Paid to blog at SMORTY.COM

Visitors to this blog will probably be familiar with the concept of paid to blog services. There are a range of different companies that offer opportunities to bloggers for payment to post about a specific topic. The topics can range from a dating service to a travel website, a piece of software or anything that their advertisers request.
The best opportunities are those that fall within the general topics which are usually covered by your blog. For example, a blog that is aimed at new technology may choose topics such as new cell phones, PC games, or any other gadget that might have a blogging opportunity. Other blogs may post on a variety of topics without specific focus, opportunities are available for either type of blog.
One of the newer services available is a website called Smorty.com, it usually offers opportunities from about $6, bloggers are paid to write opinion posts with links back to advertisers sites.
If you are new to the paid to blog community or are looking for a new source of paid to blog opportunities, sign up with Smorty and maximise your earning-potential for blog advertising.

The Competition hots up!

It's time for some link love to those who have entered the Livewyre.NET contest.
There have been 13 individual entrants, who have posted on 18 different locations, so that's 18 entries going into the hat. Multiple entrants just get the one link-back in this post though...
There are still two weeks remaining for new entries to be added to the list, there is a one in eighteen chance of winning the random prize as it stands at the moment.
I really would like to give a clue about the rules, but I really can't (you may see why when I eventually reveal all..) - all I can say is I would be grateful if entrants would read the competition post carefully.... (There's a hint there).
Here are the hopeful entrants so far then:

Greg | Linky Love | Rachel | Ellie | The Prize Blog | Nitrogen | Garion | Vijay | Linkbait | Phil Van Treuren | Vincent Chow | IceDragon | Laura |

Win some well-placed advertising

I have been trawling the net for contests to bring to you, but have not found a cash prize this time. There are an awful lots of contests that are offering advertising or hosting or custom wordpress templates and stuff of that ilk. This one simply offers a 125x125 pixel banner in a prominent position on a popular blog (no visible page rank as yet but a very respectable amount of subscribers).

Entries into this contest over at 'Super Blogging' are got through various means, one of which will be a post like this linking to the homepage using make money blogging as the anchor text. Multiple entries on multiple blogs are allowed, so you could get yourself a stack of entries.

The Super Blogging blog is neat and well-written, concentrating on themes such as making money online and through blogging, search engine optimization, traffic generation, blogging tips, great finds on the internet, and more.... Thanks to Tay for this competition.

Last entries on 22nd September, Ads to start on 23rd or 24th (better make your banner now so you don't miss out on the advertising time). Leave a comment on the original contest post to confirm your chosen methods of entry, winning post to be chosen randomly...

$10 Won today...

I have entered a few competitions lately, and it was a nice surprise to find that I won $10 in one of them today... I blogged about Portugal and won a tenth share of a $100 prize pot. This extra cash will help to fund the prize for my own competition which will pay out at the beginning of October. If you haven't entered, please visit the post... It's easy to enter, and the prizes are cash paid to Paypal.

Contest Blogger

I have been entering blog contests for a while to see if it is possible to raise some extra cash or get some cool stuff through winning prizes. To be honest, I have won nothing so far.... but it costs nothing to have a go....
My favourite source for locating cool contest has been without a doubt, Contest Blogger - This site is devoted to bringing you the best contests on the blogosphere. The author, Phil Van Treuren has come up with a phenomenal idea for a website, and has capitalised on this idea by building an excellent site to match. For visitors, there are all those contests to enter, for clients there is the opportunity to have your contest mentioned on an extremely popular site that will guarantee good exposure and traffic.
For a very reasonable charge, you can have your contest 'featured' guaranteeing even more exposure and traffic. Recently Phil ran a 'Ashwin Khanna Revenge' competition - if you don't know what all that was about, have a look at the original post here (the contest is now over - another one I didn't win!). In conclusion then, if you think you'd like to win something, and who wouldn't?? Take a trip to Contest Blogger and find yourself a competition or two...

Write a best-seller

John Kremer bestselling author, book marketing consultant and speaker has a new program to give authors the 'inside track' to get their books onto the New York Times bestseller list. It looks like he may have devised a system for 'gaming' the bestseller list in much the same way that some webmasters 'game' Google rankings.

His latest offering includes audio copies of his two previous tele-seminars, a step-by-step guide, a downloadable audio talk, a bookstore database, an inside guide on how some self-publishers have created best-sellers and a document giving valuable information on choosing a book distribution system.

I read recently that writing a bestseller was one of the most common dreams that people have, along with becoming a professional sports star or pop star. The system offered in this program gives you advice all the way round to help you achieve this dream as a self-publisher. Many of us believe that we have a book inside just waiting to get out (I know I do!), if you think you want to pursue this dream, this system has got to be worth considering.

Find out more at BookMarket.com and see if you too, can get into the New York Times Bestseller list.

Livewyre.NET competition $35

I'm ready to announce my first competition... Let's cut to the chase, the prize will be cash, and the rules will be easy - That should appeal to most of the bloggers that I know!
I am offering a main prize of $25 via paypal and an additional runners-up prize of $10. I have decided the criteria for awarding prizes, but to prevent counter-productive gaming of the rules, these will remain secret. I will say however that one prize will be awarded at random to anyone participating in the competition, the other will be earned more on merit.
I want to drive some traffic to my new website so this is what I am looking for:

• A blog post of minimum 100 words creating buzz about Livewyre.NET with at least two links, one to the page you like best on my new website, and one to this competition.
• If you use the words 'Livewyre.NET' I would prefer .NET in capitals...
• leave a comment here (with the URL of your qualifying post) when your entry is done
• I would be grateful if you would DIGG the page you link to on the site - if you want to link to more than one page, a third link would be acceptable.
  
• There is no reason that both prizes cannot be won for the same entry since one of the prizes is entirely random.
• Well-written imaginative posts stand a better chance of winning the merit prize (English language only please)
• Competition closes on 30th September 2007, winners to be announced on 3rd October
  

Leave a comment if you have any questions

Win a Toyota Scion??

