Making Casual Cash On The Internet

Screw You Larry Page and Segey Brin

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:11:00 +0000

This is a very true story: I was turned on to google.stanford.edu sometime in 1996 by my friend and computer hack Steve Squire. I was so sick of yahoo's search results by this time. Google was awesome. At the google site they had the graduate thesis outline and they had pics of logos they mulled over and rejected ( some were heinous!) and they had a picture of the google servers and computers. The pictures looked like the servers were a hacked up pile of crap in a lego (I kid you not lego!) box. Well they moved on from Stanford and somewhere between 1996 and 1999 they got rid of the pictures. I used to show them to people for a good laugh.. who knew google started with servers like THIS. Anyway, I sent an email to google asking where the pictures went. About 3 days latter I got an email response from Sergey Brin stating, if memory serves me correct, that they moved them off the site but he did supply a URL to a Standford students website that still had them up. I wish I would have kept that email. Who would of thunk it.

So with my recent travails about RSS and getting my site in Google I realized I don't know jack. According to the google webmaster page my site hasn't been indexed yet. It's been over 24 hours and I bet it never will be. Such is life. I am tired of getting frustrated over it. What the heck is aUTF-8 encoding anyway? Shouldn't it be as easy as:" Here is my site address google!" According to the webmaster site Blogger has pre-fed my site. Who knows. Getting a site into yahoo is about as intuitive. Unless you pay, which I would hope would be as close to point and click as you can get. I am so frustrated that juvenile anger and schadenfreude that it is oozing out of me. I can't wait for yahoo to get gobbled up by some other company. Funny thing is I have railed on yahoo products for years now and it is a yahoo product, MyBlogLog that is keeping me afloat. As a matter of fact if it wasn't for that I might not be listed in google at all!

This exercise has made me realize that there are more websites then humans on this planet and I am just one little insignificant teeny litle speck. I have to realize I am doing this without spending a dime on website directory placement, SEO or any other stuff. All these other websites are far more knowledgeable and out gun me in a big way. I have to accept that is my blogs lot in life. If I make $10 from adsense then I will consider this a monstrous success.

So I soldier on.

Screw You Larry Page and Sergey Brin!

Why Do I Need Feedburner Anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:07:00 +0000

So I was talking previously about being able to get site statistics, reffering links etc. Clueless! So I started with trying to get the blog listed in google. Way over my head. When you start talking about HTML stuff it becomes meaningless. Noise. I end up doing more harm then good .

First off why do I need a feedburner account? I heard it was a good idea. ( let's make one thing clear when I say I "heard" or was "told" it usually means I stumbled across it on the web. Very rarely does somebody actually 'tell' me something to my face.) As you may or may not know I had another blog previously for a very short time and ran into this same conundrum. Why do I want to redirect my feed via feedburner? Seems to me, for someone that doesn't know code, that it just gums the works. Broken before I am out of the gate. Still do not understand the benefits of feedburner. So anyway, against my better judgement I activated the feedburner account. This was concurant to finding out about google webmaster tools and sitemaps. Sounds like I know what I am talking about but I am clueless.

So I have this crazy feedburner address which means very little by the way. For posterity it's http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/vcMk . ( I love the way you can't cut-n-paste the whole thing from the page about your feedburner feed at feedburner...brilliant!) So I have to put in the RSS feed to do something to create a google sitemap-- I guess , I think who knows. All I know is that it would be really really nice to have a google bot find one of my posts or two.

I went and got the 'feed address' from settings>site feed in the blog dashboard. I assume I activated it and waited and waited then finally says errors galore. So, as usual I sniff around the web and find out that google doesn't like redirected links or something of the sort and I need to put a notation like: atom.xml?redirect=false and RSS.xml?redirect=false. So like a monkey I do that. So for the atom and rss feed in google webmaster tools it says status OK.. and that's about it. Says I should wait a long while to compose better statistics. We shall see. History and my luck says this is about all I'll get in the way of 'statistics'. As for the statistics at the feedburner account, they are saying it's all too new. Agreed and fine and dandy but once again my history and luck tells me FAIL!

Call me manic depressive or bipolar but all the euphoria I was feeling last week has totally been deflated. When these blog jockeys start talking about flux capacitors and saying how it's easy or simple as in really simple syndication a red flag goes up . I need a lot more hand holding then what's imparted on a lot some of this information I am reading including the massive google webmaster tools FAQ.

There's 2 hours of my life I won't be able to get back Lets hope it results in site statistics!

Fingers crossed.

GET YOUR BLOG ON TWITTER

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:14:00 +0000

I have added the ability to have my new posts show up in twitter .

I think this is big.

First off, Twitter is an awesome distributed micro-blogging chat system. That’s right I said that. My own words too! You have to say what you want to say in 160 characters or less!

I would say it’s really hard to explain it to someone. I mean on the surface the explanation is quite easy. Take a look at this video HERE. On first glance most people would say is shallow even dumb. But not all people! Of course there is the usual human interest success stories

It may not be life changing but twitter is more powerful then one would think. It goes beyond the 'what-are-you-doing-stage. It has enormous potential for blogs and bloggers. I can't count the number of times I have learned about a blog, blog post or blogger via twitter. I use it mostly to listen.

