Feed aggregator

How I Make Money On Google For Free

If I’ve been asked once, I’ve been asked a thousand times – “Jennifer, How do you make money on Google?”. When I first started making money online, no one really paid much attention to what I was doing (or they thought it was a scam…or it wouldn’t work…etc, etc), but now that things are really kickin’ for me and we have enjoyed a serious positive life-style change, suddenly people want to know what I do, how it works, and how they can make money on Google, too. So, I decided it is time for this post to explain the basics of how I make money on Google for free.

Table Of Contents

Below are “quick links” to the info on this page about how to make money on Google:

2 Main Ways To Make Money On Google

The Basic Concept

What You Must Have

How I Started Making Money on Google

What To Watch Out For

Where To Learn More About How To Make Money On Google

Summary

2 Main Ways to Make Money On Google

There are two main ways to make money on Google. One is free, the other is not.

If you’ve ever done a search on Google you may have noticed two main parts to page that is returned to you after you click “search”. Let’s take a look at that page so I can show you what you’re looking at.

As I noted in the above picture of a Google search for the phrase make money online, there are two main/basic parts of a Google search result page (also called the Google SERPs which stands for Search Engine Result Pages).

The Left Side

The listings that are returned on the left side are the free side of a Google search result page. These web pages (not webSITES, but web PAGES) are returned in an order based on how relevant Google thinks they are to a search that is requested.

The process of making your web page more relevant to a search in Googles “eyes” is called Search Engine Optimization (or SEO for short). The basics of SEO are fairly simple and straight-forward to learn and to implement.

Keep in mind that Google is an algorithm….a computer program…that runs on a patented formula to rank pages in order of relevance based on what Google thinks a web page is about. Your job when you optimize a page is to help Google understand what your web page is about so Google can rank you well in the search engine result pages.

If you consider the fact that about 80% (or more) of the world uses Google to find things online, you can bet that being in the top 5 places on the free side (also called the “organic listings”) of Google can bring good traffic to your web page. It has been reported that a web page with a #1 listing in a Google search result will get 40% of the clicks for that specific search.

Based on that, it is pretty amazing to think that 80% or more of the WORLD that is looking for a certain something in Google will click that #1 listing – and if it’s YOUR web page there….well, that’s a really, really good thing =)

The Right Side

The Right Side of a Google search result is paid advertising. These are advertisers who deliberately create ads that will only show up when a certain phrase is searched for on Google. These ads are charged each time they are clicked. How much they are charged can range from 5 cents all the way to $10 -$15 or even more. The amount is decided based on the competition of the phrase being searched for (that phrase is also called a “keyword” or a “keyword phrase”).

This type of advertising on Google is called PPC (or Pay Per Click) and Google’s program for this is called AdWords. PPC is a whole ‘nother can of worms that I am not going to get into today.

What I want to talk about is how to make money on Google for FREE.

back to top

How To Make Money On Google For Free – The Basic Concept

Here is the short version of how this all works – or at least as short as I can make it…lol.

The majority of people who make money on Google for free are doing something called “affiliate marketing”. Affiliate marketing is similar to a “real job” in the sales industry where you are paid a commission when you sell something for a company.

Being an “affiliate” for an online company like Amazon.com is completely free to do. There are HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of companies that will allow you to be an affiliate for them for absolutely no cost.

Once you sign up to become an affiliate with a company online, you will be given special links that you put on your web page. These links are coded so that is someone clicks those links, the users activity is tracked and if a sale is made, the commission goes to you.

Commission amounts can be anywhere from 4% of the purchase price all the way to 75% or more (the higher commissions are usually for things like ebooks – digital products). People buy all kinds of things online – and each year their online spending increases. Believe it or not, I have actually sold gas grills, furniture, and other things online as an affiliate.

In order to be an affiliate and make money on Google for free, you will need to use sites that allow you to make free web pages. There are many sites like that out there on the internet. Just always make sure that the site you want to use allows “affiliate links” so you don’t break any terms of service.

So that’s the short of it – you make a free web page, put your free affiliate link on it along with some great content (a good article….not a sales pitch), then – repeat and make another.

The concept is simple, but people tend to really complicate it.

back to top

What You MUST Have To Make Money On Google For Free

Want to know what you MUST have in order to make money on Google for free? Ready?

A computer

Connection to the Internet

Yup, that’s it….and for most of us, we already have those two things so why not make them work for YOU?

back to top

How I Started Making Money On Google For Free

When I started trying to make money online I was pretty much broke. I had no money to invest into making my own web sites or to pay for PPC advertising so I had to find a way to use all free resources to bring money in.

I ended up using a site called Squidoo (squidoo.com). This site allows you to make a free web page (or hundreds of free web pages) on just about any topic you’d like. Now, they do have rules so be SURE to read their terms of service before making a page to be certain that you aren’t going to break one of their rules.

Squidoo calls their free web pages a “lens”. Think like the lens on a camera….how it will focus in on one very specific topic. That’s how a Squidoo lens web page works best, too. A Squidoo page will do best when it is about one very specific topic or product. For example, a lens will do best when it is about purple rhinestone dog collars as opposed to dog collars or dog products or worse… about dogs in general.

When I started out, I would make a free page (a lens) about a specific product or topic and put my free affiliate links on it. When people came to my lens, clicked my links, and then made a purchase, I made a commission. I made a LOT of these free web pages on all sorts of topics.

Here is an example of a basic Squidoo lens (web page) that I have – go ahead and click here to see it (it will open in a new window) It is about Vizio TV’s. The links on that page are my affiliate links. When someone comes to that page, clicks thru via my links, and buys something, I make a commission.

Go ahead, take a good long look at it. It’s doesn’t LOOK difficult, does it? That’s because it’s not.

Keep in mind that ONE free web page will most likely not make you rich overnight. However, a bunch of free web pages mixed with some time can make a very definite positive impact on your income.

If you like having extra money, this is a great FREE way to make money on Google from the comfort of your home when YOU have time to work on it. Plus, once the web pages are up and in Google, those pages will work FOR you even when you are not working. That whole “make money while you sleep” thing is very real IF you work it.

I have a free guide that walks you through the process of making a web page on Squidoo that has helped a lot of people get started. If you’d like to read it, you can get my free Squidoo guide here (just click – it will open in a new tab/window so you don’t lose your place here).

Over time, my free web pages on Squidoo were making me some nice extra money so I decided to amp up my efforts and turn it into a full-time income. It was the best decision I ever made.

back to top

What To Watch Out For

As I’ve just explained, making money on Google can be totally free. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some “make money on Google” sites out there that want to charge you for their information. While not all of these sites and systems are bad, there are definitely some “bad apples” out there so be careful.

Before you pay for any “make money on Google” type program, be sure you know WHAT you are getting, how much you will be charged, and how OFTEN you will be charged. I’ve heard of some horrible situations from my readers where they signed up for some program and were getting charged ridiculous amounts each month – and had to go thru hell and high water to get the charges to stop. Naturally, those details were somewhere at the bottom of the site in very small, and very light, print….so be sure to read.

As with all things, if it sounds too good to be true…. well, just trust your instinct. Or, join an online marketing forum and ask others their opinion and feedback. Trust me, if there is negative, they’ll tell you =)

I know what I am showing now about making money on Google might just sound too good to be true, but at least it’s free to try it and find out for yourself.

back to top

Where To Learn More About Making Money On Google

As I said, I started out the free way doing what I teach in my free Squidoo guide. Once I got that rolling, I wanted to learn how to make really great free web pages that did better in Google….and better for ME. That’s when I really kicked it in to learn how to better my efforts and started plowing thru the internet for little tips and advice. I slowly worked out a system that works awesome for me. My readers here at PotPieGirl.com wanted to know how I was doing it – they actually TOLD me to get it all in an ebook and sell it – so I did. That process is now a series of 5 ebooks that is called One Week Marketing.

Now, if you are TOTALLY new to all this, don’t go buying One Week Marketing yet – it will totally confuse you. Get your basics first with my free Squidoo guide….see if it’s something you’d like to continue doing and do better….THEN think about One Week Marketing.

