I don’t know how many of you guys actually know this but two people work behind this blog. My roommate and I. Although, I’m mainly the one who posts the content on here, my partner helps with everything else. I believe he posted a few times as well, but you guys probably wouldn’t have known it since we work on the same account instead of dividing it up. Of course, since I haven’t been able to update the content too often, no one has been able to keep this blog intact while I was gone.

So, where was I?

I’ve actually been dealing with a lot of personal issues with family and some financial issues as well as being sick for the last two weeks. This is a large part in why I haven’t even been able to do the simplest thing in randomly picking the winners. Or better yet, I haven’t even been able to update you guys with new content.

I’m starting to feel a little better but some of my personal issues have still been around. I’m trying to cope with it the best I can but lets say, its pretty hard.

Anyways, I’ll stop complaining because I’m sure we all have hardships. I’ll get the winners posted by this weekend so you guys can get the great prizes you deserve for being a reader and extremely patient with me.

Thanks again everyone!

Now, I haven’t really taken full advantage of my current contest and I’m sure you guys are aware of it especially the fact that I haven’t been posting that much. But let’s be honest, I’m sure a lot of subscribers aren’t reading the posts so I’m not bothering you guys too much with the e-mails from my RSS Feeds.

I haven’t promoted this contest fully like I normally do but it looks like I have a decent turnout in participates. Of course, people who are just e-mail subscribers from before were automatically entered into this contest so they didn’t have to do much. I guess that was a perk of being one of my loyal subscribers.

Anyways, if the next week or two, I’ll be writing more helpful posts on how I’ve been making money online. I think that has been a large part of why I haven’t posted on here as often because I’ve been setting my priorities based on what is bringing in the most money and just moving down that list.

But I’ll get to that later… this post is to inform you guys that you only have a couple days left to enter my contest.

Go to the contest post for full details.

Now, there are quite a few ways of making money with automated blogs but the main way I’m talking about is setting up one that takes content from other peoples feeds. So, essentially, you’ll be using other peoples work and content on your site while you sit back and relax while watching your earnings increase.

I know a bunch of people that would do this simply because its easy money and I see a lot of people not giving a damn just as long as they make some money from it.

On the other hand, some people won’t attempt to test this out because its unethical or they don’t want to get in trouble from Google or anyone else for that matter. And believe it or not, there are people who actually want to go and work on the money rather than taking a cheap way of making some quick cash.

In my opinion, usually the quick money methods are just that and nothing more. You get some quick cash but in the long run it usually dies out for whatever reason. And if the reason is because you got in trouble, more than likely it’s going to hurt you more than it will ever help you.

I have tried this method out so I know it works to make money but I stopped doing it simply because its just not right. The only reason why I tried it because I wanted to see how it worked more out of curiosity than making money.

So, my question: would you try this method out and why?

Contest posts are loved by search engines, especially Google. Think about it, your standard contest will probably have an option for people to blog about the contest and link back to the contest post, right? Because a lot of people are doing this, the post is getting a lot of one-way links and search engines love to see that.

And although most blogs have the “no-follow” attribute for the comments, you are still getting some link juices. Just not as much as if they were “do-follow.” But don’t worry, either way it helps with your pagerank and if you’re not one of those linking to the post but just commenting, you should increase the benefits as well (one-way linking).

If you notice, most contest posts for specific blogs are shown on the first page of the search results.

Don’t believe me? Just type in “AnotherMMOblog.com” in Google and you should see a bunch of contest-related posts showing up, especially the two simple contests I have/had here.

What I’m saying is the fact that even if you choose not to participate in the contest, you should still at the very least comment on the post to get some of the backlink juices.

I tried out this technique on one of my newer blogs and the only thing I did to build links was commenting on contest posts (I probably did like 50 or so) and my blog ended up ranking as PR3 from the last Google update.

So if you’re a die hard pagerank fan, then you should at the very least try this method out.

It worked for me so it should definitely work for you guys!

