Took The Hub Challange

I've been on HubPages for about 4 years now. It has made me some decent money for the small bit of effort that I have put into it. In the end, internet marketing is a numbers game. The more content you put out there, the more opportunity you have to earn money online.

This is why I decided to take the Hub Challenge. In a nut shell, the goal of the challenge is to write 30 hubs in 30 days. Their is no direct reward but I see it as a great opportunity to motivate me to create more content and learn what HubPages can do for me.

You can read more about my decision to take the 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge here.

In the first few days I've posted articles on the following subjects.
LOTRO classes
Jobs in Social Psychology
Laser Tag System
Revenue Sharing Social Bookmarking Sites

Over the course of 30 days I should get a better understanding of what subjects work and what promotion techniques work best. I am going to try a wide variety of tactics to get a better understanding of how to make the most of HubPages.

After those thirty days I am going to bring my focus back to further developing my own properties and improving them with what I learn from this experiment.

Squid Stop-Revenue Sharing Social Bookmarking Site

SquidStop is a social bookmarking site that users can use to create links for their content. Similar to popular sites such as reddit and digg but with the added bonus of revenue sharing. Also unlike those sites they don't discourage users to submit their own sites. They actively encourage it.

The main benefit you will get from SquidStop is backlinks to your targetted content. In order for your content to be found by the search engines your sites need to have backlinks. Each link you provide with SquidStop will help users and the search engines find your content more easily.

Additional traffic is not the main focus but it is an additional bonus that social bookmarking provides. Revenue sharing is also a secondary bonus but it does not hurt to have as many income streams as possible.

SquidStop is a pretty new site but it already has achieved authority status with Google. In the future I expect its influence to grow even further. Sign up today to build links, attract traffic, and earn through Revenue Sharing.

Join SquidStop

Earn Money Asking and Answering Questions With Webanswers

About a week ago I came across a new website to earn passive income with. Webanswers is a site where users post and answer questions similar to Yahoo! Answers. The main difference is that Webanswers is an AdSense revenue sharing site. When visitors click on ads you will receive earnings through your AdSense account.

In the short time that I have been a member I have already seen earnings in my account. Some of the top earners are earning over $700.00 in one month. It may not be a way to retire but it makes a decent additional passive income stream for people who enjoy to share knowledge about subjects they know about with users who have related questions.

Join Webpages today if you would like to earn passive income asking and answering questions.

Here are some recent questions that I have been awarded best answer to.
What is wrong with no child left behind?
How do you getr referalls for your affiliated sites?

Speaking to Myself

I have no one to blame but my self but this blog has gone pretty much dead. I have not updated it in nearly two years and my traffic is down to almost nothing. Perhaps I should just shut it down but that seems like an entirely huge waste. When I started I thought I could use it as a speaking stone and maybe thats what it will be now. Not quite a personal blog about every mundane event of my life but my reactions to newsworthy items and events that can hold meanings to others.

Anyone who followed this blog might remember that I was trying to adjust to life in Bloomington, Indiana. Since then I have moved to Iowa living outside of yet another college town. Basically the same crap as before but a little colder.

Much of my free time is being used playing Magic the gathering. I might start publishing some tournament reports but as of late I have been running into the worst of luck. Variance can be a bitch.

If anyone is left out there please leave a comment so I know whether or not this blog is all alone.

Squidoo, Create Content and Make Money

Previously I told you about Hubpages where you can publish hubs in order to generate traffic and revenue. A very similar site to this is Squidoo. Instead of creating hubs you create lenses but they are about the same thing. It is a place where you create content and make money from people clicking on the ads. You also get well indexed backlinks for your sites and another source of visitors.

The main difference is that Squidoo allows affiliate links and promotional advertising. If you want to promote your site or product then Squidoo is definately the better choice. They also have a much larger choice in advertising modules.

So far I find that I am getting less traffic for my lenses as I do for my hubs but the backlinks are already helping me rank for my terms. It is well worth it to add to your arsenal of SEO and wealth building tools.

My Latest Hubs

Recently I wrote about the advantages of becoming a member of Hubpages. Today I wanted to share with you my latest hubs that I have writen.

Motor Swaps for the 92-95 Honda Civic-Guideline to available motor swaps for an eg Civic and their benefits.
Best Import Cars of all time-An update to my previous post here.
Magic:The Gathering Booster Draft Explained-General overview and strategy guide for Magic booster drafts.
Legend of the Seeker Character Guide-Introduction to each of the featured characters in the hit television show.

