Hi,
Just a quick note if you've arrived at my old blogspot blog, that I've migrated my writing to my new wordpress effots at: http://www.javanx3d.com where it is focused on making money freelance writing.
Cheers,
Javanx3d
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Mistakes To Avoid When Using Web Templates
Website templates are very affordable and they save you a lot of effort and time when you want to create a new layout for your website. However, a lot of people make mistakes in the process of choosing and using a web template and end up with something that was unlike the image they had in mind. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid those mistakes.
The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbors.
To whole point of using a web template is to save time and effort. You just change the title and appropriate details and you're done. The biggest mistake one makes is to customize the template beyond recognition. While that may be good in the sense that you're creating a unique graphic, you're defying the very purpose of using a web template -- saving time and effort.
However, on the opposite side, if a template you purchase is suitable but some changes must be made to suit your site's theme, then you will have to take some time to make the changes. For example, you can find a very nice template that suits your hobby site except the original designer has put an image of stamps in the header. You can find images of garden plants and spades to replace the stamps for your gardening hobby site. However, do only make the necessary changes and don't redesign the whole template.
In some circumstances, some people simply make the wrong choice of templates. This is a very subjective issue but you have to be careful in selecting templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are pretty, choose them because they serve your purpose.
The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbors.
To whole point of using a web template is to save time and effort. You just change the title and appropriate details and you're done. The biggest mistake one makes is to customize the template beyond recognition. While that may be good in the sense that you're creating a unique graphic, you're defying the very purpose of using a web template -- saving time and effort.
However, on the opposite side, if a template you purchase is suitable but some changes must be made to suit your site's theme, then you will have to take some time to make the changes. For example, you can find a very nice template that suits your hobby site except the original designer has put an image of stamps in the header. You can find images of garden plants and spades to replace the stamps for your gardening hobby site. However, do only make the necessary changes and don't redesign the whole template.
In some circumstances, some people simply make the wrong choice of templates. This is a very subjective issue but you have to be careful in selecting templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are pretty, choose them because they serve your purpose.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Website Customization: What can we do?
Website Design and Customization. Nowadays, in this trendy world, people get very uptight when they do not look entirely presentable. This would also be the case in web designing.
Every individual would definitely want their website to look good, if not, to the best they can. Here are a few things we could look out for when wanting to create a professional looking webpage.
Color Schemes and Themes.
When designing, always choose matching colors. An example of a matching color would be to have a dark background, with visible words and designs. With the dark theme, try not to mix too many bright colors into the design. What we should NEVER do, is to mix two very different colors, such as purple and yellow. Now, of course, it would depend on the purpose of the website, but those two colors are too striking for one who wants it to look more professional.
Themes must always suit the company or rather, the organization / etc. If the website was made to cater for a food company, it would be wise to stick to that particular category, rather than to revert to a different theme, such as machinery.
Choosing the Right Fonts
Fonts should be used in regard to the formality of the website. A simple sans-serif font would suffice in most cases. Exceptional cases such as design and art groups might want to use fanciful designs and fonts. Of course, that’s only if you know what you’re doing.
Finally, we must always try to think of our visitors, see the way they see. The resolutions and file sizes of the pictures must not be too large in terms of size. This is to allow maximum compatibility and cater our visitor’s needs.
So, planning is something we should always do, before attempting something.
Every individual would definitely want their website to look good, if not, to the best they can. Here are a few things we could look out for when wanting to create a professional looking webpage.
Color Schemes and Themes.
When designing, always choose matching colors. An example of a matching color would be to have a dark background, with visible words and designs. With the dark theme, try not to mix too many bright colors into the design. What we should NEVER do, is to mix two very different colors, such as purple and yellow. Now, of course, it would depend on the purpose of the website, but those two colors are too striking for one who wants it to look more professional.
Themes must always suit the company or rather, the organization / etc. If the website was made to cater for a food company, it would be wise to stick to that particular category, rather than to revert to a different theme, such as machinery.
