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How did I earn...
Michael Kwan’s Review: $40 - is it worth it? Definitely
September 30, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Read these 3 comments
I already hinted today that I would be giving a full response to Michael Kwan’s review, and indeed here it is. For those of you reading this for the first time, I recently purchased a review of my website from Michael Kwan for $40 (during Michael’s 90% off promotion). The review has been published, and you can read the “good and bad of ‘InvestorBlogger.com’ here.”
Why get a review?
Well there are a number of reasons why having a review of your blog done is a good idea. Firstly, it allows you to get exposure on a more prominent blog or website and should drive additional traffic to your blog from the reviewer’s website. Secondly, you should experience some SEO benefit on Google’s PR system. It’s always difficult to estimate how much of a benefit you get, as the PR ranking system is always changing, the review moves off the frontpage (will it be linked to? who knows?), but this is not something that should be ignored.
Thirdly, most of us bloggers labor away in our cubicles, offices, SOHOs, or on the laptop on the kitchen table; we don’t always share what we are doing with the people around us, so having an extra ‘impartial’ set of eyes going over your blog can really help to see things differently. For me, this is the principal reason I decided to pay for a review of my own blog. That, and I couldn’t afford the $400 fee for John Chow’s website (I’d rather use that money to pay a hosting fee or upgrade to a private server).
Why Michael Kwan?
I was already familiar with Michael’s work on John Chow, and had found that his reviews were particularly thorough, detailed and insightful. It was when he offered a special promotion that I jumped to do a review on his blog. While it won’t have the same SEO/traffic benefits as one posted on John Chow, at least initially, I felt that the extra pair of eyes was going to be beneficial.
The Results?
After a couple of days, I received the review in good order, all 650 words of it, plus graphics, and numerous links throughout the text to the main page and to individual pages within the blog. It’s clear that he spent quite a lot of time on researching and writing the review. His inclusion of annotated graphics also suggests that he spent some time making the images!
Ok, one surprise was that he mentioned so many of my financial posts… I guess in my large archive, that that’s what has been most recent, esp. with the finance week that I did in August. I had always thought that I didn’t blog enough about finances and investment, but it seems he thought otherwise.
His suggestions: The Big One
Truthfully, his suggestions are absolutely spot-on. In fact, I had been considering a re-design some time in May, but we got very busy running promotions for our business, that I had to put it on a back burner until I had more time to focus on it. I guess it has been in the back of my mind for quite some time… In fact, one of my clients did a redesign in April, and introduced me to a possible designer then. I wonder why I haven’t followed up, nearly five months later….
So, at any rate, he suggests that, if I want to keep the MistyLook theme (and it’s a big ‘if’), I should really make an effort to make it ‘my own.’ He wrote: “That’s still no excuse for having such a bland and generic blog design.” And there isn’t. I still like the theme, it really makes good use of space on the blog, and doesn’t look at all crowded unlike that Bully of the Pandas… So, this is my goal, and I’ll be looking into how to create a new theme. I’m already scheming ideas in my head.
Content is important, but it’s the presentation that will draw visitors further into your site.
The other stuff, too.
Here’s my response to each one:
- Lose the Related Posts on the index page…. Yep, they’ll go. Now that you say it, it does look CROWDED. I’ll replace that with an image or something.
- Too many categories: why have Wordpress and Wordpress Classes? … I did a category count today, it’s back upto 20 categories. That is TOO many anyway, and there is unnecessary duplication, as well.
- Category names aren’t very descriptive. More Reading vs. Good Reading? … Yes, good point. And I should really fill in the text box so that mouse-overs show additional comments.
- The sidebar feels too busy for me. Drop some of the fluff. … Mm. That is harder. Perhaps I’ll lose some of the unnecessary stuff in the blogroll, remove the pages, Blogrush, and the admin panel. Other stuff can be reduced to a link, such as Alexa’s code. The rest should be shuffled. I’ll start, though, with the blogroll.
- Lack of graphics. I realize that it’s an investment blog, but a few images here and there would really break up that huge body of text. … Yes, good idea. It’s actually one of the aspects I raised when doing reviews. I usually do post some pictures, but I think I need more visual aspects. Duly noted .
- Change the byline to read Kenneth Dickson rather than kennethdickson. … Actually, I already changed that one as soon as I saw it. It now reads ‘Kenneth’, which I like.
- Hard to tell where one post ends and another begins. … Mmm… That’s a hard one. I’ll think about adding something to separate the posts … but what?
Summary
I found that the review very helpful for the things he suggested. I don’t know if it generated any traffic directly yet (Google’s analytics is refusing to load for me right now). And the SEO value is very much in the future. I’d still highly recommend this for the suggestions he gave. I’ll add the traffic reports if I can access Analytics. Thanks, Michael. Highly recommended by InvestorBlogger.com.