I hope you enjoy them. Leave comments and tell me how I am doing.

LennyP Rises Again

I took a long time off from blogging. Originally my personal life became a little hectic and I was not really able to blog. After getting out of the habit it became really hard to get back in the groove. Now I am back. First I created a poker blog, then I started using Hubpages, and now I am blogging here again.

Long time readers may remember that I was living in Bloomington, Indiana. Last summer I moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It is as much of a hell hole as the name suggests. In about a month I will be moving to Iowa City, Iowa.. Anyone who is still reading this blog after all of my time off I truly apprciate your support.

Make Money and Drive Traffic With Hubpages

Several years back I signed up for Hubpages but never bothered to fully use it or fully find out what it was about. This was a mistake on my part. Just recently I took a second look and began to look into how Hubpages can benefit me both as a blogger and financially.

Wether or not you have a blog already, it would benefit you to publish articles, or hubs as they are called there. at Hubpages.

For people who don't have a blog, or their blog does not attract many viewers, Hubpages is a great way to make money by publishing content. You recieeve 60% of all revenue generated by your content. Best of all you choose what type of ads you want to display from Adsense, Amazon, Kontera, or Ebay.

No need to worry about building up a site from scratch because Hubpages is already amongst the 200 most popular sites on the web. There size is the reason hubs, including ones you publish, rank so well on Google resulrs. No need to worry about building links because Hubpages is already a PR6 site.

There strong rankings and huge traffic is why Hubpages is also attractive to webmasters who already have an established site. You can insert links directed at your own pages, as long as you don't abuse it, and send link juice and traffic back to your own pages. And unlike article directories, you make money at the same time.

Beyond their hubs there is also a very active community established there that will help you network, make new friends, and grow your brand. I regret taking so long to realize what I was missing out on and I wish that you don't continue to make the same mistake. If you like drop by and make me your friend
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LennyP's Hubpages Profile

It Pays To Socialize

How many people belong to Myspace or Facebook? Yuwie is very similar to these sites with a few exceptions. You can set up a profile and share pictures, videos, messages, blogs, and everything else with your friends just like you do on those other sites. Take a look at my profile and see that the functionality is about the same.

Now for the differences. The first and biggest difference is that, unlike other networking sites, Yuwie pays. For each view you make or receive you are paid. Think of how much time and effort you have put into contributing to Facebook or Myspace to never receive anything while they make millions.

Another big difference is that people are just plain friendlier. Since it pays to make friends, everyone wants to be your friend. The control panel is also much easier to use, making
everything you do much simpler.

Besides making many new friends and contacts, which is the most important aspect of social networking, the income potential can be great. For each person you refer, you get credit for their views. You also get credit for your referral's referral's views up to 10 levels deep.

Take a look at the following chart to see how much money this could make you. Assuming you refer just 3 people, and those 3 people refer 3, then those refer 3, through 10 levels, and each referral gets 1000 page views for the month, and the month's RSR is $0.50.



Of course, you may not have the same results, but you are sure to make more than you are presently making with your current networking site. Why not register now and stop making them rich off of your hard work.

It's Been Awhile

It has been a very long time since I've updated my blog. A lot has occurred in my life in that time and I won't go into that now. However, it has occurred to me that my blog is something that I would like to get back to updating. I'm not naking any promises that I may not keep but I do know my blog is something that I am never going to completely forget about.

In the near future, my life is going to be going through many changes, and hopefully some of them will be chronicled here. The Bloomington chapter of my life is coming to an end in a few short days. Sometime in July I will be moving to Tuscaloosa, Alabama as my significant other was accepted there as a Ph.D. student. When I move there I will be starting in a new career that I will tell you about as it develops.

Expect to see my site updated soon with more posts as I have much to share.

Magic Tricks and Illusions To Blow Your Mind

Recently, I came across a cool site created by a member of my forum. Magic Trance is an enterntaining site with brain busters, card tricks, illusions, and other magical content. It will even tell you your future. If you are feeling really smart you can test your brain power.

If you are looking for something to provide some quick enterntainment, or enjoy magic tricks and illusions, I recommend that you visit this site. The most impressive magic card trick can even read your mind.

Hopefully this site continue to grow. As entertaining as it is, is is still pretty small. With more games, illusions, and tricks, I can only see it getting better.

