When first starting this blog I wanted a medium that covered many topics. I wanted to be able to share my poems and short stories with people. I wanted to show others my blogging tips and tricks. I also want to share with others different ways that I have found of making money on the net.

When trialling these money making ideas there’s always one thing that I try to keep constant, and that is it has to be free to join. I figure that at least that way all that you can lose is a little time, and I don’t mind being the guinea pig as long as it helps my readers.

As you can probably tell this post is leading to another money making venture and while I would like to take the honor for discovering it, that honor belongs to John Sullivan of PotPolitics fame where you will learn so many things including how to really master blogging.

So, thanks to a Tweet from John I joined mylikes under him as a publisher, as you can also join as an advertiser.  One of the things that I like about this site is that it lets you pick the sponsors that you like. This means that you can choose only those sponsors that you like and are relevant to your audience.

I also like the fact that they protect their advertisers in that they can disapprove any ‘likes’ if for the following reason;

The advertiser feels that the Like is not relevant to your audience.

The advertiser feels that the Like is mispresenting the product or service.

The advertiser feels that the Like is too generic and is not descriptive of the product or service.

You have used hate speech / abuse / full capital letters to write your Sponsored Like.

This helps to keep publishers honest meaning the advertiser gets the most value for their dollar.

What I love most about this site is that they pay per click. If you’re like me and you’ve been promoting many affiliates for years you have to admit that the most disappointing thing is that while you may generate up to a hundred clicks on a particular ad, unless someone actually purchases something you don’t earn a damn thing. That’s not so with mylikes as they will pay you 30c per click. So where the other campaign netted you a big fat zero, if an ad through mylikes generates 100 clicks you will have earned $30! That’s so much better than earning nothing at all.

For my first ‘like’ I chose a site called Prova and I picked Twitter as my medium for advertising it. Another reason to be very careful which sites you ‘like’ is that it will be displayed on your MyLikes Page so that everyone can see the sites that you like and promote. Another way to keep publishers honest. This page allows you to embed a code on your site promoting your likes even further increasing your money making potential. The following shows you my first ever like.

The reason for picking Prova is because I found them to be quite unique. If you need someone to design anything including banners, car door magnets, billboards and even your own commercial. In their own words;

Getting a powerful ad designed at Prova is easy. We help you launch a contest to get the best design that meets your needs. Experienced designers from around the world will submit their unique designs to your contest to compete for the best possible design. Simply tell us what you want & pick the price you’re willing to pay.

The last point is very important as it means that you can never blow your budget. You pick how much you want to spend and that’s the maximum it will cost you.

As you know you can expect an update at a later date to see how mylikes is performing, but I honestly feel it is such a great deal that you should join me on this money making journey now rather than losing out on some earnings while waiting for my next update.

To those of you who have been emailing me for an update on my Sponsored Tweet post, where I show you how your Tweets can earn you money, I’m saving that for my next post

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Those of you who may have been following me for awhile may well remember my post, Blog No Evil, The Forth Wise Monkey, where I talked about how one should always blog with integrity and how it shouldn’t be used to attack another person just for the sake of getting noticed.

I also mentioned how there is a certain power behind the written word. In this post I want to talk about the True Power Of The Blog, which really consists of more than one attribute.

The Power Of Expression

I think this is important for many bloggers, that they are able to do something online that they are unable to do in the real world. I think this is one of the very reasons why I like blogging so much as it has allowed me to actually get my thoughts out into the open rather than keeping them bottled up inside.  I’ve also found that’s some of this power as translated into the real world which is particularly cool.

The Power To Improve Your Writing Skills

I’ve noticed over the years that the way I write these days far surpasses that of when I first started blogging. I’ve also noticed that there are a lot of non English speaking bloggers who are using their blogs to help improve their English and this is another facet of a blog’s power.

The Power To Promote And Advertise

While many are struggling to make any money it’s only a matter of time before they find the right affiliate to promote, one that will bring in some cash. But this power goes beyond that of just earning a few extra bucks. Blogs can be used to promote, or to support or to raise money for a worthy cause , such as Eleanor’s Give A Brick Blog.  I promised Eleanor I would make a donation every time I made a good sale and I intend to keep my word.

The Power To Teach

I reckon this is an important one and goes beyond those blogs that merely pass on their blogging tips and tricks. Just as one example I reckon you should look at Keith Davis’ blog which is all about Easy Public Speaking. Keith has many posts that will help you become a better speaker, and if you think you will never need to make use of his skills you’re probably still single. The thing is it can help you in all walks of life, especially your professional one. I especially like his post Practice, Practice, Practice.

