Reaper-X » Making Money

Message from Google Adsense Optimization Team

Reaper-X — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:30:50 +0000

Okay so yesterday when i checked my adsense account, i just noticed that there’s a message on my adsense reports page … and to be honest, this is the first time ever i saw this message because previously it just left blank until yesterday (actually at first i thought that the Recent Message section on the reports page is just for decoration purpose only lol)

But the question is … what is the subject of the message actually that makes me interested on posting it ?

While here’s the actual message read :

Dear Publisher,

Here is your optimization report for the month of November. After an automatic review of your sites, we think you might be able to improve your monetization using the following tips:

You may be filtering ads that monetize well on your site.
How can I fix this? Dismiss this tip.

We hope these tips are helpful, and encourage you to experiment using different layouts and formats—no two sites monetize the same way!

Sincerely,
Google Adsense

and here’s the screenshot :

Based from the above message, it seems that some of the url’s listed on my Google Adsense Competitive ad-filter might be able to improve my monthly earnings, and fortunately since there are only several urls listed on my competitive ad-filter page i can guess on which one to remove :D (beside i just put those url’s several days ago)

Anyhow … i’m really glad when i saw this message, because it really save my time from testing the competitive filter list :)

As a side note, i’m not the first publisher to receive this message because there are some other adsense publisher that receives this message as well … such as Dave Taylor from Askdavetaylor and Rusty Brick from SERoundTable

0x87485B96 | Tags : Google Adsense, Journal, Making Money

Why you shouldn’t trust screenshots showing online earning report

Reaper-X — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:57:05 +0000

Wondering why you shouldn’t trust any screenshot (note: screenshot is not a photo of you with your check of course) that shows you a screenshot about someone else earning report (in this case online income report) … such as from their affiliate earnings report, adsense report, etc ? The answer is simply because they can always create a fake screenshot about their online earning report ;)

Want to see an example ? Here’s of what a perfect adsense report look like

Now if only there’s someone that could achieve that perfect score :P

The commonly used technique to create a fake screenshot is simply by saving the webpage they’re currently viewing and later they’ll edit the source code manually and then they just need to open their newly edited webpage and then fake the address bar so they’re showing the correct url for their online report and finally take a screenshot showing their big online income (in most case, i often saw people prefer not to show their address bar directly, so i don’t think it’s necessary for you to show the address bar) :P

But what if you’re using Mozilla Firefox as your primary Internet Browser ? then you can use the Firebug extension to simplify things without saving that page locally first as shown on below image, or you can also use Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox

0x87485B96 | Tags : Making Money, Personal

Chitika RPU … Rocks !!!

Reaper-X — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:11:45 +0000

Well … perhaps i’m a little bit overreacting over this Chitika RPU, but just in case you didn’t know that i’ve used Chitika code since last year and haven’t actually made any money from it (from that Chitika eMinimalls thing) and constantly removed and re-add the chitika code into this blog just for testing purpose or as cosmetic purpose since i don’t use too many images on my post

But … you know what ? ever since i got accepted into their RPU program which is still in beta stage currently and you’ll , i’ve seen an increase in my earnings from $0.00 – $0.02 (most of the time it usually stays around this area) into $2.00 – $4.00 which is not bad at all considering if i could make around $120 per month (unaudited and it could be lower after get audited, but let’s just hope that i could at least get $100 / month from it), i could pay my monthly hosting bill from Chitika only or even better i could move this site into a dedicated server from VPS (thought it’s still not necessary for me to move into dedicated hosting)

So what next ? are you interested on trying Chitika RPU too ? if you’re interested that’s great but unfortunately unlike the normal Chitika eMinimalls, your site needs to fulfill these requirements first in order to get accepted into their RPU program :

Be a current Chitika Publisher who has made at least $100 with us (i do not pass this requirement just as i said before because i haven’t made anything with them)
OR Have a site or blog that receives at least 50,000 page views a month (we use compete and alexa to determine this)

