One Penny Project

Ride The Economy Wave

2009-04-21T17:09:00.000-04:00

Have you noticed the news lately?

One day the stock market is up, next day it is down. Gas prices go up, gas prices come down.

I wonder how we will look back on this time. What will we tell our kids about 2008-2009 (2010)?

I stopped blogging a little while ago because I lost interest. It was fun and I enjoyed pointing out interesting sites to help my readers.

My daughter is having some troubles with her writing assignments at work. I just might have to see if she would be interested in doing some guest posts for me.

Now that I think of it I wonder what she thinks of the economy.

Best of luck to everyone, more posts to come.

Michael

Three Month Blogging Vacation

2009-04-15T07:16:00.002-04:00

As you may have noticed it has been 3 months since my last post.

I took a little break from blogging. At this point in time I am undecided if I want to continue the blog and post on a regular schedule or sell the blog.

With almost 650 posts covering a few years I don't want to just shut it down. There is some great info in here and the traffic is still flowing in.

I am off to Florida in a couple weeks for the Collaborate 09 conference. If you remember the past 2 years that is the one conference I always try to go to. As in the past I will post a photo of the free stuff I get. The session content is Oracle EBS related, so I won't write about that here.

If you are interested in purchasing this blog, leave a comment below include your offer and your email address. I won't show the comments. Next week I will decide if I am going to sell of get back on a posting schedule again.

Take Care,

Michael

New Projects for 2009 and MyBlogLog Goals

2009-01-15T12:32:00.003-05:00

Hello Loyal followers and new readers to this BLOG.

Not much going on with new projects for 2009.

I did start a new blog but haven't put much time into it. After the first few posts I didn't feel like writing on that subject anymore.

I'm keeping my eyes and ears on the pulse of website/blog traffic ideas. Seems like I can only generate a trickle of traffic no matter what I try.

How awesome to have over 900 MyBlogLog members. Looking forward to breaking past 1000 this year.

I have 2 remaining websites left that will expire in a couple months. I'm going to hold onto LBOO.com because 4 letter domain names are hard to come by. One of these days I will get an offer I can't refuse.

As for the other site I will probably just let it die off, don't know yet.

Free BLOGs are the best, no hosting fees, or at most $10 a year for a domain name.

At any rate, thats all for now. Next post will be in February. I'm going to switch to a twice a month posting schedule. But if something important comes up I will post it here.

Michael

Happy New Year - Almost 900 MyBlogLog Members

2009-01-01T08:12:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!!!!!

With the first day of 2009 I am happy to say that I have reached almost 900 members on MyBlogLog. Not bad for this little blog of mine.

I don't have any new years resolutions. There is no reason to start good habits on a special day. If I am going to change something I won't wait until January 1st to do it.

My blog goals for 2009 are minimal. I plan to do 4-6 posts per month on this blog. If time allows I will start a second blog to test some marketing ideas. But for the most part in 2009 I am going to focus on upgrading my education.

I am looking forward to hitting the 1000 MyBlogLog members mark in 2009.

Take Care,

Michael

The Best of Success

2008-12-23T06:50:00.000-05:00

I would like to say thank you to all those that have followed this BLOG over the years and also to those who have just stopped by today.

This will be my last post for 2008.

2008 was filled with plenty of ups and downs, both personally and in my online business. As with all areas in life there is no way to know what tomorrow holds.

During this Holiday Season live life like you have never lived before. I'm not saying go out and spend all your savings. There must be a balance in life, but all too often we forget to live life and it slips by.

Take a moment to do something you enjoy but haven't done in a while. Call a friend that you haven't herd from in months. Tell a family member how much they mean to you. the little things in life sometimes turn out to be bigger then we thought.

For 2009 I wish you happiness in your life and the best of success in your business ventures.

God Bless,

Michael

Free Blogger BLOG Designs

2008-12-15T16:23:00.000-05:00

I like the blogger platform provided by Google for my blogging. The default templates are so heavily used, I always make little changes to stand out.

In January I am going to start a couple new blogs for the projects I have planned. Once I have the topics picked I will write a few posts in notepad before actually starting the new blogs.

Then after I have a few posts ready I will set-up the blogs and pick a design. I'm thinking of doing some research and picking out something that will stand out.

I enjoy writing so the new blogs I start will be on the topics I enjoy and about things I participate in. It is easier to write about something that you enjoy then it is about a topic that you think will bring in more money.

The new projects for 2009 will all be $0 cost projects. I will use free blogs and free methods of promoting the blogs. the focus will be on writing on the topics I enjoy and not on making money.