There are tons of affiliate networks and companies you can work with to promote products but Amazon is probably one of the best. The reason why I say that is simply the fact that they are a reputable company (so visitors trust them) and you can make a whole lot of money with them as well. Here’s how to do it.

Build a Site or Blog for a Specific Niche/Product

It’s almost like setting up a landing page but if you make an entire blog about a specific product then that’s even better. For instance, say you have a site based on a TV show such as Heroes or Lost (or something popular that people are searching for) you can aim for those specific products to show up.

Now if you are a fan of one of those shows, you shouldn’t have any problem talking about them all the time.

Getting Traffic to your Blog or Site

There are various ways of getting traffic but which way is the best? Well, I guess it all depends on your niche, your patience and products you’re trying to promote.

Most people try to use PPC marketing because it’s quick and easy. The downside is paying money out of your own products and potentially losing money.

Now you can always submit your site to forums, social media and bookmarking sites as well as article marketing but depending on your niche or product you’re promoting, it might not work right.

I would say to try to build links for some specific keywords so you get the organic traffic so it’s easier. I mean, “heroes” the TV show gets close to 5,000 unique search visitors daily so I’m sure there are a lot of longtail keywords you can use.

But the key is to build links which can be done by guest blogging, blogroll link exchanges, forums, social bookmarking sites, linking with your own site, blog commenting, etc.

Make Money Online

After you have mastered those techniques, feel free to start another site and do the same thing. Though, I wouldn’t start another one until you have somewhat mastered the first one. It takes time but if you know what you are doing, you could be making tens of thousands each month (or more).

I know it’s always easier said than done but it just takes patience and the ability to execute.

Any questions?

The Prizes:

Cash or iPod:

iPod Shuffle or $50 Paypal sponsored by me

Ad Spots:

One Month 125×125 Ad Spot on DatMoney.com
One Month 125×125 Ad Spot on iBlogtoBlog.com
One Month 125×125 Ad Spot on Ahnternet.com
One Month 125×125 Ad Spot on BloggerStop.net

Other cool prizes:

125×125 Custom Banner Design by DatMoney.com
468×60 Custom Banner Design by DatMoney.com
3 x One Year VIP Memberships to CreateBanner.com
All Entrecard Credits I have from this site

How To Enter:

You will receive various entries depending what you do and how much you do. Last contest I made it a little too easy just to have people comment, well, it should be just as easy. At least in my eyes.

Write a Blog Post (10 entries) – Writing a blog post about the contest will get you the most entries but the catch is the fact that you need to include the sponsors links somewhere within the post! You can simply just copy and paste the sponsors from the list below (it’s not many, don’t worry!):

Making Money Online
DatMoney.com
iBlogtoBlog.com
Ahnternet.com
BloggerStop.net
CreateBanner.com

If you own multiple blogs, you can submit them too! Just as long as it follows the small guideline of including the sponsor’s links, then you should be fine.

Subscribe to my RSS Feeds via e-mail (5 entries) – If you are already subscribed by e-mail, you are already entered to win! If not, feel free to subscribe by simply entering in your e-mail below and confirming.

Submit Any Other Post to Social Sites (5 entries) – If you promote your posts through social sites like Digg, SU, Mixx, etc regularly, then you’re eligible to participate too! Just submit or vote on any other posts within my blog and leave a comment here with your username, which site you voted on and which post.

Deadline:

March 27th, 2009 Midnight Eastern Time - Winners will be randomly chosen the following weekend (Thanks Sherry for point this out)

I try to make these contests as easy as possible so I hope you guys all enjoy! And yes, sponsors are allowed to enter the contest as well!

Is it just me or Wordpress upgrades happen a little too often than we’d like? Don’t get me wrong, I understand they are trying to improve the system, fix the problems and issues, protect us (the bloggers and webmasters) from being hacked but I feel these upgrades happen way too often.

I’m one of those Wordpress users that doesn’t upgrade to the newest version when it first comes out. The reason is simple: there are always issues and problems and I’d rather wait until those are fixed completely before I upgrade.

