Well, it looks like Google is at it again.  Today, April 24, 2012, Google rolled out yet another update in their attempt to “clean up” their search engine results.  I like to hang out in forums where people talk about this stuff, and they are definitely talking.  I’ve seen massive changes in rankings, and so have most of the people posting about the update.  If you haven’t seen the original announcement, you can find it here.

So far, here is what seems to be happening with what Google has dubbed the Penguin Update:

• Web 2.0 sites are ranking through the roof.
• Sites that were ranking have fallen off of the charts unless they are very well established “authority” sites.
• Crap sites are ranking very well.  This would include single page EMDs and sites that consist purely of scraped junk.
• Of course the branded sites are still sitting at the top and a couple of searches I performed brought back a bucket load of Google Maps results.

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!

Is it just me, or does it seem like the more Google tries to “fix” things, the worse they get?  I started this site quite a while ago and honestly never made a big push to rank it once I figured out that it was stupid to go after a term as competitive as “ways to make money”.  Now I just try to post some helpful, quality stuff, but I realize that it most likely won’t get seen if I depend on Google.  I have however spent a lot of time and effort trying to properly SEO other sites to please Google.  No more.  If this latest update sticks, I think my Google addiction will finally be broken.  Trying to guess what Google wants is like dating a crazy person.  It is exhausting.

I think if Google ever falls, it will be by its own hand.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  I’m not saying that Google was ever perfect, but it seems to me that things are getting goofier with every update and tweak.  It reminds me of trying to fix a table with one uneven leg.  You take a little off of each leg over and over and you never get it quite right.  Before you know it, the table is ruined.

I realize that Google is not a charity.  They exist to make money.  The way things are going, I’d expect to see nothing but paid ads on the front of the SERPS sooner rather than later.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to look at ads.  In fact, I intentionally avoid them in search results.  I’ve learned to recognize them, and I automatically scroll past them.  If it gets to the point that I have to click to get to something other than ads, Bing is going to start looking a lot better.  I wonder if I’m the only one who feels that way.

Just my 2 cents.

Visit The Keyword Academy.  That is the best advice I can give anyone looking for ways to make money.  They offer a tremendous knowledge base on how to achieve massive traffic and a passive income by providing high quality content based on proper keyword selection.  If you don’t know what that means, you really need to visit.  There are regularly scheduled webinars appropriate to every level of internet marketing experience, and The Keyword Academy forums are filled with fellow members who have also spent time and money searching for the best ways to make money.  They love the place, and they are always ready and willing to offer a helping hand.  Seriously, go grab a Keyword Academy free trial now.

I’ve spent a lot of money and time on my journey to learn how to make money online.  Most of the time is was in chunks of money along the lines of $37, $67, $97 and even more.  If you noticed that the numbers all end in “7″ well, that is a common internet marketing practice.  It seems that there is some psychological factor at work and people tend to buy more when things end in that “lucky” number.  Anyway, I thought I would make a post about the best investment I actually made over the past couple of years since I’m actually seeing some return now.

If you have read the other posts I’ve written, it should be pretty clear that I do not go for scams.  They are just not worth the effort and I don’t like to cheat people.  I think doing that kind of thing comes back around to bite you in the tail later.  With that said,  I can honestly say that  the best investment I ever made online was checking out The Keyword Academy.  When I signed up, it was $1 for the first 30 days.  As of now, I believe it is free to join.  You get 30 days to check everything out, and if you decide to stay, it is $33 per month from that point on.  If you have been doing much in the way of internet marketing, you may have heard of this place.  When I signed up, the site was run by Court Tuttle and Mark Butler.  Now, it is just Mark Butler. (Edit:  Court is back!)  These two guys decided to start a site devoted to teaching people how to make money online.  I found their site back around March of 2009 and I think I’ve visited it just about every day since then.  I no longer have to sort through offers for work at home jobs or questionable offers that teach you how to earn money online by taking advantage of others.  There are plenty of money making ideas that you can use to build a serious online presence, make money, and still feel good about what you are doing as you work at home. If you are looking for an internet marketing mentor, this is the place to go.