Since this site generates more than 100.000 pageviews per month, i’ve decided to contact the Chitika team directly and ask whether they can accept me into their RPU program … and ? thanks God i got accepted by them (and ooh don’t worry Chitika staff are friendly and also response quickly to your email, so you don’t need to worry about it)

So to those who’s previously running Chitika eMinimalls and haven’t tried Chitika RPU yet … i’d suggest you to do the same and try Chitika RPU on your site ;)

0x87485B96 | Tags : Income Sources, Internet, Making Money

Google Adsense for Mobile now available

Reaper-X — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:36:43 +0000

Google just recently announced the new adsense for mobile format to those who’s running a mobile website. Here are some excerpts taken from the Google Press Center :

AdSense for Mobile is intended for AdSense partners who have created websites specifically for mobile browsers, and who want to monetize their mobile content via contextual advertising. Like Google’s other AdSense products, mobile text ads run on an auction model. The system automatically reviews the content of publishers’ mobile websites and delivers text ads that are relevant to the websites’ audience and content. Publishers earn money whenever mobile users click on the ads.

Unfortunately it seems that even if you own a website that is using English language you can’t still using this adsense for mobile, and that’s because i get this message on my adsense setup page :

We do not currently offer AdSense for Mobile in Indonesia.

So i guess that mean, this new adsense for mobile can only be used for publisher that is located in the following countries : US, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, India, China, and Japan

Anyhow, even if i can still access the new mobile adsense options, i don’t think placing adsense on mobile supported web pages is a good idea, because most mobile users that use their mobile phone to surf around the web can be considered as tech savvy users that don’t usually click on ads. And could make them stop visiting your mobile page completely

0x87485B96 | Tags : Google Adsense, Income Sources, Making Money

Lessons i’ve learned about making money online with blog after 1 year

Reaper-X — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:57:44 +0000

Hurray … today this site turns 1 year old (actually it should be on 6 July but at that time im still using free Wordpress.com blog so i dont count it anymore) :) … at first i never thought that i’d be coming this far simply by just blogging about anything (although most of the time i wrote about Computers, and Game related content). And of course it’s all thanks to those who’s visiting this site (regular visitors or just passer by). And as the title said, this time i’m going to tell you what i’ve learned so far about make money online by Blogging

1. Write Useful Content

Content is king, and that mean if you really want to drive visitors to your site, of course you’ll need to create useful content. Let’s say you love to write about yourself, your cat’s, etc … but think about it this way, what if you’re looking at some unknown blog writing about themself or their cat. Do you really care about it ? … i’ll leave the answer to you

2. Search Engine Rulez

Forget those who says that Search Engine is useless, because search engine is the first source of your traffic no matter if your site has large user base or not, so you’ll need to make sure your site is optimized for search engine because that’s how most people find your site

3. Learn to fix your mistake and never give up to early

Let’s say you’ve set a target on making your site to make specific amount of money after six months of blogging. But when that time come, you didn’t really make anything from your site. Now what you should do then ? first thing is of course look at what you’ve wrote so far and ask yourself, does your content gives valuable information to those who’s visiting your site ?

But what happen if you decided to give up on blogging at this time instead of learning to fix your mistake ? Here’s a good lesson i’ve learned from Electronic Arts (i know EA is on different level than blog, but look at below paragraph)

According to the 1982 business plan, the company’s original business goals were to grow to a billion-dollar company within its first six years and to “make software that makes a personal computer worth owning.” At the time, Electronic Arts was the 136th game publisher in the U.S. EA eventually attained its goal of becoming a billion-dollar company, though it took 12 years to do so.