Choosing the Right Fonts
Fonts should be used in regard to the formality of the website. A simple sans-serif font would suffice in most cases. Exceptional cases such as design and art groups might want to use fanciful designs and fonts. Of course, that’s only if you know what you’re doing.
Finally, we must always try to think of our visitors, see the way they see. The resolutions and file sizes of the pictures must not be too large in terms of size. This is to allow maximum compatibility and cater our visitor’s needs.
So, planning is something we should always do, before attempting something.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Importance of a Website Sitemap (Navigation Type)
A sitemap is often considered redundant in the process of building a website, and that is indeed the fact if you made a sitemap for the sake of having one. By highlighting the importance of having a well constructed sitemap, you will be able to tailor your own sitemap to suit your own needs.
1) Navigation purposes
A sitemap literally acts as a map of your site. If your visitors browses your site and gets lost between the thousands of pages on your site, they can always refer to your sitemap to see where they are, and navigate through your pages with the utmost ease.
2) Conveying your site's theme
When your visitors load up your sitemap, they will get the gist of your site within a very short amount of time. There is no need to get the "big picture" of your site by reading through each page, and by doing that you will be saving your visitors' time.
3) Site optimization purposes
When you create a sitemap, you are actually creating a single page which contains links to every single page on your site. Imagine what happens when search engine robots hit this page -- they will follow the links on the sitemap and naturally every single page of your site gets indexed by search engines! It is also for this purpose that a link to the sitemap has to be placed prominently on the front page of your website.
4) Organization and relevance
A sitemap enables you to have a complete bird's eye view of your site structure, and whenever you need to add new content or new sections, you will be able to take the existing hierarchy into consideration just by glancing at the sitemap. As a result, you will have a perfectly organized site with everything sorted according to their relevance.
From the above reasons, it is most important to implement a sitemap for website projects with a considerable size. Through this way, you will be able to keep your website easily accessible and neatly organized for everyone.
1) Navigation purposes
A sitemap literally acts as a map of your site. If your visitors browses your site and gets lost between the thousands of pages on your site, they can always refer to your sitemap to see where they are, and navigate through your pages with the utmost ease.
2) Conveying your site's theme
When your visitors load up your sitemap, they will get the gist of your site within a very short amount of time. There is no need to get the "big picture" of your site by reading through each page, and by doing that you will be saving your visitors' time.
3) Site optimization purposes
When you create a sitemap, you are actually creating a single page which contains links to every single page on your site. Imagine what happens when search engine robots hit this page -- they will follow the links on the sitemap and naturally every single page of your site gets indexed by search engines! It is also for this purpose that a link to the sitemap has to be placed prominently on the front page of your website.
4) Organization and relevance
A sitemap enables you to have a complete bird's eye view of your site structure, and whenever you need to add new content or new sections, you will be able to take the existing hierarchy into consideration just by glancing at the sitemap. As a result, you will have a perfectly organized site with everything sorted according to their relevance.
From the above reasons, it is most important to implement a sitemap for website projects with a considerable size. Through this way, you will be able to keep your website easily accessible and neatly organized for everyone.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
How To Have Websites Built For You The Cheap Way
Normally, if you want to have professional designers custom build your site, you must be prepared to dish out at least a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you know where to find the best deals, the best designs for the lowest price. Here's a rough guide:
Contracting Website Creation
First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on.
Hire a Freelancer to Build Your Website
Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice.
However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to elance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.
Build Your Own Website
Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.
Contracting Website Creation
First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on.
Hire a Freelancer to Build Your Website
Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice.
However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to elance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.
Build Your Own Website
Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Good Webiste Design Practices
Your website is where your business resides -- it's like the headquarter of an offline company. Hence, it is important to practice good design principles to make sure your site reaches out to the maximum number of visitors and sells to as many people as possible.
Website Navigation
Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.
Website Imagery
Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size. Some website types don't allow you to necessarily honor this step. Take for instance, my arcade website, http://www.spiderman-arcade.com. Online arcades rely on the visual medium to attract and retain visitors! So, in this case we worry more about putting as low resolution images as possible on the site without foregoing too much quality in order to achieve our means!
