Category Archives: make money online

Originality Killed The Copy Cat

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I think most of my readers are probably new webmasters and are still learning things, or maybe don’t even have a website yet. Either way, many new webmasters are (or should be) constantly on the lookout for that “great idea” for a website, and if you don’t have a site yet, it’s probably because you have not yet come up with that [great] idea.

For some reason, many new webmasters (and probably a few seasoned ones) seem to think that they can rip-off an idea of a successful website, or make a virtual copy & paste of a site, throw it on a server, and be successful. As an example, think about how many Myspace clones, YouTube clones, etc are out there – I could give a few more examples of copycat/ripoff sites, but you get the idea. Now ask yourself, how many of them are successful (either by measure of earnings or traffic/popularity)? Sure, one out of a million might get lucky and enjoy moderate success, but generally it is an original idea that is well-executed that will come out on top in the long run..

I got to thinking about this because in a sea of copy cats I came across a site that is an original idea and executed fairly well so far. To be honest (disclaimer), I didn’t just “stumble” across it, I know the webmaster – but I know a lot of webmasters and it’s not often that I make a blog-post about their sites.


Makeupanarchist.Com is a good example of a well executed, original idea and website niche. Sure, there is probably nothing original about makeup websites, but the ‘niche’ of this site is Women (and men?) that do makeup their way, not the way the big makeup companies or websites tell them they should do it. The site is built on Drupal, is well laid-out, has a nice looking theme with a very original logo/header, and is clearly run by someone that knows what she is talking about and has a passion for the subject (which is apparently crazy makeup or something). Even though the subject-niche is fairly narrow, the site will probably also appeal to much of the larger ‘makeup’ niche, for which I am sure there is plenty of potential traffic.

I know that the demographics of my blog readers are overwhelmingly male and probably don’t wear makeup – but I’m sure that most of you have wives, girlfriends, or daughters, so send them over to MakeupAnarchist.com to have a look. Mention to them that it’s not “just another big makeup site” and take note of how they respond. My guess is they would show much more interest than if you told them it was yet another ‘large corporate-run website just like all the others’.. and that, is the whole point..

My Advertising Network Roundup

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About two or three times per year I rotate through all of my advertising networks to see how they are performing.  I think it’s a good idea to test all your ad-networks every once in a while to make sure you aren’t missing out on any potential earnings – a network that performed poorly six-months ago might do much better today (not usually, but you never know).

These are my results, listed worst to best, for the year – with the last test finishing up just a day or so ago.  Note that due to the various TOS’s, I do not include any actual CTR, ePC, eCPM or earnings data:

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BidVertiser: very low CTR and even lower earnings.  A waste of my valuable page real-estate.

Adbrite: I put the most time and effort into testing Adbrite because I have read of many other publishers that were getting good results.  But for me, it just did not work out.  I tested both text-only and banner units and after ~100,000 impressions, earned only a few dollars.  It seems that most publishers generating good earnings with Adbrite are using their “full page” ads which to me seem to be the #1 way to piss-off/drive away potential visitors.  Adbrite also has “in text” ad-units, but I did not test them.

Chitika: Chitika’s new “Premium Units” performed fairly well.  These ad-units only display to search-engine traffic and target ads based on the keywords used when searching.  This type of keyword targeting results in very relevant ad-units and very good CTR.   You can configure the Chitika Premium Units to display another ad-network such as Adsense or YPn for display to non-search engine traffic – otherwise direct/non SE traffic will not be shown any ad-units.  Chitika also has an “in text” unit which when tested earlier this year performed well.  Some publishers do not like the “in text” type ads, but I don’t have an issue with them – although I only display them to anonymous vistors, not registered members.  With Chitika you also get a dedicated account manager for support which is a big plus.

Yahoo Publisher Network: YPn was a real surprise this time around (this is why I test a few times a year!).  I have done nothing but badmouth YPn over the last several months, but now I’ll eat my words and take it all back.  This time YPn gave well-targeted ads, fair CTR, and decent ePC.   YPn also has support!  When I had a question regarding the Yahoo Publisher Network TOS, my email was replied-to in less than 24 hours, and when I had a follow-up question a YPN representative called me by telephone to avoid more email confusion.  YPn also has a toll-free phone number for questions/support..  Yahoo Publisher Network gets my “comeback of the year” award!

