Make Money Online

The only true constant is change, it’s how we deal with it that matters.

This is how Leigh Davis starts out her newest blog (fourth blog, I believe) located at Eternal Flux.  It just started at the beginning of this month, but if her other blogs are any indication, it will soon be chock-full of posts and good information.

Leigh’s opening to Eternal Flux is very similar to one of my favorites - “What happens happens - Get over it.” 

So often people will encounter changes in their life that were unplanned or unexpected, and spend too much time aimlessly complaining or wondering “Why did this have to happen to me???” instead of figuring out a way to deal with it and move forward. It’s always good advice, and if you do want to complain a little bit - that’s OK!  Just make it short and then move on!

Leigh is married with two daughters and two cats, Colby and Sugar.  She is a part-time blogger who also runs a MaryKay distributorship along with working full time.  Phew! That must be a load.  Keep your head up, and your dream in clear site Leigh, and you and hubby can make it to Key West!  Go For It!

Building traffic to a new blog can be a challenge, especially if you are new to the blogging community all together. One of the best ways to start getting traffic is by getting links to your site from other blogs through link exchanges. Basically, you agree to trade links between your sites, either as a link within their Blogroll, or as a link within a blog post that reviews your site (preferred).

I saw another option that I hadn’t seen before over at Total Web Review, that can get you as many as 120 links at once. Read more below to find out more.

———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions below this line———

Below is a matrix of 120 stars, I have already added a link to my blog onto one of the stars, all you need to do is copy and paste the grid into your blog and add your own link to one of the other spare stars, and tell others to do the same!

Viralink

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New Addition: When I receive a ping back once you have added the Viralink to your site I will add your link to this grid, and each person who copies the grid from here will also link to your site!

———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions above this line———

Also, be sure to write your own original introduction paragraph so you (and others participating) are not penalized by search engines for duplicate content!

Tyler Cruz is a 23-year old Internet Entrpreneur that hails from Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Tyler got his start on the Internet with Movie-Vault.com, a site that generated substantial content from both Tyler and a group of volunteer movie critics after being started as a homework assignment for one of his classes.  It currently houses over 1,800 movie reviews, with a goal of reaching 5,000!

There are some great articles on the site about domain brokering, an area in which Tyler himself made over $23,000 brokering the sale of someone else’s domain.  He has a great perspective on domain name values, which I take to mean that very rarely is the value of a domain in the name.  Rather it is in the value of the content, the brand, and the network that the author has been able to create.

We’ll be tracking his income in our upcoming monthly series ”What Blogger’s earn.”  THe majority of Tyler’s income comes from advertising on his sites, so he calculates his monthly earnings based on his average earnings over the last six months.  It’s already sizeable - $256/day - and he’s thrown down the PPP gauntlet, vowing to overtake Colleen as top network owner.  It’s a lofty goal, but if experience is any indicator, Tyler should be able to give it a good run!

I found a Best Scenery Picture Contest at JAB. You just need to submit your best scenery picture along with a mention of their blog url on the picture (It will be used on their blog as an ad, I believe). Here’s my submission, a picture taken from our backyard toward our garden with our field in the background.

It was taken last November, just as our winter snowfall was about to hit (you can see it coming down in the background). We were wildly trying to pick everything up in our yard, as we were shortly covered (in only a couple of hours) with 12 inches of snow, which lasted until our spring thaw in early April.

Here’s the first in a new series of contests & giveaways for some cool gear for your electronics.

First up? Two ultra-stylish ZoFunk Video iPod protective cases (No, they do not include an iPod!) perfectly suitable for your 60 or 80GB Video iPod. Don’t have one? Enter the contest and win the ZoFunk case for a gift for your friend or family member that does!

Contest Rules
I’ll make it simple for this one. Everyone knows that the iPod screens are notorious for scratching if you even look at them the wrong way. I want to hear your stories about how your iPod screen got scratched — Did you drop it? Did your existing case break? Did your cat chew on the screen (mine did)?

I’ll be selecting one winner based on the completely subjective opinion of which comment or post my wife and kids find to be the funniest/stupidest/most outrageous/most unfortunate/etc., so spend some time on your post and be creative (but honest!).