After getting my One Week Marketing Action Plan working for me, I wanted to learn more about all the ways to make money online so I joined an affiliate marketing training site called Wealthy Affiliate University. It was also a great decision for me and really helped me accelerate my success online.

Wealthy Affiliate can teach all about free ways to make money online, PPC, making your own web sites, creating your own products, and so on and so on. They also have all the tools you need to get each type of technique rolling.

The best part tho, to me, is the forum. Whenever you have a question, you just post in their private forum and there are hundreds or more people in there who can answer you.

That forum has been a “sanity-saver” for me many, many times!

There are also tons of member-shared tutorials in WA. I have many tutorials in there that I only share with other Wealthy Affiliate members. For example, that example Vizio TV lens I showed you earlier (click here in case you didn’t see it ) – I have a complete step-by-step tutorial inside Wealthy Affiliate that shows exactly how I made it. It’s in the training resources section and it’s titled “Fast Action Quick Start” (not to brag, but it’s currently the #1 rated tutorial. Ok, I guess that WAS bragging….lol!)

It’s funny to me now, but a year and a half ago when I was trying to decide if I should join Wealthy Affiliate or not, it was a really tough decision. Everything they have is included for a whopping $39.99 a month – that’s just a little over $1 a day! Now, I can’t believe I hesitated for even a second – it was the best decision I’ve made to help me turn my part-time online income into a real live full-time online business that I run from the comfort of my own home (and many times in the comfort of my own pajamas too! lol).

I have met the two owners of Wealthy Affiliate, Kyle and Carson, face-to-face. They are the real deal. That entire community is founded on their solid integrity and principles. They both started with nothing like I did, and now are very successful internet marketers. They could charge SO much more for all they offer, but they want to keep the rate in reach for everyone. Wealthy Affiliate is changing peoples lives – I see it in there every single day.

I recommend keeping Wealthy Affiliate in your mind as you move along with making money on Google – or just click here to learn more about their community, training, supports, and tools. They also offer a free guide that is definitely worth the read.

back to top

Summing Up

Ok, that’s my “quick” overview of how to make money on Google for free. Well, maybe not so quick- it’s about 2500 words or so – but I felt it was important to explain the basics of what I do the very best that I can (and hopefully not confuse the heck out of anyone).

I’ve been doing this for over 3 years now – and I LOVE it! I started out not knowing much more about the internet than the basic skills that are needed to send an email – things most people know these days. However, by sticking with it, taking action every day, and working hard, I have managed to turn this into an income that I have never made before in any “real job”.

Best part of all – *I* am my own boss.

I decide when I hang with the kids or my hubby, when we go on vacation (which we do a LOT more of these days), and when I work. It’s also kinda cool having a business you can run from anywhere you have internet connection – the beach, your couch….anywhere. There is no more stress and struggle over bills, or holidays, and as a former broke single mom I can tell you that I won’t go back to living that stressful broke life ever again – not ever.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, this all did not happen overnight, but this is something that over time, will snowball and potentially become the best income YOU ever made, too.

I wish I could promise that, but we all know I can’t. The biggest determining factor in your success is YOU. You are starting your own business and just like in the real world – you only get out of it what YOU put into it.

If you have any questions, please ask here in the comments section. While I tend to be extremely busy these days, I do the best I can to balance my time and help as many as I possibly can.

Best of luck to you!

Jennifer
~PotPieGirl

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

How To Make Money On Google

I Attended The Wealthy Affiliate Private Super Affiliate Conference

I just got home from a week in Las Vegas for the private Wealthy Affiliate Super Affiliate Conference. If I had to sum up the entire experience in one word, it would be “WOW!” Can you imagine sitting in a posh luxury suite table with some of the most talented and successful internet marketers in the world? Can you imagine how humbling it is to look around that table of select marketers and realize that YOU were invited to sit there, too? I’m still suffering from a severe case of “shock ‘n awe”! lol!

A Brief Summary of My Week In Vegas

I have so much to share about my trip….videos and pictures to upload…..tons of thoughts and details to download from my brain and get on my computer…it’s almost overwhelming. The entire experience was….well, pardon the “hypey” way of putting this, but it was life-changing. Kyle and Carson (the owners of Wealthy Affiliate) absolutely went above and beyond for the group of us. Thing is, not only did they spoil us beyond reason, they also once again proved to me that they are completely involved and dedicated to my personal success online. Yet another example that those that give more DO make more money online.

In short, the entire conference I was surrounded by others who have found great success online by giving as much as they can. What’s the saying? “Your success is a direct reflection of the number of lives you have touched”? I think that’s it…if not, I’ll look it up to find the exact wording.

For a conference, it was a small group of people. I’ve been to other conferences and usually we’re talking hundreds of people who are being spoken to by any given speaker. Of course, those conferences are a great learning experience, too, but this private Super Affiliate conference was something of a different breed all-together.

While most conference-style events are usually a one-sided presentation type thing… the Super Affiliate conference with Kyle and Carson was a conversation. It was more of a “meeting of the minds” thing as opposed to a “meet the mind” event.

That spoke volumes to me.

I love to learn and love listening to people talk “at me” about their techniques and experiences. But when two VERY successful internet marketers, who also started with nothing, want to talk WITH me about techniques and experiences….well, that’s a whole ‘nother ballgame. Add in a small group of other VERY successful internet marketers to the conversation and it’s just plain ol’ AWESOME.

If Kyle and Carson didn’t keep some sort of structure to our meetings, we would all still be sitting there a week from now….or longer!

The cool thing is that each of us brought something a little different to the table so we could all add to each others ideas and thoughts. Just proof-positive that Wealthy Affiliate can crank out some very successful internet marketers who each attack the business from different angles.

What REALLY Shocked Me

Know what REALLY shocked me? When these other fantastic marketers came up to me and said it was an honor to meet ME.

ME?!?!

Now I will brag a little and mention that not only am I the first woman to qualify for this yearly WA private conference – I’m the only woman to ever qualify (so far….but I sure hope to change that!). But c’mon, I’m still just little ol’ me….lol!

Quite a few of these other marketers who qualified to attend are “under the radar” type marketers. They aren’t as uhhhhhhh……as out-spoken and chatty as I am online….lol. But if you want me to name-drop, I’ll pick one name that I bet the majority of you know of.

Ever heard of Bum Marketing? Ever heard of Travis that wrote Bum Marketing? Yup….he was there..and I have the pictures to prove it too =) I’m here to tell you that he is just as nice (if not nicer) than he comes across online.

Let me ask you… if you just spent time hanging out in Las Vegas….in a luxury 2-story suite….sharing meals…seeing a show…riding in a limo…chatting and exchanging ideas….wouldn’t YOU be in a bit of “shock ‘n awe” too?

But wait…. it gets even better…

My “Blonde” Moment

First off, my apologies to my blonde friends – no offense intended – but I had a total “blonde moment” while at the conference.

On Tuesday, I had my private meeting with Kyle and Carson (and yes, they DO exist…lol). This meeting was just the three of us sitting at the table in their fabulous suite.

Know what they wanted to talk about? They wanted to help me with MY business. They didn’t want to talk about how I could make THEM more money….they simply wanted to help ME make more and be more successful.

I was totally unprepared for that meeting.

I was expecting them to want to talk about me and Wealthy Affiliate. Nope… I was wrong. They wanted to talk about me and MY business. As they started talking with me I found myself sitting there thinking, “Get outta here! Is this a joke? Every conference has a pitch…where’s the pitch?!??!”

There wasn’t a pitch. No hidden agenda at all. I got to look those two successful young men in the eyes and see what I have always suspected about them. They are givers who do as much as they can for as many people as they can for the least amount of investment possible.

If you’re on the Wealthy Affiliate mailing list (either as a member or a non-member) have you ever noticed – EVER noticed – Kyle and Carson pimping any other product? No, you haven’t. They are completely confident that they have all the training and resources inside Wealthy Affiliate that you need to be successful online. You don’t NEED anything else.

When those two say, “Your success is OUR success” – they mean it. That’s why I’m part of their community and it’s been why I have always recommended Wealthy Affiliate for anyone who wants to accelerate their success online. My experience in Vegas has now doubly confirmed my feelings about that.