These are but a few examples of the Power Of The Blog. There would be many more and I’m sure that a person’s different perspective on the topic would give many more examples of how a blog has the ability to to empower the blogger.

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I want to be different from those people who join an affiliate and then promote the heck out of it, even if they haven’t tried it, just so that they can make a few extra bucks. I definitely wouldn’t promote a product that I didn’t believe in.  I specially would not want to promote a product as being a real money spinner if I didn’t find it to be so.

Seeing as how it’s been a month now since my post called How The People Search Craze Could Put Money In Your Pocket,  I thought it fitting to do an update on how things are progressing. First things first though, I reckon I should tell people my findings of some of the promises that were made.

• FREE Advertising of Your Search Engine for 24 Hours After You Complete Three Easy Steps

I will take Tissa’s word for this, but what I can say is that 24 hours of advertising netted me one hit, and no sale, which is not surprising as most people would tell you that only a small percentage of people clicking a link actually purchase a product. I wouldn’t join AcmePeopleSearch just because of that promise, there has to be more substance to a program than simple promising 24 hours of free advertising.

• A Guaranteed Bonus of $125.00 AFTER You Earn $75 (Your Incentive to LEARN how to Earn)

That promise is 100% true, as can be seen from the image posted in my Quick Update On People Search Money Opportunity post. You will notice the $125 sitting there waiting for me to earn the other $75 so that I can collect the lot. Nothing wrong with dangling a bit of a carrot as far as I can see.

• Personal Support from Tissa Godavitarne and a Community of Successful and Helpful Users

Also true as I’ve always got quick and helpful replies when posting in the forum, although I haven’t tried contacting Tissa directly.

• Free 30 day when completing step 3!

That one is true too as completing that step simply subscribes via PayPal but doesn’t actually become active until 30 days after joining, thereby ensuring you thirty days of free access. I opted out of the subscription just before it was due as I thought I would wait until the system makes enough money to pay it’s own way. Read the post Quick Update On People Search Money Opportunity to see the benefits of completing step 3.

So, now for the crunch, how much did I make in the first month? Not a bloody dime, but then I didn’t expect it to come rolling in after only a month. I can see it’s going to take some time and so I will continue to explore ways of marketing it. Things like my Squidoo Lens, my Squeeze or Landing page, Traffic Exchanges and any other avenues for promoting it that I come across.

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Ever since my famous post Why I No Longer Link To The Likes Of ProBlogger And John Chow, I haven’t had all that much to do with the so called ‘A Listers’, but unfortunately I was brought face to face with one of them who, like Darth Vader, seems to have joined the dark side.

I was reading Lis Sowerbutt’s a review of Brian Clark’s Scribe SEO, and for those of you who know Lis you know she is a no nonsense blogger. She doesn’t hold back when she has an opinion and this review was no different. She was up front and told it just as she saw it.

Unfortunately Brian Clark, the author of the plugin, that you have to pay through the nose for, took umbrage at Lis’s review and rather than being diplomatic about it and discussing the issues that Lis, his customer, had with the plugin in the hope of getting them resolved, he went straight for the jugular. He ended his first comment to Lis by saying;

Also, I read your meta description of this post, and it says the opposite of your on-page conclusion regarding “scam.” I’d advise you change that, or our next conversation will be about libel.

This was in reference to her meta description, which can be read at the top of the browser, that stated ‘Scribe SEO – Review Of Scribe SEO – is it a scam?‘ Notice she didn’t say it was a scam, she was merely asking the question, and she was obviously targeting certain keywords. Anyway, I found this article listing the top 10 definitions of libel and as far as I could tell Lis’s post  doesn’t fit any of them, not by a long shot.

Brian’s left several comments in that post and the bulk of them says little for his character. But this post is not an attack at Brian at all. I wanted people to see how his reaction to a bad review has caused him more harm than good.

I’ve been involved in the retail industry for some 35 years and no matter what part I played in it, whether as a salesman or as a business owner, the one consistent thing I’ve learned is that the customer is always right. There has been many a time when I’ve known them to be 100% in the wrong but I’ve never made a point of it. I would try to point them in the right direction, but if they insisted I let them have their way. They are the customer and they’re the ones that butter my bread.

I was taught right at the beginning that if you gave a customer a good experience they may tell one or two others about it, but you give them a bad experience and they would make sure the whole world knew about it. Brian’s actions in the comment section of that post was about as bad as it could get. More than once he called Lis a liar when she did nothing but give her honest opinion.

