Practical ideas for success online by Chris Guthrie

Goal Update: I made $4,000 last month

Category: Income Reports, My Sites, Personal

It’s nice to see that after a ton of hard work and several low earning website ideas, I’m finally having some more success with web entrepreneurship in my life. The other day I condensed my journey in as little words as I could via this entry 202 Posts Later and today I’m offering my first progress report in my most ambitious goal yet – self employment by April 2011.

In the original goal post I wrote just 5 short months ago I outlined my goal to be averaging $32k per year via my websites by the time my wife graduates with her masters degree (all while working a full time job). I also outlined how if I were hitting $1350 per month by the end of 2009 I would be on track to reach that goal; however, needless to say by hitting just over $4,000 this month I’ve actually already met and surpassed my 25 month goal in just 5 short months (as long as I can sustain it). Again, I can’t get too ahead of myself as online income can vary from month to month greatly, but because I earned four figures last month I feel safe enough to say that at the very least I don’t expect to dip down below four figures again which is a nice feeling.

I will continue to provide updates on this blog towards my goal as well as go into more detail about how I am making the money I’m earning now. I wanted to write this post as motivation for my fellow full time workers / part time web entrepreneurs. Don’t give up hope! Keep trying new ideas to earn money online and one of them will stick. It also helps if you have a critic that tries to shoot down your ideas to encourage you to prove them wrong.

Please subscribe to my RSS feed if you’d like to hear more. It’s funny to say this but I haven’t broken the 200 RSS subscriber count yet so help me hit that mark by subscribing my RSS count graph is a near flat line hah hah.

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202 Posts Later

Category: My Sites, Personal

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I was cleaning out some old post drafts on my blog when I noticed that I have written over 200 posts and I wanted to take some time to reflect on the milestone and show some hilarious noob mistakes and how far I’ve come. For the readers that have been with me a long time, I’m happy to see you’re still here more than 200 posts and 2 years later:

Noob Times

I was a pretty big noob and thought I could make a blog that was worth reading simply by writing continuous posts about how well vBSEO was doing on my forums. i.e. Case Study: vBSEO on GamingVidz.com Week 7 lol, I think the best part is that I was using the site:gamingvidz.com search method via Google which isn’t even accurate. Then I showed even more of my internet marketing prowess by talking about my first affiliate sale from vBSEO. (real professional right?)

I started to show a little more gusto when I wouldn’t take no for an answer when Text Link Ads first denied my application and a few months before that I got more serious about my business when I filed for an LLC. thg web media LLC is still kicking today but in 2007 and 2008 barely broke even (more on the 2009 performance in a later post).

2 years ago to the date I did the make money online review post for JohnChow’s blog way back before Google started bitch slapping bloggers and websites for tactics John employed to move his blog up in the SERPS.

A few weeks later I realized that my continuous vBSEO case study updates were a little too frequent so I decided to change the format of the reports (finally a step in the right direction). Later I decided share hosting was not enough so I documented my process through picking a dedicated host in one, two, three parts and in the middle of the process I finally upgraded to a new computer leaving behind my 6 year old Dell.

Getting Better

After this period I believe my posts started to be more useful and original. I also spent more time focusing on forum management which I have not posted about in recent months (my forum efforts have died off somewhat). Soon after this time period I went through a JohnChow phase where I discovered just how pointless it was to be a top commenter on his blog. A month later I had the chance to meet him and talk for an hour which was a lot of fun and after he mentioned me on the blog I received more sustained traffic.

Yippee I posted my goals for 2008 which I for the most part failed (read further on in the post to see how this inspired me). Soon after I started doing quick blogging tips which I eventually stopped doing. I think it was a decent concept but again who really cares what I have to say about blogging when I’m not a major authority on the subject? On that note, this was around the time way too many make money online blogs sprung up and I decided something had to be said, so I wrote a list of 21 ways to avoid saying MMO.