Oh, wait… I got off track. I was about to tell you about my “blonde moment”…sorry!

Ok, so I had that private meeting with Kyle and Carson. It was so good and really helped me a lot. Got me thinking about a lot of things that suddenly made so much sense after hearing it from another point of view from 2 people who had been exactly where I am now.

As I left the suite to the super-private elevator to take me down to the “real world” (if you can call the MGM Grand in Las Vegas the “real world”….lol). I got in the elevator and was totally lost in thought. The only way I can describe it is as a bunch of “lightbulb” moments hitting me all at one time.

Suddenly I realized that I’d been in that elevator forever. I know I was wayyyyyy at the top of that huge building but surely it didn’t take that long to get back down – at least it never had before.

That’s when I realized that I never pushed the button to take me somewhere in that elevator.

I just got in, the doors closed and then I stood there lost in thought.

I bet the security guy in charge of watching the elevator cameras was laughing his butt off at me! I know *I* am still laughing about it!

More Details About Vegas Coming Soon

That’s about it for tonight. It’s almost 1 am and I am wiped out from the past week. I need a vacation from my vacation so I guess it’s time to get back to work!

As I mentioned earlier, I have pictures and videos to share as well as more details from in my little pea brain that I’d like to share (and that I’m allowed to share).

I actually did my very first “sit down in front of the camera and talk” video on our last day in Vegas. I don’t consider myself a shy person, but I’ve never been a video type person before – but something happened on that last day that gave me the strongest drive to make a video and talk about it.

Oddly, making videos is much easier than I thought it would be especially when it comes from the heart and is unscripted.

So anyway, I’ll share that with everyone, too. Not sure how I’m gonna put ALLLLL this stuff together, but I’ll figure something out. Right now, my brain says it’s tired and I need to leave it to rest for a bit.

Perhaps I’ll avoid MORE “blonde moments” if I do just that! lol!

If there is anything specific you’d like to know about the Wealthy Affiliate Vegas Conference, just ask. If I’m allowed to answer, I will, but please keep in mind that this was called a “private” conference for a reason. It wouldn’t be cool of me to share things from other marketers that might be sensitive.

So ask away! I love the conversations in my blog post comments – they are WAY better than the actual posts!

Otherwise, just hang in there and I’ll let everyone know when more details, photos, and videos of the Vegas Trip are available. If you aren’t familiar with Wealthy Affiliate or haven’t gotten their free Internet Wealth Guide, you can check all that out by clicking here.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Back From Vegas

The other day I was contacted by Pete who’s Paypal account was recently closed. I’ve posted his questions here in the blog since I’m not sure what the best course of action to get his account re-opened or to get his money back should be. Heck, I’m not even sure if he was breaking and Paypal or eBay rules (not that it matters to Paypal).

Here is Pete’s email:

Here is the situation with Paypal that I need help with….

I was working with two Ebay/Paypal accounts that are in relative’s names. I only logged into each account from their prospective houses hoping to avoid them being linked.

Account A I used to sell on Ebay. Account B has a seasoned Paypal Business Account w/ debit card.

Over the weekend I was selling quite a bit from A on Ebay and was transferring money to B. 6 transfers and a total of $2135. This morning I got the dreaded kiss of death from Paypal on Account A stating the closing of account due to suspicious activity and 180 day waiting period. There is only $680 left in that account so it’s not the end of the world. I’d like to get it lifted and access the money but the bigger problem is that on account B (where the $2135 was transfered) they have a hold on the transfers.

On account B I purchased some product and withdrew some funds that totaled about $1000, leaving $1300 or so in there. Paypal now shows a negative balance of over $1000. They are asking for info on the 6 transfers. When I made the transfers, I chose “personal” and gift or moneys owed on the reasons. Paypal wants more info and I need to know how to respond in order to get those funds released. Again account B is in good standing if I handle this properly.

I thought about sending a dummy item to account A’s address and getting tracking info but when I transferred I used “gift” and “money owed” as the reason. I also thought about stating that Account B was account A’s landlord and that was rent that was due. I could easily produce a lease agreement between the two.

I need your expert advice on how to respond as I only have one shot at it.

My other question is… If Paypal does not allow the transferred funds through… what happens to the negative balance? Can Paypal take it from the bank account without my consent?

I’m anxiously awaiting your response. Thanks, Pete

Pete: I can’t answer the first part of your question – I’m posting it here in my blog in hopes that other readers might be able to post a comment with advice. As to your second question regarding Paypal taking money from your bank account if your Paypal balance goes negative: I have read that Paypal can and will take money from your bank account in the event that your balance goes negative. However, since that has not happened to me, I don’t know for sure if this is true or correct.

Good luck in getting your money back from Paypal. Please come back and post comments to keep us updated.

Like Unlike

© 2006 - 2009 Randy Brown

I'm sure many of you are longing for the day when you have an RSS following in the thousands and an Alexa Ranking in the Top 10,000. Fess up... You are impressed by stuff like that - High PR,...

Please visit Grizzly's Make Money Online for Beginners for the rest of the post.

Can You Make More Money Online By Giving?

As many of you know, I started internet marketing in early 2007. For the first few months to almost a year, I was doing it wrong. I thought, “I am an internet MARKETER now. Marketers sell – so I must SELL”. And as much as I detested the “salesperson” concept, I went about trying to SELL online. It wasn’t pretty, but little did I know how wrong I was. I came across a post today that made me think back to this crucial lightbulb moment in my online marketing career and what a difference it made for me both personally – and professionally.

FlashBack to 2007

This little blog of mine started out in 2007 as a free blog on Blogger.com. Every single post was designed to sell and to GET. Needless to say, it wasn’t working and I was clueless as to what was wrong. Not only did I not get what was wrong from a financial standpoint, I also was troubled about how I felt personally. Being a pushy salesperson was never my thing. I never respected that and I didn’t like feeling like that, either.

Then it hit me – I didn’t BUY from that, either!

I have never in my life bought something from someone who was shoving the product in my face – why was I thinking it was going to be any different when *I* was the salesperson?

So, in January 2008 I made two major – and business changing – decisions.

1 – I was moving my blog to my own WordPress site on my own hosting account, and 2. I was going to stop selling and start giving and sharing as much as I could about as much as I knew at that time.

A Question For You

Let me ask you something…. If you and another person are headed for a door at the same time, but you got there first – would you hold open the door for that other person?

If so, would you expect ANYTHING in return for opening that door for them?

Is that just one of those little things you do each day as a random act of kindness that make you happy to be you?

See, that’s me… that’s how I am. Trying to become a pushy salesperson just was NOT me. Not only did it not work for me, it also did not feel good.

Opening doors for people DOES feel good for me.

And that is exactly what PotPieGirl.com became – a place where hopefully, the door to low-cost internet marketing skills and advice is opened. I set out to better myself and increase my knowledge so I could help open as many doors as I could. After all, you can’t give what you don’t have, right? That goes for knowledge and experience, too.

Funny thing is, I didn’t know there was a name for what I was doing or for how I am, but after today, reading a certain blog post, I realize there is.

I Am A Go-Giver

Apparently, I am a go-giver. It’s a whole mentality for life – not just business. But let me tell you, giving online DOES really, really help your online business results in a BIG way.

Overnight? No – don’t be silly….lol. But I’ll tell you this – if YOU are feeling crappy about the way you are putting your content out there and feeling like you are just another one of “them” online…..changing into a go-giver WILL make you feel MUCH better overnight!

As I wrote in the comments of the blog post I read today (I’ll link out to it in a minute…hold your horses…lol), I think the biggest roadblock people have with being a “go-giver” online is this:

giver = get taken advantage of

Don’t be afraid to give. But if your sole reason for giving is just to GET, you might have a hard time.

About Being a Go-Giver

The Go-Giver concept comes from this book – The Go Giver (go ahead and look. That’s a link over to the book on Amazon and it will open in a new window) which has been followed by another book titled Go-Givers Sell More.

I just ordered them both tonight after listening to an interview between Justin Brooke and Bob Burg (co-author of Go-Givers Sell More). It was really, really good – and I’d like to send you there to read Justin’s post and listen to the interview recording.

Justin’s Go-Getter post and interview with Bob Burg is here.

