Making Money With Blogs | Or How I Waste My Time 

Man it's hard to keep this lens going when I have a blog pretty much pulling the same duty. I need to figure out a way to differentiate this lens from that blog. But that is not your problem. You want content. You want to read what's going on in the weeds.

Not much right now. I started a couple of months ago to build simple niche sites using keyword sniping, Blogger blogs and getting links. Trying to keep it real simple and easy.

At first this method seemed to be working OK. I got most of my blogs indexed quickly and in the first page or two for specific keywords. I was even making a few bucks with the beloved Adsense.

That is no more. Google slapped most of those sites down. What's more is that Google seems to have stopped liking Squidoo lens. At least mine.

I don't do any blackhat techniques. I do very little grayhat stuff. I blog. I spurl, furl, tag. I claim at Technorati. I submit links to blog and website directories. I trade links. I comment on other like minded blogs. I build lens and hubs and link those over to my main blog. I create decent content.

I hope over time all these things will have an effect on Google. I have no intention of stopping creating blogs and sites. I think that once they get out of that stupid sandbox or whatever after 6 months or so it should be OK. And all the work I put in will pay off. I just think that there is no quick payoff anymore. 90% of the money I make is on sites that are at least 6 months old - most older.

Keyword Research 

I Like NicheBot

The one tool that I doubt I'd want to live without is a keyword tool. The one that I've been using for quite a while is Nichebot. I find it very useful. Cost effective.

I use it to find the words and phrases that I am sniping at. I use the LSI tool to organize my site in a manner that is apparently pleasing to Google.

On My Wish List 

Gotta have goals

I would like to buy this TV, or one of similiar quality one day. Little things like this keep me focused on building my sites. We've had the same TV for 15 years. We would like an upgrade. Or at least the money to buy it then spend it on something else...like food.

Sony Bravia KDL-46S2000 46-Inch Flat Panel LCD HDTV

Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)

Sites That Help Make Me Money 

PLR Advice

I built this site as a sort of directory and review site for PLR article sites. If you are looking for content to populate you blogs and websites with, then this site might be a very good starting place for you.

How to Make Money For Beginners

Grizzly, as he calls himself on the site, provides some of the best free information on making money with blogs I have read. Highly recommended.

Blogger Unleashed

Another outstanding blog filled with outstanding and free information. If you want to learn how to make money online then Vic is someone who can explain how to do it. He can be a bit irreverent but underneath his gruff is a person who is walking the talk and is sharing the experience of how he does it. Highly recommended

OrwellPro

I use OrwelPro to populate my niche blogs with fresh content. I don't always have time to create a new article so I go out and use one that someone else has written. Is that illegal? Wrong? Not at all. I make sure the links remain so credit is given to the original writer. I add a quick comment and summary before and after the article to make it a bit unique and post away.

You can simply search for articles based on your keyword and save it as a text or html file. Or you can set up projects to post articles from various article directories to your blogs or XSP sites. The software brings back articles for you to use based on your search term and allows you to make the article a bit different by entering commentary. Additionally it can tell you how "saturated" the article is by counting the number of times it occurs in MSN, Yahoo and Google search engines. I simply choose articles that haven't been used more than a handful of times.

XSite Pro

If you want to build search engine friendly websites without the difficult learning curve of CSS and other code, XSite Pro is your best bet. Webmasters all over are using the product to create their sites as it is easy to use and builds quality websites. I use it for almost all my sites.

Lost Ball Feed 

Newsfeed from Lost Ball in High Weeds

Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

Cool Stuff From Amazon 

Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual

by Matthew MacDonald

Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 10/11/2008)

Money For Content and Your Clicks For Free: Turning Web Sites, Blogs, and Podcasts Into Cash

by J. D. Frazer

Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)

Blog Design Solutions

by David Powers, Phil Sherry, Andy Budd, Simon Collison, John Oxton, Richard Rutter, Chris J Davis, Michael Heilemann

Amazon Price: $26.39 (as of 10/11/2008)

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Web Page & Blog, 6th Edition (The Complete Idiot's Guide)

by Paul McFedries

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 10/11/2008)

Show Me Some Love or Hate 

Sign in and let yourself be known. Whether you like the site or not, I would love to hear from you.

aprilkerr OK, I've got into the whole squidoo stuff too. Just busy promoting some of my pages now.... Posted February 23, 2007

RedPenAnni Hey there splork great lense. Your honesty is refreshing in a world of "frothing at the mouth with enthusiasm about chasing dollars through affiliate and marketing programs" as Marti so nicely put. Keep on keeping it real brother! Posted January 15, 2007

Grace_n_Mick Excellent lens linked to you from mine. Posted September 26, 2006

splork Thanks Richard and Marti. I appreciate the nice comments. I'll keep writing how I see it. Thanks for reading Posted September 17, 2006

RichardK Hi Splork, Like your lense and your blog and the way you think. It's a weird and addictive racket with a lot of sleazy stuff going on - but there are marketers who really do care about their customers and they're the ones to model. Keep on calling it like you see it. Richard Posted September 16, 2006

Marti Wow. Interesting to hear someone who isn't frothing at the mouth with enthusiasm about chasing dollars through affiliate and marketing programs. I wish you all the best. I'm just trying to figure out how to sell my book - reading everything on marketing I can find! LOL Happy Labor Day weekend! Posted September 02, 2006

splork Thanks Tom. That was bad, but kinda funny too. I can always figure out a way to botch something up. Posted August 31, 2006

tomwfox Interesting stuff, which is good. But I'm posting to point out that the link to your website in the first line of this lens has a typo, which is bad. Sorry, but you need to know. Posted August 30, 2006

splork Thanks Seth. It's quite humbling that you would say so. Thanks for reading. Posted August 18, 2006

splork Clint, you're right about Mark. He's one of the good guys. Posted August 18, 2006

sethgodin that was a great post (http://lostballinhighweeds.com/social-networking/lens-gives-clarity-to-murky-web/) about Squidoo. Welcome. Posted August 18, 2006

cgraynz Hi Splork, I am also using Affilorama after having met Mark at the World Internet Summit in London, where everyone was peddling their wears for 100 tims more than Marks Affilorama. He offers awesome value and wears his heart on his sleeve. He is definitely one of the most genuine guys out there. Posted August 18, 2006