Most Visited Blogs that Earn Money

Problogger talks about some high traffic blogs that make a lot of money from Google Adsense and other affiliate programs.

1) Daily Kos - 443841 visits/day - Runs Blog Ads (15 currently running) ranging in price from $13000 per month for the premium position down to the classified position at $500 per month)

2) Gizmodo - 175706 visits/day - Runs a variety of Ads including an Affiliate program with CNET, a variety of private sponsorships and button ads, text ads using AdBrite ($400 per four week campaign). They also run Adsense ads on individual and category pages. Details on their Advertising Rates.

3) Instapundit.com - 129981 visits/day - Runs BlogAds (8 ads currently showing) - ranging in price from 6000 per month for the Patron Position to Classified $500 per month. They also have a Donation Button and Amazon affiliate links.

4) Gawker - 104460 visits/day - Runs a variety of sponsorship/banner and affiliate ads (CNET again). They also have AdBrite text ads available at a cost of $600 per 4 week campaign. More information on their Ad packaages.

5) Eschaton - 103837 visits/day - Running BlogAds (currently with 8) which range in price from $2500 per month down to $100 for a classified ad. They also include a donate button and see to be running an affiliate program with a book store.

6) Defamer - 91942 visits/day - Similar to the above Gawker blogs with CNET affiliate program, banner ads, text ads with AdBrite ($450 per four week campaign). More on their ad packages.

7) lgf: journey heaven is a funky moose - 82475 visits/day - Blog ads (currently running 10) which range in price from $2750 per month for the premium spot down to $800 for a second tier ad). They are also running Amazon affiliate and have options for donations.

8) Power Line - 62304 visits/day - Blog ads (currently running 11) which range in price from $1400 down to $450 per month. They also have an ad for an insurance company (could be CPM or could be affiliate ad). Lastly they have a store which sells merchandise (t-shirts, cups, caps etc).

9) Wonkette - 54963 visits/day - Similar deal here to the other Gawker Blogs with the exception of some BlogAds (currently running 10) ranging in price from $1700 per month down to $650 per month). Their AdBrite text ads are $150 for 4 weeks. They also sell Wonkette T-Shirts. More details on their ad packages.

10) www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish - 48804 visits/day - BlogAds (3 currently running) range from $3200 down to $250 for 4 weeks. Andrew also runs Adsense ads on a few pages, with a few Amazon affiliate ads and runs a successful ‘Tipping Point’ donations campaign.

11) Michelle Malkin - 45661 visits/day - Also runs BlogAds (six at present) ranging in price from $1900 to $650 per month.

12) The Smirking Chimp - 41947 visits/day - Runs BlogAds (2 at present) at a cost of $425 per month. They also run some amazon affiliate ads and a merchandise store.

13) The Washington Monthly - 41482 visits/day - BlogAds (4 of them today) cost $395 per month. They also have affiliate links for Amazon, Adsense ads and a Donate button. You can of course also subscribe to the print edition.

14) Go Fug Yourself - 38742 visits/day - BlogAds (7 of them) cost $275 per month). They also sell t-shirts.

15) Blog for America - 33746 visits/day - No ads that I can see - but you can make a contribution/donation.

16) HughHewitt.com - 26517 visits/day - Currently 5 BlogAds running - the cost of which is $1000 per month. You can also buy Hugh’s book via an affiliate link on the sidebar where he has a few other books linked to also. There is also a site sponsor banner ad and a tip/donation button.

17) Captain’s Quarters - 20817 visits/day - BlogAds (currently 23) cost between $200 for premium ads to $125 for second tier ads per month. They also have affiliate links (amazon) in their sidebar as well as a donation button.

18) Lifehacker - 19185 visits/day - Similar to other Gawker Blogs with a range of banner ads (some served by double click - impression based I guess). Details of their advertising.

19) Blogcritics.org - 16078 visits/day - This blog focuses heavily upon Amazon affiliate links (they are in every post). They also have 3 BlogAds ads at ranging from $700 to $210 per month. There are also a few other affiliate program ads scattered around their blog.

20) Wizbang - 15379 visits/day - BlogAds (2 at present) ranging in price from $500 to $100 per month. They also have a text link or two on the sidebar through AdBrite ($150 per 4 week campaign) as well as amazon affiliate links to books.

21) washingtonpost.com - White House Briefing - 15125 visits/day - Has a variety of ads including banner ads and text ads run via a number of systems including Overture, doubleclick etc.

22) The Volokh Conspiracy - 14337 visits/day - Runs a DoubleClick campaign at the top of its sidebar as well as a donation button.

23) Kim du Toit - Daily Rant - 14179 visits/day - BlogAds (currently 4) cost $140 per month. They also accept donations via PayPal.

24) PoliPundit.com - 14025 visits/day - BlogAds (currently 8) range from $280 to $140. They also run Adsense ads in their sidebar and some sort of impression based ad or affiliate program on individual pages under posts.

25) MyDD - 13964 visits/day - Blog Ads here cost $500 for premium ads and $100 for classifieds per month - they currently have two running.

26) Drudge Retort: Red Meat for Yellow Dogs - 13667 visits/day - This blog runs a variety of ads including Adsense Ads across the top of their blog and BlogAds (currently 3) which cost $200 per month.

27) Roger L. Simon: Mystery Novelist and Screenwriter - 13388 visits/day - Roger runs BlogAds (currently 3) which cost between $800 and $300 per month. He also has Adsense ads in his sidebar and affiliate links to his books as well as a donate paypal button.

