Web Money

Blog Platforms and choosing the Best Domain Name

2008-06-23T20:07:00.011-04:00

Your blog domain is the url people will use to access your blog on the internet. The domain for web money is www.illiteratepoet.com. The domain name for this blog was not a very good choice. I have been looking for another one to gradually switch too. When this blog was started I was still learning about domains and blogging and picked the wrong domain for my topic. When you choose a domain name try to pick one which gives readers insight into what your blog is about. For example my other blog The Law of Politics, can be found under a few domain names: usapresidentmccain.com, lawofpolitics.com, and Tillmanslaw.com; all which let you know the blog is about political and legal issues. Also try to use a domain which can be easily remembered, and sometimes the shorter the better. If you use the blogger platform you can have your blog hosted at a blogspot address, but I do not recommend this because you are not investing in a domain you own. Its kind of like remodeling an apartment you rent, you will not get a return on your investment. You build links and popularity to a domain over time through visitors and fellow bloggers referring to your domain, thus increasing it value if you ever want to sell it.

Picking the platform to host your blog is a matter of opinion. I use blogger because it is free and seemed like the easiest to use when I first started blogging. I plan on starting a blog using WordPress or switching one of my existing blogs, because I have heard good things about the service.I like the idea of having more control of your blog, which, I think, WordPress gives you. The top 10 Free Blogging Platforms by the Specky Boy Blog is a good source to help you decide what platform to use. PC world has a good article on blogging platforms too. It is a good idea to do this type of research before starting your blog because readers will identify with your blogs appearance and consent change may run some readers off.

Choosing your Blog Niche / Topic

2008-06-01T14:40:00.000-04:00

When deciding on a topic for your blog you should list possible topics in your niche you could write individual posts on. Make sure you are truly interested in the topic you choose because if you lose interest in it, chances are your readers will too. You should enjoy writing about the topic you choose. This will make writing posts easier for you and will ensure you are giving your readers interesting and quality content. I started writing Web Money because I was interested in domain names and the possibility of making money from them. I jumped right in and you can kind of tell I ended up going in a little different direction then I intended. If I had researched my topic first it would have made the first six months of this blog much easier on me. I started my second blog The Law of Politics a few months after this one, and it was easier to start then this blog. The topic of politics is something I am very interested in whether I make money or not. I am interested in Making Money as I believe most people are, but there are many ways to do this and I had to choose one. I am still covering a variety of topics, but my original topic of domains was not broad enough for me. The main point you need to concentrate on when starting a blog to make money: Make sure you are interested in the topic enough to pursue it without making money. You will have to spend a large amount of time on your niche before you see rewards in the form of money.

I hope this advice helps and I welcome any questions or comments you may have. If you want any advice on choosing your specific topic / niche don't hesitate to ask for it. If you found this article helpful please share it with the "addthis" bookmark button below.

Web Money : Entrecard Credit Give Away

2008-05-26T19:58:00.006-04:00

I will give anyone who links to my blog in a post or in their links section 100 EC credits. I would rather the post have some information about this blogs topic and the linked word be of that nature if at all possible. Topics include blogging, money, traffic generation, and so on. The link must be a good quality link (can't be nofollow etc). You can link the the main page www.illiteratepoet.com or any post other then this one. I will send you the 100 credits after verifying the link. If you keep the link to me after receiving the credits I will link back to you within a months time and will keep your link active as long as you are still linking to this blog. I am offering this to the first 20 people to comment on this post letting me know they have linked to Web Money. I may offer this to more then 20 people in the future, depending on how it goes. Thanks for stopping by Web Money!!

To be included in my Entrecard Give Away leave a comment with the following information:

1. Your Name or Site/blog name
2. URL Linked to Web Money
3. Entrecard email address to send Credits

4. This is not required but if you leave your opinion on how I should or could improve this blog I will appreciate it!!

5 Money Making Tips for Bloggers

2008-05-22T02:15:00.005-04:00

There are five important things you must do to earn money from your blog. I have learned a lot since I started blogging and wish I had followed these steps myself from the start. It is difficult to just jump into blogging with no plan and be successful. If you expect to see money piling up from the start you will probably be disappointed, but stick with it! I will follow up on each point listed below with an in depth post in the next few days. I hope this helps you understand the basics of what is involved in making money online.

1. Choosing your Topic or Niche - Think long and hard about this. Will you be able to write about your chosen topic six months from now? Will you lose interest in your topic? Does your topic have a large audience? All of these questions and more are things you should think about before making your decision.

2. Picking your Blog Platform , Design , or Host - This includes everything from the domain name you want to deciding between Google's Blogger or something else like WordPress. You also want to find the right template design, or have one made if you can't.

