Recently, the 7-Eleven convenient store nearest to my home was turned into a “Kwik E Mart.” For those of you who don’t watch Matt Groening’s “The Simpsons” as religiously as I do, the Kwik E Mart is the Simpsons family’s local convenient store, run by well-mannered Indian owner “Apu.”

As many of you may know, there is a Simpsons Movie soon to be released, and it seems as though Groening has pulled off one of the most ingenious marketing plans I have ever seen with this “remodeling” of my daily fountain drink stop. Although it probably cost the production’s marketing team a hefty sum to complete the makeover, it has been a major boost in sales for both 7-11 and The Simpsons merchandise. People from all over Texas are flooding in to see this real-life fantasy before their eyes. Traffic in and out of the store is truly unbelievable, and the great deal of money spent on “Buzz Colas,” “Squishees,” and other Simpsons merchandise in the store is off the charts.

It has acted like a virus upon the community who has seen it, and has made “The Simpsons Movie” one of the most anticipated movies in my area in years.

Two thumbs way up for The Simpson’s post-production team’s effort!

Pictured below are some photos I took of the remodeled convenient store to show you how amazing it really is !

Hello all! During the creation of BenjaminCass.com, I promised myself that I would explore the treacherous and deep sea of advertising and release the truth into the wild (i.e. to you, my readers). Although I have owned multiple other sites in the past, I found myself restricted to using mainly Adsense advertising, with no experimentation of new and (possibly) improved advertising services. This is why I made this promise. I wanted to give the middle men a fighting chance.

As you may know, BenjaminCass.com is still in the “baby stages” of its life, so please take into account that I currently have an Alexa rank of 720,601 and an “n/a” PageRank status (although I’m predicted to have a 5/10 at the next go-around). Listed below are the advertising services (and other online money-making services) that I have tried during my time spent here at BenjaminCass.com:

Google Adsense: I am trying to ween BenjaminCass.com fully off of Adsense (I have other sites that use Adsense religiously), and my stats will explain why. For the 15 days that I have used Google Ads on my site, I have had over 1,800 impressions. However, accompanying those 1,800 impressions is a 0.17% click-through-rate. If each click is averaged at about $0.25, you do the math. It really hasn’t been profitable for me.

Kontera: See all those double-underlined words in my posts? Thats Kontera’s In-Text advertising program, a.k.a. ContentLink, at work. During the 7 days that I have been using it, I have received over 1,050 impressions with a 1.39% CTR. With each click a little more than $0.10, I think you may be able to figure out a range in how much money I’ve made. Almost $2. Depressing to the core.

Text Link Ads: Because my site is new and was made after the most recent PageRank update, Text Link Ads did not accept me into their sales department (when I get my PageRank, I’m pretty sure they’ll accept me). However, I am a part of their affiliate program, in which I make money on a referral basis. Unfortunately, I have made 0 referrals to date, thus I have earned a pitiful $0.00.

Chikita eMiniMalls: I recently signed up for Chitika eMiniMalls and placed one small ad on my right sidebar. During its seven day existence, I had over 1250 impressions with a .45% CTR, making me just over a dollar.

Adbrite: Adbrite seems to be the most promising new advertising service on the market. With a plethora of different ad options and super-high payouts, Adbrite lets you control what and how content is shown on your site. See that “Your Ad Here” ad on the left sidebar? That’s Adbrite. Total earnings- $0.29 with 160 impressions.

myLot: I just signed up for myLot a few days ago, and after about one hour of discussing different topics on myLot, I made $0.24. Although it’s not much, myLot offers a lot more than just monetary benefits. The myLot community is full of exciting new people, and the payout is only one of the many incentives of being a member. Check it out if you have time.

Sold-It-Myself-Advertising and Services: This was by far my biggest money-maker. I made over $80 in one week by selling my own ad space, writing reviews, and making digital graphics for other bloggers. Again, for every blogger that hasn’t tried this, be sure to give it a shot. Read more about SIYA here.

AGLOCO: After my post and video of AGLOCO, I have received three direct referrals and two indirect referrals with a total of 7.5 hours spent surfing the net. I rank in the top 27.70% of all AGLOCO users. So what is all that worth? I don’t know, and I won’t until the end. Hopefully something .

