NeedMoney

Need Money Scam: Home Jobs Online | Search and Social Goldmine

2011-06-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

This one, the Search and Social Goldmine, is being heavily advertised online. Again, the same sales pitch, the same "mom", the same claims, and all the same stuff about making money online. Read on to find out the hidden details.

First, I don't sell Search and Social Goldmine or Home Jobs Online. If you purchased this product, please refer to the website were you gave your credit card information and find out how to contact their customer support.

On the Need Money Blog, I investigate and reveal home income kit products sold online. Some are good, many others are fly by not outfits separating buyers from their money. Buyer beware!

On to Search and Social Goldmine.

I came across Search and Social from a little pop up ad which read something like, "Mom makes $7847.00 a month!". I clicked on the ad and was taken to this website for Home Jobs Online featuring this woman, whose likeness has been selling home income kits for the better part of two years.

The ad lists here name as "Kelly Richards" who has been used for ads like these for years.

At that point, the ad and its claims get hazy. Richards says she needed money.. blah blah.. recession.. blah blah.. found a way to make money online. Then she mentions how big Google and Facebook are and how billions of dollars are spent online.

Great. How do you make money, Kelly? No answer. Only that buyers should a) fill out a form for the Home Jobs Online program, b) follow instructions and c) get a check in a week or so.

I clicked on the Home Jobs Online link and was take to another website. This one for "Search and Social Goldmine" or "Stay At Home Income" depending upon which logo you choose to believe.

Not much more information there, only that the product has been featured on some famous websites (with logos) and to fill out a brief form to check the availability of the program in my area.

Filling out the form took me to a website which told the story of Mary Stevens (Hey! Where did Kelly Richards go?)who lost her job, needed money and found this great system - Search and Social Goldmine.

Mary says she made a fortune "posting links". You know, putting links for Big Companies products "on the search engines" and making commissions everytime somebody buys something.

Then she goes into the "See How Easy This Is" and the "Imagine If You Posted 10 Links A Day?" pitch. Then it gets dodgy.

"Mary" claims she logs into her account, picks a product to create links for online, then creates a "site". In one or two minutes of work, she claims "she makes $15.00 just like that!" Impossible.

Here's my explaination about what this advertisement is talking about.

Links are hypertext coded links to a website which sells something and includes the linkers affiliate tag. An affiliate tag tracks the sale and connects it to the person who posted the link online. (A good example of a company which helps facilitate this type of relationship is Commission Junction, Google it).

If someone buys the product advertised in the link, than the original poster might make some money.

Nobody gets paid for simply "posting links"; they only get paid if a buyer purchases something through that link, if the buyer does not ask for refund, if the buyer's credit card is authorized and if the sale is not fraudulent. Alot can go wrong when making purchases online.

But wait, there's more. Nowhere does Mary point out how she gets Internet searchers to find her links. I will tell you how.

1) She buys advertising using a product like Google AdWords. That costs money to put ads in front of potential buyers and YOU get charged for the ad whether someone buys a product or not. Ad campaigns for affiliate marketing products can run into the hundreds of dollars daily.

2) She creates a website, with its own unique domain name and publishes it on the internet. Now she has to get traffic (visitors) to the site. How? By spending more money on advertising. Websites cost money. Domain names cost money. Advertising costs money. All that money is spent before anyone has purchased a single product through one of those magical "links".

Search and Social Goldmine says to join their certification system is only 49.95. Without explaining the two points noted above ("Explain how anyone gets paid $15.00 to simply post a link" and "What are the costs for putting links on the internet where searchers can find them"), I would be reluctant to give this product a try. Your mileage may vary.

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money Scam: Capital Online Revenue

2011-06-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes these scams do a good job convincing would be buyers of their products through the use of reputable named companies, realistic sounding testimonials and possible earnings. Capital Online Revenue is not one of these. Rather, they use to many of the same old scam claims to rope in buyers.

Capital Online Revenue can be found through ads on your favorite websites. "Mom makes $5728 a month and beats recession!". The link takes visitors to a blog or website designed to look like an authoritative news story.

Again, the same characters and props are used to fool victims into falling for instant money with little work:

Jessica Meyer was on the ad I saw, and through a software trick, claimed to live in my hometown. There's picture of her with a little girl staring happily at a computer obviously relishing their new found wealth online. The problem is this is the same picture of a woman named Kelly Richards who was making money with New Life Profits last month!

Again, the vague "when people search, you can make money" claim. Somehow, when someone searches for something on Google or Facebook, there's money to be made, or so says Capital Online Revenue. In fact, billions are made annually through this "system" and buyer of COR will too. There's no indication in the ad how that works, though.

Then, there's the usual pictures. One is of a Google Adsense check (which has nothing to do with Capital Online Revenue). Then there is a screen shot of the Google Adsense panel with caption that this is the money someone is earning through Capital Online Revenue.

Then, there is the claims of how easy it is to make money with COR. Simply sign up, follow the program and start depositing checks in the bank. If you are out of work, this sounds too good to be true. It is.

But read the small print at the bottom. "This website is not an actual news site but an ad for Capital Online Revenue. Testimonials and photos are a depiction. Some buyers may make NO MONEY AT ALL."

Then there is the cost. The sign up form says $47.00 and comes with a 365 Day Money Back Guarantee. But here's a sample (the bold face) of what you get with your "kit" and some information about them.

How to make money with eBay guide - Type that into a search engine and find out how for free without buying Capital Online Revenue.

Basic Wordpress tutorials guide - Wordpress is a blogging platform. To effectively use it for internet marketing, you need to have a domain name (cost extra $) and a web hosting account (more extra $$).

Email Marketing guide - email marketing requires you build an opt-in email list which requires you purchase email marketing software (generally about $20.00 additional a month), learn how to use it and get people to sign up. You can't spam.

How much you want to bet Capital Online Revenue conveniently gives buyers little links to purchase each of these needed components such as web hosting, internet domains and email marketing software? Again, it costs buyers more money and don't forget that little caveat - "SOME BUYERS WILL MAKE NO MONEY AT ALL".

Beware these types of make money at home kit. Use Google to search for terms like "making money with internet marketing" and learn how it works before buying anything. Consider building a free website on blogger or Squidoo and try marketing something yourself.

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money Blog: What to do about lower Adsense earnings

2011-06-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

Many who make money online do so by featuring Google AdSense ads on their websites. However, since a change in Google algorithms in April, many AdSense users are reporting less money due to less traffic.

AdSenese is easy to understand: Build a website, apply to AdSense, when approved, add the code to the website and let Google do the rest. Google will automatically insert the ads based upon the website subject and keywords.

Advertisers buy ads from Google through AdWords. When an ad is clicked, the advertiser is charged and the revenue is split between the website owner and Google.