3. Have a Plan, an Outline for Presenting your Content - This is different then choosing your niche because the way you present what you have to say to your readers is very important. Is your blog or site easy to follow? Can readers easily find information on you blog?

4. Getting Traffic and Links - Nothing you do will matter if you don't have readers and traffic to your pages. There are many ways to drive traffic to your blog, but if you do the things listed above they will come on there own, eventually. To get started you can comment on other blogs, participate in blog carnivals, use Entrecard ........ More in future post.

5. Choosing the actual way to Earn Money - There are many companies out there just waiting to advertise on your pages, you have to decide which is best for you. A few examples for now are Google's Adsense, affilliate advertising for a number of different services, and selling private advertising.

Traffic equals Clicks "Clicks = Money"

2008-05-03T07:00:00.003-04:00

Traffic to your page or blog is a must to get clicks on your PPC (pay per click) ads, but is all traffic created equally? In my experience it is not! Someone visiting your site for a few seconds because it benefits them in some way does not do you any good; other then bloating your statistics with Alexa or a similar ranking sites. If you are just starting your web page or blog any traffic is better then no traffic, but at what point do you stop wasting your time with "traffic pyramids?" I would really like to hear any opinions on different traffic generating services from fellow bloggers, and site builders. I have used a bunch of traffic generating services and here is my opinion on some:

1. Blog Explosion- this is a site where you earn credit by surfing blogs and staying on each one for twenty seconds. Well you don't have to actually stay on the page so this doesn't do you any good in my opinion. The blog rocket which is a game you can play at blog explosion may be the best service they offer. This service has been my second biggest traffic source thus far too my blogs.

2. EntreCard- This site gives you a type of business card to put on your site which members of the service can drop their card on. You earn credits by dropping cards and getting cards dropped on your card. You use your credits to advertise on other people's sites for a day at a time. Some members even go as far as to sell credits on eBay. This traffic quality seems to be better then Blog Explosion, but it is still not the type of traffic I want. I would rank this a close third in where my traffic comes from. This is what the card looks like:

3. A couple other services like this are Blog Rush, BlogUpp, and I am sure there are many more. These are not the same as the other two I listed above, but I have not seen much of a difference between them. If I come across something worth sharing I will let you know.

My point being don't waste your time on traffic numbers that don't help contribute to the quality of your content or depths of your pockets. My parked domains have way less page impressions then my blog, but about the same click through rate on ads, which tells me the traffic I am getting is not the kind I need.

Blog Law : Copyrights , Privacy , Fine Print

2008-04-28T17:11:00.001-04:00

Legal issues such as: copyrights, advertiser agreements with affiliates or ad sense, and your privacy are things bloggers should not overlook. 10 Essential Legal Points for Bloggers by the author of DailyBlogTips is a good blog post to read and keep your blog legal and safe. In todays world sneezing in the wrong direction could bring a lawsuit. I am going to change a few things on my blog after reading this post and just wanted to share it with my readers. I am very law conscious, but the internet world and staying legal in it is a whole new ball game to me and many others I assume. Read the fine print on everything because it will come back to haunt you sooner then later if you don't.

Tink dog, my Golden Retriver

2008-04-24T01:04:00.010-04:00

This is off topic, but I am taking a short brake from trying new ways to make money, so I decided I would post some pictures of my Golden Retriever, Tink. She is about 1 year and 5 months old.

eBay: Another way to Make Money Online

2008-04-15T12:54:00.015-04:00

eBay is another way to make money online, and I have been using it for a few years now. Making money with eBay can be easy if you have a lot of the same product to sell. I use eBay more for buying things then selling, but I do sell a few things every few months. I usually wait until I have a bunch of things to sell and do it all at once that way I don't have to be tied down to answering questions and checking eBay all the time. I have a few items listed on eBay now if you would like to check them out they are listed on my about me page here.

Listing completely different things can be time consuming when you first start out. You have to research the best price to start your auction, what category to list it in, and upload pictures. It is not worth it to sell items less then ten dollars unless you are selling many of the same item; at least that has been my experience. If you sell something for $15, by the time eBay fees and paypal fees are subtracted from your total profit you have spent 10-15 minutes of your time for $2 or $3. I have sold a lot of electronics and car parts on eBay and made decent money, but I don't have a constant supply of those things. If you have any questions about eBay or want help on how to start your own auction I will be glad to help or point you in the right direction. I am going to list a few blogs with good information on eBay below:

1. eBay Blog "the Chatter"

2. eBay blogs wiki

3. eBay Strategies - recommended

4. eBay Ink Blog launch in May

Domain Parking with Sedo

2008-04-09T19:33:00.006-04:00

I have had domains parked with sedo for about two weeks and I can already tell you for certain I am making more money with sedo then godaddy. Even if godaddy parking was free it still looks like sedo parked domains perform better so far. The same five domains that were parked with godaddy listed in my last parking post have made $6.11 in the about two weeks. Over two and a half months they only made about $15 dollars at godaddy.

