Ed Earns

BOMBCLICK – somebody asked this question in istorya.

As far as I know, bombclick is a slang for the act of constantly and abusively clicking on your ads. Whether it be you, or another person as far as timbuktu, anyone who keeps on clicking on your ads. Google has a way (that I don’t know what type of tool) of finding the number of clicks if it came from the same origin or IP address and can trace that down.

That’s why in the terms and conditions of Google, they specifically tell you NOT to click on your own ads nor tell anyone to click on your ads. It purposely defeats the purpose of whole adsense principle in the first place. A person clicks on an advertisement in another person’s site because he wants to know more about the product or service that was advertised.

There are actually a number of videos out there that discuss the importance of NOT EVER clicking on your ads! Because if Google finds out about this, then they will definitely ban you and you can’t reapply anymore because it’s under your own name.

So please, do yourself a favor, don’t click; nor tell anyone to click!

Sorry guys, I thought I could update as soon as I get back here. However, I’ve been pretty busy and tired from all of this updating. hehe. I thought I could provide more tips, most likely I can; but it’s either that I don’t have much time or I’m already dead-tired to sleep when I go home and check some information. Don’t worry, I’m not gone; it’s just that I can’t update. I’m just posting this entry to say I’m still alive.

I know there are some people who’d drop by but wouldn’t say so. It would benefit a lot though, that you’d give a comment on how I’ve expressed my thoughts with this online earning data. At least I’d know that people do read them as it also, in some way, boosts my morale in keeping you posted on how to earn while blogging. There’s actually a shoutbox on the right side of this page for you to give a quick shout out.

Anyway, will close this entry now. See yah!

So I guess I won’t be able to update this site over the weekend. I’ll be off somewhere. That’s why while I’m gone (as if I’ll be gone for how many weeks), I’ll think about some proper topics to discuss when I get back.

I really want to get serious with earning online and making some money through this. I don’t think I would have to attend a university online to do so.

As said in the previous post, we’re going to talk about how soloflighted.com started to gain traffic to my site..

1. Submitted my site to Google

1. Told some of my friends about it to add to the traffic.

1. Blog-hopped, left some comments and exchanged links – the rule is usually i scratch your back, you scratch mine.

1. Applied for blog networks (blogcatalog, mybloglog).

1. Posted my site to forums (caution: don’t post your site to just about anywhere if you feel you might get fired from your work because of the content of your entries).

1. Put pictures on my site – right now, most people are more inclined to seeing pictures in sites rather than read the entries. Although the articles are supposed to be the main attractions of your site, readers would catch sight of pictures first.

1. Post entries that are of good quality. It’s useless if you just post spam in your site; as eventually, people will want to read more on the content of your entries rather than just a bunch of hullabaloos; unless of course your hullabaloos are worth reading.

Caution: Don’t post your site to just about anywhere if you feel you don’t want a lot of people you know to read your blogs; or if you feel you might get fired from your work because of the content of your entries talking about work! Be sensible enough. Remember that these are just what I did for my site.

I know there are a number of ways on how to increase traffic, but I’m taking my time slowly now. Besides, this is all that I know, and I don’t have to get an online university degree to get it. hehe. If you have some more tips, you can post them in the comment section; as I’m also willing to learn more. I’m finding some ways *ehem* proper ways in order to attract good traffic on my site.

Page Rank is Google’s way of measuring your page’s worth. It is an indicator of the value of a certain page in the world wide web.

It can be a combination of different factors on how it is being tallied and calculated, It may be because of the number of websites linking back to your site and the number of unique visitors (not spam!).

In a layman’s point of view, it shows that if you have a high page rank, then you have a high chance of being “WANTED” by different advertisers. Because if you have a high rank in the eyes of Google, then more so do advertisers want you more. It is represented with the numerical values 0 until 10; with zero being the lowest and of course, ten being highest.

Honestly, I don’t have that much understanding how to increase the page rank. However, to give you a clue, my site: soloflighted.com was still starting to generate some traffic; suddenly it went up to a page rank of 3! I was ecstatic. However, because I had to go somewhere during a holiday break, I was not able to update my blog. When I came back to check it, *&#^*&^$, it went down to being 0. Right now, I’m having a hard time recovering it.

