Make Money Online

w.I’ve determined that my initial approach forward with blogs will be to segment my blogging into a few different niche topics.  I also arrived upon a domain name — lugnut22.com — for this blog to go along with it’s title, Making Money Online.  Why lugnut22? That’s a story for another time, but it has been my handle on the web for some time.

So what will my initial topics be? They are unfortunately not very similar, which would be an advantage, but fit the profile of what I think most people would be able to handle when first starting off.  Here they are:

1. http://www.KrummeFamily.Com
   My Personal Family Blog.  Does the world really need another personal blog?  In my case, yes.  With the relocation of one of my companies (stashSpace) to the Methos Valley - a remote rural mountain valley in North Central Washington - my family moved ~250 miles away from our closest relatives, and find little time to get across the mountatins for visits.  This will be a quick and simple way to keep them all updated on our activities.

   In addition, your personal blog is a great general platform to be able to write just about anything you might want to blog about.  A trip to the local zoo or aquarium can also include more general background information about the facility to make your post more informative.  Your family might just also get more variety in their activities — you won’t want to go to the same place more than twice!

2. http://www.Online-Video-Sharing.com/
   This is a personal blog about an industry that has been my life for the last 7 years.  My two companies have been involved in online video since 2000, long before anyone ever heard of "User Generated Content".  This blog will include information about Online Video companies, products and services; Video Tips and Tricks; Photo Sharing Tips and Tricks; and Video editing and storage services.
3. http://www.sailing-the-northwest.com/
   This is a blog about a long-time hobby of mine - sailing.  Growing up, my family spent 6 weeks each summer on our sailboat, and during my college years I managed a Sailing Club and raced 4-5 days/week over a five year period.  This will be my "hobby" blog.
4. http://www.funforafamily.com/
   This will be the family blog about activities that families can do together.  After all, part of the appeal of striving to earn money online is to gain more control over your personal life.  This blog will let the whole family feel like they are part of the process, and will give us some undisturbed, scheduled time each weekend to spend time together.
5. http://www.lugnut22.com/
   Wait, that’s this blog!  Well, this space will be where I document all my different approaches and track my results and lessons learned through this journey.  During the first few months, the blog may be a bit disparate in nature, but after getting these other blogs established and full of content, I will start to compile my various experiences and lessons into month-by-month activities, checklists and approaches to succeeding online.

I do have a desire to start another blog on a topic on which I am not an expert, but have an interest in.  I have not yet decided what this (or these) topic may yet be, but I will most likely hold off on starting it to make sure that my initial blogs are well-populated and get off the ground quick.

Category Weblogs | No Comments »

Do you find yourself often going off-topic with posts in your blog, or posting something you knew was not in-line with the rest of your blog’s content, but you just had to post it?  You may be losing out on ad revenue if your AdSense ads follow you and show off-topic ads as well.  Luckily, there’s a solution.

Section Targeting for AdSense let’s you tell AdSense which parts of your text should be emphasized or ignored when matching ads to your site’s content.  This let’s you go off-tangent occasionally with your posts while keeping your ad targeted.

How do you implement Section Targeting for AdSense?
The good news is that it’s a simple process, but you do need to use a little bit of HTML (I would say that basic knowledge of HTML is a necessity for anyone serious about blogging online).

You would insert the following tags before and after your desired section to emphasize for AdSense:

<!– google_ad_section_start –>
This is the section of your blog that you want AdSense to emphasize, and should be contained in this space between the start and end tags.
<!– google_ad_section_end
–>

If you have a section within your post that you want AdSense to ignore, add a (weight=ignore) to the start tag like this:

<!– google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) –>
This is the part of your blog post that you want AdSense to ignore.
<!– google_ad_section_end
–>

Using Section Targeting for AdSense will not result in immediate changes to the ads being served by AdSense on your site or the page on which you used Section Targeting.  It can take up to two weeks before their crawlers will take the Section Targeting into account.

While you can have as many AdSense Targeted Sections on your blog as you’d like, you do want to make sure that the majority of your site’s content is contained within the section targeting tags.  Section Targeting for AdSense is NOT a good way to try and get specific high-value keyword ads to appear on your site.  It is against AdSense program policies, and may also result in less-relevant ads or PSAs (Public Service Announcements) appearing on your page.

Category Google AdSense, SEO | No Comments »

Signed up for my Google AdSense today, and put my first adsense ads on the blog (over to the right).  When you sign up, you’ll want to read many of the resources that Google has available for you, including Google AdSense optimization tips, the Google AdSense Blog and Common Questions about Google AdSense.

The AdSense application was quick and easy.  You just need to identify the url of your primary website, and provide some personal address & tax information to be able to receive payments.  Your first payout will come after you’ve reached $100 (How long will this take?).

I am currently just implementing AdSense for cCntent, meaning that ads will show up that Google deems relevant to your site’s (or a specific webpage’s) content.  I will most likely implement Google’s Adsense for Search soon, but that is a lower priority for me.

Category Google AdSense | 1 Comment »

My last post indicated that I was going to be moving forward with my favorite blogging platform — TypePad — but I may now also give some consideration to moving my family blog(s) to Blogger and/or WordPress as well.