The one thing I have noticed with sedo that may be a problem is that tillmanbeach.com has made over $5.00 of that total. I have updated my keywords on the other domains to see if they will get higher earnings per click. It may turn out that it is better to park different domains with different serivices, which is something I have thought about until now. I am going to research which keywords will bring me the highest clicks a little more enlight of this situation.

The appearance of sedo's parked pages is better compared to previous parking services I have used. In conclusion so far I like sedo better then godaddy cash parking, but it is still not making enough money to make dealing with it worth my time. I am going to stick with it and see if it improves in the near future. Thanks for reading and I hope some of the information you find here is useful to you.

How Google Detects AdSense Invalid Clicks

2008-04-09T15:38:00.001-04:00

Still thinking to cheat AdSense? Stop that. It will never bring you anywhere. You might pull it off with smaller ads network, but definitely not with Google. Here are some detection methods they might use. At the very least, they have the resources to do so.

IP Address
If the AdSense click is originated from the same IP Address as the one used for accessing your AdSense account, your account is flagged.

Cookies
Most home users do not use static IP Address for Internet connection. In most cases just disconnect and reconnect will give you a new IP Address. But don’t forget, Google has set cookies on your computer.

Other Google Services
Thinking that you are safe just because you do not access your AdSense account?..........

read more

WebSite Tech Product Catalog

2008-04-08T13:15:00.010-04:00

I have a online store which, I have mentioned in past posts, called WebSite Tech at blakesdomain.com. There are a lot of other stores that are similar to mine, but I don't think there are a lot with the same prices. I am offering the lowest prices possible given my buy rate. If you find that one of my products is over priced or cheaper somewhere else please bring it to my attention and I will see if I can beat it or make-up for the price difference in another way!

I will add anyone who makes a purchase at my online store between now and June 1, 2008 to my discount seller list for the remainder of the year. I do not make any commission from domain sales for those on my discount seller list, but it is my way of saying thanks for giving us a try. I am also going to write a review in the future about Website Tech and how it has worked in terms of a way to make money online. I have added links to products we offer below if you would like to take a look. Thanks.

Domain Names
New domain registration
Transfer a domain to Website Tech
Register or transfer large quantities
Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Search
Backordering domains
Monitoring domains you own
Monitoring domains you don't own
Domain name masking/forwarding

Domain Services
Business Registration
Protected Registration
Domain For-Sale web page
Get your domain name appraised

Web Site Builders, Hosting Options & Tools
Hosting, Virtual Dedicated & Dedicated Servers
Easy-to-use site builder
Keep site data and transactions secure
Extended Validation SSL Certificates
Photography & images
Create an online store
Create a Blog or Podcast
Add advanced site statistics

Marketing & Productivity Tools
Search engine optimization
Create and send emails to visitors and customers
Personalized email
Online organizational calendar
Send faxes online
Online storage
Federal copyright protection for site
source code & artwork

Link to Website Tech HERE

LinkShare and Affilate Advertising

2008-03-30T14:26:00.012-04:00

I am using linkshare's affiliate advertising as another way to try and make money online. I am going to list a few of the links I am currently trying below. I am not holding my breath on making money with these, but to really know the best way to do something you have to try everything else first. (I am still waiting for enough time to past to give you the results of my sedo domain parking experiment, but I can say so far it seems 100% better then godaddy!)

These are the three I am going to try for a little while. If they don't seem to generate any profit, I will try a few more companies offered through linkshare. I am going to try and use these type ads only in my posts about the ways I am experimenting with to make money online. To me my blogs appearance has suffered because of these ads being on every page.

1. Homestead, which is a company who offers website building tools and hosting. I have used them before, about two years ago, and I think building a website through them was easier then most of the services I use now.

2. Netflix is another affiliate I am linking to through linkshare. It is a movie rental service which I have never tried, but I have heard good things from my friends about it.

3. RushMyPassport.com is a service helping traveler obtain passports. It looks like it could be useful, but I have no prior knowledge of this company.

I am not advertising these companies anymore, so I have linked them to my web pages. Just wanted to let anyone who comes across this post know.