What changed in April has been termed Google Panda or Farmer depending upon what you read. Basically, the number of websites Google has indexed has exploded. Google has created an algorithm which is carefully judging the content and value of a website and ranked it accordingly for web searches.

The end result was some sites saw a drop as much as 40% in their traffic. That meant lower advertising revenue from AdSense. As expected, many website owners were not happy.

Further, there are some who are speculating that websites with lower rankings from Panda are being paid less per click for their ads than a higher ranked website. While this has always been a possibility, some website owners are crying foul.

Regardless, if you have a website and have noticed lower advertising revenue from Google, here are some things you can do:

Content - As always, focus on original, (non-scraped, non-borrowed, non-regurgitated) content. Make it authoritative, deep and well constructed. Lots of keywords on a template page downloaded for free will not cut it any longer.

Focus on successful pages. Look for ways to increase revenue off the pages which are retaining their page ranking and using them to feed to other lower producing pages.

Continue to focus on getting more back links from respected and related sites to your site and more importantly to individual pages.

Develop other types of revenue enhancers such as the sale of ebooks, affiliate sales, Amazon, eBay, increasing opt-in email lists, text ads, individual advertisers and donations.

Google algorithms are a fact of life. Page rank and search results will constantly change. Be prepared for sudden dips in traffic and revenue. Optimize sites which work and fix sites which do not.

Need Money Scam: Home Income Kits

2011-06-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

"Mom makes $5177.00 a month! See how here!"

How many times a day do you see an ad like this on your favorite websites? Have you ever clicked on one and taken a look at the website? Most likely it is setup to look like a news site and might even have some video of a reporter talking about people who work from home. There is probably a picture of a "mom" with a child next to her on the same site with a testimonial about how much money she is making now with this home income kit.

These ads also play up the amount of debt and financial hardships the subject is in and how this wonder kit helped them get ahead financially in only a few short weeks. If you have bills or money problems, that part of the ad probably resonated with you.

Here's the deal: most of those home income kits don't work and the testimonials are all fake. There is no Kelly Richards who lives in your home town and she certainly is not making $5000.00 a month "posting links".

Before you plop down the maxed out credit card and buy into one of these scams, take note of the following:

1) Nobody gets paid for "posting links". Millions of companies and individuals do pay to place ads (which are technically links) on websites advertising goods and services. If someone buys one of those products, the individual or company which posted the ad might make some money, if the buyer does not return the product. But nobody gets paid for simply posting the ad, (except for Google or whoever the ad was purchased from).

2) Nobody gets paid the same day or within a short amount of time for selling a product online. Most companies pay persons who sell products for them (affiliate sales), sometime in the future - next month, in 90 days, etc. For example, Amazon pays resellers of their products 90 days after the sale. Clickbank pays 2-3 weeks after the sale at the absolute earliest and withholds part of the sale in case of return. Commission Junction pays 90 days after the final sale and only after a threshold has been reached. Even Google Adsense does not pay until 30 days or more after the end of the month the threshold was passed. Don't believe these ads which say "money will be deposited into your bank account right away".

3) Very few individuals make a living online compared to the number of people who work a "job". If everyone made easily made thousands online, then everyone would do it, right? The fact is, most people who try to work online with these home income kits rarely make any money at all.

4) Each one of these home income kits require the buyer to spend more money after purchasing the kit. Buyers will have to purchase one or more domain names for their websites, a hosting account to put their sites on the internet, and will have to spend money on advertising to get traffic to their site. Even then there is no guarantee they will make any money at all off their work and expenses.

5) The only person making money online is the person selling "make money at home online" income kits.

6) Always, always, always read the fine print on any home income kit advertised online. Many claim the product is a low fee of $1.99 to get started, but that is often only for a short trial period or offers limited access to the actual product. Many home income kits have recurring monthly charges for "hosting and support". Some have high hidden fees such as "$179.99 one time setup charge" for instance.

Finally, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. While there are some good products out there which can help individuals make a few hundred extra dollars a month filling out forms, surveys, watching videos or completing offers, be sure to read and research them carefully before jumping in with both feet.

Be very aware of home income kits and the scams that are out there.

Need Money Scam: Bankcard Processing Agent

2011-05-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

Be aware of this scam going around the internet!

The bankcard processing scam goes like this. A job seeker, after posting their resume and contact information online, will receive an official looking letter from a company offering them the position of a credit card processing agent.

The offer will include a base pay rate along with a commission for each transaction processed, generally around 5-8%. The letter will instruct the job applicant to fill out a application form which will be approved without any sort of background interview or phone call.

Once "hired" a followup email or letter will instruct the new "processing agent" to set up a personal bank account so they can accept transactions. They are told when money is transferred into their account, they are to take their percentage and then forward the remainder to another account by electronic funds transfer.

A few days later, the processing agent will be contacted by the bank who will inform them the original amount transferred into their account "bounced" from the originator. Thus, the processing agent is liable for the whole amount. At the same time, the company which hired the agent no longer responds to emails, letters or phone calls the money can not be traced.

One victim of this scam reported losing nearly $2000.00 (all while really out of work) which she had to pay back to the bank. As for the company which allegedly "hired" her, they were nowhere to be found as was neither the receiver of the electronic payment.

The old conventional wisdom always applies: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't".

If you receive any email offering a similar job, report it as spam and delete it.
If you receive a letter offering the same, then investigate and possibly report it to your local BBB or state attorney general.
If you receive an offer like this on one of the big job boards, report it immediately to the admins.
If you are considering this type of job, don't do it!

Need Money Blog: New Life Profits

2011-05-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

New Life Profits is a new name for an old product currently advertised on some of your favorite websites.It is a product which claims to help people make money online.

It's the usual ad.. "Mom makes 1000's of dollars online! Learn her secret!".

These ads found sprinkled throughout the internet take visitors to a form website designed to look like a news story, in this case for New Life Profits. "mom Kelly Richards (who seems to advertise everything these days)" claims she tried New Life Profits and is able to provide a great life to her family.

"Richards" claims she makes over $5000.00 with the vague concept that "every time someone looks for something online or on Facebook, somebody makes money. Here's how you can get a piece of that money".

The website then goes on to show a picture of a Google Adsense check, makes some more statements about how much money Richards is making, how easy it is and then has several comments from readers who are either interested or who have tried New Life Profits and are making thousands as well.

The links for New Life Profits take visitors to a website which requires them to input their name, city and email address for more information. In seconds, visitors are taken to a new website which claims that there are a limited number of spots available to them in their area depending upon their zip code (for fun, try putting in other zipcodes - the same number of spots are available elsewhere!).

The New Life Profits website claims that for a one time fee, customers will get "links" to post on websites advertising products online. They then show how easy it is to create a website with these "links" in one to two minutes. Then the leap of faith - Customers are told that after they post their "links" they will then make up to $15.00. Make more websites, post more "links" and make more money.

