I have to qualify first that I personally did not attend this course held recently in Kuala Lumpur by facilitator Alvin Phang, on the topic of how to make money online or by blogging. The title of the workshop escaped me but it’s something to do with teaching people how to make money on their blogs.

I believe Alvin Phang comes from Singapore and claims to have made many thousands of dollars through his blogging, mainly from affiliate programs. Someone I know went for the course and after completing the 2-day course which was held at Wisma MCA during a recent weekend, I asked how it went, what he learned and gained. He kindly shared with me and to my horror, I found that people should be made aware of some hidden agenda. Read below on how I think Alvin cheats on his earnings from affiliate programs and Adsense.

Firstly, I would like to qualify also that I believe Alvin Phang has made his course specially for people who do not know anything about blogging and setting up blogs. He helps them to register a domain of their choice and subsequently helps to install Wordpress on it and proceed to set it up including installing a theme for all participants. They all use a theme designed by him.

They are told that for the RM2,500 course held in Malaysia, it not only includes the workshop fee but they also get the domain name and 1-year hosting of their site. I expected the participants to then get full access to their web host and also domain name manager so that they are fully empowered to manage their own blogs.

As it turns out, they do not have any control over the web host nor the domain name. I figured that Alvin probably earned his affiliate income signing up everyone for a domain name and a 1-year web host service. And since they do not have any control over this and thus will not learn how to manage any of these services going forward, they seem to be locked in for as long as they don’t transfer out the domain and continue using the web host provider they signed up with. Wow, that’s year after year of affiliate income for Alvin, isn’t it?

That’s not all, Alvin also removed the permission to edit any of the theme settings in Wordpress administration. This means that they cannot change the template, cannot tweak the theme in anyway. Not even to install any plugins! All they get to do is post entries, add some widgets in the sidebar, put up some affiliate banners and that’s about it.

Why shouldn’t the owners of the blogs be allowed to manage all these fundamental things in their very own blogs? I’ll tell you why. Or at least I think I figured the reason why Alvin locked it.

Alvin made it known to the participants that he DOES NOT believe in making money from Google Adsense. If you visit his various sites, you will not find a single unit of Adsense being used. Fair enough. But do you know what he has done with all the participants’ blogs? He inserted Adsense into them and those Adsense units are not from the participants’ Google Adsense accounts! Whose are they? Must be Alvin’s, right?

He inserted those Adsense into the sidebar of the blogs but he did so sneakily. He did not insert them using the widgets because blog owners can change and even remove them. He included the Adsense codes into the sidebar.php file which is kept locked and inaccessible to these blog owners. So how are they going to remove these Adsense? They simply can’t.

So if Alvin does not believe in Adsense, why did he so sneakily incorporate them into other people’s blogs and lock it so that it cannot be removed? Answer is simple. Alvin does believe in Adsense. He just doesn’t put them into his own blogs but make his Adsense income via other people’s blogs. God knows how many similar courses he’s conducted and how many participants’ blogs he has set up with his Adsense code incorporated.

Now if you think about it, Alvin is a smart businessman who not only makes money from the seminar fees collected, he is also making affiliate income from all the domain names and web host sign ups, including any clicks of those Adsense on other people’s blogs. No wonder he can claim to have made hundreds of thousands through affiliate programs. So now you understand the secret of his making so much money from affiliate programs. Clever business idea, isn’t it?

I won’t comment on the content of his seminar. I’m sure for beginners they would have learned a lot since they start out with no knowledge whatsoever. I’m only warning you of what he does behind your back, telling half-truths and lying about his sentiments on Adsense when he’s riding on it through you!

Related Tips

• Free e-commerce (via eBay) workshop
• Malaysia’s 1st Search Marketing Conference happening next month

This post is brought to you by: Useful Tips For Life

Be careful of Alvin Phang’s course on making money through blogs!

Recently I was asked if I would pay for an iPhone. Well to start with I’ve not even gotten up close and personal with an iPhone before so I don’t know if I would pay a lot of money for one. In any case, where I come from, the iPhone is exclusively tied to the use of one particular mobile phone service provider. That’s as far as I know for now.

But I’ve heard great and raving reviews of these iPhones from fellow fans of Apple products. So much so that they’ve gotten their hands on these phones way before they made their way onto our shores.

On the other hand, I also have friends who are fans but not willing to pay so much for an iPhone. So what they do is to get their hands on products that are similar in appearance and functionality as the iPhone. Apparently there are lots of these products in the market and they cost a fraction of the cost of an iPhone.

Having heard from both sides, I do hear some differences between the iPhone and the iPhone-wanna-be products. So at the end of the day, I do ask both sets of friends whether they would trade the price for the actual quality and I get quite a mix view from the two groups. I guess it is as expected.

