Preparing for the Sun...

It is this time of year in the UK when we start to look at the sorry state of the garden furniture and wonder if there is enough money in the kitty to start afresh with a new patio set.
So far this year, I have already put some new planters around the patio, repaired some broken patio slabs, attempted to repair our 'spare' patio table (the 'best' one got damaged and I chopped it up for firewood in the Winter...) and even refurbished our outside toilet. The next job on the list is to fix the broken security light which provides some light on the patio for warmer evenings...
When all the repairs have been effected, I would really like to look around for a new table, the 'old' chairs are OK and may just need some treatment although I have been tempted by outdoor chaise lounges and some more exotic plants and planters. Our parasol also falls apart on a regular basis so I am hoping to find a bargain set including a decent sized table and parasol.

Car Insurance

Everyone surely knows by now that Comparison sites can take a lot of the leg-work out of searching for comparative quotes for insurance. I heard someone say recently 'Where do we go to compare the best comparison sites?' so maybe the next phase of web sites to come along will include sites that can compare the comparison sites, and the next phase can compare the.... well you get the idea...
Comparison sites can of course get us the best auto insurance quotes or home insurance quotes or travel insurance quotes. My strategy is to find the best deal from the comparison sites and then double-check by trying some insurers direct. The comparison sites have often worked out a deal so that they can offer at least the same rate as if you go direct, but it's always worth checking. In these financially sensitive times, the best deals need to be hunted down...

New Survey

I am losing interest in surveys as a way of earning, however dNeero surveys are fun to complete and you can post them in your blog, like this one...
The latest survey is another music one, click the widget to join up and take part:

Software Solutions

Once a small company has outgrown the limitations of MS Outlook and Excel/Access as tools for keeping track of business, they will need to focus on some serious software not only for datafile financial systems, but also for customer tracking and enquiry-tracking. I recently spoke to a retailer who was selling CRM software and he told me a story which admittedly was designed to put his product in a good light, but even so is probably true.. He was looking for a specific item and emailed three suppliers whilst browsing the internet. Two of the three did not even acknowledge his email, the third (and successful) supplier whilst in conversation revealed that he used one of the more professional CRM tools such as 'Goldmine' or act 6. This is the tool which enabled him to successfully keep track of incoming enquiries.

One of the most required functions of CRM & financial system nowadays is intergration between packages. For instance ACT is now marketed by 'SAGE' who are most well-known for their accounting software, Goldmine and other CRM's can also be cajoled into interfacing with SAGE through SQL database queries. Some programs are designed to work together or can liaise via a third-party software interface.
Interestingly, Microsoft have also come up with a microsoft crm which of course integrates with MS Office products. There are a host of soultions out there and it is worth sitting down with a retailer who knows a lot about their products. I have seen CRMs come and go in my place of work - we had three in about five years, and the best advice I can give is try and get it right first time by working out exactly what your existing and future requirements are likley to be...then talk to a company that can offer you the perfect solution.

Slow start

Last month started at breakneck speed with lots of opps completed in the first week, but opps have been few and far between so far in June, early days admittedly...
Other projects have been more successful and I have another 'keyword' success to report. The success in getting my new site (sorry still a 'hush hush' project) a decent SERP for it's main search term was compounded by another success, this time for my much older Beckham News blog.
I was checking Google analytics for visitor stats by search term and noticed the term 'Beckham News' had sent me some visitors. I googled and sure enough, my blog comes up as fifth position at the moment. I don't know how long I have been ranked for this phrase, but it came as a big surprise to me.. I must be doing something right! I am not sure if I can improve on the SERP thatI am getting for my new project, but if the longevity of my Beckham blog is the reason for my high position, then it could take me about two years to get higher than position six...
This has been a good reminder to keep checking the analytics on sites that you don't expect to perform well just in case Google suddenly decides that you are OK after all..

Keeping active

Even though I am some way past what might be considered my physical prime, I do keep fairly active playing sports. I play football (soccer) twice a week with friends and the action is usually fairly frenetic and often reasonably painful.
Despite the negative effects, I am banking on the positive effects outweighing them, although I have to acknowledge that at some point, the balance will be tipped and I will have to pack it in and find something less painful to keep fitness levels up. I am fairly competitive and do not respond to gym-related exercise or jogging/running, I am more interested in team sports or one-on-one sports that help to bring out my competitive nature. My long term plan is to think about taking golf lessons when I am too old for football and though I don't expect to be winning any golf trophies, I think I will be competitive especially if my wife also joins in as she has threatened to do... When we are retired or at least semi-retired, we have this plan to join a golf-club and get some lessons. Whether we will ever get round to it is an entirely different matter.

Weight loss ideas

If you want to look your best on the beach this Summer, you may be thinking about starting a new fitness regime popping some diet pills or having some surgery...
Of those choices, I think the one with the most beneficial side effects is the one to go for, and without a doubt the side effects of getting fit are far and away the most desirable.
Fitness breeds self-confidence and gives you a healthy glow and releases natural feel-good chemicals into the brain. Whereas surgery and medication can have some pretty unpleasant unexpected results if proper research is not done beforehand. There is a recklessness which drives us towards 'quick-fix' solutions rather than the hard graft of push ups, bench presses and running hard miles.
If the quick fix is your chosen route, then make sure you get as much information about the process via an independent review of surgeons or a weight loss pills review before you embark on a idealistic solution that may turn out to be less than ideal.

Results for May 2009

This month has been a truly puzzling month for me. I had plenty of PU2Blog bonus opps at the start of the month, but they have quickly dried up - when that happens you think you are in for a good month, then nothing comes in for a few weeks and the average earnings start to drop. A few opps have dropped into my lap from other sources and I thought I had some link sales, but nothing came of it. All-in-all a month of expectations more than actual results. On the 'up' side, I enjoyed doing the 'intenet money makers' feature and have been fairly successful in getting a new website ranked for it's main keyword - all I need to do now is sort out how I am going to monetise it...
This new project is hopefully going to be a site that I can set up and leave - I am hoping that a combination of Adsense and eBay affiliate ads will provide enough to justify it's upkeep - If it works out I may well be building several other sites on the same model. The last thing I need is a host of extra sites that need constant updating though...
Earnings for May 2009 have been just over $65 with about $136 being paid into my Paypal account from previous months. The drop in blogging earnings seems set to continue which is why other projects are becoming more important - I hope I have opened up a new stream of revenue, but the monetisation is the key, and it remains to be seen whether I can convert SERP into traffic, and then traffic into revenue.

Money Maker Interviews...Overview..

I hope you were able to get something from the Internet Money makers Interview feature that has been running here for the last week or so. There has been three very different interviewees giving some great advice on the different ways that people are using the internet to boost their income.
We started with Rachel who is a real inspiration to those who are looking to make a living whilst looking after youngsters at home. I hesitate to use the term 'Mummy blogger' as that maybe implies an air of happy amateurism. Rachel is not blogging for pin-money, she makes some serious dough through hard work and determination.
Next we saw Greg who is a real live internet entrepreneur in the making - I have always used that expression in a slightly jokey way about Greg, but in a very short time he has shown how vision and bravado can bring you a real income from the internet. Greg is a visionary and has used the tools that he has to carve out some real income - one of his greatest skills is to get people on board who can help him to bring his dreams to reality.
Finally we met Linky Love who always strikes me as an enigma, a mystery you never know quite what Linky is going to get into next, but you do know that it is going to be clever and well-done. Linky very kindly attributes some inspiration to me, but to be fair Linky has ploughed furrows that I would never even have thought of.

