Make Money Online Philippines

Lightbox For Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:24:00 +0000

Lightbox is a script used to overlay images on a web page. It's very popular among blogs especially photoblogs. There is a Wordpress plugin available to easily apply the lightbox effect on your Wordpress blogs. But there are also way on how to use lightbox on your Blogger or Blogspot blogs.

The process is very, very simple.

First, go to your Blogger HTML editor. Then place the following code directly above the </head> tag:

<style>
#lightbox{ position: absolute; left: 0; width: 100%; z-index: 100; text-align: center; line-height: 0;}
#lightbox img{ width: auto; height: auto;}
#lightbox a img{ border: none; }

#outerImageContainer{ position: relative; background-color: #fff; width: 250px; height: 250px; margin: 0 auto; }
#imageContainer{ padding: 10px; }

#loading{ position: absolute; top: 40%; left: 0%; height: 25%; width: 100%; text-align: center; line-height: 0; }
#hoverNav{ position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%; z-index: 10; }
#imageContainer>#hoverNav{ left: 0;}
#hoverNav a{ outline: none;}

#prevLink, #nextLink{ width: 49%; height: 100%; background-image: url(data:image/gif;base64,AAAA); /* Trick IE into showing hover */ display: block; }
#prevLink { left: 0; float: left;}
#nextLink { right: 0; float: right;}
#prevLink:hover, #prevLink:visited:hover { background: url(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_u4gySN2ZgqE/SnWk89-4azI/AAAAAAAAAj8/hM0MqnVouCQ/prevlabel%5B3%5D.gif) left 15% no-repeat; }
#nextLink:hover, #nextLink:visited:hover { background: url(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_u4gySN2ZgqE/SnWk9-mNiQI/AAAAAAAAAkA/Zg1jXV9xnQM/nextlabel%5B6%5D.gif) right 15% no-repeat; }

#imageDataContainer{ font: 10px Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #fff; margin: 0 auto; line-height: 1.4em; overflow: auto; width: 100% ; }

#imageData{ padding:0 10px; color: #666; }
#imageData #imageDetails{ width: 70%; float: left; text-align: left; }
#imageData #caption{ font-weight: bold; }
#imageData #numberDisplay{ display: block; clear: left; padding-bottom: 1.0em; }
#imageData #bottomNavClose{ width: 66px; float: right; padding-bottom: 0.7em; outline: none;}

#overlay{ position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; z-index: 90; width: 100%; height: 500px; background-color: #000; }
round-color: #000; }
lute; top: 0; left: 0; z-index: 90; width: 100%; height: 500px; background-color: #000; }
round-color: #000; }
</style>
<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/prototype/1.7.0.0/prototype.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/scriptaculous/1.8.3/scriptaculous.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://blogergadgets.googlecode.com/files/lightbox.js' type='text/javascript'/>

source: http://www.bloggerplugins.org

Then Save, obvisouly.

The basic syntax to apply the Lightbox effect is as follows:

<a rel="lightbox" href="URLOFTHEIMAGE" title="TITLEOFTHEIMAGE"> <img src="URLOFTHEIMAGE"></a>

For albums with Lightbox -

<a rel="lightbox[ALBUMNAMEHERE]" href="URLOFTHEIMAGE" title="TITLEOFTHEIMAGE"> <img src="URLOFTHEIMAGE"></a>

If you are familiar with HTML, you'll see that we just linked the image to it's source and added the rel="lightbox" parameter. Simple, right? If you don't get it, don't worry. You don't have to. I'll explain how to use it when uploading pictures on Blogger.

When you upload an image in Blogger, it looks like this:

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s1600/IMAGE.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 147px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s400/IMAGE.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579988618177990914" /></a>

Get rid of this part (colored RED): (It's practically useless. I don't know why Blogspot still puts that in.)

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s1600/IMAGE.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 147px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s400/IMAGE.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579988618177990914" /></a>

Moving on, put in this right after the <a part :

rel="lightbox" title="TITLEOFYOURIMAGE"

if you want to use a Lightbox album or gallery, use this:

rel="lightbox[NAMEOFTHEALBUM]" title="TITLEOFYOURIMAGE"

The NAMEOFTHEALBUM is the same for all the pictures you want in the same album.

