Wednesday, June 29, 2011

What the? Amazon Threatens to Sack ALL California Affilliates

I, like thousands of other Amazon Affilliates based in California today received an e-mail saying that if Governor Jerry Brown signed the new internet sales tax bill into law, they (Amazon.com) would terminate our accounts.

Jerry Brown did sign the law later this afternoon and so affilliates are now in no-man's land. Do we continue to post Amazon ads on our hubs, lenses, blogs or do we say good riddens to Amazon?

I for one have earned very little from Amazon in the couple of years that I have been an affilliate. That is not Amazons fault, but I did still post links and we can never know how many sales are created by just seeing repeated good reports on Amazon products, then people just log on through their own accounts and buy without using an affilliate.

It seems to me that Amazon has shot itself in the foot. For a company which prides itself in doing things right, for me it has got things badly wrong. Now as a customer, I am angry to be treated badly as an affilliate. The company is punishing me for the actions of a politician. In the event it does not close my account, it has shown it does not truly respect me as an individual or my fellow California affilliates as a group.

This was a slap in the face which we did not deserve. So Amazon why should we come back or even stay loyal when your loyalty has been so lacking?

The article below is from the San Francisco Chronicle and reports this afternoons events.


Amazon Affilliates Take Hit for the State

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Looking Around the Market Place




Last week, I was looking around and found a site which has quite a good reputation for publishing items. It is called Squidoo.

I signed up Monday using Facebook rather than inputting my data myself. The problem with that was my Facebook accountfor some reason keeps resetting my default e-mail address to an old and out of date account.

This is annoying in this case because I cannot get access to that e-mail anymore and so did not receive an e-mail verification code.

I can write posts, lenses as they are called on Squidoo, but I cannot post anything yet.

I did write to inform them of the problem Monday and Friday, their first reply, received Wednesday, only addressed changing the default e-mail in their system, since the staff is small at Squidoo I waited till Friday, just in case someone else would answer the verification part, no-one did. So I wrote again to request a new verification notice be sent but despaired of hearing before next week.

I have however been writing a couple of lenses there and edited a little. I do not want to do too much just in case I have to close the account and go back to the beginning.

There model is interesting you receive fifty percent of their advertising revenue from several companies such as Google and Amazon. The interesting theory is that you should come out about equal with them compared to HubPages or your own website. They are able to push the big advertisers for better terms, so with Amazon they get 8% so you still earn 4% on your Amazon ads. You can also advertise with Zazzle and Cafepress merchandize from your own store or elsewhere and receive commissions on sales. You may also choose to take all of the cash you generate for yourself or you may asign 50% to Squidoo's own choice of charity or you may choose from a list of charities to share your income for all or some of your lenses. There is a wide variety of charities you can benefit. Giving from a few cents to 100% of your income.

As I mention this is all on hold at the moent as I wait on my e-mail address to be verified before I post a lens.

Additional Comment: At About the same time this Blog was Published Squidoo, manually verified my e-mail account. I am now able to post and Thank Squidoo's staff for dealing with the matter in a professional and curtieous manner.

Free Sign up to Squidoo here:

Squidoo

Thursday, June 23, 2011

What are your Hubs for?

Many people when they first join sites such as HubPages do so because they see writing a few posts and getting GoogleAdSense to advertise as a route to easy money.

Who can blame them? Over the past few years I have seen articles in the press that make it sound that easy, come up with a post, place ads, wait for the check.

The reality is of course very different for most, it is work. They have to work at things, hubs are one part of the process, you write them and they take their place in cyberspace. But away from the hub writing if you are in it for money you need to work on the social aspects, support fellow hub writers, work on side businesses, such as being an Amazon Associate, or writing a blog, maybe creating an online store.

The hub is a central feature of your online presence.