What I use to check my page rank is prchecker.info. You might wonder when you check your blog/site’s rank by entering your URL there, it might get a result of NA. This is because your page is not yet indexed/recorded in Google; because most likely it’s still new, or nobody visits that page often enough to make a mark in the cyberworld.

Of course, if your site is still new, you won’t get a page rank that easily as it takes some time to generate traffic to your site. It doesn’t take an online university to figure that out. Just to leave a note, page rank is not the be all and end all, but I can say that it does have a huge impact if you have a high position.

But what I did to try to gain traffic from different sites out there to at least get a higher rank will be discussed next.

I’m running out of topics to write. haha. I can’t believe it came to this point already, this early? I was so sure I had a lot of information I could give to people out there; but right now there’s a drought of data in my head.

I guess this is just a phase, since I haven’t had enough sleep and I’m off to work after a couple of hours. sigh, another 5 day-working spree.

Anyway, if you have some questions, feel free to ask. As you can probably seem, this blog is still new. So I don’t have that much visitors, which means I’m not that busy. hehe.

I’m just pausing for awhile as I’ll be finding some more topics to talk about in order to earn money online through blogging as well find other rackets (not scam!) out there to further widen my knowledge in getting rich quickly

Ciao!

Once again, I managed to receive a reply from the same reader, Lorie. And I’m posting my response here as well as her message, with permission of course.

Hi, Ed! It’s Lourie, actually.

Thanks for the prompt response in Istorya! Yes, I’ve read both of your blogs and will try my best to continually visit soloflighted.com to help increase your traffic there…to support you in my own little way. Okay, I won’t call you nice, but I still think sharing this information is nice enough for me. Hehe!

Wow, so this is really helpful…I mean, getting paid to blog (or advertise products by word of mouth). I’m glad it has helped you out. I can’t believe why I have not known about this in my years and years of online life. Hehe! I’m glad to know all about it now. Thanks to you! I actually have a job, too, but like you said it’s still not enough. =) Question. About your post on earnings, was it good for how many weeks? Was it your first pay since signing up for these sites?

I actually checked out those sites that you mentioned. I browsed around and found out that their terms and all are interesting. I also read those blogs of one of their members and I got amused. I think I can do it. I hope my blog gets approved. Or if not, I’ll just create a new one and build it up for three months before I apply.

I have a question about domains. Do you really have to buy one? I mean, can you not get a free account from blogspot and use that? My current one is on Wordpress, and… It’s privated and I’m not that active in posting. I might have to open it up if I’m deadset on using it for earnings…and post as often as I can.

I actually use my Unionbank Visa card to purchase groceries and stuff. It’s a debit card, right? I can’t use it to buy stuff if it doesn’t have any money inside. If it’s not okay, then I’ll just create another one.

I agree that it should be balanced; it shouldn’t be all advertising or marketing. I read this one blog last night from a member… xxxxxxxxx.com. She’s one of their top earners but most of the entries are advertisements. You can only count the personal contents. Haha!

Sure, you can go ahead and post my message in your blog…just edit out the email address though. It’s hard if we get spam. Hehe!

Again, Ed, thank you so much! I might have to bug you every now and then for questions. I hope you will not mind.

Take care, too, and best regards.
Lourie

This is my reply again:

Hey Laur.. I mean Lorie. toinks. Of all the things, why’d it have to be the name that I misspelled?

Yeah, at first I didn’t like the idea of advertising products because like I said, I was really a blogger for blogger’s sake. It seemed that my site became commercialized because of these paid posts. Even now, sometimes I don’t like the idea of advertising, it’s because I was able to create a network with pure bloggers before. However, in a more practical perspective, I’d rather do this rather than not blog at all. Instead of me looking for another job, I’d rather blog as a sideline.

Anyway, what’s good if you’re already approved is you have full control on your site and the content. Because there’re a number of advertisers out there that has a number of topics to choose from. So you don’t have to worry about posting a topic that you don’t like because you’re the one who’s going to pick the topics of your interests to post. Also, you don’t need to get some Online Degree Programs just to earn, okay?

However, it’s not everyday that you get to choose any topic you like, because these advertisers have certain requirements (e.g. you need to have a page rank of X, etc.) These tasks can range from $3 – $200 or more.

