"Scraper" Sites: Yay or Nay?

Legitimate practice or not? SeekingAlpha offers a tip on making money with blogs and widgets and uses this site for Apple fans as an example of how to do it. Some of the commenters made note that this is a questionable practice and even went as far as to call it a “scraper” site. If you want a few definition of what a “scraper site” is, check out this forum at WebmasterWorld.com. I don’t really know where I stand on this as far as a “legitimate” way to make money. I have often seen some of my blog headlines on these types of sites, but all of them have linked to my blog, so I don’t really see any harm in it. At the same time, I don’t find these sites have that much use - except that I sometimes find other interesting news or websites to read. Other than that, they usually don’t have very good design so I don’t stick around. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts about this. Comments are welcome!

The Ultimate Gift: Giving Back

There have been a couple times where I’ve wanted to just stop writing at this blog. I got into it to make money, of course, but part of me felt that I wasn’t going to be able to compete with all the other bloggers out there talking about the same thing - starting an online business. Well, then I got over that hump and realized that even though I don’t get as much traffic as the “big dogs” do, I know that those few that do come across this blog will find something of value to gain and learn from. I know that doing this is part of my duty to give back to the world and help the few out there who need a little motivation. Then today I found out about this movie called “The Ultimate Gift”. This is the official site of the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and the grass-roots movement it’s starting to help charities and give to others. The movie is based on the message that "The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away.” This was a reminder to me to keep moving forward with my goals to become like Oprah or Warren Buffett - to have tons of money and be able to give back to the world. So, I’ll stick around and continue to share and give. Find out more about "The Ultimate Gift" and the movement at www.theultimategift.com *Sponsored Post

Good Blog Read: 10 New Ways to Make Money Online

I just came across this great article at Web Worker Daily titled 10 New Ways to Make Money Online. It's amazing all the different ways to create an income from the internet. We're all experts at something right? Why not create a website and market your expertise? Whether it's writing a book or writing blog posts for money - the possibilities are endless! I've been doing a couple of things mentioned in the article like blogging for money and writing reviews for companies (You can sign up too at ReviewMe.com). Although I do have a Flickr account, I never really thought about offering prints of my photography. What are you doing to make money online? If you're not making money online, why not?

Get Paid to Review My Blog Posts

Well, for those of you who have been following the company, PayPerPost, you know that the people over at PayPerPost have some good stuff cooked up for us probloggers... The latest opportunity to make money is this new program called Review My Post program. Through this program you can make money every time someone signs up and reviews a post on your blog. Seriously, this is a no brainer. I mean, most of us bloggers like to talk about what people have has said on their blogs. Why not get paid for it? So, don’t be surprised when you start to see this little blue badge at the bottom of some of my posts. (Click it to join now!) So far I haven’t had anybody sign up yet through my links, but then I haven’t been actively promoting it like I should be. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this new program if you are a “Postie” (that’s what they call us PayPerPost members) and have had some referrals. Actually, I’d like to hear any thoughts on PayPerPost as a whole. I know there has been much controversy over this type of online marketing, but all the hoopla seems to have died down. Check out my PayPerPost story and thoughts I wrote awhile back.

Free Report: The Secret to Wealth in 2007

I just came across this free report and it completely blew my mind. Download it here. After you download and read the report lets mastermind about how we can approach this new year of 2007! I know you will be as pumped up and inspired as I am right now. The information in it is truly priceless. To our success!! P.S. You also can make hundreds of dollars just for telling others and them downloading the free report.

Thoughts on Offline Marketing

As an online business entrepreneur, I often forget that there is still such a thing as offline marketing! The first thing I learned when I was training to become a real estate agent was to always carry business cards with you. (I no longer sell homes, but I'm still very much into real estate investing). I'll tell you why it's important to always carry a business card. First of all, you just never know who you're going to run into. Second, people take you more seriously when you have a business card to hand to them. They think, wow, this person is the real deal and not just some Joe-Schmo who is saying they have an "internet business" to look good. By the way, VistaPrint has some free deals of the week to help you kick-start an offline marketing campaign. Another thing to invest in are Thank You cards to send to your customers. This isn't necessarily "marketing" per se, but as many smart business people know, it costs much more to acquire new customers than it does to keep your existing ones. For a ton of tips on customer service, check out my other blog, CustomersAreAlways. Have any tips to share? _______________________________

Day Job Killer Reviews

Day Job Killer - it's the new product launch that has caused quite a buzz with the online business and marketing community. I will probably purchase the product myself and do my own review of it soon, but I first want to see what everyone else is saying about it... Eric Giguere says: "DLX isn't revolutionary by any means, but obviously not too many people were using that technique. That's changing now that the book's out and thousands of people will be trying the method — expect to see a lot more Amazon ads on Google now. The book has a lot of details on how to create winning ads and how to find the right products to promote." Extra Income Online says: "The techniques are “stolen” from real internet marketers and gurus who have been using it against the average affiliate. Learning these techniques means beating the gurus at their own game. So, not only do you make easy, day job killing cash, you also get to p*^s off the gurus who have been holding you back…and you get to rob them blind while you laugh all the way to the bank." Andy Beard brings up a great point regarding Clickbank terms of service in his post titled Clickbank Require Disclosure - A-List Bloggers Totally Missed the Point In December. It seems that many affiliates out there either don't know this "term" of service or that they simply just don't care. I am one of those affiliates who wasn't aware of this! I could go on and on with the reviews, but I would be writing for an eternity. Instead, check out what everyone is saying over at Technorati. Oh, and while you're there, why not add this blog as one of your favorites?