So your code would look something like this now:

<a rel="lightbox[NAMEOFTHEALBUM]" title="TITLEOFYOURIMAGE" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s1600/IMAGE.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 147px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s400/IMAGE.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579988618177990914" /></a>

(Newly added code on green)

Viola! You now have a Lightbox effect on your Blogger blog!

Further tweaking:

See the width: 170px; height: 147px;" part? You can play with those values to get the right size of the image thumbnail you want.

Personally, I just remove it totally and set all the image heights to a constant value for all images (I often use 200). It looks cleaner that way. I use the height="YOURDESIREDHEIGHT" command instead of height: YOURDESIREDHEIGHTpx; because it's easier and Blogspot auto-scales if you don't set a width.

That means you can remove the whole width: 170px; height: 147px;" part and just replace it with height="YOURDESIREDHEIGHT".

It'll look like this:

<a rel="lightbox[NAMEOFTHEALBUM]" title="TITLEOFYOURIMAGE" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s1600/IMAGE.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2u8WggqW4/TXAaFY040QI/AAAAAAAACEo/he3Gc1O4gLc/s400/IMAGE.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579988618177990914" /></a>

For those with knowledge in coding, this is pretty straight-forward. But if you are a little overwhelmend, don't hesitate to ask me questions. :)

Stay tuned for an update on how I semi-automated all this and made the images more SEO friendly. :)

Received 2nd Nuffnang Earnings

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Just recently, I cashed out my 2nd Nuffnang earnings. And again, everything went very smoothly.

Days after I cashed out, I saw my earnings on my Union Bank EON account. (Which btw, I have to pay the annual fee next month since I got it March 2010.)

Nuffnang charges a processing fee and I guess the extra difference is for tax. But still, I'm happy. Though most of it is all gone because of my birthday celebration.

Cashed Out My 2nd Nuffnang Earnings

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:37:00 +0000

As I stated earlier, my 2nd Nuffnang payment is coming. I waited until the end of tha month to see if it will increase, and it did!

From Php 2,894.88, it's now PhP 2977.86! Hehe

I just cashed it out today and I hope the process will be as smooth as before. As you can see, I'm not a Nuffnang Glitterti member anymore.

Adserve.ph - New Local Ad Network In The Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:28:00 +0000

Thanks to a Facebook ad, I discovered a new ad network that serves ads targeted locally for a Philippines audience.

The ad network's name is adserve.ph. And so far, it looks promising. The copyright at the bottom of the website shows only 2011 so I'm guessing that the ad network is pretty new. And it looks promising.

Application takes about a day and once you're in, you can start serving ads. Here are my inital observations or review -

Customization is a lot like Adsense - banner only / text only or both with the common ad shapes and sizes. You can change the colors of your ads on the fly and they have an immediate effect. A drawback is that once you have chosen your ad type (text/banner), you can't change it later. You also can't chane ad border colors. This can have a huge effect when you try to blend your ads to your site's layout.

You can choose if the ads will be based on your site's context or from keywords you specify. You enter the keywords manually in each code block you place.

Payment can be via Paypal, check or Bank Pay. You have to request a withrawal for paymetns. The minimum for Paypal is 500Php (around the same price as Chitika).

I just started serving ads earlier today and so far have gotten 400+ impressions with no clicks. Looks like it's gonna be another struggle with CTR. I'm just waiting to see how much each click pays.

Since the ad network is very young, ads are very limited. Of the four ads on one block that I see, two to three are from adserve.ph themselves. There is also a fear that the site might not pay. But so far, so good. I hope this goes well.

Up until now, I think Nuffnang is the only country-specific advertising network in the Philippines. We'll see if Adserve.ph can compete with them.

Paypal Withrawal To UnionBank Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:48:00 +0000

Before 2010 ended, I made another withrawal from my Paypal accoun to my Union Bank account.

The process is pretty easy. But I was hesitant to do it at the time knowing that I won't be able to get my money quickly anyway since it's the holidays and there is a chance that things could go wrong since everyone is on holiday mode. Anyway, I did go through it and to my luck- nothing went wrong.

