My Journey To Passive Income

Trying Out OnlyWire

2009-01-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

I decided to try out OnlyWire 2.0...well...actually I bought a 1 year subscription for about $24 bucks. Onlywire allows me to social bookmark my articles, blogs and websites in a single click.

So why am I social bookmarking my articles, blogs and websites?

Backlinks. Even if they are nofollow.
Quick indexing. My projects get indexed almost overnight.

So, will it increase my link popularity and PR? Who knows. I'll give it a few months and find out. Right now it has done 1 thing for me...Onlywire gets me indexed FAST!

Google Releases SEO Beginners Guide

2008-11-12T13:42:00.000-08:00

Google.com has released their first ever SEO Guide for sites that want to rank higher in the Google SERP's. All the info is pretty basic, but it's always nice to make sure your site is properly optimized for the google index. After all, ranking high in Google is every internet marketers goal (besides making sales).

Our Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide covers around a dozen common areas that webmasters might consider optimizing. We felt that these areas (like improving title and description meta tags, URL structure, site navigation, content creation, anchor text, and more) would apply to webmasters of all experience levels and sites of all sizes and types. Throughout the guide, we also worked in many illustrations, pitfalls to avoid, and links to other resources that help expand our explanation of the topics. We plan on updating the guide at regular intervals with new optimization suggestions and to keep the technical advice current.

Squidoo Needs To Impose Affiliate Link Limits

2008-11-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

Think I'm crazy? Go to Squidoo.com and just take a look at how many Lenses are FULL of affiliate links.

Guess who's going to get slapped soon...yes, Squidoo will.

Google is in the business of promoting unique, creative and informative user experiences. Google does not reward sites that are poorly written pages with affiliate links after every 4-5 sentences.

Hopefully Squidoo will impose some outbound link limits like Hubpages. Link limits ALWAYS increase the quality of the content.

Nice List of RSS sites

2008-11-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.blogdigger.com/add.jsp (PR7)
http://www.blogpulse.com/submit.html (PR7)
http://www.feedage.com (PR6)
http://www.2rss.com (PR6)
http://www.blogstreet.com/bsibin/add.cgi (PR6)
http://publisher.yahoo.com/rss_guide/submit.php (PR6)
http://www.plazoo.com/en/addrss.asp (PR6)
http://www.feedbite.com (PR5)
http://www.rssfeeds.com (PR5)
http://feedraider.com/ (PR5)
http://www.feedsubmitter.com/ (PR5)
http://purerss.com/addfeed.php?catid= (PR5)
http://www.unclefeed.com/rss/addfeed.html (PR4)
http://www.feedsee.com/submit.html (PR4)
http://www.feed24.com/?c=add (PR3)
http://www.feedfury.com/ (PR3)
http://www.goldenfeed.com/AddFeed.aspx (PR3)
http://www.feedooyoo.com/ref.htm (PR3)
http://www.feedest.com/feedAdd.cfm (PR3)
http://www.rssmad.com (PR3)
http://www.feedbase.net/Add.php
http://www.rssmicro.com/?m=fs#theForm
http://www.rssmotron.com/feed_eater.php

Research For Unique Content

2008-11-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a profitable niche that is just...well...boring? You've been there before...every internet marketer has (and you probably there right now). I'm going to tell you how I write for subjects that I know very little about.

It's quite simple. I go to ezinearticles.com and search enzine for the topic that I need to write content on. I'll read about 3 articles and then write an new article based on what I learned from those 3 articles.

It's that simple. Now you have no excuse! Get out there are write some new content for you sites.

Want Massive Amounts of Traffic For Free? Here's How!

2008-11-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

I'm going to tell you how I get 2500 unique visitors a day to my 4 blogs....I write interesting and unique posts every day and Google sends me traffic...that's it. Getting traffic is not a secret, although many (if not all) internet marketers would like you to believe it is.

Getting a lot of traffic is not an overnight process...it can take months. When starting a new website or blog think of it as a bare field. Each post you write is essentially a seed being planted. A few months later...HARVEST TIME!!!

Dave's BookMark List

2008-10-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

Soggy Dave (BANS Guru) shot me a list of the bookmarking services that he uses. They are obviously DOFOLLOW:

Mister-Wong
Backflip
Spurl
Feedmarker
LinkaGoGo
MyLinkVault
Connectedy
SpotBack
A1 Webmarks
OYAX
TeDigo
MyPIP
SyncOne
Space-Ed
Yattle
To Tag It
Buzz Tagz
Wiggley Tagz
i89
Chipmark

Google Giving Affiliate Stores The Boot!

2008-10-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

Uggg...I'm frustrated today. I have 4 BANS stores that used found on pages 1-10 and 10-20 for their optimized queries for 9 months....now...all queries to those stores are found on the 100+ SERPS.