Take Care,

Michael

Read to Write Ratio

2008-12-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

What is your read to write ratio? In other words, how much do you read compared to how much you write.

For me I would have to say my read to write ratio is 6:1 or better. I love to read books, blogs, ebooks, magazines, you name it.

Writing is great mental exercise and I enjoy it. I guess if my ratio was the other way around I would end up writing a book a week ... at least.

I am getting things read to start new projects in 2009. There are currently no tests in the works and I am not starting anything new until January 1st.

If you are looking to make money from your BLOG, check out BLOG Inferno. Colleen shows you step by step how she makes $100,000 a year blogging about an hour a day.

I love to learn, experiment and write about the experience. Subscribe to my RSS Feed with the big orange button near the top of the screen.

Best of Success!

Michael

Blogging Projects for 2009

2008-12-05T08:45:00.000-05:00

How far ahead do you plan your writing? The other day I mentioned that I had a rough plan for 2009.

I like to plan about 2 weeks ahead for specific content. For the large scale topics I will plan the direction about 3 months out. A rough plan covers at least 12 months.

In 2009 I am going to cut back the number of blogs that I have, yes again. And I have plans to a few more. I love free blogs, no need to worry about needing to make enough to cover server costs. That is why my future projects will all use free blogs.

As for making money online, It is always nice to get a check in the mail that you wern't expecting. My focus isn't on making money it is on writing about the things in life that I enjoy. The little money I make from it is a bonus.

Take some time and plan ahead for writing on your BLOG(s).

Have a good day!

Michael

Starting With Nothing

2008-12-03T06:44:00.000-05:00

Back a few years ago I started this blog with intentions of making over $100,000. Not from the blog itself, but from following specific tactics.

As you can tell I am still at it and if you read back in my posts you will know that I have not reached my goal. No worries though.

The reason for starting this blog was to act like a diary somewhat like the one red paperclip guy. Looking over my past posts you can see some of the various ways I tried to make money.

I have some great ideas for 2009. Too early to discuss, but I will lay out my rough plan sometime before Christmas. I'm planning on keeping my projects to under 1 hour per week.

Enjoy the time you have, you never know when it will run out.

Peace,

Michael

Cyber Monday is Today

2008-12-01T07:43:00.000-05:00

Unlike the hustle and bustle of Black Friday, Cyber Monday is much calmer.

From the comfort of your own home you can shop the best deals online. With just a few clicks you can have all of your shopping done.

No need to drive to the mall, search for a parking place and fight the long lines.

Just log onto your computer and shop away.

I started buying stocking stuffers over a month ago, but have a few items to get yet. Because of some changes this year I won't be able to afford to spend much. Hence the sticking stuffer purchases. But I will be looking at a few things online Monday to see if there are any great deals.

For all you bloggers, do you change your ads that display to match what is current. For example, do you have Cyber Monday ads running on your blog?

I started using the offers at LinkShare to better match my blog niches and the current seasons. Just like cutting back to only a few blogs I also cut back to only a few ad merchants. LinkShare is my primary source of advertising for most of my blogs.

Shop smart and stay safe. For those that make money from their blogs, check out LinkShare Today!

Take Care,

Michael

Entrecard Test Number 2

2008-11-28T16:51:00.000-05:00

The results from my second EntreCard test are complete.

I spent a little over 700 credits on advertising. A couple ads were 64 credits and most I picked up days before the test at 4 credits.

My best performing ad cost 64 credits and generated close to 80 visitors. This is by far the best ad I have ever purchased.

What did the visitors do that came in from Entrecard. Not much. I picked up over 100 drops and about 5 RSS subscribers. Comments increased by a couple. But overall not much happened.

My suggestion for Entrecard is to spend the credits you have on advertising. Spend them all. Check back once a week and spend whatever credits you have accumulated.

If I am in the mood to browse new blogs I might do some dropping, but I don't see any value in dropping as a means to earn credits.

Entrecard is a nice site, but the traffic is not worth spending time earning credits.

Michael

The Economy News Mover

2008-11-25T12:39:00.003-05:00

Have you noticed the sharp ups and downs on Wall Street. Investors are buying and selling like crazy.

Have you noticed the news media around the current state of our economy. Notice any trends?

Everyone wants to know where the bottom is so they can buy back in or buy more to offset their losses.

The only problem is there is no way to tell when we are at the bottom until prices go up and keep going up.

