Blogger scam!

I had one of those scam emails today, you know a bit like the ones that say they are from your bank, but somehow they don’t seem to have put your name on the email? They want you to log-in to your account right now via the bogus hyperlink that they have helpfully supplied.

This time though it wasn’t from a bogus bank or even bogus Paypal, but from bogus Blogger. Supposedly there is a problem with the database and I need to log in to correct it…

Here’s the thing…. Google Blogger admin know my name… and my email address that I use to log in to blogger, so why didn’t they use my name, the name of my blogger account or my email address? (the email came into an unconnected email account). A scam, of course designed to lift important information from your Google account, maybe use your Google mail account or even substitute your adsense code for theirs… change the account details for where the adsense is paid or lift such banking information as is available.

If you have seen this email, [mine had a logo similar to the one shown in this post] and Heaven forbid, clicked on a link… change your log-on password right now, and go through all your Google account details to find out if you have been a victim of identity theft…

Slow start to 2008

Another month is drawing to a close and the final few dollars earned in 2007 have filtered through to my Paypal account. I have been busy spending money (mostly on Ebay) to upgrade my PC - seems only fair as the PC has enabled me to earn the money in the first place. I can now rearrange my home office as I have a slick new flat screen, and work faster with an extra 1GB RAM, work with more files on a new 30oGB internal hard-drive, and store more data etc.. on a new internal DVD writer (I bought an external one too, but it has not worked as well as I would have liked).
Earning patterns have shifted somewhat since November when Google took a stick to the PR of most bloggers that I know.
Outside of blogging earnings, Adsense has been steadily climbing to the point where I earned more from Adsense than I did paid blogging in December. I have also hooked up with another fixed adverts (non-contextual) service who have paid me about $15 so far and will pay me $30 next month if all goes well. This is added to the $30 a month or so that I get for hosting other paid ads (not on a blog though I should add...). This month I have been paid my second ever payout by Adsense ($120) and am already half way to another payout...
I do not include any of the earnings in the above paragraph as earnings via blogging, so they are not counted as munny4hunny earnings except where the adsense is from a blogspot blog (of which I currently have three active). I will report earnings more specifically (and I must remember to update the earnings graphic) at the end of January. My first reported earnings were in March 2007, so I figure I have to do an annual summary at the end of February... It would be nice if I could report blogging earnings of $1000 for the first year, but I think I may fall a little short of that figure since paid blogging is difficult with no PR...

$50 blog contest

Super-duper, easy peasy blog contests with plenty of cash on offer - what more could you want...?
Melbel has started a great new blogging contest for a $50 payout - the means of entry is simple, my choices will be to post an entry in a forum, leave a comment against the original post
See the original post here..
and post about it in at least one blog - so that's at least three entries for just 5 minutes typing...
For those that have not visited Mel's blog can I suggest that you take a trip over there to check out her new layout. It's a very cool template, nice and airy and quite different to the intense colours that used to be on her blog when I first visited.
Mel is recently married and has some bills to pay, her blog contains a mixture of personal posts on varying topics and some reporting of the ways she has been making money on the internet. Mel is a fan of sushi and is aiming to be an ebay powerseller. If you want to know any more, get over there and take a look yourself....
[competition now closed]

Negative comments

Occasionally, but happily not frequently.. a negative or rude comment is left on a blog - I was prompted to think about this when I saw some stupid comments on a very eminent blog just yesterday. I have one or two and at the time was disturbed by this approach in what is generally a very positive environment. I find the blogosphere to be generally full of enthusiastic and supportive people, often willing to help and give great advice. I guess like any walk of life, you sometimes come across the occasional idiot.
One comment I received had criticised my design capabilities which is always going to be a matter of personal subjective opinion. I was prompted to visit the site of the commenter and was greeted by a blog with a sum total of two posts clearly written by someone who was probably not old enough to drive. That's when I became more aware that of course there are some very young bloggers out there and, like the kids that might shout something rude across the street then run away if you turn to look at them... they do not always use a level of mature etiquette that the majority of bloggers do.
So the lessons learned are:

• Don't let it bug you if a 'kid' leaves a rude comment
• When commenting, be helpful even if you need to give positive criticism
• Even the best bloggers get idiots commenting on their blog, and are not afraid to leave the comments in place - why? because they are so popular, they can rely on at least four of their loyal readers to post indignant replies...

A comment is a comment after all...

Getting started with a blog

I wish I had been able to find more information about blogging when I started doing this about 12 months ago. It was really just a case of trial and error as a newbie blogger and doing lots of research to get to grips with the concepts of the blogosphere. A helpful guide to starting a blog has been produced and posted at Livewyre.NET. The guide talks about what a blog is and how to set one up, the idea of blogging for free, having your own domain and monetising your blog. If you haven't already started a blog and you are interested, why not take a look at the helpful article?
Other items of interest at Livewyre include free software, website designing and SEO hints and tips along with making money online help.

Rankrz - a review

There’s a new social site on the block and it’s called Rankrz – the idea being that you can rank anything that you’re interested in films, gadgets, operating systems, celebrities whatever…. You can start new listings, get involved in existing rankings and leave comments. There’s more to it than simple ranking sites because you can start discussions on your favourite subjects but it’s more structured than other chat/discussion sites.

Also, the other big bonus is that there appears to be the facility to enter your Adsense code to be paid out when Google Ads are clicked on the site.

I started a new heading (at least it didn’t appear to be listed elsewhere) under ‘making money online’, so if you want to get involved – get yourself registered (it’s a very simple process) and join my discussion – I am registered as ‘Livewyre’ on Rankrz. This is one of those sites that is bound to grow and it's always good to get in at the start...

Looking forward to 2008

Happy New Year!
It is difficult to predict what will happen in the blogosphere in 2008, many of us hoped that Google would not punish paid bloggers in 2007, but it happened all the same...
My December earnings were almost non-existent, but then I didn't really go looking for revenue, but sat back and was paid out for my hard(?) work in November. I made another $30 during December, but was paid out a huge (for me!) $240. I spent most of the money on PC upgrades and some equipment which will hopefully help me to make more online revenue in 2008.
Purchases:
Flat screen 17"(refurbished, ebay) $120
Hard drive 300GB (new, ebay) $80
External DVD writer (hardly used, ebay) $65
Extra 1GB RAM (new, ebay) $35
...and a few other bits and bobs which may help me to add another string to my internet-earnings bow.
I have a lot to be getting on with outside of my munny4hunny activities, hopefully this will not stop me posting here as I like to try to keep the ball rolling on as many projects as I can. I am currently applying a totally new template to one of my websites and attempting to add some meaningful content to another. I also am required to quickly get to grips with PHP for a commercial site that I am responsible for. That's enough for now, because I am on a strict regime of updating at least one page on my website every day (I haven't done todays yet) and I have to get up and go and do my 'real' job in six hours time...
The other good news I have is that my second ever Adsense payout is on the way and I actually earned as much from Adsense in December as I did by paid blogging!!