Let's look at these stores stats:

-5 content pages with 400 word articles.
-content on the main page (about 500-600 words).
-no ebay feeds on the main page.
-100+ solid back links.
-low competetion (about 10,000 competing pages).
-PR2's

So, looking at the stats above it would appear that i'm being "targeted" as a thin store affiliate. Are my sites thin? No, they have a lot of content. So why do I think they are thin in googles eyes...simple...people cannot make their final purchase on my site and are thus forward to another site for check out. Therein lies googles issue with my sites.

While this is frustating I understand Google's point. People come to a store expecting to buy a product there...not to be redirected.

So, what's the solution? Probably ditching the whole store thing and starting wordpress blogs with phpbay pro for each niche. Now we are just talking about products instead of selling them in a store environment.

What Is A Thin Affiliate?

2008-09-28T18:35:00.001-07:00

I must admit...I have a few online stores that would be considered being a "thin affiliate store"...and trust me...it shows.

So, what is a thin affiliate? It's quite simple...i think:

You have a store that features ads, feeds or widgets ONLY. Visitors are not offered anything that's unique and helpful.
You redirect customers to another site for checkout. An example would be someone clicking on your amazon widget. They can't purchase the product they are interested in from your site, however instead they have to go to a second site to complete the purchase (the merchants site). This is not exactly being thin, but it is a contributing factor for thin affiliates.

Affiliates cannot avoid #2...we are in fact...AFFILIATES, and we SEND traffic elsewhere to complete the purchase (and get our commision). You can greatly diminish point #2's penalty effect buy offering unique, usefull and interesting content to your visitors. This is usually where affiliates fail.

Why?

It takes time and a lot of effort.

Best Article Directories To Submit To

2008-09-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

1. EzineArticles

2. GoArticles

3. WebProNews

4. ArticleDashboard

5. SearchWarp

6. PubsACS

7. ArticleBase

8. Isnare

9. Buzzle

10. ArticleCity

11. IdeaMarketers

12. Site Reference

13. Article Alley

14. Web Source

15. Amazines

16. Submit Your Article

17. TheWhir

18. Excellent Guide

19. Directory Gold

20. Articles Factory

21. Content Desk

When you don't feel like writing...

2008-09-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

Just about everyone knows that article marketing is THE key way to drive massive amounts of traffice to your sites. The massive traffic comes from writing a massive amount of articles...good articles!

Sometimes life can get in the way or you can get just plain lazy. When this happens it's time to outsource your articles. I've been using TextBroker.com and I simple love them. Here is a quick overview on TextBroker.com

Open an account at textbroker.com
Create a project. I usually consider a project a website. Inside that project I can order any number of articles.
Request an article. Textbroker does not have a flat fee, however it uses quality levels which in turn determine the cost of each word. The range goes from .01 cents to .07 cents. (2 stars - 5 stars).
Decide how many words the article should be (for example between 250 min - 500 max)
Give the article a title, describe what the article should be about and how it should be structured.
Tell them when the article should be due (it's usually overnight for me).
You'll receive an email saying that your article is ready for review. You can either accept it or ask for an edit. Personally I've only had to ask for an edit one time.

My articles typically run about $6-7 for 400 words. I think it's a huge time saver that almost always pays for itself.

Commision Junction Rocking!

2008-09-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm doing fairly well on CJ.com this pay period...407.29!!!

People often overlook CJ when starting affiliate marketing and go straight to clickbank. Selling real products can be extremely easy, especially products that you know and believe in.

Study Sunday At Wealthy Affiliate

2008-09-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my Sunday doing Adwords research over at wealthyaffiliate.com. It's absolutely amazing what I learn from those guys over there. So, I put what I learned to practice.

I had one campaign that had poor quality scores across all the keywords with .30/click minimum bids in my adgroup (yes...i said adgroup). The solution for improving my Adwords quality score???

It was so simple...

Create ultra targeted adgroups (multiple adgroups). Each adgroup has 3 keywords. Here is an example below:

Adtext:
How To Protect My Identity
15 ways to protect your identity right now!

keywords:
how to protect my identity
"how to protect my identity"
[how to protect my identity]

So, what happened? My minimum bids dropped to .04/click!!!

What Is Bum Marketing

2008-09-06T22:30:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd share my main marketing technique: Bum Marketing.

The term "Bum Marketing" was coined by travis over at bummarketingmethod.com. It's simply based off the idea that you could pull a bum off the street...sit him down at pc...have him write a squidoo or hubpage that sells an affiliate product...and boom!!! Affiliate Marketing without spending a time

Now, it's usually not that simple. You still need to get traffic to that squidoo or hubpage. I'll go over that tomorrow...right now...it's time for a few cold ones :P

9/6/08 Summary

2008-09-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

I worked on my latest BANS site today. I got a lot done (about 3 content pages). I'm reading all of Travis's posts on Wealthy Affiliate because I need to really "bone up" on bum marketing.

