CASH IN YOUR THOUGHTS

What is Favicon.ico?

2009-05-23T12:49:00.001+03:00

A favicon (short for "Favorites icon"), also known as a page icon , is a small icon that is used by some browsers to identify a bookmarked Web site.

If you're trying to entice people return to your site from the Explorer's Favorites menu, it helps to prompt them with a special logo of some kind.

The display size of a favicon in the Favorites list is 16 x16. Files are recognized by the “.ico " extension. It works in Explorer 5 and above, and new other browsers also have the ability to use the favicon.ico file.

Creating favicon.ico can save your site some bandwidth if you have created a custom "404 File Not Found error" file - that file will be sent by your web server every time there is a request for a nonexistent "favicon.ico" file.

How Create a Favicon.ico file?

Go to this website: http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/ and simply select a picture, logo or other graphic (of any size/resolution) for the "Source Image" and click "Generate FavIcon.ico " button.

Then upload the file to the Root directory of your site.

Search Engine and Directory Submission

2009-05-20T14:42:00.003+03:00

After designing your blog it's time to start thinking about promoting it. Search Engine and Directory Submission are important ways to generate traffic to your blog. Search engine and directory submission is the act of getting your blog listed with search engines and directories.

When submitting always be sure to read the submission guidelines. Search engines and directories are different, they have their own rules.

Submitting your blog to each search engine and directory individually, will achieve better results and get your blog listed quicker.

With a good organization you can keep track of your submissions and avoid multiple submissions to the same site. If you submit more than once, some sites will assume you are spamming them.

Search Engine Submission

There are hundreds of "companies" that make claims about submitting your site to thousands of search engines. Avoid these services; it is a complete waste of time and money.

The major search engines are:
Google.com/addurl/
Submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
Beta.search.msn.com/docs/

Directory Submission

Directories are important because:
They will provide you strong back links.
Improve your popularity.
Generally they are permanent linking.

There are some common rules for directory submission. Follow these rules before you submit your site.

They never accept mirror sites.
Sites with overlapping and repetitive content will not accept.
They generally don't accept sites that redirects on other link.
Sites with 'Under construction' status will not accept.
Affiliate/referral links generally not accept.
Don't use promotional language.
Submit your site in appropriate categories Some of Top Directories.

Free submission:
DMOZ.com/add.html is a massive directory that is republished in several other websites.
Zeal.com/ If your site is non commercial type than you can submit your site to Zeal.com.

Paid submission:
Business.com website submission ($199 annual fee)
Microsoft Bcentral Directory website submission ($49 annual fee)
GoGuides.org website submission ($40 lifetime fee)
Gimpsy.com website submission ($40 lifetime fee)

Using Anchor Text in you Posts

2009-05-18T10:20:00.002+03:00

Anchor text is the visible text showing in a link. In a normally built site, anchor text is usually used to indicate the subject and title of the page that it links to. Search engines put a very big importance on Anchor texts.

Keywords in anchor text enhance the relevance of the target page pertaining to the keywords used.

A mistake some newbie’s make is to put their website name into the Anchor Text. It is good if your domain contains your keywords, but if not, it is a waste of a perfectly good link. Many web sites no longer ranking because they use their official company name in Anchor Text.

Vary your text throughout your links
Some webmasters have often focused on a single keyword phrase when choosing anchor text, it is important to understand how sites get penalized for having unnatural back link anchor text.

A site with organic, passively-obtained back links will have a wide variety of back link anchor text variations such as: "official site title", "keyword", "keyword synonym", "www.your-domain.com" and even "click here". People often link to you using the words in your domain name as the link text, so try to vary and combine your keyword throughout your links.

For example if your keyword is "laptop" you can use these phrases into anchor text: "cheap laptop", "best laptop", or even "notebook".

Use Anchor Text within your site
A common mistake webmasters make is to use common words like "here" instead of content related keywords within their site.

Don't forget to use anchor text when link pages of your site each other.

Affiliate Advertising

2009-05-14T17:22:00.005+03:00

As a blogger, your main goal is to get paid for placing ads. The advertisers who agree to let you place ads don’t have a problem with paying you. They do, however, have different payment systems.