There's a few problems -

- Nobody pays anyone for simply "posting links". Companies, through affiliate programs, may pay web site owners each time somebody "buys" something from one of those links.
- Websites cost money for hosting, i.e. somewhere to put your website full of links so that visitors will find it.
- To get buyers who click on links, website owners need traffic. That website full of links with no visitors makes no money. It takes a lot of work to get visitors to a website and even more work to get them to buy something.

While New Life Profits does not answer these questions, I am curious who pays for website tools, hosting and traffic, otherwise it makes no sense.

How much does New Life Profits cost? Their Buy Now links say the product is $97.00. Before buying, I would look for a phone number and ask a rep how the system works in detail before buying.

If interested in a real way to earn money fast online, and one with a money back guarantee, Click Here!

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money Blog: Digital Wave Profit Formula

2011-03-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Digital Wave Profit Formula is making a big splash in search engines as potential buyers are trying to find out more about this product. Here is what the ad for DWPF is saying:

Jessica Holcomb of (insert your home town) needed money fast so she turned to the internet. There she found the Digital Wave Profit Formula and now she makes over $6000.00 a month online part time:

"I actually make $6,000-$7,000 a month online which is enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 10-13 hours a week from home.

There are no further details on how Holcomb makes so much money only that "people are purchasing Billions and Billions of things online".

Holcomb claims she signed up for the Digital Wave Profit Formula, went to the Members area, and started depositing checks and enjoying life. Pretty vague.

The links for the DWPF take visitors to a sign up website which lists motivations for joining like living debt free, plenty of money for vacations, nice cars, luxury home and no more credit debt.

There are no details with the exception of a reference to "internet marketing" and access to coaches to help buyers. However, other research online indicates that the Digitl Wave Profit Formula is actually a "how to make money with eBay" guide. While some people make good money with eBay, not many are consistently earning $5000.00 a month with it.

Incidentally, the website template introducing potential buyers to the DWPF system, uses the same template as the eHome Profit System which is equally as vague. Something to be both aware and leery of.

Buyer beware of products which do not offer specifics on to how they work.

If interested in a real way to earn money fast online, and one with a money back guarantee, Click Here!

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money Blog: The End Of MyBlogLog

2011-02-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

Yahoo informed users by email this morning, of its blog tracking service, MyBlogLog, that the end was coming in the next few months:

Dear MyBlogLog Customer,

You have been identified as a customer of Yahoo! MyBlogLog. We will officially discontinue Yahoo! MyBlogLog effective May 24, 2011. Your agreement with Yahoo!, to the extent that it applies to the Yahoo! MyBlogLog, will terminate on May 24, 2011.

After May 24, 2011 your credit card will no longer be charged for premium services on MyBlogLog. We will refund you the unused portion of your subscription, if any. The refund will appear as a credit via the billing method we have on file for you. To make sure that your billing information is correct and up to date, visit https://billing.yahoo.com/.

MBL was an innovative service when it started some years ago as that it let bloggers create a profile, include a link to their blog and then connect with other bloggers. For many new bloggers, MyBlogLog helped them build traffic and readers for their fledgling blogs.

After the Yahoo buyout, it was apparent that Yahoo had few new ideas as to what to do with MBL. The content and management of the site became less frequent and features like Blogger of the Day fell by the wayside.

In recent years after the Yahoo buyout, MyBlogLog had more bloggers setting up quickie websites and asking other members to come visit their advertisers. However, there were still thousands of users and for many sites, mine included, MBL was a great way to meet others online and share your passions.

At some point in May, the little MyBlogLog box on the lower right will go dark. It's a shame, but it happens as the Internet continues evolving.

For now, I might drop by and make a few more friend requests before it all goes away forever.

Bye bye MyBlogLog.

Need Money Scam: Internet Income Wealth Kit

2011-02-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

Maybe you have seen the ads for Melissa Johnson who claims for only an initial cost of $2.97, she was able to get the Internet Income Wealth Kit. Afterwards, Johnson claims she was able to make $3000-4000.00 a month online.

I saw the ad on a popular entertainment site about Johnson. The link was for a fake news site called IConsumer News Report. The only story they carried was about Johnson and had multiple links for the Internet Income Wealth Kit.

Again, Johnson claimed it was only $2.97 to get started. However, on the signup page, the terms were far less generous.

It's 2.97 for a trial period:

When you submit your order, you agree to pay the shipping and handling fee of $2.97 for instant access during the viewing period

After a short three days, the real price kicks in:

After your 3-day viewing period, you will be charged a ONE TIME fee of $99.95 for the full product cost.

But wait! Then more costs come every month:

Thereafter, we will charge you a $69.95 monthly website hosting and maintenance fee until you cancel our service

They even claim that they have a "streamlined version" but it costs the same:

If the product cost is declined during processing, we will provide a streamlined version of the product with fewer products available for a ONE TIME fee of $99.95.

How to cancel the Internet Income Wealth Kit:

If you find that the product is not right for you, simply call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-299-1749

Be aware of the terms for products like these. Further, don't sign up and pay for anything unless the terms and description of the products purchased are clear and up front.

If interested in a real way to earn money fast online, and one with a money back guarantee, Click Here!

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money Blog: Ten Annoying Posters On Online Forums

2011-02-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

You read forums right? You know, something you follow, a hobby, a news site, or lifestyle site? Lot's of people read and contribute to online forums, some quite seriously.

Forums are very popular because they allow like minded people the chance to discuss and share things online. Whole communities develop, friendships (and enemies) are made online and conversations lead to ideas spreading. It's a neat and timeless concept.

However, there are many things people do online when contributing to forums which is incredibly obnoxious. Most times, such actions can be chalked up to ignorance or failure to read the FAQ for a forum. Other times, it's because the poster is just plain annoying.

Here's a Top Ten List of Annoying Things To Do On Forums

1) The SCREAMER. THAT MEANS WRITING EVERY WORD IN CAPS. It's not 1996 anymore, everyone knows that all caps means shouting. If you are old or hard of eyesight and can't read your screen, get some glasses, a bigger monitor or turn the computer off and find another pass time.

2) The CAPS ADDICT. They CAPITALIZE every OTHER word for EMPHASIS. An occasional capped word is one thing, but so often hurts normal people's eyes. People who write like this have some emotional need to emphasize every point they make for attention. Annoying.

3) The Mystery Linker. This is a an extremely annoying habit of some posters. They start a thread with a subject like "This video will change everything!" and then provide the link http:www.youbute.com/.slskghisu and so on. No explaination or synopsis of the link. C'mon, give some clue as to what you are posting.

4) The Inside Abbreviator. This is directed at posters who use numerous abbreviations and terms that are closed to their line of work but that anyone outside of their world and also on the forum will not understand.

For instance, "All of us GSA22 know you have to have an FOB form or the super upstairs will deep six it!" What the...? Annoying.

