Blogging. Fatherhood. Business Building. It's all here.

How To Make Money On Twitter Without Spamming

November 12, 2009 By 4 Comments

Unless you are living in a cave, you already know that there are Twitter users making money online with their Tweets. With companies like Ad.ly and Sponsored Tweets, you can make money by tweeting advertisements. The issue most Twitter users run into is looking like spam to their followers, so many people forgo making money on their Twitter account because they are afraid they might put off their followers.

As an internet marketer, I am always looking for ways to monetize my online activities…but…I really hate spam. Since my dislike hatred for spam runs through my veins with an extreme fire, I vowed to myself that I would never take that route in my online ventures. So here is the issue…how do you make money with your tweets and not look like a spammer just trying to make a buck online? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Generating Cash, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Lost Personality – Finding Feeling – Blogging As A Business

October 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I was asked an interesting question in a recent interview that got my mind stirring. Many of the people I converse with in the blogging industry often look at my cooperate background and how it helped me become a successful blogger. For the first time, I got asked a different question that actually made me want to change the way I am attacking robbsutton.com.

My next question is: Did you have a background in business before you started blogging?  If so, do you think it helped or hindered (or maybe both in different ways I suppose).

The section in blog and italics is the part I have never been asked before, and – honestly – had not taken a real look at up until this point. In my blogging history, I have used  my corporate sales background to secure six figure review product numbers and blogging revenue. But…I took this all from the approach – from day one – as a businessman looking to make a serious income online. I set goals and I started achieving them by knocking each one off the list.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design Tagged With: , ,

6 Figure Blogging – Is it still possible or a pipe dream for new bloggers?

October 8, 2009 By 12 Comments

6 figure blogging…it’s the dream…it’s the goal…it’s what new bloggers and long time bloggers alike dream about at night. Imagine it…the 2 hour work days, doing what you want when you want, having the financial freedom to go where you want. Sounds like the perfect life. That is because it is. Who wouldn’t want to retire early and actually live the rest of their life instead of slave for it? So…as you keep after that dream of making it big with your blog earning big figures while your friends still slave away for a paycheck…is that dream still alive or is it just a pipe dream that keeps hundreds of blogging based companies in business? Well, I have news for you, and you aren’t going to like it.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , ,

Make Money Online While You Are On Vacation

September 18, 2009 By 3 Comments

Before we set off on our cruise to the Bahamas, I wanted to share a little video with you guys from where we are right now. Sorry for the bad audio…shot this with a HD helmet cam from VholdR (one of the products I am reviewing on Mountain Biking by 198) and the wind on the top deck almost takes it over!

This is just a quick reminder that you can make money online through blogging even when you are not touching your blogs. It is a great feeling to know that you wake up each and every morning with more income than you went to sleep with and this does not turn off just because you want to enjoy life. Hope you guys have a great weekend…I know we are! If you want to know how I make money online…check out my How I Make Money Online page. And…as this post proves…it is also a great benefit to be able work from anywhere…

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , ,

$30.00 Off – MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate Plugin for WordPress

August 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

You are going to have to act quick because this deal is only good through midnight tonight. The MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate plugin is a lifesaver when it comes to setting up affiliate links on your blog to make money online. I use it on EVERY blog I own as it saves me hours and hours of linking, managing and editing affiliate promotions. There are not many plugins that I stand behind this hard (or that I pay for).

Up until midnight tonight, you can pick up your own copy of the Ninja Affiliate Plugin for $30.00 off. I highly recommend this to anyone that is planning on linking affiliate promotions in your blog. Especially if you have a lot of posts that you do not want to have to dig through to insert links. The Ninja Affiliate plugin does all of that for you automatically.

The normal price of this plugin is $97.00 and it has made me much more than that since the first day I hit the install button in WordPress. Right now…you can pick it up for $67.00 and really take your affiliate marketing to a whole new, easier to manage level.

Side note: I actually use this plugin to track all kinds of links outside of affiliate links. With their internal link tracking, I am able to brand my links to other social media outlets and track the click throughs. Would you like to see all of your StumbleUpon, YouTube and other links look like “http://yourdomain.com/youtube”? Online branding can make or break you and by sticking to your domain…you just increase your brand awareness that much more.

Buy the Ninja Affiliate Plugin Now

The Power Ninja Affiliates Has
—————————————————————-

So what makes any wordpress plugin a powerful tool? You’d probably say it’s features and it’s utility.