The news constantly reports how bad things are. For example a couple months ago the big story was the price of gas. But instead of mentioning how cheap gas is now they report that the price of a barrel of oil dropped and how bad that is for the economy.

Sounds to me like the media should look for the positive in things and report the truth in a positive manner.

The 3-4 day cycle we are currently seeing is showing no signs of letting up.

I am not one for giving out financial advice. I just pay attention to the news and the markets. Heck I don't have much invested, so even if I am wrong I can't loose much.

What are your thoughts on how the news media can move the markets?

Michael

Grow Your BLOG Network And Traffic

2008-11-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

Growth Over Time

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, it doesn't matter what you read in the news. We are in a recession, but what does that mean for you.

Are you working harder to get traffic to your BLOG?

There is no guarantee, but over time a regularly updated BLOG should continue to grow. Growth is ultimately limited only by market size.

What can you do now to grow your BLOG readers and traffic to your site. The ideas below will help you work smarter and faster.

Participate

I joined The Internet Marketing Inner Circle (TIMIC) to network and learn from successful internet marketers. Many that make over $1 Million a year and plenty that make a full time living selling online.

I participate in the forum and in the group projects. It is like having a personal coach help me navigate making money online. Great people and great ideas. I recommend TIMIC to anyone who struggles to make money online.

There are free forums too like Warrior Forum and Webmaster Talk. But I frequent TIMIC. You know what they say about free ... you get what you pay for.

Fill Your RSS Reader

Plan to add 5-10 new RSS Subscriptions to your RSS Reader at least twice a week. This isn't to say that you should load your RSS reader with junk. Subscribe to BLOGs that interest you and unSubscribe from the BLOGs that don't continue to deliver great content.

The RSS URL for The One Penny Project is http://feeds.feedburner.com/OnePennyProject

If you are not currently using an RSS Reader, welcome to 2008. It takes me 10 minutes to review the 58 updated sites in my RSS Reader. That would easily take over an hour if I had to visit each one. And that doesn't include the time saved by using the notepad and save features of my RSS reader.

I use the Google RSS reader at reader.google.com but there are plenty of free readers to choose from.

Get Lucky

I know what you are thinking ... that is another kind of BLOG.

I once read that Luck is when Chance and Opportunity meet. Not that 5 lottery tickets are better then 1 or marketing 100 BLOGs is better then 5.

Opportunity involves learning the skills needed to succeed as a Blogger and putting those skills to use in the right way. It is a circle. The more you learn the better you get and the better you are prepared when an opportunity to get "lucky" comes along.

My current test is almost complete and I will post the results here early next week. Please stop back.

Do what you love and the money will follow.

Michael

My Second Entrecard Test

2008-11-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

Today I started the steps to test EntreCard a second time. This time around I am going to do a much larger scaled test.

Did you know that EntreCard provides a ton of useful stats to help you make decisions? Oddly enough I never clicked on that button thinking it was the same info provided on the dashboard.

I was wrong. The stats page showed me the EntreCard cost per click for my past advertising campaigns and placements. Very cool stuff.

This second test will take a few more days to get completely set up and about a week to 10 days from there to complete.

The hard part will be to avoid dropping during the test. I did that last time and think it may have skewed my results slightly. This time I am going to not visit EC during the 3 day test period.

Best of success!

Michael

How Does the 20% Rule Apply to The Economy

2008-11-17T10:21:00.000-05:00

This is a thinking out loud post. You know what I mean. There is stuff in my head that may not be formalized, so I think about it out loud and organize it later.

Please excuse the mess, this is just a brain dump on my thoughts about the Economy.

What I don't understand is how the CEO's of these big businesses involved in the bailout can walk away with huge salaries. Forget fairness for a moment, the amount of money these guys made for poor decisions is beyond understanding.

Where is the 20% rule in all of this?

Could that be what is going on in the stock market. Bargain hunters looking for the 20% that are going to explode in growth and value once the economy improves.

From an internet marketing perspective what are the trends that will emerge as a result of decreased spending. Will advertising prices drop because of decreased effectiveness and lower conversions.

I tend to look for the positive in bad situations. What do you think will be an emerging internet marketing trend in this current economy?

Michael

EntreCard Test Results

2008-11-14T05:34:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a few days ago that I was back to using EntreCard again. Mostly because it is a free form of advertising.

But like everything in life Free does not always mean free. For example to earn EntreCard credits you must visit other blogs and drop your card on the EntreCard widget. If you have a popular BLOG you can also earn EntreCard credits when bloggers purchase an EntreCard ad on your blog. The higher your traffic numbers the more an ad will cost on your blog.