5) The Me Too Poster. Someone who posts a terse, unspectacular response to a long post without trimming the original post. For intance..

lblsksk
blskdkd
blskdks
blsjdk

slskdk
slsdkdjs
lsdjkdklsdjs
lsdjsdksdj
sldjsdj

sdlsjdjsd
lsdjsdjsd

lsdjsdj

Yeah, I agree.

Annoying.

6) The Spam Dropper.A thread will be in discussion and someone drops in, makes an unrelated remark and then puts out a link. The posts look like this:

What a great comment!
Say, have you ever wanted to own your own business? Check out this housewife making $50000 online! at http://www.blskjsd_dj.bza/!

7) The Oblivious. The poster who starts thread after thread without checking to see if there are duplicate threads already going. It's almost like they only know how to start a thread and not how to respond to one.

8) The Lyricist. A famous musician or singer passes away and the Lyricist has to post, in stanza format, all the lines to their favorite song. Why not just point out, "Hey, I really liked that song You Got Gnarly Teeth" and then provide a link with synposis to a video of a performance. It's almost like the Lyricist wants to take credit for the song.

9) The Big Giffer. The person who responds to a post with a jpeg or gif which is ginormous and takes five minutes to page load. Cut it out.

10) The Mystery Threader. This person starts a post with a subject line which has no information and requires the other forum members to click and read their thread. Please give complete information in the thread title. For instance:

Bank of Arizona gives out personal information to third party companies

vs

Guess what my bank did?

I love forums and contribute to several. Maybe somehow, I can spread the word and get more people to be less annoying. Maybe I can get more FAQ to contain a list like this. Bah, why bother. Nobody, I mean NOBODY, will change ANYTHING about their FORUM POSTINGS. Say, have you checked out this link yet? It's great!

Need Money Blog: Blogging for Money

2011-01-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

I have several blogs and do make money blogging. Right now, I receive regular checks from Clickbank, Google, CJ, Infolinks and others. Want to know how I got started and one of the key products I used to make money online from blogging?

I read Blogging To The Bank some years ago and it changed my blogging life.

An Honest Review of Blogging To The Bank 2011
By now I think most people in the world know about blogs.
What most don’t know as there is a great income to be made as well for free.

Rob Benwell is only a mere 25 years old and has already made several million dollars. Early in 2006 he shared his secrets with the world in his highly successful Blogging To The Bank ebook and has made making money online a whole lot easier for everyone.

Just over two years after the success of his first book and over 20,000 copies sold of it and to date Rob and his team have helped over 100,000 make money blogging. He is now releasing his fifth version of Blogging to the Bank as his past customers demand his very latest findings and money making systems.

I got this book as soon as I could and it covers quite a lot of new information and techniques to adapt your blog to the new demands of the major search engines. Many of the techniques in the old book are now dated and don’t work so well. This is why Blogging To The Bank 2011 is a godsend.

Also this guy doesn’t consider himself to be a “guru”, he’s just a normal guy who wants to help the little guys out. I find this a nice change as he doesn’t talk “down” to you like most of the other guys do. He explains everything in a nice simple manor so everyone can understand.

Saying that when he “goes off on one” it may take a few reads until you get it but when you do it’s just shear genius. Some of the topics in my opinion could have been covered a little more, then others went into great detail. You also get his 5 Blogging Commandments For 2011 that you must follow to give you blogs the greatest success in 2011 and keep them future proofed. This should be printed out and put on the wall of every online marketer without a doubt! His book starts off with market research (so that you are making the most of your time) to building your blogging empire. Everything is covered in this new outing that helps bloggers withtodays online issues regarding making the all mighty search engines happy.

Final Verdict: if you are out there in the blogging world and want to make money the easy way then I highly recommend Blogging To The Bank 2011.

Why work harder than you need to as the new techniques are there ready for you to simply implement.

It's Blogging To The Bank and a new, updated for 2011 version is out now. Check it out!

NeedMoney Scam: Automated Cash Income System

2010-12-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

Automated Cash Income System is the latest scam using the same advertising and sign up forms used by other products in the past. Read on and find out the fine print and actual costs of the Automated Cash Income System. Fair use applies.

Automated Cash follows the same pattern the Blackbelt Proft and Home Income Profit System used to lure unsuspecting buyers into purchasing their kits. The same ads (disguised as news stories), the same promises (make money posting links), and usually the same story (stay at home Mom makes thousands online).

The Automated Cash Income System claims, on News 7 Daily, that Kelly Richards, who lives near you, makes thousands of dollars with their product. Richards posts "links" for some unamed company and gets paid weekly or month.

The deal is there is no Kelly Richards in your hometown - that's a software trick. And there is no Kelly Richards who purchased the Automated Cash Income System and who makes lots of cash. This same claim was made with other products in the past and is not true.

Finally, News 7 Daily, is a fake news site and is actually an advertisement page for the Automated Cash System only and was used for other similar products in the past.

Automated Cash Income System claims it costs less than "$5" for the product.

I filled out a short form and applied for a work at home kit. There is a small shipping and handling fee, its not really free but it was under $5

That is not true according to the fine print. Further, the ad shows money earned and sample checks both of which come from Google AdSense and both which have nothing to do with this product.

Clicking any of the links for the Automated Cash System takes visitors to the same signup page used for the Home Profit Income System. Again, visitors would do well to read the fine print in the Terms to find out the real costs.

The terms of sale are first hidden at the bottom of the advertising page.

No, Automated Cash is not only "$5" but much more.. That is only for a "trial":

Home Income Kit T&C: After the 7 days, on Day 8, if you decide to keep the iSpeedway program, it will be yours for the first time single payment of $129.95.

Then there is another monthly fee..

After the frist installment, the subsequent fee is $69.95 a month.

Which are charged to the same credit card used for the trial:

The monthly fees following the 7 day trial are charged to the credit/debit card on file that was used for the activation/licensing fee.

Buyers can cancel, but they need to call:

To cancel, please call 1-888-8777-3336.

The sign up page offers different information on charges and trial periods:

To access your website, a nominal charge of $1.95 USD is needed for us to know that you are a real person.

Then buyers are charged an ongoing monthly fee:

you agree that your card will be charged $29.95 per month for hosting and maintenance.

And there is a different number to call for cancelling:

You may cancel anytime simply by calling our office toll-free at (888) 231-8725.

Regardless of the charges, the lead ad states another cost entirely. Further, there is little information about how buyers actually make money and the details of what they receive with their purchase.

Automated Cash Income System - Buyer beware!

This site does not sell the Automatic Profit System nor does it provide any opinion or testimonials whether or not the product works. Rather, this is a review of one affiliate marketer's advertising campaign of the product and a suggestion for buyers to save money on the product should they decide to purchase.

Need Money Scam: Automatic Profit System

2010-12-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

An affiliate for Automatic Profit System is using the same advertising techniques used to advertise Home Profit System and Blackbelt Profit System. Read the fine print and learn about a hidden discount before buying.