Upcoming Postings: A Quick Preview
September 30, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Be the first to leave a comment
All upcoming posts that are scheduled have been given a preview page. Please check the preview page to see what is scheduled for publication in the next few days.
Thanks.
Investor Blogger’s Top 5 Make Money Online Gurus
September 29, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Be the first to leave a comment
After Michael Kwan wrote a review of my website at Review: InvestorBlogger.com. I thought it would be a good idea to list some of my top Make Money Online Gurus. So here it is: my TOP 5 Make Money Online Gurus in no particular order.
3. Genius Types
4. ProBlogger
Anyone want to add their fave to the list? By all means!
Did you install Alexa’s code on your website? If not, why not?
September 29, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Read these 3 comments
I was working with one of my clients recently who runs an active and growing forum. We were discussing why Alexa code might be important for website owners who would like to monetize their website(s).
What is Alexa?
Alexa is one of the few tools that is available as an external measure of a site’s traffic. The traffic statistics are collected, analysed, and presented on the main website for each website. The statistics are broken down in three ways: ranking, reach, and pages per view. Rankings are subdivided into regional and overall rankings. Reach defines a percentage of users who visit that website, and Pages Per View is quite obvious: a metric that shows how many pages (or how long?) a visitor stays on your site.
You can see the code about this blog on the right sidebar. When you click on the graphic, you’ll be taken to the Alexa page where you can see the metrics rated over the last 24 hours (usually none), the past week, and the past 3 months. You can only have 24 hours ratings if your blog is averaging 100K or less in the rank.
Why Alexa?
Actually, Alexa didn’t use to be that important, but with few metrics available to measure site ‘value’, Alexa has found something of a rebirth in interest, esp. among bloggers. Other metrics generally include Google’s PageRank, and Feedburner Subscriptions. But neither of these actually track traffic to your website. Here is Alexa’s own description:
The traffic rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data from millions of Alexa Toolbar users and is a combined measure of page views and users (reach). As a first step, Alexa computes the reach and number of page views for all sites on the Web on a daily basis.
The main Alexa traffic rank is based on the geometric mean of these two quantities averaged over time (so that the rank of a site reflects both the number of users who visit that site as well as the number of pages on the site viewed by those users)
Thanks, DoshDosh, for the quotation. He has some tips (some useful, some not) on how to improve your Alexa ranking. So, as a measure of traffic, this website can be very helpful in estimating a website’s audience.
Why install Alexa’s code?
In fact, he was a little unsure of the value of having Alexa traffic code on your websites, so here’s what I wrote to him. I thought that my other readers who don’t have an Alexa installed might be interested to read about it:
I noted that you removed the Alexa code again. I’d strongly advise that you replace the code. Why? Because for several important ad-related systems that you may want to use all rely (at least partly) on the value that your Alexa rank has:
Text link Ads use this metric, and
LinkWorth (you’re now using them) may use this information to value the website, too.
ReviewME,
SponsoredReviews,
Payperpost, etc.. all use Alexa rankings either directly or indirectly.In fact, although the rankings aren’t particularly accurate, many possible link purchasers will refer to the Alexa rankings as an external way to rate the amount and quality of your traffic (as they can’t access your Analytics information).
I just found the Alexa rankings sited in the stats for each blog/website IN Linkworth. I’ve attached an image for you to look at see what I mean. Even if you don’t wish to use the rankings to make money now, you may find that having a poor ranking (ie below 100K) may hinder you later on.
In fact, I noted that your Alexa ranking had increased to over 444K in just the few days that I installed it. It would continue to increase as people visit the website, load the pages and so on.
Installation: It’s a SNAP
Many people install Alexa’s toolbar on their system as a means to record their hits, but in fact, for most bloggers, adding the following code to their blog will allow Alexa to accurately track all the traffic to your blog.
<SCRIPT type=’text/javascript’ language=’JavaScript’ src=’http://xslt.alexa.com/site_stats/js/t/a?url=www.yourwebsite.com’></SCRIPT>
The box is a little ugly and inappropriate for some sites, but you can find a simple text link at the website. For all the codes, just visit Alexa. Then you’ll find that installing the code is relatively straightforward.
Just enter the URL of your website in the Widget. Then copy and paste the code into a spot in your sidebar. I’d suggest putting it at the bottom of your sidebar, so it’s less visible.
What are your experiences using Alexa? Do you think that Alexa can be successfully gamed? I’m not sure, but since installing the code, and trying to attract visitors, my Alexa ranking shot up from over 2,500,000 to approximately 150,000. I’d like to get the ranking under 100K again. So here’s hoping.
TNX.net - links marketplace and it’s buzzing for business!
