: Niche students.
"The social networking and student resource site just for students."

Tagged: Niche general.
"Tagged helps people keep in touch with their friends and make new ones. We provide a fun media experience featuring expressive custom profiles, fluid widget embedding, integrated video, chat, and much more."

Wasabi: Niche general.
"Wasabi aims to be the default site for joining and creating clubs and Communities for any hobby, sport, business, political or other interest or affiliation."

I think that will do for now! There are over 50 Social Networking Websites listed to be going on with.

Good luck,
Mike

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Beware! Skimmers May Cost A Blog Money

A lot of blog readers are skimmers and many of them are busy people - well aren't we all.

This means they often make snap decisions as to whether to read a post or move on. This is probably even more true if it's the first time the reader has arrived at your blog.

So what do they look at first? The headline or title of the post.

If the headline is something vague like 'Today's Entry' or 'An Interesting Article' they may not bother to delve any further and will move on to something else which sounds more interesting (even if it isn't in reality).

A post headline ideally should therefore be something which encapsulates what the blog is all about or something intriguing that makes them want to look further.

It's a fight to retain a reader's attention so big blocks of solid text can also be off putting. I know I glaze over when I see a big page of text with hardly any paragraphs.

Small paragraphs are best, again because they are easy to skim and seem less effort to read.

An image also helps to gain attention.

It's perfectly true that content is king - but only if people are willing to read the words of wisdom. Every little advantage to get people reading helps.

The longer we retain a reader the more chance there is that they may click on something that will make us money. And that's what the game us all about.

Good luck,
Mike.

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Genuine Quality Links Bring SE Referrals

We are all jostling for good positions on the search engines. Consequently there are all sorts of stories and advice about as to what we should and shouldn't do to get good rankings. But a lot of questions are unanswered.

For instance: Does exchanging links harm our ranking? What about using keywords - can we use too many?

The difficulty is that there is no definite formula supplied by the various search engines themselves. A lot of what the 'experts' write is purely speculation and guesswork.

What we can do ourselves is read the advice that the search engines do give out.

For example if we look at Google's advice on what they call Link Schemes the following could be detrimental to our search engine ranking:

*Links intended to manipulate PageRank
*Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods on the web
*Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")
*Buying or selling links that pass PageRank

Their advice regarding links is simply:

"The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it."

If we move on to the Yahoo Search Content Quality Guidelines they don't like:

*Sites cross-linked excessively with other sites to inflate a site's apparent popularity (link schemes)
*Pages built primarily for the search engines or pages with excessive or irrelevant keywords

And as for Windows, and their Live.com search engine, within their Guidelines For Successful Indexing they list the following things to avoid:

*Attempting to increase a webpage's keyword density by add lots of irrelevant words.
*This includes stuffing ALT tags that users are unlikely to view.
*Using hidden text or links. Only use text and links that are visible to users.
*Using techniques, such as link farms, to artificially increase the number of links to your webpage.

It's all very complicated but the message clearly is that we need genuine links. It's not necessarily the number that's important but the quality of the links. Plus we need good content.

It's worth reading what the search engines are telling us and hopefully our search engine rankings won't be penalised.

It's so easy for SE referrals to take a dive and not really know what we've done wrong. It's a matter of trying to read what is being said by the search engine's 'between the lines.'

Good luck,
Mike

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