Now this is QUITE an ambitious competition and would break new boundaries for blogging competitions as far as I am aware....
Prija wants to raise money to get his sister a car, get a car to give out as a prize, fund a movie and create a buzz about the movie at BlogWorld Expo. He is aiming high but appears to have done his sums... he will be looking for 500 sponsors to pay $100 each, thus raising the required $50,000. What you will get in return is publicity via the movie, via a sticker on the car (with your URL) and links from the blog which to be fair, is guaranteed to be well-visited, such is the scale of the project. From what I read on the blog, the spare car is intended to be given away as part of a separate blogging contest (can't wait to see what that will entail). A PR professional has been hired to take care of creating more buzz around this project, and I'm sure many of us will be watching to see how all this turns out... Read all about the movie project here...

August 2007

Looking back on August, there is an obvious change in emphasis and direction that is showing through. I have reached the point where I am ready to overhaul Munny4Hunny and concentrate on some new goals. I would still like to regain my pagerank and continue the quest for paid posts through PPP, but if that doesn't happen, I will need a new focus.
I have some ideas for a blog facelift, and my new emphasis will be a continuation of my current theme which is blog competitions (preferably for cash).
As far as earnings go, I have made about $31 one way and another in August which is a slight improvement on the previous month. However, please don't think that this is the full story... since May 2007, I have made around $550 from my original website, and this is continuing to build. I have been able to use this small pool of cash to fund web-hosting for my newest information website which I hope will prove to be profitable in the future, and will serve as a platform for any new projects. My current challenge is to be able to close off unprofitable avenues and put more effort into the profitable ones - I've learned that it's not helpful to have any more than about three or four live projects running at any one time....so they may as well be the best that you can make them.

The Golden Egg contest

Thanks to Garion for todays featured contest...

I freely admit that this is NOT a free money contest, BUT it is a significant prize... Free web hosting - What for a whole year....? Nope... for life.....!!!! and this is is not mickey-mouse hosting either, PHP and MYSQL included along with sub-domains and unlimited bandwidth. In keeping with my favoured competitions, this is another easy-to-enter contest.
Requirements:
100 word blog-review with two links - that's pretty much it. So here is my entry...

Why not check out Arun’s new blog called “Make money online“ and the new competition at “The Golden Egg Contest”. The blog deals with online money-making and also covers SEO and lots of hints and tips to maximise revenue from blogs and websites alike. Arun's posts are well-written and are clearly written from the writers own knowledge and experience. All those seeking to make money online should have a number of blogs that they regularly visit for hints and advice - my advice is to make Arun's new blog, one of those that you read on a very regular basis.

Best of luck with this one, closing date is 15th September so there's a couple of weeks to have a go at it - email the URL of your entry to Arun via the link on the site.

$100 cash prize

New Contest today, cash too... $100
Thanks to contest blogger for flagging up this one...

Whassupjack is starting a contest. The grand prize is $100. It will be drawn Sep 1 and sent by Paypal. So this is another EASY TO ENTER competition with a CASH PRIZE!!!

How to enter:

• Signup for our feedburner and get 2 entries.( Just hit the feedburner tag in the right sidebar)
• Comment on your favorite post here and receive 1 entry
• Link to this site with a post and get 2 entries

It’s that simple. The smart ones will do all three and get 5 entries. Good Luck.

My favourite post was this one, I love the idea of being able to review your neighbours.. How useful would this be if you were house-hunting?? Although I think you should be able to include good points where you have good neighbours too... Why not check out the other stories (and the contest of course..) at Whassupjack.

Technorati Update

Looks like I just broke the 4oo mark on Tech Authority rating recently... I've been hovering at 397 for a while, so it was good to get the breakthrough. I think the latest viral scheme I have been involved in is moving a bit slower than previous examples, but seems nonetheless to be relentlessly pushing the authority to new heights.
View blog authority
I am convinced though, that the viral-linking schemes that have provided such a rapid 'non-organic' boost in my back-links (I had an authority of 23 in June...), have caused my pagerank to drop as a result.
I have not found any other instances of bloggers losing pagerank yet, so I appear to be unique.... also I have not heard of anyone actually GAINING pagerank either. I would love to hear whether anyone has experienced pagerank fluctuations - or has pagerank passed most of the blogging community by this time? Please comment....

A New Focus

Well, the plan was to move on from doing paid posts as a PR2 blogger, get a new improved pagerank to experience paid blogging at a higher level.... Google had different ideas and dropped me a pagerank!! to PR1. I am guessing the phenomenal success of the viral linking flagged me up on the radar as a non-organic linker. I was not sure how to react to this set-back for a while, but I have found that there are still PPP opps for me, and I seem to be lucky enough to land some of them now.... So the new quest will be to experience paid blogging with PR1.
I have the 'values' of a PR3 paid-post blogger in that I won't jump at a $5 opp, I won't do gambling, 'enhancement' surgery or even dating sites any more - let's see what there is out there for a PR1 blogger with a sense of pride more befitting of a blogger above his lowly station!

Clearing Vacancies At Bedford Uni

University of Bedfordshire - Clearing 2007
From Thursday August 16th until the 21st of September 2007 the University of Bedfordshire will be recruiting students onto their array of courses via the Clearing process. The Clearing process is used by students who did not attain the grades for their first-choice university courses, and by those who have applied after offers have been made. Clearing 2007 begins after results have been received and time is of the essence as this new University is experiencing vastly increased demand in applications this year.
The University of Bedfordshire’s Clearing team will be on standby to offer support and advice to get you onto a course that’s right for you.
The University has 34 departments offering a wide range of courses as diverse as Performance Arts, Study of crime, Sports & exercise, Business School, Computing and Accountancy & Finance among them.

A recent £60m redevelopment programme enables students at the Luton and Bedford campuses to take advantage of prestigious state-of-the-art facilities.


The UCAS Institution Code for the University of Bedfordshire is B22.

Make Money Online with Etienne Teo

Today I came across a competition for $25 which is nice and simple to enter. And as you may know, I am especially attracted to competitions for cash that are easy to enter...