Sincere thanks to all three contributers, I may add to this feature but right now, I think these three have given enough ideas to encourage anyone to explore their internet earning potential.

Internet Money Makers #3

Name: Linky Love

Main projects: French Swear Words, Linky Love, Asian Dating and new: Make fast money online

Start of Internet earnings: April 2007
Current rate of earnings: Above $400 (above $1000 before the global crisis and before starting my steady day job)

How did you start off your online earning capers: After reading how Jay earned money writing posts, I started linkylove.net. Idea was 'without spending a dime' attract as fast as possible:

• a high PageRank
  
• lots of inbound links
  
• lots of unique visitors

Writing for money paid well until Google slapped PageRanks. Meanwhile I had met lots of other online money makers and learned from each of them.

What money making ideas have you tried:

• Paid to blog (see Jay's list in his monthly earnings)
  
• Contextual Advertisement (Kontera, Infolinks, Adsense, Bidvertiser, Adbrite, Local Malaysian Advertisers)
  
• Paid in Advance Advertisement (TextLinkAds, Linkworth, Projectwonderful, Scratchback :-)
  
• Affiliate Programs (Paydotcom, DealDotCom, Moreniche, Clickbank, CJ, Shareasale, LinkSynergy, Clixgalore, Friendfinder, VirtuaGirlHD)

The best way to make money for newbies

• First read my Trade Secret Tips On SEO That Gurus Do Not Want You To Know.
  
• Then start a blog and put Adsense on it:
  
• a blog doesn't need any advanced planning
  
• adsense is easy to setup, almost everybody can join
  
• adsense contextual ads will show you which of the topics you write about make money: so you learn what to write about in future :-)

• Make online friends: 2 know more than 1, 2 can do more than 1
  
• Never invest more than 100$ on Ebooks, unless that's less than 10% of your revenue
  
• Once you buy an Ebook: do what it says. Only when your Ebook didn't make as much money as you paid for it, ask your money back.

See what others are doing: learn, copy and improve their strategy. Personally I like to learn from people like Jay who show both their spending as their earnings.

The best way to make money for 'oldbies':

• Plan your next move
  
• Put your eggs in more than one basket
  
• Improve:
  
• climbing the make-money ladder (from Adsense being the lowest, selling ad space, being an affiliate to letting others sell your products)
  
• your level on the ladder (many Adsense earners do make an easy 4 figures $$$$)
  
• your Return On Investment where time is an issue (although I no more make 4 figures online, the time I gain making less I re-use for both a day and a parttime job)

What are you working on next?

• Make fast money online where I will re-park all my make money posts from Linky Love
  
• Look for more ways to earn money both offline and online. Online that will be:
  
• try out new possible earnings at linkylove.net
  
• make linkylove.net what people expect from reading its name: a site about love.

Thanks Jay !... for showing your way of making money online.

When you feel we should do any new project together, feel free to contact me...

Thanks Linky for helping me out with this feature and continuing to be both an inspiration and an encourager - I like the way you always come at things from unexpected angles... Jay

dNeero Surveys

I have actually been paid out by dNeero surveys this month, I always said I would do a survey for charity once I had been paid... this is it a survey on Memorial Day - in the UK we call it 'Remembrance'...

Internet Money Makers #2

Name: Greg Barnaby
Main projects: FreeCashMoneyGifts, SurveyTube, and long term project RewardKingdom

Start of internet earnings: January 2007 I believe was when I decided to put my foot forward.
Current rate of earnings: right now my company Barnaby Media is doing $6k USD a month in revenue.
How did you start off your online earning capers: I first started with Payperpost and other pay per post sites, as well trying with Adsense.
What money making ideas have you tried:
Well Adsense, Paid Posts, Plus now I am a GPT site owner, PayPerLead and Forum owner as well.
What would you say now is the best way to make money online for newbies and for those who have been around a bit? Tough to say. ..if you can refer people to sites then I would say that GPT sites can earn you a bit of money and win prizes. For newbies the fastest way to earn I would say is through GPT sites.. Otherwise making sites with content that would build up over time and earn Adsense one day. Never do the PTC sites. you earn pennies at a time and never worth it.

What are you working on next? I am working on surveytube which will be launched in the next couple of weeks. Once that is done and running I have planned a bigger project... RewardKingdom. That will be a bigger site with a more targeted audience, with hopefully bigger earnings. I wouldn't say I have arrived yet. Still not hit the 10k a month in revenue. 2009 looks to be on pace for a 60k in revenue year - the economy is definitely slowing my growth down. Though I do have plans once the 2 sites are up and running which would eventually become a full time gig if it plans out. Right now it looks like I am in the GetPaidTo field and here to stay for now. The competition is tough like in anything online now that you are trying to make money with.

A highlight of my career so far online is finally getting freecashmoneygifts.com up and running. A low-light was screwing up an auction on sitepoint for MyLOL.net had agreed to Buy it now with seller for 5k but forgot to hit the 'buy-it-now' button instead I just bid.. so hours before we were to finish the deal some b@$tard doubled my bid and the guy screwed me over and sold it to him. Yes I am still bitter about it....

Thanks to Greg for participating in this feature and best wishes with your future projects, you are certainly developing into the entrepreneur that you always threatened to be...

Interview with a money maker #1

Name: Rachel Henderson
Main projects: http://www.turnonepoundintoonemillion.com and http://www.losingweightandgettinghealthy.com and http://www.bowbridgepublishing.com and http://waterproofmemoboards.com
Start of internet earnings: January 2003
Current rate of earnings About £1500 ($2500) a month at best
How did you start off your online earning capers: selling books on eBay and my own website
What money making ideas have you tried:
paid forum posting, pay to click, doubling, blogging for money, selling links on my websites, selling links and blogposts for other people, blog post, ebook and short article writing, selling artists prints, publishing books
What would you say now is the best way to make money online for newbies and for those who have been around a bit? If you have some established websites then link sales are easy and quick writing sponsored blog posts is also good but you need to have a high page ranking blog.
What are you working on next? Article writing is bringing in a lot of money at the moment but I am always looking for new ways to make money
Comments : Do not invest too much money in projects, take the advice of others but do not be talked into expensive investments and advertising without thinking it through hard first. The worst investments I made were in advertising and trying to sell things which other people told me there was a market for but there was not.

Thanks Rachel for being so willing to share your experiences, you remain a great example of how a decent online income can be made with a bit of effort and drive.

Internet money makers..

Starting on Monday, I am beginning a new feature about making money via the internet. I have contacts with some internet earners who I have watched build up their internet businesses for the last couple of years.
I have asked them a set of questions including the schemes they have tried, how much they are earning and what their current projects and plans are. My idea is to demonstrate how real earnings can be made using the internet if you are prepared to put the work in. Make no mistake, the people who will be featured here have a common trait, they have exceptional work ethics...
What will become clear is that to make good money online, you will need determination and a pioneering spirit. The first post in this feature will be published on Monday (18th May) and followed up with a second post on Thursday (21st) - make sure you read the posts to get an insight into how some regular folk have built up the sort of earnings that would justify leaving the rat-race and working for yourself at home.

New Ideas...