Pay Per Click

A pay-per-click commission structure pays you a fixed amount generally between 3 and 25 cents per click for each click (or visitor) you send to the client’s web site. Most pay-per- click commission programs specifically prohibit search marketing, however, so you would take advantage of these types of programs only if you had a content site of your own on which to advertise.

Pay Per Sale

Pay-per-sale programs fall into two categories:

Percentage of sale or revenue.

You receive a percentage of the purchase price or a percentage of revenue (net profit).

Fixed commission per sale.

Instead of a percentage of the sale price, you receive a fixed commission (e.g., $5 or $10 per sale).

You might hear one of these options called revenue sharing. Some affiliate programs give you the option of choosing a percentage or fixed commission. A commission can range between 5 and 60 percent of the purchase price, so examine the eventual purchase prices of the items you are going to promote: You might actually do better with a flat commission.

Pay Per Lead/Action

Information is the coin of the realm for many web sites. These sites place as much value in receiving someone’s contact information and having them fill out a form or download a piece of software as they do in purchasing a tangible good or service. They pay affiliates when someone clicks on their ad and performs a particular action. Some examples include:

Completes forms.

Such sites pay a fee when someone you refer fills out a form. Typically, a form requires the person to submit a name, address, and e-mail address, all of which can be used for subsequent marketing contacts.

Opts for free registrations.

Sites like the auction giant eBay (www.ebay.com) will pay affiliates if a click on one of their ads causes the clicker to sign up with eBay, although they do require that the newly registered user become an active user by placing at least one bid or purchasing or listing at least one item.

Takes advantage of free downloads.

Some sites will pay you a referral fee if a click on one of your ads leads to a download of software they provide. Downloads can lead to eventual purchases of the software.

Sites that don’t sell tangible goods and services but that develop computer software or provide information that you have to register to use are good candidates for affiliate programs. Look for sites that are especially popular and that are relatively new in other words, those that don’t already have millions of registered users that are still growing steadily.

Pay-per-lead/action programs tend to be the most profitable ones for search marketers. In general, the less a program wants you to get the customer to do or to spend, the easier it will be for you to find customers who will perform the actions you need to receive a fee. You might see pay-per-lead/action programs referred to as cost per action (CPA) by some affiliate programs.

Mixed Payment Systems

Some sites, like eBay, have well developed affiliate systems that pay differently for different actions. First, if you place an ad that causes someone to register with eBay for the first time and then use his or her new registration to place a bid, you earn a fee of between $12 and $22.

At the same time, eBay operates a revenue-sharing program in which affiliates earn a percentage of the revenue eBay generates from each sale not of the final sale price when they refer someone who places a winning bid or makes an instant “Buy It Now” purchase.

Each aspect of eBay’s commission structure requires that, in order to be paid, the shoppers have to actually be willing to spend money they have to place a bid if they are new registrants or place a winning bid or make a purchase if they are currently an eBay member.

Because of the need to attract shoppers who must actually follow through in some way, eBay can be a difficult market to crack: It’s difficult to write ads that prompt the correct actions, and it’s also difficult to fine-tune and manage advertising programs.

Not only that, but eBay’s popularity makes the competition particularly fierce. Nevertheless, because eBay is such a vast marketplace, the advertising opportunities are virtually endless. To find out more about eBay’s options for affiliates, visit http://affiliates.ebay.com.

Why is Link Building Important in SEO

2009-05-14T15:10:00.003+03:00

The process of link building is not just one of numerous SEO strategies that are employed on the World Wide Web today; in fact, it is crucial to the success of any website trying to compete in the technological age. Even if you have no other SEO methods in place, your site should at least work on building a reliable base of back links.

Why are back links so important to the success of a website?
For starters, having relevant, reputable sites linking back to a site is one indication of the success and popularity of that site in the eyes of the general online public. And as long as these incoming links are from a quality source then the website’s page rank will improve, thus improving its location within online search results, as well.