Here is my entry:
So here's an interesting Make Money Online blog, a blog that likes to think outside the box, and not limited to the run-of-the-mill make money schemes. For instance the blogger (Etienne Teo)
includes posts on Make Money Online with Facebook and 7 unusual ways of gaining Traffic to your blog
Posts are clear and concise and the blog uses a clean crisp template to complement it's uncluttered look and feel. To top it all off, Etienne Teo is holding a Blog Review Me Contest which allows you to walk away with Cash and a Free Feature Site spot for 6 months!

Here are the rules:

Blog Review Me
Write a review about the blog with a minimum of 50 words. The post has to include at least one link to the home page using the anchor text "Make Money Online" and you can also link to the articles that left a great impression.

Some articles that you may want to link to the Blog Review:

• Make Money Online with Facebook
• Learning How to Build a Successful blog
• 7 unusual ways of gaining Traffic to your blog
• 1000 Technorati Avatar Train List

Prize:
It will be a random draw on 25th Sept 07 when one winner will walk away with $25 Cash* and a $10 Feature Site Spot till 14th Jan 2008!

Brand new make money blog $100 competition

I found todays' competition on the Prize Blog - always worth a visit...

This is a cash competition, and what's the best way to catch the eye of a make money online freak-geek? Offer a cash prize of course... $100 up for grabs if you take part in creating some buzz around this new blog...

Be sure to check out http://www.OnPulseIM.com if you are serious about earning money online.

What to do- Instructions from OnPulseIM:

How to enter to win the $100? its easy, the contest will go until the 1st of September, that is about 16 days from now. All you need to Do is these steps:

1) Write a Review on their new blog, this should be in your own words, and does need anchor text leading back to our blog. It does not need to be a huge post, but should be a dedicated one, it should include something along the lines of (but in your own words preferred):

OnPulseIM is a Hot new make money online blog that focuses on all niches of making money online. With Contests, latest news and top posts this blog is sure to grow into a wonderful community for all it’s loyal readers. They are having a competition where you can Win $100 just by making a post like this on your blog! Be sure to check out http://www.OnPulseIM.com if you are serious about earning money online.

2) Digg and Stumble This post from the links below the original post, then send them a quick email via the contact form and they will add you to the draw that will take place on 1st September!

3) Please can you also help get exposure for this competition by Voting for us here (optional but would be great!)

24 inch LCD giveaway

I found this pretty cool competition over at CASH for COMMENTS, just take a look at 24 inch LCD that you can win:

It’s free to enter and readers have 3 ways to benefits:
[1] Win a 24″ $599 LCD
[2] Win a 4-Hour Workweek book (if you enter by Sept 1st)
[3] Generate traffic being part of the post of the winning prizes.
To enter just post a blog about this contest and:

• Link to CASHforCOMMENTS.com using “get paid” & this Post using “24 inch LCD“
• Link to EliteBaseballInstruction.com (the sponsor) using the anchor text “baseball training”
• No Duplicate Content or Forum Submissions will be counted as an entry.

Now CASH for COMMENTS is also running a scheme where you can get paid $1 per day for the best comment on his blog - that's a potential $30pm if you are really good a one-liners....and hey if you win the LCD, don't forget to thank the folks who do the baseball training....

Jobs search engine launch

New jobs search engine launched today.
JumptoJobs.co.uk the search engine for jobs utilises pay per click technology in a search engine for recruiters looking for that perfect employee.
The service will be open to HR departments and recruitment agencies alike, each recruiter will be able to manage their own budget and will only be paying for results (either for clicks or per application). A perfect platform for recruiters and job-seekers alike.

Press Release:

JumptoJobs.co.uk

JumptoJobs.co.uk today announced the launch of their innovative search engine for jobs. Their system allows job-boards, recruitment agencies and corporate HR departments to easily deliver very targeted jobseeker traffic to their websites.

The system requires no administration from the recruiter’s because the jobs are indexed from their current location on the internet, JumptoJobs.co.uk simply makes it possible for jobseekers to find the jobs more quickly and easily.

Recruiters have the option to pay per click or pay per application. In each case they can guarantee that they are only paying for results delivered. This removes the risk element usually associated with recruitment advertising where recruiters have to pay for the advertising whether applications are delivered or not.

Pay per click and pay per application are revolutionising recruitment advertising in the same way that they have revolutionised many other types of online advertising through Google, Yahoo, MSN and many other major online advertising media.

JumpToJobs.co.uk’s fanatical account management team will do all of the technical work for the recruiter and absolutely no technical expertise are required to use the system. Comprehensive statistical reports are frequently emailed to the recruiter so that they can easily monitor the success of their campaigns.

Emailed Job alerts and RSS feeds allow Jobseekers to monitor a large number of recruitment websites for all new jobs that match their criteria. This system also offers recruiters an additional advertising opportunity.

www.jumptojobs.co.uk

JumptoJobs.co.uk is a new product by saongroup.com. saongroup.com have more than 10 years experience in online recruitment. The group has job boards in UK, Ireland, China, The Middle East, The Caribbean and India.

www.saongroup.com

What would you do with $200

Hats off to the HOTDOGMAN for digging up this contest...it's the "What would you do with $200?" contest from 'My Affiliate Journey' you can win $100 for leaving he 100th comment on the blog or $200 for a leaving a trackback as 100th comment - think I'll go for the $200!!

And what would I do with the cash? - I'd take my little family out for a treat - we don't get too many these days......

This is a very nice cash prize, so get on over to the contest now!

Here are the rules:

1. In order to participate in this contest you must either comment on this blog or link from your blog to to this article. (NB not THIS blog...but the original!!)
   
2. The author of 100th comment will win $100. If the comment happens to be in a form of a trackback/pingback, the owner of the blog wins $200.
3. You ABSOLUTELY MUST ACCEPT money via PayPal- if you are not able to accept payment from me via PayPal you CAN NOT PARTICIPATE in this contest.
4. This opportunity will remain open for the life of this blog, unless 100th comment will come first.

New domain launched!!

