Outsourcing your work isn’t for everyone. But at some point in your affiliate marketing efforts, you’ll have to decide whether or not to bring new people in. People who are just beginning in affiliate marketing generally have time to do all the things necessary to become successful.

Once you’ve started building up your portfolio, things can get pretty tight. Especially time. If you stay in this business long enough, there will come a point when you discover that you don’t have enough time to get everything you need done accomplished. When this happens, it’s time to look into outsourcing some of the chores.

For me, it was content writing. I had so many websites that I didn’t have time to write content for every one of them.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to write. But I can only do so much. Plus, there are different types of content. For my Adsense sites, I don’t need the best content. In fact, I’d say poor content will actually convert better on an Adsense site than good content. I can get 500 to 750 word articles written for these sites for as little as $3 to $5 per article. I don’t know about you, but my time is worth a lot more than that plus these articles pay for their self rather quickly.

There are literally people willing to do anything that you can think of. And many of them will do it rather cheaply. It comes down to the value of your time plus how much more money you could make by spending the time you do have on actions that create the most money for you.

By having a lot of articles written for my sites, the time this frees up is spent on building backlinks to my sites and creating more sites, which makes me a lot more money than writing content!

Where to find outsourcing resources

There Internet is a wonderful place to find people willing to work for you. All you need to do is look.

Here are some of my favorite places to find people to outsource my work to.

DigitalPoint forums. They have a section called the Marketplace. You can find anything you want here. Content Writers, Coders, Content, eBook creation, Link building services to people who will build backinks for you and submit your articles to directories and so on. Make sure you check the iTrader reputation of the person before hiring him/her to work for you. Most other Webmaster forums also have a similar marketplace. Other sites you may want to look into are; SitePoint, Webmaster World, V7N, Warrior Forum, etc.

eLance, Rent-A-Coder, RentAFreelancer, GetAFreelancer. These are great places to find people to outsource every aspect of your affiliate marketing. From building website templates to PHP coders and people who will build you landing pages, you’ll find them here.

Need-An-Article. When I need great content, I use these people. I can get 1000 plus word articles written by native English speaking writers for as little as $12.50 and these articles are as good, or in many cases – better, than ones I have paid $30 or more for. Their research is excellent as well and most of my article request are turned around in a few days.

Craigslist – Ha! Gotcha didn’t I? Yeah, I’ve found some good freelancers on Craigslist. Several Content writers and a Coder. Look toward the bottom of the page under the heading of “Services”.  Also be sure to check out the “Gigs” section. If you want someone local, just put up a post and you should have plenty of people responding shortly.

There are tons of other places to find people to outsource your work to. For many of you, you get hung up on the cost to hire these people. I think this generally comes from lack of confidence on most peoples part. If your sites are making money, then your outsourced work will pay for itself many times over. This will free you up to create more sites or work on an area that you enjoy and let the freelancers work on the chores you hate to do or are not particularly good at.

One last bit of advice here. And you’d better take this to heart. Once you find several freelancers that you like, keep their contact info close by. These people can be invaluable to you. Also, treat them fairly in all your business dealings. If they’re good, they’ll be an asset to your business. The few bucks you’ll save by trying to screw them over isn’t worth it. A good freelancer can be like the Goose that laid the Golden egg.

Remember, you’re the Money Man, the Rainmaker, the person with the Creative Ideas. Do what you do best and let the freelancers do what they’re best at!

To you people, I’d say give it a try. Budget some money and get those time sucking jobs that are holding you back outsourced! Your bank account will thank you!

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It seems more and more people are starting their own blogs. Or at least I’m getting more and more emails asking if I can refer an affordable blog web hosting provider. Over the years, I’ve used many web hosting providers. Some good, many were not. In the early years I’m sure it was because I went with the cheapest web hosting provider or used the free web host. You know the kind, the ones that put a gazillion banner ads on your site because they were letting you use their service for free!

In the last few years, web hosting has come a long way. Nowadays you can find affordable and reliable blog web hosting providers everywhere. Currently I’m using about 20 different web host for a variety of reasons. Everything from big affiliate marketing websites down to personal web hosting of blogs and websites for my family and close friends.

Before I show you the list, you need to be aware of a few things if you’re a beginner looking to host your first blog. There are a few things you’ll want to look for before choosing a blog web hosting provider.

Here Are The Things I Look For In A Blog or Personal Web Hosting Provider

These are the things I want when looking for blog web hosting.

1. CPanel – The blog web hosting provider you choose should have CPanel so you can easily maintain your account. The only exception that I would make for this rule is DreamHost. They have their own “one click install” program which make using their service as easy as a web host with CPanel.
2. Fantastico – This is a program that will install a number of programs for you with minimal effort. It makes it really easy to set up a blog or personal website. Programs such as WordPress, bulletin boards, photo galleries and much more. Most web host provide it with CPanel, but not all.
3. Multiple Domain Hosting – If you’re just looking to host a personal blog, then this will not matter to you. But if you’re looking for easy web hosting so you can run multiple blogs or websites, then make sure the web hosting provider offers the ability to host multiple domains on one account. Some will only let you host 1 domain while other will allow you to host more than one.
4. Multiple SubDomains – Again, if you’re just looking for a personal web hosting for a single blog, this probably doesn’t matter. But for Internet Marketers, the ability to have multiple sub domains can come in handy.
5. Domain Registration – Although it’s pretty easy to buy a domain in one place and then host you website in another, not everyone wants to fool with this. For this reason, you may want to make sure the blog web hosting provider you choose offers domain registration. What’s even better is if that web host will give you a free domain for buying their web hosting services.
6. Customer Service – Before I sign up with any blog web hosting provider, I email the company and ask a few simple questions. I already know the answers to the questions before I send them. What I’m looking for is how quick they get back to me and how informative their answers are. This tells me a lot about a hosting company.