In the world of internet earnings, one often discovers that something works well for a season and then over time, becomes less effective - such is the nature of the internet as the only true democracy...
New ideas are the life-force of an internet venture, and if you don't have them, you may as well give up now. I do get the occasional idea, however seeing them through to fruition is a whole different matter - I am stuck into a new project at the moment, but am finding it difficult to give it the attention it requires. On the other hand, the 'old' online money making ideas are making less than they used to so some fresh impetus is required.
I am forming another idea about how to open up some new possibilities for munny4hunny, so watch this space...

I am not a big fan of tattoos..

The latest survey from dNeero is all about tattoos, and whether you think they are attractive. Personally I think that it is rare that a tattoo looks nice, and will never have one of my own. Sadly I believe that tattoos are largely a fashion item, and unless you want to be wearing the same fashion when you are seventy years old - I wouldn't recommend having one...
On the other hand henna tattoos can look attractive and can easily be removed (not that I plan to have any of those either).

Equestrian equipment

I found the perfect site for a friend of mine, her husband has a penchant for riding breeches, and I must say the aforementioned clothing does look becoming on a shapely posterior... (I should say that he likes to observe than rather than wear them).
Horse-riding is of course popular all around the world, and the hobby requires a range of specialist equipment, not least a safety helmet. Most learners will rely on a stable or club to provide equipment, acquiring the proper kit as the interest deepens. We have a riding school surprisingly nearby even though I live in a busy city - if it's not too expensive, I would like to take my little one to try it out when she's old enough.

North Carolina rentals

The very sound of North Carolina conjures up images of sunshine and beaches, and there is something about American homes, such as in the picture of this Outer Banks rentals property that give an impression of space and light which our drab brick buildings in the UK sadly lack. Of course having the climate helps...

Rentals are a great way to become absorbed into the culture of the place you are visiting and can be very cost-effective if you have a group of family or friends traveling with you..
Living in the community rather than in a hotel gives you a unique insight into that community and brings you into touch with locals rather than fellow travelers.

Twittering

Love it loathe it, twitter is making an impact, and this time celebrities are catching on - like they don't have enough exposure...
Latest dNeero survey is all about celebrities on twitter - click on the widget to get involved - get paid to answer surveys, posting surveys on your blog and for answering dNeero twitters...

Weight loss

I have never had need of weight loss pills due to my high metabolic rate. In fact I do vigorous exercise twice a week, but I believe even if I didn't do the exercise I still would not put on any weight.
Most people are not so fortunate and have to consider carefully their intake of calories and their exercise regime. Even if you use medication in the short-term, you don't want to use it for ever, so a sensible lifestyle is the ultimate solution to maintaining a good body-shape.

Rubber Stamp Champ

To give your office-work that professional look, or to help with categorising your paperwork, nothing works better than custom rubber stamps. In the office that I work in, we use a stamp to indicate that a document has been scanned - this prevents confusion over whether we have an electronic copy of that document.
In the last place I worked, they used a stamp to put a circulation list onto a document - so that the circulation list was stamped right onto the document itself rather than relying on post-its that might get detached.

Advancement in diet technology

Apparently Phenphedrine is a suppressant which stimulates the natural signals within the brain to tell you that you have had enough to eat. this type of medication whilst powerful and effective should only be used very carefully and within strict guidelines. I would encourage anyone who is considering diet medication of this type to gather as much information as they can and to get some professional medical advice.
Our bodies need food for nutrition and there are obvious reasons why this type of remedy should only be used in strictly controlled conditions.

Summer is coming..

We have already had our fist barbecue of the season to make up for the fact that we hardly used the barbie last year at all. However this has highlighted the fact that our patio chairs and table are in need of renewal. Someone leaned on the table a little too hard and there was an ominous cracking sound which does not bode well. I have tried to look after this patio set really well, painting them every year with patio furniture treatments, but I guess it is time to bid farewell to the table at least..

I'm thinking the seating in this picture probably doesn't need painting?!?

Sadly we are also going to need a new parasol, I have patched this one up so many times it is looking very sorry for itself, with concerns about exposure to sun rays you can't afford to skimp on a decent shade.

Earnings April 2009

Some last minute PayU2blog opportunities have helped to prop up earnings for this month, earnings which are very welcome at the moment. I have had two lots of bonus opps in the last few months which has given me a boost of about $60. Along with other earnings for the month, a total in the region of $130 has been generated from my blogs this month, and payouts have been good too. I have reached my third payout for MyLot, and am fairly close to payout for dNeero. Other survey schemes are still a long way from payout and I am having to think seriously about avenues that I want to pursue and avenues that should now be dropped.
I have some ideas I want to develop which will be designed to bring in some adsense earnings, but as ever, success or not remains to be seen... I was going to buy a specific domain for this project, but I am uncertain whether the interest that I THINK is there is really there at all. This is a very specific niche that I want to exploit, and a '.co.uk' domain is available now, however I am going to develop it as a URL on an existing domain instead and see if I can get traffic to it. If it gets any SERPS positioning, then I will probably get a domain and develop the project further. I will try to document the project as I go and post about it on my web development blog which has not had any fresh content for a long time.

Health and Fitness

There has been a worrying trend over recent decades towards very unhealthy lifestyles with complete lack of exercise coupled with bad diets that has left the human race (in the Western World at least) unfit, unwell and largely overweight.
We are now far less likely to have a balanced diet and have all the vitamins that we need leading to a huge rise in the consumption of dietary supplements, and a market has developed for discount supplements. We, as a race spend far more time in sedentary pursuits and rather too much time at the computer, so much so that we tend to get most of our information from this source too.
The only recent innovation that might help to get the human race lean and mean is the Wii Fit, and that is only successful because we don't want to step outside of our comfort zones, how bizarre that we would want to play pretend tennis in preference to actual tennis.

Home entertainment

The world of home entertainment has moved on from the introduction of the first television in a way that would have astounded the first TV watchers. First came the introduction of colour TV, the video recorder, satellite TV, then Cable TV, stereo TV, DVD, DVD recorders...
A modern system now consists of something a million miles away from those first valve-driven tiny-screened TV's to full-blown huge screen HDTV on a wall tv mount often with Freeview multi-channel TV built in (in the UK) connected up to suplementary services such as a sky box and hard-drive recording facility. All we need now is to try and find something worth watching...

Home Theatre

I was discussing favourite TV programs with colleagues today, and since the introduction of Freeview into the UK, my TV viewing has become somewhat diverse. Some of my absolute favourites have been 'Pimp My Ride' and MTV's 'Cribs' I cannot tear myself away from the TV when either of these shows are on. I have mentioned my fondness for 'Pimp my Ride' before, but 'Cribs' has a similar appeal in that you are being shown something that you might really aspire to even though you are currently flat broke...
It's funny how many of these spectacular houses have very similar themes and facilities. Although the odd one here and there might have a mooring for a boat or a room full of slot machines, almost all of them have a 'viewing room' kitted out with home theatre seating and sometimes even a pop-corn machine to add to the authenticity. It's amazing to me that these wealthy individuals have enough time to watch so much home entertainment...

New dNeero survey

As the financial crisis is reaching a significant period, dNeero wants to know if Obama really has all the answers, how confident are we that the right steps are been taken - is it too soon to tell?