We interrupt this blog to bring you breaking news....
My new web site is in pre-launch this week, prior to the official launch next Monday (20th August). Why is this you ask? - I want bloggers and internet users to beta-test the site for me and let me know if it needs tweaks and adjustments. I also need the site to be up and running in order to do some off-page optimisation. Please visit: www.livewyre.NET and let me know what you think... There are a couple of pages to be added in the website section, apart from that, the content is in place. I have plans to expand the content soon after launch to provide an even bigger free resource for internet users.

'nother viral thingy...

Please note these viral linking schemes should carry a warning.....I participated in two last month and though I was successful in sending my Technorati Authority through the roof, the other effect seems to be that I have dropped a pagerank point....oooops - not the desired effect. I am guessing that this was probably because of the massive amounts of links I gained in relation to the links I had before the viral schemes - I wasn't trying to be greedy, I just had no idea how much effect these schemes were going to have...
That said, I can't effect a reversal of my PR disaster, so in for a penny....and as I said, this type of scheme is guaranteed to take your 'authority' to dizzy heights
This new scheme was picked up from the hotdogman - he gave me the honour of placing my humble blog at the top of his list, so it's only right that I give him all the help I can...


**Instructions**

The premise is simple: Write a post, and copy and paste my list from below into it. Make sure the links are active and correct. If your blog is on that list, remove it because your post isn’t about self-promotion. Don’t worry, because if your name is on mine, it’s on others and will spread. Add your favorite deserving blogs to the top of the list (not compulsory). Publish the post. People will notice the incoming links, and hopefully write their own z-list posts. The result will be that we all get more links pointing to our blogs, and more readers — it’s got to be good!

Key Points

1. Create a new post on your blog.
2. Copy and Paste the entire list of blog links below
3. Add any blogs that you want to include near the top of the list. (Optional)
4. Include the blog where you first got the list from, on the list in your post.
5. Make sure that all links are copied intact (use the source, Luke).
6. Publish the Post.

The List:

Linky love
Turnonepoundintoonemillion
Greg Stratz
Gold Rushin
Walletboosters
The Pink C
The Success Blog
Munny4Hunny
Coffee, Tea or Baabooo
Blog -Blond
What U Did Today
Recueilli
One Old Green Bus
Tiny Voices in My Head
Comedy Plus
You are in My World Now
Life With Heathens
what I think about...
Wonderful Thoughts
everydayweekender
Writing In Faith
The Hot Dog Stand
The Wired Kayaker
A Bunch of Stuff
The Porch Light
Winning Football Picks
Valuable Lessons We Can Learn From Children
John Chow dot Com
The Life of Ben, a Polymer Man
Lol-ette
Trik's Gulch
Peety Passion
Our Cheating Ways
$ Secret Money Blog $ By : Bob Matharoo
Notes of an Asian Gastronomist
SeevsPlace
userandloser.com
Journey of a Lifetime
A little piece of me
NoDirectOn (not: NoDirection)
Mellifluence
An American Peyote Scribble
Let's Share Feelings
Tales of Prinzcess Prinzcy
ChatnChill
The Blogger's Block
Footsteps
Laane on the World
Danny Danny Wakeup It's A Beautiful Day Today
The Political Realm
How to Earn Money Blogging
Electric Writer
About Every Little Thing
Dumb Ox Daily News
TwistedSister.....totally pissed off!
When I grow up...
POETRY BLOG GONE WILD BY PURPLE CRAYON BRAIN.. GET AFFECTED!
Weird Websites
The Hot Dog Truck
My Interesting Files
The Dwacon Blog
Just a Girl From LA
Chronicles: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Coach
IdiotBrain - Because People are Stupid
The Kerala Articles
Eternal Echoes
Splibble
The 15 Minute Dating Blog
Going The Wong Way
the hidden side of a leaf
Word Life!
Why Buy Used Cars
Cubicle Denizen
n E o A u T e U r
PhilosYphia
The Weight Loss Blog
J 4 JOKES
Sea Glass
PowerWealth.com
Bimbo with a Twist
Terri Terri Quite Contrary
Syaf The Geek
Disjointed Intelligence
Aussie Bush Food
Growing Linux Events and News Spot
A PURPLE SHADE OF BLACK
meta-DAD
Joe Schroeder Uncovered
What the...?!
Advertising for Success

Well that's it - if you're on the 'wild side' - give it a go....

Win a relaxation CD

Thanks to Blog Contests for todays competition:

How to cope with pain is offering a free relaxation CD to those that enter - entry is simple (pain-less you might say!) all you have to do is submit your favourite way to relax via the blog
One tip - use the link to enter NOT the comments on the post.
So there you go, no reviews or links, just visit the blog and submit your entry for the chance to get a free relaxation CD.
I'm guessing that you are encouraged to keep your submissions printable so that they can be shared with the readers.
Here's what the site says:

Here’s the contest:

1. Send in your most creative and enjoyable ways to relax by Wednesday, August 15.
2. One winner will be announced on Friday, August 17. The top 10 entries will be published.
3. Entries will be judged on creativity, ease of doing, and fun. (Bribes of $1 million and above will also be looked upon with approval
4. Enter as often as once per day, if you’re just bubbling over with relaxation ideas.

Now for the prize…

The happy winner will receive a meditation CD from the World Wide Online Meditation Center. This is a user-friendly site, offering clear, concise meditation instructions from various meditation traditions.

It's the weekend - get relaxing..... NOW!!!!

This is for Dr Who fans....

Win one of three sets of BBC Audiobooks

'Behind the sofa' is a fanzine blog dedicated to th TV series Dr Who.. They are running a competition to win these audio books

• The Last Dodo - read by Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) and written by Jacqueline Rayner
• Wooden Heart - read by Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones) and written by Martin Day
• Sting of the Zygons - read by Reggie Yates (Leo Jones) and written by Stephen Cole

You will need to know your Dr Who history as to be in with a chance of winning you must answer the following question:

Prior to the start of series three, three members of the Jones family had appeared in Doctor Who, playing other people. Can you name them, the parts they played and the stories they appeared in?