28) Matthew Yglesias - 13353 visits/day - BlogAds here as well (currently 6) ranging in price from $220 to $130.

29) Crooks and Liars 12933 visits/day - BlogAds here (3 at present) cost between $230 and $75 for a month campaign. They also run Adsense Ads in the side bar, accept donations

30) Digital Photography Blog - 12518 visits/day - The most prominant ads here are Adsense ads on all pages. There are also Adsense Adlinks and is a Adsense Search Bar. There are also Amazon affiliate programs, BlogAds (2) at $107 per month, text links from $49 per month and other affiliate programs.

Understanding Google AdSense

Google AdSense allows webmasters to dynamically serve content relevant advertisements on web pages. If the visitor clicks one of the AdSense ads served to the website, the website owner is credited for the referral. Google's AdSense program essentially allows approved websites to dynamically serve Google's pay-per-click AdWord results.

Website maintenance related to AdSense is very easy and requires very little effort. Webmasters need only to insert a Google generated java script into the web page or website template. Google's spider parses the AdServing website and serves ads that relate to the website's content. Google uses a combination of keyword matching and context analysis to determine what ads should be served. The java script calls the ad from Google and will ensure that ads are served each time a visitor goes to the web page.

Early on Google implemented a filtering system that allowed webmasters to prevent a specific domain's ads from being served on any websites in their account. Ad blocking meant that webmasters could prevent their competitor's ads from being dynamically served on their websites.

Google provides a wide variety of ad formats to match the most suitable option with a website. Webmasters can select from a handful of preformatted towers, inline rectangles, banners and buttons. The ad boxes can be modified by webmasters to resemble the website's color scheme. Examples of how different the various text boxes and color schemes appear on similarly themed sites can be viewed at:

* http://www.ring-tone-software.com (scroll to the bottom)
* http://www.ringtones-central.com (scroll to the bottom)

or

* http://www.police-central.com (download left side)
* http://www.police-supplies.com (scroll to the bottom)

Ads can be geo-targeted based on the visitor's location. Advertisements containing content in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, or Spanish are all available.

Channels

Google recently introduced channels, enhancing AdSense reporting. When a channel is selected Google modifies the java script to include additional tracking. The additional tracking information allows webmasters to track a variety of metrics across their sites. Channels can be used to measure performance on various domains, differences in revenue with various ad sizes, or placement. By assigning each group of pages to a specific channel and comparing results in custom channel reports webmasters can work at increasing their AdSense revenue.

Optimizing

Google determines the content of the ads that are shown, webmasters serious about earning revenue from Google AdSense can use the following guidelines to optimize their website and ensure that targeted and relevant ads are served. If Google's spider has not crawled the site and determined the nature of the content, public service ads may be served. Public service ads will not accrue any AdSense revenue if clicked. As a result Google allows webmasters to designate alternate ads. Alternate ads allow webmasters to utilize the ad space in the event that Google is unable to serve targeted ads to the web page. By specifying an alternate image, HTML page, or ad server the advertising space can always being used effectively.

1. Web page content on pages that ads are served should be static not dynamic.
2. Ensure that the robot.txt does not prevent the web page from being spidered. Robots.txt file's will need to be removed or the following text will need to bedded to allow Google's content bot to crawl the site: User-agent: Media partners - Google
3. If the website contains frames, select the ‘framed page’ checkbox when generating the ad layout code for that website.
4. The body of the page and title of the page should contain contextual words that indicate a common theme on the web page.

Revenue Earned

Although Google doesn't disclose the exact revenue share or percentage that webmasters will earn, webmasters will receive a portion of the amount paid for clicks on Google ads on websites.
AdSense Conclusion:

Overall, Google AdWords can provide great supplemental income to webmasters with content sites. Implementing and maintaining Google AdSense program on a content site requires very little effort and can often bring a steady stream of additional revenue for webmasters.

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com, and http://www.small-business-software.net

Why should I display Google AdSense ads on my web site?

Why would you want to earn a few cents or dollars per click from displaying Google AdSense ads on your web site? Can you really make good money from this source of revenue? Well, multiply those clicks for every page on your web site and you will build a monthly residual income with very little effort.
What is Google AdSense?

Here is an excerpt taken from Google's FAQ:

"Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant, text-based, unobtrusive Google AdWordsT ads on their website's content pages and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your users are looking for on your site, you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages".

How much you earn per click depends on how much the advertisers are willing to pay. If the keywords the advertiser has chosen are in high demand you could receive several dollars per click. Alternatively low demand keywords will yield a few cents per click.
How does Google AdSense work?

1. Sign up for a new Google AdSense account at https://www.google.com/AdSense. It only takes a few minutes.

2. Once your site has been accepted (usually within one day) you will receive a snippet of code to include on your web pages. You can insert this code on as many pages or web sites as you like. Google AdWords will start appearing almost immediately.

3. You earn a few cents or a few dollars per click when someone clicks on the Google AdWords displayed on any of your web pages. Don't create revenue falsely by repetitively clicking on your ads. This will result in Google penalizing or possibly eliminating your site. You may also lose the money you already earned.

4. Viewing your stats - you can check your AdSense earnings anytime by logging into your web-based account. Here is what you will see:

Impressions - how many times Google AdSense ads have been displayed on your Web page.

Clicks - the number of times an ad is clicked.

Clickthrough rate - the percentage of times an ad is clicked, out of the total number of impressions.

Your earnings - how much you have earned from Google so far.