In addition, sometimes certain plugins that I use aren’t compatible with the latest version and then certain parts of my blog gets screwed up. I remember when I upgraded and the links from the commentators wouldn’t work. I soon found out it was simply because I didn’t have the latest version of the Google Analyticator.

Are these Wordpress upgrades really necessary?

Of course they are! They are only trying to improve the system each and every time. But why do we have to upgrade like five times or more each year?

Before I converted to Wordpress, I was using the Blogger blogging platform and there were definitely good things about that than WP. And yes, that includes not needing to worry about upgrading, being hacked, plugins, hosting issues and so on. But I’m already with Wordpress so I’m trying to make the most of it.

But how do you guys feel about the constant upgrades of WP?

There are various ways of getting a blog header created for you - some people try to design their own, some people look for free websites that have premade ones or you can pay someone to do it for you. How about I tell you how to get a FREE custom blog header designed for you and you don’t have to search anymore?

Well, our friend over at DatMoney is having a special promotion in which he will be designing a custom header for you at a small cost. But don’t worry, it doesn’t involve money or currency at all. All he’s asking is for a simple link on your blog’s footer crediting him for the work.

That doesn’t sound to bad if you ask me. I mean, we all have our blog themes designer’s name on our footers so why not include that as well? I think it’s a pretty fair trade, a simple link for a custom header.

Matter of fact, DatMoney designed this blogs header as well. But he has a lot more examples over on his “I Will Design Your Blog Header for FREE!”

I think this is a really great idea and I hope it pays off for both the customer and designer. If blog template designers can do it, why not header designers? Or maybe even logo designers?

People will probably charge anywhere between $20-$60 (or more!) to get a custom header designed but if you take advantage of this opportunity, then you should get one for free.

And life is all about taking advantage of opportunities when they arrive. I will but the question is, will you?

A lot of people are too caught up with blog and website designs but quite honestly, it’s only important to other webmasters and bloggers. You have to realize that a majority of your search engine traffic are not webmasters or bloggers at that. And take my word for it, ugly sites do in fact make a good amount of money, probably even better than good looking sites.

I used to think that I should focus on unique themes to try to separate myself from other websites but in reality, I don’t. I have quite a few websites that are plain ugly but yet, they are some of my best money makers online.

If you are an affiliate marketer, I’m sure you can say the same thing when it comes to setting up a landing page. I asked a few affiliate marketers and they admitted that some of their best converting landing pages are a plain type of design.

You don’t have to believe me, feel free to ask any affiliate marketer that makes a good income from setting up landing pages.

If you’re a blogger looking to make money online, specifically from Adsense, then you don’t have to worry about how your site looks, just focus on the content. I have a website that probably has like 8-10 ads per page, yet, I’m making a couple thousand off the site simply because I get a decent amount of organic traffic.

I keep saying this but some of the most important things to keep in mind are: building backlinks for SEO purposes and keyword research. After you get those two mastered, it’s all about plugging your ads and then you’re good to go.

So, do you have a ugly site that makes more money than your good looking sites?

I know you guys have been waiting too long for me to run another contest on here. Well, you only have to wait just a little longer because I will have one very soon!

Now the contest probably won’t be anything too special because I’ve been having a tough time getting sponsors that are willing to contribute something good enough to win. A few people have offered things like Entrecard credits but I’m not really a big fan of that anymore. Some people offered to sponsor some ad space on their blogs so I think that will be pretty good. But I still need a standout prize that will catch people’s attention.

I think I’m going to have a basic contest in which you would need to either a) write a blog post, b) subscribe to my RSS Feeds via e-mail or c) misc. lol

Again, nothing special but since I haven’t had a chance to really promote this blog like I should then I figured a contest would help me out slightly.

And if you want to become a sponsor for my upcoming contest, please let me know! You’ll get a backlink from me as well as anyone who blogs about the contest, plus, some traffic and added exposure!

But I’m just giving you guys a heads up so you can look out for that.