Why am I doing this? The answer is simple — Search Engine Optimization. Search engines (Google especially) put special importance on inbound links and their relevancy. But they also seem to be able to detect multiple links coming from the same IP address and don’t count these as highly as multiple links from different IP addresses. By maintaining different blogs (each with their own domain name, of course) on three different blogging platforms, and interlinking them through my blogroll, these inbound links will carry more weight.

Additionally, since I control the linking method, I will also be able to customize the "Title" tag in the outbound link to embed keywords in the link (WordPress includes this field as a default part of their linking method), as well as review my various blogs in relevant posts on each of the other blogs. This will help in establishing relevancy for each of the inbound/outbound links amongst my blogs.

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So I’ve spent the last two days exploring different blogging platforms that will suit my needs in moving forward. In the end, I ended up keeping this blog to what I hope is its long-term home at TypePad. It seems to be the blog platform of choice for many bloggers, and has a whole host of customization options that should suit me in moving forward.

In reviewing platform, I reviewed Blogger (Google’s platform), TypePad and WordPress. Here’s my run-down:

Blogger
This is where I started this blog in January. Fairly easy setup, and free. For the casual or non-professional user, I think this is a great place to start. Why? There just are not that many options for you, which means that it is simple and hard to get confused. You can also point your own domain to your blog for further customization. Blogger recently launched new improvements, but still seems to be a bit behind its competitors.

Pros
- Simple and Easy-to-use
- Not confusing
- Can point your own domain name to your blog

Cons
- Limited upgrade options or advanced features
- Limited number of stock themes/layouts

TypePad
I have run the blog for stashSpace and Online Video Sharing on TypePad, am currently subscribing to their Pro-level account, and have been quite happy with their service. Indeed, I plan on using their service for my projects moving forward. They have an abundance of themes available for selection, offer domain mapping, have widgets readily available for incorporation into your blog, and have overall been easy to use.

Pros
- Many available templates, easy to customize
- 1 GB of storage and 10 GB monthly bandwidth ($14.95/m)
- Unlimited blogs
- Domain mapping
- Guest authors

Cons
- Confusing dashboard navigation (small issue)

WordPress
This is the blogging platform of choice for Robert Scoble’s Scobleizer and Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch, and a quick glance at the feature set shows you why. Advanced features abound, and the process for posting is quick, clear and easy. Their free product is full-features, you can have multiple blogs and their credit-based purchase system for add-on features let’s you pick & choose to add features as and when you need them. I also look forward to comparing their built-in statistics tracking to what is available through Google’s free analytics.

However, their free product does not allow for any advertisement — Google AdSense, Amazon, or other — which is an obvious roadblock for my whole purpose being here.  There is not an upgrade option either to allow for advertising, without upgrading to their $250/month VIP program.  What was a very appealing platform is now a discarded option.

Pros
- Many available templates, easy to customize
- Pay for features as/when you want them
- Unlimited blogs
- Domain mapping
- Nice statistics tracking

Cons
- No advertising/affiliate upgrade option

Category Weblogs | No Comments »

While researching Pay Per Post, I came across another site — SponsoredReviews.com — which seems to be a take-off on PPP, with a twist.  Rather than having the advertiser set the price of a post, SponsoredReviews allows bloggers to set their own price, and have advertisers come to them.  Alternately, bloggers can look to a list of opportunties and decide for themselves whether the price being offered is worth the effort.

The lowest price of a review seems to be $10, although a post through SponsoredReviews will theoretically take more time to generate than for PPP.  On the positive side, SponsoredReviews requires disclosure on all posts, as well as a 3:1 ratio of non-paid content to sponsored content.  I couldn’t find if there are any limits as to the number of reviews one could conduct per day.

Category Sponsored Reviews | No Comments »

So I registered for Pay Per Post (PPP) last week, and have been excited about getting started with them.  I will be posting disclosures with each paid post or review, and placing these under a new category "Sponsored Reviews", along with any other appropriate tags. In reviewing the Terms of Service, there are a couple of points that you need to make sure you understand prior to moving forward with PPP. 

First, you can’t just start a blog and start generating paid posts.  PPP requires that your blog be aged a minimum of 90 days, and have at least 20 original blog postings prior to submitting your blog for approval.  So if you’ve been considering jumping into online blogging to make money, start as soon as possible so that you can start the clock ticking.  This time will also allow you to get experience with your blogging platform, and get used to posting to your blog on a regular basis.  I know that come April 1st, I’ll be submitting this blog for approval to get started.

Second, understand that you will most likely not make a lot of money with PPP.  While there are opportunities that pay in the $15 to $50 (or more) range, they are usually reserved for established blogs with high Page Ranks or Alexa Rankings.  The majority of opportunities that seem to be available for the more "Run-of-the-mill" bloggers are in th $7 to $10 range.

Third, you cannot establish a blog for the sole purpose of being paid to post.  PPP has a limit of three paid posts per day per blog, and requires to have non-paid posts placed between the paid opportunities.  This means a minimum of 6 posts a day per blog, for a maximum of around $25/day or $500/month for a 5-day work week (remember, the goal here is flexibility, right?).