Earnings: 9/6/08

2008-09-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

Earning for 9/6/08 were $35.99

SEO Checklist: Tips 2

2008-09-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Buy a $15 credit at digiXmass.com for directory submissions to about 1300 directories. Directory Submissions are really "old school" and google barely puts any weight on them at all, however every bit helps
Bookmark through socialposter.com. This includes nofollow.
Bookmark scuttle sites through Bookmarking Demon.

SEO Checklist: Tips 1

2008-09-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

I use various techniques for SEO when I start a project. Now, this project can be a:

Hubpage
Squidoo Lens
BANS Site
Wordpress Blog
Regular Website

It doesn't matter, I promote them all the same way. This is not a single post, but a living set of posts since I'll be adding to them as I learn and discover new ways to SEO (and improve on old ones)

Anyway, on to today's list:

Make sure my keyword density is about 3-4%.
My title tag should have the phrase that I'm optimizing for.
My title tag should have a strong call to action...gettem fired up!
My description tag should be keyword healthy, yet read naturally.
Add an H1 tag with the phrase that i'm optimizing for.
Add an H2 tag with the second phrase that i'm optimizing for (make it read naturally).

Earnings: 9/5/08

2008-09-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

The earning report for today was $21.40

uggg...epn sucks for me this month

2008-09-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's only the beginning of Sept but I've only made a whopping 4.20 on EPN (ebay partner network)...it's a stark opposite of August (I made $350.34 in Aug).

I hope this turns around soon...

Bookmarking Demon 4.0 To Be Released Soon...

2008-09-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from the developers of Bookmarking Demon. They stated that version 4.0 is going to be released soon (soon as in a few weeks i hope).

Here is a summary of BMD 4.0 according to the developers of Bookmarking Demon:

"Bookmark to 100+ Social Bookmarking Sites.
20 Main Sites + Scuttle Sites + Scuttle Plus Sites + Pligg Sites

Q: Why are some of the popular bookmarking sites not included?
A: Although there are many sites but most of them provide useless links.
Example: redirect links, hidden private profile page, no rssfeeds

Q: Some software claim to have 100+ social bookmarking sites too, what is the different between those software and BMD?
A: They do not have account creation feature. You have to manually create your accounts. They include a lot of foreign and niche related bookmarking sites which are not 'general'.

Add your own Scuttle Sites, Scuttle Plus Sites and Pligg sites
Besides having access to our own list of scuttle, scuttleplus and pligg sites, you can add your own into BMD4.

New Randomize Descriptions
Besides the current #break#, you can now mix it with { | }
For example: {Cheap|Best|Cheapest} Speed Reading {Guide|Course|Program}

If you use plr articles for your description, you can use our new smart #break# feature that will automatically break your description into snippets for bookmarking.

Bookmark to Random Accounts
New randomize feature to randomly select a % of the accounts for bookmarking.

Pinging Feature
When you create your bookmarking accounts, the Rss Feed of your bookmarking accounts will be placed into a new Ping tab. You can now ping your profile's rssfeed from BMD4. This is the final missing piece to the whole bookmarking process.

Hide your bookmarks with random sites
Now you can randomly grab urls from the internet to mix with your urls. This will hide your links and make your bookmarking account more legit. No other application has this feature.

Two modes available - Beginner Mode & Experts Mode

Multitread for faster bookmarking

No installation needed, BMD4 will now be portable (subject to changes)

Bookmarking Site Updates will be live, you no longer need to download new software

System Requirements:
.net2.0 framework
32bit OS machine
Windows XP, Vista (still testing)
(Although BMD4 is programed from a vista machine, we still need to do more testing with many different versions of vista)"

Shameless Selling

2008-09-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Almost every product link on my site will be an affiliate link. Com'on a brother has to make some sales. :P

Anyway, if you don't want to shoot me a commission on something I understand. If it's something I recommend I truly mean the product has served me well.

Yo!

2008-09-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name's Matt. I've been dabbling in internet marketing (making money online) for about 1 year now.

I started my online cash career doing arbitrage at parked.com. I was making about 300/day profit!!! I thought I was the king!!! ....well I was until Parked (err Yahoo) said no more arbitrage.

After my daily cash cow was...um shot...I vowed I would never depend on one online source of income again.

Fast forward 6 months later. I'm making a little bit of my online money now from multiple sources. Now, it's nothing like arbitrage money, but it's better than nothing.

In August I made $926.35 from EPN, Adsense and CJ.com...So, I'm no guru, but I'm learning.

Learning and keeping a record of my online money making efforts are what this blog is all about. I'm going to "spill the beans"... I don't have some wild secret to sell ya, I'm just going to write about my daily quest to earning extreme amounts of passive income online (and let me tell you...the only time it's passive is when your driving or sleeping!!!)

What I learn, you'll learn.