Heaven forbid it had anything to do with the shortcomings of the plugin itself. Heck, he even went so far as to say;

SEO experts like Rae Hoffman, Michael Gray and Stephan Spencer have reviewed the Scribe technology, and they give a thumbs up. Much more credible sources than you given the topic.

as if throwing around the names of some bigwigs would lend credence to his argument. I reckon his biggest failing is that he doesn’t recognize hie own customer base. The plugin isn’t aimed at the SEO experts who know what they’re doing, it’s aimed at SEO newbies who have no idea how it works and perhaps if they failed to get the settings right it would give a false result.

I know of many occasions when, as a hi-fi TV/ Video salesman I got more than one call from an irate customer who accused my of selling them some dodgy equipment. Rather than going off the deep end I paid them a personal visit and found that the fault was because they didn’t install it properly. Rather than berate them I showed them where the problem lay and assured them it was a common mistake, even though it wasn’t, and left behind a satisfied customer. You know, most of them turned out to be repeat customers who always asked for me and being as how commissions was a big part of my salary, that was a good thing.

Another thing I’ve learned about business is that a very important factor is PR and I’m not talking about Page Rank, I’m talking about Public Relations, and while Brian may know a lot about Page Rank, his actions in that post shows he knows stuff all about Public Relations.

I would like to make one last point and that is one about public perception. I discussed this in my post Perception Is Important To Your Blogging Career! As a person who has previously had no knowledge of Brian, my judgment of his character can only be made from the way he carried himself while commenting on Lis’s post. My perception of his character may be entirely wrong but that’s all I have to go on because that’s the only side he’s shown me. I can tell you one thing and that is because of this, possibly flawed, perception of his character, I would never purchase anything from this bloke.

I would really like to see what your feelings are in regards to the way he handled himself. Am I looking at this all wrong? Am I merely taking the honorable knights actions by defending a damsel in distress?

On the other hand, if you agree with me perhaps you’d like to spread the word by tweeting the post or by using one of the other social websites below. Either way I would really like to know what your thoughts are?

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I had hoped that my post introducing my new forum Where Bloggers Meet, would entice some of my readers to join, but unfortunately most people did not take up the offer. To those of you who did join I thank you, to those others I wish to point out some important points as to why you should join.

This Forum Is DoFollow

Yep, after checking both the signature links and links left within the posts I am satisfied that the forum is a DoFollow forum which, as you know, is very important if you’re interested in building the amount of links to your blog.

More Than Just A Forum

I  want it’s members to get something more than just important and useful information. I also want them to be able to use it to increase the value of their blogs, and the way to do this is to be able to use it to construct posts that are keyword rich that point to any particular post.

This is pretty well unheard of in forums but like I said I want to be different, and so if you’re into getting free backlinks then this forum is for you.

Just as an example I’d like you to look at Using Emails As A Source For Blog Topics, a post I did that linked to three of my posts as well as another of my blogs. As you can see the post provides relevant information and the links within the post are provided as examples that highlight points in the post. This builds the value of the forum as well as providing important backlinks to the author.

I will be monitoring all posts to ensure that people do not take advantage of my generosity by posting spammy articles that provide no value to the forum. I will not be accepting any affiliate links! If you want to link to a post that is promoting an affiliate, that is fine as long as that post provides value to the forum.

Providing value is essential as this will build the popularity of the forum as well as it’s importance in Google’s eyes.

What the forum need is a membership where it’s members help to build the forum so that all it’s member benefit. As I can’t build the membership all on my own I ask all members to help in a membership drive. Perhaps you know of someone who would like to join or, even better, you could write a post about it asking your readers if they would like to join a growing community.

One thing I would like you to keep in mind is that I only want members who are willing to contribute. I know how busy everybody is so all I’m asking is at least one post per fortnight. I will be deleting anyone that joins but does not contribute as it would not be fair to those who are.

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I feel this to be a very accurate statement and it’s because of that I try to maintain an online presence where I am known for my honesty and integrity. Everything that you do online is being judged by others and may very well give them a false perception of who you really are. You want to make sure that perception of you is as accurate as possible because if it isn’t it could hurting your online career, whether it’s blogging or affiliate marketing.

The problem is magnified because of all the social sites the majority of us are members of. Let’s just take Twitter as an example. How many times have you chosen to follow someone and their very first tweet was one where they tried to sell you something? I know I get it quite a lot, and there are times when I’ve even stopped following them. They may have been a really down to earth person but that tweet led me to perceive that all they were interested in was trying to sell me something.

Let’s study the following picture for a minute.

These women all have one thing in common. Now I know when I first saw this photo I thought that every one of them was on the verge of having a mind blowing orgasm, and I was starting to get a little excited, when it turns out that the photo was taken just as they were about to sneeze.