Why I recommend The Keyword Academy so highly for learning about ways to make money

So why am I so high on the place?  Well, the guys over deliver in a major way.  Now if it was just a bunch of information, I may have soaked in all that I could for a month and then taken off.  As it stands, I’ve been a member for over two years.  The difference with The Keyword Academy is that for $33 you get some serious value.  One of the first things you need to know when you get into internet marketing of any kind, is that you need links to get your site noticed.  The Keyword Academy features what is known as the Postrunner system.  This is a huge guest posting system that gives you access to an incredible selection of websites owned by other members.  These are not throw away blogs.  They are legitimate, cared for sites that people maintain and own.  Many of them have page rank built up.  Once you are a member, you can even put one of your own sites into the system to get free original content posted on it by other members in exchange for letting them point links back at their own site.  It is all above board, white hat stuff.  There is NO garbage content or spun junk allowed.  Lately, the push is toward a new TKA 2.0 model that emphasizes high quality content that gives visitors exactly what they want.  Do you suppose that is something that Google would like too?  Postrunner allows you to guest post on relevant, related blogs from one central dashboard.  Believe it or not, that is included in the $33 per month price.  Compare that to other, similar networks.  Nothing comes close to that value, and they actually give you full access to Postrunner during that first free month.  Really.  No strings at all!

OK, so that was a ton of stuff to jam into one paragraph.  The short version is, there is a ton of information and resources, and you get full access for 30 days.  If you are at all serious about making money online, I doubt you will want to leave, but if you do, they do not hassle you or give you a hard time.  I think they have a pretty high retention rate because people actually start making money by using what they teach.  Believe me, I would not have stayed there for all of this time if I was not getting some serious value from it.  Whether you are brand new to making money online or a seasoned vet, you will find something to benefit you in the videos they provide and in the highly responsive forum.

When I originally signed up, it was just informational videos and a forum for discussing what was taught.  There was no Postrunner at that time, and I still felt like I was getting good value.  Now, there is no way I’d want to leave.

Let’s face it, it is likely that you are jaded from reading a bunch of garbage promises about getting rich online.  I’ll just say that The Keyword Academy is nothing like that.  You will have to do work to succeed.  There are no promises to explode your earnings over night.  Making money online is a process that takes some time and you will be building quality websites.  You will not have to live in fear of a visual inspection from Google, because you will be learning to build quality sites that give people what they want.  When you do that, and you know how to get traffic to your site, you will make money.

Unlike many of the get rich quick scams that are out there, The Keyword Academy is not promising a money back guarantee.  They are going one step better.  They are not even asking for a dime unless you want to continue using the site after a full thirty days of total access.  What is not to like?  They do have an affiliate program (I am one), but you cannot become an affiliate until you are a member of the site and can speak from experience to other people about it.  If you decide to check out The Keyword Academy, and then end up staying, I’ll get a commission and I thank you.  If you decide to leave after that first month, I’ll be pretty surprised, but that is your choice.

If you want to learn how to build up a legitimate online income and you are willing to do some work, you should visit The Keyword Academy and sign up for the free 30 day offer.  If you would rather chase bogus money making opportunities at $47 a clip,  until you are ready to give up, I wish you luck.  If you would rather not waste time, and you want to learn about legitimate ways to make money, go visit The Keyword Academy and grab your free 30 days.

If you are looking for some easy and relatively painless ways to cut back on your spending, this article is for you. Try these tips to put more money in your pocket without too much muss or fuss.  It’s great when you can find ways to make money, but you certainly shouldn’t neglect opportunities when you find ways to save money too!

Avoid Impulse Buying

Before you head to the store, make a list and stick to it. Impulse buying can mean spending more than you intend; avoid this by deciding ahead of time what you are going to buy, and do not allow yourself to be tempted to deviate from that plan.  I read a book recently that suggested freezing your credit cards in blocks of ice.  Waiting for the cards to thaw out gives you the time to go through a cooling off period when you are feeling the urge to buy something on impulse.  Putting the card into the microwave isn’t an option because it could destroy the information stored on the magnetic strip.  I don’t know how the card would hold up to the water, so I’m guessing it would be  good idea to put the credit cards in a baggie first, before freezing!