Finally, PPP requires that either each post carry a disclosure, or that you have a site-wide disclosure policy regarding the acceptance of financial considerations in return for blogging about certain products.  I think that I will actually do both, to ensure that my readers can easily discern between my normal posts and paid posts.

Category Sponsored Reviews | No Comments »

I’ve been debating how much work I should be doing prior to my April 1 launch (Only 1 month away now… Yikes!). The reality, however, is that I need to hit the ground running, so I’ll be including this month’s activities in a "Pre-launch" section.

So what am I doing this week? Call it laying the groundwork for the basics of building an online blogging business. In otherwords, I spent the day creating accounts with the companies that I will use in this venture, including:

1. PayPal
   I’ve never had a PayPal account before today. I have never bought or sold anything on eBay, and have always counted on credit cards to take care of me everywhere else. I have found today, though, that most online services will take credit cards for payments, but online make payments via PayPal without charging an egregious processing charge.
2. Amazon Associates Program
   I plan on doing a lot of reading over the upcoming months to learn everything I can about social networks, blogging, motivation, sales and a multitude of other products. But the key reason here is to be able to promote specific products through my other network blogs. It should prove interesting to see what my readers purchase through Amazon…
3. Google AdSense
   Seems like AdSense needs to be the first stop for anyone wanting to make money online. Contextual advertising is their forte, but their recently added video advertising may prove to be an engaging medium for the readers.
4. Google Analytics
   Still need to set this up in my blogging platform, but having good Analytics is a must for knowing where your readers are coming from, and what they are reading. This will help you prioritize new content as you move forward.
5. PayPerPost.com
   This new company has received a lot of flak in the online community (read TechCrunch coverage), but I believe it pays a critical link in hooking up advertisers with promoters, provided that appropriate disclosure is provided in all paid posts. We’ll see how it works from an income-generating standpoint.

Category Online Business | No Comments »

Since making the decision to take a break and use existing online tools and programs to make money online, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from family members who just can’t understand my motives. Have I prepared for this? Are our savings sufficient? How can you possibly support yourself? What will you do when this fails?

I’ve realized that these same questions (and undoubtedly many more) may arise from potential readers of this blog as well. While future posts will detail a bit more of my background and my current financial position, I want to give you more of an idea of what this journey is and is not.

1. This is a part-time effort.
   I will be approaching this journey as a part-time effort. I want to show that you can earn good money online without dedicating every waking moment to your effort.  I will be dedicating a maximum of 10 hours each week to Lugnut as I build out this model, and hope to demonstrate that with focused effort, you can achieve success in short order.
2. I will not just be creating a blog about how to create a blog.
   I will be using this blog to chronicle my online activities, and certainly hope that I will be able to generate some income from it. However, I will be building out other blogs/sites around certain areas of interest that will take up the majority of my efforts. I will detail these more as I get closer to launch.
3. This is not a short-term experiment.
   My intention is to make this a life-changing event. After having spent the last 10 years building 3 businesses, I’ve realized that I’ve missed much (most?) of my family’s development. My marriage has certainly taken it’s hits as well. While I certainly expect much of the first three months to be a whirlwind of activity (starting new businesses usually are), my hope is that my kids will shortly be able to experience their father without a laptop on his lap during most moments of the day!
4. I don’t have a huge nest egg or savings to support the start of this journey.
   I would not wish my current financial position on anyone. Credit Cards all maxed out, and collecting 34% to 39% on over $10,000. Over $100K in friends & family loans from the last 7 years of building businesses. To top it off, I’m sure my credit score is in the tank (This will be another post), so any traditional business loans are pretty much out of the question.Make no mistake, I need to start generating income from Day 1 in order to make this work. I estimate my current monthly "nut" to be in the neighborhood of $5,000 to $6,000 (our house payment is roughly half of that at $2,500/mo).
5. This will be a learning experience.
   Yes, I have a background in PR and Marketing. Yes, I have owned and operated an Internet consulting firm that has built and deployed large e-commerce solutions for large corporations. However, I will be learning much as I move forward, and getting dirty in the areas of Search Engine Optimization, Affiliate Marketing and Social Networking. I will document it all through this blog in the hopes that I can show others a path to success.

Category Online Business, Self-Employment | No Comments »

So the decision has been made. April 1, I will be adding a new activity to my place - blogging.

I have long held the belief that with passion and follow-through, you can use existing online business opportunities to replace your current income and create more freedom for your family. After 10 years of building online businesses and consulting for other businesses, I am excited to be proving this belief to myself.

This will not be a full-time endeavor.  I hope to be able to track this process online through this blog to provide (hopefully!) a blueprint on how people who currently have a job can replace or supplement their income through online publishing.  I will hold a strict 8 to 10 hour/week time limit for this activity.  My other companies - StashSpace (and to a much lesser extent, Online Video Service) take up most of my waking hours, especially as we have been experiencing tremendous growth and opportunity over the last six months.

Category Online Business, Self-Employment | No Comments »