Bidvertiser - Substitute for Google Adsense

Google Adsense has rejected my appeal despite the fact that there wasn't any foul play. While I search high and low for the next advertiser to replace Adsense, I came across Bidvertiser.

Bidvertiser is a Pay-Per-Click Ad company, similar to Adsense. The ads design are almost identical to Adsense and it fits easily into my template with just a simple change in the code.

Bidvertiser may not have as wide range of Ads available as Adsense. However, the Ads are generally related to the topic of your blog, which you predetermined during registration.

Good features of Bidvertisers

1. Allows filtering of Ads. You get to reject/approve certain Ads showing up on your blog. This ensures higher chances of click from visitors as you approve the highly relevant Ads to be shown on your blog.

2. Minimum payout is 10 dollars via PayPal. Google Adsense is currently paying via check with a minimum payout of 100 dollars. This makes it more attractive for blogs which are still in the starting out phase.

Blog Marketing Strategics to Boost Traffic!

Being a newbie in the blogosphere, I need to do research from top blogs such as John Chow or GatherSuccess to find out what are the ways to boost traffic. Although my results ain't impressive, I do see improvement in the amount of traffic to my blog after implementing the 4 strategies which I will talk about later. I believe that consistent effort in practising these strategies will pay off eventually.

Now the selection of 4 strategies from tonnes of techniques found during my research, which I believe will help beginners like me.

Beginners' 4 Blog Marketing Strategies to Boost Traffic

1. Leave comments on high traffic blogs

Visit relevant blogs that share the same niche as yours. Leave your comments on posts that interest you. Be sincere and not post comments like "visit my blog at..." Visitors who find your comments helpful and interesting may click on your name and there you go! A visitor to your blog!

2. Join social networking programs

Earlier in my post, I mentioned about MyBlogLog [Review about MyBlogLog]. Till today, I have not stopped networking at MBL. It really brings traffic, especially when you have joined many communities of similar niche and made friends with many others who share the same interest. You can add them as contacts, just like friendster and mingle with them through the messaging system. Once again, be sincere in making friends.

3. Participate in community forums

In forums, you have a signature where you can create link to your blog. Being active in forums will increase the exposure of your signature to more forumers, which increase the traffic (or rather, chances of visit). Be professional in your posts and establish a guru status in the particular field or niche in the forum. This will lead to targeted and relevant traffic for your blog.

4. Social bookmarking

Bookmark your posts to high traffic bookmarking sites like Digg.com or Technorati and it will expose your post to many millions of visitors. If your post/article is interesting, visitors will visit your blog to read the post! Another way of doing this is to add social bookmarking links for people to bookmark your post. In this way, they help you gain exposure for your post! (See below for the Digg or Technorati links for example)

All the strategies above are free and easy to implement. Perhaps after I cashout some of the money from my other online ventures, I will experiment with paid advertising strategies and review them for all readers here.

Disastrous Blogging Journey

After giving an excellent and outstanding presentation on corporate blogging in class today, a major problem regarding my own personal blog surfaced.

GOOGLE ADSENSE SUSPENDED MY ACCOUNT.

Reason was relation to a past account which was blacklisted. Feeling dismayed, I filed an appeal to Google Adsense. This blogtreprenuer journey is indeed an arduous one. Now I understand why it really takes perseverance and great effort in sustaining the enthusiasm in profitable blogging. The initial phase is full of problems yet lacking in rewards.

What can I do now? Wait and continue with the maintenance of this blog? Hopefully Google Adsense will approve of my appeal this time and reinstate the program on this blog. Otherwise, no further appeals will be reviewed and there goes one of the most prominent source of revenue used by bloggers

What can be more frustrating than having even your small dollars forfeited after 3 weeks of tough work?

Earnings Associated With Socializing - SGClub

Have the habit of socializing via online forums? Why not get paid for doing so? SGClub pays SGC$1.20 per post and SGC$3.50 per thread started! Every SGC$1000 will be converted into S$10!

