Make Money Online

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

Category Get A Gadget Contest | 5 Comments »

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!

Category BlogNuts | 1 Comment »

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!

Category BlogNuts | No Comments »

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.

Category Weblogs | No Comments »

I’ll be on the road to Digital Hollywood in LA from June 11 through the 14th, as we will be exhibiting stashSpace.com’s high-quality in-network video-sharing solution for broadband providers.

Many of the cable & dsl partners we are exploring partnerships with will be speaking at the event, and we thought it would be a good time to expose more of the industry to our unique consumer offering in the personal video space.

If you happen to be attending the show, please stop by!  We will be in booth 11, and would love to talk with you!

Category Uncategorized | No Comments »

So I just found out that PayPal has two levels of Accounts, and in order for your account to receive payments from PayPal Website Payments or Instant Purchase for Auctions, you must go through the process of verifying your account.

This process essentially means that you need to enter routing and bank account information for one of your bank accounts.  PayPal will then make two small deposits in your account, which you must verify by confirming the amounts of these two deposits (this can take up to three days to show up in your online account).

Category Business Finances, Online Business | No Comments »

I read about it.  I laughed about it.  After all, how hard could it really be to find time to regularly post to your blog(s)?  But having just gone through a 12-day dry spell myself, I now know first-hand some of the issues that can arise and smash your best-intentioned schedule to pieces.

So what happened?  I would call it everyday happenings.  My wife’s schedule got busy with community volunteer events.  My personal work schedule got extremely busy as we are busy pushing our latest online video editing & sharing software launchlive later today.  Our kids’ baseball and softball schedule got extremely unfriendly, with practices and games on every weeknight, with no similarity between the two. Between all the driving, working and fathering, little (no?) attention was spent on my blogs, whether it be online research or writing. 

So I spent a little time this morning trying to figure out what I could do to resolve this issue to a) either have it not happen again, or b) if it does happen again, to keep the “down-time” as short as possible.  Here’s what I came up with:

1. Determine what your “Regular” posting schedule is for each of your blogs.
   Not every blog needs to have daily postings, let alone multiple daily postings.  Determine what is a proper schedule for your blog, and be realistic.  As I add new blogs to my schedule, I try to set realistic weekly goals.  This gives you some flexibility in when you post, and lets you feel good about meeting your goals.  After a 4-5 week starting period, you can adjust your schedule accordingly.
    
2. Spend dedicated chunks of time writing
   Unless you are a professional copywriter (and even then), writing can be a bit of a chore.  Writing good content can be even more difficult.  I’ve found two things to help me with my writing - spending dedicated chunks of time writing content, and writing about related subjects during this time.  This is especially handy if you have a number of blogs that have varied content.  Don’t forget to get everything setup prior to starting and try to avoid all distractions during this.
    
3. Write for posts 3 days from now
   Don’t feel pressured to get posts up “right now”, unless it is related to a breaking news story.  Many of your blog posts can probably be considered “evergreen”, and as such would be as effective 3 days from now as it would be today.  If you aim to have daily posts, write seven posts in one day (See #2 above) and then use your blogging platform to schedule the publishing of these posts over the course of a week.
    
4. Write shorter posts, followup later if needed
   Not every one of your posts needs to be a literary tome.  Quick updates, 50-word tips, a short review and link to a site of interest can all be ways to shorten your required “posting time” when you find yourself in a time-crunch.  If a post warrants a follow-up, you can always write it and reference your original post at a future date.
    
5. Use Paid Review sites or article sites to combat writer’s block
   Regardless of whether you participate in one of the Paid Review services such as PayPerPost, ReviewMe, or SponsoredReviews, or submit articles to a paid-article site such as Helium, I would recommend signing up for one (or more) of these services to serve as inspiration when your idea tank has run empty.
    
6. Review Press Releases for latest company information
   Press Release websites exist for many paid release services that companies use when launching new products or when they have news or information to reach the public.  You can review these press releases and search for terms relevant to your blog for ideas or to find news relevant to your readers.  PrNewswire, PRWeb and BusinessWire three of my regular stops.

Category Weblogs | 5 Comments »

Lunacy about Life, Dogs and Anxiety is how Cynthia describes this blog. It’s a great example of segmentation, as the topics of this blog (general anxiety and social anxiety) had previously been covered on her dog blog. Both are cleaned up now and more on-topic, which really should help both sites long term.

Cynthia currently lives in Salt Lake City, although she confesses she wants to move up to Southern Oregon or Washington State (I recommend WA, my home state myself). In addition to her blogging activities, she has also recently incorporated Utah Collie Rescue, Inc. My wife has always wanted to start a rescue operation for farm animals, but we’ve never been able to get it off the ground, so she has volunteered quite frequently for a wild cat rescue organization. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what Cynthia is doing down in Utah… keep it up!

Category BlogNuts | 1 Comment »

Blogging, Tech, and Making Money - “A Random Walk To Wealth” - is how Kenneth Dickson describes his blog.  Kenneth resides in Taiwan, and has been blogging since October.  He seems to be on the same path as I am here at Lugnut22, looking to make money by blogging and sharing his experiences along the way. He has three other blogs, but InvestorBlogger seems to be his key focus currently.

Kenneth seems to have certainly enjoyed some success since starting in October, with a PageRank of 3/4, an Alexa Ranking just about to break 100,000, and 40+ Fav’s in Technorati.  And he’s already earned close to $1,200 through his blogging activities, including PayPerPost and Text Link Ads.

One of his posts detailed a service - Smart Page Rank - that I had not yet been aware of.  It’s a quick and easy way to check a number of key rankings important to you as you try to improve your prospects of making money online.

Category BlogNuts | No Comments »

I just listed Online Video Sharing into the Sponsored Reviews system.  Unlike ReviewMe, SponsoredReviews.com only charges a 35% administrative fee.  They also require a 3 to 1 ratio of original (i.e. unpaid) posts to paid posts, which lends itself better to blogs that are primarily targeted toward adsense or affiliates for revenue generation.

If you need a review for a video or photo-related website, check out my profile on SponsoredReviews.  Online Video Sharing is a blog focusing on reviews and updates from Web 2.0 video sharing and photo-sharing start-ups, user-generated content, video-oriented social networking, and the technology that holds it all together.

Category Online Business, Web/Tech | No Comments »