For someone starting out on twitter it is like watching paint dry. I suggest that a person goes HERE and follows some people that have similar interests or professions. I find many people to follow just by seeing who the people I follow are talking with. Some other helpful tips can be found HERE and don't forget proper etiquette.

I began to notice early on that when people had a new blog post they would more or less announce it in twitter. Not so gratuitously but subtly by the use of a small caption and URL address to their post. ( you will see URL's in twitter shortened automatically by something called tinyURL ) So since all these people are commiserating on twitter it is a good idea to announce your new blog post on twitter. This can be done using twitterfeed !!! All you do is supply twitterfeed with your blogs address and viola! If I can do it so can you.

I also added the ability for people to see my twitter messages ( called 'tweets' ) in my blog itself. The Blogger platform made it easier then ever to add a widget to do this . This is just one of many twitter tools you can get.

I can go on and on about twitter as there are many uses. The most important thing for a beginner to note is that the magic of twitters viral nature and community does NOT happen over night. It takes patience , perseverance and more patience. My best advice is to listen and engage. You can start by following me !!

http://twitter.com/leisuresuits

FACT: I Made Money Today (afternoon update)

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:55:00 +0000

So I just wandered over to see how my blog was doing mid-day. I see I earned .24 today. I'll take it. I have no real way of seeing site statistics other then what AdSense can give me. I hear people talk about seeing what keywords or sites referred them to their site but I have no idea (yet) how to accomplish that. So I am learning what I can online and feeling my way around in the dark. I can't really say if this preliminary buildup is taking longer or shorter then I expected. I do know the more I learn the more I get sidetracked so to speak. For instance this whole making-money-with-social-networks thing like Yuwie and Zenzuu . I still am in the embryo stages. More to follow.....

the Tao of ZenZuu. Make more money social networking

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:27:00 +0000

Through MyBlogLog I found Yuwie , which is a social networking site that can earn you money. Through Yuwie I found ZenZuu , another social networking site that can earn you money. It is newer then yuwie . I just discovered it so I still need to find the lay of the land. I'll get back to you on this. Currently I believe you can only join through invite. SO BE MY GUEST!!! Lets get this cash party started!

Bleeping Computer ROCKS !!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:04:00 +0000

As you may( or may not) know I got infected with an online version of SARS or or something. I had malware, adware you name it. I went to a forum called bleeping computer and they rocked it ! They walked me through open heart surgery on my computer, Highly recommend. Actually any of these forums listed HERE would do. You need to be patient and realize it may take a few days. Some of these 'surgeons' are in different time zones and different countries. I used Bleeping once before. Like most of these forums they are free but I PayPal a little gift for their help. It's the least I can do. Beats clearing out the disk and losing a million dollars worth of iTunes content or having the GeekSquad come in. Thank Bleeping Computer , YOU ROCK!!!

SAY YOU SAY WE...Pay to play on Yuwie!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:58:00 +0000

Believe it or not MyBlogLog is actually turning out to be a nice resource personally. I use it to surf around and learn about all this online marketing and money making stuff. I have never heard of a site called Yuwie before until I ran across it in someone's blog on MyBlogLog. It appears it is a new social networking site where you get paid to basically socialize. The premise seems a little pyramidish as it is all about getting people in your network. I would imagine that it takes aLOT of people to develop critical mass to earn any sort of cash. I am of course skeptical. I did run across some success stories however that I found interesting. This hep cat made about $100 or so but it took a lot of peeps. So I am going to give it a whirl as it is of course free. Feel free to use me as a referral
maybe we can get something ticking. I am going to devote a little time honing this Yuwie stuff a little later.

CLICK HERE FOR REFERRAL

In Sickness and In Health

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:48:00 +0000

A little word regarding my virus/malware/adware problem. I have been at it for about 8 hours total. The fine folks at bleeping computer have moved things along but my machine is still a little wonky . Surfing and file sharing is like sex without protection and drinking and driving at the same time. I should known better and listened to my parents.

$$$ ARE YOU KIDDING ME ??? $$$

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:27:00 +0000

OK, I am stil suffering the effects of a tragic virus but had to share this with you ASAP. I went to my AdSense account and.... get ready .. wait for it.. FIFTY TWO CENTS!!! I am whole heartedly honest when I say I am E S T AT I C. 10 page impressions and 1 click through ( which I still don't know wha tthat means 100% yet) I honestly didn't think I would make a dime by this point. This is a couple days LITERALLY in to all this and I am still loading up the pipeline and learning. Oh ye little faith I had !!!

I am still cruising through the blog directories, joining communities etc etc. I have found some really great and informative websites that I have bookmarked along the way too.

I am starting to do other things too.

More on all this later, as I said the computer virus has me blue...

Cold and Flu Season Comes To My Computer !