An ongiong problem for online earners for a while now, the exchange rate is still not favoring the Dollar. :'(

I withrew barely above 7,000 Php just to avoid the 50 Php transaction fee and because I am poor and I don't have much money on my Paypal.

Here it is on my Union Bank EON account:

Earnings mostly came from CPALead, oDesk and adf.ly along with a few paid-to-blog services like Blogsvertise and inPostLinks.

Second Nuffnang Payment Coming Up

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:34:00 +0000

Just recently, I hit the 2000 Php Nuffnang threshold for the second time. I have been paid by them once last year and after waiting for months, I can expect another payment again.

I'm gonna be paid more this time, too! :)

This time, I'll be paid at least Php 2,894.88 minus the Php 1 transaction charge of course. Why 'at least'? Because I'll cash out the the end of the month. Nuffnang suggests publishers to cash out at the end of the month because they process payments at the start of the following month. So if any of my other campaigns mature before the end of January 2011, it'll add up to the amount I can cash out. Just like before, I'll withraw it to my Union Bank account.

Another Adf.ly Payment Proof

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:22:00 +0000

They may not be the best income stream but they sure do get the job done. If you are sometimes feeling needy and want to monetize every single click going out of your website, you can use adf.ly. Again, they may not pay as much as other Adsense but hey at least you still earned something from that visitor who left your blog!

However, use adf.ly in moderation. Intersitial ads can be very annoying.

This is my second payment from adf.ly. The first one was from June 2010.

I was paid $5.22 on my Paypal account.

How Does It Feel To Make $ 25,000 In A Day?

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:21:00 +0000

Many people who make money online struggle to increase their daily earnings. Some are even finding it hard to make a single penny everyday. Even those earning a stable amount everyday would be glad to make $50 - $100 a day. But how nice would it be if you coule make 25k a day??

Earlier this year, CPAlead top dogs were earning 1k dollars / day. There were just a handful of them willing to show their earning via the website's automated system.

These days, a lot of them are earning north of 2k dollars / day.

But this one username caught my eye.

[Redacted] is a CPAlead Daily Top Earner! $25,287.87 with 10,557 leads and 135,386 clicks!

[Redacted] is a CPAlead Daily Top Earner! $20,248.82 with 9,086 leads and 108,660 clicks!

Wow! Imagine if you're making that kind of money! This guy sure is something! He might just be the all-time top earner in CPALead.

Follow CPAlead on Twitter to get updates of daily top earners.

Local Companies Taking Full Advantage Of Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:42:00 +0000

Local companies have finally realized that being visible on Facebook means more than just setting up a Fan Page and/or putting up a CPC campaign.

Local campanies are throwing online contests here and there and every one of them is hoping to get massive user participation and a viral effect.

A lot of these companies are holding online contests on Facebook to attract people. Some are even 'forcing' users to Like their Fan Pages. That's understandable. However, I am uncomfortable with those Fan Pages that require you to grant access to a Facebook App. I do not see the need for that so far. The Fan Page structure is already fairly capable. Why would they still need to use Apps?

I'm uncomfortable because once you have granted them access and permission, some Apps have the ability to post on your wall or your friends' walls in the future without your further consent. I smell spam.

Opting-out of these applications is not that simple too. Facebook has hidden the Applications Menue from its previous location. Before, it can be accessed from the Account drop-down on the upper right corner. It can't be accessed that way anymore.

The good thing is all I see now is the potential for spam. I have not seen any local company abusing the Facebook App platform like some greedy Internet Marketers.

So far, so good.

So, have you joined (or won) any online contest on Facebook or otherwise?

How To Remove A Facebook Application's Access To Your Profile

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:09:00 +0000

When you want to use an Application in Facebook like games and such, you have to grant access and permissions to that application. Sometimes, it only asks for your personal information but there are also times when it will ask you for your email address and worse, these applications sometimes ask for permission to post on your wall or on your friends' wall. That makes me very uncomfortable.

Granting access to applications can potentially lead to a very spammy problem. If you see those status updates like -

OMG!! I literally did this and that when I saw this and that! OMG! OMG! OMG!!

...it's most likely caused by those applications.

Now how do we revoke access from those pesky applications? Simple.

Log-in to your Facebook account and go to this page:

http://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=applications

You'll get this screen:

On the screen above, click on the 'X' button on the right that corresponds to the App you want to remove.