It’s easy once you get approved. I have a colleague at work that’s a mother of 2 kids and wants to earn online. She just kept on posting everyday for about 2 months. But it came to a point that she became frustrated because she felt that she’s not making any money because of the less number of traffic. I encourage her to keep on going though; cause it’ll be like that the first months. Until the time came that her blog was approved, she became ecstatic.

About Unionbank, I believe it’s okay. You can check this entry so you can apply for paypal. hehe. Shameless plugging:

http://edearns.blogspot.com/2008/04/paypal.html

About the domain, I don’t think you really need to purchase one as there are some bloggers who are still earning despite their accounts are hosted. However, if you wish to maximize it, it would be better if you purchase one. Because there’re some advertisers that don’t accept blogs that are hosted somewhere else.

What I do usually with paid post entries is post them in between personal entries. That’s also one of the requirements in some paid post sites; that your post should be sandwiched between personal entries.

It’s okay if you still have some questions, you can take advantage of emailing me. As long as I’m not that busy with life, you can email me!

And thanks for letting me publish your message; I just realized I write very long replies. Am I really that talkative? hehe.

Thanks.

So this is where I was able to generate my money… through paid posts.

There are a number of sites that are willing to hire bloggers to write a certain topic or interest. These are just some that I can mention at the back of my head. I know there are a number, but since I don’t have first-hand experience I don’t really have much knowledge. But since I don’t think it’s that hard to comprehend, I think I can explain it properly anyway.

Actually, these sites are just platforms for advertisers and bloggers alike. Advertisers are looking for advertisers who are looking for bloggers to blog about their products. But because I’m a blogger, I’ll be focusing more on a blogger’s perspective.

First, you need to sign up for these sites. Of course, in the process of signing up, there are some requirements and conditions in the process (e.g. your blog should be 2-3 months old, must have X number of entries, must be regularly updated etc.).

It may take awhile for your blog to get approved depending on how they will be able to review your site. So don’t fret that it may take some time, because it WILL take some time.

These paid post sites are where you need to apply so you can check some “opportunities/bids/tasks”. These tasks can range from $3-$200 or even more, again, depending on some certain qualifications. Sometimes, they will accept only those PageRanks (will be discussing this in future posts) that are high. But there are some that are not that hard to bid for; and that’s where we’re targeting more. Since I can’t demand for much (who am I, right?), I’m taking things slowly, and applying for bids that are quite okay for my range.

These tasks also have certain requirements (e.g. it should have an X number of words, should have some keywords mandated by the advertiser, should be posted on or before *date*, etc.). Once you follow their steps, and once they review your work; they’ll approve it and you can get your payout!

Note: I’m not so sure how long the cycle for the payout would be cause I’m not good with calendars. But I got my first payout after a month, and I’m still running on my second month through paid blogging at soloflighted.com.

I’ll try to post some useful tips to talk about paid posts some more.

I’m so glad that somebody took the time to email me when I posted a topic in istorya. With her permission, I’m putting her response here since she’s interested with how I’m able to earn online; so in turn, people who are interested with the idea may also find some useful tips in return.

This is an edited version, I converted some words to English. hehe.

Hi, Ed…is your name Ed?

Anyway, I find your post here about earning through blogging very interesting. It’s very nice of you to share this information to help others.

I’ve been blogging for a year now (on and off though), and I didn’t know you could get paid for your blog posts. I would love to know more about it, if you don’t mind helping me out. I spend quite a decent amount of time online, and I think it would be best to get something good (like money, perhaps) out of it. I’m married with kids, and I could use whatever little (or big) income that I could get to help the husband with the expenses.

Anyway, I’ve read your blogs, and and I got intrigued by them. So all I need to do is do the same things that you suggested there? I have an existing Unionbank savings account (Visa), can I use that? How do I link that to a Paypal account?

As for posting…how exactly do you post to get paid? I mean, should you always write about products all the time? I read your Siargao series and it was fun. Did you get paid for it? Can you blog about personal stuff, too? I’ll read more of your blog to be able to understand more about this paid post thing. Hehe!

Sorry, I have so many questions. You don’t have to answer any of them, but I would appreciate any help or input though. Here is my email address: xxxxxxxx@gmail.com. You can email me there if you’re not comfortable with Istorya or anything.