You can of course just write a hub or many hubs for pleasure. That is a wonderful thing to do. I do that myself for the most part. I write when I get a inspired thought or an event triggers the idea for a hub. You will earn income from that method, and it may be a significant income if people like your hubs on a continuing basis. But most of the time these will earn very little.

You get a pleasant feeling when you see your readership grow. But you need to have a realistic view that this is not going to be more than a paying hobby.

On the other side if you want to earn real income, you need to set yourself up for a long ride. You need to see HubPages as a job. You need to discipline yourself to plan and build your business.

To succeed you need to see it as a business. Set yourself goals.

  • Set the number of Hubs you will write per week or month.
  • Set a goal to increase readership.
  • Build on other resources to drive traffic. (Create a Blog, Make Comments on others Hubs.
  • Work at being a member of the community.
Notice non of these goals mention income!

Income for the beginner is an intangible asset. You can increase your income 700% if your first click pays 2 cents and your second click pays 14cents.

You should not measure yourself against such unpredictable factors.

Make your initial goals at least for the first year, ones that you can achieve and are in control of.

You can write one hub a week or seven, you are in control.

You can learn what your readers enjoy and write for your market. Increasing your readership by controlling your output.

You can work on non HubPages ideas, such as this. Write a Blog and share it with the world. It's link increases your SEO and it is another outlet for your creativity.

You are a social being, support others in the HubPages community, offer advice, join the chat, do whatever but don't spam your community. Being involved gets you noticed and brings you followers.


To succeed with sites like HubPages you need to decide what you want it to be. If it is an income creator, you need to make it a job. If you want a hobby don't be upset if it earns you very little.

Both though require you enjoy the experience. That way you will keep going back and doing more.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

MP3 Music Downloads Now Available Here

Many writers say that to increase traffic to your pages that you should offer your readers and item or service.

I have looked aroiund for you and came up with some MP3 Music downloads. You can go to the Amazon store posted here and look at the top downloads.

If you purchase a download Amazon pay me a penny or two for my link,

But here is something nice for you. I included some FREE MP3 Music Downloads for you.

That's right, no strings, as a thank you, you can take away some MP3 music for $0.00

My MP3 Music Spot includes FREE downloads

Hubpages Writer Shirt from Zazzle.com

I have seen some questions asking if there are Hubpages shirts available anywhere online.

Well as it turns out there are some designs available in various styles.
This is one item from zazzle.com it will take you to a link where you can see other similar items.

I hope this helps

Hubpages Writer Shirt from Zazzle.com

Monday, June 13, 2011

Blind Designer Working

This hub follows on from my ideas set out in my hub Increase You Wealth :Multiple Streams of Income.

There are two streams of income active and passive. Income from online selling or AdSense is passive after the original time invested creating a means ofincome. Active income is direct selling of your time with such actions as doing a job paid for as either piece work or receiving a salary for doing some work or task.

This will be a long term experiment, with cafepress.com and zazzle.com, which I foresee lasting until at least Christmas 2012. No I am not a believer in the Mayan theory of the end of the world. LOL. I plan six months to learn the businesses, then one full business cycle from Christmas 2011 to Christmas 2012 to see if they are worth continuing with.

I hope you will continue to follow my progress and maybe we can learn together.


Blind Designer Working

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Think like a hunter

When posting any article online it is essential to plan if you are to get the results of bringing in traffic to click your advertisements.

You need to plan the project of posting like a hunting trip. What hunter would go out with a slingshot to hunt a bear or take a fishing rod to shoot deer?

Just writing an article off the top of your head will work, someone will read it even if that is only a friend, parent or spouse. They might praise you then massage your ego for a while then move on.

As a publisher of written work, you have two kinds of prey, the advertiser and the advertisers customer. The advertiser will be there if you only post a few words on your web page. They will appear because you call them with your keywords. They will hop around happily and safely, not spending one penny on your precious site because you have not attracted the readers who will click on their ads.
To bring in customers you can use the advertisers tool, Google AdWords. AdWords will tell you what both advertisers are buying in terms of keywords, it also tells you what customers are looking for in terms of keywords, because those keywords are the ones advertisers are buying.