Website Prose
Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. On the web, length is death! Several of my blog posts on here are definitely way too long! But its a blog that I'm only writing for myself, so I'm not too worried about it. If it was a site that I was trying to make money from, then I would have split several of the posts into 2 or more! If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into seperate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.
Comply with Web Standards
Make sure your website complies to web standards at www.w3.org and make sure they are cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.
Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.
Use CSS to style your page content because they save a lot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.
That's about it for this article. More to come!!
Website Navigation
Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.
Website Imagery
Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size. Some website types don't allow you to necessarily honor this step. Take for instance, my arcade website, http://www.spiderman-arcade.com. Online arcades rely on the visual medium to attract and retain visitors! So, in this case we worry more about putting as low resolution images as possible on the site without foregoing too much quality in order to achieve our means!
Website Prose
Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. On the web, length is death! Several of my blog posts on here are definitely way too long! But its a blog that I'm only writing for myself, so I'm not too worried about it. If it was a site that I was trying to make money from, then I would have split several of the posts into 2 or more! If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into seperate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.
Comply with Web Standards
Make sure your website complies to web standards at www.w3.org and make sure they are cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.
Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.
Use CSS to style your page content because they save a lot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.
That's about it for this article. More to come!!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Generating Website Revenue with Good Planning
For anything to work well, care must be taken to make firm, workable plans to execute it and the same goes for website designs. With a well thought out website design, you will be able to create a site that generates multiple streams of revenue for you. In fact, may websites turn into online wasteland because they are not well planned and do not get a single visitor. Gradually, the webmaster will not be motivated to update it anymore and it turns into wasted cyberspace, the domain name expires, and the website disappears.
Planning for Success - Theme-based Website Design
The crucial point of planning your site is optimizing it for revenue if you want to gain any income from the site. Divide your site into major blocks, ordered by themes, and start building new pages and subsections in those blocks. For example, you might have a "food" section, an "accomodation" section and an "entertainment" section for a tourism site. You can then write and publish relevant articles in the respective sections to attract a stream of traffic that comes looking for further information.
When you have a broader, better-defined scope of themes for your website, you can sell space on your pages to people interested in advertising on your page. You can also earn from programs like Google's Adsense and Yahoo! Search Marketing if people surf to those themed pages and click on the ads. For this very reason, the advertisement blocks on your pages need to be relevant to the content, so a themed page fits that criteria perfectly and Yahoo and Google take care of the rest. AdToll.com is another advertisement resource that you can use in parallel with Yahoo and Google Ads where you are putting space up for 'rent' to other companies. All of these resources coupled together can help pay for your site and if your traffic levels are high enough, even provide you with a nice profit!
Planning for Success - Theme-based Website Design
The crucial point of planning your site is optimizing it for revenue if you want to gain any income from the site. Divide your site into major blocks, ordered by themes, and start building new pages and subsections in those blocks. For example, you might have a "food" section, an "accomodation" section and an "entertainment" section for a tourism site. You can then write and publish relevant articles in the respective sections to attract a stream of traffic that comes looking for further information.
When you have a broader, better-defined scope of themes for your website, you can sell space on your pages to people interested in advertising on your page. You can also earn from programs like Google's Adsense and Yahoo! Search Marketing if people surf to those themed pages and click on the ads. For this very reason, the advertisement blocks on your pages need to be relevant to the content, so a themed page fits that criteria perfectly and Yahoo and Google take care of the rest. AdToll.com is another advertisement resource that you can use in parallel with Yahoo and Google Ads where you are putting space up for 'rent' to other companies. All of these resources coupled together can help pay for your site and if your traffic levels are high enough, even provide you with a nice profit!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
5 Ways to Keep Visitors Coming Back to Your Website
A lot of successful websites depend on returning visitors to account for a major part of their traffic. Returning visitors are easier to convert into paying customers because the more often they return to a site, the more trust they have in that site. The credibility issue just melts away. Hence, keep your visitors coming back to your site with the following methods:
1) Start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox
When you start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers -- all of them are visitors of your site. As conversations build up, a sense of community will also follow and your visitors will come back to your site almost religiously every day.
