Making Money Blogging – Blog Stew

Finally made it, its taken 2 months but I’ve finally hit the magic $100 on Adsense!

Ok so lets look at how I actually managed it.

Sites displaying Adsense:

• 2 blogs, this one and another on a popular mmorpg pc game.
• 2 content driven sites.
• 21 web proxies.

The main bulk of the income has come directly from Adsense which is displayed on the main page of the proxies.  The very nature of proxy advertising is to get burst traffic, generally over time the revenue generated from proxies tends to drop, that’s why setting up new fresh proxies as often as possible is the way forward.

My current Adsense total = $102.12 that’s as of 2nd March 2009 (date of this post)

My goal was to try and break the magical $100 mark in February, but I think I can let myself off for missing the mark by 2 days!

The question is, what to do now?  Well more of the same really.  I’ll be looking into updating my content sites along with adding more.  Creating more web proxies and focusing on services I can provide.

My latest project is www.corelogo.com which has taken off really well.  I’m happy with the design of the site and I’ve just started to advertise the services CoreLogo offers around webmaster forums.  Its nice to have something different to do, its all very well staring at text for hours on end but that can soon become a drain and off putting to some extent.  There’s nothing better than whipping out Illustrator and Photoshop to get the old creative juices flowing!

Its been 10 days since my last post, that’s to long and its going to change!

So what the hell have I been doing online since this blog started?

My first goal was to reach the fabled $10 amount on Google Adsense, that was the first major mile stone in my greater online money making plans.  I managed that fairly fast with an average income around $0.10 per day at that time.  That’s nothing great but it was the start I needed.  It showed me how easy it was (in theory) to make good amount of money online from advertising revenue only.  My first angle of attack was to start setting up content driven websites, based on WordPress.  I have a solid understanding of WordPress from some past experiences so it made sense to stick with what I know.  I looked at things in my life which I currently enjoy or have a good interest in, then I began to produce sites based around those subjects.

One of the first criteria in making successful sites is to base the site on subjects you know and understand.  Making content driven sites to produce income is all well and good, but its a hell of a lot more difficult when you have no interest in the given subject.  My advice is to stick to what you know, all day, everyday, then you can’t go wrong!

Eventually I had produced 4 content driven blogs/sites.  Then it was time to learn SEO methods.  I have a good knowledge on the more common easier methods, but I need to expand this knowledge.  That’s what my current focus is aimed at.

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First of all let me hit you guys and gals with some figures.

Domains cost = $7.13 for 6 domains, of which I’m only currently using three.

Hosting = $5.98 per month

Domains + Hosting = $13.28

Adsense Earning

27th = $1.13 (Running 2 proxies with  addition to Tech-FAQ toplist only.)

28th = $2.98 (Added both proxies to tons of toplist sites.)

29th = $4.68 (started a new proxy. added to all toplists as previous two.  Now running three proxies.)

Total running costs – Adsense earning = -$4.49

As you can see from the result I’m currently $4.49 in the red.  That’s after three days using only Adsense.  I fully expect to pay for all my hosting and domain costs today, once the clicks start to roll in.  However I’ll be facing some further expenditures.  I’ll be needing a better hosting plan, after using 11gig out of a 20gig hosting plan so far!  But that’s only a minor increase, and will hardly make a difference if I continue to see the sort of day on day increase in Adsense earning I am at the moment.  I also started a proxy based Google Group, subscribe via www.getworkdone.info !

As far as today goes another proxy or two will be set-up.  I’m on the lookout for some more quality templates to use.  Its best to avoid using the same one over and over, it will only end up bringing you attention from the Adsense goon squad.  Same goes for content, its best to make sure each proxy is unique in content.

I wake up this morning to $3 revenue from the two proxy sites I’m running.  As far as advertising goes I’ve only been adding them to proxy toplists.  This performance so far has been fantastic from my point of view.  I fully expect that with today’s income from both sites I will have paid for hosting and so the sites have become self sufficient!

Today’s plan is to add the current two proxies to more toplists.  The best place to find quality toplists is to copy the competition. Using the Tech-FAQ toplist I was able to find active proxies and then using the links they display, add my sites to those toplists.  Hey if they are using them, they must work!

I also want to get another proxy up and running, which should be easy enough.

I also need to look at adding none Adsense adverts to the proxified pages.  These are the pages the site produces when people use the proxy function.  You are not allowed to display Adsense on any sites you do not own, also people may visit sites with content not allowed by Adsense, for example gambling sites.