Search keywords on AdWords and you will also see additional keyword choices for your topic keyword, these choices also show what people are searching for.

In terms of hunting, AdWords is like a map to the hunting ground. You see exactly where your prey, advertiser and customer are, you get to pick your weapon; the topic; the ammunition; the keywords or key phrases; and you make your way off to your computer to write your article armed and ready to bag both of them.

Again a little planning will help, research keywords and key phrases. Study the behavior of both the advertiser and the customer, research is rarely wasted, like the hunter studies their favorite prey, you will soon become able to adjust your ideas in order to obtain the results you desire.

For books on SEO go to:

Bretsuki's SEO aStore

Monday, June 6, 2011

Some Days Stink!

This weekend was a stinker. It all began Friday night. I was hoping for a good nights sleep as I closed up the house but then ...

Well I'll let you link to the full story.

Some Days Stink!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Using Keywords

The use of keywords is an inexact science when publishing hubs or lists. Some people think to flood their posts with dozens of keywords, in every posibble combination they can think of. This tactic is ok in terms of bringing in traffic, but it leaves the reader lost. bewildered and frustrated as they search through a long list of keyword rich material or just bounce straight back off your page.

One can equate such use of keywords as like a hunter using a shotgun, he or she might hit everything in front of the gun, but do you want to kill the tree, rabbit, squirrel, and the prey all at the same time?

Better use one precisely defined keyword or term in a few well selected ways. You then write strong content around the keyword and produce a much tighter controlled article, which the search engines like and also a reader might like. They might even click on your advertisements too, or seek out your other articles.

This approach is more like the sniper with a rifle. One shot and one target. Getting the right keyword will bring your reader to you, by the search engine, the reader finds what they want and you have done a perfect job. They might even click on an ad to reward you.

Writing online should be just as much about providing the reader with what they want. OK you want earnings so place advertising on your site but if you do not provide the reader with anything more than meaningless words with no real information or entertainment, Why should you be expecting a reader to stay, read and look at your work, let alone click on your ads which you spent hours researching keywords for.

Remember keep the use of keywords down to a minimum. I have deliberately loaded this post with a particular keyword just to give an example. See if you can be your own search engine on this article, read it as English prose then consider it as text for a search engine looking for keywords.

Anyone care to tell me what the keyword for this article was?

I have also created an Amazon aStore which sells items intended to advise you about optimizzation of your website and posting to bring potential customers to your pages. You will find books (both paper and Kindle) along with DVD's and MP3 downloads. This aStore is linked to my Amazon Affiliate account and I receive a small payment from Amazon if you decide to purchase any item. I do not record any personal information about you, the aStore is connected directly to Amazon.com and all purchases are guaranteed by them under their normal terms and conditions.

Bretsuki's Search Engine Optimization Store

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Hubpages says Goodbye to Kontera

This month, June 2011, Hubpages will cease to allow Kontera contextual ads on its site.

There has been some discussion over recent weeks regarding Hubpages own introduction of an advertisement payment system. I believe the Hubpages system is a CPM model, so revenue is paid for display of advertisements, usually just a few cents per thousand views. Many Hubbers have complained at a loss of revenue, though the Hubpages advertising program is voluntary and Hubbers can return to just using Google Adsense if they wish.

It is well known that Google has downgraded sites with contextual advertisements over the past few years. One might ask if that is just out of a spirit of fairness for the consumer who might be duped into clicking a contextual ad in a blog or post or if it is just a means of pushing their own advertising revenue up with their own advertising program AdSense? Anyone care to comment?

With the removal of Kontera advertisements from Hubpages it will be interesting to see if Hubpages as a whole and individual Hubbers will see an increase in their Google search positions and if they will in turn see an increase in their AdSense and maybe Hubpages income.