Hotels and Holidays

I yearn to make a return trip to the USA, but my current financial situation simply does not allow it. I have personal friends in Boston, New York and family-friends in San Diego who I have not seen for about 30 years. I also have friends in Canada who I have not seen for a good ten years or so.
The last time we visited the 'States and Canada, we stayed with friends for a week and spent a week driving around in a hire car, using hotels and motels along the way. Although it will be a long time until I can afford a holiday abroad let alone a trip state-side, I dream of visiting San Diego and sunning myself on West Coast beaches...

Affiliates for making money online

Online earnings are available in many forms, and one of the most popular forms is the use of affiliate links on a website or blog. In short, you may receive commission on sales made as a result of a link from a website.
Commissions vary according to the commission rate and the transaction total, but it is not difficult to find affiliates that could potentially pay hundreds of dollars for a single high-value sale. However, getting your visitors to complete a sale may be a bit more tricky...
Some of the most popular schemes are selling software of all types, they generally offer good rates dependent on the price of the software, often offering 50% of the retail price as commission. This can be particularly good if the software on offer is directly linked to your niche.
In my experience, good niche sites are the best way to get affiliate sales, the beauty of the scheme is that the clients usually provides good resources in terms of buttons and widgets to click on and often will provide pages of information that you can copy or adapt to your site including video presentations, YouTube demo's and the like.
There are a couple of ways to get linked into affiliate schemes (you will usually need to be approved for this type of activity), you can either contact the vendor direct and sign up to an affiliate scheme for a specific product/service or you can sign up to a service that has a host of affiliate schemes on offer. The service I have had the most success with is ShareASale I have had genuine sales from their scheme so am in a position to guarantee that they are legitimate.
My recommendations are that you browse through the affiliates on offer to see if they have something that your visitors might be interested in. Then sign up, sometimes you may have to sign up for a particular affiliate as well as signing up to the umbrella scheme - this is a quality control measure so that the vendor has a chance to turn down sites that they feel are not suitable.
You can then decide whether to run ads alongside your normal content, or create a page or content specifically to promote the affiliate. Be warned though, most affiliates don't like you taking out PPC ads with the specific product name - this is to prevent your cornering the market on sales by bidding against other affiliates for the same brand-name keywords.
It may take a while to get established and a lot of trial and error will be required, but with the potentially high commissions on offer, there is a lot of money to be made with affiliates.

Appetite suppressant

I am a firm believer that healthy eating and a good exercise regime is the key to maintaining a healthy body weight. In certain circumstances a natural appetite suppressant might be advisable, but should only be used under the guidance of a health professional.
You may be tempted to try this route unadvised, but here are my reasons why a diet suppressant requires careful administration:

• Change of body weight for long-term requires a change of life-style, your life-style must meet the needs of your required body image.
• Medication is not a lifestlye change unless you plan to take medication for the remainder of your life.
• Medication may have side effects both in the short and long-term
• If you suppress your appetite, it is absolutely vital that the food that you do consume gives you all the vitamins that you need.

Earnings update

Although there is a week to go before the end of the month, I thought I would post a progress report regardless.
I have been fortunate this month to pick up an opportunity from sponsored reviews as well as some bonus opps fromPayU2Blog - PU2B have sent me some bonus opps this month bringing the total for the month up to eleven opps at $5 each so far.
I try to make a non-paid post to go alongside each paid opp where possible, so with all opps taken so far this month, I have already made 25 posts this month the most for a month so far in 2009. On average I tend to do about 20 posts per month on Munny4Hunny.
The upshot of this work is that with all posts made and other blog earnings, I have passed the $100 mark which seems to be the figure that I have come to regard as acceptable since paid blogging has become harder to monetise. Additionally, I am pleased to report that contextual advert earnings from all blogs is now starting to equal the earnings I get from other websites. I had always been doubtful about whether this type of monetisation works on blogs, but am starting to see that niche blogs can be successfully monetised this way.

Free Antivirus

Anyone who is using the internet at home MUST surely be using anti-virus software - I can't believe that there can be many people who have not even thought of it... but I bet there are a good many people who have let their anti-virus license lapse and are using out-dated virus definitions.
With recent worries about the activities of the 'conficker' virus which now controls a network of slave PC's around the world, now is not the time to be caught without adequate protection.
The virus is reported to control millions of PC's and is spreading malware to more PC's which sends out spam email remotely and also pops up fake anti-virus messages. Those clicking on the pop-up to purchase the 'software' which will supposedly clean their PC actually have their credit card details stolen.
So why is it that people might click the box?? basically because they are not confident in their own anti-virus arrangements, and that's where AVG free comes in. For years AVG has led the market in free anti-virus software of a very high standard. They supply free software with free daily virus definition updates for FREE! You may think 'where's the catch?' and here it is.. AVG Free is only for private home use, business users must cough up for the 'pro' edition - and that's what they are promoting. You get your anti-virus for free, this wide base of free users enhances AVG reputation, and more businesses use their software. It's a business model that suits me!
If you have out-of-date anti-virus software, then no-brainer logic says for goodness sake download AVG free right now and save yourself a whole load of trouble.
Don't worry, they're not paying me, they don't do affiliate links, just google for 'download AVG Free' and choose a reputable site to download from.

How contextual are your ads?

I had a bit of a 'LMOA' moment yesterday when browsing some sites. I was on a rapper website page and it was monetised with adsense as all good blogs should be (!) - Funny thing was the actual ads that came up... the first one was legit, but the second one...?
take a look at the screen-shot...

I have noticed myself that sometimes the contextual ads have flimsy links to content, but I don't think I have ever seen quite such an inappropriate one...

Google Adsense is reportedly going to concentrate on adverts geared towards the interests of the person browsing, and to my way of thinking that will fundamentally change the way that Adsense is perceived.
I and many others, have built pages and have added Adsense safe in the knowledge that the adverts will reflect content - the idea that the adverts will reflect subjects that the visitor has demonstrated an interest in previously, changes significantly the triangular relationship between host, visitor and the contextual adverts. Whether this turns out to a good or bad development remains to be seen.
And by the way, I assure you that I have not demonstrated an interest in the M&S Maternity Collection, so somehow that advert was prompted by the content (maybe repeated lyrics of 'baby, baby'... who knows??)

Booked your vacation yet?

As thoughts turn towards Summer and vacations possibly yet to be planned (the holiday market is certainly affected by the current economic climate), bargains are becoming hard to find.

If you have left booking a trip until the last moment then a hotel reservation promotion is probably a good place to start. Whilst it is true to say that there are far fewer opportunities for last minute booking this year than there have been in previous years, online is probably the best place to be looking for a bargain.

We have a trip planned, and I used a hotel promotion to book hotel rooms in advance for the family saving myself a huge amount of money. These promotions span the whole spectrum of hotels from the budget to luxury ends of the market. However, the more widely available offers tend to be in the budget accommodation because it is that side of the industry that suffers most in a recession. Now is the time to grab a bargain and give the family a trip to look forwards to.

Weighty Problems

It seems to me that there is a new wonder diet pill announced every other week, but the causes of over-eating should be seriously looked at before trying to remedy weight problems with medication.
There are a number of underlying reasons for someone being overweight, and only those that are not psychological should be treated with medication. After all, if you are overweight through overeating because you are unhappy, taking a pill won't take away the reason for the overeating.
Taking a pill when there are unaddressed underlying issues means that until the issues are resolved, you must continue with the pills indefinitely.
The aim of a diet is surely to reach a target weight and maintain that weight into the future - the only realistic way to achieve this is to alter your lifestyle in terms of what you consume and the exercise that you do.