For my test I purchased an ad on a blog for 256 credits. The BLOG I picked to advertise on was in my niche and because of the ad cost I felt it was a blog that got good traffic.

My results ... I am satisfied with the traffic increase during the time my ad was running. I also picked up a few new RSS Subscribers during that time. Card drops were up the day of and the day after my ad ran. This helped reduce the "cost" of my ad by replenishing some of my spent credits.

Cost: Free, no money spent on this test.

Time: About 30 minutes to earn credits and find a blog to advertise on.

Income: Not Tracked, this was a traffic test.

Benefits: Received 1 visitor for every 6 credits spent. Traffic to BLOG increased, EntreCard drops were up and there were a couple new RSS subscribers.

Once I have enough credits built up I will do another test with a top 3 blog. Subscribe to my RSS feed so you don't miss the results.

Michael

MyBlogLog Traffic Secrets

2008-11-12T08:20:00.002-05:00

Do you use MyBlogLog to drive traffic to your BLOG?

I have used MyBlogLog off an on way before Yahoo bought the site. I remember back when the site was new and the features were few.

Today I have over 10,500 contacts listed on MyBlogLog. And my pageviews is well over double (almost triple) that number.

The best way I found to get traffic to my BLOG from MyBlogLog is to add people as my contact.

Its that easy. Not posting messages with links on peoples profiles. Not requesting community join swaps. Not anything unethical.

I simply add contacts to my list and a few of them visit my BLOGs.

There is a trick that I figured to help me get a higher percentage of visitors as opposed to just randomly adding contacts. For now, that will be my secret.

No matter what you do and how well you thing you are doing it, always look for ways to improve.

Take Care,

Michael

FaceBook on Your Cell Phone

2008-11-10T21:10:00.002-05:00

I joined FaceBook a while ago. Myspace never interested me. It seemed to be filled with Junk.

But when FaceBook started to get popular, I hopped on and joined. It took about a year for popularity to take off to the point that it is now one of the sites I need to check daily.

Last week I hooked up the mobile portion of FaceBook to my cell phone so I can get my friends status updates and a few other things sent to me as text messages on my cell phone.

The process was simple once I found the right place to fill out my cell phone info. On the upper right side, click on settings, then click on the mobile tab. Once you fill out a few fields on the mobile tab you will get a code sent to your cell phone. Enter that code in the form on FaceBook and you are set. After your phone is confirmed you may want to edit the default settings to limit how many text messages you will get sent in a day. You may also want to add your friends status updates to the list. This didn't default, I had to pick each one from the list.

The line between the internet as we know it and our cell phones is growing thinner (like my hair). One day we may all be using our cell phones in place of full size computers and laptops.

Take Care,

Michael

Trading Time For Money

2008-11-04T19:30:00.003-05:00

It doesn't matter if you are self employed or if you work for an employer. We trade our time in exchange for money.

For those that work for someone else. Working harder, learning more and becoming an asset to the company often lead to promotions and a higher salary. That equates to more money for the same amount of time.

The same doesn't always hold true for the self employed. Many start-ups and small business go out of business within the first 3 years. For those that are successful hard work pays off with increased earnings and more money for time spent working.

How about blogging, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, selling on ebay or the 100's of other ways to make money online?

I spoke before here on the One Penny Project BLOG about leverage. Doing things that can be re-used to produce income in multiple niches. Using automation or tools to become more efficient.

It isn't about how many hours per week we work, it is about how much money we make during that time.

Would you rather work 4 hours per day at $50 per hour or 10 hours per day at $20 per hour?

Over the next few days I will be writing about ways to automate your online business. I also will do a writeup on my current Entrecard test.

Please consider subscribing to my RSS feed and also check out some of my older posts.

Michael

The Big Secret of Making Money Online

2008-11-01T07:54:00.002-04:00

Do you know how to make money online?

Doing a quick Google search you will come up with millions of websites. Hit the forums and there are thousands of people telling you to join their program or buy their product.

But how you make money online or otherwise is based on you. What you do is unique. That could be why so many fail to succeed.

What works for one may not work for another. What I found is to learn as much as I can and test ideas for myself.

For example on one of my sites a 125x125 ad works best, but on another a 160x300 skyscraper converts the best. Some sites AdSense works and others generate noting.

The key, for me at least is to learn and test.

So what is the big secret of making money online? Well that would be unique to you, but the best way to find out is to learn as much as you can and test what you learn on a small scale before going big with it.

