Cash Contest at Romance Tracker

Well Phil Van Treuren has been showing his feminine side at Romance Tracker, and as you would expect from the contest blogger supremo., he has an awesome $100 hard cash prize contest running... True to requirements for the best contests, it offers hard cash and is easy to enter:

There are two different ways to get your name in the hat to win 100 bucks from Romance Tracker:

1. If you have a blog, link back to the Romance Tracker homepage using the anchor text "love“. It can be a mention in a post, a link in your sidebar, or whatever!
2. Subscribe to the Romance Tracker RSS Feed

If you do just one of the things above, you’ll get one entry in the 100 buck contest. If you do both of the things above, you’ll get two entries in the 100 buck contest. Easy, huh?

Funny thing was, the word 'dude' didn't appear once in any of the posts over at romance tracker - maybe it's a different Phil Van Treuren altogether.... you gotta love his style...

Great at coming second..

This has to be one of the most disappointing weeks in English sports history. On Wednesday the England football (soccer) team lost a qualifier which has all but denied them a chance of competing in the European Championships - only if they get a lot of good fortune can they possibly make it now, and we won't know until 21st November...



On Saturday, the England rugby team lost the World Cup final to South Africa, losing their title as the reigning champions at the same stroke. To be honest, it has been a roller-coaster world cup for England with no-one really believing that they would be in the final anyway - a superb achievement, but nobody remembers who came second in the World Cup do they?

On Sunday, Formula 1 golden boy Lewis Hamilton sadly failed to pull of one of the greatest sporting achievements ever. Two races ago, he was expected to take the World Champion title in his first ever season of racing in F1. The tenacious youngster had to pull out of the last-but-one race of the season, then had difficulties in the final race which saw him drop to 18th place. When the car appeared to have recovered, he managed to get up to 7th place and finish the championship on the same points as his team-mate Alonso, taking second place ahead of Alonso due to his better record of second placed finishes.


England expects, and sometimes expects a bit much from it's sporting heroes - I just wanted to take the time to say 'Well Done' to those that proudly perform for their country whether they come first or a creditable second, or even lower in the ranks. Hats off to the men and women that work so hard and make their countrymen proud.

Turning your photographs into art

In the age of digital photography, all of us have the opportunity to hone our photographic skills without having to spend a stack of money having films developed and processed. Producing the perfect image is within reach of all amateur photographers. That said, actually printing the images themselves for display is an art in itself and that’s where 'learn to dream' can offer a service. Learn to dream offer a quality printing service for the images that you have taken on your own camera, not just on standard glossy photography paper, but a host of exciting media that you wouldn’t be able to produce at home.

Learn to dream can also transform your photos onto canvas, textured art paper, acrylic blocks, silver finish, parallex or lusion – jump to the website to find out more about these finishes and techniques guaranteed to make your own artwork stand out from the crowd.

If you’re not sure what effect will work for your picture, they also offer a consultation service to ensure that your finished product meets or even exceeds your expectations. In my view, there are a number of reasons for using a service like this. A wedding present, house warming or significant birthday present, or even if you are planning to redecorate and would like to add a personal touch – maybe a favourite holiday snap or much-loved pet.

The website itself is easy to navigate and very well put together with good descriptions for each product choice and some examples for you to peruse. I recently took a family photo that I think would look good as an acrylic block, though I would really like to have it wall-mounted. Using my own printer, I can only manage A4 size, but for a truly stunning visual effect, A0 size (over a metre high) in canvas would be just amazing if only I had the room to mount it…

I'm no pro-blogger, but....

