Yesterday I took the plunge and went head-first into purchasing OIOPublisher.  OMG… why didn’t I do this sooner?  Oh right… I’m stubborn and want to save a few bucks.  In all honesty OIOPublisher for $37 is a great deal if you have WordPress and you’re interested in selling ad space on your site.

Seriously, I can’t be happier with the plugin software. I didn’t realize that you can even have an affiliate program with this thing.  If you’re so inclined to do.  It’s crazy!  I set up the 125×125 ad zone in under 5 minutes… I think it took 5 minutes because I had to create a 125×125 holding image.  You can even add text links, banners, custom zones for ads, inline ad space, reviews, RSS - I would have to say all the major ad spots have been covered.

I also like that they have a marketplace - something extra to push the site forward a bit.

I really am glad I “splurged” and purchased the program - it integrates easily (with widgets for the sidebar) and for someone like me - the ability to add or remove ad spots is great.  I also like that you can purchase the plugin and then use it on multiple sites.  There is no per-site licensing.  LOVE IT.  So I’m going to see if I can get it going on a couple of my sites and see what happens.

It’s not so much getting rid of the middle-man… because selling any 125×125 slots has always been up to me… I just love the easiness of it and the fact that I can no longer say I’m a  totally cheap bastard

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A couple of weeks ago I thought I’d take a stab at advertising through Project Wonderful.  I’d seen it on a few sites and was really interested - because it was about bidding to get your ad seen.  How cool was that!  LOL.  So I signed up and was ready to advertise in no time.

I added my advertisement to my profile and realized that it wasn’t all that easy to get around once I was logged in.  That could have been a momentary “me” moment - but it wasn’t exactly easy to understand.  There was the buy ad and the campaign part of the site and I didn’t know where my ad was and it was a confusing… but I managed to find my way out of that dilemma and work on getting  my ad seen on sites listed at Project Wonderful.

My budget… $5

Yup, I’m the best of the big spenders.

I didn’t really want to shell out more than that to start, because you could get on some pages for as little as .20 cents (some even less than that).  So I thought it would be a way to test the waters so to speak.

I bid on ad spaces on a couple of sites I recognized.

I was accepted for the first one - and I was stoked.  It was easy enough to do.  No worries.

Then I went looking for my second ad space.  This time it wasn’t so easy - I put a bid in on a site that had a higher buy in and almost instantly I was outbid.  I guess it had to to with the max bid option on the site.  So I thought I’d try a little higher and eventually I was able to have my Ad seen on that site.

It was a little dis-heartening… only because I thought I’d get that spot for CHEAP.  Which is awesome and everything, but I ended up biting the bullet and putting more on it and my $5 was quickly on the way out the door and into the pockets of the sites that I’d scored ad space from.

Some sites on there were going for a crazy amount… crazy for me - maybe not so bad for you.

The one big thing that completely drove me crazy was that on those sites I’d placed my ad - it kept bouncing me on and off the slot due to the bidding.  I’m sure I could have changed that if I had a bigger budget.  But if you’re like me and you’re low-balling to test it out… this is maddening!

Did I get anything from the advertising.

In a word.

No.

Not a sale.  Nada.  It could have been the fact that I didn’t advertise all that long.  It could have been the sites I was advertising on… maybe paying a few more dollars would have been worth it and I would have gotten a better ROI.  As it was - it wasn’t a good scene and now my $5 is gone and I’m not sure I’d want to go that route again for advertising.   I think the idea of bidding on ad space is great… it’s the bouncing on and off the ad space due to the bid structure that almost drove me to drink.

Would I try it again.  Possibly.  I would only attempt this if I had more a budget to throw around.  As it stands - with the small sum I have… I’d pass.  It’s just too frustrating for me to see my ad go on and off a site in a few hours, doesn’t really work for the branding/people clicking - when it is there and gone.

I’m going to stick to the pay weekly/monthly idea of advertising on blogs/websites.

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Yesterday as a very nice surprise I got paid by Scratchback. I was really happy - because, well I’m broke and the money I was sent can now buy me a week’s worth of Tim Horton’s coffee and that makes me REALLY FREAKIN’ HAPPY! Seriously!

I had honestly forgot about it… not the widget itself but the payout schedule for it. I had no idea I’d reached the payout threshold, so maybe I’ll have to step it up and be more diligent with tracking this sort of thing I’ve actually got to do that this year for all the sites I’ve got running (in one way shape or form) and be more on top of those domains that seem to lapse and I forget to renew.