2) Start a web log (blog)
Keep an online journal, or more commonly known as a blog, on your site and keep it updated with latest news about yourself. Human beings are curious creatures and they will keep their eyes glued to the monitor if you post fresh news frequently. You will also build up your credibility as you are proving to them that there is also a real life person behind the website.
3) Carry out polls or surveys
Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.
4) Hold puzzles, quizzes and games
Just imagine how many office workers procrastinate at work every day, and you will be able to gauge how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide a very interesting or addicting way of entertainment. You can also hold competitions to award the high score winner to keep people trying continuously to earn the prize.
5) Update frequently with fresh content
Update your site frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but this is also the least carried out one because of the laziness of webmasters. No one will want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep your site updated with fresh bites!
1) Start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox
When you start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers -- all of them are visitors of your site. As conversations build up, a sense of community will also follow and your visitors will come back to your site almost religiously every day.
2) Start a web log (blog)
Keep an online journal, or more commonly known as a blog, on your site and keep it updated with latest news about yourself. Human beings are curious creatures and they will keep their eyes glued to the monitor if you post fresh news frequently. You will also build up your credibility as you are proving to them that there is also a real life person behind the website.
3) Carry out polls or surveys
Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.
4) Hold puzzles, quizzes and games
Just imagine how many office workers procrastinate at work every day, and you will be able to gauge how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide a very interesting or addicting way of entertainment. You can also hold competitions to award the high score winner to keep people trying continuously to earn the prize.
5) Update frequently with fresh content
Update your site frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but this is also the least carried out one because of the laziness of webmasters. No one will want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep your site updated with fresh bites!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
5 Important Rules in Website Design
When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.
1) Do not use splash pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements
Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
3) Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4) Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!
5) Avoid using audio on your site
If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.
1) Do not use splash pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements
Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
3) Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4) Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!
5) Avoid using audio on your site
If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Making Money Online - Feb 13th - Entry 2
Making Money Online - My Attempts
Ok, so just a second short post today to outline the second effort that I'm doing to bring in a little more money. Web site creation and monetization. I've done Web before, but that was when I wasn't worried about making money online from the efforts. So, a logical extension for me personally was to combine my web authoring interest with those of content creation. So...in the last week, at the cost of my AC writing (since that would be the least impact on my pocket book), I decided to go there over the past week...
Making Money Online - Finding Start-Up Websites
So, I read about sitepoint.com online and decided to save a little money, that I would go ahead and buy a few start-up websites vice starting from scratch. The first one that I bought was www.appleipodcheap.info. Now, I know what you're saying...you bought a .info site? Well, the developer selling it had it at the right price and did some neat .php scripting to pull in Google Answers Ipod q/a's, had Amazon and Ebay affiliate information on there, and had done his homework on keywords. Now will I see a ton of money from there? Probably not. But just the re-education in php and being exposed to the Yahoo API has been worth it for me personally. The next two sites that I found throug Site Point were www.watchmenmoviesite.com and www.spiderman-arcade.com.
Making Money Online - Hosting Your Website
So, the first gentleman that I bought appleipodcheap.info from turned me on to HostGator.com. HostGator offers three tiers of service, basically one that offers single site hosting (Hatchling), one that allows you to host multiple domains (Baby), and a third tier for those requiring additional resources. You can get started for way cheap for the single site option, I'm paying about 10 bucks a month for multiple domains and really love the customer service with them. I've had techs on chat at 3 am to help me really fix problems with content I bought as well as configuration issues. THey were absolutely fantastic.They also offer Linux or Windows servers for hosting which I like alot...I normally choose Linux to stick with Open Standards as much as possible...so, if you need a host, I can't talk them up enough. If you sign-up through the link below, then I think I get 50 cents or something similarly small and will owe you coffee! :)
Making Money Online - Ads and Affiliates
Ok, I'll write more on this on my next update, but to keep things short, I'm monetizing my sites two ways: Google Adsense, and Amazaon Affilate retail sales. I've mucked with Adsense before and its straightforward. Amazon, I hadn't, but I had a long of fun making my eStore for the WatchmenMovieSite.com site. Amazon is free to setup, and unlike Ebay accepted my application (I still don't know why Ebay didn't!). Check out the store here if you're bored: WatchmenMovieSite.com Store.
