Thirty Day Challenge Update

Tomorrow I will post the final numbers for the 30 day challenge. I'm not going to release the URL of my blog because I plan on doing one more test with it.

The biggest thing I learned this past month was about getting traffic. I am amazed at the amount of targeted traffic I am getting to that blog for very little work,

So over the next 7 to 10 days I am not going to touch it. I did a post earlier today and that will be the last one for at least 7 days. I'm not going to drive any traffic to that blog and won't even think about it until then.

I want to see what happens to the traffic if I do nothing.

Monday I will start a new project for September. I am going to do many of the things that we did in the 30 day challenge. But with a Lazy Bum spin.

The plan is to spend no more then 10 minutes a day, 6 days a week working on this new project. Using the techniques we learned in the 30 day challenge I will pick a niche, start a blog and work on building content. Much like the 30 day challenge I am not going to spend any money doing this.

The total time needed for my new project is 4 hours.

Stop back tomorrow for my results from the 30 day challenge.

Michael

Blogging For Money vs. Working For Minimum Wage

Friday Thoughts.

Today I was thinking about blogging for money and how it compares to a minimum wage job.

Travel

Obvious benefit here. A blogger can work at home, no travel required. A minimum wage worker may spend 10-20 minutes per day on travel to and from work.

Hours

Another obvious benefit. A blogger can work whenever they want for as long as they want. A minimum wage worker may have some say over their hours. But for the most part will be required to work within a set range of hours for a pre determined amount of time.

For my example the minimum wage worker is going to work 20 hours per week and the blogger 5 hours per week.

Competition

I am going to call this one dead even. A blogger has competition in their niche as well as competition for regular readers. A minimum wage job worker has to be as good as or better then his or her co-workers.

Money

This is where we compare a known figure (minimum wage) to a guess (blogging). There is no way to say how much a blogger can earn or will earn. There are too many factors involved. Please consider this an example for example sake, not for fact.

A minimum wage worker currently makes $5.85 per hour USA. Not counting taxes, travel costs and stuff like that that comes to $3276 for 20 hours per week after 28 weeks.

On the other hand a blogger working 5 hours per week could in theory make $912. The $912 is a small AdSense income, plus $10 per day from Pay Per Post starting on the 91st day. In the beginning effort is spent on generating traffic and writing posts, after the 91st day time is split between paid posting, generating traffic and regular posting.

After 28 weeks the blogger will be earning over $6.50 per hour with proportional growth up to $11. Since you can only do 2 posts per day on Pay Per Post I am using $10 per day a maximum.

To break past the $11 per hour and 1 hour time limit barriers other forms of marketing and income would need to be added to the mix.

Please don't take this example as a guarantee or fact.

Final Thoughts

In the end the blogger has at least one blog that is now an asset and the knowledge to do it all again. While the minimum wage worker only has some on the job experience.

Before You Start

Don't quit your day job. Like I said this is an example not a guarantee. It takes work to get a blog running with content and traffic to have value. Try blogging after work hours on a free blog for a little to get your feet wet.

Michael

uVme Social Network Pre-Launch

I joined uVme today based on a recommendation from Andrew Bailey.

uVme is a combination social network, instant messenger tool and online games all in one. Falling right in line with this blog there are ways you can make money from this new website.

When you join, check out the "Ways To Fortune" link. The marketing materials section is worth checking out even if you are not interested in promoting their site.

I'm off to look around the site some more. Consider joining uVme today and see what all the Buzz is about.

Michael

Contact System For Bloggers

I am still working on the comment system. The major functions are working, but I don't have a registration system in place to allow bloggers to create their own contact form yet.

So for right now I am looking for testers to help test the Contact System. Just click on Contact Michael. Don't forget to include your URL so I can set-up an id for you.

First let me say that yes the design needs some work. I am more of a programmer then I am a designer. My number one priority is to get the thing working then I will work on the design.

