Make Money Online - Scam or Legit?

Poo and Double-Poo on Google and Squidoo

I don't really know which is frustrating me more right now.  Google or Squidoo.  One of the approaches that I'd had pretty good luck with was Squidoo lenses.  My success was modest (maybe averaging $5 a month per lens).  Some of the pages I created were total duds with no one looking at them and some took off.

Here is one that I did on digestive enzyme supplements.  I tried to provide some useful information, to select some books on Amazon that had good ratings and tell people where they could learn more.  And then I'd have some products or websites with additional information -- most, but not all of these, included an affiliate link.  The lens on digestive enzyme supplements followed a typical pattern.  I linked to it in a couple blog comments, bookmarked it a place or two, watched in frustration while Google seemed to not notice it and then gradually some traffic came.  And then I noticed more traffic.  One thing I will say for  Squidoo is that they give you nice traffic statistics -- how many people are coming, what search term they used to come to the web page, or where they followed a link from.  No need to hassle with setting up Google analytics or learning your way around traffic reports on Cpanel. 

When I noticed digestive enzyme supplements was getting more traffic, I looked and was delighted to discover that I was on the first page of Google when you searched on 'digestive enzyme supplements'.  Now I had chosen this topic (and most of my topics) because they were something I had once researched on Google and discovered there was only a modest amount of information on.  So life was good.  I was getting traffic (which earns you more money directly from Squidoo) and occasionally was making a referral sale.  I wasn't going to be able to pay the monthly car loan, but if I could get 10 - 20 of these to do so well, then maybe...  So I started to add more Squidoo lenses.  Some did well, others did not.

And then it happened...

About 2-3 weeks ago, I logged in to Squidoo and discovered the traffic to digestive enzyme supplements had dried up completely.   I googled the term 'digestive enzyme supplements' and sure enough I was no longer on page 1.  So where was I?

I changed to advanced Google search and went for the first 100 entries.  I wasn't in there!  The next 100?  What the hell?  (Pardon the strong language).  I mean, are you kidding me? 

So here is my rant today.  What's up with Google where suddenly for no reason, they drop you like a hot potato?  I had not done any huge link building campaign that might have set off a SPAM filter.  On the other hand, I had used a link in a signature or two on a forum where it was appropriate, so it wasn't as though there was absolutely no new links to it. 

Plus I had used a couple of the widgets in Squidoo that cause the webpage to automatically get a modest amount of new content, so it should not have been deemed stale.  But there you have it, Google has stiffed me and I'm left with nothing to do but cry about it.

My next post (I didn't intend to go on and on so) will be about my frustration with Squidoo and What's Better than Squidoo.

Stay tuned!

A Better Approach for Making Money Online

So as I've indicated in previous posts, I am a former Stompernet Simple member.  I also had joined another online-marketers membership that was to offer insider advice and lots of free information about making money online.  While it was a nice group and relatively cheap, I found I was not making any more money and I was spending a lot of time reading all the various offers, posting on the forums, reading How To ebooks and just generally changing direction much-too frequently.

I really didn't plan to EVER join another membership site, but then I ran across Shannon Herod's Your Very First Dollar Offer.  I know he says it is for anyone who has not made ANY money online and I don't qualify based on that.  But here is the thing.  Shannon actually reads and responds to email.  I saw him promoting this site on a forum and sent him an email asking whether someone like me (who has made money online, but not as much as I've spent) could sign up.  Not only does Shannon answer emails, but here is why I decided to sign up for the program.  This program is actually set up with weekly lessons with specific to-do tasks.  Shannon says the lessons can be done in  a few hours per week.  With 60 days to cancel membership and get money back and the program being geared to make you capable of earning money in 6 weeks or less, I decided to give it a try.  

And despite my poor record in doing so... I promise to keep you posted.  Really!

Oh and the basic program is only $17 a month for 6 months... after that you belong forever.  Not bad, huh?

Make Money Online - Simple Method - Why I'm not jumping

Okay, I got over my earlier pity party (last post) about having lost a post I was writing.  I'm going to write a condensed version of it, before I forget the info and because I think it might help someone.

One of the many internet marketing forums that I occasionally read had a post that suggested a fairly simple method for creating an online income -- Create a message board on a topic around which people spend a fair amount of money, such as their dogs, cats, gardening, bird watching, photography, etc and then place adsense ads or affiliate links to related products on your site. 

I created a message board once about 5 years ago using phpBB and it wasn't too hard.  I abandoned it a couple years ago because of the SPAM.  But I gather there are now a lot of simple mods (modifications) that you can install which catch a lot of the SPAM and make it more manageable.  If you are interested in doing this I recommend either phpBB or SMF (Simple Machines Forum).  Both are free and both have active message boards (about using the message board software) where you can search topics such as SPAM or post for help.  Some level of HTML and website knowledge (like how to FTP) is needed.  The beauty of the model is of course that you can begin a topic and then let others generate the content.  SMF has SMFads.com, which is a modification meant to place Adsense into your message board for you. 

So why am I not going down this path?  Simply because I have too many half-done projects and almost any idea fully completed (or even 95% completed) has a better chance of success than a half-done project.   Let me know if you decide to give it a try.