The iPhone fans, on top of simply loving the iPhone itself, are also very happy with the range of iPhone accessories that come with it. Apple fans being Apple fans, they also always up-play the aesthetic value of the Apple products too, from the phone itself down to the smallest of things like the iPhone car charger and even iPhone case look perfectly beautiful. Actually, I can’t agree more. You have to give it up to Apple when it comes to presentation.

But still, when you ask me if I would pay the price for one of these beautiful gadgets, I can’t say for sure. Perhaps it will depend on my impulse when being approached to buy one of these.

Which side of the fence are you on, an Apple-die-hard fan or the one who could do with an Apple alternative? Any tips to share if there’s someone who wants all the benefits of an iPhone but cannot afford the price?

Related Tips

• Lock your mobile phone remotely by sending an SMS
• Your car can be unlocked by others when you use a remote control locking system
• Simple steps to find out where your phone is made from

This post is brought to you by: Useful Tips For Life

To pay for an iPhone or a product that looks like an iPhone?

This blog has been one that has tried to provide tips where possible, whether it’s a small daily life improvement tip or some useful information about health and such. But now, I find that I need some tips in handling properties and I hope I can get some feedback from here.

I bought a property some 5 years back as an investment. However, things didn’t turn out as well as I thought and in the end, the property was more of a liability to me than it is an investment. I have wanted to sell or rent it out even if I had to make a loss but to no avail.

Then suddenly in the last couple of weeks, some interested parties came along and asked about both my selling and renting options. Being a first time property owner to go through a disposing process, I must say I wasn’t the least bit prepared for all the questions coming my way.

The thing about selling a property is not at all as easy as I thought. For the life of me, I’ve never heard of the term conveyancing and when I was first asked about it, I was a total blur. Since then I did some searches to find out exactly what it means and it really isn’t easy business.

Should I sell my property in the future, I really should be aware of this and get the help of a conveyancing solicitor but the term itself scares me already. I don’t even know where to begin looking for such help not to mention trying to get a competitive conveyancing quote!

Do you have any experience in handling the selling and transfering of your properties to another party? How did you go about all that paperwork or did you leave all that work to the property agent and lawyer?

More Tips

• Papaya leaves juice a known cure for dengue fever
• 33 secrets to a great relationship
• How to do well at job interviews
• How to disable your mobile phone if it gets stolen
• Welcome to Useful Tips For Life!

This post is brought to you by: Useful Tips For Life

Looking for helpful tips in managing properties

After my last posting of a tsunami warning expected on 22 July 2009, we now see an earthquake happening in New Zealand just yesterday. Mind you, it’s quite a huge one, with a magnitude of 7.8.

This recent earthquake in New Zealand has sparked off a tsunami warning that extends to Australia which resulted in hundreds of people in Lord Howe Island, northeast of Sydney being evacuated. Read the full report here on Bloomberg.

However, according to some other news reports, this tsunami warning was later cancelled and some say it may even be a false alarm.

Whatever it is, we are not in control of such natural disasters but signs of them showing up are for real. Whether we believe these warnings to be real or fake or inaccurate, let’s all stay alert and just be cautious. Stay away from beaches!

Related Tips

• Tsunami Warning: 22 July 2009
• Green tips for Earth Day
• 7 tips to de-stress during the economic downturn
• Did you know that an online search can affect the environment?
• What you can do to be environmentally friendly

This post is brought to you by: Useful Tips For Life

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits New Zealand and sparks off tsunami warning

I don’t know how authentic this information is, but I think it’s no harm for us to take note and be aware. I received this via email and am reproducing some of the key information of this recent tsunami warning here. Hope it helps everyone be prepared with what might be. Take precaution in whatever way that you can and let others know too!

Apparently, there will be an earthquake or a tsunami that will hit on 22 July 2009. Places that are expected to be hit are:

• Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia
• Singapore
• Maldives
• Australia
• Mauritius
• Sri Lanka
• India
• Indonesia
• Philippines

Some information regarding the predicted earthquake are as follows:

Where: Japan

When: 22 July 2009, around 3pm local Japanese time and another between 5pm to 7pm local Japanese time

Magnitude: 6+ for the first quake and 5+ for the subsequent quake

Tsunami effect: Starts out from the Pacific Ocean and will hit the islands to the south west of Japan, Indonesia and may even reach New Zealand

Whether this information is true or not, I hope you will stay away from beaches and warn others to do so too. Stay safe and healthy always!

Related Tips

• A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits New Zealand and sparks off tsunami warning
• Green tips for Earth Day
• 7 tips to de-stress during the economic downturn
• Did you know that an online search can affect the environment?
• What you can do to be environmentally friendly

This post is brought to you by: Useful Tips For Life

Tsunami Warning: 22 July 2009