So what makes “MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate” so powerful? Not only it keeps track of all your affilaite links and helps you manage them, it offers you a smart range of features full of ease and flexibility in use and control. Take a look at the useful features and the power MaxBlogPress Ninja Afiiliate has, as an affiliate blogging tool:

1) A link that looks original and distinct

With Ninja Affiliate, you can easily give each affiliate link an easy-to-remember name. Manage your affiliate links and make them look professional, original and vivdly distinct too.

2) Manage Links by Groups

If you have too many affiliate links then Ninja Affiliate allows you to easily create different groups to manage your links. Group your affiliate links in an organized way.

3) Convert ordinary keywords into monëy making affiliate links

Automatically turn keywords in your blog to affiliate links. Ninja Affiliate has been designed not only to track and manage affiliate links but also to convert the keywords inside the blog posts to affiliate links.

4) Avoid commission theft

Cloak your affiliate links to prevent link theft and affiliate sabotage. No one will ever steal your hard-earned commissions again.

5) Insert Affiliate Links Directly

Add your affiliate links directly for your WordPress blog editor so that you’ll never have to hunt for links again.

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , ,

6 Reasons Why They Are Rich And You Are Not

August 19, 2009 By 11 Comments

You run the thought through your head all the time. As you drive by these gigantic houses drooling over their exotic cars and refreshing pool, you wonder…how the hell did they get all of that money? What did they do that I am not? How are they so rich? They must know something I do not. They must have fantastic luck. They…they…they…they…wait…all I am doing is making excuses that make me feel better about not being successful when THEY are! Last night, I was sitting having dinner with another aspiring entrepreneur (who after only a month of self employment is doing extremely well) and we talked about what makes an entrepreneur successful.

You see it all the time…working your 9-5 surrounded by some incredibly smart people. They make a decent wage while putting in their hours day after day. While you are out grocery shopping or filling up your car at the gas station, you run in to an extremely wealthy entrepreneur who has started his own business and been extremely successful. The surprising part…the rich entrepreneur seems to have half the intellect of the 9-5 workers that you are around all day that just collect a check. So why are these two members of the business world so drastically different and what makes a person really successful?

6 Reasons Why They Are Rich And You Are Not

  1. They own their own business – It is extremely hard to get rich working for someone else. 99% of workers will never make it big as there are only about .5% of jobs that will actually create a monetary return that will get you there. So…you end up working your entire life to make someone else a lot of money. The entrepreneur owns his own business. He is able to leverage his strengths and turn those strengths into profits. What many aspiring rich people do not understand is that you do not need a Fortune 500 company to be extremely wealthy. Most of the gigantic houses and fancy cars you see are owned by small business owners…not huge corporations. By owning your own small business, you are (generally speaking) able to keep expenses low and profits high. This equals a lot of cash for you to take home in your pocket. Now you are the guy that everyone else is working hard to make rich.
  2. They have the self employed mentality – What is the self employed mentality? They are willing to put in the beginning hours to make their idea successful. Many want-a-be rich people want the money and successful business without putting in the beginning sweat and tears that make a small company successful. Most of these extremely successful entrepreneurs put in late hours and weekend work in the beginning. You are not going to make it big and enjoy the fruits of the rich lifestyle without putting in some work. If you are expecting to work 9-5 and see that kind of monetary success…you might as well just stay in your current job and collect your small paycheck week in and week out. Anything that is worth having…comes with sacrifice.
  3. They took the risk - Rich entrepreneurs took the risk that you are not willing to take. They jumped off the cliff with their idea and made it work. You…on the other hand…are talking about your great idea all the time but you never take that first step in fear of failure. Success is a summation of calculated risks and knowledge from mistakes. If you are not willing to take that first step, then you will never see the riches that they are seeing today.
  4. They are almost never right - Seems like a weird theory doesn’t it? Extremely successful, rich entrepreneurs will often tell you that they have made more mistakes in their lifetime than successes. What separates the rich entrepreneur from the employee is the ability to learn from these mistakes and apply that knowledge to the next round. Have you ever run into one of those employees that are ALWAYS right? Have you ever noticed that they never move forward in life? That is because the man that believes he already knows everything has no room to grow. The successful entrepreneur is continually adapting and growing and this makes his income continue to grow with him. Rich entrepreneurs do not waste time telling you how great they are…they are too busy putting their thoughts into action and they are not afraid to be wrong.
  5. They reinvest in themselves and their business - What are you going to do when you make your first $100,000? Blow it on a car or a house? The rich entrepreneur didn’t. He reinvested that money into the business and gave it a capital infusion that allowed the business to grow quicker. Many failed businesses are the result of poor fiscal planning. Those that do not reinvest back into their future are doomed for failure. This means you might have to be a little patient and leave the Ferrari in the dealership for a couple more years. The good news…when you go to buy one you could actually afford to buy 10.
  6. They never give up – Successful, rich entrepreneurs do not give up at the first sign of failure. Where most aspiring rich people would throw in the towel claiming that they are not lucky enough or are the victim of circumstances, the rich guy gets back on the horse and tries again. This motivation and ability to keep going through the tough times is what will separate the successful from the complacent.