4. If you really want to make money, you’ll need to spend some money first

If you’re really serious about making money, of course you’ll need to spend some money first in order to do it and in this case you’ll need good hosting company (for more flexibility, and control), and a domain name only or perhaps to promote your site by placing your site ads on other site

Let’s take an example, Wordpress.com offer you a free unlimited blog hosting using wordpress (in terms of bandwidth and post storage not image, etc) and top notch server (no problem for getting digged, or slashdotted) but the downside from their service is … you can’t place any advertisement on your site (and that’s including affiliate links)

Now what about Blogger.com / blogspot ? basically they have the same offer just like Wordpress.com, with the exception you’re allowed to place advertisement on your blog unfortunately with this downside :

3 out of 4 Blogger urls are SPAM : source although previously i’ve wrote about it too … which mean most people don’t trust blogger powered blogs anymore (or at least for me)

I knew both of them are offering domain mapping so you can use your own domain name instead of using their subdomain to look more professional, but that’s the point

5. The only thing you need to know from other website that tell you about make money online is what advertisement program they’ve joined

This may sound a little bit harsh, but one thing i’ve learned about making money online is by looking on what advertisement program are used by the big site / or other website, because that’s how you’re going to make money online

6. Do what you love and money will follow you

I think this tips already explain it all,

What tips would you give someone just starting out in blogging if they wanted to build a profitable blog?

First, pick a topic you love, one that you can’t wait to write about every day. If I wasn’t truly obsessed with productivity, I would have never lasted at Lifehacker. Second, center your site on the reader, not yourself. Provide useful, informative, entertaining material that readers will come back to over and over again. Third, measure your success by your readership and the response you get from others, not your Adsense checks. Once you build your audience, the money will follow

If you have your own experience about this, of course i’d be delighted if you could share some of your experiences too :)

0x87485B96 | Tags : Blogging, Income Sources, Journal, Making Money

Feedburner Ad Network for me ? i’m sure there’s a mistake

Reaper-X — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:32:11 +0000

I’m not to sure why i get this message when i was looking at the monetization tab in my feedburner account today (previously it didn’t show me this message)

Although i’m interested on trying Feedburner Ad Network (FAN), but i’m sure there’s a mistake somewhere in the Feedburner system. Because based on what i read from someone else comment at Problogger, and Yugatech. You need to get at least 500 RSS Subscribers to join the Feedburner Ad Network … while in reality, this blog only has 155 Subscribers (today) … and the number usually going up and down although it usually stay in 100 – 139 area

Anyhow … eventhough there are no errors in FAN system, i still can’t join them because in order to join FAN you must have paypal account first (i do have a verified paypal account, unfortunately my paypal account can only be used to send money only) :(

0x87485B96 | Tags : Income Sources, Making Money, Personal, Website

Job interview request from Maxgain International

Reaper-X — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 03:53:43 +0000

So today i just got a phone call from Maxgain International, and they said that they would like to invite me to do some interview with them on Monday with Ms. Anggun which is quite surprising because i never tried applying with them or perhaps i’ve sent them before when i was looking for a job back then in 2003 (or below) if i remembered it correctly

Since that phone call looks suspicious (at least) for me, i tried to search for Maxgain International company using Google and found various article related to it. Unfortunately, all of them are bad experiences from someone who’s previously involved with Maxgain (directly / indirectly)

Here are some of them (written in Indonesian Language) :

Laporkan Maxgain ke Polisi by Priyadi
MaxGain Rebuttal by Ryo Saeba (Hey that nickname looks familiar) :P
Maxgain = Menjebak (discussion forum based on the author personal experiences with Maxgain)

To sum it up :

Maxgain tries to search for new victim by creating / posting various employment opportunities at various job seeker website
Maxgain call the job seeker and ask them for interview
They want you to do some training first
They ask you to deposit your money with them (or at least that’s what i thought after reading the forum discussion about maxgain)
If you do not send them your money (mark up money) after few months, you’ll lose previously deposited money

That’s it … and the conclusion is … if you got the same phone call asking for job interview (especially if it’s looks suspicious) try to do some research about the company first so you’ll not end up regretting later

0x87485B96 | Tags : Journal, Making Money, Personal

Agloco Release it’s Viewbar Software

Reaper-X — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:05:17 +0000

So today i just checked my inbox and saw a message from Agloco about their Viewbar finally available for download :