As I mentioned earlier today I am going to have 2 versions of the contact system for bloggers & site owners. The Free version will have advertising on the page and on the reminder email that includes a link back to the message in case they forget to copy it. Additionally the free version will have a limited number of daily messages allowed. At this point I don't know what that limit will be.

The paid version will have no advertising and allow for more customization of the landing page design. There will also be no limit of how many messages can be exchanged.

I think this will work out great by allowing blog readers to contact a blogger without having to post a comment. Because of poor email delivery the design I am using will eliminate email getting marked as spam.

Future enhancements are already charted out on paper. Thanks to all those who are helping me test this!

Michael

About Me - Next Steps For Blogging

After going over the "How To Improve Your Current BLOG Content" process mentioned on Tuesday I came up with a list of sites that I am going to get rid of.

Some of the sites many not have any value to sell, but you don't know if you don't try. Here is my plan.

1) Make a list of all my websites and blogs (done)

2) Make charts of my passions as mentioned on Monday (current step)

3) Identify my sites and blogs that match my passions

4) Delete or sell my sites and blogs that do not match my passions

5) Build up my sites that match my passions

I will go into more detail on selling websites later. There are a few things that you can do to get more attention. But I need to test something first before I go an tell you to do it.

Later tonight I will have a post about the Contact System I am working on. There will be 2 versions. A paid version and a free version. More details to follow and everyone who wants to test will get a reply from me this weekend.

Michael

Do You Sell On Ebay - Doba Can Help

I like to sell stuff on Ebay. The only problem is getting the stuff to sell.

Currently I go to auctions and buy stuff to sell on Ebay. It is fun, but not easy when there are collectors in the audience bidding against you. Not to mention it can take a couple hours until you get enough stuff to make the trip worth the effort.

This is where Doba comes in. Doba is a product dropship and wholesale source. That means you don't have to buy any products before you sell them. And since they dropship for you, there is no shipping involved either.



This is what I am looking for and why I was concentrating on digital products. There is a 7 day free trial. Ebay is running a great discount on listing fees until the end of September, so now is a reat time to start.

Michael

Reply To Some Comments

Thank You for all the comments.

Yes, I am considering letting the blog/website contact system be free with a linkback. At this point I am testing my code to work out the bugs before releasing it to beta testers.

Just click on the Contact Michael link to the right if you need to contact me. If you would like to be a beta tester for my contact system, please use the contact Michael link to the right and give me your URL.

Now about increasing PR of your blog. This was a great comment posted earlier this week. Without knowing the site in question I can't make any specific suggestions. In general what I would do would be to spend some time doing link building.

Michael

New Contact Me System

I am still working out the kinks, but here it is. If you would like to contact me but not leave a comment on this blog I now have a contact form.

See the Contact Michael link here and to the right.

This will take you to my software development and testing site. I'm going to do a redesign one of these days.

Instead of using email I decided to use a database and threading. Like old form posts and comments. That way messages don't get lost in email.

After posting a message to me you will be given a link to get your response. Just save that link and check back in a couple days.

Like I said the program is still under construction, so please let me know if you find any mistakes.

Once development is done I will need a few beta testers, then it will be released for any blogger or webmaster to use on their site for a small fee.

Michael

GPS Systems For The Lost Traveler

I travel for business at least twice a year and for fun another 2 or 3 times a year. I can honestly say that every business trip I have gone on I got lost on the way. The last trip to Las Vegas was an exception because I only had to drive to the airport. I took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel and the conference was in the hotel.

One of the things I am seriously considering purchasing is a GPS system.

On the last trip to Louisiana one of the guys had an older GPS System and it is amazing how cool those things work. We didn't get lost and could re-route our trip when we got stuck in heavy traffic. Something we could not have done with a print-out from Yahoo Maps!

Tigergps.com guarantees the lowest prices and your purchase is protected by the Yahoo Buyer Protection Program. They also have same day shipping.

Now to decide between a handheld unit or one with a little bigger screen. I like the Garmin nuvi 660 Portable because the traffic receiver is built in. This can be added on some of the other Garmin units if you want one with a smaller screen.