Sedo Domain Parking vs Godaddy Cash Parking

2008-03-25T13:34:00.003-04:00

The final chart and graphs showing my earning for these five domains when they were parked with Godaddy are below. I am going to include a date range that can be compared to Sedo parking when the time comes.
I transfered five of my domains to Sedo from Godaddy cash parking today. I was paying more then I was making to have my domains parked with Godaddy. I transfered keoweeboating.com, tillmanbeach.com, thenextgold.com, scfacebook.com, and blaketillman.com. Sedos sign up process and parking service was easy to use. I still have a few domains with godaddy I will be transferring to Sedo soon I'll keep you updated!

January 1st, 2008 - March 15th, 2008

BlakeTillman.com $2.22
Keoweeboating.com $2.78
ScFacebook.com $2.01

TillmanBeach.com $3.94

TheNextGold.com $4.26

How to Blog ........ then make money !

2008-03-13T21:26:00.012-04:00

I started this blog with the intentions of informing readers about the best ways to make money on the Internet, but have realized to do this I needed to know a lot more about blogging first. When I first started trying to make money online I wasted a lot of time and cash paying for information and signing up for "get rich online" schemes. I want to be able to list the ways that worked and also list the ones that didn't. I am going to do this in the future as I get the data.

I do not want to write about blogging because so many people already do, but I am going to include blogs and websites I have used for making my blogs. There is much more to creating a good blog then I imagined, but where there is a will there is a way. I have been optimizing my blog as I come across information and doing things one step at a time. The following blogs and sites are a few I have used:

- Problogger.net - This is a blog discussing how to blog, how to make money blogging, and more. It is full of great information and I highly recommend checking it out.

- Technical Blog - I used this blog to edit the way my comments work in one of my blogs. I am stilling looking for good blogs to help me with this.

- Meta Tag Builder - SEO site I used it to make meta tags.

- Domain Name Analyzer - www or not? Determine the optimal domain name.

- Dummies Guide to Blogger - A good blog for those using blogspot or blogger. Tons of information!

Five Ways to Profit Blogging

2008-03-04T14:13:00.005-05:00

1. Good Blog- The first thing you have to do is understand that it takes a blog with good content, a decent reader following, and a lot of patiences. I have finally gotten a page rank on goggle after a few months, but I still don't have enough readers, or visits to my blog. Before you spend time on ads, I would advise working on your content and building your reader base because that is the most important part!!!

2. Adsense- I am sure most bloggers have heard of this, but if you are new like me you might not have. This is a program where Google places ads on your blog in many different shapes, sizes, and types depending on your preferences. When your readers click on an ad you get paid a varying amount. It is a form of PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. I have made around $4.00 to date from this, but I am sure I will make more as my blog grows.

3. Linkshare- This is an affiliate program where you can place ads or links to other Websites and you earn a percent of the revenue you generate for them. If you can find affiliates that go along with your blog topic you will probably do better. I am just starting to use this, but I will update how it worked for me later.

4. Selling Ad Space- Just like a billboard you can offer space on your blog for companies to advertise. You need to think about what types of ads you will except including size, text/image, and content. You don't want sleazy ads on your blog unless its a sleazy blog. I have not done this yet, but I am open to reviewing any offers I get.

5. Blog Donations- Some bloggers have a PayPal link or other method of accepting donations from dedicated readers. This has worked for some bloggers, but I think you need to be in the "top bloggers list" to implement this tactic.

Cash Parking Update

2008-02-26T14:46:00.005-05:00

Its been about three weeks since I posted my cash parking results. I have added two domains to my cash parking account at GoDaddy, MapCapt.com and VpRudy.com. I now have a total of eight domains parked. I am including my domain names so readers can evaluate how good they are and the amount of clicks they would expect such a domain to get, not as a ploy to get more clicks; although I am not against that happening. I have tried different key words and templates, it has helped some, but not enough. I was paying godaddy $9.99 per month to park my domains and as you can see I have lost $. I am going to switch back to the $3.99 plan, which only gives me 60% of the revenue compared to the 80% I was earning. I am going to try another parking service. If anyone has any suggestions on which one to try please let me know. I have a few in mind and will keep you updated on how anything I try goes. I have included a graph and chart of my earnings in this post. I still feel that parking with godaddy and having to pay for the service is a rip off and not in anyones best interest. I hope to find a parking service that is a good deal for the advertiser as well as the domain owner.

Date Range Revenue
Current Date $2.59
Last 7 days $2.78
Previous 7 Days $3.71
Last 30 days $9.97
Previous 30 Days $7.33
Month to Date $8.59
Year to Date $17.30

Hitler, Fascist Warmonger, #1 Gamecock Gamecock Fan

2008-02-20T16:37:00.005-05:00

Hitler the Gamecock fan, getting mad that "Darth Visor" (Stever Spurrier) still losses to Clemson most of the time, just as every USC coach before him.