What defines a quality back link?
There really is no true definition or standard to be used in determining whether or not a site can be considered high quality – you’ll just have to use your best judgment on this one, as well as a little bit of trial and error. The more popular and well-established sites will obviously be of the highest quality, though it can sometimes be difficult getting your link posted with them.

You’ll also want to consider the relevance of the websites that are providing you with back links, too. If these sites have content that is similar to yours then they are likely to be more beneficial when compared to some random, off-topic website.

Widgetize your blog

2009-05-12T14:35:00.003+03:00

Widgets are an ideal way to add some flare and uniqueness to your blog. But what are widgets and what do they do? Widgets are those little tools or gadgets that can either clutter up online interfaces, or give little tidbits of information that are very accessible at a glance, with various add-ons and plug-ins that let you manipulate your blog and website with ease.

More than personalizing the blog, widgets can also be used for promotion and monetization. With widgets you can customize your blog by just adding little snippets of code to the sidebars.

Whether you’d like to show your live blog traffic stats or show your visitors which sites have recently linked to your web site, you can do it with widgets.

Below is a list of some useful widgets that you can use on your blog or website to add multiple functionality like showing live blog traffic or which sites have recently linked to your blog.

Go through the list and pick and choose some new widgets to test drive on your blog. My advise is not to over-widgetize your blog as there’s a fine line between functionality and clutter.

Google Talk - Give visitors the ability to talk to you via Google Talk directly from your blog sidebar.

Jaxtr - Create a widget that allows people to call you on the phone without revealing the phone number to them.

Meebo Me - Meebo Me will allow you to create a chat box that you can install on your Blogger page, giving you the chance to converse with visitors to your site.

Skype - The official Skype widget allows you to create various buttons that can show your current status and also allows people to just click it and give you a call.

Tag-Board - Allows you to add a real-time chat board to your blog that your visitors and you can use to converse.

Delicious Linkrolls - Share your Delicious bookmarks with the world with this easy to install linkroll widget.

FriendFeed Widget - Share all of your FriendFeed activity with the readers of your site.

Google Friend Connect - A makeshift social network that runs across any site that has installed Google Friend Connect. You can join a site, see the other members, play games and more.

LinkedInABox - LinkedInABox retrieves your LinkedIn profile to display on your blog, allowing people to look through things such as your specialties and experience.

MyBlogLog - If someone visits your blog that is also a member of MyBlogLog, their avatar and username will appear in the box. You can then click on any person to check out their profile on the service.

Twitter - Add your Twitter stream to your blog and display anywhere from your last tweet to the last twenty. Also gives a link for people to be able to follow you.

Share on Facebook - A simple widget that allows your readers to share items from your blog on Facebook.

SocialFeed - A miniature lifestreaming widget that broadcasts your activities on sites such as Twitter, StumbleUpon, Last.fm and so on. Has several different skins you can choose from.

Add This - The popular social bookmarking button is available for Blogger accounts.

Easy Comments - This widget allows you to add commenting to any page of your site by placing the widget at the bottom of a page. Allows people to say if they liked the comment, includes comment threading and more.

Google Search - Add an AJAX powered Google search box to your blog that you can allow to search the web and your blog, or even just restrict it to the contents of your site.

Popular Posts - This widget will take a look at your comments, up to the last 5,000, and generate a list of which posts had the most conversation around them.

Recent Comments - Display the most recent comments on your blog in this widget so that readers can join in the conversation.

Related Posts - Not so much a widget as a hack, this will give you the related post functionality that so many WordPress powered blogs use.

ShareThis - The highly customizable green button that ShareThis is known for can be added to your blog. Choose if you want it for social bookmarking, users emailing your posts and more.

Shout List Icons - Be the king (or queen) of social sharing with this widget that generates icons for over 30 social sites your blog can be added to.

Tag/Label Cloud - Gives you the ability to install a traditional tag cloud in your sidebar so people can see what you write about the most.

Directory Submission Tips

2009-05-11T18:29:00.005+03:00

Directory submission can be a time consuming task but it is still one of the best ways to gain quality one way links to your blog. One way links are when a website/blog links back to without you linking to them. These links are what search engines use to determine your website's rankings. These links can lead to improved search engine rankings, and ultimately more visitors coming to your site.

