A City Life Or The Country Side?

I love the lights at night
That brightens the street
Where lovers enjoy a leisurely walk
Like there’s nobody else

I love the malls
Because there are so many stalls
Where displays big and small
Entice the shoppers to spend more and more

But I also love the ricefields in the country

Where I can wake up to the sound of the birds singing
Smell and breathe the fresh air
Instead of vehicles’ honking horns

I like to plant flowers
And watch the trees grow
Bear fruits to pick up as they ripen
And enjoy the setting sun

The lively city where silence is elusive?
Or the countryside’s fresh life?
Which one will it be?
For someone like me.

©2008 phexchanger

Checking Emails…

I woke up this morning and found some new emails…

• I got an infraction for inappropriate language. Why? Not reading and understanding post clearly… well, I thought it is for using foul language, glad it is not.
• paid to read email worth $0.01… well
• 2 friend requests from another program.
• Paypal email saying I got payment. Just in time for paying another service I badly needed
• subscribed expired domain list
• expired domain profits newsletter
• learning Japanese podcast for the day
• some spam emails that got deleted right away

That’s what my inbox has collected since I logged off 6 hours ago.

Twitter Secrets

Before I started writing this blog, I was reading Twitter Secrets by Joel Comm so I visited Twitter after 3 months of not making an entry. I thought of checking some of the information presented in the ebook like designing the page in such a way that your business can be presented easily without making multiple posts promoting links.

I have found several Twitter pages that may have read the same e-book and decided to apply them but the design I like most is that of chrisgarret. It is personalized design presented simply yet very captivating.

Then, a question comes to mind.

Would you rather want your followers to read your twits and be updated? Or, get them immediately captivated with the Twitter page background that they also immediately browse away from Twitter and visit the links presented in your design without even reading a single Twit?

Short, informative twits with a great Twitter page design. Combine the two and you’ll surely get results whatever goal you may have.

Although the ebook is only 32-pages long, it has taken me about 4 hours to finish reading it. In between was writing this post, following some Twitters and checking the details presented.

Update:

I got two message offering or giving me free e-books and some of those that I had followed have done the same. Isn’t that nice?

Alexa Rating Improved

From a rating of 23, 682,818 in August, the Alexa rating has improved to 6,800,273. It is still not OK but I think it is quite an improvement since I did not work on promoting and generating traffic for the blog. Except for some posts, there were really very few updates.

In fact, there is still a bug on the sidebar that needs to be taken care of once I finished the directory I am currently working on. In the meantime, I suggest using an Internet Explorer although I prefer Mozilla Firefox in viewing websites.

Newbie’s Guide on How to Start Blogging for Money

I received an email yesterday from Jen asking ‘can you tell me how u r doing ur blogging business?’ Maybe, I mentioned before that I previously write blogs and earn money and she remembered it. Since I was only waiting for my FTP upload to finish, I tried to write a compressed guide on how to start blogging that can eventually lead to earning money.

Same question have been asked before so to make my life easier, I am posting here a short “Newbies Guide on How to Start Blogging for Money”

1. Create two (2) separate emails with different passwords. One email will be used for programs you will be joining in. The other email will be used for online payment processors. This is highly recommended but not required.
2. Sign-up for online payment processors including
   • Paypal
   • AlertPay
   • E-gold
   • Moneybookers
   • Ikobo

   Paypal, AlertPay and Moneybookers require account verification. If you are hesitant on using your credit card, apply for a debit card preferably Visa. Moneybookers require phone and address verification so be sure that you entered details correctly.

   While waiting for payment processors to be verified, you can start your blog. Or you can start your blog and apply later for payment processors.

3. List down your interests and decide the topic for your blog. The blog can be of general topic or specific.
4. Assuming zero budget on your part, create a free blogger account at Blogger or WordPress.
5. Create your blog and start posting regularly. If you have several interests and you have enough time to write about your interests, then, you can start several blogs.
6. After about 10 quality blog posts, you can apply for a Google AdSense account. You only need one Google AdSense account for several sites or blogs.
7. Increase website traffic. Find other bloggers from forums and directories who might be interested in your topic and who might be interested to partner and exchange links with you. There are other ways to increase traffic but it is another topic.
8. Aside from Google AdSense, there are other revenue-generating income through ads including BidVertiser
9. When you have accumulated about 20 to 30 blog posts and your blog is about 2 months old, you can now apply at get-paid-to-blog sites like PayPerPost, Blogvertise, and PayU2Blog. These programs require a review of site, post the review and get paid when review is approved.
10. Your blog can also be used to promote products and/or services. Find programs or products that will pay you a percentage of every sale. This is called affiliate marketing.
11. Aside from writing paid blog reviews, affiliate marketing and  AdSense  ads,  displaying paid private ads or banners is another way of monetizing a blog.

There are other programs that you may encounter and explore as you continue blogging. Evaluate and find reviews first to be sure that you will get paid for your efforts.

Blogging for money is just like any job or business. It requires hardwork, time, patience, passion and dedication. Some people think blogging for money is easy and expect fast return. They become bored when money does not come pouring in.  Eventually, they abandon their blogs and the blog dies.

Do not just blog for money. Blog about the things you are interested in and enjoy blogging so that when money comes in trickle, you still  look forward  to blog  because you  know, you are happy and enjoy  doing it.