All Summed Up:

Money made during first 2 weeks of BenjaminCass.com: $88.34

Domain and Hosting Fees for BenjaminCass.com: $95.40

Money Spent on Advertising/ Other: $8.00

Root Beers Bought for Other Sites: $12.50

Hopefully I’ll eventually make some profit! I hope this helped you out if you were deciding whether or not to use one of the services above. Contact me if you have questions about any of the ad services above!

– Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.com, Copyright 2007

Hey Anthony. Thanks a bunch for taking time to participate in the first “InteReview” of BenjaminCass.Com. You are the mastermind behind Flimble.com, BloggingDosh.com, DoshSale.com, DoFollow.us, and many more Dosh-Filled sites. What got you involved in “Da WWW” (The World Wide Web) and programming in general?

I started blogging and building websites because I wanted to do something a little bit different. When I started blogging (at around age 14) no one else was really doing it and seemed like a great area to get into.

And it’s got you far! I saw that you recently started up BloggingDosh.com, and it seems that you already have a decent following of loyal fans. What is BloggingDosh and to what do you contribute this success?

My experience in running previous blogs has been the biggest factor in its success. Also, writing content that people want to read has been extremely important as well.

Makes sense. I recently joined your new forum at DoshTalk.com. What inspired you to create DoshTalk, and what plans do you have for it in the future?

In the past I had used forums as a powerful marketing tool. So I decided to try and market my blog using forums but I just couldn’t find any active communities. So I built DoshTalk! I have a ton of ideas which I want to build into DoshTalk but these are months away. One big feature will be the ability to refer new members to the forums and get paid! However, at the moment however I am just looking to focus on building a lasting community.

I wish the best of luck to you! Lastly, I’m just dying to know what in the world “Dosh” means. Care to explain?

Dosh simply means money or cash. I’m not sure where the word came from but I think it’s pretty catchy!

I’d have to agree . Well Anthony, thanks again for participating in my first InteReview!

Check out my reviews below of some of Anthony’s awesome sites!

DoshTalk- The Ultimate Blogger’s Forum

I’ve heard countless times that “the first impression is the lasting impression.” This is where DoshTalk excels, at first impressions. The site design is beautiful, clean, and easy to navigate through. It is the perfect solution for anyone that needs to boost exposure of their website, blog, or product by offering a community feeling that is unrivaled. Also, it seems as though it has already become a haven for affiliate marketers who are nearly begging users to use their referral code when signing up for new services. However, unlike many blogger’s forums, DoshTalk seems to be 100% spam free in its early stages… a major plus for any blogger.

Unfortunately, DoshTalk’s greatest incentive may also be its downfall. DoshTalk is working on a payout system where each member of the forum can be paid on two different levels, either through referrals or posts. However, the referral reward system is not where the problem comes into play. Being paid on a per-post basis will most likely (already has with a few members) lead to the creation of unimformative posts which would be made solely to make money. Money is not what DoshTalk is about. It’s about community. It’s about readership. It’s about blogging. So I ask you (as a regular member of DoshTalk forums), don’t go there with money in mind, go there with the intent to promote your blog and have fun doing it.

Blogging Dosh- Now with more Dosh!

Anthony’s BloggingDosh.com is a daily read of mine. It’s money. It’s Dosh. However, it’s not your typical blog about “making money online.” It’s in the words of a true Internet entrepreneur, a venturer, and a soldier that doesn’t give up on his ideas or dreams. Most of those other “poser blogs” don’t have any credibility or projects behind their name. Anthony has pages full of them. He has created countless new services in order to gain profit: Flimble, DoshTalk, DoshBooks, DoshCard, DoshSale, and BloggingDosh. Although none of those have “hit the big money” just yet, his entrepreneurial ideas and hard work ethic should get him far. If I ever need motivation to make a new site, I always head over to one of Anthony’s sites and stare in awe.