Also, as always, prospective buyers for any online product should research the name of the product first. Use the Google search box and enter in Automatic Profit System and find out what other buyers might have experienced first.

I heard about the Automatic Profit System some time ago. It was heavily advertised to the affiliate marketing community under a different name, Automatic Wealth System. That version of the product was allegedly penned by Jeff Jackson who has now morphed into Ryan Jackson under the new product. Again, Automatic Profit System follows the same mantra as many other product, "Make money online selling other people's stuff".

Automatic Profit System shows buyers how the author allegedly made money selling digital e-books online. The ad page shows a well known e-book vendors website with hundreds of dollars in daily sales. But what the ad does not tell buyers is exactly how they acheived those numbers; selling e-books is a crowded and competitive field.

The problem is with the advertising campaign I recently saw for Automatic Profit System is that is was using the same marketing plan that some questionable products have used in the recent past.

This campaign features "mom" Stephaie Albion, from "your town" (using an old piece of computer code which changes the name of the hometown based upon where the website visitor comes from). The ads also use the "news site" - News 10 Reports - to make the ad for Automatic Profit System look like a bone fide news story which it is not.

The link to Automatic Profit System is not a simple signup form, but a sales letter which the author uses to describe how he makes money online.

There are plenty of "Buy Now" links on the sales letter site for Automatic Profit System and if buyers decide to buy it, are told they will receive a $100.00 rebate. However, the purchase page says the product is $97.00. Who knows how that works.

Research any product such as Automatic Profit System online before buying it. Use the Google search box, enter the search term and find out what other buyers might have experienced first.

If interested in a real way to earn money fast online, and one with a money back guarantee, Click Here!

This site does not sell the Automatic Profit System nor does it provide any opinion or testimonials whether or not the product works. Rather, this is a review of one affiliate marketer's advertising campaign of the product and a suggestion for buyers to save money on the product should they decide to purchase.

Need Money Scam: Home Wealth Academy

2010-11-23T06:54:00.000-08:00

The Home Wealth Academy is using the same "mom makes money at home" scam to lure buyers in to a high monthly membership package. Buyers should beware and read the fine print before purchasing.

Again, its Kelly Richards advertising something called the Home Wealth Academy. Again, the same ad used for Home Income Profit Kit and the Home Income Wealth Kit is dragged out to advertise the Wealth Academy.

In the fake news story, Richards claims she spent only a few dollars on the Home Wealth Academy kit, set up an "account" and soon after, was receiving regular checks of $500 to 1500.00 a week. (The checks feature in the ad are copies of Google Adsense checks - Google has nothing to do with the Home Wealth Academy).

There is no information on how Richards is allegedly making this much money. Only a vague promise that "they will show you everything". What is "everything"? Who does the ad not give potential buyers a hint what the Home Wealth Academy offers?

Clicking on any of the links, visitors are taken to a separate signup page for the Home Wealth Academy. A careful review of the sign up page reveals the real costs...

The trial cost is for a limited time:

When you order your Trial of the Home Wealth Academy you will be charged only $2.97 (non-refundable) for access to the The Home Wealth Academy training program. You will have a full 4-day trial period

Read that carefully. While ads for these types of products claim "only 2.97", the up front cost is only for a trial. Many of the companies which sell these types of products will charge buyers for the full membership at time of purchase.

Shortly afterwards, buyers credit cards are charged a far higher fee:

If you enjoy the trial and continue your path to making money, you will be billed a monthly $68.73 maintenance fee (from the day your trial ends) that will maintain your full access to our entire money making program.

That's right. The Home Wealth Program costs almost $70.00 a month, every month, until cancelled.

To cancel, buyers must call:

To cancel within your 4-day trial period please call (888) 830-5820, available 7 days a week 9:00AM to 9:00PM EST.

If interested in the Home Wealth Academy product, please be aware of these terms for purchase and the high monthly cost. Also, there is very little information revealed about how buyers actually make money with this system. Buyer beware.

Check out a real way to make money online - Money Back Guarantee! Click Here!

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money Scam: Home Income Wealth System

2010-11-09T07:06:00.000-08:00

You probably have seen the many ads for the Home Income Wealth System Scam, another "make money online" scam. Be aware of the fine print before you order the product.

Again, this is another fake news site, Internet News 10, which tells visitors about fictional mom, Kelly Richards (through a software trick, appears to live in your home town!), facing financial ruin until she stumbled upon Home Income Wealth System. Now Richards makes $5000.00 to 7000.00 a month online.

It's all a lie and a scam. There is no Kelly Richards who lives near you and she is not making any money online. Read on for all the hidden fine print and outrageous costs for the Home Income Wealth System.

Clicking on any of the Home Income Wealth System links, visitors are taken to a sign up page for buying the kit online. Visitors as asked for their name and phone number, but in the next screen, they are required to enter a credit card number to pay for the trial only.

The ad claims that the Home Income Wealth System is only $2.97, but that is hardly the whole amount.

Here are the details they leave out that buyers need to be aware of.

The Home Income Wealth System starts off as a five day trial.. The trial begins when the buyer orders, not when they get the system or try it:
Through your purchase of this product, you are agreeing to the immediate access fee of $2.97 for the 5-day trial period,Then the big charge kicks in automatically:

the activation fee of $68.71
Then another monthly fee happens each month:

and a monthly $68.71 for the continued access to the training course.

To cancel, you must contact the customer service number:

This can be cancelled at your convenience by contacting our customer service representatives at (800) 381-1681
What do buyers get with their purchase of Home Income Wealth System?

Access to a bunch of products and website templates to sell things online. The buyer has to get the traffic to the websites and generally that mean spending more money on ads. There are no guarantees buyers will make anything, but they will be forced to spend more money to find that out.

Be aware of the fine print of the Home Income Wealth System and the hidden monthly charges.

Check out a real way to make money online - Money Back Guarantee! Click Here!

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money: Top Money Makers on YouTube

2010-08-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

YouTube is home to millions of videos, some amateur and many otherwise. The difference between amateur and professional is the ability to make a living providing a service. And some of these videos are making their creators a tidy six figure income.

How can someone make money on You Tube? The banner ads which are featured during every video. The revenue is split between Google, the parent company of You Tube, and the video creator. The more ad views, the more money. To get ad views, a video needs to be viewed a bunch of times.

What kind of money are these videos making? Try anywhere between 100,000 to 300,000.00 a year!

Check out the top You Tube video money makers...