That’s about it for the “must have’s”. I don’t worry much about the storage space. Most of the web host listed below give you plenty of storage space for your blog or website. Also I don’t worry much about bandwidth on my small blogs or for personal web hosting.

I will tell you this about personal web hosting. If you plan on using your blog or website to store pictures for the family, you’re better off using a service like Flickr and then using a WordPress plugin to show those pictures on your blog rather than try and upload a bunch of pictures to your web hosting account. Your storage and bandwidth will be ate up by large files and pictures.

Okay, here’s what you’ve been waiting for.

11 Affordable Blog Web Hosting Providers for Beginners

Note: Prices and features are current at the time I wrote this. Things change so you should check their websites to see if any changes have occurred since this article was posted.

Dream Host
Price: $9.95 per month on a 1 year sign up or $5.95 per month on a 10 year sign up.
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: No
Fantastico: No
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: DreamHost has their own “one click” install for WordPress. This makes it just as easy as having Fantastico on CPanel. I have two DreamHost accounts that I’ve had for many years. I’ve had a few problems in the past (as you will with all web hosting companies from time to time). They’ve been quick to fix any problems I’ve had and their Customer Service has been excellent any time I needed help. They’ve also been very quick to get back with me. A good choice for the beginning looking for personal web hosting or affiliate marketer. Click here for more information on DreamHost blog hosting.

BlueHost
Price: $7.95 per month for one year or $6.95 per month for two years
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: Yes
Fantastico: Yes
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: This is another host that I’ve had for years. Good customer service and I have few problems with their hosting of my blogs and websites. They also have free set up, free domain privacy and free domain registration for as long as you keep the account.

SiteGround
Price: $7.95 per month for one year, $5.95 per month for 3 years
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: Yes
Fantastico: Yes
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: 5 – extra fees apply
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: I only have 2 blogs hosted at SiteGround but I haven’t had any issues with them. WordPress installtion is a snap with CPanel and Fantastico and the people I’ve talked with over there are friendly and helpful. The only drawback for me is that you have to pay extra to host multiple domains on one account. Not an issue if you plan to start 1 blog or website.

HostMonster
Price: $6.95 per month on a 1 year signup and $5.95 per month on a 3 year sign up.
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: Yes
Fantastico: Yes
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: Popular hosting provider. A good choice for beginning affiliate marketers looking to host multiple blogs on one account.

GoDaddy

Price: $4.99 per month for 1 year with their basic package. $6.99 per month for their Deluxe Package
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: No
Fantastico: No
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: No for their Basic Package, Yes for their Deluxe Package
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: Another website host who doesn’t offer CPanel or Fantastico, but their dashboard is easy to use and they offer easy installation of WordPress as well as other scripts and programs. You can also pay month by month if you prefer, they don’t require any long term contracts. They also have Danica Patrick as a GoDaddy Girl. Reason enough to choose them Seriously though, they’re an okay host for personal web hosting but I’d choose another host for building websites and blogs for affiliate marketing.

HostGator
Price: $4.95 per month
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: Yes
Fantastico: Yes
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: No for their $4.95 per month “Baby” package, Yes for their $7.95 per month “Hatchling” plan
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: A very popular host for affiliate marketers, especially those using the Build A Niche Store program. I believe their servers are a bit crowded for my taste. But they do have excellent customer service and the accounts I’ve had with them, I’ve had few problems.

MidPhase
Price: $6.95 per month on a 1 year signup and $5.95 per month on a 3 year sign up.
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: Yes
Fantastico: Yes
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: I have some large sites hosted by MidPhase and they’ve been a good and reliable host for me. They offer a free domain for the life of your account when you purchase web hosting services from them.

1and1.com
Price: $3.99 per month for their Basic package
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: No
Fantastico: No
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: I only have static websites hosted at 1and1 so I’m not sure about their WordPress installation. They claim to be the World’s #1 web host. I’d check them out if your looking for personal web hosting for a simple website or blog. Like GoDaddy and DreamHost, they have their own dashboard that makes it easy to install scripts and software such as Guestbooks and Forums. About the lowest reliable cheap blog hosting I know of.

Dotster.Com
Price: $6.95 per month on a 1 year signup
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: No – Have thier own program for easy installation
Fantastico: No
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: No on Starter plan, up to 50 on their Standard Plan
Multiple SubDomains: Unknown
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: I’m not a huge fan of Dotster for ease of use. But to be honest, I’m more familiar with dashboards like DreamHost and Fantastico. Couldn’t find out whether or not their basic package allowed multiple sub domains.

iX Webhosting
Price: $4.95 per month for a 1 year sign up and $5.95 per month on a 2 year sign up
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: No
Fantastico: No
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: Their dashboard is very similar to CPanels and just as easy to use. WordPress installation is a breeze also. One of the first blog web hosting providers I used and I still have blogs hosted there.

WebHostingPad
Price: $3.96 per month for their Basic package
Domain Registration: Yes
CPanel: Yes
Fantastico: Yes
Host Multiple Domains with 1 Account: Yes
Multiple SubDomains: Yes
Easy WordPress Installation: Yes
Comments: A good choice for personal web hosting or small affiliate marketing blogs or websites. Customer service has been good for me as well.

Okay, there you have my pick of the 11 web hosting providers I would start with if I was just getting into building websites or looking for a personal web hosting provider. Could you use these for larger sites? Sure. But I prefer a little more meat in a hosting package when running larger sites. For blogs, the 11 above are hard to beat for price and reliability. Drop me a line if you have comments about these or other blog web hosting providers.

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I’d like to take this time between writing the big articles and ask my readers what they would like to know more about concerning affiliate marketing or Internet Marketing.