We are pleased to report that your AGLOCO Viewbar has been released and is ready for you to download now. Since you signed up with AGLOCO, our community has continued to grow even larger, stronger, and more active. With the Viewbar software, we are excited for each Member of the AGLOCO community to begin earning their share of the wealth generated on the Internet

Thought i do not know when i’m going to install this Agloco Viewbar to my computer because i do not trust anything related to toolbar, etc and not interested on installing any toolbar related stuff on my main computer. Not to mention that i only has a small amount of total referal … lol

So i think it’d be best for me to wait it for a while or when i’ve finished configuring Virtual Operating System dedicated for this toolbar ;)

Btw if you did not know what Agloco is, i’d suggest you to read my previous post about Agloco … or if you just want to know what Agloco Viewbar is all about, here’s the short description about agloco viewbar :

The Viewbar is a small toolbar that rests on the bottom of your screen or browser window while you surf the Internet. The Viewbar software is what enables AGLOCO to collect the money you are earning while browsing the Internet.

In other words, Agloco Viewbar is the software used by you to make money online with just browsing and not doing anything else (like creating website, etc)

0x87485B96 | Tags : Income Sources, Making Money, Software, Windows

Hostgator affiliates … i like it

Reaper-X — Thu, 31 May 2007 11:03:18 +0000

Well … 1 or 2 weeks ago i received an email from my Hostgator affiliates account and it’s said that someone just registered to Hostgator hosting under my affiliate account, and thanks to that unknown person, i finally made something from affiliate program (i made $50 from one signup, and yes this is the first time i received something from affiliate program just as i said before)

But as you can see that i only made $50 that can be considered low especially if you do not have paypal account. But in my case, i have verified paypal account but i can only use it to send money only which is sad and the other problem is if i try to cashed that check, in the end i get nothing from it because of high bank fee, and any other fee included just to cash that check

So i decided to contact hostgator, and ask if there’re any other options to choose instead of sending the checks to me and the answer i get is quite surprising. Because Hostgator staff tell me that it is possible to use Wired Transfer to transfer the money to my bank account directly (of course i’m surprised because i did not see anything related to wired transfer option on their affiliates information page or my affiliates account page or Hostgator Blog), also they (Chad B. from Hostgator) said to me all future payments will be made via Wired Transfer

Well as for now i just hope that i can bring more potential customers to Hostgator side … :P (i think i need to learn more about Marketing and Promotional stuff)

As a note, if you currently searching for a good and reliable web hosting with friendly staff (based on my own experience) I’d recommend Hostgator. And if you want my own honest review about Hostgator (unlike many other review that just want to get money from affiliates), you can read my previous post about Hostgator review or read my post at Webhostingtalk

0x87485B96 | Tags : Income Sources, Making Money, Personal, Web Hosting, Web Servers

ReviewMe Advertiser Marketplace

Reaper-X — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:29:36 +0000

Today i just received another email message from ReviewMe, and here’s what the email message looks like :

Aditya , we are excited to announce our new Advertiser Marketplace at ReviewMe.com! In addition to our marketplace of premium blogs where advertisers can purchase individual reviews, advertisers will now be able to create campaign offers that you will have the option to accept. This new marketplace gives your blog a new way to make more money.

Your blog is approved for this new marketplace and we invite you to login and review all relevant offers that you can blog about now!

Thanks,

ReviewMe Support

After reading that email message, i go to the ReviewMe site to open my account info with them which hasn’t been opened for … 1 – 2 months (or more since ReviewMe did not do well in this site) .. and saw a message saying that there are 5 review offers that i might be interested (previously i did not see this message) … such as reviewing sandals, watchband, backgammon, etc (which i considered as spam and that’s why i decided not to take it) .. lol

To be honest .. if i have to review something like that .. i think it’d best for me not to review it at all (maybe this is why i never made anything from ReviewMe except for the first $30 dollars) .. hahaha

0x87485B96 | Tags : Income Sources, Journal, Making Money, Website