Stars in their minds

I am not a big fan of the 'idol', 'talent' and other reality/talent shows, but you cannot deny that they are polpular!
Here's you chance to have your say about American Idol and get paid for taking part in the survey:

Business Opportunities

The current economic climate will spark some small businesses here and there as people become concerned about their regular employment and seek to find alternative income.
I sincerely believe that the trade on auction sites will be a growth area in the next year or so as people start to look around for opportunities. One such opportunity is the sale of goods purchased from wholesale auction sites, on the 'domestic' auction sites.
A small amount of research into what is available to buy in bulk, and the prices of such goods sold individually will quickly show where decent profits can be made. In working out the profit margin, one should ideally bear in mind the time spent completing each transaction and time and materials involved in packaging and dispatching the items. The difference between gross and net profit should be properly understood before embarking on such a course. It would also be advisable to start small-scale and work your way up, and allow yourself a budget for contingencies such as a job lot that does not sell as well as expected.

Lead generation

I came across a new service today which I personally have never seen before and could be a interesting model for future businesses.
There are companies that have generated websites with keywords and traffic-gathering keyword-based advertising programs that provide them with a list of qualified leads for example for life insurance lead or car insurance leads etc...
They are directing visitors to a registration page and then providing the leads to third parties. This means that if you are offering a service in this area, but do not receive a tremendous amount of traffic, you can effectively 'buy' leads from a service specially set up to capture your target audience.
After all, just because you offer a great insurance service, does not mean that you have built the best website or get the most traffic - why not leave that end of things to a service that is designed from the base up to do exactly that?

Paid Discussion forum

I have posted about MyLot before and having reached my third payout, I felt it was high-time to write a bit about this paid forum once more.
MyLot is built as a forum where questions are asked and everybody in the community can answer, anybody (including the questioner) can then respond to the responses and some of the discussions can get rather involved.
There is a pleasant community spirit around most of the site, but occasionally arguments can break out as there is limited controls on responses. There are the normal rules on language used and usually anyone that goes too far gets reported and it is not unusual for entire discussions to be removed from time to time.
Now the crucial part is the fact that you get a few cents each time you post a valid response (as long as the discussion does not get deleted), and in general, if your response is not complete nonsense and takes up at least four lines of text (precise definition is not clear) you will qualify for a small payment. Payout is at $10 and it takes on average 300 responses to reach this level (depending on the 'quality' of the responses).
My feeling is that if you are looking to purely make money, then the effort-to-reward ratio is low - However, if you are likely to enjoy getting involved in what is a largely friendly forum, then why not get involved in one that is going to send you $10 every so often??
The payment scheme also takes referrals into consideration which makes the whole earning process rattle along at a much faster rate. I am not great at getting referrals and have had a total of just three, one of which has remained active and now contributes to my earnings on a regular basis. Having active referrals makes MyLot a far more viable earner than when you are just earning from your own posts, and if you are good at getting referrals MyLot may be a welcome boost to your online earnings.

Open Office free software

I started posting about free software some time ago and the array of software available has now reached a point where there is little need to buy any software at all.
Open Office as an alternative to Microsoft Office has been around for a while now, but I recently installed it on a new PC I have been building as my copy of MS Office is about 10 years out of date. The beauty of this suite of programs is that they are compatible with the most of the Microsoft suite of programs, and more than that, they offer an in-built 'export to PDF' functionality which makes them a more attractive proposition to many users. The full suite includes writing programs, spreadsheets, presentation programs a total of six programs in all.
So far I have tried opening Excel sheets (which required editing open office settings to allow Macro's) and editing and colorising pictures using 'Open Draw'.
I have done nothing so far other than scratch the surface of the offerings from Open Office, but at this stage, the signs are good and I fully expect that these programs will be able to seamlessly replace Microsoft Office once I have played with their functionality a little.

Footwear for all

I have mentioned previously that I have had a career in footwear retail many years ago, my shop sold a mixture of quality traditional footwear such as welted leather shoes, but also quality leisure footwear such as the popular Ecco shoes brand.
Although I am personally more interested in traditionally 'built' shoes, I am actually more often found wearing more 'comfortable' leisure footwear for every day use.
Each time I look at a new pair of shoes I tend to take craftsmanship into the equation probably more than the look of the shoe. I would never consider buying a poorly constructed shoe just because it looks nice. Ecco shoes are one of those brands that marries comfort with quality for mens, womens and childrens shoes alike.
As far as chidrens footwear is concerned, it is NEVER worth compromising on quality and above all a good fit. Childrens feet are remarkably pliable and you will be shocked at how much permanent damage badly fitting shoes can do in just a few short weeks of wear.

Paid to blog strategies

With paid to blog schemes changing so quickly, several separate strategies are required to make the most out of paid blogging.
On the one hand quality niche blogs are required to pick up the lucrative higher-paying posts, but it doesn't pay to be too high-brow about your paid posting. If you are setting out to be a paid blogger, then it may well pay to have blogs which can take non-niche type posts for you to top up your earnings. Although it may be satisfying to pick up the occasional higher fee, there are 'bread and butter' opportunities in the paid blogging world which can help to keep the dollars rolling in.
Even if you only get a small amount for a quick undemanding paid post, being able to post several a day means that you will often make more from short 60-word posts than you can from higher paying opportunities which demand 200 or 300 words and which carry all sorts of conditions.

Keep you options open and don't discard lower-paying services if they offer an easy way to pick up extra dollars even if it means distinguishing between your blogs that are going to be 'specalised' and which ones are going to be more 'generalised'.

Hair loss - just a mens problem?

I am getting to that age where my hair is certainly less abundant than it was a few years ago, and although I would not myself consider hair loss treatment, I can sympathise with those that do - and especially if they are women. Whilst hair-loss is considered almost a joke for men, for women it has a far more serious effects on self-esteem.
Treatments for hair loss include on the one hand, medical solutions such as in the form of pills, medicines, supplements and lotions. The other options include hair-extensions and weaves along with the more 'traditional' wig.
Wigs have certainly lost popularity over the last few decades especially with the bald or shaven-look now being so acceptable for men. A man suffering hair-loss these days is far more likely to shave his head than take any other approach. Frankly, this is the only approach that I would consider personally

Blogging pictures

No matter how good your content, adding an appropriate picture to your blog post attracts the eye and draws your visitors in. However, unless you are a remarkably good photographer or illustrator, you will be struggling to have all the pictures you need at hand. I have been known to go searching for images using google images in the past, but there is a drawback in just picking images off the web. For most bloggers, there is no real problem with locating images this way, but finding an image on the web does not automatically give you the right to use the image in your own blog. Images are legally protected by copyright laws and you may need permission to display them.
'Fair use' rules dictate that if you are writing a post for example, about Microsoft Windows, you should be able to use their logo as long as you are not claiming any special link to Microsoft which does not legally exist. If however, you are just writing a general post and you want to include an image that you have not created yourself, then you may need to consider using a service that provides royalty-free pictures to ensure that you are not crossing any legal boundaries.
There are a number of these services available and I may well provide some links to others as I find them, but I tried this one: 'Dreamstime' yesterday for the first time and found an image for a blog post - the image itself was hosted by 'stockvault' and was OK to download even without registering although registering is encouraged, and if I use the site again I certainly will take the time to register properly.
Personally I always like to try and 'customise' pictures to fit into the style of a blog - usually this is just a case of cropping and colorising an image to fit with the colour scheme. If you have a decent graphics package you may also be able to overlay images and crop out backgrounds etc..