AdBright and ExitJunction are two I’ll be looking into.

Also on a side note, I’d like to say thanks to free internet media for the write up they have kindly done on Blog Stew, which can be found here Blog Stew It’s What’s For Dinner.

Thanks Guys!

Yesterday after sorting out hosting and buying up a few domain names I finally managed to get my first two proxies online.  First of all let me give you my simple explanation of what a proxy actually is.

What is a proxy?

Proxy sites allow you to basically browse the Internet from within another website.  How does this bypass content filters you ask?  Well, content filters will see you visit the proxy site but that’s it. They cannot record or track what sites you view while on the proxy site.  Most content filters will prevent you from visiting sites with ‘proxy’ in the address.  Therefore you will notice most proxy sites do not include the term ‘proxy’ in their URL’s.  This means people at work or school can access their favorite sites which are commonly blocked.  So needless to say they get a lot of traffic fairly fast.

What I’ve managed to do so far…

As with every other type of site, you need to promote/advertise them to get exposure which ultimately equals more income from whatever advertising system you are running, obviously Adsense in my case.

First thing is to select a proxy script.  Then main two scrips currently used are Glype and PhProxy.  PhProxy is most common followed by Glype.  My initial intentions were to use Glype, as PhProxy has stopped development.  This means it will no longer have any type of developer support which means no updates.  However, there are so many resources for PhProxy compared to Glype that I made the last minuet decision to use PhProxy to begin with.

Next up I needed a proxy template.  Using some free template sites I quickly got two templates ready for action.  Completed the simple task of uploading them to my new shinny proxy server.  Changed some of the design elements to fit in with the domain name, such as the logo and slogans.  Then I added both to Tech-FAQ proxy top list.

Then went to sleep.

I woke up this morning to $1 revenue from Google Adsense.  I want to say that’s the easiest $1 I’ve ever made, but sadly when I look back on the work I’ve done over the last week its really not that much at all!  However this has shown me how easy it potentially is to make money with multiple proxy websites.  Currently I’m adding the two proxies to as many top lists as possible.  It looks like I’ll be doing this all day!  Then I’ll look into adding my links to some paid newsletter subscription services.

My next few posts will revolve around my newly formed proxy empire, so stay tuned.  I’ll also work on a proxy start up guide based on my experience.

Seems like it’s been an age for my Google PIN to arrive.  I’ve got a hell of a lot done since moving over the $10 mark on my account, to enable payment.  The number of sites I own has increased along with my overall knowledge of everything Internet related.  Up to know I’ve been focusing my efforts into content based sites.  The sites all feature hand written content by me.  This was very time consuming to do, but I felt it needed to be done.  I want to understand everything there is in relation to making money online, and to do that I need to spend them time doing the less glamorous tasks!

Up to now the best snippet of advice I’ve come across has been:

Try, just try!  You never know what can or will happen until you try.

So with that in mind that’s what I’ve been doing.  It’s also what I advise anyone wanting to try and make some sort of money off the Internet to do.  For every one person trying to make something of the net there has to be well over 20 thinking about it.  But that’s the difference between us and them, we do.  For people just starting out such as myself, it can be frustrating reading the results some people are achieving.  Only to them look back at my own Adsense account to see measly little figures.  But rest assured they had to start off just the same as me, and that’s what keeps me going.  I don’t think its possible to see fast results, its all about time.  Naturally as time goes on you get more and more organic traffic coming your way, which in turn will hopefully increase the earning you produce off Adsense.

The latest venture I’m looking to start is a network of proxy based sites.  However knowing completely nothing about them its going to take some time.  You will see lots of crap on the net about making easy proxy sites which will generate $1 per day, now if I could start 100 of these earning that amount, well it hardly takes a brain surgeon to work that out.

I spent most of the last 2 days attempting to come up with a good amount of new site ideas which I can work on in the coming week.  The idea is to look for sites that you can easily set-up with good quality content, which require the least amount of time to update and maintain.

Making money online is not complicated.  It just takes time to get a site established and earning money with whatever advertiser you decide to use.  First of all you need to decide what your new site is going to do.  You can’t just throw up new domains, plaster Adsense on them and expect them to earn.  It won’t happen, never.

OK, back to what I’m trying to do with the latest round of site idea’s I have.  I want the sites to make money that’s basically it.  However I’ll also provide a service to anyone who comes across the sites.  Basic services here, such as information which is readily available on the net just repackaged.  The game is to try and rank on the first page of Googles results for as many relevant keywords as possible then simply rinse and repeat.

