Banner Advertising A Waste Of Money

Back in September/2006, I had the bright idea to purchase a banner advertisement for one month on the front page of a podcast site completely unrelated to my niche.

As the site claimed to get 10,000 unique hits a day, I thought it was a great idea. I was certain that I would get a ton of traffic for my small investment of $26.00. How much traffic did I get you ask? 300 hits, maybe a thousand? Nope, nowhere close. According to my web stats I got a grand total of 35 hits, and at least one of those hits was from me making sure that the link was working properly.

I should have listened to blogger guru Shoemoney, who says that banner advertising brings in real crappy traffic. From my limited experience in banner advertising I certainly agree with him.

I have also read in numerous marketing blogs, websites, and forums to only have links placed on sites relative to your site.

Of course, I knowing more than every other web marketer and SEO expert worth their weight in gold, ignored them and wasted 26 hard earned bucks to get a mere 35 some odd hits. That works out to 75 cents a click, for traffic that resulted in little or no monetization! What a deal!

What have I learnt from this experience?

1. Only pay for advertisements in sites that have the same niche as my blog and/or websiteFrom my personal experience and what I have read from others banner advertising is dead. Can you remember the last time you clicked on a banner?
2. The meager amount of traffic that banners bring to your site/blog usually don't monetize anyways.
3. Finally, to obtain those valuable backlinks that are so crucial to obtaining a good search ranking and Google PR, you need text hyperlinks in reputable sites related to your site, preferably with a good PageRank. Again, please let me know if I am wrong, but search engines don't index banner ads, thus they don't count as back links.

I suppose $26 is a small price to pay to learn a lesson in how not to spend my limited advertising budget.

Write Posts in Advance

"Oh no, it is almost the end of another day and I haven’t written a thing! What in the world am I going to write about?”

Does this sound like you? Come on now, be honest! Well, the above is certainly me some days. Than on the other hand there are days when it seems like I could write forever.

You’ll be happy to know there is something that you and I can do about this. “What is this?”, you ask. Glad you asked. Thought you would never ask! The solution is simple - When the writing mood hits us and we have a bit of spare time on our hands, we’ll write a few posts. Or at least two anyways. This way we’ll have articles already written up when we are too busy to blog or simply not in a writing mood.

That is exactly what Tricia, who has five blogs, does. In fact, she was in such a writing mood in the end of July that for some of her blogs she wrote two weeks worth of articles!

Tricia says that we’ll benefit in two ways by writing posts in advance.

The first way is that we will find that we have more time for other blogging related tasks. I’ll put my two cents worth of advice in as well and say that if you have website you will have more time for website related jobs also. I certainly hope that it will free up the time to get my Internet Security website up and running again anyways.

Last but not least, Tricia tells us that our blogs we publish will be “of a higher quality because [we] wern’t under pressure to post”. From what I have read in her blog, it looks like writing her posts in advance has certainly paid off this way. This certainly makes sense. If I am feeling under pressure, just don’t have the time, or simply not in the mood to post it is reflected in my writing.

We can jot down some ideas or write a rough draft of a future post or two as well. As a matter fact, we don't even have to be at our computer.
I am a nursing assistant, who has actually been on medical leave for about a year and a half, with a bad bout of depression and anxiety(I am getting better though). A couple of times while working Night Shift, which can be slow, I wrote articles for my Internet Security site with a good old pen and paper. This is a great way to utilize "free time".

I have also used posts in my old unpublished blog as drafts for some of my articles. That said and done, I have significantly edited these posts, so I really have no idea how much time I am actually saving. It sure is nice though to have some rough outlines for posts in my blog.

I don’t know if I’ll be as good as Trich and have two weeks worth of posts done in advance. However, I’ll certainly make an effort to have some posts written in advance.

That way, I should have some time freed up for blogging and webmaster related activities.

Hopefully, my posts will be of a higher quality as well. After all, don't we all want a website and/or blog with informative, high quality, and helpful content.

13 Ways To Prevent You From Becoming A Victim Of A Get Rich Quick Scheme

Yesterday, I shared with you how back around 1994 I became a victim of Don Lapre's 1-900 number Get Rich Quick Scheme. These types of scams are more common today than ever with the growing popularity of that great frontier called the World Wide Web. The Internet has become a haven for online scammers looking to take away your hard earned cash. Without further ado, here are thirteen ways to help prevent you from becoming yet another victim of a Get Rich Quick Scheme.