Coloring-Stay in the Lines

I remember when I was about 6 years old my parents ran a booth at a local flea market and they would drag me along while they did it. To help curb the boredom that always set in, my parents would supply me with coloring books. Coloring in pages of these books became my favorite way to pass the time. After a while I developed a particular way of doing it. I would trace the outlines with a darker color using strong pressure. Then, I would lightly color in the insides using lighter shades of the same colors. In time I grew tired of regular colors altogether and started to favor the lighter colors.

Now that I am a father myself, I have passed on the joys of coloring to my son. He takes a far different approach to coloring pages. His style would be more described as a speed colorer. He uses a few colors and quickly fills in the general area of the shapes with no real sense of design. It is very hard for me to accept because the golden rule was always stay in the lines. To go outside of my carefully traced lines was to ruin the entire piece.

No matter what there style, I would recomend any parent buys their child a few coloring books. Splurge and buy them the biggest box of crayons that you find. Any expert colorer will tell you that the 8 crayon box does not cut it. The bare minimum is 64. Coloring can be a strong introduction for your child to art and expressing themselves.

Shiny Red Hippos-Ranking Can Be Easy

At one of the marketing forums a newbie poster was bragging how he ranked high for several of his carefully picked keyphrases. His message was that if you followed his advice you too could rank for any phrase that you wanted. My problem with his post was the keyphrases he bragged about were just about worthless. Nobody searches for them.

This post is my attempt to show if you pick a keyphrase that no one looks for, and no one is interested in chasing, you too can brag about ranking high. How many people search for shiny red hippos? Absolutely 0. Doing a search at Google reveals only 108,000 resultsfor shiny red hippos. Not a lot of competition.

So now I have a term in shiny red hippos with very little competition for. WIth a few targetted links with related anchor text my site should rank easy. How will I benefit? I won't. With nobody searching for shiny red hippos nobody will ever find this post.

If I will not benefit from this you may ask why I am doing this. My purpose is to show that it takes no skill and provides you no benefit to rank for terms that bring you no traffic. Before listening to someone brag that their site ranks well for many keyphrases check if there is any competition or traffic for those terms. More important then getting a site to rank well is targetting the right terms in the forst place.

Update: I had better results than I could have imagined. In less than six hours this post achieved a #1 ranking at Google. I guess no I can call myself an SEO expert.

Buy A _____ Sites

Frequently I see sites that offer you the abillity to buy the image of some fill in the blank object for you to buy links on. The latest one I have seen is Buy A Nation. Here you can buy a nation and recieve a link from that nation pointing to your website.

Before buying a link here I have to ask myself a couple of questions. First, "When all of the nations are sold what benefit would the owner have in continuing to buy links to promote their site?" The answer is there is no benefit. You can rest assured that noone will continue to invest in a project that has outlived there source of income. The second question is "What benefit would I recieve being listed with many unrelated sites?" The answer is none. Links are worthless without relevancy. These sites provide none of that.

Perhaps if you have a site related to nations you could see some benefit. That still does not resolve the issue of an unmotivated webmaster. Your link building budget can be used much more wisely.

Exposing Discworld

Recently a friend of mine has introduced Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books. Terry Pratchett is both a hugely popular and critically acclaimed author from England. He has sold over 70 million books, has been appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his continued service to literature, and even holds the title for most shoplifted author.

Discworld takes place in a flat fantasy world balanced on the back of four giant elephants who are themselves carried on the back of a giant turtle. It combines elements of fantasy, comedy, satire, and science fiction to provide an unique experience. If you are looking for a something refreshing to read I recommend that you give this series a try. From the first book The Color Of Magic, to the upcoming 37th book, I shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett has provided a huge world to be explored.

Get Paid While Making Your Opinions Known With Surveys

Wouldn't it be great if you could affect the decisions that are made by major companies regarding the products that they offer? By taking marketing surveys you can do that while getting paid at the same time. With the power of the Internet you can find hundreds of sites offering to pay you money to take surveys.

The problem becomes telling the real opportunities from the scams. With proper research you can find which ones are legitimate paid surveys and which ones are not.

The first trap to look for is companies that require you to pay them a fee before they will send you surveys. A legitimate company pays you, not the other way around. Run, don't walk, from these companies.