If you can... don't tell me...visit the blog and enter the competition.... before 15th August

Introducing....'Dr G'

Allen Gustafson, MD is an Orthopaedic Surgeon Specializing in Total Joint Replacement

Dr. Gustafson developed his passion for orthopedic medicine while serving in the United States Air Force, and has since become a respected and world-renowned expert in total joint replacement (TJR) and reconstruction.

Dr. Gustafson whilst renowned for his experience, skill, and accomplishments in
knee replacement and reconstruction, is known as "Dr. G" by his staff and patients. He is best known to his patients for his caring style and sense of humor. He prides himself on getting to know every patient personally so that he can fully understand their individual needs.
The Gustafson Orthopaedic Facility provides:

• Thorough evaluation and accurate diagnosis of joint pain

• Effective treatment recommendations

• Patient education resources

• Expert surgical intervention, if needed

• A complete recovery program

Dr. Gustafson specializes in joint replacement and the web site is full of information about this type of surgery, along with other related information including down-loadable information about Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis.

New Cash Competition

Credit to LinkyLove today for flagging up this competition over at TheAnand.. This is a very simple competition and I like simple! You just have to use the text as below and talk about some of TheAnand's rocking posts (of which there are many...)

TheAnand is running a link back promotion contest where you can win $27.93 cash! He is giving away cash which he won at another contest hosted by Andreas Bard’s blog. TheAnand has some rocking posts on themes such as SEO and creation of Wordpress themes

That's all it takes to get a piece of the action in this free competition, and you should get backlinks too and will probably learn something useful from TheAnand blog- so what is there to lose??

Portugal blog competition

Now here's a competition that is going to be easy to enter since I have been to Portugal and would recommend it to anyone... It will complete my entry here and give you a quick overview of what you must do to take part.

Firstly I have to say that my experience of Portugal was not typical... it rained for almost the whole time we were there, we made the mistake of taking a 'last minute bargain' which turned out NOT to be any sort of bargain at all...
There are some beautiful places to stay in Portugal, we were unlucky and got randomly placed in a fairly undesirable tower-block - so first off, check your accommodation out in a brochure and don't trust to a last-minute 'bargain'.
The weather was dull to wet until the last day, we had packed our unopened sun cream ready to come home and, would you believe it, actually got burned in the scorching sun whilst waiting for the coach to arrive...
Despite these set-backs, I would thoroughly recommend Portugal as a holiday destination to anyone who asked me - why?

• FANTASTIC FOOD!
• Lovely beaches
• warm friendly people
• fascinating scenery
• and did I mention the fantastic food... oh and the cheap wine!!!! the list goes on -
  

Would I go back? you bet your sweet life I would! I loved the way you can get Sea Bass straight from the sea, covered in rock-salt and cooked before your eyes to perfection on a barbecue. I loved the cuisine, in the Alentejo district I had the local speciality of pork and mussels !! What a stunning combination (I think I have my facts right, but it was a while ago...). I had ostrich steak form a loacl ostrich farm...and the wine... the wine... about half the price or less of what we pay at home. (You may guess that my holidays are rated by what is available on the menu!).
We found people helpful and friendly, I hired a car and we drove around everywhere.. the locals have a habit of what we call tail-gating, but there's no aggression in the driving. If you like golf (can't afford it myself) then you will think you are in golf heaven if you land on the Algarve with your golf sticks... (I know it's clubs, I'm just having a laugh....).

If you want to have a go at the competition yourself then..

visit Portugal page at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal

post about Portugal on your blog in portuguese or english)…

on that post let people know about this competition

add a comment here, with your Blog URL, use your paypal as email for the comment…

10 ($10each) winners will be chosen before the end of August

1 Cool File site launch

This month is competition month at Munny4Hunny (or at least until pagerank is updated...). I am cheating little bit with this competition as I got it straight from The Prize Blog. I'm sure I will be visiting there again, but will be actively seeking competitions from all over the blogoshphere. Here's todays offering then...

“Steve is launching his brand new site: 1 Cool File. It is a directory of cool files(shareware, freeware, plugins). For example, you can try a new media player after you have just finished a music download. You can add your ebook about making money or a screen saver. That’s not all, it has a section just for blogs(plugins). You can also rate a file or make a review about it. It does support PAD files so tell authors about it.

And just by linking to the contest post, I can win $50. You should read the contest post to win 2 other prizes of $25/each if you don’t have a blog. If your entry is before the next Google page rank, Steve will double the main prize. So, don’t wait to long. It’s coming soon!

And one more thing… You can read Steve’s blog while there.”

mmmTALK competition

So far there has been a new competition every month over at mmmTALK.com forum, Why not pay them a visit and look for the thread about the August competition. This month, the competition is geared towards referring new members to the forum. mmmTALK forum is all about blogging, making money online and general internet and non-internet stuff, so there are bound to be topics that you can get involved in, and threads that your friends will find interesting too...
The prize will be a share of a pot of money relative to how many referrals you get. Even if you don't take part in the competition, it's worth signing up just to take part in the forum.

July 2007 earnings

Paid posts were remarkable only by their absence this month - why was that?
Well, PPP opps were few and far between, the juicy ones are being snapped up too quickly at PR2 level. The opps that were available just didn't appeal to me - maybe I am getting picky?
I'm no longer prepared to do a dating advert for $5, so my standards must have risen, however my Paypal balance hasn't. Actually, it has ($70.69) but mostly through payments coming through for last months work... I did a couple of surveys and gained a few cents from advertising. The total earned this month was just $28.26 - shocking in comparison to my May total of $187, and even lower than the $62.28 I earned in June. I am really waiting for a better pagerank for better PPP opps - today I took a look at the kind of opps I could do if I had a better pagerank, and I think I could be motivated to partake in more paid posts if this dream is realised...roll on the new pagerank. I need to rise out of the ranks of the PR2 bloggers - no disrespect...
I wonder if I could make more by taking part in competitions, hopefully this month I will find out!