Also, Anthony has the marketing skills to take any site he needs to the top. In the short time span that BloggingDosh has been up, I have seen adverts showing off his site on multiple sites (including my own). After multiple business-related e-mail conversations, I can tell that Anthony knows how to conduct deals like a pro. Be sure to check out his blog and add him to your RSS feed (I sure did!).

–Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.com, Copyright 2007

Now… time to stop making excuses and write great content:

If you are reading this post and don’t know what YouTube is, you might as well crawl back under the rock that you came from and stay there for eternity

Before I uploaded my AGLOCO Viewbar Video on YouTube and wrote this post about it, I didn’t even imagine that YouTube had any effect on the blogging community. However, this mindset quickly changed after I viewed my backlinks and pageviews my blog began to receive. Nearly half of the links of “BenjaminCass.Com” on the Google Search Engine are links to my AGLOCO video, and even though some of these sites are mere “feeder” sites of YouTube, my Alexa rankings rose over 1 million spots in the week following the video’s upload! Also, I saw a tremendous increase in my blogs traffic the week after my video’s release date. Take a look at the image below to see my daily traffic log after I uploaded the video to the YouTube database:

“So, how do I get involved in the YouTube ‘feeding frenzy’?”

There are only two things required in order to join in on the fun. First, you must create a YouTube account (I would recommend selecting the “Directors” account) and second (this one’s pretty obvious), you must have a video of decent quality that the public will want to watch.

However, before you release your YouTube video to the entire world (literally!), be sure you follow this simple checklist:

• V-Blog (Video Blog) about something that you are passionate about. It definitely shows if you could care less about your area of “interest.”
• Research the topic you are discussing. Show the world that you are well-educated in the topic that you are presenting. This will make you seem much more credible.
• Shoot your video in a well lit area with little-to-none background noise. The shooting environment is extremely important to many viewers and audio is crucial to any video. (In other words, don’t shoot your video like I did mine :D… I shot within a time constraint and didn’t pay attention to lighting and other necessities. My next video will be much better )
• Try to cut out any excessive “shakyness.” Although you may think you are the next Ridley Scott ( ), try to keep your camera level at all times and avoid any quick movements.
•  Advertise your site in the video. Be sure to say your site’s name a few times in the video, as well as place your site’s URL at either the top or bottom of the video’s viewing screen. Also, include your site’s URL in the title of the video in order to receive more backlinks. A little self-promotion never hurt anyone
• Speak clear and enunciate e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e word. Nobody likes to watch videos with a host that mumbles the entire time. Also, be sure to speak into your camera’s microphone.
• Keep it short and sweet. Don’t drag your video’s length out, it may cause disinterest in the viewer. Be to-the-point the entire video. Leave the viewer wanting more!
• Edit your video. I realize that not everyone is a filmmaker, however, put time into your work. Edit the redundant parts of your video out and add some flare to it. Windows Movie Maker comes free with any Windows OS and I’m pretty sure that Macs come with iMovie or another video editing program.

HARSH REALITY ALERT: Not everyone was born to be in front of the camera. However, if you have an interesting personality and a lively attitude, follow the steps above and you should be on your way to directing tons of traffic to your site through YouTube.

 I wish everyone the best of luck! Comment on this post if you have any videos you’ve made!

–Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.Com, Copyright 2007

By the way, I got a free ReviewMe from CASH for COMMENTS.  All I had to do was post five comments and I got a free review.  You should check out his blog site!

The article can be found here

For those of you who don’t know what the heck “Wiki-Fied” means, it means that my name (along with my credentials and accomplishments) was added to the Wikipedia database. I’m not quite sure when I was added (my friend happened to search Google for “Benjamin Cass” and discovered the article in the top hits of the Google search ladder), but it’s pretty cool to know that someone took the time to write an article about me. Whoever wrote it for me, I thank you for your time and effort .

Click on the thumbnail below to view a screenshot of the article:

Unfortunately, it seems as though the Wikipedia staff is going to write it off as a mere “fansite” and may delete it from their database.

Whatever the final verdict may be, it was a lot of fun while it lasted!

Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.Com, Copyright 2007

Quicky Review: I just came across Bloggrrl after looking through my “Recent Readers” widget. Michelle Cepeda, one of the wittiest and clever bloggers that I have ever come across, is the author of all of Bloggrrl’s smashing articles (one of my favorites is “Outsmart the Snoops! 10 Places to Hide Your [Stuff]“). Her sheer hilarity and upbeat attitude should get her far! Good luck Michelle!

So who exactly is Google Adsense’s biggest competitor? The Yahoo Publisher Network? Chitika Contextual Advertising? Text-Link Ads? Bidvertiser? Adbrite? Kontera? Vibrant Media?

How about “None of the Above”?

Correct! The answer cannot be found in the first paragraph. The answer is the common publisher, the daily blogger, the professional website developer… the answer is YOU!

You may ask how a person such as yourself can have an impact on a hotshot company like Google Adsense. The answer to that probable question is SIYA (Sell It Yourself Advertising), something that is greatly overlooked in today’s Adsense-run advertising market. With SIYA, you are in total control of your advertising solutions, without Google or other advert companies dealing with your site space or compensation. Although it may take a little more effort (no more copying and pasting Adsense Javascript into your site ), the payout (not just monetarily) can be much greater, and the satisfaction received from any successful personal transaction is priceless, unlike the impersonal predetermined Google Ads that raid so many sites nowadays. I decided that I would try to designate some of my site space for SIYA, and after only one transaction thus far (with BloggingDosh.Com), I am already sold that it is a great addition to the advertising world and that SIYA is hear to stay on my site.

So how do I start selling advert space on my site?

Easy. You advertise on your site that you have areas available for adverts (See the header at the top of my page, or the sidebar ads for a demo), as well create an “Advertise” page in order to provide possible clientele with a detailed description of your advertising services. Feel free to borrow my “Advertise” page’s format for your site. After that, wait until you reach a decent PageRank/Technorati Rank/ Alexa Rank and watch the advertisers roll in.

Start the pricing low. As evident on my site, it is very wise to start out prices low and work your way up until there is higher demand. You have a much better chance of being considered a legitimate self-advert publisher if advertisers don’t have to reach into their wallets too much (I charge less than a dollar a day for a sidebar ad!

Reward repeat customers. If you have a customer who has purchased adverts from you before, consider giving them a discounted price for their loyalty to your site!

Always be courteous and ALWAYS keep your word. Never even think about shortchanging an advertiser or removing their ad before their due time is up. SIYA is based on the belief that there still are people that are trustworthy… don’t ruin it.

Return the favor. If you sold ad space to a blogger or website developer, show them your thanks. Ask them if you can advertise on their site and be sure to get involved in their blog’s/website’s discussions. Doing this will make the advertiser feel a lot more comfortable with their advertising choice, and may bring them back as a repeat customer.

Before you start to “Sell It Yourself,” be sure to catch up on the current rules and regulations of self-regulation advertising at the:

I hope this helped! I’d love to hear your feedback, be sure to cast your comment to receive free ebooks!

–Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.Com, Copyright 2007

JUNE 19TH UPDATE, 10:09 A.M.: We haven’t even reached the five comment mark, so the prizes are still in the air! Please comment, it’s the only way I can get my readers feedback! I have a fresh informational post that I already wrote and am saving for tomorrow so I can get your feedback today!

Obviously, what you readers think of my blog is very important to me, so I’m going straight to you to figure out whether or not I should keep the new theme of BenjaminCass.Com. I would really appreciate it if you left a comment with your thoughts for this posts

Here is an image of the old theme:

To show how serious I am about how much I care about what you think, I’ve come up with a little plan. The person who makes the fifth, tenth, and seventeenth comment with a legitimate response to what they think about my new theme gets a free eBook of their choice from my collection (I have over 135 eBooks, with topics ranging from making money online to CSS to Flash to self-defense). Winners will promptly be emailed an eBook of their choice after the winners have been announced. Thank you so much readers!

–Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.Com, Copyright 2007

In lieu of receiving my very first donation (thanks to Nathan from Nathy’s Place!), I have created a brand new system to thank these generous donors. As you may have noticed, I added a “Donations” page to the top of my homepage. On this new page, you will find a basic overview of my new donations “Thank You” system.