Searching for that perfect job

Finding a new job is difficult in the current economic climate, and knowing your way around the internet can certainly give you an advantage. There are all those well-know general sites that are widely advertised where you can post your CV and sit back waiting for the offers to come rolling in, but did you know there are specialist sites dedicated to just your industry.
If you're after a nondescript administration or secretarial role, then the general sites may be the place for you to start, but if you are in a specialist field and looking specifically for jobs in health care for example or some other industry, then there are specific websites that will hold CV's for your chosen career path.
Of course, the same applies to prospective employers - you will have to fight your way through the flotsam and jetsam on a general site, but a specialist site will give you a choice of potential employees who are specifically trained for your business.
Next time you are thinking of changing jobs or hiring a new worker, check out the online services specially set up to service your chosen sector of industry.

Sponsored reviews

It's a while since I talked about the 'sponsored reviews' website and that's because I only get opportunities every now and again, but the opportunities are always well paid and get paid within two weeks. I was prompted to mention them as I have completed one recently (on a different blog), and they are a great service to have in your range of money-earning sites. You can register a number of blogs with sponsored reviews and then browse through the opportunities making offers on the ones that you think are suitable. The really great thing for niche bloggers is that you can sort the opportunities by category, for instance 'travel' or 'finance'. You can bid on as many opps as you want then sometime later (possibly months later) the advertiser may get in touch to make a counter-offer or accept your offer. You have seven days to complete an opportunity once you have been notified (via email). Of course most of your offers may well be rejected, you can check on the status of your offers each time you log onto the site.
They have a good selection of advertisers, so periodically I go back to the site and make offers on new opps that have come along. The site keeps a proportion of your 'offer' so be aware that they will take a cut - the fee is split 65% for you and 35% for sponsoredreviews.com, however many of the opportunities pay highly so you can still make more than using regular paid posting sites.

About Mesothelioma

Asbestosis is caused by exposure to Asbestos, and prolonged exposure can lead to lung cancer, mesothelioma and non-malignant lung and pleural disorders. Although industries traditionally connected with Asbestos are primarily at risk, cases with very little apparent exposure to Asbestos have been recorded. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer which is often diagnosed up to thirty or more years after the original contamination. Early diagnosis is essential to prolong life expectancy, yet symptoms are not easy to diagnose specifically as Mesothelioma. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a productive peristent cough and tightness of the chest often accompanied by a crackling sound whilst inhaling. Treatment is primarily a combination of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy depending on the location and status of the malignancy.

If you feel that you could be at risk, or you know of someone that is, then a doctor's examination is essential as soon as possible.

No holiday abroad this year, but....

We have not been in a position to have a holiday abroad since we began to rely on just one income in our household. In the last four years or so, we have fought hard not just to keep our heads above water, but also to pay off existing credit card balances and be debt-free. This has led to a lot of changes when it comes to how we spend the small amount of money that we have.
I expect that we will have paid off any remaining credit card balance within the next three months (and that without even having a pay-rise in the last three years), but I don't imagine that we will be celebrating with a vacation in Orlando just yet! In fact this Summer we will have a free holiday with my parents in the UK.
Our daughter would love to visit Disney World, so maybe one day we will be boarding a flight to Orlando, but we currently have our feet firmly on the ground, sitting out the financial crisis. In our old life' we had regular foreign holidays and look forward to the time when we will be able to do so again.

Surveys that pay

I see a lot of suspicion around online earning sites, usually about PTC, PTR etc.. but sometimes about survey sites too. I use three survey services at this point in time, having dumped 'Ciao' some months ago - not that they are a scam, but their surveys take too long for little pay and sometimes you are answering questions for ten minutes until you are told you are not eligible for the survey.
In one Ciao survey I was sent, I could not beleive the way the questions went:
Question 1: Are you ....(my name).....?
Answer: YES
Reply: Sorry, you are ineligible for this survey!
(they sent this survey URL straight to my email inbox - they KNEW who I was!!)
At least they didn't waste much of my time, but I found that they would habitually send unsuitable surveys even when they were fully aware of my profile. That's enough about a useless service, let me tell you about the surveys that I DO take part in:

YOUGOV: Excellent service that will make sure that you recieve some payment even if you don't qualify for a survey. Payments vary from maybe £0.10 to £0.50 for a survey for your opinion was not required, £0.50 to several pounds for a completed survey. Their surveys are often of a similar type almost always multiple choice, rarely taking up much more than 10 minutes of your time. Payout limit £50 - it may take some time to reach this target - surveys are sent to your email address.
PUREPROFILE: Very similar to YouGov, although they tend to have surveys that you can complete via their website (at least when you first register), they also like you to fill out a lot of your profile so that they can send you relevant surveys. Payout at £25.00 - most surveys arrive via email.
DNEERO: My favourite by far, join by clicking on one of their survey widgets on this blog - their surveys are always VERY short and easy to complete, usually with about five or six multiple choice questions. They are unique in that you can get more earnings by posting a widget on your website, blog or myspace page, plus you can answer questions for small amounts using your 'Twitter' account - payout is just $20 and I think you get three-tier referral earnings too. Twitter opportunities must be sought out, but the normal surveys will be emailed to you.

All I would say is that with the more 'serious' survey services ie. YouGov and PureProfile, you should always be completely honest with your answers or just cancel the survey if you don't want to answer. The dNeero surveys are much more fun-focussed and do not require you to be so precise with your answers, there is more of a social/viral feel to the way in which dNeero carry out surveys.

Diet Pills

Reasons for dieting fall under two headings:
1) health reasons for the genuinely overweight
2) poor self-image
For a good proportion of those currently on a diet, they are on it for the latter reason, whereas the only legitimate reason for dieting is the former. Dieting is a process of suppressing the natural desire to eat, and should only be undertaken under proper medical conditions. In extreme cases, medication may be used, and if this is the case, then only the best diet pills should be used as advised by a medical practitioner.
If you are considering dieting for health reasons, then your healthy diet should be considered in conjunction with an exercise plan that should also be designed for you by a health professional

March 2009

Not the best months earnings by far, but I did get a total of $117 paid out this month, which was handy for all the eBay purchases I have been making in order to build myself a new PC.
Once again PayU2blog are the best source of paid to blog earnings, but generally the lack of quality earnings illustrates the way that paid blogging has gone downhill recently with some services posting opportunities for a dollar and less. The sad fact is that whilst 'quality' bloggers may not give cheaper opps a second glance, there are enough players out there to pick up these scraps, and at the end of the day anchor text is anchor text wherever it is posted... This means that earnings must come from elsewhere, but where??
The ideal would be to be able to create enough revenue through Adense, but the reality is that it takes a lot of hard work to reach a decent level of earnings this way, and the same amount of hard work to maintain that level of earnings. The next most desirable way to create passive earnings would be through affiliates, but I have yet to find the combination of blog niche and affiliate that yield any meaningful revenue - maybe one day that will change, the quest continues...