So if there’s been a question you need the answer to or you need some help to get over a hump, let me know, I’ll write a blog post or reply in the comments if I can help. Chances are if you’re having a problem or have a question, someone else is having it also.

Feel free to ask about any topic as long as it pertains to affiliate programs, affiliate marketing, internet marketing, search engine optimization, blogging or Adsense.

I’m no Guru, but I bet I can help most of you if you’ve reached a dead end. Just leave a comment and I’ll get started.

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I’ve said it before, as have others, that local search will be the hot niche of the future. So far only a few bloggers have capitalized on this in their area. They’ll be sitting pretty by the time other bloggers figure this one out.

Update: I get a lot of questions about how to find and how to build Niche sites. The best legitimate resource on the Internet right now for learning all of this is the Keyword Crash Course. I took this course back when it was $597 and felt like it was worth far more than that! Now they’ve opened it up for subscribers. You can get in now for $1 and see all the training video’s that I paid $597 for and learn how to find keywords that pay, learn “The Formula” (this alone was worth the fee in my opinion!), set up WordPress, learn how and where to find backlinks plus a lot more. Then if you think this is something you’d like, you can subscribe to their monthly service for $29. Each month you’ll have access to new training material, Webinars and Q&A sessions. You won’t find a better deal about llearning how to build Niche sites on the Internet! Especially at this price! Click here to learn more and to take advantage of this opportunity for $1.

I’m constantly amazed at people who are searching for the latest hot niche to jump into. Many times it’s right in their own hometown or region and they never realize it until someone else takes it. If it’s niche blogging you’re looking for, look no further than your home town!

Why Local Blogging Is HOT

The reason local blogging is so hot and getting hotter right now is the same reason search engines blasted off at their beginning.

People want information and they want it yesterday.

They also prefer that information come from a trusted source. And who not to trust but a knowledgeable blogger who blogs about their community. Surely there aren’t many people with more knowledge than this guy/gal who blogs about their town?

Local bloggers can connect with local searchers without ever meeting them. Take restaurant reviews for example. Have you ever read a review you agreed with? Perhaps it was a good review of Bob’s Burgers on the out skirts of town. You love Bob’s Burgers and you agree with the review. You’ve instantly judged that writer in your mind.

“Gosh, that reviewer is so smart, everyone loves Bob’s Burgers”

or

“What a dweeb that reviewer is, everyone knows Bob’s Burgers uses roadkill in their meat”

Either way, you’ve made a judgement about the character of the reviewer. If it was a good judgement, you’ll definately listen a little closer the next time the review something. 

Once you have a captive audience, the World gets a little easier!

How to Monetize Local Niches

The sky is nearly the limit on how you choose to set up your blog on your local community. I’ve seen some blogs that had forums and business directories while others just blog on local events and people. It’s up to you how far you want to go.

I would start out by using a Magazine or News type blog theme. These use multiple subjects on the front page. The Revolution News theme by Brian Gardner would be an excellent choice.

How you choose to monetize your local blog is also up to you. Many simply use Adsense, which works well for local Internet surfers. However, by including a Jobs section and a Hotels or Travel section you could use Affiliate Programs from sources like www.ian.com and Job-O-Matic.

Your largest source of income though will likely be from local advertisers. You’ll probably have to sell some adspace on your blog to begin with, but after a few months if you continue to grow, the advertisers will be seeking you out.

Start by making a list of some of the top business’s in your area. You then send them all a sales letter along with a business card telling them about your blog and how they could increase business by advertising on it. Don’t send EMAIL!

Paid reviews can also be a huge money maker for local bloggers. Just make sure you do honest reviews about products or services you actually own or have used. If you continually post favorable reviews to places that everyone knows is a dump, you’ll soon loose your trustworthiness with the local readers. Tell the advertisers up front that there is no guarantee of a good review simply because they paid to have one.

Promoting your local blogis no different than promoting any other blog. Until people find your blog and start backlinking and sharing it with others, promote it just like your would any other website. Article marketing, submitting post to all the Social Media sites, directory submissions and so on. Make sure you use local keywords for your anchor text and you’ll soon see traffic come trickling in. Do you job well and you’ll see this trickle turn into a raging river of local traffic!

But I Live In A Small Town, There’s No One To Read My Blog!

I’ve heard this argument before. I’ve seen blogs covering towns with just 10,000 people do very well.

If you live in a small town, then widen out the scope of your blog. Blog about your County or Region. Don’t go getting to large though or you’ll risk having a blog that is vague and hard to rank for any specific keyword. Remember, this is a niche! Start off with your town and work your way out.

In large Metro areas, you may want to just take a section of the city and blog about it. I know a local blogger that only talks about her home life and the downtown area where she lives. She has made herself the “go to” person when it comes to events or other happenings downtown. Local advertisers can’t get enough of her site.

Trying to blog about the entire city of Los Angeles would be as much of a disaster as trying to blog about California. Remember, think small and connect with the people in your local area. This is why local blogging is such a hot niche and why you should learn how to build niche sites.

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It has always been said that Internet users have short attention spans. That’s still true for the most part.

When I first started, the rule was the post should be between 250 and 500 words. I naturally write long articles as it is. So I was getting comments and email saying my post were too long. So I started trying to keep them around 500 words. That was hard for me to do!