That's all for today. More when I have a break!!
Ok, so just a second short post today to outline the second effort that I'm doing to bring in a little more money. Web site creation and monetization. I've done Web before, but that was when I wasn't worried about making money online from the efforts. So, a logical extension for me personally was to combine my web authoring interest with those of content creation. So...in the last week, at the cost of my AC writing (since that would be the least impact on my pocket book), I decided to go there over the past week...
Making Money Online - Finding Start-Up Websites
So, I read about sitepoint.com online and decided to save a little money, that I would go ahead and buy a few start-up websites vice starting from scratch. The first one that I bought was www.appleipodcheap.info. Now, I know what you're saying...you bought a .info site? Well, the developer selling it had it at the right price and did some neat .php scripting to pull in Google Answers Ipod q/a's, had Amazon and Ebay affiliate information on there, and had done his homework on keywords. Now will I see a ton of money from there? Probably not. But just the re-education in php and being exposed to the Yahoo API has been worth it for me personally. The next two sites that I found throug Site Point were www.watchmenmoviesite.com and www.spiderman-arcade.com.
Making Money Online - Hosting Your Website
So, the first gentleman that I bought appleipodcheap.info from turned me on to HostGator.com. HostGator offers three tiers of service, basically one that offers single site hosting (Hatchling), one that allows you to host multiple domains (Baby), and a third tier for those requiring additional resources. You can get started for way cheap for the single site option, I'm paying about 10 bucks a month for multiple domains and really love the customer service with them. I've had techs on chat at 3 am to help me really fix problems with content I bought as well as configuration issues. THey were absolutely fantastic.They also offer Linux or Windows servers for hosting which I like alot...I normally choose Linux to stick with Open Standards as much as possible...so, if you need a host, I can't talk them up enough. If you sign-up through the link below, then I think I get 50 cents or something similarly small and will owe you coffee! :)
Making Money Online - Ads and Affiliates
Ok, I'll write more on this on my next update, but to keep things short, I'm monetizing my sites two ways: Google Adsense, and Amazaon Affilate retail sales. I've mucked with Adsense before and its straightforward. Amazon, I hadn't, but I had a long of fun making my eStore for the WatchmenMovieSite.com site. Amazon is free to setup, and unlike Ebay accepted my application (I still don't know why Ebay didn't!). Check out the store here if you're bored: WatchmenMovieSite.com Store.
That's all for today. More when I have a break!!
Making Money Online - Feb 13th Entry
Making Money Online. The primary reason that I got back into the Web business after being mostly out of it for the past 4-5 years. This past summer, I was able to predict a shortage of money for various reasons, so turned to the Web to start bringing in extra money to help ends meet. As a result, I started to freelance write for AssociatedContent.com, then have expanded my efforts since then to a decent degree of success. Unlike what you will read from other folks on the web, I don't make a killing doing web-based freelance work or web authoring...mainly it helps me get by. I'm still in the just over 1K a month range, and trying to get to 2 phase. One of the things that annoys me with many on the web today is the lack of sharing about how the normal person has success without having to buy an e-book, etc. So...that's why I've decided to start posting at least weekly what I'm doing, what works for me, and what doesn't. If it helps one other person save some time or make more money freelance writing or web authoring than me, so much the better!! Since this is the first post, it will likely be more general to catch the 2 people besides my mother who read this blog up to speed....
Making Money Online - My Freelance Writing Efforts to Date
First a shameless plug for two related articles on the subject:
Making Money Online - Freelance Writing for Demand Studios
So, I was a bit intimidated after reading several articles on writing for Demand Studios about the rigors of AP style formatted articles, moody editors, lack of topics to write on, etc. Well, I shouldn't have been. I put together a resume, applied and got accepted within a few days. Since then, I would have to say 95% of my editor comments are very valid feedback, and the only two that weren't were on technical topics with editors that were of the say Poet background...