Below I’ll outline the process I go through with most ideas I come up with.

Hit Read More!

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Google Adsense

Google Adsense can be daunting for people new to the advertising format.  This post will outline what Google says for first time Adsense users.  I’ll also give some opinions on what they say.  Again please understand this is aimed at people newish to Adsense, that’s not to say it might contain some things people who are more familiar with the format can take away and learn from.

So lets get stuck in, I’ll list the guidelines in bullet points then break them down.

Basic Adsense user guidelines

• Use text and image ads.

Text ads have more ads per ad block.  So you might lean towards thinking ‘there’s more ads so more chance of people clicking on them right?’  This is not entirely the case.  People find images a lot easier to look at, also they may be animated giving the eye more incentive to look in there direction.

• Use wider ad units.

Bigger ads.  The bigger they are the more chance people have of seeing them.  But remember not to go overboard, people are still going to visit your site looking for quality content, not an ad fest.

• Use channels to monitor ad performance.

Make sure you use these, its easy for first time or new users to ignore this.  They will allow you to monitor the exact amount of turnover each add is producing.  Naturally from that data you can then begin to fiddle with your ad design and placement.

• Ensure your site is Google policy compliant.

If its not then expect to get banned!  Or thrown so deep into the google black hole (sandbox) you’ll never come back!

• Good quality site content.

This is what will make people keep coming back!  As I’ve said before, sites that I’m interested in writing for tend to do better performance wise.

• Original content.

Copy and pasting jobs can be good for some sites, however its generally better to produce your own stuff, then with some luck you will get well known for it!

Keep reading on after the split….

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My little red notebook is full of information relating to generating search traffic.  It mainly relates to Google they are the big daddy after all so it makes sense to work to their guidelines!  I want to speak about how Google says you can increase traffic to your new sites.  Most of this will be common sense, but still this will I hope make a good basic reference guide.

Web Master Guidelines

• Pages are listed in Google as a direct result of their relevance and importance.
• Search result rank is based on links – Quality links are better than quantity!
• Produce unique quality relevant original content to increase rank.
• Violations in web master conduct will result in page ranks dropping (note I’m speaking about the SERP here – Search Engine Results Page).
• Think like your users would when they view the site, then adapt your site as needed – This is also a good point to get another person to go over your sites and give their opinions.
• Make sure all outgoing links still work – Ensure your not linking to any dead pages!
• Use Google web master central – Its free after all, and we damn like free!!
• Register sites on Google web master tools – Goes without saying.
• Submit .XML Sitemaps to Google.
• Report spam sites or other sites ripping your content off to Google, again using the web master tools they provide.
• Use web master help groups.
• Google Analytics provides accurate stats for your sites.
• Use Google alerts to monitor when people start speaking about your site! – You can set this up to look for other things, but I find it rather interesting to see some random music DJ site is talking about BlogStew!

As you can see Google provides many tools that can make your life as a web master a whole lot easier.  I use all of these tools myself, its simply stupid not to.  If you follow these basic guidelines you should be able to produce websites which will make some money from AdSense.

Going from my personal experiences, sites which I’m actually interested in producing content for make more AdSense/advertising money.  I currently have 3 sites running (soon to be 4 tomorrow) which I actively produce content for, in the past I tried to set-up sites with the single intention of making money from AdSense among other advertisers…it hardly worked and sites would soon drop off into the depths of the net.  Also it helps to enjoy what you do, simply producing brain dead content to try and improve page ranks is hardly fun!

Life’s for living so try to enjoy as much of it as possible!

I’ve made it! (by 12 Cent)

My AdSense account has finally gone over the $10 mark!  Now I can edit my payment details, Google only pays out above $10 (on terminated accounts).

This might seem mad to some people that I’m actually getting excited over this.  For me this is the first real milestone in my greater online money making plans.  From the day I set out to try and make money online, all I’ve done is spend it.  Its costs a fair amount of money to setup websites as they come with added costs.  Registering a domain is cheap that’s for sure but getting a company to host your site that’s when the spending comes in.  To date I’ve spent around $170 on setting my sites up.  Remember this is not including the hours and hours of work I’ve put into this venture.  It takes time to get websites up and running but takes even more to teach yourself how to understand and use the internet as a tool for making money.

I’m going to lay off on these AdSense account updates until it reaches $50 which is half way to my first Google cheque.  At which point I’ll speak in more details on which type of ads are working for me.  With some luck the next update won’t be that far away!