SGClub has many sub-forums with topics ranging from travel to current affairs. You can talk about anything under the sun! However, they are very strict on spammers. Please post only content of value to other readers.

Personal opinions

I personally enjoyed socializing in this forum because of the many many topics available. I've learnt something new everyday since I participated in this forum. The latest news, opinions on business models, shopping deals, delicious food etc..

SGClub rewards your referring efforts! You earn 20% of your referrals' SGC$. Please do not see this as a get-rick-quick scheme. Instead, see this as an opportunity to widen your social circle and expose yourself to differing opinions by the many SGClubbers in the forum. The monetary reward is just an incentive to encourage participation.

If your primary aim is to make big bucks out of this, please do not join. Otherwise, you will be disappointed.

For those who are interested to mingle around and make more friends in forums, this is the opportunity for you! Its absolutely free! You can't pay even if you want to.

Click Here to Sign Up Now!

P.S The red line is really important.

Over-Monetization of Your Blog?

Many bloggers start their professional blogging venture by searching for all the revenue sources for their blogs. Placing Ads on blogs is the most common revenue source for beginner bloggers like me. However, have you ever visited a site with banners occupying most of the page or ad units placed all over the page?

Feeling irritated by ads that distract you from the content you are after? Yes, that may just be the feelings of your visitors when you place too many ads on your blog. There is a term for this, "over-monetization". Most beginners thought that having more Ad units will lead to higher probability of clicks. Statistically speaking, it may be true. Realistically, probably not. Why?

You may get a click from the visitor on his first visit. However, he may feel irritated by the overcrowding ad units and decides not to return again. This is what I term as "poor reader experience". What you want is actually consistent traffic, not one-time visits.

In the beginning, I was guilty of over-monetization too. After realizing that I have been receiving one-time visits with no returning visitors, I decided to work on that. And one possible reason I've come up with is poor reader experience!

That is why I've revamped my blog design a little recently, restricting only to a maximum of 4 units on a page. Google Adsense allows a maximum of 3 per page, while I add an Advertlets unit in the sidebar. Now even I myself feels more comfortable reading through my blog.

If you think that your poor traffic is due to over-monetization of your blog, why not take a step back and try reducing the number of ad units? You may just get a pleasant surprise with the sudden soar in readership.

P.S. I am still experimenting this technique. A follow up report will be posted after one month. Wish me luck!

Prejudiced against Paid-to-Click Programs?

To start off, how many have participated in Paid-to-Click programs previously? How many think that they are scams? While the general perception of PTC programs is that they are scams, let me prove you wrong.

True, scams are everywhere. However, there are also truthful, honest and legitimate programs mixed in the sea of scams as well. Clixncash is one such program that has been victimized by all the black sheeps around. Below you can see a minimized screenshot of my payments received from Clixncash ALONE. I requested for 6 different payouts to test their efficiency and they did not let me down.



Why most PTC programs are regarded as scams?

It all boils down to one MAJOR factor - the possibility of meeting the minimum payout. If it takes 10,000 clicks to reach payout, it probably is deemed a scam by most people.

While it may not actually be a scam (or it might be), people usually condemn the program despite proofs of payment made to people who met the requirement.

Personal Review

Clixncash is officially the first program that has passed my reviewing test. Below are some of the opinions of this legitimate program:

Constant supply of advertisement

Average of 3 cents per day earnings

Exceptional low minimum payout

1-2 working days to process withdrawals

In conclusion, PTC is one of the leading advertising models in the internet. Due to its popularity, people tend to abuse it for their self interest. However, legitimate programs are still available. Clixncash is one that we've discovered, and we'll bring you more money-making opportunities as we continue the quest for cash!

Inline Adsense Within Your Post?

Many bloggers have started to put reasonable emphasis and noticeable efforts in ad placement strategies in order to boost revenue. Other than the usual side-bar loaded with a 160x600 skyscraper or a 468x60 banner in the header, people are integrating their ads into their blogs' content. One way is to implement inline advertisements into the post.

I researched for almost 10 hours before I finally succeeded. The final product was pleasing while the process was frustrating. Lack of support from Adsense or Blogger certainly made this project an arduous journey. After many rounds of trial and error, I finally got it right.