Save Money by Clipping Grocery Coupons

Spend some time clipping coupons from the Sunday newspapers or download them from the Internet, then use them to save money on your grocery bill. Consult store advertisements and add items to your list that are good buys, especially if you have coupons that allow you to save even more over the sale price. Does your supermarket double coupons? That’s even better, offering more savings for you. Don’t buy things that you don’t use just because they are on sale, but if you normally use these items, this is a great time to stock up. Also, consider using store brand items rather than items carrying a name brand. Many generic items taste just as good as the name brand items, or at least you may be able to get used to the slight differences.

We got away from clipping coupons in our house for a while.  Over this past summer, we decided to make a real effort to use them though.  My wife actually did most of the work to be honest.  Her savings were pretty good.  In an average week she saved between $30 and $50 without even putting that much time into the project.  We also found that we could save a lot by visiting some local discount stores that opened up recently in our area.  I don’t know how they do it, but stores like Bottom Dollar somehow manage to offer name brand items for much less than our other local grocery stores.  If you have any of these discount stores in your area, it is worth it to brave the crowds and save some money.

More Tips to Save Money

• When purchasing electronics, do not get the extended warranty. Normally the cost associate with this is not worthwhile.  This isn’t carved in stone, but it has been my own personal experience.  The prices of electronics have come down so much recently that you really should spend a minute figuring out the numbers for how much that extended warranty is really worth by the time you pay it off.
• Go through your closets and sell things that you no longer need. Kids’ toys, outgrown or outdated clothing and old books are just a few things that you can sell to earn some extra cash. Have a yard sale or sell them online on sites like eBay or Craigslist.  If you have some old vintage items stored away, you might be surprised how much you can make by selling them on eBay.
• Try to buy gently-used, second hand furniture, cars and appliances. These big ticket items can be costly when purchased new, but you may be able to get a great deal from someone who is trying to downsize or get rid of things they no longer need.  Scratch and dent shops are another great place to save money on large appliances for around the house.  Who really cares if there is a scratch or dent on the back of a washing machine if it works perfectly and carries the same warranty?
• Purchasing online is one of the most convenient and often cost-effective ways to buy things, but before you hit the “Submit” button, use a search engine to check for online coupons or discounts. Simply type the name of the vendor and the word “coupon” into the search engine to find any extra discounts that may be available to you. These can include free shipping deals, percent off offers or freebies.
• Keep tabs on credit card spending, and pay your balance in full each month. Paying interest and finance charges on credit card purchases means that you are paying much more in the long run for the items that you buy on credit.
• Check with various lenders to find out if refinancing your mortgage would be worthwhile. If so, you may be able to lower your monthly payments substantially.  We usually get the bug to check this every few years and it is surprising how much things can change over time.
• Consider planting a garden to save money on your grocery bill. It is relatively easy to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and other healthy vegetables that normally cost quite a bit in the grocery store. Growing your own can provide you with healthy food at a fraction of the supermarket cost.  There is just something about growing something yourself that makes it taste a little bit better too.  I love it when my kids get interested in helping me in the garden.  It’s a real memory maker as well as a money saver.
• Instead of buying books and magazines, patronize your community library. Depending on how much you read, you stand to save a lot of money by borrowing books and magazines for a few weeks rather than spending money to purchase them.  I admit that I’m terrible at this one.  I’m an audio book freak.  Other people have grown attached to their Kindles and Nooks.  If you like “old school” books though, the library is still a great place to visit.

With a bit of thought and planning, you can do many things to save money. Implement as many of these tips as possible, and you will be amazed at how much extra money you have in your pocket at the end of the month.  If you are working to build up an online website or business, you can use that extra cash for things like outsourcing or some cool tool you’ve been wanting to try.  If you just want to save money in general, it doesn’t get much easier than this.

