My Rich Pickings - More Than Adsense!


Take your e-book earnings to the next level

31 October 2005

Free eBook - Rock For Profit!


If you are a rock musician or have a guitar or music related website or blog, or you deal in eBooks, then you might be interested in a FREE eBook that tackles the subject of improving band skills and getting gigs. It is available for immediate download now at www.muzick.co.uk/free-ebook.htm

There are no restrictions on the eBook, you don't need to register to download it and best of all it has full resale and giveaway rights. So if you already deal in eBooks either on eBay or from your own website, then you can sell it or even give it away as a bonus with other eBooks.

You may be wondering why I'm giving away this eBook? It's very simple - Rock For Profit is a promotional tool for one of my other websites:
www.muzick.co.uk


26 October 2005

I Lost My Virginity On eBay!

I know I'm not alone in having my first online money making experience on eBay. I'll never forget the excitement of raising a healthy profit on a book I picked up at a jumble sale for pennies. It made me realise that there just might be an alternative to working a 40 hour week for an employer.

That was quite a while ago now, but ever since then I have been working on ways to refine the process. You see, I am basically lazy and I must admit that I got a bit tired of parcelling things up and visiting the post office each day.

I noticed that many people on eBay were selling eBooks - this seemed like a great way to make some money without the hassle of wrapping and sending parcels. So, not wanting to simply re-sell eBooks (I had an inkling that eBook authors would make the most money), I set to work writing my own with grand ideas about the fortune I would make selling it!

My first foray into the eBook world met with limited success. I had confined my selling activity to eBay and although I had the process down to a fine art with autoresponders etc, I soon realised that eBay is not necessarily the best place to make money with eBooks. As an example; how many people are sellling eBooks on eBay? The answer is TOO MANY! The competition is so fierce that many are listing them for pennies. Not a recipe for riches, I'm sure you will agree.

However, eBay is a great testing ground and a fantastic opportunity to advertise your wares to millions of online buyers - there are also huge benefits not on plain view to the average eBayer.

Til next time you might like to visit my website Easy Profits With eBay and learn how to maximise your eBay profits. You can find it at www.easyprofits.co.uk


24 October 2005

Better Than Google Adsense?

Lurking in various forums recently I noticed that some webmasters are reporting earnings of up to 3 times higher than the tremendously popular Adsense program by using a similar contextually generated PPC (pay per click) system. Ever eager to sniff out a money making opportunity, I decided to check it out.

eMiniMalls from Chitika offers website visitors an interactive advertising experience as opposed to just plain text or banner adverts. The ability to compare best deals, read reviews, and search for other products all from the same ad unit makes eMiniMalls seem very attractive and less likely to be simply ignored.

From a webmaster's perspective, Chitika provides the usual cut and paste code so it is easy to include eMiniMall ads on your pages, and a welcome bonus is the payment system: Payments are made monthly, and the minimum earnings amount for Paypal account holders is just $10 - far less than similar programs.

It is too early for me to draw any definite conclusions yet, but I'm testing it on one of my other sites. Watch this space.

If you are interested in an alternative to Google Adsense, have a look at www.chitika.com


19 October 2005

Get Paid To Post In Forums?

This could be an interesting one to watch.

I recently discovered an online business, SEO and programming forum that claims to pay people for adding to the discussions. I'm not sure how the apparently benevolent owners are financing this, or even if it will work out long term, but there must be method in the madness somewhere.

There could be many other forums like it I imagine, but you can check out the one I discovered at www.office.us


18 October 2005

Affiliate Marketing Tips

I read recently that up to 95% of webmasters promoting affiliate programs aren’t making any money. If this figure is accurate, it would seem to be a terrible waste of a great opportunity to make money online, and begs the question of what webmasters can do to improve click through and conversion rates.

The first and most obvious thing is to choose the product or service you promote wisely. It should be completely relevant to your website – think about the type of visitors your site attracts and what products they are interested in. After all, it is unlikely that somebody visiting a property development website will click on a link for sports equipment.

Secondly, don’t just copy and paste your affiliate link onto any page of your site. Instead, think about creating a review page extolling the benefits and virtues of a particular product or service and then include your affiliate link on this page. This can be called pre-selling and is a good way of rooting out the wheat from the chaff; i.e. if you can’t think of any benefits or virtues then you should ask yourself why you are promoting it to your site visitors.


There is plenty more I could write, but my last thought for today about making money online with affiliate marketing is to monitor your progress. Keep a watchful eye on your stats and you’ll soon know if you are on the right track. Good luck!


15 October 2005

Is Your Niche Staring You In The Face?

Anybody who has researched ways and means of making money online will be well aware of the importance of finding a 'niche'. There are plenty of articles, eBooks and websites devoted to the topic all relating just how important it is and offering help in finding your own niche. But in finding it have you overlooked the glaringly obvious?

In finding your niche you should ask yourself some questions: What are you good at? What is your hobby? Do you have any specialised knowledge? Is there something lacking in your area of expertise that you could fulfill? The answers are probably staring you in the face.

