Dec 29, 2008

Ways I have earned $$ Online...2.Online Store


The number one way I earn a living online is through my online store. I carry my own inventory, have my own manufacturers I use - 100 % Made in America (sold by a mere Canadian)! I ship my products, do my own customer service (it's the personal touches), and handle my own budgeting.

Yep! The good ol' Old fashion way but....online!

Truth be told, no matter how many of the online ideas that I try - they NEVER come even close to the sales I make through my own store. Maybe it's the commitment I have to it that makes it work so well or some good Karma I passed out coming back to me...whatever it is, YOU can do it to.

I found my product really by mistake. I wasn't looking for something to sell online. At the time I was busy being a webmaster for a few local companies, entering into partnerships around downloadable products (this is before Ebooks was big) , doing database management, Ebay-ing ...and so on. ( a real hodge podge of things!)

And then I came across a product I needed (and it wasn't easy to find at the time) which I thought others would find useful as well. I looked to see if and who was selling it online, and I bought just a few samples from a manufacturer... test items :)

*note : yes this image is my own copy right! ( And believe me it matters, I do regular crawls for sites using my image work as you read in a previous post )

They sold, slowly...but enough to make me buy more as inventory and see what happened. It took 2 years, but it finally paid off! I learned everything I could, got as creative as I could with Images,Videos, meta tags, headers, keyword use, linking etc. Making my site rank very high in search engines for content.

My Husband quit his job almost 3 years ago ( I quit mine back about 10 yrs now ) and now we both work from home tending to our online orders. It's just 1 of the ways we make money online, because we are true believers in learning and earning more, but it has turned out to be the best.

Find your own unique item that you believe in. It WILL take time, but if you commit to it and work hard on it, it WILL pay-off. There is nothing special about us. We're just people who use to work for other people and got tired of it. Aren't you tired of it yet?

  1. Learn HTML
  2. Pick a 3rd Person Merchant
  3. Find a product
  4. Open your store to test the product
  5. Promote your site through content or search engine marketing
  6. Decide if it sells or try something new
  7. If it sells, work HARD HARD HARD! ( at least a 1% roi)
  8. If it does not sell DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME - TRY SOMETHING ELSE

Adsense for Domains


This weekend, as I was reading through others blogs, I saw someone mention adsense for domains by google.

Over the years (like most of us) I have collected some domains that I thought were good. It is hard to find a good one these days! I had about 7 that were unused.

usedcarsgta.com
usedcarsgta.ca
usedcarsgta.net
usedcarsgta.info
stonersguideto.ca
immigrationlawyercanada.ca
howtoguides.ca

Only 3 have been approved yet ( I just set it up last night ) but they say it can take up to 48hrs.

So far it made all of 10 cents! *LOL* I'll let you know if it turns into a good money maker.

Dec 26, 2008

Do I need my own Merchant account?

I realized before I get too much in the ways you can make money online, I should probably explain the different ways you can collect the $$!!!

If you just a small fish like me, then you don't want to have your own merchant account at the banks. A lot of times they require you have a certain amount in your account (last I checked it was 40 grand!) to cover any refunds or issues.

Here is a list of some of the
third person merchants I recommend

I mentioned clickbank as an affiliate program in a previous post but it is worth mentioning twice because if you have your own digital ebook to sell it makes for an easy time. Clickbank allows you to promote digital products (sorry only digital for now) and use their merchant account. They give you a simple html link (remember your html lessons?) to put on your site which leads to their own "check out" page. They fulfill the sale by sending the purchaser directly to the download of your product. They take a % of each sale (and a transaction fee) for themselves and send you a check for your profits. I believe they also link up to a bank account now if you wish. I use clickbank and so far it's been painless! You don't have to sign-up for their affiliate account but it does have a built in affiliate program if you choose to give others a % of the sale if they also promote and sell your ebook.


Paypal is a little more involved then clickbank, but it's great for people selling tangible items that need to be shipped or subscriptions to web access. You need to know a bit of html (ahhh see I never lie!) but paypal takes you through an easy process of generating the html code for your site. You just have to add it to the page your promoting. Paypal takes the transaction for you, sends you an email of the sale so you can ship it out (or manage the subscription). You can set your shipping or use the postal service calculator. You can transfer payments directly into your bank account. Paypal is owned by Ebay (or vise versa) so if you plan on selling on ebay it's already built into your account (making it even easier).