What follows isn’t really all that much curation, but I found a cool site called curate.us that I wanted to take for a test spin.  It’s free to use, and it makes grabbing information from around the internet fairly easy.  From an SEO standpoint, I guess some people might not like that it creates snippets with dofollow links, but I figure that if you really are curating, and getting some traffic due to others’ content, the least you can do is send them a little bit of link juice. So anyway, here are some sites that I have personally recommended to friends of mine who wanted to learn more about making money online. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are a good place to get started.  I recommend both of the following sites without any hesitation.  I believe that they are good sites, run by quality people.  If you are searching for an internet marketing mentor, I think this is a great place to start.

The Keyword Academy

Clipped from: thekeywordacademy.com (share this clip)

I started out learning about making money online by reading Griz. He is something of a legend in the MMO field. He took a free blog and made a ton of money with it, much of it with AdSense. His story is worthy of its own post, so just know for now that I followed his advice and signed up for The Keyword Academy. This site has undergone a lot of changes. It started out being run by Courtney Tuttle and Mark Butler. Court was the face and the idea guy. He has since left (EDIT:  Court is back and sharing great ideas again!!!), and TKA has moved from a model where the goal was to pick off easy keywords for AdSense dollars, to building high quality sites based on making the most of keywords. My main complaint about this site is that Mark could be more hands on with the community. However, the community, by way of the forum available, does a fantastic job of supporting both new and experienced internet marketers. They are an extremely helpful group. This is a membership site, but you can sign up for the first free month, get all of the information and leave, if that is your nature. I mention that because leaving would just be stupid. The most valuable part of the membership is access to the Postrunner guest posting system. It is essentially a one stop interface that allows you to post original content (for backlinks) on tons of independently owned websites. These are maintained by TKA members and many are very well cared for. Some are weaker than others, but you always have a choice about where your article goes. No duplicate or spun content is allowed. The best part is probably the price. As of this writing, the full membership, including Postrunner, is only $33 per month. If you are serious about making money, you just can’t skip this.

The other reason that I like TKA is the fact that they have recently completely redone their official ebook/guide to walk people through the process of building a top quality site based on keywords. It is not just a “how to blog” site. Check out The Keyword Academy for a month for free by Clicking Here.  You might also want to check out my post, The Keyword Academy Review.

Smart Passive Income

One site that I think is a very nice fit for new folks online is Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income blog. Pat is about as friendly as a new kid on the block could possibly hope for. He lays out everything in several easy to digest formats.

Clipped from: www.smartpassiveincome.com (share this clip)

One thing that I do really like about Pat’s site is that he makes podcasts available. Ever since I got an iPod a couple of years ago, I’ve become addicted to listening to things like audio books and podcasts. I actually find the podcasts to be the most valuable part of the site. There are a lot of helpful posts and videos too, however. The only knock I have on Pat is that he has essentially become an A list blogger, and he seems to be making most of his money from the “learn how to make money with a blog” niche. His income from actual affiliate sites, while impressive, is not his mainstay. Still, he seems like a good guy, and he offers a lot of good information for free. One of his latest Podcasts is sharing his best tips for affiliate marketing. I know that I’ll be listening. The guy posts his monthly earnings, and I’d be pretty happy to be getting his affiliate sales commissions. I’m sure there is some good stuff to learn.

Other Sites

There are a few other sites that I like and recommend a lot.  For a beginner though, one of the worst things you can do is overload yourself with information.  You end up with analysis paralysis, and nothing gets accomplished.  I will surely post more later about other sites I’ve found useful.  For now, if you are going to pick one of the two above sites, I’d recommend The Keyword Academy if for no other reason, to get access to Postrunner.  You will quickly find that backlinks are essential in this game if you want to get noticed by Google and the other search engines.  Grab the free month and see what you can do with it.  Even if you quit, your backlinks stay put.  I hope this helps a few newbies stay clear of the get rich quick jungle.  It just doesn’t happen that way, and neither of the above sites will take you down that path.  That is another reason why I like them.  They both have an approach of doing the work now and reaping the rewards down the line.  If you want to learn how to make money on internet projects of all kinds, these sites deserve your attention.