Surveys from dNeero

One of the most fun ways to make a bit of change online.. dNeero surveys, the latest one (see below) is about music. dNeero surveys are always short and sweet unlike other surveys - you can even take part via Twitter - and you can make more by posting widgets in a blog:

My New PC

It's all over bar the shouting... I have made the last few purchases in the form of a DVD writer, a 500GB SATA drive and a SATA cable. Not only that but I even managed to update the BIOS on my motherboard which should make it compatible with more CPU's most notably dual-core which will probably be my next venture - but probably not this year...
If you have an older PC it might be worth searching for a BIOS update for your motherboard before buying a CPU upgrade. These are usually to be found on the manufacturers website, and in my case included an update application (which was just as well because the one that came on the CDROM with the mobo didn't work properly...).
I am just waiting for the last bits of kit to arrive before closing up the compartment and installing the system in my 'office' at home. The first tasks for this new system will be to try some more VHS to DVD conversions using some new software that I recently acquired. Then gradually I will transfer things like my email applications and some of my more commonly used programs onto the new system. I have gone for 'Open Office' rather than installing MS Office on this new PC (My copy of MS Office is ancient and I don't want to buy a new one) so I will probably keep Excel spreadsheets (with Macro's) on my older PC. I have considered going back to Mozilla Thunderbird on the new PC, but will probably try importing my old Outlook settings first, if that doesn't work out, I may as well plump for Thunderbird. The 'new' PC has XP Pro on it simply because that is the only OS at my disposal and I am not brave enough to go Linux just yet..
My existing PC has 2GB RAM in it, as has my new system, but the new one will take 4GB although I read somewhere that in 32bit mode, it may only recognise 3.5GB(??). I will probably move a stick of RAM from the older machine to the newer one just to give it that extra bit of ooomph! and look to get another stick or two at a later date (Paypal currently stands at just under £3.00). Fortunately there have been enough funds entering my PayPal account recently to keep the project going, last month's income report to follow shortly..

Quality not fashion

In a previous 'life' I worked in the shoe trade and quickly came to the conclusion that quality was not the same as brand. I can spot a quality shoe from a distance, it's a pity that I can't do the same with other products. Inside knowledge is a valuable asset built up over years of experience.
There are a number of well-known brands (especially in women's footwear and clothing) that offer much in the way of flair and design yet little in the way of quality of construction or materials used.
There are certain countries such as the more Southernly European nations that 'do' style without majoring on quality, whereas the more Northern nations are less fashion aware but like quality products.
In the place I worked, we used to sell traditionally constructed English leather-soled shoes alongside some European molded soled shoes such as from Dansko in Denmark. It seems that it's not just the Dutch who are keen on clogs... Utility clothing is quite acceptable in all types of environments nowadays, and these shoes are no different. Whilst it is still not quite the done thing to wear a pair of flashy trainers to a top-level meeting, you may get envious if not admiring glances at your 'comfortable' quality-constructed shoes.

Last pieces of the jig-saw

I have managed to find a very cheap DVD writer (about £15) which has 'lightscribe' capability, this will be the main CD drive for my 'Frankensteins Monster' PC that I am building. I am now bidding on a SATA hard-drive for storage - I already have a 80GB IDE drive for the operating system, and this will be my first venture into SATA drives. I have noticed that there are a lot of different sizes of hard-drives available which makes it tricky trying to find a bargain on eBay (the DVD writer is new, but the hard-drive will probably be second-hand).
I started with the idea of a 300GB drive, but had to also try 320, 350 and 360 to make sure I had the best price - I then noticed a couple of 400GB drives which were not more expensive (one even on buy-it-now) and then the 500GB drives didn't seem to be attracting many bids.
My resulting strategy (after failing to secure a number of 250GB drives) is to place some big bids on 500GB drives and if I don't get those, I will do a 'buy-it-now' on a reasonably-priced 400GB drive (assuming it's still available). This demonstrates how a 'buy-it-now' price can work in your favour if you price it right - it offers a definite alternative to the bidder and is fairly likley to sell way quicker...
My eBay rating is now 103 transactions (100% feedback) and I really MUST look seriously at flogging off the flotsam and jetsam of PC parts I have lying around in my loft..

House renovations

The one room in our house that desperately needs a makeover is the bathroom, a job which I have only 'dabbled with' so far. When we first moved in, I did strip off the nasty vinyl wallpaper, gave it a lick of fresh paint and made a new bath panel.
Since then, I have replaced the bathroom faucet with some nice new shiny ones, and I have stripped and sanded the floor. I know that at some point I am going to have to fork out for a complete new bathroom with a shower (still haven't fitted a shower...) and a new suite to replace the lovely pink one we inherited...but it does for now.
The two areas of the house that demand the most attention (and expense) nowadays are the kitchen and bathroom, but this wasn't always the case - kitchens and bathrooms of yesteryear were hardly given any thought at all.
We are actually 'blessed' with an extra outside loo which we tend to use for storage, but as the household expands, there will come a time where having an extra toilet will be extremely useful - turning this outside facility into something usable is a job that is a bit more up my street...

My mistake...

What an idiot! It turns out I moved a 'jumper' on the new motherboard that I was attempting to boot up and forgot to reset it in it's proper place - so my previously reported eBay failure was a success after all...
Fortunately I was outbid on a replacement that I had already lined up - so I have been busy for a couple of days configuring my new set-up.
I have ended up with a 2.2GHz AMD Athalon CPU on a ECS Extreme motherboard in a nice new case using one of my old hard-drives (80GB) and an old 512MB RAM stick. I intend to get some more RAM and a nice big SATA drive to finish the system off, but this is what the system has cost me so far:
CPU (eBay) £31.00
Mobo (eBay) £30.50
PC case (eBay) £25.92
Hard-drive - already had
graphics card - already had
CD drive - already had
XP pro - already had
RAM - already had
A grand total of £87.42
(all including postage) which I don't think is too bad for a complete PC which seems to function very nicely even with the single RAM stick (I am already bidding on some RAM!!) I will probably treat myself to a new DVD writer, but right now it's not really essential.. I must report though that installing a new OS and getting things just as you want them on a new PC is quite a satisfying experience, it's only when they start to get loaded up with lots of different applications that they start to become erratic, slow and generally annoying.

Getting Older...

Aging happens to us all of course, but I have been 'blessed' with youthful looks since childhood. When I was a teenager, having youthful looks was not really helpful although there were times when it could be used to my advantage. In the main it was a pain to always look younger than your mates when you are young - however I always knew I would have the last laugh when I got older. So when all my old school-friends are looking for the the best skin-care products and eye cream, I am 'product-free' and proud of it..
There is a down-side however, and at somewhere between my fourth and fifth decade, I am certainly feeling the physical effects of age, not least of which is my newly-deteriorating eyesight. I am going to have to get some glasses pretty soon...
My back is struggling to keep up with my sporting ambitions, and playing football twice a week generally ensures that I am in a permanent state varying between back-twinges and full-blown 'can't get out of bed' back pain.

My first real eBay failure

I have to admit that things did not really go according to plan with my recent eBay purchases. I have been attempting to build a new PC from eBay spares, but the Motherboard I bought decided it was not going to work after initially booting up successfully.
This was a disappointment, and to be honest I am not sure if it was the mobo, or my CPU that failed, but there are no signs of life and I have had to go back to the drawing board. Not to be put off, I am already bidding on another mobo/CPU bundle (!) and am determined to emerge with a working system. I have promised myself that once the new system is up and running, I will have to clear out any remaining computer debris from my loft. Currently this comprises four Motherboards, three CPU's and various power supplies.
I have described this as my first eBay failure because usually eBay sellers are very good at refunding when you have out of the box failures - my problem was that I knew full well that when it arrived, the mobo did actually power up and it is only since I tried fitting it into a new case that it decided to fail. So I cannot in all honesty threaten negative feedback when the seller has sold a working board in good faith.
To expand on my recent experiences with eBay, I also recently had someone sell an item I had bid on (and won) to an off-eBay customer, which to say the least was disappointing. This was the first time ever that I have left negative feedback for anybody, and I have just reached the 100 transaction mark...