Submission Form Tips
For best results and maximum acceptance rate, please follow these guidelines when filling out the submission form.

URL
Submit the homepage URL only. Most directories will only accept homepage links, not sub-directories.

For example:
Good: www.cashinontheweb.blogspot.com
Bad: www. cashinontheweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/who-hell-reads-my-blog.html

Title
Use a short but descriptive title. Avoid repeating the same words or phrases over and over again to help your search engine rankings in the title. Avoid using your URL in the title, or unnecessary punctuation.

For example:
Good: Cash in your thoughts – A blog by a professional graphic designer
Bad: www.cashinontheweb.blogspot.com – Professional Graphic designer blog | graphic designer |design service | professional design.

Description
50-200 characters seem to be the optimal range for descriptions. Avoid repetition and keyword stuffing.

Category
Select 3 different categories which best describe your site. A good idea would be to navigate through our directory to see where the best fit would be.

Email Address
Use the email address associated with your domain whenever possible.

Recycling ideas from the bin

2009-05-06T17:01:00.004+03:00

When I first decided to write as a source of extra income, I was quite excited about it, more so because I found so many sites and blogs that actually pay you to write. The amount they pay may not be much, but I thought to myself that at $5 per post, I could probably do about 20 posts a day and make a neat $100 per day in extra income. “Just what I need”, I thought to myself. I would even be able quit my full time job and do this from the comfort of home and be able to spend more time with my family.

With my stereo turned down low, listening to my favorite jazz artist and a pot of tea next to me, I sat down at my PC and adjusted my chair ready to churn out article after article of interesting stuff for people to read and start earning my big, extra bucks per day.

Then bang! Reality hit me smack in the face. I had not a single idea in my head for a subject of interest to write about. I sat there staring at a blank page on my screen, pot of tea forgotten, hardly hearing the jazz music in the background. All that was going through my head was calculations – with every passing hour I subtracted $6 per from my anticipated $100 earnings for that day.

I wouldn’t call this writers block because to start off I was not a writer. Just an aspiring writer! But why would something that had seemed so simple to accomplish at the onset suddenly become so… un-accomplishable? Where had all those ideas for articles that kept flying through my mind suddenly gone to? I must have sat there for four hours doing nothing but stare at the screen before I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to get my creative juices going.

As I walked around the neighborhood, I thought to myself that perhaps the best way to start would be to note down the topics I might want to write about, go through the list, trash what I felt was not interesting enough and then research what was left on my list.

Back at my PC, I keyed in title after title of topics I might want to write about but none of my lists seemed to impress me and they all ended up in my recycle bin.

Is it easier to title an article and then write about it or is it easier to write an article and then title it? This was now the question nagging me at the back of my mind as I struggled to put together the list of topics to write about. I went into my recycle bin and realized I had about twelve word files named ‘Topics to write about’. I decided to restore them to their original folder and go over them once more just in case there was something on one that I could actually write about. “Recycling your ideas from the bin”, I thought to myself and laughed. I opened a new blank document and keyed in the words ‘Recycling ideas from the Bin’. A nice sounding headline I thought to myself.

I began to write about the experience I had just gone through in those first four to five hours of my new part time writing career so that when (not if) I finally make it as a writer I would have some recall of my trials and tribulations.

Why do I want to write really? Is it for the extra money or is it something I will enjoy doing? Do I have the talent, creative ability and perseverance to write articles and stories that will captivate audiences? Do I really want to be a writer?

The answer is a simple, if very strong yes! I believe I do!

I firmly believe that all I need to do to acquire the title ‘Writer’ is write. Perhaps my next article will be titled ‘Why I want to be writer’ and will actually earn me that first $6 and inspire me to write better and better as each day.

Who the hell reads my blog?

2009-05-02T16:48:00.007+03:00

Shortened from "web log", a blog is (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) an online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger". Blogs are an increasingly popular form of online peer-publication.

But who reads our blogs and why do we blog?