Then click on Remove.

...and you're done.

So, have you ever had a problem with those spammy Facebook apps?

Inpostlinks Proof Of Payment

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:56:00 +0000

I just got my first payment from Inpostlinks.

They sent the payment via Paypal. I like the fact that you don't have to wait for a cashout amount with Inpostlinks. They pay 30 days after your post is approved.

Where Text Spammers Get Your Cellphone Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 03:51:00 +0000

Promotion means getting your brand name visible in as many places as you can. For Internet Marketers, that's your URL or website name. Just recenlty I just found a spammy method in action for offline promotion.

It started when I was looking for online sellers when I was buying my Canon EOS 500D. I texted a bunch of online retailers and within 20 minutes I got a text from an unlisted number offering me cash loans. I would follow up on some sellers a few days later and just after I text them, I always get a spam text again. Coincidence? I think not.

I actually thought of this a while back when I received a spam text months ago. That time, I was getting spam texts for health products. I wanted to know where these people are getting their leads. Then when I went to nearby store for Autoload, that's where it hit me. I saw the list of phone numbers that the tindera has for Autoload and Eload. I'm guessing text marketers ask for this list or they buy them from sari-sari stores and loading stations.

And now, I found another source of their leads. Online retailers are possibly selling the phone numbers of their customers to loan agencies and other text spammers. Think about it: the list is super-targeted because online shoppers tend to spend a lot because they love gadgets and they have the money to pay for it.

Is it ethical? Of course not. This is equivalent to database administrators selling email addresses. That is one of the reasons you get email spam.

What does this have to do with Internet Marketing and blogging? Well, Obviously online spammers can also get their hands on these cellphone numbers and promote their website on text blasts. And with the price of cellphones and SIM cards nowadays, marketing is getting cheaper and cheaper everyday.

How to properly take advantage of this? Just like regular list building, you can make this an opt-in thing. When you get their cell number, ask for permission if they can be texted for promotional purposes. I can't imagine how to do that at this level though. This is where your creativity comes in. Good luck. :)

How To Dramatically Increase Your Adsense Earnings

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:53:00 +0000

No, I'm not talking about that screenshot generator. This is a real process to increase your earnings. And I'll keep it short and sweet.

1. Traffic - There is no way around it. You need to have traffic. This is the most important part. Do NOT proceed if you are not able to get traffic. Most common ways are through SEO, online advertising and using social media like Facebook and Twitter.

2. CTR Analysis - each niche has a different CTR. This part is kinda tricky. Explore around money making forums and blogs and check what is your niche's ideal CTR. This is kinda tricky because publishing your CTR is prohibited. But every now and then, there are helpful guides that you'll find.

3. Action Step - if you determine that you have a good CTR, then pump up your traffic. Or probably it might be time to expand to a new niche or new website?

If your CTR is down, check your traffic source. Certain traffic types generate more ad clicks. If you have nailed those down and if your CTR is still down, time to change the placement of your ads. The most popular ones are as follows :

- just above or below your blog header. Just make sure that you have a proper blog header.

- just under the post name, before the content when displaying a single post in one page.

- just above the post name of the topmost post.

- immediately following the post. After users read your article, they have a "what's next?" feeling, thus we put links to related posts at the end. Place an ad there too. If the ad is captivating enough, readers will click on it.

Avoid putting ads on the page footer. This place gets little attention. Sidebar ads still work but are not as good as ads in the content.

Split test. Use smaller left or right floating ads under the post name, just before the post content or full (content width) ads. Mix up text and image ads. Floating ads are not popular at the end of the post. But you can still try and mix up text and image ads.

Change. If you feel that you have sufficient traffic and good CTR and things are still not working for you, it might be time to try a new niche or ad network.

Good luck and thanks for reading. :)

My Amnesia Girl Viral Video Ad Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 03:52:00 +0000

I love My Amnesia Girl so this video caught my attention. I thought it was funny. But something else about the video caught my interest.

The video has gone viral with 1.3 million views in around two weeks.

It was ingenious on the part of the advertiser to use the power of viral videos. The campaign is funny, timely and relevant. BUT (and this is a big but) I wonder if they have the permission to use the audio from My Amnesia Girl? This is equivalent to copyright infringement if they did not seek proper authorization.