Do you value your kids’ teachers?  I do, and I think it is a shame that many of them (especially younger teachers) are in a position where they have to work a second job to make ends meet.  Most of them are paying off tens of thousands of dollars worth of student loans while being “encouraged” by their employers to continue the education to at least the Masters level.  At the same time, teacher furloughs are being lined up in some districts as a way to save money.  Qualifications to teach are being lowered, while politicians are demanding higher student scores on standardized tests.  That is a lot to think about if you also happen to have a class to teach and manage.  Below you’ll find helpful information about a site I found called Teachers Pay Teachers.  It is a great site to check out if you want to make some extra cash from the work you are probably already doing.

Another Way for Teachers to Make Extra Money

I want to take this opportunity to make a strong recommendation to anyone who might be in danger of losing their teaching position.  Go to The Keyword Academy site and sign up for the free month TODAY.  You will learn how to make a profitable website.  Make it about education if that is your passion.  People who build sites about the things they have strong feelings for tend to do very well.  I think they are still offering free site set up when you join, but you’ll have to double check since things change over time.  Follow the step by step instructions in the eBook you will have full access to.  It is not an instant money type of thing.  It is going to teach you to build a profitable online business, but it will take a bit of time.  I can honestly tell you that I know of many people making several thousand dollars each month simply from following instructions and building legitimate sites.  I can also honestly tell you that there will be work involved.  Like I said, it is not a get rich quick scheme.  The key is, you’ve got to start before you are in desperate need of money because it is not an instant turn around opportunity.  Believe me, I myself am waiting to see what is going to happen in Pennsylvania where Governor Tom Corbett has proposed a budget that I simply cannot fathom.  Even if you decide making money with a website isn’t right for you, you can simply quit when the free 30 days is up without any strings attached.  You will have received a tremendously valuable, step by step explanation of how regular people make money on the Internet.  Go sign up for the free information NOW, before you have to scramble to find something out of desperation.  The Keyword Academy

 Teacherspayteachers – A Winning Strategy for Teachers

Teachers are a hard working group, and many are extremely devoted to what they do. Just like anyone else though, they sometimes need to look for the best prices around or even for way to make extra money. Many teachers work a second job after spending the day with a classroom full of kids. Now there is an opportunity for these professionals to help each other out and make some money while they’re at it.

Teachers Pay Teachers is a website where teachers can both buy and sell teacher related materials to other teachers. There are also some helpful free downloads available. If you are a teacher who has spent years creating materials to use with your students, you can now make some extra money for your efforts.  When you sign up at the website, you will be able to upload, and offer for sale, a variety of teaching materials (as long as they are your original work). These can include all sorts of curricular materials. Study guides, lesson plans, units, tests, differentiated materials, and many other items are eligible. You can even offer hard goods for sale, which is a great opportunity for teachers who have changed grade level assignments. The entire site is like a giant teachers’ store, but without the enormously marked up prices that are often found at offline specialty sites. This is an outstanding opportunity for teachers to make extra money simply by sharing what most of them already have on hand. The really great part of this for teachers is that because these are mostly digital products that others will download, you can keep making money from each product you post for years to come. Each time one of your products is downloaded, you make money!

Teachers Pay Teachers has a thriving community of both buyers and sellers, and if you choose to sell, you do have to pay for the privilege of putting your product in front of so many potential customers. The cost is pretty reasonable though, and teachers can still make a very nice profit when they sell. I would imagine that a teacher with years worth of materials to upload, could do very well with just a minimal amount of time spent on the endeavor. Sellers can set up their own store on the site by choosing one of two different membership set-ups. You can find all of the details by visiting teacherspayteachers.com today!

Of course if you are a teacher and would like to learn about other legitimate methods of making extra money that do not involve taking on a full time job, you are cordially invited to visit the ways to make money homepage to pick up some more pointers!

I like to help others when I can.  It makes me feel good.  I love random acts of kindness and giving to others.  The problem I run into sometimes is knowing how to go about the actual act of helping others without convincing them that I’m crazy.  Today I was talking to a very nice woman with a talent for cutting hair.  She cuts what is left of mine, as a matter of fact.  As we spoke, she mentioned that she loves cutting hair, but she is looking at other career options simply because of finances.  Because I’m sort of hooked on this whole making money online “thing”, I mentioned that there are opportunities and ways to make money online, that people don’t ever think about.  I gave her a very basic description of how people make money online, but didn’t go into too much detail.   I touched on affiliate marketing and Adsense, but I’ve learned from experience that letting myself run at the mouth about these topics just results in glazed over expressions in most people.   As I drove home, it occurred to me that she is probably the PERFECT example of someone who could make money with what they already know.