Check out Tigergps.com for GPS Systems at great prices.

Michael

How To Improve Your Current BLOG Content

How many BLOGs do you own? Or should I say, How many BLOGs do you update daily?

The quickest way to improve your current blog content is to stop creating content on topics you don't care about.

For the topics you don't care about either get rid of the blog or hire someone to do the content for you.

Look over your list of websites and blogs. What do you really care about, what is your passion.

Try this little exercise and see if it helps. Even if you only have one blog you may want to do this to help come up with a posting topic schedule.

Draw a circle on a piece of paper. In that circle write down your favorite hobby or a topic you are really passionate about.

This part is a little harder and may require some extra thought. What categories can you discuss on the topic you choose. Take for example a passion about "Save Money" that I did for my SaleBum website.

My sections for that site at a high level are Coupons, Auctions and Rewards. From there I can break down into weekly topics like I do for this blog.

I like saving money, going to auctions and surfing the net to save money. These topics are easy for me to talk about and something I do naturally when talking to people.

Now list 4 themes related to your topic and come up with a basic title for each of the categories identified in the previous step.

You now have an outline of about one months worth of content for your blog. Can you come up with 4 themes and content for your categories each month? If you can then great, if not then you may want to re-think starting or continuing a blog on that topic.

Now apply this process to your existing blogs and websites. Stop back Thursday to see what I plan to do with the sites that I am not passionate about any more.

Michael

Working On Your Passion

The blog post for tomorrow is almost done.

I wanted to do a quick update tonight because I just finished listening to a new audio book. This book is going to hold my #2 spot for books you need to read.



One of the things Donald says is "What Are You Passionate About?". Right on target for the topic this week. Without a doubt the answer to that question can have life long implications if you don't pursue your passion.

Leverage was another point that really hit home. I talked about leverage in the past and will do more in the future.

My wheels are turning. I am anxious to take some relaxation time to align my focus and plan my business future following my passion.

The book in my #1 suggested spot remains The 4 Hour Work Week. It is almost a contradiction, but the two books do work well together. The power is in the system.



Read both and experience a change in your life and in your business!

Michael

Thoughts And Inspiration From Karl Moore

Over on Karl's blog you will find special days "Random Act Of Kindness" on Monday and the "Friday Factoid".

Thoughts And Inspiration From Karl Moore is an interesting blog with commentary on various topics with an inspirational angle.

I enjoyed the post from last Friday where Karl talks about sprucing up your environment to create an inspiring atmosphere. The post ends with "Enjoy... Love your room, love your life!".

This is a very positive blog covering topics that can benefit everyone.

Looking over some of the links on Karl's blog I see that he does radio interviews. You can even listen to Karl's favorite music as you read the blog posts.

If you need some inspiration or if you are inspired but want a fresh take on things, I highly suggest that you check out Karl's Blog.

Michael

Sticking To Your Passion

What do you like to do and what are you good at? I have found over the years that it is much easier to write content on a subject that you are passionate about.

Many of the blogs and websites that I created just for the purpose of making money now site idle. The One Penny Project blog now has almost 400 posts and will soon be one year old. This is a huge accomplishment as many bloggers stop regular posting within 3 months.

Looking back at my past blog and website creations, the ones that are successful are based on topics that I am really interested in. For example the One Penny Project is not about making money. It is about testing ideas on how to make money.

That is why I keep adding new blogs and websites into the project each month. Using blogs to make money is great because you can start a blog for free. I try to test ideas that don't require a large investment of money or in many cases (like free blogs) don't require any money. I enjoy testing money making ideas and reporting on the results here. That is why this blog continues to grow each month.

Tomorrow on the Blogging Tips post I will discuss how to improve your current blog content.

Find out how to Turn Your Passion Into Profit

Michael

Weekly Recap - Week Ending August 26, 2007

Welcome back to another weekly recap. Next Sunday will be a monthly recap including income and expense reporting.