Looking back on July 2007

Well another month comes to a close and bloggers everywhere are eagerly awaiting the latest pagerank figures... none more so than me...
I have hardly generated any revenue at all this month with paid blogging, and am hoping that a raised pagerank will help to open up some opportunities on that front. So what have I been doing? being helpful of course and reviewing free software that I have found invaluable (you might say 'priceless' ha ha). And what will you be doing next month? I hear you ask - Well I think next month I am going to post about blogging competitions. I have done a few this month and am hoping that I can find a month's worth of blogging copy by bringing some competitions to your attention (whilst of course partaking in a few myself....).
This month, I am also planning to launch a new website which picks up some of the themes of my helpful blogging month - watch this space...

Hijack this - free software

HijackThis log file analysis as recommended by LinkyLove

Hijack this is a free program that I used to use more often when I was using Windows 98 Operating system. It is a program that scans your system and reports on all the processes that are running. It scans selected zones of the registry and hard-drive to detect any settings that might not be as expected - reporting all findings in a list. This list can be saved as a log file, to be opened in a text editor. There is a guide on how to use the program online here.
I found it easier to take the contents of the file and post them here. The 'HijackThis.de' website is not officially part of the software, but is a service provided by a third party. This site is able to automatically analyse the contents of the text file, giving you a report that you can examine for malware. If you find setting that need removing, go back to the original anlaysis screen and check the boxes next to the items you want to remove. Be aware though, that this is a powerful tool and you should be really sure you want to alter these settings - if you're not sure get some advice from one of the many HijackThis forums - I found a good one here...

I should say that I advise everybody who uses free software to abide by the rules of use, and if you find something really useful, you should support the product or service by donating where appropriate.

Kuanhoong dot com - a review

I am being helpful today, by pointing you in the direction of a VERY helpful blog (and I am helping myself by taking part in a competition!). The helpful blog is Kuanhoong dot com which is a Make Money at Home blog with lots of good information not only on money-making but SEO and other general information that every blogger and webmaster needs to know.

Kuanhoong has posts under the following categories: Adsense, Blogging, Google, Make money online, SEO, Technology, Wordpress and the Net. There's bound to be a category that will interest the readers of this blog, and from what I have seen, the posts are well-written, authoritative and informative.

This blog is geared towards providing valuable information and hints to bloggers, so I will be back to see what I can glean from the 100 or so posts that are available.

What you can find here...

It's sometimes difficult to ascertain the flavour of a blog from the first few posts, and I am aware that in the last week or so, in my efforts to be a helpful blogger this month - my blog looks more like a free software review site...
So for newcomers (welcome!), Munny4hunny is a site which has reviewed and signed up to a selection of different paid to post schemes (see 'quick-search' in the side-bar). I pursued maximum paid to blog earnings in May, and managed $184 on my PR2 blog. My aim since then has been to raise PR so that I can try for higher earnings. Consequently June was my 'increase popularity' month where I dragged my Technorati Authority up from 23 to it's current level of over 340. This month (July) is my helpful blogger month, where I will be posting tips and hints, answering questions and pointing the way to some excellent free software for PC users everywhere. If I find any good competitions, I will post about those too. When pagerank has been updated, I will be in a position to blog for maximum earnings again, and I for one will be interested to know how much more can be earned with extra pagerank (assuming my rank goes up!!).
I have not blogged for cash for a while now, and that is mostly down to the lack of opportunities open currently. PPP opp's are snapped up really quickly nowadays, and I can't be bothered to wait around for the juicy adverts. Other schemes seem dismally quiet and have remarkably few opp's, and even then I find some of the opp's are not the sort of thing I want to support anyway. I don't promote gambling or plastic surgery... I have even seen opp's for escort agencies, which I won't do either... there was decent offer from Creamaid, but the subject was female fashions and I couldn't get in touch with my feminine side sufficiently to bring myself to create a post for it.
I wonder if the thrill of being paid to blog is wearing off for me?
I am sure a new improved pagerank will change all that - leave me a comment if you have the inside track on when page rank will be updated.

Spybot - Search & Destroy

Spybot is one of my favourite pieces of free software, it is an anti-spyware program with loads of extra features. Like all my favourites, it offers free updates and is really easy to use. I should add here that I recommend using two anti-spyware programs, as I have not yet found ONE that finds absolutely everything... This does not mean that the software doesn't work properly, only that the different programs on offer, place different emphases on types of spyware intrusion, and will come up with different results. I have used all the major ones and I have concluded that the 'belt and braces' approach of two programs tends to cover most of the bases most of the time. Keep reading the posts as I will probably recommend three anti-spyware programs at least, all of which I use in different combinations on different computers. I always use two, and I always use Spybot!

AVG anti-virus

AVG is one of the worst-kept secrets on the internet today... almost everyone who mentions anti-virus on the internet will probably be using AVG from Grisoft.
Why? because it's the best you can get for free and probably as good as anything you would normally pay for. I started using it years ago when I had trouble upgrading my copy of Norton Anti-Virus, and have not looked back since....
If you choose just one piece of free software from the series on free software that I will be posting this month, this is THE ONE to get...
It has an easy to use front panel, and best of all, it can be set to automatically download updates and automatically run an anti-virus scan. Once you have installed it, the chances are you won't have to touch it again and it will always be up to date with the latest virus alerts.
Not only does it scan your PC for viruses and detect viruses in Windows Explorer, it will also automatically check all of your incoming and outgoing emails for viruses too. As far as I am concerned AVG rocks! and I am only too happy to give them a free advert...

$2,500 prize

Apparently for the 'price' of merely posting this on your blog:

Over at some con artists blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

You will be entered into a draw for $2500... I can't think of any reason why not to, but there are about two and a half thousand reasons why you might... Just in case he is crazy, I take no responsibility for anything that might happen if you decide to take part as well....

It has now been fairly well documented that this was indeed a con... c'mon what did we really expect???

8 Random facts about me

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

1. I am a trained and experienced shoe repairer.
2. 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....
3. I have only vomited on about 3 occasions in my adult life.
4. I have worked in an administrative role on Blood Donation sessions
5. I was a scout and have obtained the Queens Scout Award
6. 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)
7. I eat all the wrong things and never put on weight (sorry)
8. 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...