If you are serious about your blog, then you should post everyday.
I don't pretend or even aim to be a pro-blogger, but if I wanted to be, posting every day would be an absolute requirement.
I don't really have a niche theme - but if you want to be found by search engines, then you should gear up your blog for SEO and pick a niche theme.
I don't aim to be picked up by search engines - but I know a few bloggers who use the following tactic:
News, by definition is fresh every day, throwing up new keywords that people will use as search keywords - however quick webmasters are, they can't really use a lot of keyword promotion for a fresh news story, so you have as much chance of your website being thrown up as a search engine result as any other site if you pick on a hot news story for your latest post.
The best way to use these tactics (IMHO) is to combine breaking stories with niche, that way you get a better chance of getting visitors from search results.
I've not tried these tactics myself, though I am toying with the idea of a niche blog on a theme which interests me and may be newsworthy. This means I will be able to search for news on my niche subject and post fresh information and maybe pick up some passing traffic.
The essential element of course, is to have your site monetised so that you have something to show for all your traffic. For this you will need adsense, and depending on your niche, maybe amazon or auction ads up and running to maximise your revenue.
I hope I find time to slip this project in with all my other ones... I would like to try it on a free site and maybe transfer to a domain if the site got the traffic I was hoping for.
Leave me a comment if you have some hints and tips on this subject.....

Munny4Hunny update

When I started this project to find out if it was possible to make money via paid to post programs on a free-hosted blog, there seemed to be an array of different schemes for paid to post revenue. As the project has progressed, it has become clear that some schemes seem to be dead-ends and others are worth sticking with.
I am really only using three schemes at the moment:

Payperpost: By far the most active source of paid postings, if you don't have PPP, you will be struggling for income.
Smorty: A slow start, but gathering pace now. They are not high payers with each post worth $6, but the real advantage here is that once your submission has been approved (usually takes a couple of days), payments are made on a weekly basis rather than monthly as with PPP.
Creamaid: This works in a different way to most of the other schemes available, but they do have a bonus referral scheme that rewards you if other bloggers participate in the same campaign via your post. Rewards with Creamaid vary in the extreme with campaigns paying anything from $1 up to $10, but you get paid ALMOST IMMEDIATELY which is a really nice feature... The bonuses get paid at 'end of the campaign' which could be anything from a week to a couple of months...
There are more schemes that are worth investigating, and some limited schemes are still worth doing just because they offer some (limited) income opportunities. Overall, these are the three that I am using, though I haven't really pursued these opportunities with any real intent for quite a while. Of course, my PR is limited and this has a bearing on which schemes are worthwhile for this blog. Hopefully in the future, the PR will build back up and the opportunities will increase accordingly -this might make other schemes viable, that I currently have no joy with.

Shopping Cart solution

One of the things I discovered very soon after developing my own website, was that it is very difficult to be the marketing man, the webmaster, the site designer and planner all at the same time, never mind doing any ‘work’ as such.

In my experience anything that appears to be a bit ‘tricky’ just doesn’t get done, one of those tricky tasks would be setting up your site for e-commerce.

If you have been thinking about having a shopping cart on your website, then you don’t have to worry about coding and security if you employ the services of Ashop shopping cart software to do all the tricky stuff for you. No knowledge of HTML or coding is required, and you can pay for the service on an affordable monthly basis.

Not only will you get the front-end shopping cart, but also full sales reporting and marketing tools included in the package. Ashop even host the shopping cart on their own servers with full back-up and guaranteed uptime.

I was particularly taken with the video tutorials that can be seen on their website, they also have some demo websites that you can browse through to see how your site might look. Full technical telephone support is included and the software will even integrate with all major banks and courier services covering every angle and giving you complete peace of mind.

Stainless Steel Cabinets from the Car Guy

I was browsing a friends blog the other day when I came across an article about products from Car Guy Garage - this site has the coolest stainless steel cabinets I have ever seen, I honestly spent about 15 minutes browsing through the pictures and imagining where I could use these cabinets if I had some.
The obvious home for these would be in a nice big garage (if I had one) and they would certainly look the part in a professional garage. When I started thinking about the possible uses, it struck me that you could make a very hard-wearing kitchen from these products, and how fantastic would they look in your home office, or even in a really avant garde boardroom where you wanted to make a statement. I have to admit that we are basically talking 'boys toys' here and it might take some persuading to get anyone else in the house to agree with me, but we can dream and drool can't we??
The one I have posted at the top here is called 'diamond plate garage cabinet' and looks just incredible, but then how about the one below for an office environment? This is high quality heavy-gauge equipment too, not the sort of thing that will wear out in a hurry. So if you buy some, make sure you really like it, because I don't think it's a short-term investment....
One other touch I thought was really nice, is that they have a range of light switch covers and socket outlet covers to make the steel cabinets. Pay Car Guy Garage a visit and let your imagination run wild...