5. Google will send you a check every 30 days when you earn $100.00 or more. You will also receive payment at the end of the year, regardless of your account balance.
Who is Google AdSense for?

Content-based web sites - google advertisers want their ads on web pages that contain highly targeted keywords. This enables the Google search engine to easily spider the site, plus engage the visitor in the web page content. This better prepares the visitor's mind to then click on the Google AdWords ad.

Theme-based web sites - create a web site that focuses on highly targeted keywords. These should be keywords that are often searched for (high demand) but don't have too many competing web sites (low supply). For more information on this topic read my article ""How to begin to make money online" (http://www.isitebuild.com/moneyonline.htm).
How to increase your AdSense earnings

1. Choose one topic per page - write content for your topic with a few targeted keyword phrases. Google will then serve ads that are more relevant resulting in higher clickthroughs.

2. Use white space around your ad - this will make your ad stand out from the rest of your page so visitors can easily view it. Google also provides different colors for your ad so it will harmonize with the web page color.

3. Test out your ad placement - Google recommends using the vertical skyscraper format that runs down the side of your page for optimum results. Try testing both horizontal and vertical formats over a period of time to see which format gives you the best results.

4. Create more content-based pages - expand the theme of your web site by creating pages that focus on your keyword phrases. Optimize those pages for the search engines. This will not only attract traffic to those pages but make them more relevant for Google AdWords to be displayed.

5. Site Built It (http://buildit.sitesell.com/webselling83.html) - the perfect tool for creating lots of AdSense Revenue. Site Built It provides all the tools necessary to quickly create keyword-rich web sites that rank high in the search engines. This will produce a flood of traffic to your site of highly targeted visitors.

My Personal Experience - "Since I added Google AdSense ads to the article pages on my web site last month (http://www.isitebuild.com), I have earned a nice residual income. Since this extra revenue was unexpected, I am grateful that I took the time to implement the Google AdSense program".

Conclusion - give Google AdSense a try by writing keyword-focused pages based upon the interests you are passionate about. You will not only enjoy writing about them, but earn some extra cash as well.
Resources

Google AdSense FAQ https://www.google.com/AdSense/faq#start1

Site Built It http://buildit.sitesell.com/webselling83.html

Herman Drost is the author of the popular ebook "101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site" http://www.isitebuild.com/web-site-promotion Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original articles. mailto:subscribe@isitebuild.com. You can read more of his in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles

You can reprint this article (if not stated otherwise above) on your website or publication with notice and a link to http://www.zongoo.com

Google Adsense - making sense

Google Adsense

You probably see claims everyday that will let you retire with no effort in just a few weeks (or even days). There is no doubt that you’re skeptical and you should be.

Believe it or not, though, Google has come up with a way to boost your income with very little effort on your part.

First, let me find out if this is right for you. Do you already have a web presence? In other words do you have a website up? Do you have AT LEAST 20-30 pages of good content on that site? Are you getting AT LEAST 100-200 visitors per day?

If you can answer ‘yes’ to those questions, you may well be a great candidate for Google’s Adsense program.

As you know already, Google is very good at making sure the web surfer finds what they are searching for. You probably also know that Google has implement an AdWords program that allows you to advertise relevant websites right next to the normal search results that they provide.

Well, the AdSense program takes that advertising one step further. You are now able to put highly targeted ads on your website and make money whenever someone clicks on those ads. The term ‘highly targeted’ means that whatever your web page’s subject, Google will place ads on that page concerning that same subject. Your visitors will love the options that you give them.

Once you are approved for the program, you only need to put a small amount of code on your targeted pages and voila, you have provided quality search information for your web site’s visitors. When you’re ready you can sign up here: http://www.google.com/adsense

As simple as the process is, there are a ton of tips and ideas that have been proven effective through vast trial and error. We rely on an incredibly helpful resource in organizing AdSense ads on our site. Check it out at: http://www.build-passive-income.com/cmd.php

There are no ‘get rich quick’ schemes, but if you’ve done the work and have a website with good content and traffic to match, you can boost your earnings significantly with Google’s Adsense program.

Remember, be good to yourself and never underestimate the power associated with the intensity of your passion.

Copyright 2005 Foreman Enterprises
by Scott Foreman Build-Passive-Income.com
mailto:scott@build-passive-income.com

Adsense Blocks

Google has recently made some changes in their AdSense program, and webmasters, busy as they are,

may not be aware of all the AdSense news. For those who don't know, AdSense is the Pay-per-click (PPC) revenue sharing program offered by Google to webmasters who run primarily content-oriented sites. The AdSense program offers a way for these webmasters to generate revenue where they couldn't in the past.

After signing up for the program, webmasters place a bit of code on their web pages where they want to display AdSense. Google's technology determines the subject matter of the page, and displays relevant ads on that page. If a visitor clicks on one of the ads, the advertiser pays Google, and the webmaster receives a share of the proceeds.

One of the biggest changes is that webmasters can now have multiple "blocks" or units of AdSense on their pages. Since the program started, Google has allowed only one block, but they now allow up to three per page. This means webmasters can get three shots for a visitor seeing and clicking on an ad. The blocks don't all have to be the same format - you can choose from any of several formats available, and all can have different border, text, and background formatting. You are able to specify alternate ads for each unit. In cases where Google's software isn't able to determine a theme to your page, Google will display Public Service ads. However, webmasters can choose to display their own ads, such as for affiliate products, instead.

As with most things, you'll need to test formatting, placement, and other variables to see which combination brings the best click-through rate for you, whether you use one, two, or three AdSense units.