A prize with a difference

Contests are always good for driving visitors to your site and Alex Noriega has come up with a really unique prize.
Alex is offering an original painting shipped to you for free if you win the 'raffle' on his blog... To take part, you just have to link to his blog... Most people offer a few bucks, a nice gadget (MP3 player, Pen drive) or even a games machine - all these things are very nice to have, but in comparison a piece of original art is the type of thing you will keep for ever. Alex is an artist who designs T-shirts for a living, why not visit his blog and take a look at his designs, read his blog and enter his competition. I did!

Helpful Blogger!

I noticed a little while ago, that there was a new option in Blogger layout 'add a new page element' which interested me, and today I tried it out. The new page element offers to list your post labels so that your readers can navigate to posts with a topic that interests them. The downside is that is lists ALL your labels (in my case, it looks like about 250 different tags...which has added two hundred and fifty lines to my sidebar!). I even had to change my settings... I now list 24 posts on a page so that the posting side and the side bar are still in some sort of balance (I don't like to see blogs where the sidebars are empty half-way down, it's a waste of free cyberspace...).
Then I thought of a fix.... If you can't define, say your twelve top labels, you CAN go back and remove the pesky single-use labels or swap them for your more popular ones... I like the way that Blogger have offered something that I not only want to use, but has actually made me think more about how I am going to blog in the future. My blog will be tidier because rogue labels will have been removed (when I get round to it), and in the future, I will just use previously existing labels except in special circumstances.
Of course if you use Wordpress, you can get plug-ins for 'categories' which is nice, I am glad that Blogger are now in a position to offer something similar and no doubt there is plenty more stuff in the pipeline??

Mailwasher

In an effort to be helpful this month, I am posting about different free software that I have used. Todays useful free software is 'MailWasher' from Firetrust which intercepts your emails to filter out spam mail. I have only been using it a couple of days, but have noticed that it's really easy to set up and seems to work very effectively. Since my proper website has been getting more traffic, I am also getting a lot more spam than I used to...I just see it as a measure of success in a way, but having a piece of software protecting my inbox is now becoming essential.
The free version has limited functionality, but is a good indication of how the proper version works - Mailwasher Pro is able to automatically filter and flag up spam, delete or bounce it back. Even the free version is able to flag up mail from known spam domains. If this sounds like something you would find useful, why not give it a try, like all the software I will be posting about in the series - it's free!

The Prize Blog

Hurry, hurry, hurry... Over at the The Prize Blog, Brian is having a 6-day blogging competition for cash prizes, MP3 players, blogroll back links, Bloggeries Blog Directory listings and complete site reviews.
Note that along with conventional prizes, there are some link-love prizes on offer too.. I would be more than happy to win any of the prizes on offer, cash is always good, but the MP3 player sounds like a good prize too... The Prize Blog publicises bucket loads of competitions on a regular basis, so it is always worth a visit to see what the latest competitions are offering - Everybody like something for free, so make this a regular stop on your daily blogging schedule...

Directory Submitting

Last month at Munny4Hunny was a frenzy of 'off-page' optimisation if not 'on page' activity. The bulk of my rise in the Technorati Authority rankings was down to the viral tag and favicon schemes, I built up some link-love with a couple of reviews and commenting (on 'do follow' blogs). The other activity I busied myself with, was using a free directory submitting tool called (unsurprisingly) 'Directory Submitter'.

This software allows you to submit your URL to a maximum of 350 web directories.
You set up your project by filling in the data that will be common to each submission eg: your URL, your description, your name and email address etc.. The main screen is split horizontally, with the list of directories at the top and the bottom half behaves as a browser.
My advice would be to start by sorting the directories by 'page rank' first, that way you will hopefully be getting the biggest benefits right away. Double-click on the first directory and their submission page or home page will appear in the browser. For some directories you may have to browse to an appropriate section and then submit your link information, others will allow you to submit straight away. You should find that when you are ready to submit your URL, all the relevant sections are filled out from the data you previously stored. It just remains for you to complete the submission either by entering an encrypted anti-spamming code, or simply clicking on the submit button.

Many of the sites will have similar formats and templates that you will soon get used to, some of the things I learned the hard way were:

Some of the sites will not accept an entry without a reciprocal link though most will. One or two of the sites appear to have stopped offering free links. Some sites have errors on the submission page (a couple of them didn't display the required encrypted code, so submission was impossible). Aside from these quirks, this remains a hugely valuable tool, only slightly overshadowed by it's big brother Directory Submitter Gold.

Directory Submitter Gold

Exactly as above, but this time more than 2,200 links on offer... this is for those who are really serious about building a very significant amount of links to a website. Completing this program should really drive you into the search results and boost your page rank. This version will cost you a few dollars ($67 at time of publication), but compared to the free version you will be able to boost the links you have by up to six times! If you are going to spend any money on getting links, then I seriously doubt that you will get more bang for your buck than investing in Directory Submitter Gold

To learn more about Directory Submitter, click here

You Comment, I Follow

You may have noticed the 'Ucomment, IFollow' banners in variuous forms on various blogs and wondered what all the fuss was about. I ignored this for a long time, but I think that it's right that the 'no follow' tag should be removed from blog templates.
Why? It allows a proper link to those who leave you a comment. I comment to get links (not spam comments but meaningful ones) and I would hope that where I leave my comments, the 'no follow' tag has been removed.
How? You can get 'do follow' plug-ins for Wordpress and Blogspotters can edit their HTML and remove the tag themselves. (more on this if needed)
It is only right to add a note of caution, it is possible that spam commenting may result, and you are encouraged either to use validation or moderated commenting so that you don't become a victim of this type of activity. Moderated is probably the safest way to go, I chose validated so that my visitors could see their comments on my site straight away..
I even made my own banner for the UCOMMENT/IFOLLOW movement which is largely based on others that I have seen.