Here are a few reasons why you should be writing long blog post:

• If you’re only interested in attracting Social traffic, stick to making those short, concise post. Most Social readers have shorter attention spans than a 3 year old, especially if they come from Digg.
• If on the other hand, you want your post to rank high in Google SERPS and bring in loads of targeted organic search traffic, you’re more likely to do it with longer keyword optimized post than shorter ones.
• You’ll naturally have more long tail keywords in your long blog post. Long tail keywords bring in more targeted organic traffic to your site.
• Looking at it from Google’s perspective, which post is more informative? A short one or long post? Google is in the business of delivering targeted relevant information to Internet searchers. Google’s algorithym searches for the most relevant and informative information on the Internet when you enter a search into the the search box. So which post do you think it will return higher in the SERPS? A 250 word post about ‘Mens Hair Loss’ or a 1400 word article?
• If you run a content rich site with Adsense, you can increase your CTR with longer post and articles. Why? Because you’ll stand a better chance of the reader losing interest and clicking on an Adsense ad. Yeah, I know, it’s a pretty underhanded Adsense trick hunh? But it works
• You may lose a few RSS subscribers who do not like long post, but you’ll also gain a few more who feel long post are more informative and detailed. They’ll see you as a detailed authority on the subject.

What constitutes a long post?

The way I look at it is, anything over 1000 words is a long post. I know some who say 700 to 800 words is a long post, but a 1000+ word blog post is much better, especially if it’s keyword optimized.

Long post are also more detailed. Instead of making some short-to-the-point sentences, you can take your time and go into more details with your post.

Tips For Optimizing Your Blog for Long Post

If you’re worried about losing your RSS subscribers to long post, here are a few tips that will help you keep them interested and to optimize your long post.

• Use the H3 tag to break up your long post into sections. Properly constructed H3 headings also add SEO benefits to your long post.
• Use bullets and numbers to break up list or for making points
• Use blockquotes when quoting others or for highlighting a resource
• Use Bold, Italics and Colored Text to get your point across and to break up your long post.
• Not all of your long post have to be a War and Peace novels. Just the really important post you want to expand on and the ones you want top rankings for. It’s okay to mix short post with long post. I’ve done this same thing here on AffiliateWatcher.Com

Still not convinced that long Blog post are better?

Take a look at the thumbnail picture below (click it to enlarge the picture). It’s a screenshot I did of a search for “How To Monetize A Blog With Adsense.” I posted it Monday morning and when I got home that afternoon, I was sitting at the #2 spot for that keyword term.

I jumped over some pretty big names to get to the #2 spot with nothing more than a 1400 word post about how to monetize a blog with Adsense. The only reason the B2evolution network outranks my post with their little generic post is because they have more backlinks to that page. It would be rather easy to outrank them and take that #1 spot away with fewer backlinks because my post has more weight than theirs.

Fortunately for me, this happens a lot with my long blog post. Whether or not it’s on this blog or one of my other ones. Long optimized blog post rank better! I no longer ask; how long a blog post should be, I just start writing and stop when I’m done!

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These illusions are quickly shattered when they see their Adsense accounts with .05 and .20 cents per click and a CTR of 1%. It doesn’t take the newbie blogger long to realize that their dream of living of off Adsense income isn’t a reality.

Is Adsense Still a Good Choice For Monetizing Blogs?

The quick and easy answer is Yes and No. In order for Adsense to be a viable option to monetize a blog, you need large amounts of traffic. And not any old traffic will work!

Many bloggers love to talk about Social Media and they spend a good amount of time writing articles and submitting them to the popular Social Networks like Digg and StumbleUpon in order to bring the masses of Social Networkers to their site. While this may increase traffic to a blog, it rarely translates into clicks on their Adsense ads.

Why Social Traffic Isn’t Good For Adsense

If you’re one of these bloggers who’s chasing traffic from Social sites and still wondering why your Adsense account is empty, listen up, I’m fixing to let you in on a little secret.

Social traffic doesn’t convert for squat. Of course, you already knew that didn’t you!

Why?

Because people who use the Social networks are pretty ‘Net savvy and they don’t click ads. They read blogs more for entertainment purposes than they do for the informational value. Sure, they may read a post about whether or not Adsense is still a good choice for monetizing blogs, but if there’s an Ad block on how to monetize a blog with Adsense next to the post, they aren’t likely to click on it.

Another reason Adsense is a poor choice for Social blogs is because the Click Through Rate (CTR) will be in the dumps. This will cause  your Adsense ads to be Smart Priced.

This is how it works. Google Adsense works of off the principle that a targeted Internet searcher is more valuable to the advertisers than a browser just clicking around the Internet.

So when your Social Network browser comes to your site, Google does not consider this a targeted user. If the advertiser is paying $2 per click, and a Social Network user comes to your Social blog about making money on the Internet and actually does click on a Adsense ad, you’ll receive a lower per click price than if that user had went to Google and typed in “how to make money online” and came to your blog and clicked an Adsense ad about ‘how to make money online’. Google considers this targeted traffic and will pay you the most for this type of Internet users. 

Why Organic Traffic Pays Off With Adsense

Stop and think about this one for a minute.  When an Internet user is searching for some knowledge, they want it and they want it yesterday! Many of us will not stop searching the Internet until we find the useful information we need. We’ll click on this or that, we’re frantic searchers and we need that information!

Let’s say you’re bills are piling up because gas is at $4 a gallon and food prices are skyrocketing. You need some debt relief. So you go on over to Google and type in ‘debt relief’. You then click on the first result that promises you quick and painless debt relief. After you browse the site for a few minutes, you realize this site can not answer your questions and you’ll have to go elsewhere. There’s an Adsense ad block to the upper left with an add about instant debt relief. Hmmm, that’s just what you need right now, instant debt relief.

What do you do?

Click the Adsense ad promising instant debt relief or hit the back button a half dozen times to get back to the Google SERPS page?

Yeah, me too. I’ll hit the Adsense link every time if it will lead me to what I’m looking for.

And you know what?

The Webmaster or blog owner gets the maximum payout for your click because you found his site by searching for the term ‘debt relief’.