I have one site that I didn’t renew and someone is now trying to sell it for $500. Yes, this makes me mad. Will they make money with that name. Very, unlikely… but who am I to say. I’m not a master domaineer. So, I’m going to keep track of it and see if it sells. I’m just morbidly curious about it. LOL.

Anyhoo - over at nichetoriches - the fun and games have started. And to those of you haven’t been by to see it and join in the fun - there is still time to do it. It’s free to sign up and all that jazz. It’s been created so we can get together and get some sites up and running making us money. So stop by and say hi!

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Happy New Year everyone!

I am guessing that most of you have cranked out a “My 2008 to-do list” and you know I’m right there with you on that one.  You’d think it would be an easy thing to do - creating a to-do list.  But honestly I’ve had one hell of a time.  It’s not that I don’t have enough to put on the list, it’s a matter of getting everything done on the list that seems to trip me up every time.

Often I find myself stuck on tasks that wouldn’t normally be all that hard - like updating websites.  You know, those ones that are actually interesting and I like to update, but don’t because I’m caught up in RSS feeds or hooked on a coding dilemma.  It’s crazy those things that trip me up.

So this year I’m trying my to-do list a little differently.

I’ve actually set myself goals for January.  Then I wrote up a to-do list of things to accomplish to reach those goals I’ve created for January.

I was almost relieved when I finished that list.

… it’s not all that long.  It’s not even all that time consuming.  I’m hoping that it works - that I reach my goals or at least get pretty close to it.  I guess I’ve set my goals a little higher than usual.  I’m thinking this will push me to take a few extra steps to accomplish the task and move forward and see where it takes me.  If I didn’t set them a little more lofty… I might be a bit more inclined to be a bit more lazy and just not do it.

It’s the psychology of it all I guess - and I’m trying to work myself into a place where I can see things happening.  Goals being reached.  Money being earned and learn from each month and set new goals and try new ideas.  Write it down and see where I was and where I’ve gotten by the end of the month… end of the year.  Always keeping track.

This is where I’ve faltered on before and I’m hoping the way I’ve set it up this year I’m on the right track

What are my goals exactly?  I’m working on different avenues of income.  I don’t want to be relying heavily on one thing over others - I would like to spread that out a little bit more this month.  So I’m setting up the different areas to make a bit of income in and see what works - what bombs - so I can change it for next month if needed.

My monetary goal for January is $1000.

This is a bit lofty considering I make less than $500 a month right now.  But I’m aiming high.  I want to do it.  I want this year to be the most successful year yet for me.

Have you made a list?  Have you set any goals for 2008?  If you have, leave a comment on where we can find them.  I’d love to hear what you have in mind!

Good luck everyone, I know 2008 is going to be a really great year for everyone!

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I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I think this will be my next “to-do” is to create a smaller blog.   I’ve got a few blogs on the go right now and to be quite honest they’re time consuming.  So much so that I’ve fallen behind on where I wanted them to be content-wise.  Although I do have to admit, even with the neglect they’re still churning along.

But I’m looking for something a little different - I know the old mantra that content is king and all that good stuff and having more pages out there for the search engines to find means I’m casting my website net a little wider and further to catch more visitors.

I’m falling behind.

So I’m thinking of my next project as being a mini blog site.  I’m not saying that it won’t be updated… but maybe having a smaller site - a more focused site - might be what’s in order to take my income up another notch.   Trying to diversify on what I know works, but maybe not have to put hours and hours in each day to keep things going on these blogs.

With a mini-blog I’m looking at finding a niche.  Research the keywords.  Look into any affiliate programs/products I could incorporate onto the site.   Work on adding pages.  Not hundreds… lets try for a max of 20.  That might even be too many to this experiment.  But I’m hoping with the focus on a niche - a focus on keywords relevant - products that are relevant… or even have a blog about one product.  That might be something new to try out.

I’m just looking at trying to diversify how I’m doing things online a little.  I don’t mind having blogs that I work on often - it’s just that if I have all my sites that way … there is no way in hell I’m going to accomplish what I want to do.  So I’m thinking small.  Tiny.  Minuscule.   Yup.  Next project that’s what I’m going to do…

So now I have to see what domains I have sitting around… or maybe it’s time to get a new domain again and work out from there.

I’m curious… how many of you have tried a smaller blog concept?  Has it been successful for you?

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