I use AdSense a lot on this web site http://www.theezine.net - Just a slight hint for you.

About the Author

John Calder is the owner/editor of The Ezine Dot Net.
Subscribe Today and get real information YOU can use to help
build your online business today! http://www.TheEzine.Net

Boosting Google Adsense earnings

Google AdSense is a great way for webmasters to monetize their websites. While many webmasters are struggling hard to earn $3 - $10 per day, some 'genius' webmasters have already enjoyed $30, $100, and even $300 a day from AdSense ads on their websites. How are these 'genius' webmasters differ from their counterparts? They think different! They think out of the box!
Let me share with you some tips which has been responsible in boosting my AdSense profits by 700%. Here are 5 of them, and if you follow these steps, I'm sure you'll see a difference in your AdSense income.
Here are the tips:

1- I concentrate on 1 format of AdSense ad, which is the Large Rectangle (336x280). This format has been proven to work with me in resulting high click-through rates (CTR). Why this format? Because the ads look like normal web links, and people are trained to click on these types of links.

2- I create custom palette for my ads. I choose white as the color for the border and background. This is because, all of my pages have white background. The idea is to make the AdSense ads look like they are a part of my web pages.

3- Previously, I put all my AdSense ads at the bottom of my pages. One day, I moved those ads to the top of the page. The result surprised me. My earning increased! Since then, I don't hide my AdSense ads anymore!

4- I maintain some links to other relevant websites, and I put my AdSense ads at the top of the links, so that my visitors see them first.

5- I automate the insertion of AdSense code into my webpages using SSI (server side included). You'll need to ask your web administrator whether your server supports SSI or not. Here's how to do it. You just put the AdSense code in a text file, save it as 'adsense.txt', and upload it to the root directory of your web server. Next, call the code on other pages using SSI.

This trick is really a time saver especially for those who use automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.

Search Engine Guide with tips for web content

Search Engine Guide has 7 Tips for Generating Effective Web Content which might help those wanting to improve their quality of content:

1. Write customer focused content that appeals to your audience.
2. If performing SEO - Focus on writing for the human reader first and search engines second.
3. Find out what your target audience’s are really searching for.
4. Tips for triggering idea generation
5. Creating content that speaks to a specific audience
6. Remember to include strong calls to action
7. Search engine optimization the stress free approach

Google and their new Optimization Tips page

Google have added a sitemap to their Optimization Tips page to give publishers a few ideas as to what positions on your site might be best for Adsense Ads and profitable of course.

‘Certain locations tend to be more successful than others. This “heat map” illustrates these ideal placements on a sample page layout. The colors fade from dark orange (strongest performance) to light yellow (weakest performance). All other things being equal, ad placements above the fold tend to perform better than those below the fold. Ads placed near rich content and navigational aids usually do well because users are focused on those areas of a page.

While this heat map is useful as a positioning guideline, we strongly recommend putting your users first when deciding on ad placement. Think about their behavior on different pages, and what will be most useful and visible to them. You’ll find that the most optimal ad position isn’t always what you expect on certain pages.

For example, on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the end of the editorial content tend to perform very well. It’s almost as if users finish reading and ask themselves, “What can I do next?” Precisely targeted ads can answer that question for them.’

Yahoo!’s Travel Submit Search Marketing Program

With the re-branding of Overture into Yahoo! Search Marketing, Yahoo! released a new program named Travel Submit. Travel Submit allows the travel industry (airlines, rental cars, hotels, vacations, cruises, and so on) submit “detailed listings of your travel offers and deals will be featured in highly relevant areas across Yahoo! Travel, giving you access to a vast audience of motivated travelers and targeted leads.”

In fact, they are pushing this Travel Submit program by giving “free clicks through June 15, 2005!” (see the bottom of the page). A WebmasterWorld thread named Yahoo Travel is expanding, where a member wrote that Yahoo! emailed him “discussing expansion of Yahoo Travel and that they’d like one of our sites to be a part of it.”

Via SearchEngineJournal

Get Paid to Search the NET (netbux)

Don't know it is true. Just saw this site while
auto surfing with 2daily.com

The Netbux site lets you make 40 searches a day
and you can earn USD $0.02 per search that you
and your referrals make for up to 40 searches
per day, per person. So if each referral maxed
their paid searches out per day and you had
only 10 referrals, you would earn $264.00 per month.
They just launched on April 7th, 2005

Terms for making money

There are many reasons why a search that you queried may not have been a paid search.

- You only get for 40 searches per day.

- You search must be unique from previous searches on that day.

- Your searches must be 15 seconds apart (changes).

- Your search must contain real words.


Wanna try ? Why not. Nothing to lose.
Register at Netbux now

If you read about this website somewhere else, do
email me at colbert74 @ yahoo.com

Thanks

Colbert

The Super Guide for Mobile Java Games,Ringtones and Mobile Technology
http://www.TheSMSGuide.com/

Bloggers making money with RSS Feeds

Saw this on Problogger.net

You can now make money on RSS feeds. Cool stuff. I guess Adbrite is the first ad network company to do this.

It looks like Adbrite (an ad network) and Feedster (an RSS Search Engine) have decided to team up to provide ads to bloggers.

They’ll be offering three options for running ads on your blog:

1. Ads directly on your blog
2. Ads in your RSS Feed
3. Podcast Advertising (not available yet).

The Affiliate program that pays 10 Cents Per Click! Updated.com

Earn money per click with the Updated.com Affiliate Program

How much money do you earn for every click your Website delivers?
# Earn an average of 7 to 10 cents per click depending on your traffic volume.
# Earn 5% from other Affiliates when they signup from your Website.


