Entries Tagged 'Tips' ↓

Well it has been two weeks since I started my domain embarking experiment and I though I would give you all a little update into how it is coming along. First, it took somewhat longer than expected to actually embark all the pages to my satisfaction. The main reason for this seems to be that their servers could be really slow at times.

However, I did eventually get them all embarked, but it probably took at least 15 hours worth of work to get all 96 domains ready for prime time. To see what domain embarked pages look like you can visit three of my sample sites here: japanflights.info, berlinholidays.info, brugestours.info.

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Many people have heard about domain parking but I am guessing most people have not heard about domain embarking. If you don’t know what domain parking is, and how people make money from it please let me explain.

People make money from domain parking, sometimes just called domaining, by buying up domains and then making money from type in traffic. For example if you type in candy.com into your web browser you are brought to a page filled with ads.

Many domainers own tens or even hundreds of thousands of domains from which they make their money. Now I personally find this practice somewhat annoying especially when domainers buy up names that are similar to the actual site I am looking for.

However, the industry is extremely profitable both in terms of parked traffic and in terms of flipping domain names. You can find out more here from Wikipedia or read about read about it in this domain profit guide I found. Continue reading →

Well I am finally back from some traveling I have been planning for awhile. I was able to catch up with some old friends and meet a few new ones too. While I had a really good time personally, it was probably not the best idea in terms of my blog.

The good news for me though is that I do not depend on this blog for any significant source of my revenue. However, if you do want to make money blogging you probably shouldn’t follow my example; at least when you are first setting up your blog.

Moreover, this is why you need to set up some form of passive income with your blog if you want to be able to take a vacation at some point in the future. Creating a successful long term blog is extremely difficult, especially at the beginning because you will get very little reward for your effort.

If you can keep with it consistently you will most likely see success (assuming of course you are providing something useful and/or interesting). This can take a fairly long time (e.g. 1-2 years) and in that time you should probably never let your blog go 3 weeks or more without a post.

Fortunately, for me this blog was never really meant as a way to earn any large amount of money. But if you want to be successful don’t follow my lead with this blog. Instead I the following article by Yaro Starak: Life Portability: Mixing Travel, Business and Pleasure In One Seamless Lifestyle.

If you are looking to make money online you have to watch out for scams. There are lots of them out there and when you are just starting out it can be difficult to separate the legitimate from the scams. My basic rule of thumb is that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

For this top 10 list,  I have purposely avoided mentioning the most obvious scams such as pyramid schemes (or pseudo pyramid schemes like multiple level marketing (MLM)), chain letters or any other program where you make money by recruiting people rather than selling or investing in something.

I figure most of you are smart enough to figure out that those programs aren’t all they are cracked up to be. What is more difficult are programs that fall into a gray-area; they work but not to the extent claimed.

The following is a list of common make money online programs that all have some potential problems. Not all of them are 100% scams and some of them do actually work to some extent. However, the one trait they all share is that their claims fail to live up to their hype.

So, exercise caution when looking at make money online schemes that resemble any of the following. And, always use common sense: if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

10. Paid Surveys

There are some legitimate paid survey programs, but I guarantee you will not get rich from them. Any legitimate survey program should be free to join. However, many sites claim you can make money from surveys if you first pay a fee.

I would highly recommend you stay away from any survey site that requires you to pay. You may make some money, but it will take you a long time to recoup your investment. Instead opt only for free sites.

Red Flag Claims: Fortune 500 Companies Need You!, Get Paid Up $75/Hour, etc.

9. Government Grant Programs

It is true that local, state and national governments in the United States and other countries often have free grant programs. You can usually find information about them for free online just by using Google.

However, scams have developed to try and make you pay for this free information. Spend a little time on your own and you find out everything you need free of charge.

Red Flags Claims: Billions in Free Money, Over 30 million People a Year get Grants, etc.

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Ever since I wrote about the possibility of buying a website I have been on the lookout for a site of my own to buy. My first deal fell through which was a little disappointing, but I think goes with the territory. But, I am please to announce that I actually bought my first site, well actually a blog!

Now, I am not going to reveal what it is here because I want to see if I make money from it without outside interference. I will say I spent $475 on it and I had hopped to make that money back relatively quickly through adverting deals.

However, I think I was a little too optimistic about how much some people would pay for these. I still think I will make money on it, but it is going to take longer than originally anticipated. Oh well, all a learning experience.

I am going to get back to work improving it but I just thought I would let you all know what I have been up to.

If you have bought or sold a website please share your experience in the comments section below. I know I would be very interested to know how it worked out for you.