In 2009, the content availability has significantly expanded on DS. I'm shooting for 20 articles a week for them. So far I hit my high at 18 last week ($270). For a point of ref, to-date I have made about $320 on AC (writing since 36 Oct 2008). One of the things that I tell say the less technical friends is that you have to be willing to research a little bit to write for DS. If you've owned a home or played sports you should have a niche on there...let alone if you know things about car repair, business, and so forth....now I would have to say, that I get burned out some with DS. You are basically writing EHow articles for the DS branch of the company who owns Ehow. That's why you won't see me leave AC..can't beat the freedom there even with the lesser amount of pay realized!
Making Money Online - Writing Directly for Ehow
Now, about 8 days ago, I decided that I would make writing for Ehow my third publication forum. Primarily because I didn't want to make Textbroker.com my third outlay any longer (low pay, boring topics...1cent a word though others I know like them). To date, I've written 13 articles for them in the 8 days I've been on there. My profile there is: http://www.ehow.com/members/javanx3d.html. Now, one complaint that I've seen from folks on eHow is that they keep the compensation formula secret so you don't know how much you're going to make freelance writing for them. I don't really know either, 1 week on there (I think they updated the money you've made weekly), 615 views, 13 articles, $.10... needless to say, if the dinero doesn't increase then I'll shift those efforts to other areas. Common feedback for Ehow is that you need to make a lot of friends and burn time on reading and commenting on other freelance authors material in order to make money online in that forum. We'll see. I'll keep you updated. I'm playing nice in the sandbox there (reading, commenting, etc), and hope it comes out to at least a little bit a month!!
Thats all for this post on my efforts on making money online. My next post will cover my efforts on web site hosting with content creation for creating more passive income streams. Comments and feedback are always welcome.
Making Money Online - My Freelance Writing Efforts to Date
First a shameless plug for two related articles on the subject:
Making Money Freelance Writing - My Experience
Freelance Writing Jobs - My Top Ten Producing Article TItles
Now, I'll try and not repeat much of what I wrote in those two if you felt like reading them. But, to catch you up...in late October 2008, I started writing for AssociatedContent.com. I covered all manner of topics on there at first, some good, some bad if you read my old stuff. Really, just learning how to freelance write and structure articles for SEO. For those who don't know Associated Content is a freelance writing website which pays money upfront (1-4.50 USD) as well as a going rate per thousand views (1.50 to start with a max of 2.00). I don't think that I've read of anyone who has had a bad experience with AC. THey pay regularly on the 2nd Wednesday of every month for page views, and twice a week for up-front money articles. Sometimes the editors can be a little inconsistent as well as take up to a week to review up-front payment articles, but once you have 3 published the author can self publish for page views-only to the web! Now, after I wrote for AC for about a month, I figured out that the 60 bucks I made writing freelance articles for them wasn't going to get me from here to there. After conducting some research, I decided to apply to Demand Studios who pay $15 USD an article, but you don't get moeny from page views.Making Money Online - Freelance Writing for Demand Studios
So, I was a bit intimidated after reading several articles on writing for Demand Studios about the rigors of AP style formatted articles, moody editors, lack of topics to write on, etc. Well, I shouldn't have been. I put together a resume, applied and got accepted within a few days. Since then, I would have to say 95% of my editor comments are very valid feedback, and the only two that weren't were on technical topics with editors that were of the say Poet background...
In 2009, the content availability has significantly expanded on DS. I'm shooting for 20 articles a week for them. So far I hit my high at 18 last week ($270). For a point of ref, to-date I have made about $320 on AC (writing since 36 Oct 2008). One of the things that I tell say the less technical friends is that you have to be willing to research a little bit to write for DS. If you've owned a home or played sports you should have a niche on there...let alone if you know things about car repair, business, and so forth....now I would have to say, that I get burned out some with DS. You are basically writing EHow articles for the DS branch of the company who owns Ehow. That's why you won't see me leave AC..can't beat the freedom there even with the lesser amount of pay realized!