I am working on some new money making projects for September. There will be an announcement on Thursday that will impact September income. Hopefully in the positive direction.

Last night I did a video recap of the week, but decided not to post it. You could skim this page faster then watching the video. I will use video in the future to add value, but not for recaps.

on Monday I started the week of with our discussion on How to comment for more traffic. This is a great post. I expected more controversy in the comments. Looking back, comments were a little light this week. Could be many people were away on vacation before school starts next week.

Tuesday continued the comments theme with some blogger tips for proper commenting.

I broke through the Technorati 100 this week and also made an important post about PayPerPost needing bloggers for a project.

Stop back on Monday for another great week. The topic is one that I know has broad appeal, yet high importance to bloggers.

Michael

Protect Your Online Identity

How many times have you been surfing on the net only to see an ad on the screen with Your name on it. I have even seen ads with my name and city.

Advertisers are getting smarter at identifying who is on websites and targeting ads using what they know about you. Even worse, scam sites that we don't know about are tracking visitors.

At http://www.hide-my-ip-address.com/ they developed a special web browser to help people protect their identity online.

The hide IP address feature protects you from being identified online. Even the www.hide-my-ip-address.com site can't tell who you are when using their custom browser.

This special browser can even run on a USB drive so that you can be protected no matter where you connect to the internet.

Protect your identity from thieves, advertisers and prying eyes. Check out the hide my ip address browser.

Michael

Thirty Day Challenge Project Update

Today is Project Update Day.

The 30 day Challenge is going great. I added a physical book as an advertisement to the blog. So far I only made money with AdSense.

Traffic is starting to improve and I will continue to add some of the cluster as mentioned in the podcast today. I'm dreading writing an article to publish, but it looks like I will need some extra popularity to improve my search position.

I started a new blog this week and posted a job to have someone write a few posts for me. This is a gamble, but if it works the seeding will give me time to work on traffic. That reminds me of another project I an planning.

Tomorrow is the weekly recap and once again I have a big topic planned for next week.

Michael

My PayPerPost Plan

Friday was question of the week day, but until I have a guest blogger in place it will be a random theme. Today is Research and Planning.

Here is my Plan to make $300 per month from Pay Per Post.

This blog could bring in $300 per month with Pay Per Post, but then it would start looking like a paid review site instead of an information site about my money making projects. So I decided to come up with a plan.

Step 1 - Keep blogging here on the One Penny Project and do enough Pay Per Post offers to bring in $150 per month. Also continue to work on external content and links.

Step 2 - Start another blog on a hosted domain. I already started this step the other day.

Step 3 - Build content and traffic on the new blog for 90 days.

Step 4 - Submit the new blog to Pay Per Post for approval.

Step 5 - Start doing offers from Pay Per Post on the new blog.

Step 6 - Continue to make quality posts on this blog and my new blog. Also continue to work on increasing traffic and improving my Google PR for both blogs.

This plan will allow me to take more offers without overpowering one blog with paid posts. My goal is to make at least $300 per month from Pay Per Post.

Michael

Something About Me And Comments

The theme for Thursdays is "About Me" and the topic of the week is comments. I already game some examples on what I do for comments earlier in the week.

Writing my own research tool for sites to comment on has probably been my smartest idea since I started commenting in blogs and forums. Not that I use this tool for evil, just that it saves me a bunch of time in the search phase. I have yet to find a search engine that delivers results how I want them. At any rate, that is why I wrote my own program.

Outside of BLOG comments, when leaving comments on social networks like The Penny Project MyBlogLog Community never include a link. Using a link in you comment screams SPAM. If the comment is good people will click on your photo and go to your profile. So focus on creating a clean profile instead of spamming links in comments.

I don't leave too many comments on MyBlogLog or other social networks unless I want to interact with a blog author. I have met more then a few good bloggers this way.

I mentioned on Monday about leaving comments on blogs, so I won't go over that again here. But I will say the same rules apply to posting on forums. Don't post junk because it is a waste of your time and the readers time.