The thing is that if I was to write something on this photo about what was turning all these women on, you can just imagine my embarrassment when someone pointed out what actually was going on.

The question is how to improve peoples perception of you.

1. Don’t bullshit: This one is the most important rule that you should follow. You may get away with it for a little while but once you get caught out your credibility will be shot and it’s almost impossible to get it back, unless your Tiger Woods that is.
2. Only promote things you believe in: Honestly, if you don’t believe in a product don’t go promoting it. By far the product I’ve had most success with is FlexSqueeze and that’s only because people can see how much I love it because of the emotion I display when I’m talking about it.
3. Don’t say it’s so when you don’t know it truly is: Some people will read the hype on a particular affiliate and they then do a post telling everybody how fantastic it is, without even trying it! If that affiliate turns out to be shit then their perception of you and everything you say from now on turns to shit with it.
4. Be COOL!: This applies to everything you do online, from interacting with those commenting on your blog to every other interaction you have with others online. If they’re abusive to you, show them your the better person by not retaliating. State your case in a diplomatic way and if they’re not willing to listen drop it! You win more points by letting it go than by losing your cool.
5. Be Honest!: Different from #1 in that this is referring to those who have the tendency to steal content from others claiming it as their own. It’s only a matter of time before you get caught and when you do your name will be mud from now own. Better to do your own unique post linking to the one that supplied the idea for the post.
6. Be Humble!: I have to admit I’m getting a little tired of those posts where bloggers claim to know everything about affiliate marketing and other stuff when it’s obvious they don’t . They may fool the newbies but everyone else can see them for what they really are, jerks!
7. Accept Criticism!: Learn to listen to others when they criticize something about your post, your blog or about something you said. Don’t get on the defensive, it’s quite possible they know what they are talking about. Better to thank them for their opinion and to voice your reasons as to why you think they may be wrong without going on the attack.
8. Your Input!:

I know that there are lot’s of other ways that we can give people a false perception of who we really are, but I want to leave that open so that you can voice your opinion.

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Climate change would have to be one of the most important issues of the times but is it really happening or are the climate skeptics right in saying it’s all bullshit? You kind of have to ask yourself why anyone would push climate change if it wasn’t entirely true. Either it’s true or they’re getting something out of pushing a lie, or the very least distorting the truth.

I know that the Labor Party have been pushing climate change for awhile now, in fact Rudd tried everything he could to put pressure on the Coalition to pass the Government’s emissions trading legislation. Legislation that would have cost Australians millions, possibly more than we could afford. What was farcical was that he was willing to sign off on the whole thing before any other country had committed themselves to it. It became obvious to many that all he was really interested in was getting a feather in his cap, one where he could parade to other world leaders how he was able to convince Australians to sign up before anyone else. Lucky we didn’t because no-one else did. The whole Copenhagen thing was a washout.

So, why would scientists manipulate data to make climate change seem more than it really is? Would it be because they didn’t want to be seen as wrong? Perhaps there was a monetary gain for them. I reckon a lot of them would be working for the government to provide them the data they need to propagate their policies. It’s apparent now that had we signed those papers the Government would be collecting a lot more taxes, taxes that probably wouldn’t have helped the environment one little bit.

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I remember when I was a kid all those years ago and my parents took my sister with them on a holiday to Italy and after a few short months when they returned she spoke perfect Italian. She couldn’t speak English, although she understood it, and whenever we asked something she always replied in Italian. Unfortunately it didn’t take that long before she picked up English again and as she did so her grasp on Italian dropped off.

Those of you who are parents have most likely noticed how children soak things up like a sponge. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they haven’t acquired all the barriers that adults use that prevent them from moving forward. When we get confronted with a new language, rather than trying to learn it we would rather get them to learn ours; it’s so much easier that way isn’t it? It’s sort of like a wall we put up that prevents us from learning.

The other thing that holds us back is negativity. We don’t attempt things because we’re scared that we will fail. Too bad really considering that it’s those failures that teach us important lessons and by not allowing ourselves to fail we remain ignorant in life. Not so the little ones, they just do it, and if they fall down they get up and try again.

I reckon we should be able to apply this to our blogs. We should become more childlike. Rather than sitting back worrying if what we’ve written is good enough, post it and fix it latter if need be. How many drafts have you got just sitting there waiting for the time when you think it’s good enough for the world to see? They may never see it unless you act now and take the chance.