If I had gone to his site looking for ‘Ways To Make Money Online”and then clicked the same ad, chances are good he would not have received the maximum payout for that click. That’s why you’ll see some of your Adsense ads paying out .20 cents for one click and the next it gives you $2. It’s all about how the Internet user got to your site.

So What Type Of Blogs Are Best For Adsense?

It’s not really what type of blog is best for Adsense, the question should be “What type of traffic is best for Adsense?”

And that question is an easy one to answer. It’s organic search traffic. Plain and simple.

Now having said that, you’ll see that many of the so called Social media blogs do not rank well for anything of value.

Ever see John Chow or some of the other popular social bloggers rank in the top 10 for terms like “how to make money with Adsense?”No, you don’t. That’s one of the biggest reasons you don’t see Adsense on their sites. They can’t bring in the organic search traffic they need to convert browsers into ad clickers and their social traffic sure as hell won’t click the ads. So they end up with a crappy CTR and get Smart Priced. The few clicks they do get, Adsense pays out a few cents here and there. Then the Social bloggers will proclaim to the masses about how Adsense doesn’t work any longer!

Adsense Can Be a Steady Income Producer For Blogs and Websites That Pull In Organic Traffic

This is the real secret to Adsense and how to make it pay the most for every click. If you have a blog or website that ranks well for a number of keywords and your pages are optimized to bring in targeted search traffic, you’ll do well with Adsense.

Your blog doesn’t have to be a custom made WordPress blog nor does it have to be fancy. In fact, you can start with one of these Adsense optimized themes. It does have to be SEO optimized with lots of backlinks to rank well for your keywords.

Forget about the Social traffic and getting your post Dugg and Stumbled. Sure, it’s nice to see all that traffic, but why bother when you know it’s not going to convert plus it’s going to ruin your CTR. And to top it off, it will get you Smart Priced with Google Adsense.

Go after the money. And in this case, the money is in ranking well for your keywords and driving crowds of targeted organic search traffic to your blog or website.

Your blog or website should cover one subject, such as ‘debt relief’. Don’t try to make a blog or website cover everything under the sun. Each page of your website should have an article or post covering one keyword.

For example, if you had a blog over the main keyword of ‘debt relief’, then you’d probably want your interior pages targeting keywords such as ‘bankruptcy’, ‘debt consolidation’, ‘how to pay off your bills early’ or ‘debt consolidation loans’.

While you’re at it, make sure your blog or website is optimized for Adsense. Don’t cover every page in Adsense ads. The top paying ad block is normally a 350 block at the top. You might also want a Tower block in the sidebar, but that’s where I’d stop.

In the past, I put those little Adsense link blocks on my sites, but have always done poorly with them. I’d rather someone click on one of the Adsense ads in the body so I’ll make more money per click. That’s why I’ve started putting only two Adsense ads on my content sites. More ads normally dilute your per click payout.

To wrap this up, if you want to make money with Adsense, forget about those cool social blogs, go with a keyword targeted blog or website. SEO optimize it, build backlinks to make it rank well for your chosen keywords and then sit back and watch the Adsense money roll in. You can still monetize a blog with AdSense, you just have to go about it wisely.

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This post has been a long time in coming. I guess you could say that I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it no more.

I spent about an hour and a half this morning browsing the do-follow list and leaving comments on several blogs. So what’s the problem? Many of the comments sections on those blogs using the do-follow list still have the “nofollow” attribute.

What’s The Do-Follow List?

The do-follow list is a list of bloggers who have removed the “nofollow” attribute from their comments so that the links left by Commenters are “nofollow” and will be followed by Google.

I used the do-follow plugin briefly on this site, found that I didn’t like it and have since used the Top Commentator plugin to reward my regular commenters with a PR4 backlink.

Luckily I never submitted my blog to the do-follow list.

Bloggers Beware of The Do-Follow List

The problem with the do-follow list is that about 80% of the blogs listed on these list, and there are several, still have the nofollow attribute on their comments.

Now you can look at this several ways. Either they’re being completely dishonest by not using the do-follow plugin as they are advertising or they’re just naive.

For you bloggers who think you’re leaving all these wonderful comments and that Google is following your link back to your site, you’re dead wrong. You’re being taken advantage of by many bloggers on the do-follow list!

Most of you have no idea whether or not the bloggers on the do-follow list have actually taken the nofollow attribute off.

When I’m using the do-follow list, I use Firefox with the SEO extension. This allows me to see which links are nofollowed and which ones aren’t. On some blogs, you can also look at the source code, but trust me, the SEO extension for Firefox is quicker. Just make sure you activate it in your toolbar! It then will highlight in a redish pink color all links with the nofollow attribute. Pretty easy!

Also, if the blog you’re looking at is a Blogger blog, the comments are nofollow. You’ll find a whole bunch of Blogger blogs on the do-follow list that claim “You comment, I follow“. Either these bloggers are dishonest or they don’t understand what nofollow is. Out of the hundreds of Blogger blogs I’ve visited, I’ve only seen one or two that actually had the nofollow removed and they were custom sites with their own hosting. If Blogger is hosting the blog, the comments are nofollowed and your link will not be followed by Google. Don’t waste your time.

If these bloggers were on the up and up, they’d do several things.

1. Take down the “U Comment, I Follow” icon
2. Find all the do-follow list and have their blogs taken off. As a blog owner, it’s your responsibility to remove your blog from these list if you’re not going to follow the do-follow guidelines.
3. Or if they truly wanted commenters, they follow the guidelines for do-follow

No Keywords In The Name Field

Here’s another area that is getting me a little peeved lately. Several of these blogs have comment policies where they do not allow you to put a keyword in the Name field.

WTF difference does it matter what is in the name field? This tells me one thing. The blog owner wants the maximum benefit of my comments on his/her blog but doesn’t want me to have the maximum benefit of a followed link. Pretty damn stingy in my book!