Shane Dawson
Annual: $315,000.00
Comedy spoofs

Annoying Orange
Annual: $288,000.00
Comedy

Fred
Annual: $100,000.00
Comedy

Phillip DeFranco
Annual: $181,000.00
Comedy

Ryan Higa
Annual: $151,000.00
Comedy

Shay Carl
Annual: $130,000.00
Comedy

Mediocre Films
Annual: $116,000.00
Comedy

Smosh
Annual: $113,000.00
Comedy

Young Turks
Annual: $112,000.00
Political Talk

Natalie Tran
Annual: $101,000.00
Unknown

So the verdict is in; Comedy makes good money on You Tube. And looking at these videos, most are very amateur in quality so almost anyone with a video camera and some creativity has a shot at making the big money.

But back on earth, apiring You Tube millionaires needs lots of views to make six figure pay days. Have fun...

Need Money Scam: Social Media Mogul Elite

2010-08-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

School is about to start, but some people never learn. There is a new make money online product hitting the advertisers which buyers need to be aware of - Social Media Mogul Elite.

Social Media Mogul Elite is advertised on a number of "fake news blogs" with names like American Consumer Reports as being the product which helped fictional "mom" Sarah Anderson make over $5000.00 a month from home. She looks familiar.. of course, she has advertised a few dozen other "work from home products" the past few months.

This time, she claims that she purchased Social Media Mogul Elite for only a few dollars and within weeks, was making thousands of dollars a month from home.

I decided to try Social Media Mogul Elite to see what all the buzz was about. The best part about it, is that is cost less than 5 bucks!

There is usually a small fee for processing everything, but the total was about $3.

However, as usual with these products, this is not the case. Read on.

Further, Anderson claims she makes money from home by posting links.

Then they will give you the website links to post. Start posting those links. Everything get's tracked.

Again, this is an old claim - nobody gets paid to only "post links" for anyone.

Clicking any of the multiple links for Social Media Mogul Elite, visitors are taken to a sign up form which looks vaguely familiar to Home Income Profit or Blackbelt Profits. Again, visitors are told to sign up for limited spots to make money online.

However, the terms of sale reveal that Social Media Elite is not "less than $5" as Anderson claims, but much, much more..

The first charge to buyers is for a trial period for some training videos..

for $3.95 you shall receive instant access to the marketing video training site

Then, with only 2 days, buyers are hit with a huge one time charge..

Within 48 hours we will verify your details as a valid customer and once done you will be billed $149.95.

Buyers can request a refund, but only with 30 days and will only receive part of their payment back..

you will have 30 days to request a refund... We will gladly refund half of your site access fee .. To cancel, call 877-571-8002 .

Social Media Mogul Elite does not reveal the complete cost to buyers in their marketing and advertising found online. Buyer beware!

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need MOney Scam: Easy Profit For Dummies

2010-08-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

The recession is hitting America hard and lots of folks are looking for ways to make money online from home. Along comes Easy Profit For Dummies which promises buyers they can make up to $350 a day - but read the fine print and find out how much EPFD costs!

Easy Profit For Dummies is advertised on a fake news site called American Daily Reporter and features a fictional mother and customer named Sarah Hanson (from your hometown no doubt).

Hanson claims that she is making up to $7000 a month since purchasing Easy Profit For Dummies which came in handy after she lost her job to the recession.

Hanson also makes the blatantly false statement about the cost of Easy Profit For Dummies..

The course was really cheap, under $50.

EPFD is actually much more expensive as visitors can find out by checking any of the links for Easy Profit.

Links take visitors to a sign up form for Easy Profit for Dummies, but the actual costs are hidden at the bottom of the page. There we read that it is not "less than $50" but much more.

First there is a trial period..

When you order the Risk Free Trial of the Easy Profit For Dummies you will be charged only $2.97 (non-refundable

You will have a full 4-day trial

Then, the big purchase price kicks in..

If you enjoy the trial and continue your path to making money, you will be billed a one-time fee of $119.99

And then a recurring charge will hit buyers..

and a monthly $39.99 maintenance fee

To cancel, buyers have to call a special number..

To cancel within your 3-day trial period please call (888) 830-5820, available Monday thru Friday 9:00AM to 9:00PM EST.

Please read the fine print for Easy Profit For Dummies and research any other similar product before buying.

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.

Need Money Scam: Google Partner Profit

2010-07-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

They're back! The Google "profit" products which promise buyers they can make big money from home posting links for Google! Today's new product is "Google Partner Profit". Let's read more and find out the real hidden costs of Google Partner Profit and the outrageous clams.

Google Partner Product is advertised on a fake news/blog site called "PAGazette" and "News 11 Today".

"Mom" Laura Steadman returns to tell us how she posts links for Google and makes big money online.

I get paid about $25 for every link I post on Google and I get weekly paychecks in the mail

Laura claimed she found Google Partner Profit online and paid a small amount of money..

Get Google Partner Profit, only pay the $2.95 for shipping.

She then says that Google gave her links to post..

Then they will give you the website links to post. Start posting those links. Google tracks everything

The only problem is, Google has nothing to do with Google Partner Profits.. From the small print on the same page..

Google is in no way associated with this website.

Let's check out the links to Google Partner Profit and see what they have there.

Again, it's another signup page with lots of hype, but the real cost of Google Partner Profits is hidden from most buyers unless they look carefully.

Laura Steadman claims it costs only $2.95, however, that is not the whole cost but only for a short trial..

By submitting this form, I am ordering the trial membership for $2.99 USD S&H,

Then the surprise big charge hits buyers..

after the 7-day trial I will be charged $74.95 USD if I do not cancel.

Buyers can cancel Google Partner Profits.. but the email address won't work too well!

To cancel call 1-877-585-7999, or email customersupport@. Customer service hours are now available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Google does not pay anyone to post links.

Google does not pay anyone thousands of dollars a month to post links online.

Google has nothing to do with Google Partner Profits.

The sales page for GPP makes several claims which cannot be proven, uses the same format as other past scam products, hides the real cost of Google Partner Profits and uses fake testimonials.

Buyer beware!

This site does not sell the products reviewed and in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational consumer site only.

Need Money Blog: Squidoo Slaps Its Members

2010-07-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

As you know, I have been a big advocate of Squidoo since Seth Godin formed the company several years ago. I have over 50 "lenses" and have enjoyed sharing knowledge (for the most part, free of charge) with the world. However, there are big changes going on at Squidoo which new "lensmasters" should be aware of.

As of June 2010, Squidoo has updated their "dos and don'ts list" of appropriate topics, standards and rules for using Squidoo.

While some of the new rules are no shock (no porn for instance), there are other changes which are surprising and will affect many lens makers adversely. Of course, Squidoo is free to make whatever changes they feel neccessary, one has to wonder what the impetus was for the sudden lurch in policy?

Generally speaking, hard changes are the reaction to big problems. For instance, a few years ago, some spammer came up with a piece of software that could create thousands (I think they made 5000 overnight) of lenses. Naturally, Squidoo had to take steps to curb similar activity as it could grind the entire website to a halt with nonsense activity.

However, two of the new rules penalize lens makers for numbers of links to a domain and for a relationship with a respected Internet company.