Take a few minutes and listen to it – check out the books – these are the types of things that really make YOU better (online AND offline).

Tell me what you think – do givers make more money? What did you think of the interview with Bob Burg? Have you read the book, or like me, just ordered it?

Let me know!

Giving via your content online as an affiliate marketer is really tough to teach. Usually, it is a lightbulb moment, just as it was for me. I think learning to be a go-giver can totally transform your online business AND make you feel really good about what you do.

Agree? Disagree?

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Give More – Make More?

This guest-post by Drew is a followup to our post “How to get your money back from PayPal“.   You can read Drew’s first entry here: Getting my money back from PayPal

Hello all:

Looks like i am screwed and tattoo’d sideways.

1. Yes, i have a case against Paypal and all. it is quite clear they are in the wrong.
2. Paypal responded to the BBB and Nebraska attorney general’s office with nothing but their User Agreement and a DENIED.
3. I figured out how Paypal conducts it.  They drag it out to the 6 months and release the money.  This is even after you file claim against them.

Here is how you can view a few examples. CLICK HERE for the case search for Iowa.  Enter Paypal in as defendant and search. you will find a few.  Everything is always the same method. and i figured it is the same way in every state.   Paypal stalls and stalls until the deadline has run out and then they release the money… they are some pricks.

So basically this is what Paypal will do if you file a case against them in small-claims court:

• You file a court action..
• Paypal respond with the User Agreement.
• Court sets hearing date.
• Paypal files motions for change of venue (fails every time).
• Paypal files for continuation.
• 6 months has expired and Paypal releases funds.
• You now have no more case because you got your money and are forced to dismiss the case at your own expense, losing the court costs.

I am weighing this moment whether or not to file.

Like Unlike

© 2006 - 2009 Randy Brown

Which Can You Afford?

I get so many emails and questions asking me if I think someone should do PPC, or outsource articles, or purchase a pre-made website, or buy this program or that program, or do article marketing, or….or…..or…..or…..(you get my point). I know it can be difficult trying to decide where to start, what to buy, what NOT to buy, what’s worth it, what will work for you – but it really comes down to one question of yourself… Time? Or Money?

What Can You Afford?

Let’s put experience and all that aside for a moment and talk about the hard-core question that should be in the back of all our minds when choosing what to do to make money online.

It comes down to Your Time, or – Your Money.

Do you have more money than time? Or, more time than money?

For example, when I started, I had more time each day than I had money to risk. I couldn’t afford to do PPC -whether it was “easier” or “faster” or not – I simply didn’t have the money to risk, let alone the money to do it at all.

The biggest investment I could make on my new online business at that time was my time and my elbow grease – and I invested a LOT of both things!

As time went on, I managed to get to a place where I wanted to save time and I used money I had earned to do just that. I saved my time by getting good tools, by outsourcing, and now, by purchasing sites that are pre-made.

Before, when I had no money, I did all my research by hand using free tools. I made all my own sites, promoted my own sites, wrote for my own sites – all of it.

Was it the “fast” way? Was it the “best” way? No, probably not – but it was the ONLY way for ME.

Was it hard and frustrating when someone would offer to show me the light for only $700, $70….or even $7? Yes – because I didn’t have that money to spend in order to see that light. I had no option but to find the way myself.

We are all blessed with 1,440 minutes in each day – 24 hours. Those minutes were my investment into myself, my business, and my family’s future – and I invested as many of those minutes each day as I possibly could (and then some…lol).

But dollars were NOT an option. I had to invest alllllllll those minutes in order to eventually have the luxury of investing dollars to save minutes and hours.

You

So let’s talk about you – Before you make any choices about your online marketing future, ask yourself, “What can I really afford?”

Perhaps you only have 2-3 hours a day to work online, but you do have a little cash that you can invest into your business on things that will SAVE you TIME…

Perhaps you have alllll day to work, but you just can’t invest dollars now…

Perhaps you have time and some money….

It’s also possible that you have very little time each day – and no money to invest.

These are all very real situations that I hear about from very real people every, single day.

Which one are you?

If you have limited time to work (as in WORK…lol) and no money, then I recommend getting a plan and following it each day. Stop tormenting yourself with all the offers out there for things that you can’t have right now – and only work each day for the time you have.

If you have ALLLLL day, but no money, I recommend the same thing. Always keep note of the things that take the most time from your day so when you DO get money, you will know the things you need to save you TIME.

If you have some cash then think about investing in things that will save you time. What those things are truly depends on your experience and knowledge level in this industry. For example, perhaps you know how to do keyword research, but it’s taking a lot of your time. You would then look for a good keyword research tool that will do what YOU need done to save YOU time.

Can Having Money Accelerate Your Success?

That’s a good question – if you ARE able to buy things, does that mean you will succeed faster?

Statistically, I say NO.

Sadly, there are too many people out there who have spent thousands and thousands of dollars – and never really took any ACTION. It’s a sad cycle of buy this/try it a little…. move on and and buy that/try it a little…..and so on and so on and so on.

However, I do believe that those that make thoughtful purchases of things that they WILL use and know WILL save them time so they can be even MORE productive, will see faster results from their ACTIONS.

Money, alone, will not buy you success online.

YOU create your success – no matter WHAT your situation is.

Do you REALLY want to know what “works” to make money online?

YOU.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Time or Money?

I came across a multi-page article/tutorial at SEOWAT.COM that takes you through some step-by-step instructions on getting top Google results in 30 days.   Many of the techniques described match exactly what I did when I first started GrownUpGeek.com (and, those worked).  There are also some newer techniques in the tutorial and plenty of  hand-holding & how-to’s for each item.

If you are new to this whole webmastering thing, it’s definitely worth your time to give these techniques a try.  You can read the article here:  Achieve Top Google Results In 30 Days

If you follow the tutorial (or already have), please post some feedback/results here.

© 2006 - 2009 Randy Brown

According to Darren Rowse Internet Marketers fit into a couple of generalized categories: Prelude: Before reading the rest of this post read these posts first; The Third Tribe by Darren...

Please visit Grizzly's Make Money Online for Beginners for the rest of the post.

I slapped this link at the bottom of my last post "The Third Tribe Review" and have felt bad because I didn't give it the props it deserves - especially in light of the amount of beginners I get on...

Please visit Grizzly's Make Money Online for Beginners for the rest of the post.

…And a Happy Birthday, Too!

What a busy week or so it’s been! I don’t like it being this long between posts, but time flies by before I even know what’s happened! I figured I’d take a break and let you know (and see) what I’ve been up to. Besides, if your email inbox is anything like mine lately, you’re over-whelmed with the “latest and greatest” launches out there. I think we can ALL take a break from business and product launches and allllllllll that stuff we do day in and day out today. So, if you don’t mind, let’s take a little break from the norm and I’ll ramble about some of the corny things that have been happening around here. I’ve got pictures and a video, too =)

I Got Old(er)

Yes, as of February 13th, I officially became one year older. As a special gift, we received about 4 inches of snow the day before my birthday. It was absolutely gorgeous! That night, my hubby, my daughter and I played outside in the snow. I’m tellin’ ya, if you want to feel young again, drop yourself in the snow and make a snow angel while big puffy snowflakes fall on your face.

It was awesome!

Yes, that’s me making my snow angel =)

Thankfully, my daughter grabbed my hood and pulled it up just as I was about to fall backwards into the snow (not sure exactly when SHE started mothering ME, but I like it).

Unfortunately, my already snazzy hair-do I acquired from the snowball fight all went into my face when my hood was pulled up so I have this lovely picture of me and my daughter for all future generations to see.

Oh well, the moment was perfect….

After our snowball fight and snow angels, we just HAD to let our cats out to play in the snow. OK, perhaps “let them” is not the correct terminology… we PUT them out in the snow for our own entertainment and made a quick video of it. (just a note: no animals were hurt during this production. Both cats were quickly back in the house and snuggled up by the fireplace).

For my birthday, my sweet daughter-in-law made a special dress for my granddaughter, Hanna, to wear. The front of the dress says, “Happy Birthday GiGi” on it. “GiGi” is my nickname and I’m guessing what Hanna will call me. Here is a picture of Hanna wearing the birthday dress (both the dress and the bow were hand-made by her Mommy).