Good blogging

How can I help my fellow bloggers today?
Some good blogging guides are needed, to see if you are a good blogger answer the following questions: (my answers included)
1) Do you blog EVERY day? (errrr...well...No, although I am trying to keep up)
2) Do you blog under your own domain? (errmmm... No, not yet...)
3) Do you provide well-written, quality content? (Well, I really hope so)
4) Do you regularly comment on other blogs? (Yes, it's a lot easier than blogging!)
5) Are you using a nice Wordpress or equivalent template? (No, you got me there...)
6) Do you have a page rank of three or more? (Not yet!)
7) Have you removed 'no follow' from your comments? (YES!!)
If you can answer yes to all 7 above then you are at least on your way to pro-blogger status... if not then you may need to make some changes. Let me know if you think I need to include some other questions here...

PureProfile - a survey site

Get paid to complete surveys online at Pure Profile, oh yes and get paid a referral fee for sending them new members (It's not ALL about the referrals, but if you are interested please click...)

I have only just joined up for this service so I can't really give a proper review of the scheme as yet. I plan to login later to see if there are any surveys for me to do, and then compare them with the Ciao surveys I am already signed up for.

Survey sites are simple to use on the whole, it doesn't require the same skills as paid to blog for example. Sometimes the Ciao surveys can be frustrating if you have to spend 5 minutes finding out that you are not a suitable candidate for the survey. My argument is that they have access to my profile so why not provide the basic info (age, sex etc.. to their clients, as that might prevent them from wasting my time).

I should point out though that Ciao is much more than a survey scheme as they provide opportunities to do paid reveiws of products that you know something about (eg. your car or digital camera, mobile phone etc...). I have completed a few of these to see how they go and will report on them in due course.
Let's see what PureProfile can offer, if you have tried them already, drop me a comment.

A new month, a new theme...

Apologies for being a bit slow out of the blocks with this month's theme. I had pursuit of maximum earnings in May 2007, raising blog 'popularity' in June 2007, and for July...I am going to be helpful..!
I am reminded that I set up this blog to investigate paid to blog schemes, so my target 'audience' are those who are interested in blogging and specifically paid to blog. By happy accident I may get other visitors as part of the viral tagging and icon schemes, but I am primarily geared towards providing information for paid to post bloggers.
So I will be researching stuff that I think will be helpful and posting my findings. As I am committed to being helpful, feel free to ask questions and I will be obliged to try and help you out...!

domain or no domain?

I am aware that having a blog domain eg: www.myblog.com is preferable in terms of being taken seriously by readers and paid to post schemes alike, but having a free domain is central to my study of what can be earned via the web without investing a cent.
I have sites that I have considered using, and if I get to the point where I thought it was really possible to earn a decent second income (or even a primary income) from this type of activity I would certainly use a domain. So far this is an experiment, if I find that I can achieve PR4 and that I could make let's say a regular $500 a month, I might switch from the 'hobby' approach. Right now, my hosting on blogspot is free so I don't have to justify any investment.

So, how do you blog on your own domain? One easy option would be to enter your URL into the blogspot dashboard (settings/publishing/custom domain). The better option would be to go for a wordpress blog. Why use wordpress? There are a whole host of very nice free wordpress templates available to you to use. These templates are instantly recognisable as being the sort of template that pro-bloggers use, and can give your blog a bit of extra 'kudos'.
The templates have a nice 'clean' look and have a whole host of plug-ins available to customise your blog just the way you want it.
Although you can host a wordpress blog for free on their own domain, if you are going to combine it with your new domain, it would make sense to find a hosting service which already offers wordpress on their servers. Many hosting services do this, check the specifications of the service to see what options are available.
How to choose a domain name? Many people just use their own name which is fine if you are going to use that as a kind of brand name, alternatively an SEO-friendly option would be to use a name which contains keywords that you would like to use to bring visitors to your site from search engines. It is worth noting that SEO for blogs is only really important if you are intending to drive visitors from search engines. Personally I think social bookmarking and social sites are probably a better way to gain traffic.
(more on this later...)

MMMtalk - new contest

Greg Stratz has launched a new contest for mmmTALK this month. The participant who makes the most posts in the forum threads will be getting a prize of $25 with a $10 runners up prize.
If you haven't already signed up, get over to mmmtalk blog for details of the competition and visit the forum to sign up and start posting. You are not limited to existing threads, you can start your own, just play nice and no spamming...
Subjects on the forum are mainly around the themes of making money on line, SEO and the like, but you can talk about anything you like... and maybe even get $25 for doing so!

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...

Related posts:

free mini-banners - part 2

free mini-banners - part 3

free mini-banners - part 4

June 2007 earnings

For me June was not about earnings but about getting links and boosting popularity. I continued to do the odd paid post just to keep my hand in, but actual earnings are very much lower this month. On the other hand, my PPP opps are paying out this month so my Paypal account has been boosted with the fruits of last months labours.
To spell it out then, I earned just $62.28 this month, and I received a total of $125.51 from previous work which had not been paid out. PPP is still the run-away leader and will continue to be the focus for the future. SMORTY have started to email opportunities now, so I watch for emails from them and from Creamaid. I also had a job emailed to me from blogsvertise. This job was especially interesting as it promised an additional $5 per month for a permalink. However, the next day another email came out to say that it was a mistake. I was assured that I would get paid for the original post even though I was then requested to remove it....

Now, if you are interested to learn how the link-love month went, I can report a resounding success via the following methods:
Viral Links - MASSIVE, MASSIVE boost using the tag links and the favicon link schemes
Reviews and comments - The more 'traditional' methods proved time consuming in comparison.. Although I did manage to get a piece of the action in a paid post that appeared on 40 blogs (I hasten to add that I didn't pay myself as that is against my extremely strict principles!! ha ha). I also spent more time than I normally do in social sites such as Spicypage in an effort to do some socialising, but inevitably got side-tracked on some interesting blog or other...
Directory Submitting - slightly tedious, but a large amount of links accrued - more about this in a later post.

View blog authority
And my Technorati Authority??
I was rated a mere 23 at the start of the experiment, I aimed to double it to 46 but rather overshot the mark and am currently standing at 277...!!(the widget above displays the current authority figure, as you can see, it is still rising)
I have posted my thoughts on viral linking here and elsewhere, but I am confident that I have used a mix of tactics which will stand me in good stead and hopefully achieve the intended result of a raised Page Rank next time around...