Affiliate Commissions Anyone?

A World of Website Ideas

Think about it.  The best websites out there are put together by people with a passion for their topic.  Here is a woman with a deep and thorough knowledge of the hair care and beauty business.  Do you think there is any money spent on that?  The knowledge she has is money, pure and simple.  Visions of affiliate commissions dance through my head just thinking about what she could do with her expertise.  The only problem is, she doesn’t know (or at least she didn’t) that the opportunity is there.  How many other people with a professional skill set, or a passion for something, never even consider putting up a website?

This is where I personally run into my problems and frustration.  I have tried to tell people I care about, all about online opportunities, and they often give me a look like I’m crazy.  A lot of people see the internet as a big, intimidating “thing” that is far too technical for them.  The simple truth is, it isn’t.  Setting up a website is not all that complicated.  Here is the quick and dirty description of the actual process.

1.  You pay a company like Hostgator about ten bucks a month to host your site (that means it is available on the internet).

2.  You buy a domain name from a site like Namecheap for ten bucks per year.

3.  You use WordPress to put your content online.  For those who are not familiar with it, WordPress is a free content management system that makes posting things on your blog/website about as easy as using a word processor, really.  You honestly could have your first domain up and running in less than half an hour.  With some experience, you can set one up in about 5 minutes or less.

Learning How to Make Money

I’ve been a member at The Keyword Academy since early in 2009.  In that time, I’ve seen several people arrive and build their incomes into the thousands of dollars per month.  I’m not quite at my personal goals yet, but I’m getting there.  These people took that big step into the unknown and actually developed some property on the internet.  I doubt that any of them regret it.

I’m actually saddened a bit as I talk to people at my “regular” job sometimes.  Some of them put in their full time hours, and then leave to go work at another job.  That stinks.  It especially stinks because they are just trading hours for dollars, straight up.  If they don’t go to that other job, they don’t make a single dime.  When you build websites, they are constantly working for you as people find them in the search engine listings.  What makes me sad is not just the fact that my friends are running themselves into the ground, but that they completely dismiss me when I tell them that there is a better way.

Why Won’t They Listen To Me???

I think a big part of the problem is that most folks have no idea that the internet is already a very commercial place.  Sure, there are bloggers who just love to write about their latest trip to Aunt Suzie’s house, but almost any website you happen to visit will have some commercial interest, whether you realize it, or not.  Affiliate links are everywhere.  These are special links that give the website owner a commission when you follow them to some product or service and then make a purchase.  Another thing… did you know that Google actually makes money?  Yes, it is true, believe it or not.  Google does not provide search engine listings out of the goodness of their heart.  How do you think they pay for all of those top graduates coming out of college?

People and Companies DO Make Money Online...and that's OK!

Making Money

Advertisers pay Google money to make sure that their ads show up high in the paid listing area when you do a search.  There is nothing dirty or wrong about it.  It is just how things work, and I only mention it to open the eyes of people who think that making money online is some dark secret.  It is not only legal, it has become a driving force in what you find online.  Try this Google search on the term “Makeup” and then look at the listings that show up on the top of the page and on the right hand side.  Do you see the tiny print that says “Ads”?  Did you ever notice that before?  Mmmm, Hmmm.  If you see ads, that means that there is money being spent and earned by someone.  Think that Makeup is just a very commercial term?  OK, try doing a search on something a little bit less commercial.  Check out this search for “algebra“.  Yep, still ads.  My point is, many different things are already being monetized online.  You just don’t realize it.

If you have a hobby, or you love to collect something, BINGO!  Perfect.  Anything you have a passion or knowledge about can make you money.  You just have to learn the best way to go about it.  Visit The Keyword Academy and read everything they have there.  You will never look at the internet or your own potential for making money the same way again.