First AdBrite Payment

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:54:00 +0000

It's always nice when an advertiser pays you. Just today I got my first payment from AdBrite.

My niece handed me this envelope this morning

It contained this check

It's just one piece of paper. I've had Adbrite for more than a year in some of my blogs. Though I only use it as a filler for Adsense. I place it on areas where I feel that I can put more ads when I have maxed out my Adsense units. At times, I even forget that I have them on.

But this is good news to those who are wondering if Adbrite pays. Obviously, they do.

I'm gonna go out and see how I can encash this. I'll check if I need a dollar bank account or if a local one will do. I'll also look into getting it encashed somewhere else.

If it proves too much of a hassle, I'll leave Adbrite completely. It's not worth it. Ads aren't as targeted as Adsense, setting up takes too long and now this. This amount isn't even enough to pay one month's Internet bills.

If I encash this with no problems, I'll consider using their ads still.

I also prefer to keep all my earnings in one place - Paypal. If I do leave Adbrite, I'll look for banner ad providers that pay via Paypal. Any suggestions?

Wasted Opportunity - When Your Video Goes Viral And No One Knows It's Yours

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:03:00 +0000

In this day and age, viral marketing is surely the way to go. It is arguably more profitable and gives a faster (and bigger?) ROI than SEO. When your content goes viral, it's literally a matter of days, or even hours and you will be reaping off the rewards.

Just take the dancing flight attendants. In a matter of six weeks, it got over nine million views. Someone in Cebu Pacific certainly got promoted or got a big bonus.

While those stories are inspiring, there are some that make me feel kind of sad because of the lost opportunity. Case in point : the dancing Jollibee mascot video. The original uploader is practically unknown. The video has been downloaded and reuploaded accross several websites numerous times. Its copies have gone viral. Had the original uploader made a simple video watermark of his branding (name or URL), then he would have benefited from his efforts of filming the funny dancing mascot. Big media companies are reaping the rewards of this Internet gem at practically no cost.

Filipinos need to start being more aware of online marketing and stop giving away their media content for free. It's not about selfishness, it's about getting what you deserve for your efforts and making the most of what you own. Why submit your content to YouScoop or BMPM when you can host your own video or photos and have people gravitate towards you? It's like you are working as a reporter for these networks for free. I say watermark your image or video, set up a YouTube account or put up a blog (free or otherwise) and send a link of your own content to these media giants. If your content is good enough, they'll be forced to feature it. Voila! You have an instant Web identity.

My Choice of Web Host

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:05:00 +0000

I have been blogging on Blogger for over a year. And several months ago, I also did Wordpress. This opened up a lot of doors for me.

Working with Wordpress opened the doors for me in creating websites. I learned how to install scripts and work with domains and hosting. I learned how to create different websites.

To create a great website, you need a good webhost. Hell, not just a good host but a great host. I can be very stingy person. No, I am not a cheapskate. I don't mind spending. But when I do spend, I'd like to make sure that I make the most out of my money.

If I don't see the need for something, I don't buy it. I applied that when I was looking for my webhost. I can bet the I have one, if not, the cheapest webhosting plan.

Even their cheapest plan ($3 a month) offers the following :

* cPanel
* 1GB Disk Space
* 10GB Bandwidth /month
* Unlimited Domains
* Unlimited Email Account
* Unlimited MySQL DBs
* Latest Software Versions
* OpenSource Supported
* 24/7 Support
* Dedicated Manager

I've looked at the popular hosts and non of them can offer unlimited add-on domains and SQL databases at very cheap plans. This is perfect when experimenting with new websites. If you are looking for a starter webhost here you go :

Or if you want, I can give you a free webhost.

Free Hosting

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:34:00 +0000

Yes, I am offering free hostinng. More info after the jump.

This is perfect for Blogspot bloggers who want to move to self-hosted Wordpress blogs.

Why am I giving away this hosting? As I said before, I bought this hosting plan a few months ago. But now it's just idle. So I thought why not help bloggers and host their blog for them?