Now having said that, let me say I do not blame them one bit if someone leaves a comment with a link back to a bad neighborhood such as drugs, porn, gambling or other bad neighborhood. You have to protect where you’re blog is linking too. I also do not object bloggers removing comments that do not add value to the blog post.

But refusing to allow a commenter to use a Keyword instead of their name is just plain selfish. The whole point of using the do-follow plugin is for bloggers and their readers to mutually benefit.

Another form of Dishonesty are the bloggers who advertise their comments are nofollowed but only a select few commenter’s links are nofollowed. These blogs may only remove the nofollow for their friends or for those who make “X” amount of comments. That’s all well and fine, but do not advertise that your comments are do-follow because they’re not!

If You’re Going To Comment, Do It Right!

Just this morning, I deleted 4 comments by someone who left comments on 4 of my blog post. His/her comments were “Thanks for sharing”.

That’s bullshit. If you’re going to leave a comment, leave one that benefits the blog. If you don’t have the time to leave a decent comment, don’t leave one or I’ll make the time to delete them on this blog and I don’t blame others for doing it.

When I comment, I try and leave at least two sentences, most of the times it’s more…a lot more if I get on a roll.

The Do-Follow Dishonest List

I’ve been seriously thinking of starting a Do-Follow Dishonest list. This list will comprise of blogs who advertise they use the do-follow plugin or otherwise have removed the nofollow attribute from their comments but who have not:

• removed the nofollow attribute from their comments
• removed their blog from Do-Follow list
• stopped displaying the “U Comment, I follow” icon or other forms of advertising that their comments are nofollowed.
• allowed all comments to be do-follow. If you advertise your comments are do-follow, then all comments should be do-followed, not just those of commenter who’ve made “X” amount of comments or those who you like. Otherwise stop advertising that your comments are do-follow. This is nothing more than scamming visitors into thinking your comments are do-follow!

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think this would be a good idea. What do you think?

If you use the do-follow list at all, you owe it to yourself to get Firefox and get the SEO extension so you’ll know who’s being honest and who’s not. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time if you’re posting comments for a link.

The whole point of the do-follow plugin and the do-follow list was so that Bloggers could help each other. Bloggers would use nofollow on their comments so they could attract visitors who would leave comments. The commentators would then get a link back to their website for leaving comments. Now some of these blogs have benefited due to the do-follow movement and do-follow list but refuse to play by the rules. I’m calling your guys/gals out right now.

Stop being dishonest with your visitors!

are do-follow bloggers dishonest

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What?

Yeah, you heard me right. Your links suck!

You see, you proclaim to be a blogger or Webmaster. Yet, you make links like it was 1995! C’mon into the modern Internet age. Today, backlinks are probably the most important off page ranking factors for Google. And if you want to catch a bloggers attention, you’d better make them links properly!

If you’re going to take the time to make a link, then do it right and make it count!

How To Make A Link Like A Rockstar!

To make a proper link that will benefit the blog or website you’re linking to, you first need to structure the link correctly. I have several previous post on how to do this, but I’ll go ahead and spell it out one more time for those of you who are just joining us.

WordPress and many other programs with WYSIWYG editors make creating perfect links easy with the little link icon. Just fill in the URL and “Title” fields and it will take care of the rest.

If you don’t have that option, here is how to make a proper link using HTML code. Let’s say you want to link back to this site. This is how your HTML link structure would look:

<a href=http://www.affiliatewatcher.com” title=”affiliate programs”>Affiliate Programs</a>

This is how it should look when you post your article: Affiliate Programs

Now you’re probably asking yourself why I have the words “Affiliate Programs” as a link instead of something like affiliatewatcher.com. The reason is that the words “Affiliate Program” are my anchor text.

Anchor text tells Google what the page is about that you’re linking too. If you have two identical links and one has anchor text and one doesn’t, the one with anchor text will carry more “weight” with Google than the one without. So when you link to this site with the words “Affiliate Programs,” you’re telling Google this site is about Affiliate Programs.

Notice the red ‘title=”affiliate programs”‘ in the link structure above. Your anchor text goes between the quotes (“”). Your anchor text should be a keyword or keyword phrase that describes the site you’re linking to. Let’s take this site for example again. If you wanted to link to this site, you could use the Anchor Text (keywords);

• affiliate programs
• internet marketing
• top affiliate programs
• best affiliate programs
• ebay affiliate programs.

It’s also important to put the same keyword or keyword phrase (shown in red here) between the …”> and </a> signs.

If you really want to make a blogger or Webmaster notice you when you link to them, bold the Anchor Text (keywords).

Here is an example of how you might link to another blog or website:

Don at AffiliateWatcher.com had an interesting review on ebay affiliate programs. This review got me to thinking of how I could take advantage of the ebay affiliate program on my own blogs.

Notice that I didn’t link the bloggers name or their site’s name. Always use the most relevant keywords describing THE PAGE you’re linking too!

If you’re linking to a story on the front page of a blog, click the story headline and use the page URL for your link. If you just link to the domain, the post may be off the front page when your visitors click on the link.

Also by linking to the exact page, you’re helping that blogger or Wembaster build deep links to his/her interior pages which is excellent for their SEO efforts.

So now you know how to build proper links and the reasons why you should be building the perfect links. No more linking to names and website URL’s! Now that you’re a link building Rockstar, go find those linking Groupies!

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What follows is a list of blog post I consider to be some of the best about making money on the Internet.  This includes articles about Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Programs, SEO, Traffic Generation and Making Money Online. Some of them are my own post on this blog, some are from other bloggers. I hope you enjoy them and learn from them!

Affiliate Programs  

By far, the most popular post I had in 2007 was my review of the Build A Niche Store program and the follow up post on the PHPBay program. I’m still getting a flood of emails about both of those reviews.