September 29, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Read these 2 comments
With so many options available for buying and selling text links, and Google looking to get into the market itself, it is the rare and brave website that enters the market! Let’s welcome TNX… (click on the picture to see the front page).
I’ve been asked to review a new text link service that is called TNX. In fact, TNX is an interesting new take on the idea of buying and selling Text Links. We’re quite familiar with Text link Ads and Linkworth, and their methods of doing business. But TNX adds a couple of twists that make it more interesting.
Best of Both Worlds
The TNX website incorporates both publishers and advertisers into the same scheme, but it borrows some of the ideas from traffic websites, like BlogMad and BlogExplosion by incorporating several things: credits (you are provided bonus points when you initially sign up, you can earn credits, and you can buy credits) and campaigns (you can create, target, assign credits and monitor them).
As with all credits, there is a purchase price, which can vary rather than a fixed price. I’m not quite sure why and how the price will vary, but it is currently set at $1.14 per 1,000 credits. Moreover, intriguingly, there is an option to sell credits to others or back to the system. I’m not sure again why this is useful, but it looks like credits could be a mini-currency within the system. It is possible that it could be a form of payment.
Opportunities for DOSH!
It is clear though, that the site is intended to create opportunities to trade links or points. Payments are to be handled through Paypal as usual. There are additional opportunities to earn money from building your own affiliate network through TNX. In fact, their website says:
When you refer webmasters to TNX.net, you get 13.3% (as long as your account is active) of all TNX-points that are generated by their websites. In addition, you will receive 5% of all payments, made by referred advertiser.
Referrals right now are attracting additional credits of upto 7,000 credit points, and an additional 5,000 credits for each site that is approved. So it’s a good time to join up!
Installing the CODE
I have already installed the code on one of my blogs. Initially, I was surprised how long the PHP code piece I was expected to include - it’s long! But, that presented no problems. In fact, for Wordpress users, you will need to use a plugin like Wigdetize Anything or EXEC-PHP to put the code directly in your blog. The instructions provided with the code that TNX are clear and easy to follow.
In fact, I was able to get the code installed and working within a few minutes of installing Widgetize Anything (but I had to remove the <php… and ?> tags at the beginning and the end). After struggling with Linkworth’s code for ages, I hadn’t much hope but it worked a treat. I, however, would recommend that TNX develop a plugin for bloggers to use with Wordpress. (Oddly, I found that the code might be includable in MANY PHP driven websites, but it might be better for tech-savier to try out the installs themselves.)
Once my sites are approved, I’ll write another post on how to install the code, how to create your first campaign, and what the results are. I’m looking forward to doing a followup on this website. It has a lot of potential that is just being hinted at right now.
Sponsored by TNX.net.
Home Contents Insurance: Is yours enough?
September 28, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Read this comment
It’s rare to see an organisation that really walks the talk by doing what it promises. I’d like to think that every bank and insurance could follow in the Cooperative Financial Insurance Group’s footsteps. While they are naturally a good business, doing good (=’ethical’) business is naturally beneficial for their customers, their shareholders and the world.
It’s vital to have good house insurance in emergencies. Every houseowner and renter should make appropriate arrangements for their personal effects and the building. The cost of replacing your home contents and/or repairing your house can quickly add up. You will likely find out soon enought that your emergency savings just won’t be enought to cope with all the aftereffects of flood damage, or smoke damage, or worse.
How do you prepare for purchasing home insurance? Well, one of the things that few people bother to do is to do the home equivalent of an inventory check. In other words, have you added up the value of your home possessions if you had to replace them at their original price or as new?
Well, an inventory check is a simple room by room assessment of the contents, their value and a photograph of the items. It’s better to do the inventory check on a computer, and use digital photographs of the items in the document you create. This document can then be printed out as many times as you need, saved to an online or secure location, and accessed when needed.
The list can be surprisingly long and the items you end up including will surprise you, such as teatowels, socks, blank CDs for your PC, … More than likely, you will be shocked at how much you would actually have to spend to replace ALL your contents. That only goes for the replaceable items. Some items may need to be insured separately, such as jewelry, art, expensive clothes or new equipment (remember that LCD TV?)… Additionally, you will need to examine if you need additional cover for flood or earthquake risk.
Then you need to decide whether you will choose a ‘replacement cost policy’ or a ‘actual cash value’ policy. The former policy will likely be more expensive than the latter one, but the latter will include normal wear and tear or depreciation (loss of value due to age). Do consider the effects of inflation on your policy cover, and make sure that, as prices rise, your cover rises, too, to cover the extra expenses.
Did you buy insurance for home contents? What did it cost? Did you have any problems or good experiences? Share with us!
John Chow did it. MacEwan did it. Can you?