What will you get? You get a free hosting and I install Wordpress for you. I won't provide the domain name. I will NOT give CPanel access because this is not a dedicated server. I will just add your domain on my hosting.

This is best for those who want to try out Wordpress and those who have side projects and has limited resources. If you are not technical and just want to focus blogging and not the technical aspects, this is for you.

Is it really free? Well, I just ask for two thing in return. One is you maintain your blog. Post regularly and don't forget your blog. Second is a site-wide widget with a link to this blog. That's it.

You can get a free domain or you can buy one.

If you are interested, contact me.

Thanks. :)

Filipino Advertisers Are Wasting Money On Facebook Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:05:00 +0000

I believe that Facebook is the next big thing in advertising. The way users are super-targeted according to their profile and interests is very powerful. It is good that Filipinos are harnessing this power but it's sad to see that a lot of them don't know how to use it effectively and are throwing away money out the window with ineffective ads.

I don't know how much it costs to hire copywriters but if you can afford to buy ads, might as well hire ad copywriters. Otherwise, your ads will be for nothing. I am not exactly a copywriter, I am just speaking from an average user's point of view. I'm an average user with a little knowledge on Internet Marketing. And these are my thoughts on the matter -

Take for example :

The first one is entitled Chevrolet Philippines. A non-car enthisuast would not be interested with that. Thank goodness they hired a popular actor as their model. But why not maximize that fact? They have a very effective ad description : "Who is Ryan Agoncillo's New Love?" Why not use that phrase as the ad title? It will surely attract more clicks. The same is true for the bottom ad. Who would be attracted by the "Gimme Points" phrase anyway? It might invite a few curious eyes, but wouldn't the phrase "Get A Free Nokia Phone" be more effective?

Here is an example of a more effective ad :

Engaged couples or any couples or anyone who know someone getting married would surely be captured by the title. Which couple wouldn't be interested in a free dream wedding?

The title is bolded and written in a bigger font for a reason. You should put in your catchiest lines on there.

And this is not the first time I've seen this. I've seen this tons of times - enough times that I have to write about it. I'm just a little bothered by all that wasted advertising money. It's not enough you advertise on Facebook, you have to advertise effectively. What do you think? Please share your thoughts on the comments section below.

Disclaimer : I am not affiliated or related to any of the companies mentioned above or their competitors.

September Earnings $$

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 03:48:00 +0000

Here I go again. And this month it's not so good. I've been busy with a lot of stuff. Will really try to do better in October!

Odesk - I got $57.03

Adsense - $24.07 - Wow! So low!

Nuffnang - Php42.22 Several campaigns are notmature yet.

Adf.ly - $1.11 Totally forgot about them.

CPALead - $53.75 I thought I wasn't gonna make the threshold this month. Thank goodness I did.

Payperpost - Another $2.50 blog post.

Advertmarketing - $14.90

AdBrite - $2.01

Infolinks - $4.41

SponsoredTweets - $17.61 I've had this for a while and I was waiting for the $50 threshold but I figured it'd take too long so I withrew early and paid the $2 fine.

Total - $178.39 Bad.

Where Has Blogging Ethics Gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:04:00 +0000

I read a post earlier today. I noticed something about it. It kinda ticked me off. I don't know why I'm so touchy these days.

So I was reading this post with several images on it. The blog author's images are generously watermaked with their URL. The watermarks are humongous as if shouting:

THIS ARE MY IMAGES! DO NOT STEAL IT. MAKE USE OF YOUR OWN FUCKING IMAGES!

I did something like that too, make no mistake. I thought it was kinda cute and fun.

What I found undesirable on that blog is the lack of credits for the images that the do not belong to the blogger. They used several images on the post that are not theirs and I did not find any credits at all. And these are not simple images like popular logo's or Internet meme's. They are not exactly public domain stuff if you ask me.

I admit this happens to me too. I sometimes forget to credit images, put the proper links or bold/italicize certain words I want to. But I always try my best to ensure my posts are accurate, complete and appropriate.

I found this other different. Their blog is loaded with carefully placed ad widgets, social media buttons and all that blogging jazz, they even have a Copyscape widget. All affiliate links are accurately placed and bolded. They even set up a custom commenting system. (which is a wonder for me since they are using Wordpress. I always kinda thought that custom commenting systems are more for non-WP blogs because let's face it, Blogger's (among others) commenting system sucks. But that's just me and that's a different issue.) And the clincher : the right-click is even disabled! Needless to say, they did their homework -almost.

