| Written by Sheila Ann Manuel Coggins | |
 Find Free Stock Photography for Blogs If you're not a camera buff or you simply wish to use other people's images in your blog, then you might want to look in to free stock photography sites and services. Just remember when you use these services that each photo may have different licenses. Some are okay for non-commercial use only and some have no restrictions at all. So, always check before using the images in your blog projects. http://flickr.com/ Flickr is a very popular photo storage service. Some people who use this site offer their photos for use to the public. So, it's one good place to find easy-to-blog pictures. However, not all photos are available for re-posting in different blogs. 3) Buzznet http://buzznet.com/ Buzznet is another photo storage service that's quite popular among bloggers. Again, each photo may have different types of restrictions. 4) PD Photo http://pdphoto.org/ PDPhoto.org has is a collection of stock photography. It's well organized and has a decent amount of images in its database. Some photos are restricted and some are in public domain. 5) Open Photo http://www.openphoto.net/ A great looking stock photo community and resource. It's full of terrific photos under several categories such as animals, computers, landscapes, still life and technology. Creative Commons licenses apply to different photos. 6) Our Media http://www.ourmedia.org/images OurMedia.org is a resource for media materials such as photos, audio and videos. As always, it's important to check the license for each photo that you wish to use. One disadvantage of this site is that it's a bit difficult to navigate. Some photos are restricted and some are in public domain. 7) Google Images http://images.google.com/
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Friday, December 4, 2009
Top 10 Places to Find Free Images For Your Blogs
Make Money with Chitika & Facebook App
More and more folks are definitely looking for ways to make money online through the popular social networking site, Facebook. The latest service to join the bandwagon: Chitika.
How do you make money from this move?
Well, according to Chitika:
By promoting this new referral banner on your blog or website and you will instantly receive $1.00 each time you refer someone to add the iBought application to their Facebook account.
Yes, even if you don’t have a Facebook account! But, it will definitely help if you do have Facebook friends to ask and invite. And, of course you need to have a Chitika account.
One catch? Chitika only alloted for the first 10,000 referrals. After this, they will end this referral programme. Unless they deide to extend it.
What’s this new Facebook account all about?
Chitika | iBought is our newest Facebook application that lets you show off the cool gadgets & items you’ve bought. Watch out because your friends will rate your purchases by giving you a thumbs up or down. (Don’t worry you will get a chance to rate them back!)
Read the FAQ at Chitika for more info.
Tip: No weblog or website? Write a Note in your Facebook account and share your referral link there. And, even if you do have a website or weblog, adding your referral link within Facebook will be a good idea too.
Add the iBought Facebook app now*
* affiliate
Technorati Tags: chitika, facebook, online money ideas
101 Dumbest Moments in Business 2007
These are things that make you go “hmmmm….” in the world of business. That is, according to Fortune.
Some online business related stuff that made it to the list – Google, Blogger, and WikiScanner, among others. Heh.
If you can’t lounge around the well-known, award-winning Google HQ offices as an employee, there are other ways to make money off the big G. Here are some ways to get a small piece of the Google pie:
1. Blogger – Whether you’re running ads, selling products, promoting affiliates, or using this blog platform as a way to promote your business or services, this Google service can aid you in making money online.
2. AdSense – This is one common way to monetise blogs and websites. Also see: How Adsense Publishers Can Make More Money.
3. AdWords – You can advertise your business, products, or services using AdWords. This is, of course, in conjunction with the Adsense programme.
4. Google Image Labeler – Just a roundabout way of making money by tagging photos online.
5. Google-Related Competitions – Sometimes, independent businesses throw contests that are related to Google, such as this $10,000 bounty for re-indexing sites.
6. Google Aps’ Online Collaboration – Work on your online projects using Google Aps.
7. Google Checkout – Use this online payment system to help you process your web business transactions.
8. YouTube – There are different ways you can monetise YouTube.
Can you think of other ways to use Google to make money online?
Top 3 Blog Portions to Emphasize to Make More Money Online
One doesn’t need to be an expert web designer to see if a blog’s design is best for making money online. What are the common design elements of a champion make money online blog? Here are my observations:
1. Gigantic RSS Feed Chicklet
One of the main goals of make money online bloggers is to build a large RSS readership. What’s the best way to do this? NO it’s not to embed the codes of the largest RSS feed there is in the online world, it’s that and producing very useful content.
The more visible your RSS feed chicklet is, the more chances of scoring RSS subscribers. But again, it should be coupled with great content. Also, an FAQ or a page explaining the importance and how to use RSS can help educate those clueless about RSS. In every post or in your key content, it’s also good to directly ask your readers to subscribe to your feed if they want to keep on getting updates.
How does this help in earning more?
Aside from the RSS Feed monetization services, the number of your RSS subscribers may help in sealing direct ad deals.