I haven't used this myself but I know people who swear by it. They almost have me convinced to switch from paypal (paypal does have it's problems - everything does) If I start selling a new product I'll try it out and let you know what I think.


Again, I haven't used this myself, although I am dying to try it out. But alas...I'm a Canadian (shhh) and it is only available to Americans right now. Maybe one day they'll think of us Canadians I know Paypal makes good money off of my sales and Google and Paypal are arch rivals.

Another one competing with paypal. I have seen many websites use it so I feel safe recommending it as I may use it myself in the future. If or when I do, I'll let you know what I think.



There actually are numerous internet merchants now-a-days (There wasn't when I started! Like I said my local bank wanted 40 grand in a merchants account) and some are even recommended by your local banks if you want to ask them. Some are easier to use but all offer you the basic tools you need.

  1. Flexibility
  2. Real time transactions
  3. Fraud Protection
  4. Easy Refund Options
  5. A way to offer customers a secure order form without having a secure site.

Dec 25, 2008

Merry Christmas~~


Wishing everyone everywhere
a Very Merry Christmas



Dec 24, 2008

Ways I have earned $$ Online...1. clickbank

So... I was thinking how the heck can I explain how to make money online when there are SO many different ways! Some can do really well for one person and terrible for another. Some are GREAT and others, well....just SUCK!

I thought I'd stick with what I know best. I'll talk about some of the things I do to earn a living right now. Things that work, and things that don't. I'll even mention things I'm just learning and trying out. Please feel free to leave me any new ideas! After all making $ money online isn't about finding one thing, setting it up, and then suntanning on a beach somewhere (No matter what anyone tells you!). It's about continuing to trying new things, making mistakes and learning, learning, learning!

In each post I'll talk about one area to make money online. Of course I can't cover everything. There are just too many! But I can explain some of the things I have discovered. You may find it helpful , or you may have your own story to share (please leave a comment, I''d love to hear it).

Affiliate programs!

With 1000's of digital products it's easy to find a unique product you can promote. You will have to create a website to promote the items of course (let's hope you took my advice about learning html seriously). Later we'll learn about how to "optimize" your page to try to get on organic search engine listings and the great tools you can use. However the rule I would follow is to look for products you know something about. Something you can write some content about before offering to sell a digital download of the information.

For example, one of my sites sells clock plans which are downloadable. (great for the hobby clock builder) One of the digital partners of clickbank is MurrayClock.com they offer 30% payment for each sale. I created a website that is aimed towards the hobby builder and offered information and tips. I also offered downloads to clocks plans that people can build themselves via clickbank. Clickbank takes the payment, sends them the download and then mails me a check! This is just an example of one of the many ideas that are possible! You can look at googles trends to come up with ideas or check through the different categories in clickbank. What the heck! If you know a bit of html you can create many different sites targeting many different markets (including subscriptions).

There are even free sites you can use to promote the items and just link to the clickbank payment page. Even through a blog such as blogger.com. Want to build your own grandfather clock?

The Apsen Plan

A unique family heirloom for future generations

Add your own touches, create a unique clocks as a family project.
$12.95 - Purchase and download immediately Easy to follow detailed clock plans with full material lists that the hobby clock builder can follow.





There are many different affiliate programs out there, just do a search on google you'll see what I mean. Click bank just makes it really easy to get started.





Starting an online business.

A few of my friends have been asking how I started my online business and can I help them do the same. I'm sure with today's economical times a lot of people would ask the same question. HOW CAN I MAKE MONEY ONLINE?

Well, I have been online trying to figure out the same thing since the 1990's. It took time (actually it took a full 2 years for me to earn enough to pay my bills) but I stumbled into a way that I could earn a good living, although there are many. I'm sure if you recognize your strengths you can do the same. Today both my husband and I work from home making money online, and we know it can be done but it takes time and energy.

  1. I'm not going to try to sell you anything (although I do use adsense so feel free to click any ad that may interest you ha ha).
  2. I'm not going to ask you to join anything (unless you want to follow me on twitter).
  3. I don't even want your names or emails! I'd love it if you left a comment, I'd enjoy knowing someone is actually reading what I write.