Kontera: If I was comparing only the last 2-months of the year, Kontera would be the clear winner.  But since i’m comparing the overall performance of the entire year, Kontera comes up a strong #2.  Kontera’s in-text ad-unit performance started out slow this year generating about 50% of what Adsense generated on a daily basis.  But beginning around September/October Kontera was earning 80%-90% of what Adsense was doing, and by December, Kontera was generating approximately 200% of what Adsense was (that is more than double Adsense on most days!).  Kontera’s other strong-point is support.  With a dedicated account manager that you can contact any time by phone or email (and actually get a response) this puts them far ahead most of the other ad-networks.  Some publishers do not like the “in text” type ads, but I don’t have an issue with them – although I only display them to anonymous visitors, not registered members.  Many publishers have also complained that Kontera slows-down their page load times.  If you experience this, be sure that you have your code loading at the very bottom/last of your page right before the /BODY tag.  I have never experienced this issue, and I check/test almost daily.

Adsense:  Still king over the entire year, but if I was comparing only the last few months, it would fall to Kontera as #2.  Excellent ad-inventory and near-perfect targeting no matter what your niche/content makes Adsense hard to beat.  Combine that with (usually) good/high ePC and Adense is still #1.  The Adsense support team does well in answering support-requests (usually in 48 hours or less), but you don’t get a dedicated account manager unless you are in the “UPS club” (a really, really big, Premium publisher).

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Remember: Just because an advertising network performed good/bad for me does not mean you will get the same results.  Whenever anyone asks me, I recommend trying everything and sticking with what works (seems almost obvious, eh?)..  I also recommend trying different networks every several months as I do to make sure that you are using the best-performing network – you never know when you might be pleasantly surprised.

Affiliate Links: This post contains affiliate/referral links.

Dealing With Idiot Customers

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The Customer Is Always Right

   — Marshall Field

When I was about 9-years old I got a paper route.  I had fought long and hard to get that paper route and the night before I started my first day on the job, my father sat me down for a man-to-man talk about the business world of which I was about to step into.  That talk was probably no more than 15 minutes long but I remember that it seemed like forever – and was mostly a lot of blahh blahh blahh blahhh – you know, like the teachers in The Peanuts cartoons.  But the ONE thing that he emphasized, and the ONE thing that I remember from that talk was:  The customer is always right
I didn’t understand the concept at first, and I came up with all sorts of scenarios and arguments with my father in which the customer would clearly be wrong, but no matter what, his response to me was still “the customer is always right”.

I suppose that conversation had quite an impact on me because all throughout my adult life I have always lived by that rule – and now that I run a website I apply that “golden rule” of business when dealing with all of our members and particularly our paying, Premium members/customers.  Virtually every complaint or credit-card chargeback we’ve ever gotten were due to the customer not reading the instructions or somehow doing something wrong – not once can I recall a time that we made a mistake.  BUT, the customer is always right, and I’ve always bent-over-backwards to make it right – and most importantly, make the customer happy even if it meant money out of my pocket (and it has, many times).

The internet however, much like the real world, is full of idiots, thieves, and liars – and we have had our share of them at the website.  So how do I deal with the idiots that don’t read the premium membership agreement (and the part in BIG BOLD LETTERS)?  Or the liars that just flat-out lie and try to get a credit-card charge-back?  As my father taught me, I give them the benefit of the doubt, swallow my pride and give them their refund (or whatever it is they are asking for).  I’ve done this dozens, if not hundreds of times and it has made for many happy customers/members.

Until today..

Today we were visited by a very special kind of Idiot.. The kind of idiot that totally ignores the agreement that he agreed to when purchasing his membership.  The special sort of idiot that blames the website because he ignored the email notice that we sent him to let him know about a limited time offer/content that he was entitled to – then waited too long and missed out.  The certain breed of idiot that posts all over the forum that WE ripped him off because he needed that membership fee money – that he sent us, to pay his rent.. That lower-class of idiot that then proceeds to bash the website, cuss us all out, and call us thieves. (luckily I was online at the time and was able to delete most of his posts fast enough that nobody saw them..i think)

So it was with mixed emotions of both joy and sorrow that I finally decided that some customers just are NOT right, and with 32 years of pent-up customer induced frustration I finally said fuck you, you are WRONG!  Here’s you’re damn rent-money back, and by the way, you are too stupid to come back to our website so you’re banned – don’t come back!