We must open our minds and allow the world to seep in, only then will we find those topics that have been evading us. If you’re really stuck, don’t just sit there worrying about it. Go out for a walk, admire your surroundings and relax. Let the blog recede into the outer recess of your mind letting the rest of the world filter in, and sooner or later you will notice the glimmer of ideas forming. Kids don’t worry about things nearly so much as adults do.

It’s unfortunate that they lose their innocence and sponge-like qualities as they grow older. Perhaps those who have made it in this world of ours have maintained some of those qualities and are able to see and grasp ideas and work them into something that they can use, where the rest of us see them as stumbling blocks.

Just so you know this post was inspired by the following video. This little girl is truly remarkable.

What do you think? Would there be advantages to having childlike qualities, and if so what can you add to the mix?

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I’ve actually surprised myself, not a week after completing my first Squidoo Lens, I’ve just completed lens number two, Why You Should Join Forums. The reason for the second lens was to promote my forum Where Bloggers Meet. This forum used to be attached to the Wassup domain, but I felt that it was important enough to warrant it’s very own domain.

It took me most of a day to get it up and running properly as I had to overcome several problems, the greatest one being that it wouldn’t let anyone join. It probably would have been better to upgrade it before I moved the forum rather than later. Don’t you just love upgrades?

Anyway, she’s up and running and looking for new members. If you haven’t joined yet, now is a great time to get into it. Why should you join?

For those of you who are wanting to get a better PR, a forum may be one step in your journey to improve your ranking. It is fairly easy obtaining a reciprocal link (where you exchange your link with another site) and a lot harder to achieve a one-way link (where another website links with yours without requiring a reciprocal link). Most SEO experts agree that Google holds one-way links as highly important and will usually give a site with lots of one-way links a higher PR. The reasoning behind this is that if a lot of sites are linking to one particular site then that site must be pretty important and hence warrants a higher PR.

How do you get these prized and highly sought after links? One such way is by joining forums. Of course the best forums to join would be the ones with a high PR as well as those with a high member base. Once you have joined the forum the first thing you have to do is to adjust your signature, which is found in your profile. That signature will contain the link to your blog and every time you leave a post on a forum that link will be attached to the bottom of it.

Before joining any forum, just like when blog commenting, one must maintain the proper Forum Etiquette, especially when joining mine

Forum Etiquette

The first thing to remember once you have joined is that you are in someone else’s domain, his or her “virtual home” so do not abuse the privilege. Most forums have rules, please read and follow them at all times. As far as posting goes you may take note of the following guidelines.

• Make your questions (and responses) as clear and intelligible as possible. Watch your spelling and punctuation and refrain from using “online chat” lingo and abbreviations as these tend to look less professional and may confuse many users not used to the net or if their primary language is not English

• Your post should have a relevant subject, as this is the first thing someone will see. “Runtime Error 429 ActiveX component can’t create object” will attract more viewers than”Please Help” title.

• Don’t post in a forum where you don’t have something constructive to say, this is not polite and is a waste of their time as well as your own.

• Don’t just go posting without first giving a lot of thought to what you about to say. Remember your posting is a door way to your site. If you write a lot of garbage no one is going to visit your site. You may gain a better PR but you have just thrown away a huge potential customer base. If you post something intelligent or are able to solve someone’s problem you will be amazed how many visitors this will send your way

• Remember to be polite at all times.

Forums are especially important and can send the most traffic if it matches your niche, if you have one, providing that your interaction on the forum shows that you’re someone who know what he’s talking about.

So, now that you know what’s required of you as far as etiquette goes, why not go out there and start joining some forums, especially mine.
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A couple of months back I did a post on Moneybackco and how the company was all about saving people money. Well it seems that someone from over there came across that post and asked me if I could tell you guys about some special deals they have on offer.

It seems that apart from the normal cash saving avenues, re my last post, they’ve also got coupon codes available. For those of you not familiar with coupon codes, or promotion codes as they are sometimes referred to, it’s usually a ticket or docket of some sort that you can exchange for a greater discount on a particular product. When buying online it’s normally a code that you can enter to get a better discount than you normally would.

Moneybackco has several pages of promotion codes covering a wide range of products. I’ve had a quick look and I noticed that while it’s usually 20-30% of there was one on the first page that offered a savings of some $400 off! That’s quite impressive. I clicked through to see where it would take me and I landed on Dell’s home page. I’m not sure how the discount is applied to the product, as it’s only available on selected Vostro systems.  I assume that once you land on the selected page you would have to search for those products that the coupon applies to.

Still, I can see where coupon or promotion codes, whatever you want to call them, can offer the discerning customer even greater savings and seeing as how the economic climate is still pretty crappy, I reckon any potential savings can be considered money in the pocket.

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