Thank you to everyone who left comments for me this week. :-)

Michael

How To Make Money Blogging

It took me about 3 months to start making $10 a month blogging. Once I figured out the formula, making money blogging got much easier.

With Pay Per Post I can make about $10 a day doing blog posts. I say "can" because I am currently working on the 30 Day Challenge. Also I don't want to overload the site with too many paid posts, so I am working on another blog to spread my paid posts around.

When my second blog is over 90 days old I will start doing more posts and bring my income up to $300 a month from Pay Per Post. I am working hard to improve the PR and Alexa rank of my new blog so that higher paying offers open up for me.

PPP is working on a new way to make money from posts. They didn't say what it is, other then to be ready for something new.

If you join, don't forget to fill out your mailing address. They have advertisers looking to mail out products and have bloggers review them.

Tonight We Make Soap - Not A Soap Opera

I found a cool site today by Tyler. I have no idea who Tyler is for real but based on the About Me section, "Tyler is You". By that I guess he or she is inferring that the content of the site is written for the readers by someone who is also a reader.

Tonight We Make Soap has nothing to do with soap or soap operas. Thats a good thing, I don't care for soap operas.

What you will find on Tonight We Make Soap is interesting commentary on a wide variety of well researched topics. Take today for example. The current discussion is on Blu-ray. But not that stuffy techno writing style you see on a technology site. Tyler incorporates real life stories to tell the reader about the topics.

I subscribed to the RSS feed to see what happens next. Check out Tonight We Make Soap today.

Michael

Bacn, Bacn, Bacn, Smells Like Bacon

I saw this on story about bacn on Boing Boing today.

Interesting how one person can start a word and have it turn into a hot phrase. Remember back with American Idol when Randy Jackson mentioned how Blake Lewis did a blakeize thing to a song. I rushed out and registered Blakeize.com thinking it would flip.

Well you know I still own the domain, but to my luck Blake is going to have his first record out by end of year. Any mention of blakeize will get some traffic and hopefully a flip.

Lots of talk about bacn today. I wonder how many more SMS words will turn out to be "hot".

Michael

Testing Day - Chitika

Until I have a guest blogger in place Wednesday is going to be testing day.

I was having a hard time finding a physical product to promote to one of my new blogs. But as I was going through the list of networks I beling to I found Chitika eMiniMalls.

I registered with them over a year ago and only displayed their ads for a short time. They didn't fit what I was doing, so I switched ads.

Turns out Chitika eMiniMalls saved me today by having a product I can promote to test my new blog.

Normally I promote PayPerPost and Text-Link-Ads as places to make money for your blog. But today I am testing Chitika eMiniMalls. Let me know how they work for you.



Michael

Pay Per Post Needs Your Help

PayPerPost has at least one advertiser with a product they need reviewed. The only problem is that there are not enough PayPerPost members with their address listed.

If you are not already a member of PayPerPost, now is a great time to join. I will include the form below. If you are already a member, log into your account and confirm that you have your correct address listed.



Michael

Blogging Tip - Proper Commenting

The theme for this week is using comments to get more traffic. Yesterday in How To Comment For More Traffic I gave some statistics from my own testing.

Today we are going to talk about the right way to leave comments.

The first thing to do is find a blog to comment on. This is not a random process. Go to Google and do a search for your niche. Change the search type to BLOG and show the last month. This will give you a list of blogs related to your niche that posted within the last month.

I use a custom program that I wrote to eliminate crap and weed out sites not worth my time. There are too many blogs that just post content stolen from real blogs. I don't waste my time on a copycat blog.

My program also provides some "Value" information that helps me identify high traffic blogs easily before I visit them. You will have to manually do this after visiting the blog with SEOQuake or another tool. At this time my program is not for sale since it could be used for evil black hat techniques.

After you find a blog worth posting on skim the post. If you know the topic enough, go back and read the post.

Here is the second important part. Leave a comment with value that enhances or challenges the blog post.