Hurray Money

I decided that in order to be taken more serious I should get a custom wordpress design – so I did in March 2008. Turns out that worked well because in April 2008 I did my first sponsored post. It came from my blog designer, but hey I had another sponsored post to do for TNX a few days later so I was well on my way to fame and riches right? So I started doing blog income reports (here was the first in April 2008)

Because I was such a big baller I had to buy a second monitor right? Only bad asses rock two monitors and because I made $123.17 that month I was a certified bad ass and deserved a second monitor. Too bad this bad ass later paid $167.63 for a $50 SEO Book subscription. During my periods of big balling I also found a way to work way too much.

A few months later I decided that because my theme designer had been getting so many requests for themes similar to mine that I should try and sell a few different color variations of my own theme. (It’s still for sale now too)

Better Posts and a little more personal

I finally got my first incredibly successful post when I wrote about the GoDaddy Free Private Registration Loophole. Several bloggers linked to it after I emailed them and it still ranks number one for several related terms. A few weeks later in September 2008 I decided to share how I almost lost it all when a jerk tried to steal my domains and then offered some tips on how to protect yourself. I also wrote about how much money is an RSS subscriber worth that got most of the larger bloggers to respond to.

2009 comes around, WTF did I do in 2008?

This is the section of the post where I realized WTF did I do in 2008? Did I seriously just write posts on my blog and think that would be the best and only way to earn money online? Apparently I did do that and that’s when I decided I had to take steps to achieve my most ambitious goal yet which meant less posts here. I reaffirmed my decision to post only when I had something very useful to say when I wrote that you should forget blogging about making money online. Realistically, unless you’re already making a bunch of money online from other ventures it’s pretty pointless to believe you can earn enough money online simply by blogging about making online because let’s face it – no one cares to read posts from someone that isn’t an expert in the field.

Conclusion:

Shortly after I looked back at my goals from 2008 I realized that there would be no way for me to get out of my day job unless I found a way to earn money from other online sources. Fortunately, I’ve realized the error of my ways and have been running numerous other websites during the first half of 2009 with fantastic results. I will share my first progress report in the coming days that outlines how my income levels are doing based on my goal of self employment by 2011 and I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed so that you don’t miss out on what I’d like to share.

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Shoemoney Tools $1 – First 10 people that sign up

Category: Chris Recommends

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I’ve been using ShoeMoney Tools for the past 4 or 5 months and I have to admit it’s one of the best investments for my business that I’ve spent my money on in a long time. I’m in the middle of doing a lot more affiliate marketing than I have ever done before and the tools have been critical to my success. It helps that I can also ask noobish questions in the forums without getting made fun of or receiving stupid advice (*cough Digital Point*).

So anyway, I emailed the ShoeMoney team to see if I can get a promo code set up for those of you that are looking to step up your game and lo and behold I got one. If you enter 1PROMO code at the payment page it will give you access to ShoeMoney Tools for just $1 in the first month and $79.95 every month after that. This promo code is only good for the first 10 people to sign up.

Obviously $79.95 a month is a hefty chunk of change we’re talking here, so that’s why I recommend that you at least try it out for a $1. You can cancel your membership if it’s not for you before the 30 days are up and only be out a $1.

For my long time readers, you’ll know that in my past two years of blogging rarely do I recommend programs that you should pay for. I do that because my blog is built on trust instead of just pitching pointless product after pointless product hoping for a quick buck. So you can be sure if I recommend something on this blog you should at least check it out. Now if you’ve been around the web entrepreneurship / blogging scene then you’ve no doubt heard of ShoeMoney Tools. If you haven’t heard about them head on over to the website, just be sure to enter the 1PROMO code when you sign up for your membership. You’ll get the first month for $1 and after that it’s $79.95 a month.

Do you use it now? Did you just sign up through the promo code above?

Let me know what you think

(Update: promo code works now.)

