It’s always nice to make money online, but it’s even nicer if you don’t have to do anything to get that money. How would you like to win $100? Who wouldn’t, right? This is my first contest with a real prize. On Sunday September 30 I will pick a name at random from the list of all the entrants and that person will get a cool $100 sent to them by Paypal.

Not only will you be 100 bucks richer, but I will also write you a full review of your blog and include a permanent link to your blog in my sidebar; that’s a link for life on a blog that is expanding daily.

The rules

The rules for this contest are simple. All you have to do is write a short paragraph (minimum 50 words) in one of your blog posts telling people about this competition and that they can win $100. Link to this post with an anchor text of your choosing. Then, Stumble http://worldofangel.com/ and subscribe to my RSS feed. That’s it. There’s no real legwork involved and you could do the whole thing in about five minutes.

So that’s:

• 50+ words about this contest in one of your posts with a link to this post.
• Stumble http://worldofangel.com/
• Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Your pingback will be your entry ticket for this contest. If you have any queries then leave a comment here.

Rest assured folks, I will not be pulling an Ashwin. There is $100 sitting in my Paypal account waiting to be won. It couldn’t be easier to enter, so get involved.

Tags: Internet income by Angel
51 Comments »

We all watched with interest how the world’s first ad flip would turn out on John Chow’s blog. Ryan Stewart bought a 300 by 250 ad block and tried to sell it for $1,500. After two days he eventually sold it for $1,400 to Rich4Life, although Rich4Life said that they bought it for $1,250. Those guys then went a bit crazy and decided to sell it on to 20 other people for $200 to have 20 ads rotating for the last 10 days of the ad, which I think should begin at the end of this week.

Phew!

Now while nobody could say that all this tomfoolery hasn’t been exciting, it seems that everybody is trying to cash in on the fun and games. The eight ad blocks that John Chow now has to the right of his top post are selling for $500 a month. Two of the eight slots are filled with ad flip-type campaigns.

The first is over at emonetized where the Tim Schroeder is holding a contest where you can win one of four rotating spots where his purchased ad block is. All you have to do is mention the contest in a blog post or reply to the post itself. Is it worth it for Tim to spend $500 on an ad block? In this case, it surely is.

After just three days, his post has 125 comments and ping backs. For the sort of traffic that ad is generating for him, Tim has come up with a contest that will appeal to people because it gets them involved. It’s a game and it’s fun, and while more people are discovering Tim’s blog, his RSS subscribership will be increasing and he’s got himself some top publicity.

On the flip side (pun intended) is the other ad spot running a similar campaign. This one has been taken out by Stock Trading To Go – not the most inspiringly-named blog, but we’ll give it a chance. Blain Reinkensmeyer looks like a nice chap, but he’s going about his ad flip the wrong way. Instead of offering a contest to his 555 RSS subscribers, he’s asking them to bid on the ad block, starting at $500. What’s more, he’s asking people to send him $5 by Paypal to place a bid. There have only been five replies so far, and one of those was me bidding 5,000 cows for the ad spot; no response so far. Pictures paint a thousand words, as they say.

The ad flip for profit thing isn’t guaranteed. It actually feels a bit played out already, particularly when anyone with common sense will realize that he or she can just buy Blain’s ad spot for $500 flat next month and get a full 30 days.

I’ve had enough of ad flipping for now. I noticed that nobody is ad flipping anywhere else in the blogosphere, which suggests that this whole thing is just a fad that will die down. The only reason it’s working out for people is because everybody is going so nuts for the whole concept. It’s a bubble that will eventually burst. Fun while it lasts though.

Tags: Around the web by Angel
5 Comments »

A few of you may have noticed that I ordered a review from Cash Quests recently. I paid $70 for the review and it was my first real investment into this site. Although this blog is a little more than one month old, I thought it was the perfect time to snap up a review on Cash Quests. Here’s why:

• I don’t foresee reviews on Cash Quests staying at $70 forever, particularly once the next Page Rank update is complete.
• There are almost 700 RSS subscribers to Cash Quests, and although the site generates less traffic than somewhere like John Cow.com, it’s as good a place to get some exposure as any.
• Kumiko (if she is a real person or not) is knowledgeable enough and honest enough to write real reviews.

The primary reason I wanted a review on Cash Quests was to find out where I’ve been going wrong. I wasn’t expecting a sudden spike in traffic or RSS subscribers because my blog is still fairly new, but I’ve been going this long on my merry way and haven’t come across nearly enough negative criticism.

All friends together

One of the problems with starting a new blog is that a lot of the time you draw traffic from other people starting new blogs, and as such, everyone is very nice to each other. Nobody will step up and tell you you’re doing one thing wrong and another thing you’re doing totally sucks. If I were to carry on like this then I’d never get anywhere.

The review on Cash Quests was enough to kick my ass into gear and simplify my header, making it much smaller and less distracting. I added Adsense blocks in again, although was a bit reluctant to do so at this early stage. But, if this blog is about making money, then I need to be showing that I am taking steps to actually make some.

While my coding skills are limited, I was able, through a process of logically working things out (and a bit of trial and error) to make my two sidebars into one and widen the width of my post content. By doing so I eliminated some of the white space Kumiko said was unnecessary. My sidebars were a bit pathetic, so I got rid of everything in them I didn’t think was necessary and added a few affiliate ad blocks.

I also took off the Advertlets ad I had at the bottom of this blog. To be honest, I’d forgotten that it was there, but as Advertlets is not a big money spinner, it was wasting space.

Kumiko said that I don’t use Feedburner, which isn’t true. I was using a redirect, but I changed my links to show the Feedburner URL in case my own URL might put people off.

I am certainly not a dot com mogul, as Kumiko said, but if the option of making money online and making money with a blog is open to everybody, I’m going to go for my share.

Overall, the review was worth the money because without it my outlook and approach to this blog wouldn’t have changed. There’s no way in hell I will be splashing out on a review from John Chow or anyone on that level next, but if I am going to learn then I need to make some sacrifice. It was $70 well spent because it inspired me in the right way. I’d advise anybody to do the same.

But does my name really make you think you are coming to a porn site?

Tags: Paid posting by Angel
9 Comments »