So as you can see by these 6 reasons, it is not how smart you are that generates success that will bring you riches that you never could have dreamed of…it is the ability to have a different mindset that breeds success. If you continually do the same routine everyday…day in and day out…collecting your paycheck with the hope that someone is going to give you a chance one day…you are going to continue that cycle until you hopefully save up enough money to retire at the prime age of 70 something. Or…you can start now…changing the way you think and allowing yourself to be successful just like those “lucky” guys that have the huge houses and fancy cars. It is completely up to you and you are the only one that stands in the way of your success.

Filed Under: Generating Cash Tagged With: , ,

Amazon Affiliate Program – Make Money Online Through Shopping

August 4, 2009 By 4 Comments

As a blogger, you are constantly looking for ways to diversify your cash generating income streams. With all of the affiliate programs out there screaming for your business as they continue to increase their portfolios and profits, which ones are you going to run and why? I am about to show you why you need to start making money online with the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Side note: I can’t believe I just used “Make Money Online” in my blog post title. How many times do I have to say “Make Money Online” in the article to be a true wannabe affiliate marketer? There’s two in just this side note! Make Money Online…make that 3 times! Sorry…where’s my coffee again?

Amazon Associates Affiliate Program

The Amazon Associates affiliate program is attached to the largest online shopping portal, Amazon.com. With commissions ranging from 4 to over 8+ percent per sale (depending on number of items shipped), the Amazon affiliate program runs in the same commission scale as most online retailers, so why should you run Amazon over other affiliate offers? I am going to illustrate why you should at least test (the key to all affiliate promotions/advertising) the Amazon Affiliate Program and see if it will work with the audience on your blog.

Amazon.com is arguably the largest shopping portal on the net. If you can not find a product that is related to your niche on Amazon, you probably need to rethink your strategy as you are blogging to a small audience. Once you create your Amazon affiliate account and start linking on your site to relevant products to your niche through reviews or in article links, your readers click on the link and are taken to Amazon.com. You then get a 24 hour cookie period, which is unfortunately shorter than most, for that consumer to purchase ANYTHING on Amazon.com and you receive a 4 – 8+ percent commission off that sale!

Why is this a good deal for the blogger looking to make some money?

I know…the commission rate seems low, the cookie duration is drastically shorter than other online retailers (average is around 30 days), so why is the Amazon Affiliate Program a must do for a lot of bloggers? The Amazon program is a good fit for a lot of bloggers simply because Amazon is the largest shopping portal on the net. If you look at the commission diagram below, you will notice items that have absolutely nothing to do with cycling, mountain biking or even the word bike! These commissions came off of a click from my cycling blog, Mountain Biking by 198, and I received a commission off the sale.

Amazon Affilliate Commissions that Make Money OnlineI don’t know about you, but I will take commissions off of Brita replacement filters and the lego version of Indiana Jones all day long. While $1.83 and $1.20 sound like a very small amount of money, you have to realize the long term affects as these small amounts add up exponentially over time. Yes, we would all like to get $30.00 commissions with every sale (or even the $6.60 commission you get for every sale you refer to this site for Ramped Reviews), but the idea is to diversify your income streams and what easier way to do that than inserting relevant affiliate links to Amazon.com? To make things really easy on yourself as the blogger, you can purchase the MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate plugin and have it search out the keyword phrases on your blog for you.

As we continually look for ways to increase our bottom line and make more money from our blogs online, we need to test out different avenues of revenue to realize the dream of the dot com lifestyle. Testing out affiliate programs like this one from Amazon and seeing if it works with your audience on your blog is the only way you are going to realize the dreams you have set out for yourself.