2. Newsletter Form
Aside from RSS feed subscribers, the list needs to be built. One of the most popular ways to do it is get ‘em to subscribe to your newsletter form. Whether you use Zookoda (anyone still using this?), Feedburner, Aweber or whatever, it’s very important to get one or you risk not having to say hi to your potential best readers/fans/clients ever again. I call it a blog’s dreamcatcher.
The form alone won’t get you anywhere if the blog content doesn’t get the reader anywhere – yes content’s still the priority here. Please make it a point to also inform your visitors that you’re not going to spam or sell their email addresses.
How does this help in earning more?
If you’re using Feedburner, they can up your RSS subscriber number. 
If you have a product to sell, you’ve already pre-sold it to your list. So you get the idea.
3. Ad Section
The trend with these sponsor’s sections is having those blocks on the upper right side bar that can extend to as far low as possible depending on the number of advertisers that want to enjoy your site’s traffic.
No need to expound on how this will make you more money online.
So aside from top quality content and those three sections or forms, what other portions or design elements do you think one needs to optimize for more moolah?
3 Sneaky Keyword Research Tools
I’ve been meaning to write more optimized content for my blogs. But new projects caused its getting pushed to the last part of my never ending to-do list. But since BTMM is one of those projects, I thought of finally starting to get the juices flowing through writing about these sneaky little tools that I’ve learned to use to spark the fun part of SEO content writing – keyword research.
Many use Google Analytics to see what keywords people use to get to their sites. Now how about checking out what keywords drive traffic to your competitor sites?
If you think SiteMeter is only for newbies, think again. Ok, most of the time it’s used by web analysis noobs. But it’s also for the bold and feisty who don’t mind showing their price keywords. Take a peek into your most favorite competitor blog’s highest-traffic generating keywords, if you’re lucky enough that his/her site sports a publicly viewable SiteMeter stat account, that is.
I’ve mentioned it as the next pagerank toolbar alternative because of its ability to display the keyword-richness of a website.
SEODigger shows the list of keywords that a website’s ranking well for. Through it you can also know the number of searches it received from a certain keyword. One neat tool for those who’d like to be updated with the most happening keywords websites are benefiting from.
KeywordSpy, isn’t it a very fitting name for a tool that helps you sneak into the list of magic keywords your top competitors are earning from?
It shows the top sites that have the most keywords used to advertise. This keyword research tool is most useful for those who’d either want to earn from AdSense or use paid ad campaigns for their websites.
Know of any other effective tools that lets you into the keyword secrets? Please leave a comment below.
Zazzle: Create, Sell, and Make Money
If you love to design and/or to create slogans and sayings and/or to make and sell products, then check out Zazzle. It’s pretty much similar to CafePress, where you can put designs or slogans on to various products such as T-shirts, mugs, and cards, then set-up an online store to sell them. You can then get a percentage of that sale. And, even if you’re not in to creating your own original designs and sayings, you can still set up your own online stores or just sell specific products, showcasing other people’s products. You will receive 15% of every sale, according to their site.
Although I have had some experience using Cafepress for this type of online business, I must admit that I have very little experience with Zazzle. In fact, I just signed up for an account there, to test it out. I’m not sure yet what the experience will be like, so I’ll report back here when I get the chance. However, I have heard some good feedback from Zazzle users. So, hopefully, it’s a good place to check out.
In any case, one of the things that I like about it is the different types of products that they have featured. For example, you can get Keds shoes, skateboards, photo sculptures, and postage stamps – and even add your own designs to them. I definitely would like to give them a try.
Oh, and yes, they are based in the USA. However, they have localised versions in different countries too, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
If you have been a Zazzle user – either as a seller, designer, or buyer – do let us know what you think of it. Your feedback is always welcome!
8 Ways to Increase the Chances of Making Traffic from Social Bookmarks Stay
Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Sphinn and Propeller are taking the Internet by storm, and it’s because they’ve been helping Internet marketers promote their products and services quickly and efficiently. Social bookmarking has become one of the best modes of viral marketing, not to mention the best fallback method of traffic building during this Google dance season.
However, not a lot of people do understand the very nature of social bookmarks. Thus, they can’t make the traffic that comes from these sites to linger and make most of the site. What are the right ways to do it then? Here are some tips that can maximize the traffic that comes from social bookmarks:
1. Use common SEO techniques – Make sure your headline can draw attention. Your title should create an impact, if you want your targeted audience to click on your articles and bookmark them into their own bookmarking sites. You should also focus on your description. It doesn’t have to be provocative, just enough to capture their curiosity. Nevertheless, it’s always important to never resort to exaggeration only to increase their interest. Creating a title such as “5 Ways to Cross the English Channel Alone†may only merit your article as a joke.