Michael

Investing For Bloggers

2008-10-27T21:16:00.002-04:00

Jack Humphry did a post over on Friday Traffic Report about investing money and how investing $1000 in beer was a profitable idea compared to the sharp decline some stocks have taken.

Granted the post was made in fun to show and not meant as real investment advice. Obviously the goal of investing is to try to improve the financial outcome, not lower it.

If you had $1000 to invest what would you do with it?

This is what I would do. I am not telling you to do this and I am not doing this myself, I am just saying for point of comment that if I did this is probably what I would do.

I would invest $200 to have a couple quick read information packed info products created that promote a few affiliate products.

Then I would promote those info products on free niche specific blogs and give them away free, just for providing an email address. Not rocket science here, I know this is stuff you herd before.

Lets see I still have $800 to spend....

Ok, I would then spend $300 on Google AdWords to promote my free blogs. This would obviously be to collect subscribers into my email autoresponder.

For the last $500 I would hold a contest where the winner gets the $500 for writing about my free blog. They could make a video or whatever. The idea being bloggers generating buzz about my blog, and I pick a winner.

In the end I have a list and hopefully made some affiliate sales through the links posted in my info product.

If I did it right I would hopefully also have made at least my $1000 back.

If you had $1000 to invest right now, what would you do? Post your answer on your blog and link back here.

Take Care,

Michael

Use Networks to Control Your Income

2008-10-22T09:15:00.001-04:00

Using Merchant Networks to control your advertising.

One way to control what advertising your blog displays is to join merchant / affiliate networks. I often use
MaxBounty to find offers to place on my blogs.

Many times the payout is much better then what you would get from a PPC ad. Last year I found an offer that was so good I used PPC to promote it and made almost $1000. Haven't been so lucky this year.

Try taking control of what ads display on your site or blog and join an affiliate / merchant network. They are free to join.

I have been paid by
MaxBounty and I have talked to my affiliate rep in the past. That reminds me. When you join MaxBounty they hook you up with an affiliate manager. They work with you to pick out offers if you need help. (hint: you can ask them questions for free)

Enjoy your day!

Michael

Extra Cash with Ebay

2008-10-18T14:01:00.003-04:00

Last year I went to local auctions and purchased items to sell on Ebay. It was fun because I purchased items that I liked, but the process was very time consuming.

An easier method for making money online or on Ebay is by using a dropshipper that gives you wholesale prices. I did this before too in the BBQ niche.

I built a site that sold nothing but BBQ stuff, then 2 months later sold the site for $500. Had I kept the site it would probably be making that much per month by now.

There is no need to build a whole website anymore. BLOGs are a great way to talk about your niche and introduce products to your readers. Enjoy the hands off selling using a wholesale dropshipper.

Take Care,

Michael

p.s. Check out Doba for products to sell on your blog or on Ebay.

It's all about your choice

2008-10-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

The current economic crisis is global. Depending on what expert you listen to we are either in a recession or headed towards one.

How you choose to react now will have a great effect on your future. Not just in your bank account, but also in your lifestyle.

Only you can make the right choices for yourself.

Is now the time to start blogging and building a community? Should I go back to school to improve my employment status? Should I start an online business?

Be realistic in your expectations and don't jump into anything.

For example if you have a headache and take an aspirin you wouldn't take an aspirin again in 10 minutes if you still had a headache, you would wait a couple hours first.

Evaluate your skills and your goals. What do you want to do and what do you have the ability to learn?

There are some parts of affiliate marketing that are easy to learn, while others may take some time. I started marketing online 3 years ago and I am still learning new methods.

One great way to get a jump start on your training to make money online is with the Clickbank Blueprint. Explode your skills now by following a step by step system to make money online and control your future.

Best of success,

Michael

The Economy

2008-10-09T21:55:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago I move my 401(k) money into something safer.

Considering the beating the stock market is taking now I am happy that I did. Many have told me that what I did was not a smart move.

Advice is not a one size fits all thing.

I stopped putting money into my 401(k) a few years ago. So moving my current balance into a safe fund was the right move for me.

When the market turns around I will buy back in at a lower rate. If I fail to buy back in then there is no benefit to my selling off of the higher risk funds.

Right now when I look at my account I figure out how much I "didn't" loose. At some point the stocks I sold will be of a higher value then what I sold them for. I need to buy back in before that happens.

I don't have any advice as to what you should do with your money. Just pointing out what I did with my 401(k).

Take Care,

Michael