1. If something sounds too good to be true it very well is. Prior to spending several hundred dollars on Don Lapre's "Making Money" package, 1-900 number from Don Lapre, and advertising it I should have asked myself this. After all, how many people have you known in your lifetime that make millions placing "tiny classified ads" in newspapers? If it were only that simple to obtain financial prosperity that is what we'd all be doing!
2. Prior to investing in a business opportunity ask yourself the following.  Just how often do you or people you know purchase the product or service you will be potentially selling?  Just how many people, including myself anyways were spending $2.99 a minute to talk on a dating line? I am sure if I had asked myself this alarm bells in my head would have been ringing.
3. Get Rich Quick schemes offer a high rate of return for a low investment. While there are people that do make money from these schemes(ie. gambling, day trading) they are few and far between.
4. While there are legitimate work at home jobs, they generally require a lot of work, time, and some financial investment. If an opportunity is too easy be sceptical of it.
5. Prior to investing in a business opportunity check out the company on the Better Business Bureau website.
6. Don't be rushed or pressured to invest. Remember that if you are given a limited time offer, there is usually a reason why.
7. Be extra careful with investments over the Internet.
8. Be super careful with investments on TV primarily in the form of infomercial or on the telephone.  From my own personal experience falling for Mr. Don Lapre's Making Money Get Rich Quick Scheme I can tell you this is good advice
   
9. Never reply to spam. As SpamBusters.org says, "if it's spam, it's a scam.
10. Be careful of any business opportunity that is not in writing. That said and done, be sure to get everything in writing prior to investing your hard earned cash in any investment.
11. Even if you are up a creek and without a paddle financially, you don't have to share that with the world. It is not a good idea to post messages in forums saying you are in dire financial straits, or desperate to find work. This is a sure way to bring all the scammers out and be overwhelmed with phony offers.
12. Be sure to ask for details, in writing, of the refund policy before you invest in the business opportunity.
13. Ask present owners or employees about their experiences with the company.

Sources:

Frequently Asked Questions on "Get-Rich-Quick" Scheme
ScamBuster.org Work At Home Jobs: How to Avoid Getting Scammed
CYBERDRIVEILLINOIS Get-Rich-Quick Self Emplyment Scams

I Fell For Don Lapre's Get Rich Quick Scheme

Remember Don Lapre? The late night infomercial salesman from Phoenix, Arizona with exaggerated mannerisms and youthful good looks.

Sometime around 1994 give or take a year or two, I fell hook, line, and sinker for Mr Lapre's late night "Making Money" infomercial selling an information package for $39.95(originally $79.95) of the same name.
In this infomercial Don told the viewer how by placing 100's of "tiny classified ads" in newspapers in his one-bedroom apartment he made over $50,000 a week. He and his company, the now defunct New Strategies, over and over again suggested that by simply following Mr. Lapre's words of wisdom for starting a business, $50,000 or more a month could easily be made by anyone.

This sounded extremely appealing to me, barely making ends meet at a measly $8.50/hour, slaving away cooking in a hot kitchen. Hey, if anyone could make a minimum of $50,000 a week, than I was certain I could make at least $50,000 a year. So away I went and dialed the 1-800 number to order the Making Money package with $39.95 US of my hard earned dollars. A small price to pay for a jump start to my road to wealth and happiness. Well, so I thought anyways.

Shortly after receiving Mr. Lapre's "Making Money" package I received a phone call from a salesperson representing New Strategies. Now, all I had to do to be wealthy like Don Lapre and his army of followers was to purchase just one or several 1-900 numbers(psychic, dating, entertainment, and chat). Since I'd personally seen the most classified ads for 1-900 dating lines, I thought that I'd make the most money by owning and promoting one. Easy, huh? I racked up several hundred dollars that I didn't have on my Visa to be the proud new owner of a dating 1-900 number.

I than went on to spend an untold amount of money(I can't remember the exact amount anymore but I am sure it was a few hundred dollars) on "tiny classified ads" in several newspapers. "How much money did you make?", you ask. Thousands of dollars? Oh, too much..."After all you were just a newbie so perhaps you just made a few hundred dollars." Well, no my friend, not even hundreds of dollars or any number with three digits for that matter. Once again my memory is wavering, but if I think I made not more than 20 bucks. That convincing and likable Don Lapre scammed me out of hundreds of dollars, never to be seen again. My naivety and desire to get out of poverty caused me to fall for a Get Rich Quick Scheme.