Personally I was a freelance writer for about 5 years doing articles on various topics for a number of clients but it reached a point in my writing career when I decided that maybe writing for myself on a blog might just be more rewarding than just writing for the money. My thinking was that when you get paid to write for someone else, you no longer own your words and they belong to the entity that paid you to write.

I am not saying that I no longer write for the money because if I did not how would I make a living? Yes, I now have a blog but all I can post on it to make money are paid reviews and articles with in line ads and ads that pay me per click, when someone ever does click on them. The point here is that I am not sure if anyone ever does visit my blog because months after setting it up, no one has commented on any one of my posts.

Blogging can sometimes be difficult, expensive, time consuming and sometimes downright unrewarding because let’s face it, who reads our blogs? I do not know about you, (if you are reading this post) but blogging to me seems to be all about displaying advertisements on my blog and selling links if my blog has a high enough PR.

In my search for ways to monetize my blog, (have to put food on the table at home) I came across the following programs that just might work for you. I have tried them all but, as this was not meant to be a review; I am not making any recommendations in this post, just giving some pointers.

Meanwhile I will just keep banging in ads and links on my blog to try and supplement my writing income. If you want to try blogging for cash, here are a few pointers to get you started:

Blog Burner - Create your own free blog and earn money through Adsense. You write the content and it will display your blog with Google Adsense ads.

Blog To Profit - Get paid to write posts/reviews about different products and websites.

Bloggerwave - Get paid to write about products and services on your blog.

Blogging Ads - Get paid to write reviews on your blog. Payment is made within 2 to 4 weeks of submitting post.

Blogitive - Earn $5 per review completed on your blog. Payments are made weekly by Paypal.

Blogsvertise - With this one the site admin matches advertisers with blogs. If you receive an assignment you can either accept or reject it.

Pay Me To Blog About You - A messaging system that allows advertisers and publishers to negotiate for paid link placements.

PayPerPost - This is my FAVORITE. This is a blogging marketplace where you are paid to complete reviews on various websites/products/services. The price per post ranges from $5 and up. You can submit 3 reviews per day per blog.

PayU2Blog - Get paid to complete assignments on your blog. Also has rewards to earn even more!

ReviewMe - A blog marketplace where advertisers submit requests for reviews from blogs. The amount you make per review depends on if your blog is established and the amount of traffic it receives.

SponsoredReview - Another blog marketplace where you can negotiate your fees with the advertiser and bid for blogging assignments. SponsoredReview will take a 35% commission for their service out of the amount your assignment earns.

An Excellent Source of Employment Opportunities

2009-05-02T09:56:00.005+03:00

Many people depend on the Internet as a source for career & job opportunities and there are many good websites out there that are excellent sources for these opportunities. Then there are those websites that have regular and varied choices of recruiter jobs to choose from but more often than not you’ll find that these websites do not put the amount of attention into vetting the advertised jobs as they should.

I have visited many of these sites in search of employment opportunities but have found that most of the jobs posted are not well reviewed or researched before being posted on the sites. I must say that from the onset I have not been quite impressed with what I have found, or not found for that matter, given the amount of time and effort I have put into my search for employment opportunities.

Any good employment website will post professional full time as well as part time jobs through all levels of experience with varied qualification levels, a fact that will attract a lot of career & job opportunity seekers to the site. These opportunities will be well researched and comprehensively reviewed on the site.

One such website is EmploymentCrossing.com

EmploymentCrossing.com offers a comprehensive collection of well researched job openings from virtually every employer career webpage and job board in America. All the jobs are reviewed by hundreds of highly trained job-opening research analysts so you are assured of getting your dream job on EmploymentCrossing.com without wasting your time weeding out spam jobs and those that are outside of your niche search.
EmploymentCrossing.com offers career and job searching advice, managing your career, job and resume posting, salary info, and many other useful resources. Everyone from executives, managers and professionals, through to entry level professionals, college students and corporate climbers can definitely benefit from the information that is provided at EmploymentCrossing.com

What’s more is they offer you a 7 Day Free Trial so you can actually road test the site before paying the subscription.

EmploymentCrossing.com is an career and job opportunity research institution that tracks down job openings through thorough research.

Take advantage the 7 Day Free Trial and be on your way to your dream job.