Do you have a Website and would like make a profit from it?

The Affiliate program that pays
10 Cents Per Click! new!

How To Get People To Click Your Affiliate Links

I was just having lunch with a friend of mine who is working on a new affiliate program. She seemed very excited about it, and as we ate our delicious cold lobster salad she gave me all the details. I began asking her a few questions, and as the creme brulee arrived she admitted that she's been a little disappointed with her sales. "It doesn't make sense," she groaned to me over her latte, "It's not like I'm trying to sell long underwear in the Bahamas. I'm offering the hottest widget of the moment for 10% less than anyone else on the web, and I've already linked my site to several affiliates, but no one's buying. What am I doing wrong?"

We went over the basics: good product, good price, good web site, good affiliates. "It's got to be something," I said, "what's your linking strategy?" She told me that she was using three different banners, and assured me that they looked really nice. "They're probably great," I assured her, "but the fact is, no matter how nice they are, they're still banners."

So what's wrong with banners? Nothing really, except that they've become a little too common and people have started to ignore them. If you do use banners, you've got to make sure they're eye-catching and professional. Try using rotating banners as a nice improvement on the basic. These banners download alternate images from a group each time the page is accessed, making the ad look a little different each time. Use rotating pictures of the different products you offer. This is a nice effect which might grab the attention of a repeat visitor who ignored you the first time.

Another effective link is the customer testimonial. Take a quote from a satisfied customer and use it as a sales tool. Ask someone who's been pleased with your business if you can quote something nice they said, or just ask them to make a statement.

Set it in an attractive font with your URL link at the bottom and have your affiliates place it on their page. People will be more inclined to read about someone else's experience than they would be to read an ad, and you'll get more business.

If your affiliates need website content or if they distribute an ezine, you may want to supply them with an informative article about your business. This should not be a blatant ad, but an informative article that the customer will benefit from reading whether they buy from you or not. Something effective might be a short piece about emerging trends in your line of business, and how you are responding to those trends. Close the article with a small business blurb and your URL link. People like reading new information, and you'll find you get a lot of clicks. And don't worry if you're not a good writer. Talk to someone at your local college English department. You may find excellent student writers who are willing to work for pizza. If you're not near a college, browse the web. There are all sorts of inexpensive writing services available online.

You can also supply your affiliates with a catchy signature file that links to your business. Write two or three lines about why your business is great. Try to be a little witty. Include your URL link at the end. Dedicated affiliates could use this sig file to close e-mail with, and you'll find yourself with even more business.

What it boils down to is this: you've got to be proactive with your selling program. You can't expect a very basic set-up to make you rich. People are getting more and more web savvy all the time, so you've got to surprise them with something original to get them to go to your site. If one thing isn't working keep trying something else until you get it right. If you spend even a little time tweaking your link system, you may just find your sales skyrocketing.

About the author:

Keller Flynn knows about Super Affiliates and what it takes to find or help create them. Keller also knows the full spectrum of tools, ideas and action steps needed to create and run a successful affiliate program. Reach him at keller@affiliatedirector.com or 801-328-9006. Get his Extra Money Newsletter FREE at http://www.AffiliateDirector.com to learn more about how YOU can profit from the affiliate boom

Make money with Ringtones here

Earning Extra Income With Affiliate Marketing – Having Your Cake and Eating it Too!

By Bill Schnarr

Affiliate marketing is the single fastest growth industry on the Internet. Yet many people go into it without a solid recipe for success. Indeed, many look to earn extra income with affiliate marketing with no real plan, and that can severely hamper their efforts at becoming successful at it.

Make no mistake, although affiliate marketing can be an easy and fun way to earn additional income, it is work, and just like any other job, requires effort, perseverance, and above all, a clear line of sight from start to finish line.

Things like setting up your home office properly, getting some know-how, setting realistic goals, making connections, and investing in your business will not only ensure that you have a leg-up on your competition, but it will also ensure you are firmly standing head and shoulders above them.

Setting Up Your Home Base

Perhaps the most important first step you can take to becoming a professional affiliate marketer is to set up your home base – that little home office you’ve always dreamed about!

There are many good articles on the internet about ergonomic design, and with good reason. Anyone who is going to be spending a large amount of time on their computers needs a space that promotes good posture, positive environments, and takes care of safety issues revolving around the office workspace.

The best place to start might be to head down to your local Home Depot and touch base with a professional sales representative. They are trained to show you how to set up a first-rate ergonomic office while saving you some serious cash.

Ergonomics is the science behind preventing office workplace injuries, and office designers now make tables, chairs, and desktop accessories that reduce stress on your back, limbs, wrists, and tendons, and reduce stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome which can occur from long hours of doing small repetitive tasks.

You’ll want to start with an ergonomically designed desk that puts everything within easy reach, a good computer with a screen that won’t hurt your eyes, non-glaring lamps placed far enough away that your eyes won’t be soaking in light while you are trying to work on the computer screen, and a chair that is comfortable and promotes circulation to your legs and rest of your body.

Of course, having the greatest home office in the world won’t matter if you don’t take the next step to becoming a successful affiliate marketer: getting some good, professional training.

Learning the Trade

Nobody goes onto a worksite cold. You can’t walk into a restaurant and expect to become the head chef just because you dressed like one that morning. And no construction company in the world is going to put you in charge just because you want the extra money but lack any real training.