I've done a few things on the internet since the 1990's and I'll tell you about all of them. If you want to hear about them. Maybe you'll learn something. Maybe you'll share something back. (That would be great!)

  • The first thing you need to learn when thinking about the internet for your business is some basic html. There are some other fancy internet languages such as asp, php, xhtml yadda yadda and so on...but if you learn basic html then you can work your way through almost anything!

Back in the 1990's I found this site (hasn't really changed much actually) http://davesite.com/
If you scroll down you'll find a section for TECHNOLOGY. There you can find the beginners interactive html guide. If you do check it out, click on one of his ads, it really is a great free resource to those who want to learn the basics.

Take some time, learn html. That's the first thing I did and I'm so glad. If you know basic html then you can have total control over your business. You'll have an understanding of what's important and what is kind of a waste when you look towards traffic sources. You'll be able to make important changes to your site yourself and you'll be able to constantly evolve towards success.

Even if you only plan on selling using amazon astores, html can help you to promote it yourself and optimize your chances for being high on the search engine results page.

Unless you have $$$'s to put into google's adword campaigns - which even so only amounts to 40% of my traffic.


Don't worry if that all just went right over your head. I'll be explaining it later. I'll try to share all I know. I've tried a lot of things ha!

That's it for now. I'll be back later :)

Dec 21, 2008

Toronto - Winter Wonderland

I woke up this morning to the sounds of snow blowers! I almost didn't get out of bed, I lay there thinking about having to put on my snow pants to go shovel.

Once I finally dragged my arse outta bed and wandered downstairs to look outside I saw a miracle!!

Yes I did!! My neighbour had snow-blowed my whole sidewalk!! What a nice guy.

Now the only thing I really have to worry about is the driveway and the front steps. Considering I haven't yet started my Xmas shopping I was thinking of going out to the shops.

But once I looked out the window and saw the shape of my car....I changed my mind.

No matter how much the snow makes me cringe, there is always someone who loves it!

Of course, if I get a nice thick fur coat for xmas maybe I'll go out to frolic in the snow piles too *xmas hint*

Dec 17, 2008

Google Trends still boogles my mind...

I made a fast post a few days back about how "google tends" application was tied to "Are you smarter then a 5th grader". I added the application to my igoogle page so every day I see the top 100 search trends for that day.

I must admit, the top 100 searched terms really made no sense to me. Why in the world would all of a sudden there be a high peak to a certain searched term? Really? All of a sudden a million or so folks ALL think at once "let's find out more about burger king cologne.." ( I SWEAR this was #40 on todays google trends list )

As I was sitting here on my laptop while watching the news (multi-tasker) I started to see a trend myself. What was on news, was on the list! #29 face transplant. One of tonights story on the news...about face transplants.

I'm sure the reason is TV. What is on TV is searched about on the net...and tv was worried the internet was taking over. Actors strike due to worry the internet will ruin their royalties. Really I'm starting to think not! The internet wouldn't be as popular if there wasn't TV telling us what there is to learn more about.

Dec 15, 2008

Amazon quick when threatened with copy right infringement!

Amazon actually emailed me the day I sent out my letter to their Legal Department. I received the following reply within a few hours...

Thank you for your message. Without any admission of wrongdoing, please be advised that we have removed the images noted in your message from Amazon.com. We trust that this will bring this matter to a close.

This letter is written without prejudice to any rights, remedies or defenses to which Amazon.com and its affiliates may be entitled, all of which are expressly reserved.

Sincerely,

Copyright/Trademark Agent
Amazon.com, Inc.


Not Sure, but I think they said "we admit to nothing but took it down to make you happy"

Dec 13, 2008

Now Amazon is stealing my pictures!!!

Ok, so as I was stewing over this first website stealing my images I went surfing to relieve my stress! Stupid!

Guess what??! Now I find my image work on AMAZON for cripes sakes! So I fire off an email to them. I sent it to customer service. They did reply right away with instructions to formally make a complaint of infringement of copyright material.

So off I went writing my formal letter to their Legal Department. We'll see, I sent a copy to my Lawyer first just to be sure the language is right.