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Go Bigger Dual or Go Home

Category: Personal

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It’s been a while since I provided an update, but I really wanted to share an upgrade to my office workspace. Moving from one monitor to two monitors is like moving from 56k dial up internet to broadband – ok maybe it’s more like moving from DSL to Cable internet – the work you can get done goes up drastically. This increased work capacity is even more evident if you are using more than one window at the same time (cough everyone?) or if you’re coding a site. But before I get to the upgrade, in true before and after fashion I’d like to show you the three stages of my office life:

Sad Single (October 2006 – April 27th, 2008):

Go Dual or Go Home (April 28th 2008 – April 7th 2009)

Go Bigger Dual or Go Home (April 8th – Present)

The latest addition to the family is this bad boy: Samsung T260HD 25.5-Inch. Unfortunately me for me it was $450 when I bought it just a few weeks ago lol but then again I did have a mail in rebate for $50 I forgot to mail in (such is life). In fact at that price I’m having urges to buy another… but then I’d need to buy a bigger desk lol. The other monitor is a 19 inch Samsung LCD. I brought the other 19 inch monitor to work so I have three there now and it works out great.

Anyway, the monitor is sick. I use it to play Xbox 360 and slowly build my online empire…

What does your set up look like? Post links to your set up in the comments below.

On a side note: I can assure you that I have some great stuff coming up on the blog so be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed. I’m going to provide a progress report towards my ambitious goal and I’m very excited to say the future is looking bright…

Update: I just looked at the keyboard and it looks pretty terrible hah hah. I need to upgrade that too…

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Aweber increases referral from 20% to 30%

Category: Blogging

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I recently signed up for Aweber – the best newsletter service around (just read the reviews online) and it’s nice to see they increased their referral fee from 20% to 30%. I haven’t had a bunch of time to use the service and as you can tell I haven’t even put a newsletter up on this blog; however, I have set one up on my Netbook Reviews website.

I keep reading from all the bloggers that starting a newsletter as soon as possible is really important. While I’m getting to the game a little late on this blog, I’m launching the newsletter for the other netbook blog near the site’s inception. Feel free to post your ideas on what the best way to manage that newsletter would be in my comments below. I was thinking of using it primarily as a deal service where I would send out emails as soon as I found good deals on netbooks.

In any case, this is a quick post to let you know that if you don’t already have Aweber you should check it out. Their starting rate is $19 a month for 500 subscribers. And as you can tell they have a pretty sweet referral program too.

Sign up for Aweber

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Forget Blogging about Making Money Online

Category: Blogging, Practical ideas

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If you aren’t already making money online then you shouldn’t start a blog about making money online. Period. I have been blogging for two years about my experiences trying to earn money online and I have only earned a little money from my blog (Around $200 a month). That’s obviously not even close to a full time income and truth be told – it won’t ever be unless I can prove that I’m actually successful enough to be blogging about the topic in the first place.

Why would I pay to get my muffler fixed by someone that doesn’t currently make their living off of fixing mufflers? Why would I listen to a professor teaching about entrepreneurship if they aren’t a successful entrepreneur already? If the primary focus of your blog is how to make money online why would I read your blog if you aren’t already making a lot of money online?

Now when you read this short post you may ask yourself why then should I as a reader care to read your blog Chris? Well, because I’ve anticipated this question as I began to write this post I’ll tell you why you would read my blog:

When I do post it’s about information I believe is valuable enough for those of you out there that are currently trying to find a way to make enough money from your web ventures so that you can quit your day job. After all – that’s what I’ve been focusing on since the beginning of this year. I am already excited at the prospect of looking back two years from now when I’ve surpassed my income goal and see a blog full of posts documenting how I reached my goal.

That’s the story I’m trying to share and if that interests you I recommend you subscribe to my RSS feed so you can follow along in my journey.

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t3leads review

Category: Sponsored Reviews

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I heard about t3leads through Vlad when I did a TNX Review and because I was so impressed with TNX, I was eager to see what he had to offer with t3leads.

Here are some advantages to working with t3leads:

- T3leads does not resell generated leads. Our affiliate program directly cooperates with a large network of banks and other financial institutions. We sell generated leads through a unique auction system that allows our affiliates to make maximum profits. We pay for each customer sent to us when they respond to your offers for qualified products and services.

- We provide our affiliates with an arsenal of promo tools that are constantly being refreshed by our creative team for maximum performance. You can work with both public web sites, and private web sites own by you.

- The high quality of T3lead promo tools ensures high conversion rates in our affiliate network. At T3leads we guarantee the highest conversion rates in the industry – ranging from 1:6 to 1:9.

