Munny4Hunny: linking

Showing posts with label linking. Show all posts

Tuesday, 24 February 2009

I turned down $100..

This week I was offered $100 via Text Link Ads at Linkworth, but as I was not happy that the adverts were appropriate for my website, I turned it down... This was definitely one of the best offers I have had, but the links would have had to be site-wide and I was reluctant to promote the subject of the link.
I have always had a policy for what I will and will not promote, and I would add that any links that you place on a site for revenue should ideally be in line with the general content or niche of your site. As a rule, off topic adverts are not likely to find you anyway, and I am still puzzled that I received this offer - but the fact remains that your visitors (if you are geared towards serving your visitors) would accept contextual adverts, but be less tolerant of off-topic adverts.
I have openly advertised my blogs for links, but have always advertised them as niches requesting niche links, I always think that random links somehow 'dilute' your content and the authority of your site.
I am sure there are plenty of paid bloggers who think I am crazy to turn down $100, and the fact that I have written about it demonstrates how much it pained me to turn it down. I am not sure that I would have turned down the link had it been for one of my blogs, but I think it's important for a website to maintain integrity if you have an 'audience' to serve. What do you think - Is there anything you wouldn't do for $100???

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

blog to earn

If you are someone who blogs to earn, you can post a link to your favourite articles over at the blog to earn carnival. The same organisation gets involved in carnivals for ALL types of blogs so whatever floats your boat, these guys have a blog carnival going. At the very least it's a free link - and someone may even visit your blog as a result of the carnival. Check out the link and submit some of your posts for the very next carnival...

Wednesday, 19 December 2007

More about commenting

I realised today that I had said that commenting is good, but not really explored how the commenting might be done. So today's post will look at how commenting can be done in such a way that it might be effective in building traffic for your blog.
The first thing to note is that your blog must have content that will interest your visitors - might sound obvious, but what I am saying is that there is no point trying to drive masses of traffic to a blog that hasn't been updated for a month... also no point if you just have a stack of paid posts...
OK, that's the first hurdle out the way - make sure when you invite people to your 'home' that it is ready to welcome your visitors.

Next is the nitty-gritty of how to browse intelligently. I have two methods, both which I tried yesterday to good effect:
1) Visit a blog you are associated with (a friend, or favourite blog), look at the links in the sidebar and look for commentors who have left a URL to a blog - follow this and look for posts that you can usefully add something too in terms of a comment. Don't make it an advert, I would never follow a link from a 'spam' comment that says 'hey check out my blog for ways to make cash quick' in fact the chances are if you do that on my blog, I would probably delete it. Add something on topic and intelligent or - move on to another post. Leave one or two comments, then find another URL in the sidebar or from another commentor. One good reason for using a commentor URL is that you KNOW that they are in the habit of browsing around leaving comments - not always true of a static URL link.
2) Go to a social bookmarking site and look for blogs in a similar vein, then follow the advice above. It is vital that whichever tactic you use, that the sites you visit are on topic for your blog. If you haven't joined social networking sites then these are some that I use:
Technorati
MyBlogLog
SpicyPages

No excuses then, your traffic should be on the move tomorrow if you start doing this today.
Things to look out for:
Sites that follow 'do-follow' guidelines and sites that use a 'top commentator' or 'recent comments' widget are worth prioritising.
Here's an offer for you then 'IF YOU LEAVE A COMMENT HERE - I WILL VISIT YOUR BLOG' thus your traffic will go up by at least one today.... Remember traffic now carries more SEO clout for blogs, and backlinks carries less...

Friday, 30 November 2007

Desktop themes...

I have been tagged by Ellie over at ThePinkC, and this time I am required to show the world my desktop.....
Now, my desktop is not as seasonal as hers, but there IS a story behind it. A lady I know has a cat called 'Bub', and this cat is quite a character on his own. Some time ago she took in a stray who is a little scruffier, (but somewhat mentally more stable..) than Bub. He has earned himself the moniker 'Scrub', so there you have Bub and Scrub.... Now I was playing with my little girl's 'etch-a-sketch' toy around last Christmas and came up with this cat cartoon which I named Bub, then went on to make some adjustments to make a Bub and a corresponding (slightly scruffier) Scrub. I developed the characters on Macromedia Freehand, and there we have the desktop (I think I must have imported into Fireworks to add the colour and text).

The intention was to come up with some stories for Bub and Scrub, but I never got around to writing any more than the first few lines... Nonetheless, the cartoon remains on my desktop in case I get inspired. I have developed characters for both of them: Bub is the mean one, and Scrub is the happy-go-lucky naive one who usually ends up in trouble for Bub's misdemeanors. I think that Scrub probably triumphs at the end of every story...
So err... that's MY desktop, what about yours, here are the folks that I am tagging:

Friday, 20 July 2007

8 Random facts about me

I have been 'tagged' by LinkyLove and required to give some random facts about myself... this could go anywhere...

I am a trained and experienced shoe repairer.
I have quirky eyebrow hairs, every so-often one will grow a couple of inches, my wife wants to pull them out - I don't let her....
I have only vomited on about 3 occasions in my adult life.
I have worked in an administrative role on Blood Donation sessions
I was a scout and have obtained the Queens Scout Award
When I was at school, Computer Studies was a brand new subject.... This was in the days when a home computer was a Sinclair ZX81 (I couldn't afford one)
I eat all the wrong things and never put on weight (sorry)
I usually play football (soccer) twice a week

There you go, that's my life in a nut-shell, now who am I gonna tag...

Greg - my friend the internet entrepreneur in the making...
Jon - a link partner on the same wavelength (he even likes soccer)
Rachel - fast becoming an online money making guru...
Stephen - smart cookie with an interesting blog
Bob - newest 'net friend with a jam-packed money-making blog

OK, over to you now.....I will be interested to learn some new facts about my friends... ordinarily I am reluctant to 'tag' people like this, but I am sure that this will be a great way to get some insight into those people who I really only 'know' via their blog postings...