PHUG YOU!Of course, I didn’t use those exact words because after all, I am still a professional – but I think he’ll get the point if he is actually smart enough to read the notice that I sent along with his refund.   Maybe I went a little overboard.. Maybe I just snapped.. But you know what?  It felt good in a dirty, shameful way..

So let this be another little pearl of wisdom from Randy Brown: “The customer is always right, unless he’s an idiot..” …

Dad.. I hope you don’t read my blog.

Making A Website Is Easy

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This post is for readers that do not already have a website and are not expert/professional “webmasters”.  If you already have a website or are a seasoned professional, this post will probably not interest you.

Whenever I talk to a non-webmaster about creating a website or a blog – whether it’s for fun or to make money, they almost always respond with something like “..but I’m not a computer geek, I could never make a website..”  I try to explain that really all you need is a basic (normal) understanding of how to use  your computer, and I even remind them that when I created GrownUpGeek.com I knew nothing about Unix servers, PHP, or MySQL, and that knowing HTML is not even necessary.  And yet many still walk away with the idea stuck in their head that creating a website is just “too technical” or “too expensive”.. So this post is for those people (you know who you are) – and hopefully for others that might stumble their way here via Google.

Creating A Blog

If all you ever want to do is make simple posts, and maybe get some comments from readers, a blog is probably all that you need.  You can easily setup a free blog at Blogger.com or WordPress.com and be up and running literally in minutes.  If you plan on monetizing your blog with advertising such as Adsense, then stick with Blogger.com since WordPress currently does not allow any form of advertising on their hosted blogs.  Remember though, if you want to do anything other than just making simple-posts such as selling items, creating a forum, or anything else beyond making simple posts you might be better-off creating a “real site”.  If you start off with a simple blog, then later decide you have out-grown it, migrating it to a ‘real’ site might be a real hassle.  So take a minute to think long-term (say, at least 1 year) and be sure that a simple blog will be enough.

Creating A Real Site

Creating a “real” website does not have to be difficult, and certainly does not have to be expensive.  I started GrownUpGeek.com on a shared hosting plan at  PowWeb.com for $7/month.  We stayed with PowWeb for nearly a year until traffic really started to take off and we could afford to move up to a faster dedicated server.  You will also need to choose a domain name for your site which you can easily do with PowWeb or just about any other hosting provider.  Between buying your domain name and signing up for your shared-hosting service you should be able to get out the door for $20-$30 and less than $10/month.  Most hosts will usually give you a big discount if you pay for 6-months or 1-year in advance making it even less.  I think I spent around $100 for my domain name and the first year of hosting we I first got started.

Most hosts offer some kind of one-click install or site-builder that will literally install a CMS like Drupal or Joomla with one mouse click.  Once your CMS is installed it is literally a matter of choosing options of how you want your website to look and function – everything is pre-programmed and nearly ready to use.  Setting up a CMS via your host’s one-click install is not as fast or easy as setting up a blog, but it is pretty easy and you can probably have your website up and online within an hour or two.

But Wait, There’s More!

Setting up a website or CMS with a one-click solution is fast and easy, but if something goes wrong (and oh, it will) there are a few other things you’ll need to know, but should not be afraid of:

FTP:

File Transfer Protocol ..  FTP is a method used to transfer files to your webserver.   So if your host tells you to “FTP” something to your server, they’re just saying you need to copy something to your server.  Unix web-heads will tell you that you have to “shell” into your server, then do GET commands and PUT commands – but phooey all that.  I don’t think I’ve ever done “command line” FTP (file copies) – I certainly did not the first several months after I started GrownUpGeek.com.  All you need to do is get a “GUI” or “Windows based” FTP program.  This will let you drag and drop files from your PC right to your webserver the way you’re probably already used to doing (note: if you don’t know how to copy files around on your PC,  you might want to stick with a free ‘blog’).  All you need is your FTP address and login info, which your host will provide you.   There are my Windows FTP programs you can use, most of which are free.  I have used WinSCP and SmartFTP, and on my Mac(s) I use CyberDuck.   These FTP programs will also allow you to easily change the file permissions on your Unix server which you may need to do from time to time.