What have I learned from this hard lesson on scams? Tomorrow I will share with you some ways to avoid becoming the next victim of a Get Quick Rich Scheme. Back than, if I had known and practiced a few simple things I very well might not have fallen for Mr. Lapre's empty promises of prosperity.

How To Build A Website

Never build a website before? Don't know any html or CSS? Well my friend, that doesn't mean that you can't build your spot on the web. Here are a couple good tutorials that I found that guide you step by step on how to create a website. Without further ado, here they are.

1. 2createawebsite.com Tutorial On Building A Website - Where beginner webmasters learn to build a website from A to Z - how to register a domain name, some basic HTML, descriptions of different web hosts and website builders. Lisa also provides you with the knowledge on how to enhance your website - message boards, forums, graphics, hit counters, guestbooks, and even chat rooms to name a few. If you insist, Lisa will also will guide you by the hand on how to "spice up your web pages by adding background music or sound". I will agree to disagree with her on this. I think that "adding background music or sound" to your website or for that matter blog is more like dousing it with cayenne pepper! If I wanted to listen to music I'd play my own thank you very much! Lisa shares with us more of her Internet entrepreneur wisdom in the 2 Create a Website blog, website, and webmasters forum with superb, easy to understand videos, tutorials, and posts on building, promoting, and monetizing websites and blogs. I've bookmarked 2 Create a Website and am more than happy to admit that I'm a regular visitor.
2. Thesitewizard.com Beginners Guide To Starting Your Own Website - The title says it all! This tutorial guides you and provides relevant links in Thesitewizard.com from registering a domain name, designing your website, to promoting your site.
   

Focus On Writing Good Content First

It is crucial to have good content in your website or blog before worrying about how you're going to monetize your blog, get traffic, etc.I have seen so many bloggers and webmasters out their who seem to think that if they have one page of mediocre content or even none, a bunch of advertising, links, and search engine listing they are on the path to riches.

Sadly they are mistaken. Like the real world, there are no Get Rich Schemes on the Internet. It takes time, dedication, and hard work to make money online.

In fact, just the other day I read a post in a webmaster forum from a so-called webmaster looking for ways to get his site listed in Directories and search engines to increase his traffic.

Out of curiosity I clicked on the link to his website which turned out to be a webpage. Yes, you heard it right my friend. A webpage...One single little page with some second rate, inpersonal content, terrible web design, scattered with multiple duplicate keywords. The page looked like it was written more for a search engine than an actual human being.

Well, guess what?!? Search engines like Google are now smarter than listing sites and blogs like this. They are actually looking for online resources that the reader finds helpful.

In fact, search engines now use toolbars such as Google Toolbar to tell them how much time a real living breathing person actually spends surfing a particular site or blog. They also use the toolbars to tell them if visitors actually return. The search engines apparently use this information, among other things, to factor in where a website or blog ranks in its listings for different keywords.

You can spend all the time and money in the world on SEO, but if your site or blog has poor content, it is likely to rank poorly in the search engines.

In fact, even if a site or blog with mediocre content ranks well in the search engines, it is likely not going to monetize well.

After all, who are you more likely to buy something from? An impersonal, poorly written website or blog, that is shouting at you to buy something and/or click on an ad. Or a friendly blog or site with well written, informative, helpful content - that seems more like a trusted friend, not a pushy, annoying salesperson.

Well, I can imagine, like me, you would be more apt to spend your hard earned dollars or visit an advertiser in the later blog or website that I mentioned.

Also, think about how good you'll feel actually helping people with the content that you provide.

10 Blogging Mistakes

Some time ago I read a few interesting posts on blogging mistakes. I've learnt in this life of mine that you can learn a lot from the mistakes of others, so naturally these three posts caught my attention.

Darren from Problogger has a post titled Ten Mistakes That Will Kill A Forum...Or Blog. Rose DesRochers has a post in her blog on the Top 13 Blogging Mistakes. Not to be outdone, John Chow shares with us some of his expertise in 10 Blogging Mistakes To Avoid.

(1) Rose's #1 blogging mistake I personally find a real annoyance as well and want to click the "Back" button ASAP. Wondering what that is?...Background Music. If I want to listen to background music while surfing the Net I'll choose my own music to listen to. Not some annoying music on someones blog or website.