First up is the "no more than 9 links" to a domain (I wonder how that works with blogger.com or wordpress.org?) What does it mean?

Squidoo is tamping down on lenses which all link to the same website. The basis for this is to stop spammers, like the one described above, from creating multiple lenses to the same site. However, whether or not some specific instance like described above caused this problem has not been revealed.

Here is what some lens makers do. Website owners create multiple lenses each with a related high traffic keyword as the title. Visitors find the Squidoo lens and it leads them to the website owner's parent site by way of hyperlinks back to the parent site. It's a basic trick that is pretty common.

How to get around it? There is not much any website owner can do. Squidoo has an automatic filter that is trolling through the websites looking for multiple links to the same websites. Check your lenses and if they are not generating much traffic, consider dropping the link or redirecting it to another website. Get your outbound links to the same domain under 9 and you should be okay.

However, here's a devils advocate question for Squidoo. What if a lens maker has a parent site for a popular politician's election, for a well meaning charity or non-profit organzation (all popular topics with Squidoo management). Suppose the website owner creates different lenses for subjects related to the their cause and links each one back to their parent site. I can imagine a scenario where a politician in particular could have dozens of lenses, each about one of their policies or programs and would want them all linked back to his home page or donation site. What happens to these lenses? Are they judged the same way?

Squidoo is also slapping down on Clickbank sites According to the same "no no list", Clickbank is not getting blacklisted, but I disagree. I had a lens with multiple original components and only one Clickbank product link get locked (Squidoo's term for shutting down a lens). I think the Squidoo filter is running pell mell through lenses and turning off any with a Clickbank link.

How to get around it? Have all outbound links for Clickbank products go to a landing page under your own domain. From there, direct buyers to Clickbank's website.

What happens if a lens is tagged as naughty be Squidoo?

The lens gets locked and visitors are taken to a site which lets them know the site is locked for TOS violations. Then, the lens maker receives a form email telling them their lens is locked and to read the new terms of service. There is no exact reason given in the email why a specific lens is locked (the process is automated). Lens makers can appeal, but Squidoo admits that most, 90% or more, are declined and the lenses deleted permanently.

That stinks. Lens makers, having provided free content to Squidoo, which generates contextual advertising revenue, should be shown a little more respect than that.

Lensmasters provide content for Squidoo. And every single lens is packed with contextual advertisements, i.e. Google AdSense, Infolinks and others. The ads are automatically placed on the lens by Squidoo based upon the lens makers content and all the revenue goes to Squidoo who then shares some with the lens maker or the charity of their choice based upon an unknown metric.

The revenue share between Squidoo and lensmasters is lopsided. While the actual metrics have never been released, anecdotally, the earnings to lens makers are paltry. While nobody (except the owners maybe) are getting rich making lenses for Squidoo, lensmakers have received other benefits which made it worthwhile.

While I have seen a lot of really bad lenses, I have visited many many more which are educational and represent hours of hard work on the part of the lens maker. It seems a shame that all that work is tossed out based upon a "bot"

Here's the deal.

- Squidoo has a very high PR ranking. Links FROM Squidoo to new or lower PR sites is a big deal for search engine placement results. Thus Squidoo has great value to website owners.

- Squidoo is also the property of someone else. They own it, they can make the rules, right or wrong.

- Lens makers can make a choice. They can change their lenses in compliance with the rules, figure a way around the rules or simply delete their own lenses and go provide content to other websites, i.e. Hubpages, Scribd, etc.

- With each terms of service change, Squidoo changes how its "members" perceive it and the value it provides. While this may mean nothing now, the long term effects will be felt down the road.

As for me, I am just a little contributor in the big business machine called Squidoo. But the fun of being part of a the little "squidsperiment" has lost its wonder. Fortunately, there are other squids in the sea.

Need Money Scam: Fast Twitter Profits

2010-07-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

A rash of make money with twitter products out there. This time its Fast Twitter Profits. Twitter is a hot mini-blogger application with millions of members. Like Facebook, it attracts all sorts of scammers hoping to make a quick buck off the trend.

Fast Twitter Profits has been skulking around since last year. Again, they claim anyone can make big money with Twitter. The problem is Twitter has not announced any revenue share model, like Google AdSense, which lets Twitter users create revenue and receive a check, as suggested by these "make money with Twitter products". It does not exist.

Fast Twitter Profits, also called "easy tweet profits" has the usual claims about big money online using social media like Twitter, but give very few other details. Fortunately, they do include the terms and conditions of sale which holds the real cost to buyers.

Buyers are getting a trial membership to some library of "stuff"..

By activating your trial membership, you will be charged $2.29
and you will gain immediate access our library of online resources.

Then a few days later, the big charge kicks in..

After your 7-day trial, it’s just $59.86 per month to continue your membership.

Buyers can cancel, allegedly..

You may cancel by calling us at (800) 385-1344

But buyers also get signed up for another product..

In addition, you will also receive a trial subscription to iSearch Members ..it is just $24.82 every month to maintain your subscription.

iSearch has a separate cancelation number..

You may cancel by calling (800) 385-1344

Beware of products like these. Twitter has no revenue share model at this time and did not sponsor Fast Twitter Profits.

Need Money Blog does not sell any Twitter money making products. If you have ordered this product or any other online, go to the website you ordered the product from if you have questions, need support or would like to cancel service. Again, Need Money Blog does not sell this product, provide support or take cancellations.

Need Money Scam: Twitter Profit House

2010-07-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Twitter is huge. Everyone is tweeting short messages and grabbing followers. But any success story, comes someone trying to make a short buck. Same thing has happened with Twitter and here's one to be on the lookout for.

Here is what Twitter says about making money with Twitter..

How do you make money from Twitter? Twitter has many appealing opportunities for generating revenue but we are holding off on implementation for now because we don't want to distract ourselves from the more important work at hand which is to create a compelling service and great user experience for millions of people around the world. While our business model is in a research phase, we spend more money than we make.

There is nothing in there about a way for Twitter users to receive checks or compensation from Twitter.

Twitter Profit House claims anyone can make money online using Twitter. That may be, but probably not with Profit House.

What is Twitter Profit House?

Supposedly subscribers get a CD, access to a membership site and to something called the SearchEngineProCourse.com website.

How much does Twitter Profit House cost?

Costs change with these products daily, but here are the particulars.. 99.99 a month for the membership, another $9.99 a month charge for SearchEngineProCourse.com and the trial period charge of $1.95.

The trial period begins when they process your order online! Again, that means the trial period could be up before you receive the CD!

Twitter Profit House is also called Twitter Profit House Resource Center. Be on the lookout for this one. As Twitter gains popularity, things like this will pop up everywhere.

Learn more about making money online with a product that really works! - Click Here!