Hanna will be 3 months old soon, and everyday she changes. I’m tellin’ ya, if I had known how wonderful being a (young…ha) grandmother would be, I woulda had the grandbaby first! She is so precious!

My 3-Year Anniversary

Today, February 18th, marks my three year anniversary for working online. Talk about time flying! Wowzers! Seems like just yesterday that my hubby came home and found me staring at a blank computer screen and asked, “Hey baby, whatcha doin’?

Me: “Making a website – I’m gonna make money online!”

Hubby: “Uhhhh…do you know how??”

Me: “Nope, I have no clue…..but I know I can do it.”

The rest is history – and so is that first website I made since I accidentally erased it while trying to learn FTP….lol!

Those first 2 years or so, I worked my tail off online. We’re talking 12…14…..or more hour days. I wanted this more than anything and was determined…. FIERCELY determined to learn and achieve all I could to make it happen for myself.

I know there are so many of you out there that are going thru exactly what I was going thru just a short time ago.

Hang in there! Please don’t give up!

Do this for YOU.

I wish I could articulate what a difference this has made in my life. Yes, money is cool and all…..but it’s not that. There is something liberating and empowering about wanting something so badly and doing more than you ever thought possible to make it happen. It all happens because of YOU, because of YOUR effort and YOUR learning and YOUR actions.

I know it’s hard to have faith in all this. There is so much uncertainty – no guarantees. No one can promise how much you will make, or how long it will take you to make it.

It’s all up to YOU.

I have no doubt that every single person reading this right now has ALL it takes to make this work.

You just have to want it badly enough… and then GO GET IT.

Think back on things you’ve worked really hard to achieve in the past. Reflect on the dedication and focus you mustered up to get them. You have all it takes =)

Perhaps you are someone who really can’t think of something you’ve ever poured your heart and soul into. That’s ok – but TODAY is the day to start. Do it for YOU.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Happy Anniversary To Me

This is the shortest post ever - don't ask - I'll explain in the 10K post. (8800 and counting...) I came across this today on... Gawd I'm admitting this... Twitter... the shame... but It's...

Please visit Grizzly's Make Money Online for Beginners for the rest of the post.

How Would You Sell Them?

Yes, I said it… hot dogs. Today we are going to talk about hot dogs – more importantly, how to SELL hot dogs. What in the world do hot dogs have to do with making money online? Well, actually it has a lot to do with it. Sit back and enjoy another trip into the weird mind of PotPieGirl.

Congrats! You’re a Hot Dog Vendor

Well, it’s been decided that YOU are going to sell hot dogs for a living. You got your hot dog cart…you got the buns and the weenies and all the cool stuff that goes with it. Awesome, now you’re ready to rock and roll.

Selling hot dogs should be easy, right? I mean c’mon, EVERYBODY loves hot dogs, don’t they? All you gotta do is put yourself and your hot dog cart where the people are. Easy.

So, you think about a place like downtown New York City. Tons of people there, right? Should be a breeze to sell a ton of weenies each day.

But wait – there’s also tons of OTHER hot dog vendors in New York City, too, aren’t there? You bet there are!

You’re gonna have to compete… get there early, get a good spot, offer something a little different than the rest of the vendors…..whew, you’re gonna have to like WORK.

Sure, there’s tons of people there and sure, you’ll probably sell a few, but you’re gonna work your tail off, jump up and down, and stay on top of things to get that piece of the market. There are also plenty of vendors there already that have been doing this for YEARS. They know what they’re doing… they know their market. In short, they are established and experienced and just might run your little hot dog business into the ground.

So, okayyyyyy….maybe downtown New York City is not the place for us. Maybe we need to take your hot dog cart to a place where there are a lot of people, but not any other hot dog vendors.

That should be easy, right? If you’re the ONLY hot dog vendor, you shouldn’t have to work so hard, ya think?

Yeah, well what if you find a large group of people somewhere every, single day BUT…..they’re vegetarians.

Think you’ll sell any hot dogs even tho you are the ONLY hot dog vendor for miles?

Not thinkin’ so.

We need to rethink this….

Ok, what if you park your hot dog cart right near a construction site that has a large group of workers? Now, that could work! Only problem is, it’s winter….they aren’t working now, but maybe they’ll come back soon….maybe?

Or maybe you could park your hot dog cart right outside your house…whatcha think? People come by now and then…maybe someone will want a hot dog AND be willing to pay you for it as opposed to going in THEIR house and just cooking one….maybe?

Selling Hot Dogs Is Too Hard!!

Sheeesh, this big idea to sell hot dogs suddenly got tricky. Perhaps it’s too hard and you should just quit before you even got started? You can park that hot dog cart in your garage and make your family eat your hot dog supply for the next 5 years….lol.

Not the answer. Quitting before you even tried is how I define “failure”. Let’s get back on this and make YOU a Hot Dog Tycoon!

So you gather your wits and get out there and take a look around. You suddenly drive past a good-sized high school or college that is right next to a park…and there’s no other hot dog vendor around.

Hmmmmmm……

No, you probably won’t see as many hungry people as you would in New York City, but you definitely will see more hot dog eaters than you would with the group of vegetarians…and you won’t have to wait to SEE if someone shows up as opposed to the construction site….but it could work – with a LOT less work on YOUR part.

These folks are hungry AND they eat hot dogs…you are positioned to be found without having to jump up and down and carry on the BE found.

You put yourself where you can be found by people that are looking for what you’re selling.

Hello? Tap, tap….can anyone hear me?

Put your offer where you can be found by people who want/need your product…and where YOU don’t have to work so hard to BE found.

Hot-Diggity!

Making money online is the same way… especially with affiliate marketing. Sure, those high-gravity Clickbank products are cool…and people are obviously buying them – BUT tons of OTHER affiliates are also SELLING them (New York City).

And yup, you can take that high-gravity product and get it found for a totally unrelated keyword…..so what? (think the vegetarian group). They don’t want what you’ve got so why offer it them?

Or… you could work one itty-bitty keyword that is very relevant, but the search volume is super, super low….and then fuss ’cause you aren’t getting massive traffic and results from that one web page (think the construction site). You can’t MAKE people search for a keyword more than they do. You have no control over search volume. You’d need a group of those itty-bitty keyword pages to have an impact on your sales and traffic-levels.

Or maybe….just maybe… you could pick a less-competitive product and have YOUR “cart” be found in a little nook (niche) where you don’t have to work so hard to get there and STAY there….AND, people WANT what you are offering.

You can do the same thing with a high-gravity product, but the odds of finding that little nook where you can be found and stick there are slim. Not IMPOSSIBLE, but slim. The folks you are competing against are not all one-man/one-woman hot dog carts – they are multi-cart owners who have lots of people working for them and deep-pockets to MAKE it work (and KEEP working).

Pick your battles. Use your time wisely.

Sell hot dogs.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Think You Can Sell Hot Dogs?

This guest-post by Drew is a followup to our “How to get your money back from PayPal“.  Drew is currently fighting to have his funds released by PayPal.  You can read Drew’s first entry here: Getting my money back from PayPal

After I sent PayPal the formal letter asking for them to release my funds, etc., Paypal called me this morning, and said So What, give us documents between my vendors and their wholesalers. I said it’s not legal, so on and so on, and informed the person I will go ahead and start the legal process, first by filing all the complaints.

These are the basic steps I took to file my lawsuit against PayPal:

• Write up a brief, 2-3 pages in length, outlining the case being filed, points of interests, legal issues, damages, rectification being sought. Once all completed, make 4-5 copies of it all.
• Go to county courthouse, or federal courthouse. Go to Clerk of Court’s office
• File lawsuit brief in small claims, or other appropriate offices.
• Have clerk of court notarize some of the copies, to deliver a copy to the defendant or their legal representation. In Paypal’s case, 1 copy to legal dept in California, 1 copy to legal representative of the state residing in (in my case, Overland Park Kansas, even though I am in Iowa)
• For Iowa, the filing fee is $35.  Federal court, filing fee is $85.
  Filing fee’s for each jurisdiction are different.
• Although not required, make Lawsuit Public – Paypal will hate that tremendously.  Plus it will cost them much financial resources, just for the initial presence in court.