Sunday, 1 July 2007

Mini-banners part 5

These are the latest mini-banners that have rolled of the production line so far as part of the free mini-banner exchange scheme.
I received a little criticism of my designs from someone who had a blog with a grand total of one post on it - the criticism said:

You throw a border, a gradient overlay, and different color text into a rectangle and call that a mini banner?!

For your information YES of course ? What else do you expect (for free) to get in something which is 80 by 17 pixels....dancing dogs? performing geese?? a running AVI file??? I freely admit that all these things are outside of my scope. So if you are looking for something more than just gradients, overlays, borders, and tiny logos along with coloured and textured text, you might have to give me a clue.....
Anyhow for those who have been more gracious and have joined in - many many thanks, I will continue to grow this to see how far it can go.

Please take a look at the original post for rules and the banners that I am asking you to host.

What have you got to lose? Nothing...

What have you got to gain? Free guaranteed link and a fresh new banner that you can use to promote your site or blog.

So here is the roll of honour so far...

I have also created a few larger banners like the one promoting this scheme at the top of my side bar, so if you want me to put my mind to something different, but in a similar vein (sadly limited to gradients, overlays, borders along with coloured and textured text) then just leave me a comment...

free mini-banners - part 2

free mini-banners - part 3

free mini-banners - part 4

Tuesday, 12 June 2007

ViralTags to improve ranking

Jimmy Huen of Founders Cafe has started a Viral tag scheme that can build your links and rankings if you follow the instructions. Move fast because there are limited opportunities to take advantage of the scheme...

========= Copy and Paste below this line ==========
Instructions:
Important Update - Please read here!
1.) Copy and paste the matrix of “ViralTags” below courtesy of Founders Cafe (to support Jimmy’s quest of launching his own Internet Startup with a shoestring budget, please consider subscribing to his Full RSS Feed to see his triumps and struggles in real time).
2.) Substitute the Host Tag and one of the “Viral Tags” in the matrix with your anchor text of choice with your blog’s URL. Please keep anchor text to a max of 3 words to keep the matrix size manageable.
3.) When you get a ping back from someone that has your link in one of their “Viral Tags”, practice good karma by copying his/her Host Tag’s anchor text (automatically the associated link will also be copied) and paste it over one of your “Viral Tags” below.
4.) Encourage and invite your readers to do the same and soon this can grow virally.

Important: Once I get a ping back from you (I promise to do the best I can), I will add your anchor text and the associated link you designate as “Host Tag” here, replacing one of the “ViralTags” from the matrix above. As more and more bloggers copy and paste this matrix, the more backlinks you will have with your anchor text. If everybody who copy and paste from your blog does the same, pretty soon this will spread and go viral. So, the sooner you participate, the more links with anchor text you will receive.
======== Copy and Paste from Above this line ========

Thursday, 7 June 2007

Mini-banner update - Part 4

These are the mini-banners that have rolled of the production line so far as part of the free mini-banner exchange scheme. I am freely offering to design something like the banners above for you, if you will host any two of my exisiting banners and their URL hyperlink on your blog or site. If this idea appeals to you (includes guaranteed link on the next update...), please take a look at the original post for rules and the banners that I am asking you to host.

What have you got to lose? Nothing...

What have you got to gain? Free guaranteed link and a fresh new banner that you can use to promote your site or blog.

I have also created a few larger banners like the one promoting this scheme at the top of my side bar, so if you want me to put my mind to something different, but in a similar vein then just leave me a comment...

free mini-banners - part 2

free mini-banners - part 3

Monday, 28 May 2007

Free mini-banners - part 3

So far three new Munny4Hunny mini-banners have been commissioned, take a look at these banners and let me know if you would like a free banner for your website or blog:

Along the path of production, a couple of alternatives were produced before settling on a final finished product. I will show you those too, just to give an idea of the processes that go into making the banners...

If you would like something similar custom-made just for you, then drop me a comment - see the original post for rules of engagement! See the follow-up post to find out how to implement the banner.

mini-banner update - part 4

Thursday, 24 May 2007

Mini-banner exchange

I have spent far too much time lately playing with Adobe 'Fireworks' software and making small-scale banners for websites and blogs. These mini-banners are very popular in the world of social bookmarking for 3 main reasons:

Good publicity - a mini-banner offers more functionality that a mere text link

Publishers like them - bloggers and webmasters are happy to host them as they are neat, compact and generally quite appealing

They look good - it gives a positive impression about how you want your site or blog to be integrated into the internet community

The specifics are that they can be made up from .gif .png or .jpg files (no doubt other format will work, but these are the three types I have used) and in in general around 80-82 pixels long and 15-17 pixels high. I have used MSpaint (at the beginning) and fireworks (more recently) to ceate them, but you can use any graphics software that will allow you to manipulate the size, colour and text content.

I have recently completed six of these which I will paste here as examples:

I have the beginnings of an idea for a link exchange - If you host (any) two of the banners above on the sidebar of a blog or anywhere in a website - I will make a banner for you.....

So here are the rules: You must carry two of these banners complete with the hyperlink to their respective website - you can copy and paste the banner from here or link the 'src' code to their current 'home' on one of my sites.

Leave me a comment or send me an email and I will not only create a unique mini-banner for you (I'll even host it if you like), but I will paste the banner linked to your website in a update post on my blog. I retain the right to reject an application from a site that has questionable content... If you are not sure how to use HTML to insert these banners into your website, this will be addressed in my next posting....

I'm not promising artistic miracles since I am not at all talented in this area, however I will do my best, you can obviously dump it if you don't like my puny efforts...