The trick, then, is getting some professional training and learning how to become a professional affiliate marketer.

The first step in this road to success is to find a professional affiliate marketer and see what they can do to help you get on your feet and get moving. Thankfully, there are a few affiliate marketing pros out there who supplement their income by fulfilling another dream for many of them: being able to teach their trade to other enthusiastic marketers and passing their collective knowledge on to others.

In fact, simply typing “Affiliate Marketing Training” into www.yahoo.com or some other search engine will find dozens and dozens of sites promoting quality affiliate marketing conferences that you can attend.

One of affiliate marketing’s brightest stars and biggest success stories is James Martell, and chances are pretty good that if you’ve looked into affiliate marketing at all you’ve seen his name pop up more than once. His downloadable home-study course and twice monthly audio newsletter for students of his program make him the good place to start looking for a great course and learning the inner workings of affiliate marketing.

Become a student of the business. Start by setting some realistic income goals and working to achieve them.

Setting Reachable Goals

One problem with some affiliate marketers is that many tend to overshoot both their skills and their plans by setting unrealistic income goals and becoming disenchanted when they are unable to attain them.

Certainly a goal of $5,000 a month is attainable, but the first time affiliate marketer is most likely not going to make that kind of money when they step into the ring for the first time.

Make no mistake; $5,000 dollars a month is a goal that can be achieved through affiliate marketing, but beginners should look for something more modest. Start small. Start with, “I’m going to earn an extra $50-$100 a day, by learning how to create my own great looking websites, that get free traffic from the search engines, by taking the time to learn how to do it, from someone who already does the same thing.”

As an income goal, it’s certainly achievable, and you would be doing yourself a favour by setting aside the extra time you will need to learn how to do things right, the first time. Like any skill, it takes time and experience before you really get good at what you are doing.

Set goals and get used to setting them often. Set up daily goals for little things. Set up weekly and monthly goals to work toward even larger goals. Get used to writing your wants and needs on paper, and then actively working toward those goals. You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll be amazed at how much something as simple as a “to do” list can help you focus your energy and become better at your craft.

There’s a great book out about goal setting called “Goals: Setting and Achieving Them on Schedule” by Zig Ziglar. Take a look at it if you feel you could use some extra help in this department. In fact, set a goal to purchase the book and read it if you have to!

Another important goal for you to set: if you are really looking to augment your earnings with affiliate programs, or plan on becoming a full-time marketer, you have to get out there and make connections.

Making Connections to Your Future

By all accounts, the professional affiliate marketing community is a tight-knit group of people who are constantly in contact with one another.

There is a large amount of information sharing, helping one another as a support group, and a general belief that by pitching in and helping out everyone can be successful in their new role as an affiliate marketer and learn from each others mistakes.

It would be extremely shallow to suggest getting out there and making friends simply to help your business along, and people tend to not look kindly upon those who do (and we all know someone like that, don’t we?). Instead, get out there and introduce yourself. Start by seeing where you can help others with their business, and in return people will be more inclined to help you when you need it.

Get out there and enjoy yourself, and get to know these people personally. You won’t only be better off from a business standpoint, but your life will be far richer for making good friends who can relate to the trials and tribulations of your business woes and successes.

Just being able to relate to like-minded people will relieve tons of work stress. You will always be able to discuss your new career and problems you are facing with people who understand what you’re talking bout and don’t simply see your job as “foolin’ around on the ‘puter”.

Of course, they’ll have no choice but to take you a little more seriously when you invest a little money and a lot of effort in your own affiliate marketing business and really make your image shine.

Investing in Your Business is Believing in Yourself!

It’s a well known truism that states, “It takes money to make money.” These words couldn’t be truer in the world of affiliate marketing.

Although affiliate marketing is relatively cheap to set up as a home business, there are still some costs involved in getting up and running smoothly. Things like home office accessories (remember that trip to Home Depot?) Can set you back large sums of money depending on how far you are willing to go at once.

There are also costs involved within the industry itself. For example, finding affordable web space ($8-$15 per month) and registering your own domain names ($10-15 per year) does add up.

You will also need to look at web site template options if you hope to save time by having your websites “pre-planned”. Low-cost templates, such as those found at www.affiliate-marketing-templates.com can greatly affect the way others view your site. Is it professional? Is it clean? A good web development company selling low cost affiliate website templates will be able to accomplish all of this and more.

You are also going to want to invest both time and effort into setting yourself up with quality content. Writing for the web is a skill that takes practice and patience, like any other, and must be clean and easy to read while still fulfilling the needs of your affiliate site.

You can always go out and find professional writers to do this for you, but remember that they can be costly and deserve to be well-paid for their services. After all, they are going to make or break your web site!

Investing in your affiliate marketing business is more than just covering costs, though. It is really about you stepping up to the plate and making a commitment to become a success. It is an investment in your own success, as well as an investment in your future.

Hopefully, this article has given you some ideas about the direction you need to take in order to earn extra income as a successful affiliate marketer. Remember that it takes time to become succeed at anything. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You’re affiliate marketing business isn’t going to be built in a day either.

Just keep at it, and before long you’ll have people coming to you for advice on how to get started.

For more information, see www.work-at-home-net-guides.com.

About The Author

Bill Schnarr is a single parent and freelance writer who works from his home in Calgary, Alberta. As well as having dozens of online and print publishing credits, you can also look for him in the upcoming "Chicken Soup for the Single Parents Soul" due out in February 2005.