I am quite sure that Paypal got my email this morning after i finished all the complaints with the FTC, SEC, federal reserve, California attorney general’s office, and the California justice dept.  A lot of stuff, but i am ready to play the hard ball game, that will cost them a lot more than it is worth.   I am seeking 72 hours for their representatives from 1 state away to appear in court or face default judgment.

My legal points are as follows:

• Paypal voided their TOS & agreement when they asked me to conduct criminal activities to get what they want.
• Paypal is operating as a financial institution with power of seizure, without legal authority to do so.
• Paypal is committing felony fraud (possible laundering activities going on as as well, since it seems to be widespread and ongoing), but just my own money is $2,253.36
• Paypal is refusing to release funds, not belonging to themselves, which is called grand theft.

If they would not have ask me to commit a crime, then their contracts are legal. but once they asked me to commit a crime, their contracts became null and void. That is law.

*note, by asking for me to commit a crime, I can also ask for punitive damages. When they did that, it opened them up to being liable

Like Unlike

© 2006 - 2009 Randy Brown

This guest-post by Drew is a followup to my “How to get your money back from PayPal” post.  Drew is currently fighting to have his funds released by PayPal.

I’ve been using paypal as my transactions processor for 3 years or so, and have been pretty active the entire time, since I sell a lot of stuff on multiple sites.  Anyways, During January 2010, i sold 150 items for under $20 on ebay… not one single issue and apx 130 of the 150 had already left positive feedback. not a single negative feedback, chargeback, or problem whatsoever. Everyone’s happy. … Except me.

I wake up Friday morning (January 29, 2010), planning to transfer the funds to my bank account, since all sales for the month had been completed… Low and behold, my Paypal account is frozen.  Paypal is asked for inventory descriptions, vendor invoices, and receipts.  I sent Paypal my vendor invoice (sales agreement), inventory listed of all the details.

Nope…. After providing what PayPal wanted, now PayPal wants more, and stuff there is no way I can provide, like written rights for being a reseller of the products by the manufacturer and even copies of my vendors contracts and sale agreements with their supplier (illegal as sin).  What? I don’t need rights to resell what i purchased wholesale from a distributor and Paypal sure does NOT have the right to require me to get a copy of my vendors contracts with their supplier.

Needless to say, it’s now a paypal horror story on the tune of $2,455.63. It took them 1 whole day to say they will hold my money for 180 days.. Great way to start off 2010….If you are a merchant and use paypal, this WILL be you soon. AVOID. Paypal is a scam, and is operating a criminal organization.

Me, most likely my online business is going to be annihilated, unless i can get back up to par fast. The entire amount in my paypal is what pays for my vendor balances. If I can’t get that paid, i am through. No job, no money, etc. I have signed up for moneybookers as a merchant, but am still awaiting a response for a few days now.

Like Unlike

© 2006 - 2009 Randy Brown

Alex posted this question on my post about how to block proxies:

Wow…Your information has really helped me out! I host a site on Livejournal, so I don’t know if this will work, but even a hope is better than what’s going on now!

By the way, I tried out the whois tool, and I had several questions. Sorry to bother you with them, but if you have any idea about these things (and can enlighten a little ol’ site owner like myself), I would be so appreciative!

The person  harassing my site and trying to sneak in is known to use proxies to do so. I’m just having a hard time distinguishing which IPs are proxies. If I receive a message like the one below for 202.70.58.xxx (it says under their information “Proxy-registered route object”, among other things), does that mean I am dealing with a proxy user?
http://whois.domaintools.com/202.70.58.xxx

Also, if the person’s IP says the Netype was Reassigned, rather than Direct Allocation, does that mean anything significant?  I have so many questions, but I don’t want to trouble you, especially since I can understand how awful the trolling must be for you, considering you wrote this entry. Thanks so much for your time though! This has really helped me out alot, and I feel like this situation is no longer hopeless!

Actually Alex, trolling at our site isn’t all that bad – especially since I’ve successfully blocked a large percentage of web-proxies.  We still get the occasional clown that thinks he’s (or often, she’s) a genius by finding a new proxy, but it’s rare these days.  Besides, it’s actually entertaining to watch an adult act like a fool and make himself look like a retarded 14-year old.  I wonder if they would do this kind of childish shit if they knew their own children would find out about it?  Probably not – this is why the weak-minded hide behind the cowardly shield of a proxy.

Anyway, on to your questions:

These days I don’t even bother looking at things like Proxy-registered route object or Direct Allocation.  All I look at in the WHOIS is who the owner is.  If the IP is registered to a company like “FDC Servers” or “Ultimate Web Hosting”, then it is probably a server, and almost certainly a proxy.  Sometimes the registered name isn’t clear, so I do a Google search to see what I can find.  If it’s a server-hosting company it should be pretty obvious.  If it is an Elite proxy or TOR exit-node, that should also be pretty plain to see.

The IP you say is harassing your site is registered as “Mobile Network Provider” in India.  So it looks like some sort cellphone provider or maybe a mobile/wireless ISP.  This doesn’t tell me much, so the next step is to do a Google search on that particular IP address.  Most “normal” IP address will return only a few Google hits, usually less than four or five.  Your suspect IP returns 37 hits on Google, which makes it a bit fishy, but none of the results show anything that would make me think it is a proxy.  My cunning & proxy-hunting skills tell me that this IP might be a proxy, and at a minimum is some sort of shared computer, like at a internet cafe.

Here are some examples of IP’s that are proxies that you can run through WHOIS and Google to see what they look like:

• 74.63.75.229
• 94.102.153.2
• 41.207.194.160

Compare the WHOIS and Google results for the IP’s above with your own IP and you should see a pattern.

Good luck in your asshole troll hunting!

Like Unlike

© 2006 - 2009 Randy Brown

Yah, Yah, Yah... I'm still around, doing this and doing that but this caught my eye and I thought it was worth un-hibernating long enough to suggest you check out this article - pretty funny...

Please visit Grizzly's Make Money Online for Beginners for the rest of the post.

…Not Even A Little Bit

So, I got a video camera for Christmas. My hubby got me one of those snazzy Flip HD cameras….and it’s awesome! Today I got to use it to catch a totally spontaneous moment at my house. Naturally, if you know me at all, you know it’s not the best video in the world – BUT, it really got me thinking about something that applies to all of us when we work online. Shiny Things.

Oh, Look! A Shiny Thing!

Before I get to this video, let me tell the story behind it.

The day was…. today. Hubby was home, I was cooking in the kitchen (yes, I cook….at least once a year….lol). The sun was coming through our windows at just the right angle to cast a reflection off the face of my hubbys watch. That reflection made this shiny spot on the wall and the ceiling as he moved.

This Shiny Thing drove my cat INSANE!

She started running around, making this chattering sound….and we couldn’t figure out WHAT was wrong with her.

Suddenly, my hubby figured it out – so, we teased her some more with the Shiny Thing making it go all over the room, the ceiling, the walls – and I whipped out my handy-dandy Flip Camera =)

Oh, Look ANOTHER Shiny Thing!

As I am watching this cat of mine freak out over this little reflection of sunshine, I got to thinking about how I was when I first started working online. I was just like Bailey (our cat)…. chattering, running in all directions….. basically trying to catch something that can’t be caught.

Sound familiar? Anyone? A quiet nod will suffice to let me know that I’m not alone here….lol!

Also, am I the ONLY one who has many normal, day-to-day things happen that make you think of internet marketing? I mean, seriously, I can be washing the dishes and start thinking about how simple repetitive tasks get the big job done. That even tho the dishwasher is a VERY cool invention, it still doesn’t load itself so it can then work for ME.

But that’s a story for another day… Let’s get back to Bailey the cat.

I’m Gonna Catch Me One Of Those Shiny Things!

I can’t believe how possessed she was over chasing the shiny things. Her eyes were glazed over – you couldn’t distract her – nothing. All she wanted to do was catch that shiny thing. Even if it meant hurting herself in the process.