The other winner will be randomly chosen, and you can earn entries into the drawing four ways:

• 1 Entry
  Comment on my ZoFunk iPod cover review over at DVGadgets.com. This needs to be a real comment (i.e. not just a “Hey” or “Hi”, but a real entry about your existing iPod case, how your iPod got scratched, how cool these covers look, etc.).
• 1 Entry
  Comment on this post about the contest and how much you’d like to win the iPod case, or how your iPod screen got scratched.
• 2 Entries + Bonus Entry
  Post a story on your own blog about your iPod scratches or how much you’d like to win this iPod cover and link to the ZoFunk iPod cover review (2 entries). Earn an extra entry by linking to this contest page.
• 1 Entry + Bonus Entry
  Digg this contest page. Be the first to digg it and email me to earn an extra bonus entry!

Do all of these actions listed above, and you will get up to 6 entries into the competition. You can submit up to a total of three blog postings to get a total of 12 entries.

**IMPORTANT**
Please email me at lugnut22 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject “June Contest” when you are done and let me know which of the these activities you have completed (along with the link to your posts). If you don’t email me, you will not be entered into the contest!

Also, this contest is only open to residents of the United States who have blogs with over 20 total postings (i.e. no new blogs just for the contest!)

Get your post up by June 15th, and you’ll receive an extra bonus entry (for each post) into the contest! The contest will be closed June 23rd at 5:00 PDT, and the winners will be announced on this blog on June 26th.

Go have some fun! And check back in July for next month’s contest!

**Update 6/6 8:40 PDT** I do want to make it clear that this contest was completely inspired by Colleen’s two just-launched June contests over at GeakySpeaky (win a 1GB USB Flash Drive) and a Simple Kind of Life, (win both Pirates of the Caribbean movies).  I definitely recommend visiting both these sites and entering both of Colleen’s contests.  You’ll notice the contest rules to be very similar

Here’s a blog that covers free stuff that you can find on the Internet, ranging from Free CD-ripping software to free Guitar tuning software. The site used to just be one page of free stuff you can find on the Internet, but was then turned into a full-fledged blog in January. The blog is a good example of working to create good content and generate backlinks to your site - it was able generate a page rank of 3 after only 4 months in existence.

The blog is maintained by Adam Mutum, who lives in Malaysia. He also runs ah ok lah, who has a bit of a cynical view on making money through blogging. It’s a great (and funny) read!

**Update** I just got a note from Adam that he is now in the UK, and probably will be for some time.  Thanks Adam!

My Musings and Stuff is the primary blog home for Sharon, a fellow PPP blogger that hails from Texas.  She is a mom of two boys, and works at a telemarketing company processing credit card applications. Her blog is a mix of personal stories centered around her family, stories about her workplace, and her new dog Porthos (who will shortly be attending potty training classes at PetSmart — good luck with that!). Sharon is hoping to be going to college next year, in which case her blogging income should come in handy.

Sharon has launched a few other niche sites as she expands her blogging commitment.  With these other sites, she will have the opportunity to do more of what she finds to be fun and therapeutic - blogging!

Making Money Online with Sharon, appears to be just-launched site where she will be tracking her online money-making efforts.  Be sure to check it out as she gets it built out… it has a very clean design and should be a good site for people who are looking to generate some side-income through blogging. 

Technically Challenged will be a review site for everyday family gadgets ranging from video games to cameras, mp3 players and computer stuff.  Usually gadget reviews can be pretty technical or dry, so I’m looking forward to getting her point-of-view on new gadgets that she runs across.

Be sure to check out her sites and throw some comments her way!

Here’s my monthly rundown for my second month of Blogging for Money. Even with an unfortunate 12-day lapse in activity, I still managed to surpass my April Blogging Revenue. Here are the details.

$118.03 - PayPerPost
$26.00 - Bloggerwave
$10.00 - Blogsvertise
$7.51 - Google AdWords
$6.50 - SponsoredReviews

$168.04 - Total May Revenue

Now, of course there are some costs associated with all the activites as well:

$14.95 - TypePad Premium Blog Account (Monthly)

$14.95 - Total May Costs

So, with my May income surpassing my negative balance from April, I actually made some money (about $60) in my first two months of blogging. Certainly nothing to write home about, but it’s a start. I’d love to hear how your first two months went (or are going?) for you. Let me know!

**Update**

6/2 - InvestorBlogger.com just posted their May results.