September 28, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Be the first to leave a comment
It’s wonderful to watch people succeed on their blogging kicks. John Chow succeeded last year to create a well known PR5 blog. I’ve been busy working to build this blog since 2004. Now I came across this wonderful story (video!) from Robert Alexander MacEwan who runs the blog at MacEwan.org. He recently announced that he made $2,000 in one month presumably in September 2007. Well done. I’m pretty envious that he managed to make that, but I’m sure that he worked pretty hard to achieve that goal! Congratulations. Enjoy your well-earned break.
Thanks for the encouragement by example and leadership you have shown in your tasteful video. You’re an inspiration to us all!
Comment Spam: How do you tackle it?
September 28, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Be the first to leave a comment
How do you guys deal with comment spam? I have been using Akismet and Spam Karma, both of which have deal wonderfully well with most types of comment spam. Unfortunately, though, there is a type of comment spam that is manually submitted and can pass even the most strict SK tests, including captcha.
I was browsing one of my other blogs when I noted that there had been three or four spam comments similar to the one below, all directing me to one ESL website in an English-speaking country and posted on one of my ESL websites. The spam was attached to different posts, but the format was very similar each time, with the same URL.
Anyway, I wrote a short but polite email asking the webmaster to desist from spamming my blog(s), but within five minutes of sending the email, I found another spam comment exactly similar to the one above. The email was worded thus:
Dear Website Owner,
In the last few days, your website has been linked via comment spam in
three of my posts. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use comments on my
blogs as a way to spam links to your website.You can of course buy them, I’d be happy to provide real links to your
blogs. I have a number of blogs and websites that would be appropriate
for real text links, either in posts or in the sidebar.Best Wishes
etc.
Well, after my appeal fell on deaf ears, I decided to contact their webhost, I had to do a tracert command to find the hosting company and the IP address. It wasn’t particularly difficult, and I forwarded a polite but detailed email complaining about the spamming, with pretty much all the details I included here.
> I’m receiving a lot of comment spam from one client that I have traced
> to you through the IP address: 72 . 52 . *** .**
> This user is using a form of comment spam on one of my blogs where he or she
> is repeatedly placing comments in my posts.
>
> I have asked him to desist, but all I go t was more comments of the type:
>
> It’s quite clear to me that comments of the type are spam comments as
> they are all very similar and come from the same person.
>
> Author : ****. (IP: *** , host.***.net) E-mail :
> ***@yahoo.com URL : http://www.***.***Comment: Hello
> webmaster, Nice writeup about <enter postname>?. I would
> have to agree with you on this one. I am going to look more into ***l.
> This Friday I have time.
>
> This is a sample. I’m sure that this is a violation of a TOS on your
> server hosting. I’d appreciate some action.
They promised to send it to their Abuse department to look at it. I regret having to do this, but if a spammer doesn’t stop, as a website owner, what alternatives do I have?…
What did you do to combat spam on your blog(s)? I’d love to know. Names, IPs and Web URLs have been changed to spare the blushes of the spammer, …
BlogRush: Madness makes traffic!
September 27, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Be the first to leave a comment
With the recent launch of Blogrush, there has been quite a rush of blogs seeking to capture the excitement, build up credits and win new audiences.
It works quite simply: you install a little widget in your sidebar which displays links to other members’ websites. Your visitors get to view this widget, and they can visit other related websites. In return, you get credits that allow your blog to be advertised on other websites and attract additional visitors to your blog.
So do you have a Blog? Join in and Get Massive Traffic! Why wait? Most of the benefits will accrue to those who got in early!
My first advertising campaign on $100: Raising IB’s profile
September 27, 2007 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Be the first to leave a comment
How much advertising can you get for a $100? Well, I’m now about to find out. I’ve set a budget of this amount of money, and I’m looking to spend it in a variety of ways to generate much interest.
There are still a number of things that I haven’t tried yet… Here’s what I tried.
- Blogmad and Blogsoldiers: all very good, but low quality traffic.
- Buzz Contest: Worked well, and it managed to raise my profile on Technorati nicely.
- Kiva Contest: Cost $25, but was a big flop… !
- I added myself to several directories, but with little effect.
- I installed an SEO plugin to reduce the additional Supplemental entries: Worked well.
- I’m building a series of articles that will be turned into PDF books to be given away. (Can you guess what it is?)
- I have got quite a few blog friends that I contact regularly and who comment here.
But I haven’t written any articles for websites like Article City, and I don’t really frequent too many forums, as I prefer time writing the entries.
So I’m now trying to see what $100 can buy me in traffic and exposure. I’ll be looking for good deals, such as reductions, deductions, special offers and so on to maximize this… Step #1 has already been done, but we’ll see what happens… more news soon.
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