It can be easy to neglect an area of expertise when sidetracked by the latest money-making hype. And although it is usually a good idea to have a look at the methods being employed by others in order to monetize your ideas, you shouldn't let that deter you from your chosen path.

So whatever you are working at; whether it is creating a website, an eBook, or a whole new product idea, remember to concentrate on your own area of expertise and work in and around your niche in order to develop a solid online business foundation.


12 October 2005

Why Articles Fail To Deliver Traffic To Your Website

It’s no longer a secret that submitting articles to article directories can generate traffic to a website. In fact, it seems that everybody and their dogs are up to it. But as is the way of the web, many seem to miss the point and don’t submit effective articles, or submit articles that have absolutely no relevance to their website.

For example; it is pointless writing an article on the uses of sand in the Sahara desert if your website is about deep sea fishing. Seems obvious eh? Well surprisingly not to some it would appear, because I have seen very similar mistakes in some of the top article directories. Look at it this way: If somebody is interested enough to read an article about credit cards, why on earth would they then click a link in a resource box that leads to a site about notable ice cream parlours of the northern hemisphere?

With this in mind here are some tips toward writing the ‘perfect’ article.

  • Think of a good title – Make it intriguing enough for people scanning the titles to read the whole article.
  • Make it relevant – If the site you want to promote is about collecting 1950’s baseball cards then write about this and not sports cars.
  • Use your keywords – You should know by now what the popular keywords are for your chosen subject, so include them in your article title and body.
  • Check spelling – It’s a simple exercise, but one that many article writers neglect. You want to be taken seriously don’t you?
  • Make it interesting – Don’t just waffle! Providing valuable information for your readers will encourage them to click through to your site.
  • Be resourceful – Use your resource box wisely and make sure the link to your site works.

Submitting articles to article directories can be a great way to build up that all-important traffic to your website, but not just any old rubbish will do the trick. A little thought and planning when preparing your articles will not only provide interesting reading, but also drive targeted and eager visitors to your site.


11 October 2005

The Secret Of Internet Wealth Revealed - Part 2

Ok, I promised to reveal one of the biggest ‘secrets’ of Internet wealth and here it is:

The people selling the ‘secrets’ of making money online are making money online by selling the ‘secrets’ of making money online.

There it is… I have revealed one of the biggest ‘secrets’ of Internet Marketing. If you don’t quite get that statement then read it again until you do because it is obvious from various Internet Marketing forums I have visited that there are many who don’t.

Internet Marketing is simply Direct Marketing using the Internet, and Direct Marketing has always had its share of get rich quick schemes. It is crucial to understand some of the methods of direct marketing in order to fully grasp the implications of this. So let’s have a look at one of the most famous examples of Direct Marketing…

One of the greatest (if not the greatest) success stories of Direct Marketing is a book called “The Lazy Man’s Way To Riches” by Joe Karbo. This was a self published title and was never sold from a book shop. Instead it was bought mail order via some very persuasive advertisements in newspapers and magazines. What the book contains are some motivational techniques and an explanation of copywriting and Direct Response selling. Basically, the book describes the ‘secrets’ of selling (a book perhaps?) using Direct Response marketing techniques. Sound familiar?


Now there are a lot of things you will need to learn if you wish to emulate this type of formula, and then you will have to work at it to create any kind of success. Plus of course, if you wish to maintain any credibility you should first have achieved some success before you attempt to tell others how to do it. So it is apparent that there is no ‘lazy’ way to riches and no instant wealth formula despite what some may claim.


09 October 2005

The Secret Of Internet Wealth Revealed

Lurking in an Internet Marketing forum recently, I came across a post from a guy who was desperate to make money on the Web - and perhaps sadly a little gullible too.

He explained how he had bought and downloaded all of the eBooks claiming to explain the secrets of amassing great wealth with a simple website and little else. The poor guy had actually followed a couple of the suggestions and paid out more money setting up his own website money tree. He waited for the cash to roll in, but was disappointed when it didn't. Where could he have gone wrong when he was in possession of all the secrets, he asked?

Well, just in case you were about to invest a couple of thousand pounds/dollars buying up all of the information you might need to discover these secrets for yourself, I will tell you one of the biggest right here for FREE...

Next time!


05 October 2005

Focus On Success

If you want to make money online then you will need to learn a few things and make some decisions, for example: What are your primary marketing objectives? Will you need to learn Website design or are you willing to pay somebody else to do this on your behalf? How will you process payments? Are you going to recruit affiliates? Do you have an existing customer base? And so on…

It is natural and indeed essential to seek out information when starting out. But a big problem that many people experience is to become overwhelmed by the huge amount of information and advice offered online. Don’t be fooled by the easy money hype regurgitated by so many pro and wannabe Internet Marketers. It’s going to take a fair amount of work before results are seen, and no eBook, no matter how expensive and regardless of any promises made, will make it happen overnight.

There is more than one way to skin a cat as they say, so decide exactly what it is you are going to concentrate on, then develop a plan of action and write it out step by step. All you have to do then is FOCUS on one step at a time, don’t get side-tracked and waste your efforts elsewhere, just keep plugging away developing and improving. The results will speak for themselves.