MySQL:

MySQL is a database program that most ‘dynamic’ websites or CMS systems use.  Instead of storing every page as an .HTML file, your pages (and user’s info, photos, etc) are stored in the database.  If you use one of those one-click website installs, your MySQL database will probably be created for you, and you probably won’t ever have to think about MySQL again.  Some however require you to create the database, the “database user” and the database password.  All of these things are pretty easy if you use phpMyAdmin.

phpMyAdmin:

phpMyAdmin is a web-based program for managing MySQL databases and most hosts make it available in your “control panel”.  You can use phpMyAdmin to create your database (just give it a name) and create your database user/password, which is what your CMS or Dynamic website will use to connect to the database.  Using phpMyAdmin is so easy it’s almost self explanitory, but most web server hosts will have links with detailed instructions if you get stuck.

One little note: When creating your database user-name and password, don’t use your name, or an easy name like “joe”.  This user name and password will be used only by “the website” and it needs to be secure.  Use a long user name like: xQ&49@QGrL  and a password that is even longer and more confusing.. Be sure to store them in a safe place.

Editing Configuration Files:

Sometimes you might need to create or edit a ‘configuration file’.  For example in Drupal, you need to update the ‘settings.php’ file with the name of your database and the database user-name & password (all of which you create in phpMyAdmin).  This might sound scary, but it really isnt.  Just use your FTP software to drag ‘n drop the file to your PC, open the file in Notepad or TextEdit for Mac, type in your changes, save the file, and use your FTP software to drag n’ drop it right back to the server – easy!

So there you go.. The (very) basics of easily and cheaply creating your own website for fun or profit.  Now here’s the BEST part.  If you have a question about creating a website before you dive in and create one yourself, post your question here and I will do my best to answer it or point you to someone/someplace smarter than I am to get it answered.

Affiliate links:  This post contains affiliate links for PowWeb.com.  I started Grownupgeek.com with PowWeb and have been very happy with them and I still use them for some of my domain name registrations.  If you hate affiliate links you can go to Powweb directly at www.powweb.com

Free eBook Giveaway: Make Money With An Image Host

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Mubin Ahmed who you probably already know can turn a buck from just about anything, has written a 15-page ebook titled “Make Money With An Image Host“.

In the eBook Mubin explains how he is able to generate stable income by creating an image-hosting website and driving traffic to it. The eBook outlines everything in easy to understand steps, yet it’s not written as if a 5 year old is reading it.

If you’re looking for a way to add to your income, and are willing to do a few minutes of work per day this looks like a sure-fire way to do it. If you have more time on your hands I could see how you can easily parlay these methods into some serious cash. Just remember, he’s not selling a get-rich scheme. His methods do require some effort and a few minutes of work on a daily basis.

If you’re interested in Mubin’s eBook, you can order it from his ordering page HERE.

Oh yes – I almost forgot. Since I got an extra copy of Mubin’s ebook I will be giving away a free copy to anyone who is interested in making a few extra $$ with a minimum amount of time/effort. Whoever is the first to post a comment that says “I want Mubin’s eBook!” will get it emailed to them absolutely free!

Disclosure: As usual, I have nothing to disclose. There are no affiliate links in the post and I don’t make squat if you buy a copy of Mubin’s eBook. Unlike most bloggers, I’m just here to help you learn – I’m not here to make money off you.

Make Money on the Internet

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Learn the basics of building a website and earning money!

Did you know how easy it really is to build a website and start making money? You don’t need to be a computer-geek to build a website – as a matter of fact, you don’t need to know much about computers at all. And through the use of affiliate advertisers you can be making MONEY from your website in no time! Many webmasters and website owners make over $100,000 per year! Although it’s more common to make $100-$1000 per month, that’s still not bad considering how easy it is.

See our Build a Website and Make Money page for basic beginner steps on getting started in building a website and making easy money.