Check it out…try it out…and see if it works for you…

Filed Under: Generating Cash, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

eBook Publishing – Do I Give My eBook Away for Free or Charge Money?

July 28, 2009 By 1 Comment

In today’s online arena, eBooks are a fantastic way to build lists, generate revenue and spread your words to a large audience. eBooks can gain you reputation in a niche and bring credibility to your site in ways you never though possible while at the same time generating affiliate and direct revenue for your business. By publishing eBooks on your blog or website, you are participating in the most popular form of making money online outside of pure affiliate marketing. When you look into publishing your first or 12th eBook on your website or blog, you have to look into the options and see what kind of eBook publishing method is going to best suit your needs and end goal. When you look closely at popular eBooks, online eBook publishing falls into two basic categories.

  1. Free eBooks for performing an action
  2. Purchased eBooks

Unfortunately, for many eBook publishers, the decision on free or paid for their latest eBook is not an easy decision. Before we jump into what you should do with your eBook as you prepare to publish it to the eagerly awaiting online world, lets take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of each eBook publishing method. The following article weighs the benefits and drawbacks of paid vs. free eBook publishing. As I continue to dive into eBook subject matter, we will cover eBook content and subject matter in a later article. For the purposes of this article, assume great content on a particular subject matter.

Free eBooks for Performing an Action

In today’s online world, blog readers and search engine visitors have grown very accustomed to getting everything for free. First, I want to dispel the myth…nothing is free. While your reader did not shell out any cash to pick up this form of eBook, the end goal is revenue generation and list building. By giving away a free eBook on your site if your visitor signs up for your newsletter, you are putting off a small amount of money up front with the hope that the reader will perform another call to action in the future that generates revenue for your blog. In most cases, your free eBook also contains revenue generating links that further increases your bottom line. The term “free” is coined because no money changes hands at the time of download.

Benefits of free eBook publishing…

  • Drastically more downloads than paid eBooks.
  • Does not have to be as unique or in depth as a paid eBook, but if you want it to really be successful…the more in depth and unique…the better.
  • Generates email lists through newsletter subscription services like Aweber for further affiliate and direct sales opportunities.

Drawbacks of free eBook publishing…

  • No direct money through the sale. Reader could never generate revenue for your blog.
  • Highly specialized techniques can reach the wrong hands and diminish you brand name (more on this later).

When you look at your eBook and contemplate whether or not you need to give it away for free or charge money, you need to look at other sites and blogs in your niche. Are they giving away for free what you want to charge for? Are there other, more in depth and popular free versions out there already? As you consider the competition, you are going to have to follow their lead in some ways.

Let’s take a look at the Make Money Online niche. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of free eBooks on the net all promising to make you an online millionaire if you just follow the steps they did. Now…many of these eBook publishers have not made one dime online, but there are several highly successful online marketers that are giving away their information for free. If you expect to jump into this market with a paid eBook, you are going to watch the sales drop off the map if you sell even one. Since there is so much competition that is already free, you are going to have to follow suit unless you are immensely successful (and everyone knows it) or you are coming to the market with a completely unique idea.

Free eBooks are one of the best ways to grow your presence online. They increase your subscriber count and make you money down the long haul even if you don’t see the direct result right away. I highly recommend that everyone have at least one free eBook publication for that reason.

Paid eBooks- Publishing eBooks for Money

As you look around online, you will see numerous, highly successful paid eBooks that are published on blogs just like robbsutton.com. These eBooks have generated revenue for blogs and websites through the direct sale of online content. Successful eBooks with timeless information can bring in revenue for long periods of time with minimal work after the eBook is complete and published.

Benefits of paid eBook publishing…

  • Instant money generated from the sale.
  • Still builds credibility and lists for eBook publisher (just smaller numbers than free).
  • Your information is more protected by the money qualifier before download (relates to specialized techniques comment above).

Drawbacks of paid eBook publishing…

  • Smaller amount of downloads over free for obvious reasons.
  • Affiliate marketing is a great way to spread the news, but you have to give up profit to achieve true success.
  • Needs to be very in depth and sometimes highly unique in the marketplace to be successful.