I also showed you how to pick a profitable affiliate program.

Carl Ocab, the 13 year old blogging wizard, took a long hard look at Adsense monetization strategies with his post “A Hardcore Advice On Making Money with Adsense.”

Affiliate Marketing

Also in 2007, I showed you how to create a successful affiliate marketing empire  with blog networks.

Here are some post and reviews I did on Affiliate Marketing tools.

• Golden Can Review
• Pop Shops
• Auction Ads
• Blog Profit Blueprint
• Webmerge

DoshDosh had a neat article about T-Shirt affiliate marketing. It’s worth checking into even if you don’t sell T-Shirts!

Ian Fernando uses video to demonstrate how to use Excel to help you with keywords. It’s a great tutorial!

Everyone needs a little inspiration, especially when you’re starting out. Linda over at 5 Star Affiliate Programs posted a story about an inner city kid who took $70 and turned it into a 3 Million dollar business. You know, it’s these type of stories I think about when I see or hear someone say “The Good Old Days of the Internet are over, there are no more profitable Niches” or some other lame excuse for not succeeding.

PPC Marketing

 High Performance Affiliate Marketing was a review of the ebook I bought from Jeremy Palmer. If you’ve ever wondered if you could make money with PPC, or wondered if people can make a million dollars a year from Affiliate Marketing, read this ebook and you’ll have your answers. Jeremy takes you step by step and shows you how to make money with Affiliate Marketing and PPC.

Kieron Donoghue wrote an excellent article back in June about how to build a landing page that won’t get banned by Google Adwords. If you’re thinking about jumping into PPC, or have lost your butt trying out PPC and can’t figure out why, give his article a view.

Staying with PPC for a second, Fraser Edwards had a pretty nifty tutorial on how to transfer your Adwords Adverts to Adcenter. This technique saved me some time with my PPC campaigns.

Back in October, Super Affiliate Zac Johnson published his guide “Super Affiliates Guide To PPC Marketing.” It was on par with Jeremy’s ebook on how to make money with PPC. This is a step-by-step guide to getting started with PPC. Zac holds your hand all the way through the process. Very informative and user friendly!

Another Super Affiliate in the PPC world is Amit Mehta. Amit has a two part series “What’s The Secret of Affiliate Success.” These articles really opened my mind up to new ideas and out of the box thinking.

Traffic Generation

Some Affiliate Marketers are still driving targeted traffic to their websites and converting the traffic into sales with article marketing, even though some “guru’s” claim that it’s dead. Just goes to show you can’t always believe what “gurus” say! I showed you how to start article marketing in this post.

I gave you some tips on building a opt in email list. Some of you told me that this helped you a great deal in building your own list. I’m glad I could help.

We’ve all heard the buzz about viral this and viral that…haven’t you? Well, DailyBlogTips wrote an excellent piece about why viral content is King. And you know what? He has a good point!

Nate Whitehill shared his How-To post about the 5 Types of Blog Post That Generate Traffic. Follow his advice if you want tons of traffic!

Quadszilla at SEOBlackHat showed everyone (by example) of what the perfect link baiting article was when he posted an article “250 Best Movies Made In The Last 30 Years.”   He then followed it up later with a post called “3 Link Bait Lessons From a Master Baiter” where he explained the article about the top movies and why it went viral. This is a must read for any of you wanting to perfect your Link Baiting game.

How To Make Money Online

For some silly reason in 2007, I kept seeing people ask how to get their Adsense Account banned.

I thought the post by Shoemoney about his little arrow trick to increase Adwords CTRwas a joke…until I tried it myself. My CTR did go up! Shoemoney also had a nice article on 5 ways to Make Passive income from your website.

Mark @ 45n5 has some damn good articles on making sites that bring in the Moo Lah! Here’s one article he posted about creating a basic business plan to profit $600 a month from blogs.

Caroline Middlebrook has done a helluva job documenting her journey about making money online. She wrote a very in depth post titled “10 Strategies For Making Money Online.” I think you’ll find this post to be very helpful. A lot of thinking outside the box on this one.

2007 saw eMomsAtHome go from a single blogger, Wendy Piersall, to a multi-blogger platform. Wendy wrote a very good article about the Top 10 Internet Home Based Business’s You Can Start and Run In Your Underwear.

Back in February, Strategic Profits had a series on what’s holding you back. If you’re thinking about getting into affiliate marketing or you’re having a hard time making money at it, go to their site and read up and actually do what they teach!

Andrew Wee caught my attention real quick with his post “Creating Content For Traffic Generation and Profit.” Andrew told us how he finds quality content writers. If any of you are running multiple content sites, then you know what a task this can be!

Blogs

This list of WordPress Adsense Themesis still one of the most popular post on AffiliateWatcher.Com

This post about which is more profitable in the long run, blogs or traditional websites, has been linked too and blogged about quite a bit.

I found Courtney Tuttle’s post on starting a profitable blog to be very helpful in getting this blog started. While there, take a look at his series of post on keyword sniping.

ProBlogger underwent a face lift, the blog, not Darren…lol In Feburary Darren wrote a timely piece on 11 ways to find new RSS Subscribers.

Ryan Caldwell wrote a post on Performancing about how to sqeeze more income out of your blog. This is an excellent article that will get you to thinking outside the box about ways to increase your income from your websites.

Lorelle @ LorelleOnWordpress threw up a post about resources to find content for your blog. This is one of the most comprehensive list of resources I’ve seen on the ‘Net.

SEO

GrayWolf had an excellent series of interviews about local search. He interviewed some of the biggest names in SEO and Search.

Andy Beard wrote a post about the Top SEO linkng mistakes even the Pro’s make. It made me step back a minute and look at my SEO abilities. Thanks Andy!