Blogging for the environment

When I registered approximately a week ago to blog about the environment today, 7,492 other bloggers were also committed to posting an environmental post on the same day (October 15th 2007) as part of Blog Action Day.
I am sure all of us are 'concerned' to an extent about environmental issues in general, but how many of us really strive to make a significant difference? If we all make a small step today, future generations can reap the benefit in the future - if we don't, well in simple terms our children, or their children or their children will certainly suffer. So what are some of the things we can be doing to help to keep the planet healthy. In simple terms add more than you consume... Think how much we consume in an average day in terms of food, water, packaging, emissions, fossil fuels etc... Then on the other hand think how much you are saving or contributing. Each small thing you can do to redress that balance helps to sustain the planet. For instance some of the things you could do would be to install a composter in your garden, or a water butt to collect waste and/or rain water. You can start a regime of recycling, or pledge to buy goods that are responsibly produced. Walk to more places, for instance pledge to not use your car just for one day each week. Of these ideas, I have tried the following:
Composting - I wasn't good at it and I am now contributing to a local composting scheme instead
Water Butt - I collect rain water and even bath water to water the plants in our garden.
Recycling - I am not the main instigator of this regime in our household, but am happy to report that much of our waste is recycled very diligently.
Walking to work - I did this once a week for several months and hope to get back into it, it's actually quite surprising how much better-prepared you are to start work if you walk a mile or two first...
Why not take up the challenge and help put something positive into the environment today.

Another win!

I'm a bit shocked to have won another contest, that's one last month and one this month - no big deal you might think, but I'm not one of those people that wins competitions. There ARE a kind of people who win competitions aren't there?? A tribe of winners who relentlessly work hard at winning all the stuff I would like to win, but never do... maybe not, or maybe I have just managed to get into a winning mentality. I won the prize over at Ellies blog ThePinkC, which just happens to be one of my favourite blogs and one of the best blogs out in the blogosphere IMHO- which is good news because my prize is a variety of prominent promotional positions on ThePinkC. I get a sidebar text-link and RSS text link and a 125x125pixel banner position for a full three months.
I joked about getting a banner designed ready for when I won the prize, but didn't actually do it... So I have been frantically working away at a new design today - I am quite pleased with the result, but then I am easily pleased...
Let's hope the winning streak continues, and I might be able to pass some more winnings onto others by having more competitions of my own.

What kind of blogger are you?

I took this quiz on the 'BlogActionDay' website today and found out that I am a purist expert socialite blogger...

What kind of blogger are you? Click on the image to take the quick quiz and get a widget to place on your blog telling people what they can expect from you...


It's only about half a dozen multiple choice questions so should take you less than half a minute to complete - give it a try and us know who you really are.

MyLot

It's a while since I even mentioned MyLot, and I am inspired to do so again, just for those that have not discovered it, or who are thinking of taking part. First off, let me say that the attraction of MyLot for me, is not the fact that you can make money online just for taking part in discussions about anything from warts to existentialism, or from gardening to World war Two. No, the reason I am attracted to MyLot is the interaction, the ability to express yourself in many many different topics that might interest you... and then.... you get paid too! the subtle difference is that I enjoy the discussions without payment, so any payout is just a bonus. And here's the real deal, you won't get rich on Mylot, you can't even make decent pocket money on MyLot unless you have a huge downline of referrals (which I don't, but if you want to be referred, be my guest....). The truth is that you may have to take part in about three hundred or more discussions to make the $10 payout (it takes much longer if you don't post 'good quality' comments), but the chances are that once you make a few friends and get stuck into some good debates, you won't even notice the slow build-up of your income.
It may not be for everyone and I have blown both hot and cold about it myself, but on the whole if you like getting involved in discussions and you think you have something to offer in terms of either questions or answers, then why not give it a try?

Portable DVD player

One of the newer innovations for in-car entertainment has been the introduction of the portable DVD player. In the days of video, it would have been unthinkable to watch a movie on a long car journey – such luxuries were reserved for long-haul flights!