I found this very hypocritical. If you are going to be anal and overprotective of your work, have the decency to NOT steal other people's work or at least give credit where and when it is due. I guess what I am saying is that if you are going to be anal about your ownership and control over your online content, have the decency to credit others when you use theirs. Even if you see an image repeatedly shared and virtually hosted everywhere, you should at least credit your source because still, you did not create that. It is something you took from someone else. You have the time and effort to place giant, ugly watermarks, disable the right-click button and place a Copyscape widget and yet you can't even place a single link to your image source? Why? For SEO? For CTR? For aesthetics? Bullshit.

August Money

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:41:00 +0000

Earnings are low this August. My blogging laziness continues and for some reason, Youtube is not ranking my videos. Worse, my CPALead EPC is waaaaaaaaaaaay down. I am trying to move to Facebook (a little late) and it is so freaking hard over there now. I got like 10 accounts already roadblocked.

Anyway

Adsense - $31.52 My Adsense blog was banned. They said I linked to copyrighted content. Frustrating since it's not even getting 500 uniques and other waaaaay more popular and high-traffic websites running Adsense even embed copyrighted content. Oh well.

Adbrite - $1.08 - lol. But I just reached my first $20! I'm waiting for my check.

Blogsvertise - $18 from two posts. Money will be coming in September.

Payperpost - I got my first PPP job. It's a $2.50 blog post. Payout will come in September too.

Nuffnang - Php1,492.14 available as of end of August.

CPALead - $78.59 this is where is hurts most. Youtube vids not ranking properly and EPC is going down.

Advertmarketing - $9.02 - a new CPA network I signed-up with. I'm learning a lot more about CPA.

oDesk - $105.03

Total is $277.74

Definitely less than last month's. To calculate for Nuffnang's earnings, I just subtracted the available funds from last month and converted it to dollars at 45 is to 1.

How To Hide Content In the Blogspot Home Page

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:02:00 +0000

I don't mean implementing the  function. I'm talking about hiding RSS / Sharing / ads from the home page. Previously, you just have to put the code for these plugins after the <data:post.body> code in Blogspot and then you're set. This changed when Blogger launched their new templates and functions.

Implementing this is still fairly simple though. Just look for <data:post.body> like before. Place the code of whatever you want hidden from the homepage after that but put it between the following lines:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

</b:if>

So your code will look like this :

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

CODE OF WHATEVER YOUR WANT TO HIDE FROM THE HOMEPAGE. THIS PART WILL ONLY BE SHOWN WHEN THE POST IS VIEWED.

</b:if>

You can place this either above or under <data:post.body>. If you place it above, it will be shown right after the post title and above the post content.

Remember to parse your HTML before using this.

How To Use Facebook Commenting In Blogspot

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:16:00 +0000

Facebook is making its presece all over the web. Now everyone, even those with no blogs or websites can leave an identity easily when they comment on blog posts.

Here is what it looks like:

The bottom of your blog post is going to look like Facebook. Readers will use their Facebook profiles to leave comments. And if they leave the little checkbox ticked, you can have a possible viral effect. Nice.

Here is how to do it:

1) Put in the following code immediately after the opening <body> tag:

<div id='fb-root'/>
<script>
window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({appId: 'your app id', status: true, cookie: true,
xfbml: true});
};
(function() {
var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true;
e.src = document.location.protocol +
'//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js';
document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e);
}());
</script>

That is the Facebook Javascript SDK code. You need it for some Facebook functions to work on your website. That is not the actual code for the comment box.

2) Find <data:post.body> in your HTML. You have to check on Expand Widget Templates.

The <data:post.body> is your post content. So you are going to put the actual code for the comment box after that. The code for the comment box can be obtained here. You can set the width and the number of comments to display. I just left the Unique Id field blank and it worked well on my other blog.

Using this has its own advantages and disadvantages though. Remember to hide it on your Blogspot homepage.

This can be applied on Wordpress too. Just put the code in singlepost.php (or whatever file your theme uses.)