One day I'll find myself a good lawyer in the States and sue the asses off these people! Anyone know of any good Lawyers?

Copyright Infringement

Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across a site using MY commercial Image work! Can you believe it? Why YES I can. I'm sure it's been happening for years to the bigger fish. I now see how maddening it is.

I emailed them asking for them to either link to my site in recognition of my image work, or to remove the image from the site.

No reply

I had my lawyer send a
cease and desist letter. Asking for action within 10 days.....still no reply

I'm in Canada, The offender is in the United States and wont acknowledge any communication! WTF!!!!!

Anyone know a good Copyright Lawyer in the big ol' USA??? Help!


Google trends tied to television~

I found this interesting.

I was watching tv tonight “smarter then a 5th grade” funny show, I watch it from time to time. And one of the questions was asking which word “varoom” or “race car” was considered a palindrome. Interesting enough question. Getting the answer correct depends on if he knows the definition of the word or not.

Not an hour later as I was surfing the net I can across a neat little igoogle gadget. It was google trends. I had added it to my igoogle home page. Guess what the #1 hottest search term was in the last 3 hours!!! Palindrome! In fact 3 of the top 10 searched terms were directly related to “Smarter then a 5th Grader” show tonight.

Hows that for interactive television!

http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?q=palindrome&date=2008-12-12&sa=X

Rogers Digital TV rip off warning!!

Recently my husband and I THOUGHT our old TV finally kicked the bucket and went out determined to buy a brand spanking new High Definition TV set. Of course, I hate to spend the money, especially these days but sometimes you have to do it. The problem with our old set was the sound slowly started to get lower and lower until one day it was gone completely. Watching TV with no sound is not an easy thing, you see the show, you imagine whats going on but unless you are a master at lip reading (or subscribe to closed caption) you might as well forget it!

So…out we went to Best Buy to find ourselves a new TV. My husband had decided it should be flat, 37″ LCD with High Definition (he gets excited when we’re allowed to make a new purchase). These tv’s themselves are such big rip offs. Not many High Def channels unless you pay extra for them. 37″ TV always ends up with 2 grey bars down the side since….well most TV shows are not taped in HD so the wide screen is…well a waste of space. But Buy it we did! After all our old TV had no SOUND, what choice did we have?

Best buy and Rogers have some “love affair” going on. Best Buy gives you a coupon for a free rogers HD box for a year (free actually means they charge you 1cent) Rogers gives you sometime like 10 free HD channels too. (of course at the end of the year if you do not cancel and return the box they charge you an extra $30 something a month- on top of your present service of course). This may sound like the Rip off warning but it’s not! Keep reading.

After purchasing our New HD tv, and the “special” cables you “need” to buy for the best viewing experience and the warranty and empty pockets we set off home.

It was at home we discovered the true rip off. We had not yet picked up our “free HD box” from rogers, but we still had our old rogers “regular” digital cable box to hook up to the new TV. So hook it up we did! Guess what….no sound. WHAT??!! NO SOUND on the new TV what the heck is going on? Did we plug it in wrong? Did we cross cables or buy the wrong ones? Was something wrong with the damn TV? No No No No!

My husband and I tried to figure what was going on and finally my husband suggested we phone Rogers, maybe they can help. I phoned customer service, pondering how I was going to ask help with the new TV set when really they probably wont care. After being on hold for who knows how long a techie comes on line and asks me the problem.

“My TV has no sound I said, I’m not sure what the problem is but maybe you can help me out somehow.” I asked hopefully.

“Is your TV on?” he asks me as if that may be the problem!

“Yes it is on, it’s plugged in, I’m watching it now with no sound” I replied

“one second M-am, I’ll see what I can do” (one second passes) “Can you try it now?”

“sure” I said and tried to turn it up and voila SOUND!!!

“What did you do?” I asked amazed, thinking this tech guy was some sort of wizard.

“I just reset you box, that must have been the problem”

RE-SET MY BOX??!! Rogers had the “power” to make my volume go down by “fiddling” with the service signals!! Slowly, over time, Rogers had weakened the signal going to our digital box but only the sound not the picture. Why? How could this occur? Did they make it appear our TV was losing sound so we’d be forced to go buy a new one? And if they offered a free year service could they get us to buy the HD tv- adding us next year to their billable customers for yet MORE services we didn’t want in the first place? When I return the box will the picture be so crappy that I am forced to get it anyways? I miss my old TV!