Get your site on Become.com - Largest USA Search Engine

Web's largest search engine for U.S. shopping information. 3.2 billion pages from 40 million sites.

That's what they claim. Is your website listed in there ?

http://www.become.com/

Targeting Through Tagvertising

Steve Rubel talks about the latest hot thing to hit the Blog universe.

Tagging is catching on because it is a natural complement to search. Type the word “blogs” into Google and it can’t tell if you are searching for information about how to launch a blog, how to read blogs, et cetera. But using del.icio.us you can bookmark this page or subscribe to its RSS feed. Then, everyday you will find the latest interesting links consumers are finding and sharing about blog marketing. Now imagine you run a blog marketing consultancy and you want to advertise to users who follow these tags. This is what’s we’ll see this year as tagvertising takes hold.


Tagvertising = Blogging. Check it out

Googlest.com - Top Paying Google Adsense Keywords

Search engine marketing blog covering search engine news, resources and tactics including SEO (search engine optimization), blog marketing and online public relations. Posts by Lee Odden

This site will post the Top Paying Google Adsense Keywords. Not sure if it is daily updated or weekly updated.

Max CPC cost-per-click suggested by the tool to get first ad position on this keyword. This is a good estimation of what the highest cost per click is for the given keyword.

Avg CPC average cost-per-click suggested by the tool for highest bidder. Because ads are rotated and bids are automatically lowered to match the next ad, this is the average cost than the highest bidder would pay for one click. This is a good estimation of your average cost for one click.

The CPC rates are guaranteed to be the same as returned by Google Adwords Traffic Estimator tool on the day of compilation.

http://random9.com/Googlest-site/index.htm

Colbert

http://thesmsguide.blogspot.com/

A Online Marketing Blog with Daily Search Marketing News

This is a great blog for online marketing news.

Search engine marketing blog covering search engine news, resources and tactics including SEO (search engine optimization), blog marketing and online public relations. Posts by Lee Odden

http://toprank.blogspot.com/

6 Profitable Blogs from the NET

Jim Buie takes a brief look at Six Profitable Blogs including:

• Instapundit earns $8,000 to $10,000 a month in ad revenue - 220,000 readership
• AndrewSullivan.com raised $80,000 in one week
• Back-to-Iraq 3.0 - raised $15,000- 25,000 readers
• DailyKos - earned $100,000 in revenue in 2004
• Jeremy Wright - $3500 from ebay auction
• BoingBoing.net - 240,000 daily visitors - undisclosed earning

Source : Problogger.net

4DAILY.COM Review - Auto surf program

4 Daily is an autosurfing program, that pays you 4% of your principal amount daily, for surfing 40 sites. When you first sign up, you receive a $4 account to earn from. This account may be upgraded by depositing money, or earning money from surfing to upgrade. All users receive credits from surfing to use to have other users surf their sites.

4 Daily has a fairly good layout, and looks professional, and the autosurfer has been very stable for me. There is a 20 second page viewing time when surfing, so you can get your 40 sites surfed in less than 15 minutes. Since you can leave your computer while it is surfing, this short amount of time is only beneficial if you are paying for a dialup connection. The auto surfing is bug free, and easy to do. The one disadvantage to this program is they do not guarantee payment if the server is down, and you cannot do your surfing.

Customer service is mediocre at best at 4 Daily. They provide a contact form, but they take a while to reply. There is also a FAQ, but this cannot help you if you have a specific question. The only other way to get help is the forums, where other members may be able to provide assistance. 4 Daily need to be easier to contact for help if they want to attract new internet users.

The 4 Daily forums are a link to all the users of 4 Daily. These forums have few rules against negative comments, or anything for that matter. This provides a non censored environment, which is good for getting the truth, but can be a little daunting, and hard to find real information.

4 Daily was started October 2004 and has now been paying out on the 15th of every month for 6 months. So far it has been fairly stable, but with the high percentage, and no other businesses to support the payouts, it may not be around for ever. If you do upgrade your account, the upgrade only lasts for 50 days. This is not as long as other programs, so it may not be so good for long term earning.

Overall, 4 Daily has a good program for the moment and I would recommend joining now, before it is over. If you are going to upgrade, just remember it is not guaranteed so spend no more than you can afford.

SIGNUP FOR 4DAILY NOW

StudioTraffic Review - Auto Surf Program

The main premise of Studio Traffic is you surf other members sites, and then receive 1% of your account amount daily. When you first sign up, you receive a $10 account to earn from. This account may be upgraded by depositing money, or earning money from surfing to upgrade. All users receive credits from surfing to use to have other users surf their sites.

Studio Traffic has one of the best layouts, and is by far the easiest to navigate out of the sites I have seen. There is a very informative members page, where you can view your stats, and start the surf4spots program. The surf4spots application just runs in another browser, and surfs the amount of sites needed, displaying a new one every 20 seconds. This program is error free, and is a very painless way to earn your 1% daily. If there ever is a day that you cannot access the auto surfer do to a sever problem, it is declared a holiday, and you will be credited as if you surfed.

Customer service is very important in any business, and Studio Traffic takes a very professional approach. You may submit a ticket with your question at any time, and they are usually replied to within a day. There is also a live help desk where you can chat with a representative 24 hours a day.

The Studio Traffic community can be found in the forums, and as you can see there are always at least 50 people browsing and answering questions. With the best customer service and a forum that has over 500 new posts a day, you can rest assured your questions will be answered

Studio Traffic has been paying out to members on the 1st of every month for 2 years, the longest of any program of its kind. The outlook is very good for these payments to continue, because of Studio Traffic's innovative ways of funding. There are many other Studio programs offered that are a large source of income.