Over at Entrepreneur’s Journey, Yaro Starak blogged about 80/20 Of Search Engine Marketing. This is part 1 of a 2 part series on SEO. Very well done!

Ades @ adesblog.com showed us how to PROPERLY write a link exchange email. This is very important in your link building efforts for your websites.

Mark @ Digerati Marketing guest posted on Eli’s BluehatSEO site about making money with a video blog. I know this won’t be everyones cup of tea, oh well, for others it will help them with their business of making money online. Enjoy and learn from it even if you don’t use it.

2007 saw Google cracking down on sites that sold paid links. Jim Boykin of WeBuildPages had a great response to all the hoopla that was running rampant around the Internet.

Okay, I do have more bookmarked. I didn’t realize how many post I bookmark! I have to stop here or this post will turn into a War and Peace post.

There is gold in the post above and a lot of it. Study the post and take action if you want to be successful in 2008!

What were some of your favorite ways to make money articles of 2007? Share them with the rest of us!

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Many of the blogs that I visited had removed the MyBlogLog widget. So then I logged into MyBlogLog account and noticed that there were fewer subscribers to some of the communities and my own community had shrunk.

In fact, when I looked at the top 10 A-list bloggers, I noticed only 1 had the MyBlogLog widget on their site.

What Has Caused the Exodus of MyBlogLog Subscribers?

So I started doing a little research into why this was happening.

I read old reviews about the acquisition of MyBlogLog by Yahoo and really found nothing.

Now I knew that some bloggers have had a problem with MyBlogLog from the beginning when it was reported that their widget was reading and possibly recording traffic to the blogs that used their widget. It was even reported that this widget would read and log clicks to Adsense. Needless to say, this didn’t set well with a lot of people.

Even with those reports though, many bloggers were adding the MyBlogLog widget to their blogs in huge numbers.

It wasn’t until I started reading post on other blogs about Yahoo requiring a MyYahoo account to login to MyBlogLog that I started seeing a lot of discontent. Obviously many MyBlogLog users refused to make the changeover and decided to leave rather than be forced to open a Yahoo account.

Why would Yahoo make this move?  Surely they knew it would drive away subscribers?

Life After The Yahoo Acquisition

Personally, I don’t like the move either. I have multiple MyBlogAccounts and Yahoo accounts. When I go blog browsing, I have one MyBlogLog account I use. However, sometimes another profile will pop up on the blogs MyBlogLog widget. This doesn’t set well with me.

I’m not sure what Yahoo’s plan is for MyBlogLog is. From where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like a good fit for Yahoo. I believe their move of requiring a Yahoo account to login proves this.

So what’s in store for MyBlogLog? I don’t know honestly. I don’t use MyBlogLog as much as I did previously. It also seems to have become very spammy.

I’ll continue to show the widget in the short term, but I’m wanting to see some advantages of using it.

What experiences have you had with MyBlogLog? Do you still use the widget? Share your experiences with the rest of us by dropping a comment.

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I don’t usually toot my own horn, and I’m not going to start now. Why? Because Evan Carmichael at EvanCarmichael.Com has done it for me! Evan runs a very information packed site about Entrepreneuring. His site has been featured in main stream media outlets like the New York Times, Dallas Morning News, The Globe and Mail and many others.

Now you can understand why it was such a surprise when I found his email in my inbox stating that AffiliateWatcher.Com was chosen as one of the Top 50 Marketing Blogs to watch in 2008!

If you look down the list, you’ll see that I’m in some pretty good company. Actually, it’s pretty humbling to realize this blog’s been picked along with many A-listers in Evan’s Top 50.

The Top 50 is a Who’s Who in Internet Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Affiliate Marketing, Business and Technology blogs.  This is one of the most comprehensive, if not The Most comprehensive, list of top expert bloggers and entrepreneurs in their field.

Bloggers such as Darren at Problogger.net, Wendy at eMoms.com, Drew at drewsmarketingminute.com, Brian at Copyblogger, Andy at andybeard.eu and many other Top-of-the-line bloggers! Go ahead and follow the link above to see the list. You won’t be disappointed!

I’d like to say “Thank You” to Evan for choosing this blog as one of his Top 50!

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I’ve got to be honest, I read Yaro Starak’s blog Entrepreneurs-Journey on a regular basis and figured there wasn’t anything new I’d see in this make money fast eBook. But I needed something to keep me from going bonkers on our 8 hour driving trip. So I downloaded it plus I brought along my pen and highlighter.

It took me just a little over an hour to read the book. This includes looking up and commenting on my wife’s driving from time to time. I then started reading it a second time, with pen and highlighter ready to go to work. This is how I normally read ebooks. I read them all the way through and if there is pertanent information, I’ll go back and reread the ebook, this time slower (I’m a skim reader) and making notes or highlighting text.

This free ebook was informative and I found myself actually enjoying the ebook. I consider anything that takes my mind of my Wife’s driving to be great!

I’ll fess up and say there were a couple things in this ebook that I either didn’t know about or haven’t tried. This would be an excellent starting point for you if your serioius about making money on the Internet. Yaro’s writing style is straight forward and to the point. Those of you who know me know that if I hadn’t liked this ebook, there’d be no mention of it here. I only write reviews for tools and programs I like and find useful.

Yaro has laid this book out in a way that you could take anyone off the street, show them how to use WordPress or other blogging software, give them a copy of this free ebook and they could be on their way to making money on the Internet.

There is more information in this free ebook than many of the $47 and $97 ebooks I’ve bought in the past (I’m an ebook junkie ). Yaro could have easily sold this ebook and made some fine profit from it.

You can download the How to Make Money Fast Blueprint today and implement many of the techniques on your website or blog and improve your search engine rankings and profits almost immediately. I’m sure you’ll find it every bit useful as I did.

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