From the Donations page:

“Donations to BenjaminCass.Com are extremely appreciated. If you liked a particular post or would like to thank Ben for his hard blogging efforts, you can click the “Buy Me A [Root] Beer” button in the sidebar and proceed to the Paypal donation page.

Any amount helps pay the hosting bill at the end of the month Thanks!

In addition to helping out Ben financially and showing him your thanks, your generous donation will not go unnoticed. For each donation you make, you will receive a personal “Thank You” image that will display your name, website, and amount donated that will show up on this page (you get a backlink!). Donations can be made anonymous, email me if you wish for this to be the case. Please show your true appreciation by not donating anything less than $0.50 if you can afford it. Thanks again! :D”

I realize that some of you readers may be thinking that I am offering this incentive for the sole purpose of getting people to donate, however, this is not the case. I am implementing this system to show the sincerity of my appreciation for your time and donations. My parents always taught me to write thank you notes after someone put time, money, or effort into me, so I figured that giving the donor a formal thank you note on my site with a link back to their site is sufficient. I am expecting to see this system implemented into many other blogs with a donation option (I’ve already seen two of my readers switch to this system since my creation of it!). The name of this system? DoTyNotes v2.0 (Donation Thank You Notes)- This is the new “Thank You” note… and I’m proud to be the one to start it! Thanks again!

–Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.Com, Copyright 6/16/2007

Below is an example of one of my “Thank You” notes:

In an age where Google Adsense’s CPC (Cost-Per-Click) marketing dominates the average publishers homepage, affiliate marketing is often categorized in the area of “To Try Someday” by most publishers. However, in the wise words of John Chow, “Someday [usually] never comes.” What many publishers (especially beginners) don’t realize is that there is usually much more money in affiliate marketing than CPC.

So what is “Affiliate Marketing”?

Like Google Adsense and their contextual advertising, affiliate marketing is the act of placing affiliate links or banners on your website, while you get paid for every lead or sale. Here is an example. If you are interested in receiving information about a certain college, and you click here and sign up, I would receive money on a lead basis, because I led you to their great service. To receive money on a sales basis, you would have to lead a visitor to a product and eventually a purchase. For example, if I had a post regarding concert or sports tickets, and I led you to buy concert tickets, I would be paid a percentage of the sale or a fixed amount (in this case, 6.6% of the final purchase). Obviously, affiliate marketing works best if the product being advertised matches your site’s content (you have an option to choose which banners/ads to display with most services).

So how is this better than contextual advertising?

Plain and simple. The payout for a successful lead/sale absolutely rocks . Obviously, getting a lead/sale is a little harder to do than having your site visitor click on an advert, but the monetary difference is substantial.

What are some good affiliate marketing programs?

A few of my favorite affiliate marketing companies include: COPEAC, MoreNiche, Commission Junction, or LinkShare . In my honest opinion, COPEAC takes the crown, due to its friendly user-interface and the assignment of personal account managers for each marketer (with their email address, office phone, cell phone, and AIM address!)

Final thoughts….

Affiliate marketing is not for everyone or every website, although it can provide a great secondary/primary source of income for any online money-making guru.

I would love to hear your thoughts about affiliate marketing programs or answer any questions you may have !

–Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.Com, Copyright 2007

The business school that I will be attending (and practically living at for the next few years!) is extremely well-designed, and the lecture halls and the individual rooms provide a great atmosphere for learning. I met a few of my future professors and they all seemed to be very knowledgable, approachable, and sincerely nice.

Girl-wise, it was evident that the business school has the prettiest ladies on campus! However, I of course was too busy “listening” to the important seminars instead of checking out these pretty ladies… yeah, right .

And now (due to lack of entrepreneurship/business material in this particular post), I will end this post with one of my favorite quotes by the late Peter McArthur:

“Every successful entreprise requires three men- a dreamer, a businessman, and a son-of-a-$%@!&.”

I’d love to hear your feedback! Please leave comments (words of hate, praise, or suggestions are very welcome! ).

Unfortunately, I don’t think that college is quite like they show it here