Meanwhile, our other cat (actually both cats are my older kids cats, but if you have older kids, you know that they don’t tend to take the pets with them as they grow up. Hence, reality is – they’re MY cats now)….. our other cat just sat there staring out the window or at the wall or something. She’s really not the brightest light on the Christmas tree, but she wasn’t the one chasing a reflection of light, now was she?

{perhaps she is smarter than I give her credit for…..nahhhhhh}

You’ll catch a glimpse of the other cat during this quick video. She’s the big black cat sitting in the shadows watching Bailey jump the walls like a fool….lol.

Again, I warn you…

This Video Will NOT Change Your Life!

Are You Hurting Yourself Trying To Catch Shiny Things?

It’s so easy to get distracted by the “latest and greatest” Shiny Thing being sold online. And they all look and sound SO great, don’t they? Simple systems… effortless….hands off….even a three-year-old could make millions…

We all know the drill.

What’s worse is that for many, many people I talk to online, they are not simply distracted by the Shiny Things – they are STUCK on the Shiny Things.

One new “latest and greatest” product after another and they still have yet to get anything real online that will get to work FOR THEM.

When you’re trying to build a real online business, trying to catch the Shiny Things can make you look and act like my cat. And, as Bailey can’t seem to figure out – you can’t CATCH Shiny Things. All you do is run around TRYING to catch the all-illusive “prize”.

What DOES Work?

Wanna know what really works when building an online business?

Snowballs

Shortcuts

Resources

Assets

These are four things that I believe in firmly…..and the four things that have enabled me to get to this point of success I’ve had online so far.

They are also the same 4 things that can get YOU ahead online, too.

PotPieGirls Personal Under The Radar Notes

I do a lot more online that just “be” PotPieGirl. In fact, my preferred online business model is very “under the radar”. It’s something I deliberately worked towards and something I still deliberately work ON.

Just like my dishwasher, it’s something you load…and then let it work for you. No, it’s not “effortless”. And to be honest, if you’re still looking for that all-illusive “effortless” system to make money online, you’re reading the wrong blog

Also, unlike One Week Marketing, it’s not free to implement so I had to work with free techniques until I got to the point where I could get to my “under the radar” ways.

No, it’s not PPC or CPA offers or whatever the latest and greatest is…. It’s just good old-fashioned web real estate.

Yes, websites.

No, it’s not “sexy” and it’s sure not Shiny…but it works.

I’ve learned a lot about creating these little sites….and learned a lot of shortcuts, too.

I’ll be sharing these things with all you great folks that are on one of my lists in the upcoming days.

No, it’s not gonna cost anything….Just little ol’ me sharing some things I’ve learned – and things I am currently learning to make it even better.

While my silly video up there won’t change your life, I’d like to think that some of the info and insight I have to share might have some impact.

Even if all it does is help ONE person focus, get to taking real consistent action, and stop chasing Shiny Things, I will be super excited!

Do You Want My Under The Radar Notes?

If you’d like to read along as I send out my Under The Radar notes – great! I’m happy to have you with us!

If you’re already on one of my lists (ie, you get occasional emails from me now and then already) then you don’t need to do a thing. You’re all set!

If you are NOT currently on a list of mine, all ya gotta do is sign up here at PotPieGirl.com

OR at OneWeekMarketing

OR at 6StepNicheSites.com

OR get my free Squidoo 101 Guide.

OR, just follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/potpiegirl). As the emails go out, I will link to them in a Twitter Tweet post thingy.

All there is to it =)

That’s it from me for now. I’m thinking I might go get a flashlight and turn off the lights to see what Bailey does with THAT Shiny Thing!

Hope my Flip camera is all charged up!

Have a great day!

Jennifer
~PotPieGirl

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

WARNING: This Video Will NOT Change Your Life

Michael from www.melanoma.org contacted me and asked the following question about phpFreeChat and Drupal after reading my post from last year about chat options for Drupal:

Randy,
Saw your piece on chat options for Drupal, where you recommended phpFreeChat. Are you still supporting this as the best solution? We’re trying to do something for melanoma sufferers, and could use a robust solution that integrates well with the Drupal login.

Answer:

I actually gave up on using a chat-room at GrownUpGeek.com several months ago due to issues/problems and lack of interest from members.  But after finally making the upgrade from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6, I decided to look at all the chat modules for Drupal 6 in hopes that there was something better available.

Turns out that nearly all chat modules available for Drupal 6 are also available for Drupal 5, and I had already tried them all.  But after re-evaluating all of the Drupal 6 choices I again decided to use the Drupal phpFreeChat module.  The Drupal 6 version of phpFreeChat seems to work better than the D5 version as i’ve experienced less problems and issues with it than I did when using the Drupal 5 version.  We’ve had the (phpFreeChat) chatroom back online for a little over a month now and we have had virtually zero issues.  It integrates perfectly with the Drupal logins and permissions scheme which allows you to limit who can access the chat room and also allows you to create a “chat moderator” group for keeping an eye on your chatters.  Chatroom moderators can temporarily ‘kick’ members out of the chat or permanently ban members from chatting without affecting any of their other Drupal permissions/access.  One other note:  Members with the ‘moderate chat’ permission can also access the IP address of members in the chatroom, so if privacy is an issue with your members you may want to post a warning/notice and/or update your privacy policy.

So in short, YES, phpFreeChat is still my preferred choice as a Drupal chat option.

© 2006 - 2009 Randy Brown

Looking Back On The Past Year

It’s that time again. Time we say good-bye to the year past, and welcome in a brand new year. New years are so bright and full of possibility – very exciting for me. However, 2009 was a fantastic year for me and it’s sad to see it go. Is anyone else in shock that it will be 2010? Twenty-Ten!??!?! Wow! I remember being little and trying to do the math to see how old I would be in the year 2000 and thinking ‘WOW, I’ll be OLD”. hahahaha! Funny how “old” doesn’t mean quite the same thing anymore =)

Thank You, 2009

2009 was so wonderful…and also full of ups and downs. Many “bittersweet” moments… my son got married, my daughter graduated high school and started college… youngest started kindergarten…. I became a grandmother (yay! That’s a picture of me and little Miss Hanna on Christmas Day. She’s just awesome!). We took some wonderful vacations, were blessed to be able to spend time with great friends and family. I had surgery… my hubby had surgery… we lost a terminally ill loved one. In short, LIFE happened in 2009.

Business-wise, 2009 was great and I am very grateful. I am also very thankful that I have the ability to work as hard as I do and the support of those I love the most.

Goal-wise, well…wow! As I have been closing out the 2009 books and taking a look at how everything went, I am amazed that I not only hit every goal I had for myself…but actually surpassed them.

Funny tho, one of my goals was to be able to earn a certain amount in a month via AdSense. Now, I am not a big AdSense marketer, but I do use it here and there so I set a goal for myself for a particular amount earned in a month.

I hadn’t hit that goal all year long… until… TODAY. Literally, today, December 30th, I hit a monthly earnings goal with AdSense….lol! So, that last goal DOES get to be checked off after all =)

Goals for 2010

This is my favorite week of the year… the week between Christmas and New Years. This is when I tear into all my stats for the year, looks thru my various campaigns and all that good stuff, and really SEE what worked, what didn’t work…what I want to amp up…and what I want to discontinue.

I’m not big on New Years Resolutions. There seems to be something about January 1st that makes people put so much pressure on themselves to make all these drastic changes…crazy. To me, EVERY DAY is a great day to make a small change in your life. One small change a day can mean a totally re-worked life within a year, ya know? But anyway…

I’ve been trying to set my goals for my next business year. I knew as soon as I stood up a bit ago to go get something to drink and tripped over a boot on my office floor that my very first goal is to clean my office. Lord have mercy…. it’s driving me nuts! I’m accustomed to tripping over a cat or a Barbie…. but my OWN BOOT? Sheesh!

Otherwise, I know I want to set myself to be able to outsource more. The funny thing is, it sounds so easy.. hire someone to do your work. Simple, right? But its not so easy for me. I’ve been totally hands on for just about 3 years now working my tail off. It’s habit for me now. Changing habits is hard, but I’m getting there. I know it’s time for me to scale and leverage…and learn how to work ON my business – not IN it (if that makes any sense). I also have so many great things going on in diverse areas that there’s no way I could do it all myself – so I won’t. It’s time for me to improve my ability to be the conductor….and stop trying to play every instrument in the orchestra.