This a funny video on You Tube making fun of the South Carolina Gamecocks. I am a die hard Clemson Fan so I had to post this.

Blake's Law blog, Noise Ordinance Law in SC

2008-02-19T01:20:00.002-05:00

This is a blog talking about legal issues pertaining mainly to traffic laws. How are we supposed to define right and wrong when some of our traffic laws are no more then income streams for state and local governments? Did you know you have to sign the back of your registration or get fined? We need to focus on real criminals.

read more | digg story

Worth it ? Cash Parking , Domain Parking

2008-02-07T14:27:00.004-05:00

I have a few domains I have not had time to do work on myself, so I decided to put them in cash parking with godaddy. I have had some of them parked for more then a month now. I am including a link that shows my revenue over a month. Premium cash parking with godaddy cost $9.99 per month, keep that in mind when looking at the graph. From my experience so far parking a domain with godaddy is not a profitable investment. I am still researching and looking for people with a different experience. Put a page, blog with adsense, or anything other then parking to increase your domains value if you have the time. If you are going to do nothing with the domain, maybe cash parking is better then nothing. I think forwarding your unused domains to your website or blog is a better way to advertise then parking is in terms of bringing a profit. If you don't agree with me please post a reply and let me know why.

UPDATE: Forwarding your domain is not necessarily a better thing to do then parking it unless the domains are alike.

Website Traffic

2008-01-30T00:28:00.003-05:00

I am not having much luck with driving traffic to my online store. I have tried google ads and Microsoft. I have just started working on more ways to advertise with little expense. Traffic Swarm says it is a new site and can drive traffic to my page, so I am posting some links here, in turn they are supposed to post links to my site. I guess I will find out how it works soon.

Traffic Swarm was a bust for me. I don't use it anymore. If you want some links and traffic check out this blog post at Felex Tan dot com. It is not a service like Traffic Swarm, but will probably help out some.

About Me the Author of illiteratePoet

2008-01-15T14:18:00.001-05:00

About me the Author of web money at illiteratepoet. I am a college senior majoring in political science. I have started a few businesses, but never fully web based. I am really into motocross and riding motorcycles. I raced motocross from age 11-16 and now just ride casually, but I might run a race now and them. I ride a ktm 450 exc which is street legal in SC, but I only drive it to class. I ride it off road 90% of the time. If anyone is around SC and wants to ride, let me know I'll be there! I love to ski when I get a chance too. Law is another interest of mine and I would like to go to law school one day. I hope you enjoy reading my blog, and if you want to comment on anything please do thats what this is here for!

This blog was started to go along with my online store, WebsiteTech. After getting into blogging I learned of AdSense, domain parking, and other potential ways to earn money on the web, so I decided to try as many as I can and compare them to come to some conclusion about which ways are best while giving supporting results from my experience. Many people have blogged about all the ways I am trying to make money, but I am one of those people who has to learn for their self. I want to put the actual figures on here so readers know more then an opinion before wasting their time or money.

Below is a link to my Facebook and Linkedin profiles if you would like to connect with me there.

problogger
This is a good blog on adding your own about me page.

Experimenting with Domain Names

2007-12-11T04:33:00.010-05:00

I got interested in buying my own name as a domain name which lead to what I am into now. I bought my name then researched domain names a little and decided to buy a few more. Then I decided to test my luck making a little money on the web. I am going to update this more on what I am doing and how it is going soon. I couldn't decide where I wanted to go with this blog, so I decided to use it as a journal on my Internet investments and store I have set up. If it turns out to be a good deal hopefully someone else will read this and have the same experience, if it turns out to be a loss maybe I saved someone from another Internet scheme. I am going to list the domain names I have bought. Most of them link to a parked page right now, but I am supposed to be earning a percent on the ads listed on them.

scfacebook.com

keoweeboating.com

Blake Tillman

thenextgold.com

www.extremeeverything.com

www.tillmanbeach.com

These are a few some domains I have purchased since writing this post:

upstatepressurewashing.com

scwashing.com

motoxdomain.com

tillmanslaw.com

lawofpolitics.com

vprudy.com

mapcapt.com

Those two are parked with godaddy cash parking. I also have started another blog on usapresidentmccain.com.

I know there are plenty of people who know way more then I do about all this so don't take this as advice. I am learning myself and I will appreciate any advice given to me. I am going to try and customize Blake's Domains , my store, as I learn more about web pages. I am trying to come up with ideas for web pages I intend to build too. Hope you either get a good laugh out of this blog or learn something with me.