(2) Avoid making John Chow's #2 blogging mistake - Blogging Only For Money. He is right on mark when he says that "if you are blogging only for money you are in for a shock."

(3) Commit to writing one post a day, or whatever you can manage and stick to it. Avoid making John Chow's listed #1 blogging mistake - not updating! In order to be inspired to write on a regular basis you need to write about something you are passionate about.

(4) On the other hand you don't want to information overload your reader either. This might discourage people from subscribing to your RSS feed or bookmarking your blog. In other words, they might not come back!

(5) I think Problogger's #10 blogging mistake Over promising and under delivering is a huge mistake as well. Or giving advice and not following it yourself, which I know I have been guilty of. I read a post in the archives of someones blog to update your blog on a regular basis. Well, they didn't follow that advice for long! The most recent post was over two months ago from the time that I read their blog.

(6) Nothing is harder or more discouraging than trying to write day in and day out about a topic that you have absolutely no interest in. I've seen people put a huge effort into marketing their blog which frankly has very poor content. They have put the cart before the horse. It is so obvious by the content, or rather lack of it, that they are writing a blog for one reason and one reason only. You guessed it, to get rich.  After a while these people can't figure out why they're not cashing in on this great invention called the World Wide Web. Ultimately, they give up figuring that making money on the Internet is just a bunch of hype.

(7) Don't be a copycat. You might be saying, "You're one to talk. Every man and their dog is talking about making money. Plus, you are copying blogging mistakes mentioned in other peoples blogs!" Well, yes the market is oversaturated right now with people talking about money. However, I try to add my own unique point of view and personal experience when writing posts. If you think you're going to make a fortune by simply cutting and pasting what other people have written in their articles, blogs, and websites, you are sadly mistaken. Remember, as John Chow says, "the most unique thing about a blog is you."

(8) I am trying really hard not to make John Chow's number 4 blogging mistake - Not Being Personal. As Chow says, your blog is not "not CNN or News.com". Believe it or not people actually "read your blog to get your opinion and point of view". Make their visit to your space in cyberspace worthwhile.

(9) Rose and Problogger both list Excessive Advertising as a blogging mistake as well. In fact, nothing will get me to click the "back" button quicker than being bombarded with a ton of ads. Remember to focus on writing good content and getting decent traffic before puting your energy into advertising.

(10) I agree with Rose 100% on No Alt Tags on images being a mistake that bloggers make. As Rose says, spider bots cannot read images. On my former Internet Security website I included alt tags on my images on my website. You would be amazed by the amount of traffic it got from people searching for images on Google Image Search, etc.

Darren at Problogger, Rose, and John Chow have all listed many more Blogging Mistakes. Check out their posts. I am always amazed by the amount we can learn by the mistakes of others.

Don't Discount The Amazon Affiliate Program Just Yet

Can you believe it? People are actually making money as Amazon affiliates! I thought that with the low 4% commission it was next to impossible to make a lot of money as one of their affiliates. Boy, was I ever mistaken! Just last month, I read an encouraging and interesting post by Problogger titled 9 Reasons I Am An Amazon Affiliate.

Back in June/2007 alone Darren Rowes earned over $2500 US as an Amazon.com affiliate. Not bad. Definitely reason to pause before discounting the Amazon Associates program just yet as a means of monetizing our website and/or blog.

As for that low crappy 4% commission, that is only with the Classic Fee Structure or if you don't sell very much. Now when you sign up into Amazon affiliate marketing program, you are automatically enrolled in the Performance Fee Structure. So, what the heck does that mean anyways? Well, glad you asked. What it means is that on most products there is a sliding scale. In other words, the more items sold the higher amount of money you earn(4-15%). Bottom line is hopefully more money into yours and mine pocket.

Another cool thing is that affiliates earn money on all items purchased by the buyer on Amazon within 24 hours of sending them to their website. Problogger actually makes more money on other products that the buyer purchases than the original item he sent them to.

Darren also points out that links to Amazon do better in a post with a helpful review of a product than links and banners on the sidebar. From my own personal experience and what I have read from other online entrepreneurs, banners are dead anyways. People are so sick and tired of those pesky banners that they simply don't click onto them anymore. After all, can you remember the last time you visited a site advertised on a banner? I know that I can't. I rest my case.

After reading this post I am seriously considering signing up for the Amazon Associates program once I obtain a larger audience.