Now, sharing with you the fruits of my labor!

1. Login to Blogger, go to "Edit HTML" under "Template" tab of your blog.

2. Check "Expand Widget Templates"

3. Search for the line <div class='post-body'> and add the Red code above it.

<div style="float: left;">
<--parsed Adsense code-->
</div>

<div class='post-body'>
<p><data:post.body/></p>

4. Go to Blogcrowds and parse the Adsense code. Replace <--parsed Adsense code--> with the parsed code from Blogcrowds.

5. Save template.

Recommendation: Use 300x250 Medium Rectangle or 336x280 Large Rectangle for inline adsense within post.

Get Paid For Your Opinions - Planet Pulse!

Ever been approached by surveyors on the streets to do a survey for free? Irritating isn't it? We are providing valuable information yet not neing appreciated. However, at Planet Pulse, our opinions are highly valued and rewarded at the same time!

Planet Pulse offers pulses for completed surveys, which can be converted to cash at a rate 100 pulses = 1 USD. Minimum cashout amount set at 2500 pulses (US$25).

How to Earn Extra Pulses?

1. Earn 250 pulses for referring 5 friends
2. Earn 20 pulses for each survey completed by level 1 referrals
3. Earn 10 pulses for each survey completed by level 2 referrals

Review of this opportunity

This is definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme. I have only received 2 surveys in the whole month of July, earning around 400 pulses. However, for just a few minutes of effort, it is literally free money.

There are screeners and questionnaires in place to filter out all the ineligible participants. Therefore, be sure to fill up your profile as accurately as possible.

The surveys that I have done so far are very professional surveys. One was on Great Singapore Sale and Credit Cards, the other from Sony Ericsson surveying on their bluetooth headsets.

Joining Planet Pulse is free! Just register with a valid email address and all surveys will be sent to your inbox. There is no need to login everyday to wait for surveys.

Conclusion

Amidst the limitless scams about making big bucks by completing surveys, this is the only opportunity I found least likely to be a scam. I have been in this program for 1 month and I am very optimistic about this opportunity.

Since its free, unlike many other survey opportunities which require you to pay upfront, why not give this program a shot? With decent effort, this may be a small steady source of internet income for you.

Interested to join as my referral? No obligations.

Click Here to Join Now!

Time - Critical Factor to Succeed in Blogging?

To succeed in blogging, time is an important factor. While there is no cost to maintaining a blog, your precious time is depleted for this sole purpose of blogging. For casual bloggers, they blog whenever they feel like it. But for professional bloggers, their blogs must be updated regularly in order to retain the readership.

Updating regularly does not mean a simple two-liner or just a comment on the weather. It is the addition of relevant content to your blog. We are talking about top quality articles which creates value for your readers. To maintain the standard of your articles, you need a great deal of time to generate the points and ideas, as well as pen them down in words and paragraphs. Much effort and time is required.

Articles are nothing to a writer with flair in writing. But for average souls like us, it may be a tedious job. I spend an average 45 minutes on writing a 200-word article, excluding the time taken to generate the points and ideas.

With my university semester starting, I may soon face the problem of insufficient time to maintain my blog. However, I shall look upon part-time yet successful bloggers like John Chow as my motivation. Time management is key to success.

He can make it, so can I.

MyBlogLog - Blog's Friendster?

I joined MyBlogLog due to a simple intention -- Join the community of a blog that I frequent. Little did I know that MyBlogLog is actually a social community for bloggers to communicate and link up with one another!

What is the opportunity that MyBlogLog offers? It is the opportunity to network with people sharing same interests and beliefs as you. For monetized blog authors, networking is important because people sharing the same interest as you will visit your blog!

For the past few days, I have found many blogs of similar niche to mine and learn a great deal from them. In the meanwhile, I have made new blogger friends who share the same interest as me, both local and overseas. Today, the world has shrunk with the invention of internet. Making friends has no boundaries! Everyone is blogging!