In short, I’ve worked really hard to get to this point, so I need to stop fighting myself and do it. Do you do that? Maybe it’s a “mom thing”. Ya know, we work so hard to raise our children – so hands on and so involved – that we have to fight ourselves to let go and realize we accomplished our goal. I dunno… maybe its just me. One thing I do know is that each time I “let go” and outsource something, I feel so GREAT knowing the work is getting done and I am free to work on something else… or not work at all.

Anyway, I’m rambling…thinking out loud (sorry if that’s scary…lol!!!)

As for financial goals - I’m gonna boost my over-all goal by a certain percentage tho I’m not set on exactly what percent yet. I want it to be realistic, yet challenging. Also, this year I am doing more campaign-specific goals which I didn’t do last year (2009). This past year, I set an over-all amount that I wanted to hit (both gross and net), but I didn’t break my goals down per project. This year I am.

I am going to try and avoid a set $ amount and instead have a goal of a certain % increase over 2009. Why? Well, honestly, the $ numbers aren’t a real inspiring goal for me anymore. If every year is as good dollar-wise as 2009 has been, I’m good. Heck, I’m beyond good – I’ve been extremely blessed.

But let me ask something that might sound vain (and I’m sorry if it does – not intended to)…. How much money does someone really need?

When I started all this in 2007, my main goal was to be able to make enough online so that I didn’t need to go outside the home and work. You know, as in get a “real job”…lol. Once I accomplished that, I set a goal of a certain amount I wanted to earn each day that added up to a number for the year that I believed would give me peace of mind.

The daily goal in 2008 was $273.97. I wrote that number in pink highlighter ink on a sticky post-it note and stuck it on my wall next to my computer – and it’s still there now. It’s my “peace of mind” reminder. It keeps me balanced and focused…and calm. That number, if earned every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, means I bring in 6 figures – 100k. It amuses me now to think I really believed I could do that. My goodness, it would’ve taken me like 3 YEARS to earn that in my old job as a managing golf pro! What in the world made me think for even a second that I could generate that kind of income ONLINE?

But that was my number. To me, that amount meant I could lay my head down each night at peace knowing whatever financial challenges were thrown at me, I could handle it. As someone who was once a broke single mom:

money = peace of mind

NOT having money is stress…it causes problems…it hurts. I know that. All money does is take care of the problems that NOT having money creates (thank you, Chris). For me, the number one problems that NOT having money creates are stress….and fear. I wanted those problems gone and $273.97 a day seemed like a good number to erase those issues.

Oddly, I started out with goals that would stop pain and stress, but as 2008 came to a close and I realized I was really hitting my goals, something else happened that blew me away.

I became hopeful, brighter, optimistic…almost like I somehow empowered myself to do ANYTHING I set my mind to. What’s weird is it’s not really the money as much as it is being able to see real results from your actions and hard work. Once I made my first sale in February of 2007, I knew that if I could make $7 online, I could make 7 million – it was just a matter of time, repeating and learning, and butt-busting hard work….oh, and a nice dose of patience…lol.

So when it came time to set goals for 2009, I sat and played with numbers, read a lot about creating financial business goals (which I really didn’t know much about before), but each time I came to a number, it didn’t have the challenging feeling in my gut that I need. Suddenly I just blurted out a number, my hubby grinned, and I laughed because it WAS a really crazy number to shoot for.

And I’ll be damned… I hit it.

For 2010, I need new goals, but I know myself well enough to know that $$$ aren’t gonna challenge me. I’m a golfer – I’m out to beat myself. If any of you golf, you know that golf is one sport that your biggest competition is YOU. So my goals for 2010 will be to beat myself =)

Complacency and contentment are NOT good business traits – never get comfortable. Challenge yourself – and don’t be afraid to do it. If you work hard everyday to reach those goals, you can not fail – even if you don’t hit those goals. Working hard to make your life better is NEVER a failure. Never EVER.

Write your number down and post it where you can see it while you work. Don’t just pick a random number, pick something that MEANS something to you…something you can feel. I could feel $273.97 a day in 2008. I could also feel $78.90 a day in 2007 (that was my first goal to get to $2400 a month…a number I wanted so I didn’t feel I needed to get a “real job”).

Above all, remember that all of this is not about choosing a destination – it’s all about the process and creating checkpoints for yourself to follow along the way. Everything you DO to reach those checkpoints along the way is a success.

You can not fail when you keep moving forward.

If I could give just ONE THING to each of you that have managed to somehow tolerate reading this so far, it would be to give you the empowerment to KNOW that you can do ANYTHING that leads to the knuckle-headed raw determination to keep moving forward and go GET what you want.

No one is gonna give it to you and the only person in the WORLD that can stop you – is YOU.

I’ll stop rambling now (again) =)

2009 Highlight Posts from PotPieGirl.com

Whew… I got long-winded above, didn’t I? My apologies…and super glad you’re still here…lol!

I took a stroll thru my posts from the past year here at PotPieGirl.com and decided to pick one (or maybe two) from each month that I think are worth either re-reading, or reading if you never have.

Let’s see what I came up with:

January 2009 -

January had some really good posts so it was tough to pick. There’s posts on keyword research, getting Google to index your lenses, how to start with internet marketing….lots of stuff, but I like this one for my January pick:

How Much Does It Cost To Make Money Online?

February 2009

February is always a great month for me. My birthday is in February… my online marketing anniversary in also in February…and I’m a big fan of Valentines Day, too! Here is one of my favorite posts from February 2009:

A Day In The Life Of PotPieGirl

March 2009

March was a quiet month, but it also had one of the most important posts I’ve written. It’s about back links and the importance of how they work:

Links, Links, Links

April 2009

April had a lot of good posts, but one of them sticks out for me – the first time I made a video tutorial. Lordy, lordy, I am not a tech-wizard, that’s for sure!

I’m A Video GENIUS!

May 2009

May was a very quiet month. I had surgery and was out for awhile… we also had a loss in the family. However, in the midst of all that I managed to write a post that I really like. I went off about how exhausting it is to have everyone and their brother trying to sell your something online:

Stop Selling To Me!

June 2009

June had some great content here at PotPieGirl.com, but there are two posts that have really helped people learn how to create an ebook and how to sell an ebook using PayPal. Yes, I even have a bunch of my “fancy” graphics and pictures to walk ya thru the steps to get it all set up.

How To Make an Ebook

How To Sell an eBook With PayPal

July 2009

July had a post that I think is a big help. Ya know how you can search for a keyword in Google and it seems the results keep changing – even when you search back-to-back? Ever wonder why?

Why The Google Results Keep Changing

August 2009

August had a post that has a video on it that my husband shared with me. Absolutely mind-boggling!

Is Internet Marketing Too Saturated?

September 2009

I think September had one of the most important posts I’ve ever written. It’s on a topic that has crossed all of our minds as we work and learn this business.

Should You Follow Your Passion Or Just Try To Make Money?

October 2009

October was pretty darn quiet. Was on vacation and stuff most of the month, BUT I did manage to crank out one really good post about all these FTC changes.

Who Is The FTC After?

November 2009

November was a great month, not only was my granddaughter born, but I actually had some good posts here, too! lol!

I did a case study on Google ranking of a Squidoo lens and reported the case study results here.

Also, I taught everyone how to get those cool snippet links in your Google listing. These snippet links in my Google listings have been very effective for me – not just for Squidoo lenses, either (tho they are really easy to get for a lens).

How To Get Snippet Links

December 2009

Well that brings us to December 2009…and I’ve already typed enough in this ONE post to equal like SIX posts, but I still had some other good posts on the new Google real-time search results and talked a lot about converting your traffic into sales (good post for those struggling to make sales).

Happy New Year!

So, how are you closing out 2009 and getting ready for 2010? Any new goals? I’d love to hear them!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and SAFE New Years! We will be celebrating here at home with friends. January 1st is also me and PotPieDude’s wedding anniversary so we have something extra to celebrate when the countdown to the new year is over.

My best to your and yours! See ya in 2010!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

2009 In Review