Overall Studio Traffic is the easiest to use, and most reliable paid surfing program available, and since it is free to join, there is no excuse not to.

SIGNUP FOR STUDIOTRAFFIC NOW

Internet Marketing Resources Review

I usually visit a few websites that provides me with tons of information regarding Affiliate Programs and Internet marketing. I will post it here for the benefits of my readers. Thanks

Here they are :

1. Affiliate Programs by Allan Gardyne .
The definite guide to Affiliate and Associate Programs. Someone who is making tons of money off the Net but lives in a small town in Australia. Cool. You can save tons of money on cheaper food and no traffic jams.

2. ProBlogger.
Darren Rowse makes $100,00 a year writing 17 blogs. Great site to learn more on making money with blogs.

3. MarketingExperiments.com
MarketingExperiments.Com is a member of the MEC Labs Group and a division of Digital Trust Inc. MEC is an online laboratory with a simple (but not easy) five-word mission statement: To discover what really works. The Lab tests every conceivable marketing method on the Internet. Their experiments range from three to eighteen months, and they involve budgets ranging from $4500 to $100,000+. They are often surprised, and sometimes embarrassed to discover just how much they DON'T know about marketing. Through their research, they have been fortunate to collaborate with many of the Net's leading thinkers. This site has some excellent research publications and they just announced that the infornation is now freely available.

4. How to Blog for Fun and Profit
By T. L. Pakii Pierce. Want to read blogging guides and how-tos? This is the guy to visit!

5. Charlie Page's Internet Marketing Blog
Information, tools, tips and tricks to help you succeed online

6. Search Engine Optimization Tips by Darren Rowse
SEO Tips Information and News: Free Search Engine Optimization Advice

rss feed

New Affiliate Program called Zabang

Zabang, new source of traffic and income.

It seems that for the past several months, Mike Glaspie has been working quietly on a new project. (And btw, YOU are literally one of the very first to hear about this, so if you want a piece, it is YOURS for the taking!)

Mike is putting the final touches on a series of sites that are going to revolutionize the search engine business. The cornerstone site of this project is a "tier 1" search engine called Zabang.com, and it's ultimate goal is nothing less than to topple Google itself from the search-engine throne.

The technology is already in place. Everything is thought out and all the pieces put together. And soon, Mike G is going to launch this to the world. But before he does, YOU have the chance to get in on this NOW! I don't know what could be a more "ground floor" opportunity than this.

Of course it remains to be seen wether or not Mike will succeed, but he has an outstanding track record. Even if it doesn't get as big as he claims it will be, it's a very interesting project.
Here's why.

Now search engines have been done, but they all have one big problem for people like you and me... they don't provide any incentive to the marketer.
For example, if you tell someone to go look something up on Google, who benefits from that? Why, Google does! Google gets the traffic,the viewer sees their ads that their advertisers pay them for, and so on.
What do you get? Squat!

Mike wants to change all of that. Zabang is built from the net marketer up, instead of from the "computer techs" down. (And yet, search results are blazingly fast... AND relevant.) See, Mike knows how to penetrate a market fast and big... reward others BIG TIME for doing it for you! Through ZabangSolutions.com (the site that manages the Zabang affiliate program), you'll get a FULL TEN PERCENT commission on every pay-per-click or sponsor purchase made by those you refer... for the LIFE of the customer. Yes, that's right, I said the entire life of that customer.

Refer someone just once (using banners, links, or the Zabang search bar on your site) and you could easily be paid over and over again for years!

But it doesn't stop there... you see, ZabangSolutions offers a two-tier affiliate program. (Now this isn't M.L.M or network marketing, it's just two tiers.) This means that whenever you refer someone to Zabang and that person then becomes an affiliate like you, anyone THEY refer goes under you also, and you'll both get commissions from that customer... the affiliate you refered gets 10%, and you get a 5% override commission!
Again, for the LIFE OF THE CUSTOMER!

But not "just" a search engine!

You know, I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts. Mike is also creating a companion site to Zabang called ZabangMail.

ZabangMail.com will offer 100% spam-free, free email accounts, the best this state of the art technology has to offer to-date. And they don't use filters. They have their own proprietary technology for eliminating spam from your in-box. Users of ZabangMail.com will never have to worry that mail they want to receive will be filtered just because it contains words or phrases that couldn't pass through. And because ZabangMail.com is their own ISP they give guaranteed whitelisting to all publishers.

Now remember (and this is important), ZabangMail.com is a companion to Zabang.com. Each one will promote the other. ZabangMail users will have a tag message at the bottom of their email just like Hotmail, just like Yahoo, etc. But this one will give a brief blurb about searching Zabang.com, but with a twist... are you ready? The URL in the tag message at the bottom of all user's email will also be (if elected) the affiliate's link for Zabang.com! Think about it... get just a few people to sign up for ZabangMail, and every single email they send out will have YOUR affiliate link in it! We're talking major cross promotion, and hyper viral marketing. It truly is going to be huge.

So drop what you are doing right now and get pre- registered for the two-level affiliate program. At the very least, you get guaranteed "indexing" (i.e. listed in the search results at Zabang.com) as an affiliate (which is a HUGE benefit). Then, you'll be emailed an invitational letter with your link dropped in so you can send it along to your closest contacts. They'll keep accurate track of your referals and when ZabangT launches, you will have complete stats of all your referals and commissions earned.

Click here to sign up for Zabang for free!