Most of the experts recommend having goals and picturing yourself experiencing them with an intense clarity.  It’s a great idea and it can help a lot of people to keep themselves moving forward.  Sometimes though, you need something more powerful than potential happiness to get you moving.  Most people will do a lot more to avoid pain than to get pleasure (including me), so here is what I like to do when I feel that I may have lost some motivation.  It can be pretty intense, so I’m not really telling anyone to do it.  It is just what works for me…

Looking Forward with Regret

This is something I heard described a long time ago.  I think it was when I was in a class where we were talking about living a life without regrets.

Do you want this in ten years?

This is a very simple exercise, but it can be extremely powerful and motivating (at least for me).  I do this if I feel like I’ve had a couple of days that were unproductive.

The first thing I do is find somewhere where I can be alone.  I know that can be tough, especially if you have kids.  That’s why I usually end up doing this very early in the morning, before anyone else wakes up.  Sometimes, I’ll even drive to a nearby park and find a place to sit in the car by myself.  It’s best if it is quiet and there are no distractions.  I picture myself in the future, but I take a different approach than you might expect.  Instead of seeing myself where I want to be in the next one, five, and ten years, I picture where I’m headed if I don’t take action.  For me, that means in the same job, doing the same things that I absolutely can’t stand doing.  I think of the reasons why I cringe as I wake up at 4:50 AM on work days.  I picture with extreme clarity what it would be like to still be sitting in meetings talking about things that I could not possibly care less about.  I picture my boss’s face, ten years older, as she tells me about the next “initiative” that we will be putting in to place.  Then, I picture my own face as I imagine it would look after ten more years of doing something I hate.   Next, I force myself to feel every ounce of pain I would feel as I looked back and regretted not taking action and making things change.  I let myself soak in that regret for about a minute.  Finally (and most importantly), I refocus myself and realize that I am still at the point

I finish up by realizing that today, I'm actually at the beginning, NOT the end.

where I can make the changes that have to be made.  I can start taking action NOW to ensure that the future I just imagined will NOT happen.  Usually at this point I’m able to easily fire off a list of four or five things that I could do that very day to get things moving (and I actually DO them).

Just to make sure I start my day off right, I also follow this exercise by visualizing myself achieving my goals and experiencing THOSE feelings.  The contrast is amazing.  The fear of living a life filled with regret is enough to get me moving and taking actions that I previously had been scared to take.  The image that comes to me is standing next to a pool of cold water.  Jumping in seems daunting, but if an angry dog came charging at you, you’d probably take action and jump in to get out of the way.  My current fears about taking action and trying things I’m unfamiliar with, are the pool.  Dealing with my same work situation in ten years is the angry dog.

Here Is my promise to anyone now, or in the future who might visit my Ways to Make Money Blog.  I’ll be honest with you about the things I’ve learned on my internet marketing journey.  I can’t promise that I’ll always be right about everything, but I think anyone who would do that, is a fool.  I’ll do my best to get you to the point where YOU are making money on the internet.  I’m not promising that you will make money.  That is entirely up to you and your work ethic.  I’m just saying that I’ll try to teach you about things that have the potential to help you out and that have worked for me.  I am still learning and trying new things too, so what I’ll share the new things that I learn as well.

Where is Internet Marketing Headed?

I think the direction of internet marketing is definitely going toward what some people call “transparency”.  That is basically coming clean and not trying to get anything past the people who you want to trust you.  Don’t be naïve though.  There are still plenty of dishonest people waiting out there to pick off anyone who will hand them their money.  They have the mentality that if the people are stupid enough to believe their outrageous lies, then they deserve what they get.  I have a different opinion.  I know that a lot of the people who fall for get rich quick scams are just good people who are feeling desperate to make a change.  I know, because I’ve been there and I bought a lot of stupid things from people peddling the latest and greatest Clickbank items back when I started a few years ago.  Thank goodness Clickbank’s return policy is pretty easy to deal with.  When you’re sick of your job, or creditors are hassling you, those fancy sales pages can look very good.

Honesty is the Best Policy

Just like in the movies... I found a photo of Truth Serum. How do your sites rate?