Typically, paid eBooks are unique in the marketplace. Their content is not easily found anyone else’s blog for free and it is relevant to a large audience. Either someone else has not filled that gap in the industry, or you have found online success through a new resource that is unique and can be replicated through your instruction. When a reader pays and downloads a paid eBook, they need to feel like they received something of real value that will add value to whatever subject you are writing about. There are numerous, highly successful paid eBooks on blogging, health and wellness, money and other subjects that affect us in our daily lives. If you already have a strong name in the industry, a paid eBook can bring you another huge source of revenue that was previously untapped.

To better illustrate the thought process that goes into the paid eBook decision, I will outline why I went with the paid option on Ramped Reviews on robbsutton.com. In Ramped Reviews, you will find step by step instructions on how to start a review blog, deal with companies as you seek and receive free product to review on your blog and how to treat your blog like a company instead of a hobby that you just do on the side. The following list is why I went with a paid eBook.

  • Ramped Reviews is unique to the industry, so the competition is extremely low.
  • I have had published success on large blogs that gives credibility to the information.
  • Not everyone should have this information (protecting techniques comments above). I did not want bloggers that were not serious about review blogging using this information to bug companies online and then use my name to say why they did it. If you are not willing to shell out the $20.00 it takes to buy the eBook, then you are not serious enough to contact companies for free product.
  • The return on investment is HUGE. I have received over $70k in free product to review…so 20 bones is nothing in comparison.

As you can see…there are several different factors that I considered before deciding to publish a paid eBook. Most importantly, I did not want this highly successful information to get in the hands of bloggers that are not absolutely serious about writing reviews or running their blog as a business. I like to think of the $20.00 as a fee of entry into the world of review blogging.

Do I publish a free or paid eBook on my blog?

As you can see by the lists above, there are many different considerations you have to ponder in your quest to publish an eBook on your blog. In most cases, if there is a large amount of free competition in your market, you need to release a free eBook to help grow your list and your blog. If you are in a market with low competition and you have unique information that will really help other readers reach their goals, a paid eBook may be your ticket to another revenue source on your blog.

One thing is for certain, there is no one right way to publish an eBook and you need to weigh your individual needs against the positives and negatives of each method. I do recommend that you at least giveaway one eBook (or something else valuable to your readers) for free to continue list building and blog promotion. After that…it is up to you on paid or free.

Of course, all of this information assumes that you have quality content backing up your decision…

Free image by tonx

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing, The Web Tagged With: , , ,

Making Money Online by Filling A Need

June 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Find yourself saying, “you know…someone should do that!”? Why isn’t that person you?!

Everyday, we go throughout life seeing voids that could be filled if someone would just take the initiative to complete the task. These voids could be vastly profitable if done correctly, but it takes just one person that is willing to put the thought and work into doing it right.

At some point in time, there was a man who thought, “I wish there was some way I could keep track of notes on a small piece of paper that stuck to things…” Instead of just waiting for someone else to manufacture his idea into reality, he took the initiative and built a simple product that everyone uses today…the sticky note. Thanks Art Fry!

This idea does not have to be some life changing product that sweeps the world. You just have to find something that enough people, like yourself, need and a way to deliver that need to a targeted audience. This can be in the form of information (books, ebooks, blogs), products (sticky note, Kleenex) or even just ideas (public speaking).

For those of us that play in the world wide web and internet marketing, these goods and services are normally in the form of blogs, membership sites and electronically distributed information like eBooks. While affiliate marketing is the leader in online money making, you can make your fortune online by filling an information need. eBooks, eCourses and membership sites that provide useful information are incredible ways to make a living online.

By capitalizing on what you do best, you are able to start an income stream that can last a lifetime. Better yet…it will be the life you want to live and not the life that you have become accustomed to over time.

Do you really want to be that person that says, “I had that idea once” or do you want to be the person that acts on that idea?

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,

Make Money Online Blogs and Tweeters

May 19, 2009 By 8 Comments

I find it incredibly surprising…well not really…how many make money online bloggers there are out there that don’t actually make any money online! If you look at any of the successful MMO bloggers out there…Darren of Problogger, John Chow, Shoemoney, etc….they all MADE MONEY on another blog before they ever even started talking about making money online. Seems like a simple concept really…talk about what you have experience in. How are you going to tell your readers how to race a car if you have never been in a car race? How are you going to instruct and teach them how to cook if the most complicated meal you have ever made is cereal? You can’t! So why are all of these bloggers out there blogging about making money online when they have zero experience in the subject?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,
Newer Posts »