Get yourself a bargain online

Such a wide variety of products are now available online, one can't help wondering how high street shops are going to be able to survive the current economic crisis. Even the tradition of Christmas shopping is now largely carried out online. We gave cautiously embraced online purchases over the last decade, and at the same time have seen the steady erosion of 'off-line' retail outlets.
We are able to obtain anything from doughnuts to diamond rings, and mostly at a vastly improved price over high street equivalents.
There are two main reasons for the lower online prices, the primary reason is that overheads are lower where there is no need for a physical 'shop front' to be maintained, and the other reason is the level of competition in the growing online community is definitely hotting up.
Jewelery is certainly one of areas that can benefit from online retailing. In the main, jewelery outlets are in high-cost premises with expensive fittings and must invest in a lot of security before they can even open their doors to the public. Once you switch to online, the overheads are drastically cut to a mere fraction.

Surviving the economic crisis

Shopping around for the best deals will become more and more necessary as the economic climate worsens. Shopping online will definitely become more popular due to the fact that online stores usually offer a price advantage over high street stores. High street stores will hit back with Sale after sale, and some stores will be going out of business altogether.
Whilst that may mean a few extra bargains in the short-term, having less choice of retail outlets is a bad thing in the long run. Controlling your spending and keeping to budgets will be the key to surviving the current recession.

Health and wealth

The healthy option is almost if not more important that the wealthy option nowadays, with health and dieting in particular being one of the most discussed topics on the internet. dNeero wades in with it's own survey on health - easy to participate and you can get paid for taking part...

One step closer...

I am one step closer to building new PC (almost) entirely funded by blogging earnings and purchased from eBay.. I found a nice new PC case and didn't quite have enough Paypal funds to pay for it. The case was on a 'buy it now' or 'make an offer', so I made an offer which was about £2 below the asking price of £16.99. The seller countered the offer with a price of £16, which was reasonable for the case, but I only had enough in my PayPal to pay £15.93 plus postage...
So I countered with £15.93 and sent a message to the seller to explain that I wasn't being funny, but that was the full extent of my available funds. I was pleased to find that my offer was accepted and this should be the final piece that will get my new PC up and running. The case includes a 500W power supply, I have a CPU and motherboard from recent Ebay dealings, and a hard-drive that was languishing in my previous 'spare' PC. I also had a 512MB stick of RAM left over from a previous upgrade which is enough to get me started.
I intend to spend a little more on RAM and a SATA hard-drive, but after that, I promise faithfully to actually save some money so that I have something to show for the hours spent in front of a computer monitor.
So far this month earnings have been slow, but there should be some payouts due for previous work. I am encouraged however to find that passive earnings from Adsense on my blogs are building up and would like to maximise this revenue.

I'm still spending

I know I said I should try and build up some cash in my PayPal account to pay back into my bank account, but I've got the spending bug, and although I haven't broken into my 'real' money lately I have carried on fueling my plans for building a new computer...
I now have a new Motherboard to go with my recently purchased CPU, and I am bidding on a replacement case with power supply... I can see myself buying a new hard-drive and a stack of RAM before there is any surplus in my PayPal account - at least I am not spending 'real' money - that would be far more difficult to justify.
Therein lies my error of course, because money in PayPal is, in every way as good as money in the bank, and I have already spent a good deal of good hard cash pursuing half-formed ideas of taking my computer(s) to another level. When I have finished this project I will have two very similar computers and what will I have gained? Not much... I console myself with the thought that the whole project is of course a learning process. I am learning about fixing computers whilst I am learning how to build them - I have already fixed a PC for a work colleague, and used my new-found knowledge and expertise (and willingness to poke around inside a PC..) to fix a panel PC at work, saving us a deal of money...
I am determined then to complete this project and then curb my spending until I have actually built up enough money to shift it back into a bank account - I am getting very close to ridding myself completely of a credit card debt, and I am starting to feel that my compulsive spending is holding me back from finally paying the thing off..

This month has not seen a lot of blogging earnings coming my way so far, but I have been paid by Adsense, so all is not lost... I have a few 'jobs' to complete which will bring in a few dollars, but they will be online earnings that do not come under the banner of blogging cash. I have been reasonably successful in building a bit of interest and traffic to one or two of my blogs and will continue my 'organic' method of comment posting and links placed in relevant forums to try to extend that traffic to levels that will bring more Adsense income.
Once I have completed my PC project, I promise to put all my efforts into paying off the remaining credit card debt and relkeasing myself from those particular shackles - I will be sure to blog about it here and on my finance-related blog.

Server Systems

Whilst I am not about to search eBay for KVM switches, I have considered turning one of my PC's into a server and running the other, and any subsequent PC's on the same network. This does not have to entail purchasing a network operating system as XP pro can handle a network without too many problems. The advantage is that I could use the server for routine tasks and backups , leaving other PC's to handle dedicated tasks. This may sound over the top for a home system, but more and more home systems are run from homeservers combining media handling tasks with other home-based or gaming tasks.
Dedicated homeservers are now commonly advertised and the likelihood is that this will become the norm.

New Survey from dNeero

Looks like dNeero haven't abandoned surveys altogether and are running twitter and surveys side by side. It's been a while since any survey were offered, but this music one came up today and it's fairly topical - click the widget to take part in dNeero surveys to boost your online earnings...
If you are on twitter, then you can make extra cash by replying to twitter questions too...

How do we use the web?

I am honestly getting to the stage where I wonder how we survived without the internet. I use Google all day every day at work to find all sorts of items and find out all sorts of facts. We get our car insurance, term life quotes and any number of items and gadgets from eBay. Added to this is the massive factual resource the internet provides, whether you need information about, travel, insurance, electronic or any scientific queries you might have, the internet has the answer if you know how to look for it. A modern business, even if it has no link to technology or the web MUST have a web presence if they are to be taken seriously, even if it's just an entry in a directory. With the demise of high street shopping comes the rise in internet shopping, and with the recession getting worse, the internet offers a chance to get items you want at a keener price. These savings can also be extended to things like internet banking and insurance service which can offer better rates than their high street equivalents.

February 2009

A return to recent good form, with a little over $110 this month (having turned $100 down!), also been paid by Adsense recently, a good portion of this now comes from blogs. I am experimenting with ideas for publicising blogs and getting more traffic organically trying to do it in an informed, smart way!
I am having some success getting attention to my credit crunch blog, especially with being able to post about current events and link in with forums and other social sites. My latest post has been about Sir Fred Goodwin's pension. I am running a poll to see how many people I can attract to the blog to vote on whether Sir Fred should be allowed his £700,000 pension at the age of fifty.
I ran a similar poll on another blog, but didn't really make the effort to attract visitors, I am making a bit more effort with this one and so far, it has paid off.
Having blogsvertise back on line has allowed me to add some revenue to the steady earnings from PayU2blog, but the spreadsheet tells the full story...