For me, when making money online, I usually go where the winds blow
Or literally it means, I go where the opportunity arises that is

But you can’t really forecast or predict the Internet phenomenon
Like something so trivial might get viral for god know why
or who would have thought the Internet bubble would burst back then

Analyst have always tried to predict such online growth and demands
We all can only adapt and make do to any changes

But it’s good to be prepared to say the least right
Here below is no less is a prediction by eMarketer

Click to continue »

This is a recent figures of the top online retailers by Nielsen Online

Aside from making money online from my blogging niches sites, I also do affiliates
I’ve multiple stream of income, from experience it’s not good to put all your eggs in one basket

I’m a publisher affiliate on most of the online retailers on the list
Among the many retailers out there, they tops the list as consumer trust their brands

You get the hint right … sign up

Sometimes when I surfed blogs, they’ll have this AdSense Search with a Google Custom Search watermark on the search form. I’ve always wanted that on my AdSense Search as it looks cool and gives the search a more ‘credibility’ to it due to Google branding

Sadly the features is not within and has not been implemented yet in my AdSense dashboard. Well I woke up yesterday to excitingly find the Improved AdSense Search

I’ve tested and implemented the new AdSense Search and it’s a marked improvement over the previous one. Look at top right of this blog, that’s the new custom AdSense search which I’ve implemented

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There’s no ultimate masterplan, guide or FAQ on how you should go about monetizing your blog. If there is, we’ll see plenty of John Chow, Darren Rowse sprouting all over the blogosphere.

Well here are my insight on top five mistakes most bloggers does. Well I was once a noob too. Still am I guess, but it doesn’t hurt to share your experiences for others out there

1. I can create a successful blog for free

   Yes there’s plenty of freebies out there these days on the Internet you can use such as free hosting, social networking and such but I believe to a certain extend, you need to invest some to get more. But all free stuff has a catch to it. Some kind of limitations to it. I’ve been there and done that.

   In the ‘make money online’ niche, you can only get so much free ride before you need to pay for what its worth. My blog was once hosted on those free hosting server, before you know it, the owner without informing all his hostee, fold the company and quietly went MIA.

   I got burned, my data SQL and backups was not even made before ‘closing shop’. So not to get disappointed over such matters I advised you to do as I did which is to invest in your blog. I got my own domain and hosting. I even used some promotion via AdWords and direct advertising to spread the word of my blog

2. You didn’t network

   After you’ve build your blog, you didn’t promote it by networking and spreading the world. You need an active participation in communities, build your audience, you need to ping your entries, add your rss to blog aggregators, leave quality comments on other people blog to build authority, add links in your email/forum signature.

   Blogger have this notion once the blog is full up and running, Google will index your blog and you’ll get lots of traffic. Sorry to disappoint you, it doesn’t work that way buddy. Networking always is a good way to promote your blog

3. K.I.S.S

   Yes there’s too many distraction in life and all around you. Try to Keep it short and simple (KISS). That may sound so easy to say, but to actually do it, well it’s another matter. Quit checking your email, do it once and consolidate all the replies in one go. Stop checking your AdSense or income every five minutes.

   Well you get my point right … Those types of little distractions when add up can cost precious man-hours which can be used to improve or maintain your blog. So keep it direct to the point and don’t bullshit. I just hate blogs that are long-winded

4. I don’t need a gameplan

   Well initially I didn’t have a plan or goal. I just blogged and hoped for the best. Well after a few months, my income stagnant, I realised I need a blueprint. To see the bigger picture in this niche of mine. So I did. I sat back, brainstormed, thought of the pro, cons, the feedback received and planned improvements for my blog

   I started with a goal, then I branched it off with the “What”, “How” and “When” approach on reaching my goal. Once I’ve made out my so called blueprint, I executed it like as if I’m managing a project. Deadlines to be met and of course results to be obtained. Along the journey, tweaking is very much needed, a little deviation is fine. So now I’ve seen marked improvement in my income, steadily growing daily and I’m excited about it

5. You don’t need to work hard to be successful online

   Like hello! You must be naive if you think so. There’s no such thing as a one post wonder and your blog will be a hit. You might if the entry is ground breaking perhaps, but most of the time, you’ll need consistency in blogging. You need to continue posting entries, do research, and offline promotion too helps.

   We’ve the opportunity to make money online, how successful you are in this niche, really depends on your ‘hard work’. The Internet is our global office and take advantage of the abundant information out there, and use for good on your blog. Now get out there and blog about something

There’s many debates out there on which blogging platform should be used on your blog. Having tried most of them myself from Drupal, TextPattern to Blogger, WordPress is my ultimate choice. Of course each platform have its own good merits and bad points, but this is coming from me, over years of blogging and my preferred choice is still WordPress

If you’re a internet marketing or looking for ways to monetize your blog and you’re not on WordPress, well you should look into it as it has all the reasons that might help you to earn much more than you are now. Despite it is bloating after each and every version, it is still a preferred choice for the very reasons below

1. WordPress is easy to customized

   Once you’ve gotten the concept of coding (HTML & CSS) and designing (PSD slice), the codes used within the PHP is well documented online. So if you need to tweak that WordPress blog of yours, just refer to the open source concept WordPress has employed.

   I found that the support on WordPress blog has the most active users and your queries will be answered within the hour or so. If you’re still a novice WordPress user, there’s plenty of plugins and themes to explore and try out

2. WordPress is idoit-proof

   It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get the ball rolling with WordPress. Most web server host has auto-installer for WordPress. After that one click install, you just need to login to WordPress, edit the Options setting and you’re ready to blog.

   Most of the terms used in the control panel are layman terms and not technical jargon within it. If you’re unsure, there’s a help file within the main dashboard. Just click on the link and get help. Oh how I wish it was this easy when I first started out blogging, which is like a long time ago

3. WordPress is search engine friendly

   Search Engines loves blogs. And why, well they’re built in such a way they are Search Engine Friendly with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Friendly URL (Permalinks) features in them

   And why is it important to be search engine friendly you might ask, well it a known fact if your blog has such qualities, it will rank highly on Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). With such a good placement on the rankings, your blog traffic will be crazy. And from these traffic, you convert it into dollars by monetizing your blog

So use WordPress