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:04:00 +0000

Well I don't want you to think I have been avoiding you or getting lazy dear gentle readers . On the advice of a family member I went against my better judgement and got 'something' from file sharing! Malware , adware, spyware , virus and registry problems. My computer is on life support one step from intensive care in the form of complete restoration . I contemplated the GeekSquad and that may still be in the offing but I have used an online forum before called BleepingComputer.com and they really fixed me up. So I am attempting to go that route again. They do offer their services for free but I made a donation ( as many do) because they did a bang up job. Trouble is they are really backed up. Could be 5 days before they start looking at my problem. Because of that I read through the tutorials and attempted to fix things myself. THAT'S where the real trouble began. I turned probably a routine fix into a nightmare . So I am limping along. This has put a damper in the online money making game-- TEMPORARY!!!

AdSense BOOYAH!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:06:00 +0000

I must confess that I had a blog while back. It was nothing but an attempt to chronicle a customer service issue I was having with a mortgage company ( I am not the only one UGH )

I chose the Blogger platform becasue it was 'push button publishing'. It was there that I learned the BASICS, and I do mean basics. The only tricks I learned was how to embed a link into a single word or sentence . I was told that I should link liberally. Doesn't make super sense seeing as these are outgoing links but what the heck. You will notice I do this in my posts.

Someone also told me that I should throw up some adsense ads. So I got an Adsense account and did absolutely nothing with it. I have had more comments (2)from the MyBlogLog post then in an entire year at my other, now defunct, blog! I reactivated the Adsense account and threw up some ads on the footer of this here blog. ( which was easy:layout>page elements>add element in the footer area)

We shall see. Baby steps, baby!

MyBlogLog Suprises

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:33:00 +0000

Ok, so I am wandering aimlessly around the net trying, hoping to make a few dollars and I did this MyBlogLog thing. BAM!!!

First off I have actually found interesting sites at MyBlogLog communities that I am actually picking up tips, tricks , insight and what have you about making money online from

Secondly, I'll be darned, I have actually had visitors evidenced by 2 comments thus far!!

I am ok thus far with the MyBlogLog widget but I have been runnung into a mixed bag of sentiment so we shall see!

Looking around the web I am sooo outgunned and behind some of these Making Money Online ( MMO) websites. They have links and widgets and ads and so on and son. I figure I will get there. BABY STEPS!!

I would say day one is a sucess !!

Getting on MyBlogLog

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:36:00 +0000

So the whole point is to get traffic ( people) to come to your site. I would assume I am going to spend a great deal of time concentrating on this. In my travels across the internet I have been told one tool I could use to get my site listed where potentially millions of people would see it is a Yahoo service called MyBlogLog. So I joined MyBlogLog and began basically surfing and joining communities of similar interest. I found a lot of good information. I am not sure this is going to translate to traffic back to me but we shall see. To get some metrics about this they require that you place a line of code in your template. That's right I said that. Like a true internet hacker ! I had no clue to what that was about. So, I am using the blogger platform and found some sites that helped me go to Layout>Edit HTML and figure out where the 'body' started. I cut-n-pasted the line of code from MyBlogLog that they gave me. So here I sit. Not sure if it all worked. Time will tell. Checkout and add me at MyBlogLog .
Addendum: I added a widget on the right side. I wnet to the widgets section of MyBlogLog and copied the code. Then went to LAYOUT>PAGE ELEMENTS>ADD PAGE ELEMENT>HTML/JAVA SCRIPT pasted the code in there and HEY!! It worked AND holy smokes says I had a visitor!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me??? WOW!!

Dollars Signs

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Tinstaffle) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:47:00 +0000

Like everyone else, I have been seeing and hearing ads and stories about folks making boatloads of cash on the internet. For the most part this talk reminded me of some infomercial on television. EspeciallyDon Lepre . I can almost hear him talk about how easy it is. I have seen this make money on the internet talk for a good part of a decade. Every once in awhile I would see real lifeproof that people were really are making money on the web. I would get the itch to jump in and then realize I probably have missed the boat. Better, if these people are making so much why share it with me? Well, I discovered that am not getting any younger and I can't make money if I don't try. So here goes! But first, a couple of things I am sure are true: I am pretty positive you can't become a millionaire without investing some money in a venture. Money is something I don't have so I secondly, this is just an experiment to see if I can make a few extra bucks. I have done that on Ebay, made a few bucks, so I guess that is the standard that I am going hold this test to. Will it be more time consuming, frustrating or all around worthwhile??? We shall see. On with it I say!

In the coming days, weeks, months and possibly years I will attempt to chronicle my efforts on this blog to MAKE CASUAL CASH ON THE INTERNET !! I am not going to hold anything back. No tricks, no gimicks no smoke , no mirrors. Iif I make a million dollars you will see it just as plain as if I make nothing.

I will be happy if I could make $100 a month. I will be estatic if I make $100 a week and consider this a more the roaring success. Knowing nothing about this racket and knowing what amount of time and energy I am going to put into this I have no idea. We learn as we go! And away we go..........!