Again, thanks for sharing your “secret” to success. Hehe! Godspeed to you, and may your blog continue to rake in all those moolah. Hehe!

Best regards,
Lourie

This is my reply

Hi Laurie… Laurie is your name as well, right?

Thank you for your long message. That’s actually what I want to share here to other people. Since I know my blog’s not that high in traffic, and I believe I can reach out to more people using forums. I’m trying to regularly update my other site. Here’s the thing, my own blog is at http://soloflighted.com, while the entries on how I was able to earn online is thru http://edearns.blogspot.com. Don’t call me nice though, hehe.

Anyway, thanks for reading my post in istorya! hehe. I was able to blog for 3 years for the sole purpose of blogging. Until a friend informed me that I could earn while at it. Honestly, there was a point that I stopped blogging, but I was able to return to this hobby because of this new-found interest of earning money. Especially since my family and I are not that well-off in life. I have 4 other siblings and my parents don’t have a stable job. I stopped school cause it’s a bit expensive and there are a number of things I want to do that I can’t. I already have a job but I feel it’s still not enough. That’s why I just want to help other people as well, just to spread the news. When I talk to people at work about blogging, some wouldn’t believe and find the idea tiring. So I decided to just find other people to talk about it.

About posting… you need to apply for paid post accounts online. That is your blog needs to be approved by paid sites. There are sites who are accepting advertisers and bloggers. The advertisers are the one who are looking for bloggers to write a particular topic and link it to their website. All you have to do is meet their requirements (e.g. you have to update your blog regularly, there should be an X minimum of entries, it should be at least 3 months old, etc.).

Honestly, I’m not the one who applied for my site, since my domain, soloflighted.com, is still a bit new. I didn’t have enough hits or traffic. I was just able to migrate all my entries from an old blog to my new one so that explains why I don’t have a lot of visitors despite the long list of entries since 2003.

About paypal, I’m not so sure about the savings account. But it should accept a credit card. I think it’s okay cause you said it’s a Visa. First you have to sign up for a paypal account, then it will ask you to type your card number so you can link them together. From there, you will most likely know what to do.

Lastly, about Siargao, no, those were personal entries; your entries should be balanced.

Thanks again for taking the time to read and actually sending me a message! Remember, you don’t need to have an online degree to earn. By the way, is it alright if I put your message in my blog to let other people know about it? So I can add another entry to my site. hehe.

Take care,
Edcel

Google adsense are the advertisements placed mostly on every site that you go to. According to most people, this is where they earn the most income when it comes to ads.

You can apply an account online through the adsense home. Once you apply, it will ask you for your billing information and such. Afterwards, you’re all set to place some ads in your blog! There are some online courses on how to maximize it but I figure you should try your best to look for other blogs.

Note: The only blog I believe that can let you maximize where you place your ads as well as get the actual amount of how your earnings through it is thru Blogger, because right now, Blogger is powered by Google.

Going back to my application in adsense, there was suddenly an added security feature wherein you had enter a Security PIN coming from Google itself. The security pin will let you authenticate your address to make sure that you are where you are. For me, I just woke up one morning and received a letter from a mailman. I didn’t even believe I’d get one, since I’m in the Philippines and I don’t really trust the postal services unless it’s governed by a private company. Anyway, it took me around 2 weeks to get that PIN; after entering it on the site, my account was verified!

The good thing about it is you can just use Western Union as the mode of payment. Once you reach a $100, then you can start withdrawing it through the different centers in your area.

The problem is that soloflighted.com’s just new and it’s not gaining that much traffic, hence the less amount of earnings.

The reason why there are a number of networking sites (to the best of my knowledge) like maybe friendster, facebook, multiply etc. are free is because the world wide web is all about generating hits or traffic. In order for your site to generate a lot of moolah over adsense, you need to have a lot of visitors. As you can see there are different advertisements whenever you load a page in these social sites. That’s part of the strategies for them to earn. I was already placing ads on my site, but honestly, since I don’t have that much traffic, this is not where I’m generating most of my income.

A very important tip warning: Never, never, never, NEVER, NEVER click on your own ads! It violates the purpose and the terms and agreement with Google, and they will ban you once they find out. After banning you, you can’t apply again under your name. So again, save yourself and just don’t.

Coming up: Paid Post Sites –> where I generate most of my income