Nowadays it is not unusual to find that you are travelling alongside a car on the motorway where the occupants of the rear seats are watching a movie or cartoon or some such visual entertainment. On night-time journeys, it is now quite common to see flickering screens from all directions emitting from various vehicles fitted with in-car entertainment. Of course the entertainment is not limited to passive viewing, as there are many interactive and educational DVD’s that can be watched on a portable DVD system. Similarly, the entertainment is not limited to in-car as such a system could be used in a caravan, holiday home or picnic.

These systems though originally expensive, like any technology, have now reached ‘affordable’ status for many people – one such system is the portable 10 inch DVD player on offer from Digitalframez. Typically, such units include rechargeable batteries, connections for your car battery and remote control.

Winners!

Laura over at Laura Williams' Musings won the $25 cash prize in my blog contest and Ellie over at ThePinkC won the $10 random second prize. Thank you both for your contribution, and I must say I am pleased to award the prizes to the authors of two excellent blogs. Thank you to everyone who took part.

September 2007

The first prize ($25) and the second prize ($10) in the Livewyre.NET competition have been paid out (winners to be announced tomorrow). Thanks to everyone who took part, this has been a learning experience for me... in all I benefited from enough links to justify the prize, and I think I made enough during the month to cover the prize anyway, especially since winning a cash prize of $10 myself...
Once again, I have not done a lot of paid posts this month, as my focus has been mainly on promotion of my website 'portfolio'. I have included my cash prize (less paypal fees) into my earnings, but the prize will be taken from my 'livewyre' budget rather than my 'munny4hunny' budget as the intention was to promote Livewyre not Munny4Hunny.

Contest update

I've been away for a few days and now have to sit down and work out who are the winners in my blog contest.
I could not mention my specific criteria for choosing the main prize winner as it was dependent on DIGG's received on the pages that got links from blog entries. If I had come out and said that from the start, it would have been against DIGG terms or service, and could have been 'gamed'.
I am happy to say that I have identified the winning post, I have sent them an email, and will reveal all shortly. It remains for the 'random' prize to be awarded, and I will merely add all the back-links connected to the contest onto a list and randomly pick one.
Watch this space....

Valuable prizes

Cash prizes are not the only valuables offered in blogging contests, increasingly contests are launched with a prize of free advertising on the contest hosting blog and the contest over at The Pink C has prizes of this nature, in total valued at nearly $300 altogether.
You can win 3 separate prizes including 125x125 banners on ThePinkC, sidebar links and reviews by Ellie AKA Geek Girl. Ordinarily, these prizes might not excite, but ThePinkC is no ordinary blog and is guaranteed to drive some considerable traffic your way... Ellie has some top-notch posts most of which are extremely useful, but all of which are highly entertaining, even the paid posts! This simple contest is perfect if you are looking to promote a relatively new blog or hoping to breathe some new life into an existing one.
The contest has been titled: Win Big at thepinkc and definitely qualifies as an easy-to-enter contest.. Why not start designing a 125x125 banner right now in case you win.
How to enter:

All you have to do is write a 150-200 word review on your blog about ThePinkC. It has to be its own post; it cannot be combined with any others. The post you write has to link to the blog’s main page with the anchor text Geek Girl. You also must link to this contest using the anchor text WIN BIG at thepinkc! You can be negative or positive, or both - just write unique content about this blog before 10-10-07

The winning entry will be chosen randomly from the qualifying entries and even if you don't join in the competition, visit blog anyway to see one of the best blogs out there.

$50 contest for creative bloggers....

Cash contest again today over at Blogging with cents (thanks to browsing through Mr Prizes recently added contests). This contest however, is a contest with a difference. The prize will be awarded to those that have obtained entry to the contest by filling in the blanks in a short story. Cleverly, the story contains two links, and you must post the completed story on your own blog (including links). the prize will be awarded randomly, but you can earn extra entries by completing the story cleverly or wittily. I really like this idea for a contest and will endeavour to have a go myself...

Here are the rules in brief:

You can use 1 word or a phrase to fill in the blank. You can be as creative as you want, you decide what is said and how the story ends! If the story doesn’t make sense, that’s OK too;)

If your story makes the author of the blog laugh or impresses her sufficiently, then you will earn extra bonus entries

You have until 12:00am cst, September 30 to get your entries in. On October 1st, a winner will be drawn at random. The winner will have 1 week to get in touch to claim his/her winnings.