Readers of the blog will just skim over your comment if it does not have value. You may even get flamed.

If you don't have something of value to bring up, then don't leave a comment. If the blog gets good traffic and is on a topic you like subscribe to their RSS. That way you will easily know when they make their next post, possibly with something you can comment on.

To recap, find blogs that get good traffic and leave a comment that provides value. You may not get any link love, but you could get new visitors and subscribers.

Michael

P.S. Josh - I am working on a contact form, should be done soon. As for the PPP paid reviews, so far I have had one that is still pending because it is new.

Make $25 Promoting ...

FeedBurner Stats Are Stuck

I checked my FeedBurner stats when I got home from work and again just now. The stats didn't change.

Now I know that it is possible to not get any traffic to my site in 4 hours, but I confirmed this with a few of my sites. It looks like either the stats are not updating or they are not getting recorded. I will have to match my ad display numbers up to my FeedBurner stats tomorrow.

Michael

Technorati Milestone Breakthrough

Today I hit a Technorati Milestone Breakthrough. This blog now has a popularity of 100.



For the longest time my popularity was in the 30s and slowly climbed into the 50s. Within the past 2 weeks I made into the 80s. Over the weekend I was in the 90s.

As of today, I made popularity of 100. There is no prize or anything, but this does help reinforce that the time I invested into this project is worth it.

Many thanks to all those who marked me as a favorite or linked to one of my posts. I appreciate it. :-)

Michael

How To Comment For More Traffic

I know this topic is going to ruffle some feathers, but that is ok. The past 3 weeks I have been testing a few things related to comments. That is leaving comments on other peoples blogs.

When I read other bloggers talking about using comments to get more traffic to a blog they often mention it from a link value point of view. This is where I disagree.

In my research and testing I have found that there is very little value in the link left with a comment. It does not matter if it is a follow link or a no-follow link. The only "Link Value" I could find in my testing is that my Technorati Authority improved. This in itself has value, but that is another topic for another post.

But all hope is not lost in leaving comments.

Traffic to this blog improved from comments not because I left a quick "Nice Post" message, but because I enhanced or challenged the message presented.

Looking at my stats for last week (gathered Saturday) 36.4% of the traffic to this blog same from a source other then a Search Engine. Additionally 15.6% of the traffic was direct.

So where did this traffic come from.

When you add up all sources that came from blog comments my #1 source is outperformed by 100%. In other words my biggest source of traffic can't compete with comments.

There are 2 very important factors in making this work and I will discuss them tomorrow in the Blogging Tips post.

Michael

Want to make a quick $7.50

Starting A New Blog

I forgot how much work is involved getting a new blog off the ground.

My Blog for the 30 day challenge is just getting a trickle of traffic. The early stages of getting traffic are always the hardest. Not to mention most people won't subscribe to an RSS feed when there are only 4 or 5 posts. It takes weeks to build up something of value.

At any rate I guess I will work on some blog content and promotion today for my 30DC blog. If you are in the 30DC, don't forget we are in this to provide real value and not SPAM the system.

When I say that I am going to be promoting my new blog I don't mean that I will be posting to all the social bookmark sites. That just isn't right. I submit to one social network and try to stand infront of the people looking for information I have.

Michael

AV Webcam Morpher Gold

Normally when I chat online it is with friends or family and not the general population. I'm not much of a public person, but that could change.

Check out this new Webcam Chat Software from VoiceIntegrity.com. You can create "nickfaces" and "nickvoices" chat live as a totally different person. There are 8 "nickfaces" to choose from.

There is only 1 screen shot and no video demo, so I don't know what all the "nickfaces" look like yet. The description says you can also use this software to watch your house or do continuous recording.

Sounds like great software for chatting online or making videos with your PC.

Michael

Weekly Recap - Week Ending August 19, 2007

Once again Monday & Tuesday were filled with great information. Traffic spiked on those 2 days for the second week in a row.

This confirms that content is king. Instead of small posts writing longer more informative posts seems to bring in more traffic.