- Our affiliates can order free ePassporte cards for greater convenience. Major partners can get a VIP ePassporte card free of charge, with a total maximum transaction limit of 10K per day.

- Friendly affiliate support is always available, and ready with answers to any question. The support team can also help with technical problems. You can find answers to commonly asked questions on our forum: http://forum.t3leads.com

While this is marketing info and it all sounds great you never really know what to expect until you create an account and dig into it.

Affiliate Offer Variety and Features are Lacking:

T3 Leads is a payday loans affiliate program. The affiliate categories range from Debt Settlement, Auto Loans, Auto Warranties, Renters Insurance, Auto Insurance, Health Insurance, Home Insurance, Cancer Insurance etc. etc. (you can see the trend). Even with my limited experience in affiliate marketing I do know that the categories that t3 provides affiliate offers in are among the highest paying / most competitive; however, I believe the whole insurance / loan niche in affiliate marketing can be really hard to crack into and it’s always nice to see more as opposed to less

After I searched through a bunch of the categories I noticed there really isn’t a huge selection of affiliate offers though. Even though there are several categories many of them just offer the same website. A good example is: Online Insurance Advisor (Which is the only website listing under Renters Insurance, Auto Insurance, Cancer Insurance etc.) The other noticeable absence is that there is only one way to link to an affiliate offer (hover over the last link I posted to see). Now I know that you can go through and take that URL and use other methods to modify the way the affiliate links display but it’s nice when the affiliate company does that legwork for you automatically.

The interface for affiliates also feels a little bland when compared to what you’re greeted with when you first arrive at t3leads. However, after searching through the menu system for a while I didn’t notice any feature absent that all of the other affiliate networks are offering.

Diamond in the rough?

Now I know that most of my feedback has been generally negative about t3leads but when it comes to affiliate marketing, the only way to know for sure if a network will make you more money than another affiliate network is to test them out. So if you are currently running some loan / insurance related offers I’d recommend you try out t3leads – who knows you could end up making way more money.

Sign up for t3leads here

Now if you’ve used t3leads before I’d love to hear what you have to say about them.

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7 CPM Publisher Programs for Forums

Category: Monetization

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In an attempt to ween myself away from Adsense and utilize a diverse offering of publisher programs I’ve spent a lot of time researching CPM publisher programs. One near universal principle I’ve found in my search for new CPM programs is restriction on your ability to display CPM advertisements on forums. Now for those of you that haven’t noticed, most of the websites I run are vBulletin forums, so this restriction on forums has driven me to find CPM publisher programs that accept the use of their advertisements on forums.

The following is a list of 7 publisher programs that I have applied to specifically because they allow their ads to be displayed on forums:

CPX Interactive
Adsdaq.com ($50 minimum payout, no traffic requirements)
Tribal Fusion (2,000 unique visitors a day)
GorillaNation (500,000 pageviews a month)
CasaleMedia (10,000 unique visitors a month)
Backbeat Media

Won’t accept forums:

Burst Media (Applied and denied)
ValueClickMedia
NetShelter

I know that one primary concern for publisher programs when it comes to permitting forums is the unregulated content posted by users. They are probably trying to prevent any possibility of negative content that may be posted on a forum and having website visitors associating the negative content with the advertisers on the website. There is also the belief that forum page views are not as valuable as other page views (and for the most part this is true); however, that doesn’t mean we can’t find something to work with besides Google Adsense right?

I’ve been spending a lot of time experimenting with various publisher programs like long ago in my battle between Kontera and IntelliTxt; however, I’ve really wanted to focus on trying out CPM publisher programs so I hope this list will help you find a way to make more money on your forums. If you have any other CPM programs that you would like to add to the list, programs you’ve been denied from, believe I’ve listed some in error or anything else please comment below and I’ll update the list accordingly.

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Goal Update: I made $4,000 last month

Related Posts:

202 Posts Later

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Shoemoney Tools $1 – First 10 people that sign up

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Go Bigger Dual or Go Home

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Aweber increases referral from 20% to 30%

Related Posts:

Forget Blogging about Making Money Online

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t3leads review

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7 CPM Publisher Programs for Forums

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