What you win: One random winner will win $50 via Paypal and, of course, some linky love on my big fat PR O of a blog:)

NOW FOR THE STORY—-

_______ about a month ago in _______. I was ______ when I realized my ______ could be seen. You have probably had that experience before. I felt ______ , and I knew that soon I would have to ______ . I was a little worried about ______. But then, all of the sudden, I saw ______ coming right towards me!! I remembered what a cowboy’s wife had told me. It was very important to _____ and ______. Before I knew it, I was given the tools and tips to ______. So you see, I really was ______ , and I decided I just had to _______.

The End.

Leave the url to your entry in the comments section on the original competition post.

$100 contest at World of Angel

Cash on an impressive scale ($100), and a real easy contest to enter, what more could you want?

Here's what the author of WorldOfAngel has to say about it:

"The rules for this contest are simple. All you have to do is write a short paragraph (minimum 50 words) in one of your blog posts telling people about this competition and that they can win $100. Link to this post with an anchor text of your choosing. Then, Stumble http://worldofangel.com/ and subscribe to my RSS feed. That’s it. There’s no real legwork involved and you could do the whole thing in about five minutes."

Your pingback will be your entry ticket for this contest. This one is open until the 30th of September, so get your skates on to get an entry into this contest. Here's an idea if you win the $100, why not run a contest for $50 and spread a little of the cash around the rest of the blogosphere. As they say, what goes around, comes around....

Mr Prizes - contests website

I got a comment from Mr Prizes to say that he'd featured my contest, so naturally I went over to have a look... This is a great website with stacks and stacks of competitions and good links. I haven't had time yet to really explore everything on the site, but rest-assured I'll be going back to see what is on offer. Other sites featuring blogging competitions tend to be in a blog-style, but this one is a more conventional website. He has a cool widget which you can place on your site or blog that will keep your readers up to date with the latest competitions.

Get this widget!

(I was even able to customise the widget to fit in with my new red theme) All-in-all this looks to me like it will be a very successful site, and one which I for one will find very useful.

Romantic contest for $100

The Power of AttractionMay Leng of the 'Just Me' blog wants to give away $100 via Paypal for your romantic story, that's it, no links, no signing up to RSS feeds, DIGGing posts or any of the jumping through hoops that usually accompanies a contest on a blog.
Here's what she says about the contest:

"I'm giving away my USD100 via paypal if you have a paypal ID, alternatively I'm happy to transfer the money to fellow Malaysians thru Maybank2u . Hang on, there's a catch.

Keeping the spark in a relationship is hard work, everyone knows that. There are plenty of ways to keep the fire, the burning passion between two person. Romantic ideas to show your appreciation and adoration to your loved one. I have plenty of ways to romance my companion. Sadly not many are appreciative. Anyhow, I feel stupid, silly and stumped thinking back of all the silly things I've done to impress a guy. I'm sure the Power of Attraction strikes a deal with everyone. So, I like to hear your sweet, silly, funny story of what you did to impress, court the opposite gender. The story does not need to have a happy ending. Heck, most of the stupid stuff I did, the guy don't even know about it and the admiration just went into dormant mode. Just send me the gest of your courting action. No perfect English is required. I will rewrite the story for you (names will not be disclosed) and I will publish it for the readers to vote. So, again .. a little response please. This is to mark my anniversary, make it memorable for me.

Send your entry to doi_nk@yahoo.com. Submission begins today till 21st of September 2007."

Now according to my wife, I'm not that romantic, but I think we have very different ideas about what romance actually is. For some people it might be about the sacrifice, commitment and hard-work that it takes to keep a relationship viable, whereas others may see it as the mushy stuff that can be used to hide the fact that there may be no substance in a relationship (am I letting my prejudice show???!)
I am not sure whether I will be able to come up with anything suitable, but $100 is quite an attractive, if not romantic proposition...
The Just Me blog is extremely well-written with a lot of prose and interesting stories, May Leng's style is very readable and well worth a visit.

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!