2. Sustain their interest all throughout the paragraphs. Oftentimes you’ve heard of suggestions to concentrate on your first paragraph. Ideally, that’s the way to go. However, it doesn’t mean you have to forget the remaining ones. One of the best ways to sustain their interest is to settle for short paragraphs. This way, the white space can provide comfort for their eyes, and they don’t easily get tired reading your articles. Most of all, be personal in your approach. Talk as if your audience is just in front of you. Being conversational always goes a long way.
3. Add bookmarking buttons on your site. StumbleUpon, Digg, del.icio.us, and other social bookmarking sites all have buttons that you can add to your site, or even in your articles. This will make it very much easy for visitors to bookmark articles and eventually share those articles to their network.
4. Choose the right category. There are times when you can never be found in social bookmarking websites simply because you have chosen the wrong category or you haven’t picked any. Categories make it very much convenient for your targeted audience to search for articles and sites that they can add into their bookmarks. Hence, don’t pick Technology if you’re talking about Diabetes. If you can’t find any category, feel free to contact the social bookmark sites’ webmasters.
5. Build your network. Being a lonely wolf doesn’t get you anywhere. There are a number of average stories that gain popularity simply because they have solid network of friends who are helping them in Digg-ing or Stumbling for traffic. Thus, ensure that you can have time to take a look at other people’s profiles and start building your contact list.
6. Don’t submit stale news. Remember what they say, “Old news is already history.†. Gather stories that haven’t been talked about yet or add a twist to that topic. You can even go for something controversial as long as you remain objective. Go for how-to’s (StumbleUpon traffic magnet). They’re timeless.
7. Make your RSS feeds subscription chicklet, button, or link and email newsletter subscription options obvious. You can tweak your blog’s layout and set your single post pages to have all the tools that help convert traffic to regular visitors readily available or accessible.
8. Make it a point to understand what type of content your network of social bookmarking friends love. StumbleUpon stumblers (as mentioned love lists and how-to’s) differ from Diggers (games and tech news). See what works for your site and keep on providing relevant content that’s tailored to a certain social bookmarking site’s traffic.
Now rinse and repeat!
So would you mind adding this post to your bookmark of choice?
Advance Traffic-Generating Tips for Your Website
It’s 2008 and what better way to start the year than learn or simply implement bigger ways (since none of ‘em is new) to generate traffic to your site.
Tip #1 If you’ve got the knowledge and skills for it, create a simple Java or Flash game that’s related to your website theme. It has to be fun of course. But more than that, it must also let your visitors know more about your website and hopefully, convince them to pay attention to what you’re selling. If a Flash game’s too far-fetched, how about a Flash-y QnA or a survey?
If you don’t have the programming knowledge and skills for it then consider hiring a programmer. If not that, just stick with a text-based game. As long as it’s fun to play, the game design won’t matter that much.
Tip #2 Think widgets. For the uninitiated, this is the collective term for various applications, programs, or tools installed by the blog owner for several reasons. Some are designed to provide readers a better time navigating their way around the site, others add visual appeal, while a number of widgets improve the blog’s search engine ranking.
Browse the Internet for its collection of widgets and see which ones you can “borrow†and use on your website.
Tip #3 Consider hosting a forum on your website. Managing a forum will require you to learn new skills and knowledge but it’s well worth the traffic that your forum will generate in the future. A forum gives visitors a formal place to hang out and talk. If it’s your forum then you can also do whatever you want with it and if you’ve read my mind then you already know that means free advertising.
Of course, building and managing a forum is simpler said than done. Firstly, you’ll need to acquire extra web space. Then you’ll have to learn how to manage it. Next, you’ll need to promote the forum so that your target market would know there’s a new place online they can “chillâ€. Consider inviting forum guests once in a while to generate traffic to your website. Be ready to initiate conversations all the time – if the conversation dies, the traffic disappears as well.
Tip #4 Create a podcast. A podcast takes advantage of people’s recent fascination with MP4 players. Podcasts are audio files that discuss anything under the sun. Creating podcasts is just like creating infoproducts, but this time you include advertisements for your website in the content. It’s better to place the ads in the middle of a chapter so that readers won’t be able to skip them.
Tip #5 Since you’ve already taken advantage of the weakness of the iPod generation then why not go full circle and hone in on the weakness of the YouTube nation as well? Create fun and informative videos that will tackle topics related to your website. They’ll forgive short advertisements about your website is the content’s good.
Tip #6 Enter joint ventures with other websites. Contact a joint venture broker, relay your problem to him, and let the broker find ideal JV partners for you.
Tip #7 Last but not the least, shed your cheapskate ways. Most basic traffic-generating tips are free to implement but you’ve graduated from that already. You’re entering the big league now. Find an ad network company to help you run your first paid advertising campaign.
Any of these traffic-building methods too bold or too old for you? Got other more effective tips? Kindly share your thoughts.