Making Money Online - Writing Directly for Ehow
Now, about 8 days ago, I decided that I would make writing for Ehow my third publication forum. Primarily because I didn't want to make Textbroker.com my third outlay any longer (low pay, boring topics...1cent a word though others I know like them). To date, I've written 13 articles for them in the 8 days I've been on there. My profile there is: http://www.ehow.com/members/javanx3d.html. Now, one complaint that I've seen from folks on eHow is that they keep the compensation formula secret so you don't know how much you're going to make freelance writing for them. I don't really know either, 1 week on there (I think they updated the money you've made weekly), 615 views, 13 articles, $.10... needless to say, if the dinero doesn't increase then I'll shift those efforts to other areas. Common feedback for Ehow is that you need to make a lot of friends and burn time on reading and commenting on other freelance authors material in order to make money online in that forum. We'll see. I'll keep you updated. I'm playing nice in the sandbox there (reading, commenting, etc), and hope it comes out to at least a little bit a month!!
Thats all for this post on my efforts on making money online. My next post will cover my efforts on web site hosting with content creation for creating more passive income streams. Comments and feedback are always welcome.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Product Review: The IPod Shuffle - 2nd Gen
Product Review: The IPod Shuffle - 2nd Gen
Ipod Shuffle - MP3 Player. With all of the press on the iPod Touch, iPhone, and other higher end Apple products, the iPod shuffle remains one of my favorite MP3 players on the market.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1462394/product_review_the_ipod_shuffle_2nd.html
Ipod Shuffle - MP3 Player. With all of the press on the iPod Touch, iPhone, and other higher end Apple products, the iPod shuffle remains one of my favorite MP3 players on the market.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1462394/product_review_the_ipod_shuffle_2nd.html
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Top 5 Overall New York Yankees Rookies - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide
Top 5 Overall New York Yankees Rookies - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide
Despite the number of free agent signings in the offseason, the Yankees have a number of great rookie prospects to consider for the 2009 fantasy baseball draft - Andrew Brackman, Brett Gardner, Michael Dunn, Juan Miranda, and Francisco Cervelli.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1417069/top_5_overall_new_york_yankees_rookies.html
Despite the number of free agent signings in the offseason, the Yankees have a number of great rookie prospects to consider for the 2009 fantasy baseball draft - Andrew Brackman, Brett Gardner, Michael Dunn, Juan Miranda, and Francisco Cervelli.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1417069/top_5_overall_new_york_yankees_rookies.html
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
2009 NFL Mock Draft: Stafford, Monroe, Sanchez and Crabtree to Go in First Four Picks
2009 NFL Mock Draft: Stafford, Monroe, Sanchez and Crabtree to Go in First Four Picks
We're down to the Super Bowl being left to wrap up the 2009 NFL playoffs, so its time to forecast the 2009 NFL Mock draft.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1414711/2009_nfl_mock_draft_stafford_monroe.html
We're down to the Super Bowl being left to wrap up the 2009 NFL playoffs, so its time to forecast the 2009 NFL Mock draft.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1414711/2009_nfl_mock_draft_stafford_monroe.html
2009 NFL Mock Draft: Stafford, Monroe, Sanchez and Crabtree to Go in First Four Picks
2009 NFL Mock Draft: Stafford, Monroe, Sanchez and Crabtree to Go in First Four Picks
We're down to the Super Bowl being left to wrap up the 2009 NFL playoffs, so its time to forecast the 2009 NFL Mock draft.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1414711/2009_nfl_mock_draft_stafford_monroe.html
We're down to the Super Bowl being left to wrap up the 2009 NFL playoffs, so its time to forecast the 2009 NFL Mock draft.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1414711/2009_nfl_mock_draft_stafford_monroe.html
Sam Montgomery Signed by LSU on National Signing Day 2009
Sam Montgomery Signed by LSU on National Signing Day 2009
LSU coach Les Miles pulled another coup with the signing of Four-Star, defensive end prospect Sam Montgomery of South Carolina today.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1447709/sam_montgomery_signed_by_lsu_on_national.html
LSU coach Les Miles pulled another coup with the signing of Four-Star, defensive end prospect Sam Montgomery of South Carolina today.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1447709/sam_montgomery_signed_by_lsu_on_national.html
Guide to Fantasy Baseball Scoring - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide
Guide to Fantasy Baseball Scoring - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide
There are two common types of fantasy baseball scoring once the drafts are done, teams are formed, and it's time for play to start: 1 - Rotisserie and 2 - Head to Head contests.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1427799/guide_to_fantasy_baseball_scoring_2009.html
There are two common types of fantasy baseball scoring once the drafts are done, teams are formed, and it's time for play to start: 1 - Rotisserie and 2 - Head to Head contests.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1427799/guide_to_fantasy_baseball_scoring_2009.html
Drafting Strategies and Tips - Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide 2009
Drafting Strategies and Tips - Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide 2009
Fantasy Baseball Draft Day Tips. In order to help the novice; or even expert who needs to bone-up on tips, I've put together some strategies and tips to consider using for your 2009 fantasy baseball draft this year!