When I told the techie I was forced to go buy a new TV because there was no sound I actually heard him chuckle. When I told the Rogers customer service when I went to pick up my free 1 yr HD box I actually SAW them chuckle.

The warning is to be aware Rogers digital services can be “tinkered” with. The signal can be changed, lowered or blocked when they see fit. Before you go buy a new TV phone ROGERS first and ask them to fix your signal. Lets hope Rogers never reads this as I use them for high speed internet. I’d hate for them to play with my bandwidth too!!!

Hiring general contractors – The hidden costs

My husband and I went to Rona (a home improvement store) in Toronto Ontario recently. All we needed was 2 bags of stone screening to finish off our stairs to the backyard, and to return some unopened “stone effects” for a porch re-do we just completed.

It would have been an uneventful trip for us do-it-yourself types. In and out with the supplies, and it was, until we entered the parking lot. Here is where we witnessed the true cost of hiring a “General Contractor”.

At first I didn’t notice the man and woman walking towards the lumber yard, but my ever observant husband did. He tapped me on the shoulder and pointed in the rear view mirror. “See those people fighting? I wonder if it’s like those tv shows where they act out publically just to see what we do…” Of course he meant those “expose” television shows where they judge a persons nature and how they react in any given situation. I must admit, I watch them. The last one I saw was about Christian students walking by upset, lost looking, and financially strapped individuals on the street. Most ignored them, or crossed to the far side of the road. Only 1 stopped to see what was wrong. If I remember correctly he bought the guy a pair of shoes? What a guy…a pair of shoes! But tsk tsk on all those so-called Christians! – of course, if you were Tom Cruise and a “scientology follower” (You know if you’re a scientologist – you’re not like anyone else- you know you have to stop, cuz only you can)…..what a wanker!

We sat in our car and watched the (what we thought at the time) couple fighting and walking to their car, while all the time with grins on our faces looking for the ctv film truck. “Ha…she wanted the more expensive toilet seat!” or “She wouldn’t let him buy that tool he wanted” we joked with each other.

Then we saw her smack the guy hard across the face with true vigor! “Uh-uh” we thought. This isn’t fun anymore. This is escalating to violence. When she continued to “ear box” the man and he started to scream “lady your crazy- get away from me! If you hit me again I’ll hit you back. Don’t TEST ME” we got concerned.

All of a sudden the woman lunged at him, he grabbed her by the neck, shoved her about 2 feet and kicked her. She jumped right up and spat in his face and started pounding him with her fists yelling “You ripped me off, I’ll take it off you other ways.”

At this point, it looked to me as if one of them (most likely her) was going to be hurt. She wasn’t going to let up, and she wasn’t going to let him just walk away. As she was attacking him she was screaming “He was my contractor; he took my money and then ripped me off! I’ll get payment back one way or the other! He’s a asshole, he took my money and ripped me off…. (You get the point).

I opened the car door (I can be impulsive that way- It’s the Libra in me) jumped out and started screaming too “Stop that fighting NOW! You’re in the parking lot of Rona. stop acting like idiots” I was mad, I admit! “You both stop it now! If you have disagreements call the police but DON’T fight like punks in the parking lot RIGHT NOW! BOTH OF YOU”

The woman started yelling at me now “He ripped me OFF” followed by a shove at the man. “I don’t CARE. I SAID STOP IT NOW” By this time, some of Rona’s lumber yard staff had walked towards the couple. Since the two now had some referees and I didn’t think one of them would end up in the hospital it was time to go. I’m glad we do our own home improvement projects. My husband and I may fight a bit (mostly when he tells me I’m not “holding” something right) but nothing like an all and out brawl in a parking lot! I do know that if we do need to hire a contractor, we’ll do our homework on the person. We’d set payment schedules based on approved completed work. We’d check their references. We’d start them on a minor project just to see how good they were. I guess there is a lesson in everything. Maybe most of her anger is at herself for being swindled. There are hidden costs to hiring the wrong contractor that’s for sure.

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