As announced earlier in the week I am looking for a guest blogger. You can find more information here.

Don't forget tomorrow is the big post that you will either love or hate.

Michael

It's no secret, my biggest earner so far is PayPerPost

ECHO Malibu Teen Rehab

ECHO Malibu Teen Rehab is the premier treatment program for adolescents. Treatment programs offered include Emotional Health, Physical Health, Social Health, Spiritual Health, Family Health, and Educational Services.

At first I thought that ECHO Malibu could only help teens in the California area. With a little research I found a listing for other regions and states.

The staff and treatment programs offered are focusd on Empowerment, Choices, Hope and Opportunities.

If you know of a teen struggling with drug or alcohol program, tell their parents to call ECHO Malibu Teen Rehab.

Michael

Saturday Project Update - Awesome Income Report

Today is Update Day.

The 30 Day Challenge is going well. Thursday and Friday we set-up our free blog and started to learn about social networking. Those who read my blog regularly know that I am already a heavy user of social networking.

As of right now the only traffic I got to my new blog came from Stumble Upon. I will give Google until Monday then start working a little magic to get noticed. I want to use the AuctionAds program, but it does not appear to be working so I have Adsense on for now until I can create my Amazon link. I should be able to make my goal and beat my co-worker.

As for Income in my projects, Pay Per Post continues to be the biggest earner for me. Right now I am making between $25-30 per hour. Keep in mind there is a limit to how many posts you can do in a day, so that limits how much you can make in a day. I will tell you how to improve your offers in a future post. PayPerPost calls people who get paid for posting reviews "Posties". If you are not already a "Postie" for PayPerPost, now is a great time to start.



I will update the amounts at the end of this month. The project chart image will change as well. I'm going to switch to a format that seems to be more popular with bloggers reporting their income.

The theme for next week is a very hot topic. I know you will either love it or hate it, so stop back Monday and let me know what you think.

Michael

Why Be A Team Captain For Alzheimer's Memory Walk 2007

Do you know someone with Alzheimer's? A friend, co-worker, family member or even you.

My grandmother had Alzheimer's before she passed away last year. I know how stressful it can be for family and can only imaging how hard it is for any person suffering with this terrible disease.

What it takes to be a Team Captain. Getting started is easy and there are plenty of resources to help you succeed.

First find at least 8 people to be on your team. Average team size is 9 or 10 people. They can be family, friends or people you work with. See the website for ideas on other people you can ask.

After you have team members visit the Team Captain page and register.

Use the online worksheet to set your team fund raising goals. Plan a team meeting and create a team t-shirt. This is a great time to inform others about Alzheimer's and get your team enthused about the cause and raising money for Alzheimer care, support and research.

If you get stuck and need help there is a resource on the website to connect you with a local chapter. You will want to contact them anyway to coordinate your team with other teams in the area.

If you don't want to be a team captain, consider asking a friend to be a co-captain with you.

Most important of all is to have fun. This event is to educate others about Alzheimer's and increase awareness of this debilitating disease.




Michael

What Is StumbleUpon Traffic Like

Today I had my first taste of StumbleUpon traffic. As part of the 30 Day Challenge I stumbled my new blog after it was live for 24 hours.

In 1 hour after I submitted my post I got 100 visitors. Here is a look at the stats. Remember this picture is for my new blog, not the penny project blog.



Though I am impressed with the time on site and how quickly the visitors arrived the outcome is very disappointing. There were 0 RSS subscribers and $0 income.

Overall it only took me a minute to submit to StumbleUpon, so I didn't loose anything. But I did learn that it doesn't pay to focus on Stumble traffic.

Michael

What Have You Tested

This will be the last Friday Question. I am switching the theme for Wednesdays & Fridays. Still don't have a plan for the 2 days, but they will most likely be guest posts. Don't forget to apply.

The question for today is about blog testing.

Share your experience with testing changes on your blogs.