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1426750/drafting_strategies_and_tips_fantasy.html
Fantasy Baseball Draft Day Tips. In order to help the novice; or even expert who needs to bone-up on tips, I've put together some strategies and tips to consider using for your 2009 fantasy baseball draft this year!
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1426750/drafting_strategies_and_tips_fantasy.html
National Signing Day 2009: Florida Gators
National Signing Day 2009: Florida Gators
National Signing Day 2009. The Florida Gators enter the 2009 national signing day with the seventh-rated recruiting class as listed by Rivals.com.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1447459/national_signing_day_2009_florida_gators.html
National Signing Day 2009. The Florida Gators enter the 2009 national signing day with the seventh-rated recruiting class as listed by Rivals.com.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1447459/national_signing_day_2009_florida_gators.html
Monday, February 2, 2009
2009 Super Bowl XLIII Commercials - Peta Ad Banned by NBC
2009 Super Bowl XLIII Commercials - Peta Ad Banned by NBC
Peta Superbowl Commercial. Although a bit racy, PETA's 2009 ad would definitely had a shot at making the various 'Top Ten' Super Bowl commercial lists if it had aired
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1441946/2009_super_bowl_xliii_commercials_peta.html
Peta Superbowl Commercial. Although a bit racy, PETA's 2009 ad would definitely had a shot at making the various 'Top Ten' Super Bowl commercial lists if it had aired
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1441946/2009_super_bowl_xliii_commercials_peta.html
Freelance Writing Jobs - My Top Ten Producing Article TItles
Freelance Writing Jobs - My Top Ten Producing Article TItles
Making money freelance writing. Insights gained by the author while producing online content for the freelance writing website Associated Content.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1405886/freelance_writing_jobs_my_top_ten_producing.html
Making money freelance writing. Insights gained by the author while producing online content for the freelance writing website Associated Content.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1405886/freelance_writing_jobs_my_top_ten_producing.html
Making Money Freelance Writing - My Experience
Making Money Freelance Writing - My Experience
Making Money Freelance Writing. It takes time to get income streams started and into one's bank account. This is an account of how I made my first $1000.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1405535/making_money_freelance_writing_my_experience.html
Making Money Freelance Writing. It takes time to get income streams started and into one's bank account. This is an account of how I made my first $1000.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1405535/making_money_freelance_writing_my_experience.html
Sunday, January 4, 2009
2009 NFL Playoffs, Preview and Predictions for the Division Playoffs
2009 NFL Playoffs, Preview and Predictions for the Division Playoffs
The 2009 NFL playoffs have gotten off to as an exciting start as the season finished! The division playoffs should continue the excitement. Read more for predictions and previews of next week's games.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1362039/2009_nfl_playoffs_preview_and_predictions.html
The 2009 NFL playoffs have gotten off to as an exciting start as the season finished! The division playoffs should continue the excitement. Read more for predictions and previews of next week's games.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1362039/2009_nfl_playoffs_preview_and_predictions.html
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