Need Money Blog does not sell any Twitter money making products. If you have ordered this product or any other online, go to the website you ordered the product from if you have questions, need support or would like to cancel service. Again, Need Money Blog does not sell this product, provide support or take cancellations.

Need Money Blog: Adsense Competitive Filter

2010-07-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

If you have a blog and are using Google AdSense to monetize your site, then you probably have seen ads which do not fit with your blog's theme or possibly are a direct competitor to your site. You can do something about this with the AdSense Competitive Ad Filter.

Far too many times, I have checked my sites and seen ads which have no relation to my blog content. Google is great, but even their algorhythm software makes mistakes.

Luckily, I can use the Google Competitive Filter to remove ads based upon the URL. There are a number of reasons to do this..

First is competitive content. If your blog is about "earning money fast", you sure as heck don't want an AdSense ad for "another blog about making money online". These ads can be removed with the Filter tool.

Second, ads which may not be right for your readers. Politics, adult or inappropriate content and so forth.

Next are unrelated ads. For some reason or another, I often have what I call "filler ads" - ads which have no relation to my blog content and I cannot figure out why they are on my site.

To use the ad filter, go to Google AdSense, login and click Adsense Setup.

Five links over is the Competitive Ad Filter.

There are several ways to filter ads - by URL (www.domain.com), but domain name (domain.com) or subdomain (www.domain.com/subdomain). Domain is the broadest category as it blocks any ads from that domain. Be careful with this large of a filter.

Ad the domains or URL you wish to filter and click save. The filter will put them all in alphabetical order for easy review and editing later.

The Google AdSense Competitive Ad Filter is another great way to manage the advertisements on your blog and hopefully, increase your monetization.

Need Money Blog: Google AdSense Help

2010-06-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

My Google AdSense check arrived this week and before I took it to the bank, a friend asked "What is the secret to making money with Google AdSense?". They then went on about how they had put some ads on their website or blog and only made a few pennies before taking the ads off.

Clearly, the need for AdSense help is out there for new and aspiring bloggers. The idea of making a few dollars (or thousand!) extra a day from ads which magically populate themselves on a blog sounds pretty cool. But there must be a key to making Google AdSense work well enough to keep the ads on a site.

Google AdSense Help

First, should you do ads or not?

If your website or blog is about personal matters, daily thoughts (musings seems to be a popular name for these blogs) or rants, Google AdSense is probably not for you. AdSense takes content and finds related ads. If you think your blog lends itself well to advertisers, then read on.

What type of ads?

Advertisers may not like this, but text ads do better than image or video ads. By doing better, it means that visitors click the ads and the publisher (you) make some money. When setting up AdSense, use text ads rather than image ads. Blogger has a tendancy to default to image ads upon setup so be aware of this.

Big ads or little?

That completely depends upon the individual site and the layout. My own take is the 250x250 block at the top of the page does better than any other format. The sidebars are mediocre in results, but fill in some space with potential revenue opportunties. The little info links are handy for tight spaces. The long across the top or bottom ads have so-so results for me as well. Placing block ads between blog posts is very successful.

Which colors of ads should I use?

Blend with the layout of the blog. The reality is, most website visitors are familiar with ads; they don't fall for website stunts to fool them into thinking an ad is content. However, ads should not stick out like a sore thumb. They should flow naturally with the layout as to create a pleasing view to the visitor. That encourages the visitor to stay longer, explore content and possibly see an ad which interests them.

Which colors, designs or tactics should I avoid with Adsense?

Read the terms of service for Google. DON'T encourage visitors to click ads. DON'T go on the internet, visit forums and ask visitors to click ads. DON'T hide ads in pictures or other content. All will result in an AdSense account getting banned. Google knows all the tricks.

Instead, DO write original content. DO use good ad placement. DO focus on getting lots of bonefide traffic to a blog. DO measure and alter a blog or website to increase visitors and clickthrus.

Should I concentrate of one big site or several smaller sites for AdSense revenue?

The jury is out on that one as I know people who are successful with both. I encourage a new publisher to focus on one site, make it good, get visitors and only when things are going well, move on to another interest. Others say build lots of little sites and focus on getting traffic to each. Do what works best for you, your time and your sanity.

Finally, Google AdSense is a very cool way to monetize a site. However, be aware that it should be part of a complete strategy including advertisements, product and affiliate sales.

Need Money Scam: Home Business Success System

2010-06-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ads for the Home Business Success System are popping up this week on popular websites. Don't be fooled - read the fine print and find out the real cost!

The ad was on a popular news site.

"Work At Home Mom Makes $7,197/Month Part-Time"

I clicked over and was taken to a website for News 7 Daily also known as "The Wall Street Gazette News" .com. Again, the "mom" was the nefarious Kelly Richards - the stay at home mom from [YOURTOWN] who makes thousands of dollars a month peddling these "earn money fast" scams.

"Richards" claims she makes money "posting links" "they" give her..

but I can use the internet. I post links that are given to me, I don't even have to sell anything and nobody has to buy anything. They are constantly recruiting people to post links, you should try it."

The product which saved her life she calls the Home Income Kit. I clicked over and found it was a sign up form for something called the Home Business Success System.

The new page offers next to no information how "Kelly Richards" or new buyers will get "links to post". In fact, they don't offer any information about the product at all other than it is sponsored by a company called SMC.

There is an entry form which requires buyers enter their name, email and phone number. At that point, visitors are taken to another website which asks for more information including payment and address. Nothing more except for "Your success is our success" and "Instant access to your own online company" and "No experience neccessary".

But there are payment terms which buyers should be aware of but are often overlooked.

Buyers who give their payment information are charged 9.95 for a 30 day trial to SMC

You have 30 days to receive and review your SMC Business Kit and get comfortable with the program.

After 30 days, a monthly charge will be posted to buyer's account

Afterwards, your membership will remain active with a monthly charge on the credit card provided of $39.95

None of this was mentioned on the sales page with Kelly Richards in fact, she claims the package is only $9.95. And Richards claims that buyers will then get access to links to post and will start making money..

Follow the directions and set up an account. Then you will be given website links to post. Start posting those links. Everything is tracked in a system that will show you how much money you are making(see above image).
(Author's note - the image mentioned is from Google and has nothing to do with anything described in the sales or ad pages)

None of this claim is evident in the sign up form for the SMC Home Business Success System. In the Terms for the Home Business Success System, there is no information about how buyers make money, where they will get "links" to post and what those "links" are for.

Disatisfied customers can cancel their membership by calling SMC..

just notify Member Services at (1-877-523-9088) or go to smcsupport.smcorp.com

This product is another using the same methods as known scam products. Buyer beware!

Learn more about making money online with a product that really works! - Click Here!

This site does not sell the products in question here. If you purchased this product and would like a refund or have questions about the product, please return to the website you purchased the product from and read the Terms of Service for company contact information. Need Money Blog does not sell this product and has no affiliation with the company but is an informational site only.