It is an old saying, but “honesty is the best policy” still holds true for me.  Even a cynic would have to admit that it is much easier to keep track of things when you only tell the truth.  On top of that, it just feels a lot better to not be burdened with knowing that you took advantage of someone.

To Thine Own Self Be True

We also need to be honest with ourselves.  If you have websites up already, do you ever look at your them objectively?  You should, or have a friend or relative give you an honest opinion.  This isn’t just to help you feel better about yourself or your websites.  It makes practical sense.  Have you ever experienced trying to find something on Google, only to be greeted by annoying “made for Adsense” sites (MFAs) sitting at the top of page one?  As a searcher, this is really annoying.  Google doesn’t want searchers to find that junk.  That is why they are constantly making tweaks to their algorithm.  It isn’t that they have it in for people who want to make money online.  Their “product” that they depend on to thrive is high quality search engine listings.  The people who choose Google over the competing search engines are their customers.  The big brains at Google are just trying to protect their product.  When you are trying your hardest to get your sites to rank, it can feel like Google is stacking the cards against you, but that might just mean that you need to make your site better.  Take an HONEST look at your site and then ask yourself if it is really the best that it can be.  Is it so good that it deserves to outrank the other two million related pages that Google has in its index for your topic?  Now I’m not going to be naïve here either.  For the time being, Google has not entirely worked out all of the quality issues.  People still build a ton of links and see good results in the SERPs.  The question is, how long with that model last?  What will happen when you have built nothing but thin sites and Google finally figures out a way to crawl a site and actually measure quality?  If your sites are all weak, thinking about this possibility will be painful.  The good news is that it hasn’t happened yet.  You still have time to make every page that is getting some traffic the best that it can be.
Here is a very good video of Gary Vaynerchuk that I think is relevant to this topic. Be warned that he uses some language that some people might find offensive.

Coming Clean

I have to admit that not all of my sites are the best that they could be…yet.  Some have good rankings, but that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t stand some improvement.  I’ll be working on those as part of my summer clean up.  I once heard someone say that you should build your sites so that you would be proud to show them to your mom.  That seems like pretty good advice.  If she were around, I’m sure my mother would be able to find a few improvements to make on some of my sites.  How are your sites looking?

Hi folks.  My name is Mike, and I’m an internet marketer.  I also have another job that I perform, but I’ve come to realize that I really enjoy doing this.  It is more than just a hobby for me.  To some people, the idea of making money on the internet has a dirty feel to it.  Sort like selling snake oil.  It doesn’t have to be like that though.  There are a lot of really great websites on the internet and guess what?  Most of them are making money for someone.  What you decide to provide for people is up to you.  I think providing quality is the most important thing for long term success in this business.  But I’m going off track here…

Getting Back on Track

I’ve been away from this blog for a little while, and I’ve recently decided that I really need to get back to it.  The problem I’ve been having is a common one.  I have spread myself way too thin.  It’s great to finally be making money online, but if I was going to start over today, I’d go about things a little bit differently.  I have decided to make this site the best resource that I can for people looking for ways to make money on the internet.  Here’s why…

Where Do I Start?

I've been trying to do too many things at once. Ever done that?

Today, I was talking to a friend of mine.  He wanted me to take a look at a website he has been working on.  It is a site he started years ago, but did not do a whole lot with.  As I was talking to him, he had a lot of questions.  I realized as I was answering him, that I’ve lived and breathed this internet marketing stuff for years now.  I’ve accumulated a fair amount of knowledge from both successes and mistakes.  I sure don’t claim to know it all by any means, but I have learned a lot.  If he has all of these questions, I’m sure some other people do too.  In fact, I’ve had several friends and relatives ask about starting online businesses and websites in general over the last couple of years.  Each time I’ve tried to answer their questions as completely as possible in less than five minutes, but there is so much to share that I usually just left them looking interested, but confused.  Hopefully this site will help you and teach you how to make an online income painlessly.  That is not to say that there isn’t work involved.  There definitely is, but the payoff is nice if you can be patient enough to keep working for it.  I hope that you’ll keep visiting and reading and eventually share your success stories right here on this blog.