Reading about other people's daily happenings has never been my hobby, especially blogs that belonged to someone you don't even know. However, nowadays, blogs are no longer just musings about your daily life. Instead, it has become an avenue for one to share his thoughts and opinions.

While most of my friends' blogs (at least those I visited) are hardly blogs with a niche, many blogs at MyBlogLog have consistent content in a particular niche such as internet marketing or even recipes! Reading them can be a pleasure as it takes you through a train of thoughts. You can learn a great deal in the process.

So what's in for you at MyBlogLog?
A huge network of friends with endless number of interesting and entertaining blogs that talks about anything under the sun!

Sign up for MyBlogLog and join my community now!

Make Your Savings Go A Longer Way!

Savings is an essential financial aspect in everyone's life. Who can afford not to save? We never know what tomorrow will bring. We save for emergencies, future needs or even to pass on to our next generation.

Singapore's savings interest rates is regarded as low compared to many other countries. However, we have limited choice. While people in other countries are able to live off interest from a large principal sum for the rest of their lives, it is practically impossible in Singapore, unless you are a multi-millionaire. Despite the low interest rates, people are still finding means and ways to maximize their returns from their savings.

For average people like us, where do we maximize our savings?

Savings <$5000:
Standard Chartered Bank e$aver Account
Interest rate: 1.5% per annum

Savings $5000-$49999:
MayBank iSavvy Account
Interest rate: 1.68% per annum

Savings >$50000:
Standard Chartered Bank e$aver Account
Interest rate: 2.0% per annum

Each of the above accounts comes with different set of terms and conditions, and possesses advantages as well as disadvantages over one another. Do read up more on the account before signing up for an account.

For a well-balanced account, I will strongly recommend FairPrice Plus Savings account, NTUC FairPrice's partnership with OCBC which offers 1.0% per annum interest rate for all balances.

While traditional big banks like POSB/DBS and UOB are still the natural choice for most savers, people who would like to maximize their savings may consider the few accounts I suggested above.

"Savings goes a long way" Make it go even further. Maximize your savings now!

Venture into Bux.to Paid-to-Click Program

Fancy earning money while chatting with your friends on MSN or watching your favourite video at YouTube? Possible.

Bux.to is a Paid-to-Click (PTC) program that pays out a generous 1 cent for each click on their ads. Just click on the ads on Bux.to site, leave it running for 30 seconds and the cent is yours to keep.

Since I use the internet everyday, I decided to multi-task just for a little while each to earn some online bucks. Anyway, I have got nothing to lose, except a few minutes a day. The program is free to join!

Observations

Bux.to, although labelled the imitation of the original AdBux, seems to be doing better than its predecessor. With an average of 6-8 ads a day, it generates around 6-8 cents a day. How much time will 6-8 ads take you? Probably 5 minutes?

Review of various packages available

Bux.to offers 100% commission on direct referrals' earnings -- every click your referral completes is counted as 1 cent for you too! Although Bux.to allows purchase of referrals, I personally discourage this.

Firstly, it is costly. Secondly, your referrals may be inactive referrals who registered and does not complete any clicks for you. If that's the case (inactive referrals), there is almost no hope to recoup the cost of your referrals.

Premium membership is also popular among Bux.to members. However, I do not recommend this upgrade either. Paying $59 to boost your income by 25%? Quite a hefty sum to pay for a guaranteed minimum of $7.50 a month uh?

FYI, Premium guarantees 20 ads a day and pays 1.25 cents per click.

Review of Bux.to as an opportunity

Although I have yet to certify the legitimacy of this opportunity, I think its worth venturing into considering the high payout rate.

Cents may not seem lucrative as a reward for your effort. However, leveraging the efforts of your referrals in addition to your consistent clicks, it may soon turn into a small but steady stream of passive dollars.

If you heed my advice (above), there is nothing to lose. This program is free to join! In the event I've made sense and convinced you into joining, why not join as my referral?

Click here to sign up now

(Referrer: jpchuen)

P.S. If you decide not to be my referral, you will be randomly placed under other members who purchase referrals.