Michael

Guest Blogger Wanted

I am in need of a guest blogger. The Wednesday & Friday portions of the schedule are going to be for guest bloggers. Instead of a "How To" day and a "Questions" day I will leave it up to the guest blogger(s) on what to do.

Each Wednesday & Friday post will follow the theme for the week, but the topic will be up to the guest blogger. Each post should be 300-500 words.

The pay is undecided and negotiable. The guest blogger will also be be allowed to include a link to their site as long as it is family friendly.

This is going to be for a one month trial.

To Apply, reply to this post with the following information. Don't worry I won't make the posts public.

Name
Age
Email
Country
URL of one of your blogs
How much $ for 2 300-500 word posts per week

Take Care,

Michael

Electronic Closing With EMortgage Software

I am all for saving energy and eliminating waste. That is why this electronic closing software from Encomia is so important.

Using an electronic format known as a SMARTDoc this software eliminates the need for paper. This creates a paperless closing in the mortgage process saving both paper and valuable time.

Learn more about 15 minutes closings and the EMortgage Software at Encomia.com


Michael

Looking At Your Competition - Changes

This blog is about making money, so that is one of the 2 main things I track and test. On Monday I wrote about Blog Layout Testing. Today I am going to discuss some of my tests.

AdSense Testing - You must use channels. If you are only using a URL channel then you are not really tracking. For example on this blog I have 4 AdSense units and 4 matching channels.

At the end of the month I review the performance of those channels. Is there a channel that didn't get any clicks or was a low earner? In that case I would either make a change to the color or replace it with an offer from another network.

Traffic - I know where all my traffic comes from and more importantly how it got that way. This is more of an off page metric then it is a layout metric, but it is important here. Since my main goal is making money the only way I can do that is by knwoing my traffic. So I also track what effort I used to generate traffic then watch the next few days to see if there was an improvement.

Blogs have the benefit of long tail. For example one of my blogs gets 20+ visits a day for a 7 word search term. There is now way I could have planned this, it just happened. The important thing is I know how and can work on more of that form of traffic generation.

Right now I am ranked #1 in Google for a search term based on a Pay Per Post review that I did. This benefits the advertiser, because that is what they paid for. But it also helps me get more traffic and visitors.

SpreadSheet - I am not going to show you my spreadsheet. On a weekly basis I update my stats and review the week at the day level.

Changes - What should you change. That is impossible to answer and the answer will change frequently. What worked in June may not work in November. Just keep track of everything and try something new if you get stuck.

You can use the Wayback Machine to see how a blog or website changed over the years. Look to see what your competitors are changing and test for yourself.

Michael

Cleaning Up The Blog

I decided it was time to clean up the blog a little. It was starting to look a little messy.

The archives now just show year and month with totals. I removed the post title from showing up on the archive list as it was just getting way too long. You can drill down to see the titles and posts, but they won't display unless you click them.

The tags are now in better order as well. Any tag that only had 1 post was moved into another tag category.

I also did a little re-arranging and organizing. The red text link was also removed until payment is received from the buyer. I took the place holder off that I had pointing to one of my other sites.

Michael

Pay Per Post Update and New Text Link Program

I love the new PayPerPost update. Now when you want to take an offer you need to enter a captchka field. This prevents bots and scrapers from scraping up the good jobs before anyone gets a chance to see them.

Today I noticed that the choices I had to pick from were twice as many as before. In the past most of the offers were the lower $5 for 200 or 300 words variety. Every once in a while I would get a good one like the Halloween August 31, 2007 offer. That was a real good one.

But now the list has a bunch of $5 for 50 word offers and a wide selection of post offers above $10.

Click on the image below to join PayPerPost if your blog is a PR3 or better and start making money writing on your blog.

I am currently testing a replacement for Text-Link-Ads.com. Not that I don't like them, but I have found that many bloggers are not getting accepted. I am testing LinkWorth if you want to try them out. From what I read they don't take as much of the link cost so you can sell a link for the same price but make more money. That plus they allow smaller blogs in the program make LinkWorth worth looking at.

Michael