It is imperative to do your research first. Look for well established companies with proper credentials. If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

This is not saying that surveys are to be avoided. By spending a bit of my time taking them I have earned some extra pocket money while affecting future products. It is exhilarating to see a product you helped shape at the stores. I've made a few mistakes along the way, but it has also been an enjoyable experience.

New Look

I've finally taking advantage of the new features that Blogger offers. Most notable are the addition of news feeds and videos. Hopefully, this will add a little more to your experience. I've also changed from the dots template that so many have complained about. It holds a warm place in my heart but I've had it longf enough and could use a change. Let me know what you think of the new look and features. I sincerely hope that you like them.

Making A Forum Active

When starting a new forum the hardest thing to do is making it active. No matter how nice the design is, and how well you promote it, with out an active community you will have a very hard time turning visitors into members. People only want to join a forum that is active.

This may seem like a catch-22. Without members you can not have activity and without activity you will not have posters. The trick is to make your newly launched forum look active through several methods.

The first and most active poster should be yourself. If you can't be bothered to post how can you expect others to. Instead of simply posting with one username, you can post with several. It may seem underhanded but can give the illusion of activity.

Next ask your friends and colleagues to help you. Many times they share the same interest as you and can make a strong contribution. Some people have had great success launching their forum with a posting party. Invite everyone over, provide some food, drink, and entertainment, and let the posting commence.

After this you may still want to bring in more posters. Paid posting services are one possible technique. Be very careful of who you hire. Far too many paid posters are willing to do cut and paste jobs and other shay tactics. I ussually like to test them out with a small sample package.

What I find works better than paying for posts is doing post exchanges with other forums. Admin Fusion and The Admin Zone are two great places to find them. The great thing is that you can monitor what you recieve and give back posts of equal value.

By utilizing these techniques you can greatly increase the activity level of your forum. Now when visitors find your site they will find a vibrant community that when they visit they will be compelled to join.

What's Not Going On

My girl and I don't get to go out as often as we might like. It' s kind of a shame, given the whole you're only young once thing, but that's just life I suppose. However, even when we do get to go out it seems like it's always the same thing. We go to dinner and/or to a movie, and/or to a bar. It's certainly more fun than spending our Friday nights watching TV or writing blog posts during prime out-going time, but lets face it, that stuff is expensive and doing the same thing every time just gets kind of dull. You would think that in a college town there would be more things to do, but there just really aren't. We're too old for frat parties and have no interest in whiny indie emo music, but we're too young for wine tastings and dinner parties. Back home there were more options; clubs, shows, basketball game, etc. but here in small town America the options just fail to abound. During the day it's a little bit better; we can go bowling, ice skating, and take Quentin to the museums, but at night we're still stuck. I'm so glad we're going home in a couple of weeks and will be able to get out some, because doing nothing around here is really suffocating us both.

Bathroom Reading

I'm sure there isn't a guy out there who hasn't picked up a men's magazine. Be it FHM, GQ, or Maxim, you know you've picked one up and thumbed through their pictures of fashionably dressed guys and barely dressed girls, including celebrities you never realized were really so good looking like Christian Aguilera, who we had all forgotten was hot until February's Maxim was kind enough to remind us about. Men's magazines are a great way to keep up with the not-exactly-newsworthy things going on in the world. They're loaded with all the gossip people are talking about as well as plenty of interesting but in the grand scheme of things irrelevant stories. Another fun feature is their hilarious top-whatever lists, such as this months feature in list Maxim of the top 12 fake foreigners which ranged from Prince Akim, to Borat, to Apu from The Simpsons. They're also a great way to learn about the new shows that you might be missing otherwise, all the new movies coming out, and whatever music happens to be popular at the moment.

In addition to the fun stuff, you can also get some really valuable advice from men's magazines. They have all kinds of tips for how to hit it off with the ladies and how to impress your boss. On the down low, you can get some great fashion advice from these magazines. They give you all kinds of tips about how to look your best without having to act like a girl about it. In addition to just helping you turn heads when you go out, being able to be fashionable can also be a major advantage in the corporate world. This months GQ has a really fantastic article on how to buy a suite, which are particularly important because they're such an investment and such a staple of your work wardrobe. You can also probably cut out a picture of a haircut that will look fantastic on you to take with you to the hair cuttery next time.

Men's magazines really do make for some great entertainment. If you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, I suggest that you crawl out and pick one up next time you swing by the newsstand.