A review of Brandon Connell's Make Money Blogging technique

I've recently jumped into researching how to make money online and Make Money Blogging and I came across the blog of Brandon Connell. He's just started a new competition called a blog duel where he competes with another blogger to beat some purpose. In this case, he's trying to rank his website higher in Google and other search engine searches for the the phrase "Make Money Blogging".
One of the really interesting techniques he's used is to create a simple web template called Ghostly Acres. It is a nice little template, and he included a Photoshop format (.psd) file with the graphics as well as the font used to create the logo so you can edit it for your own purposes.

His technique was simply to ensure that the footer link that goes directly to his make money site stays intact. Sounds like a great idea! Help the guy out and use his template for a little grunge texture fun!
If you are interested in blogging and making money buy doing so, check out the ProBlogger book by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett.

Using Multiple Accounts on Twitter

I recently came across a site where the blogger had previously played with using different Twitter accounts to help drive traffic to two quite different blogs he was writing.

(Again, I apologize for not posting a link to his site, but I can't find it. This happened about two weeks ago. Stress induced amnesia.)

Basically, what is your stance on multiple Twitter accounts?

Multiple Twitter Accounts are Bad

With multiple Twitter accounts, you are most likely limiting your tweets to a specific topic. The people who are following you are interested in that topic... or else they wouldn't be following you.
However, you find that if you are interested in two different and diverse topics, say typography and making money online, then you might find there are others interested in both. So you decide to just focus on one account.

Now your followers are getting tweets on typography AND making money online. But how many are actually interested in both topics? If your design friends aren't interested in making money online, then you're spamming them.

Other problems: You have to keep straight which account you are currently signed in as, or use another piece of software to keep your accounts separate. Using multiple accounts is more work, especially if you are focusing on creating meaningful content for diverse audiences.

Multiple Twitter Accounts are Good

I'm actually for multiple Twitter accounts. In my opinion, having separate accounts is better for your readers because it means they only receive tweets they are interested in.

To me this is a way of targeting your message better. By using software such as HootSuite its possible to track the number of clicks to URLs you send out, so you can easily see how popular a particular topic is with a set of followers. Its a simple numbers game, and you can analyze click-through rates and see what articles do best.

Each Twitter account is a brand that will develop its own group of followers just like the brands created by Nike or Coke.

By keeping your posts tied to your brand and targeting your followers correctly, you be more successful in your online business.

Now I'm just a low-level blogger who probably has too many "brands" going on at the moment. What do *you* think about using multiple Twitter accounts?

Let me know with your comments. I'd love to hear from some traditional marketing type people.

Using Twitter to gain readers

You might be reading this posting because you came here from a Twitter message (aka a Tweet) that I sent out, but I actually hope that somehow you came to this post and don't really know what Twitter is all about.

Well, Twitter is basically all about "microblogging". If you are familiar with Facebook than you are familiar with its status update feature. That's microblogging. A much more definitely look at microblogging can be found over at Microgeist. He did a much better job of explaining it than I could.

The thing about Twitter is that it can track the number of people who are interested in hearing what you say, and they're called followers. It works out that if you have a product you are trying to sell (like trying to make money online) and you want to drive traffic to your site or products then you need visitors. You can then post a Tweet to your Twitter account and it will be received by all your followers.

I recently came across a Tweet about a peice of software that will allow you to easily follow a very large number of people. (Sorry: I'd link to it but I've forgotten who it was. My memory gets worse during times of stress.) There seems to be some debate about this in the "Twittersphere" but I'll leave that for others to discuss. Basically you follow a whole bunch of people who may have interests that line up with your product or service. Then after a few days, you can check and see which of them are following you back since many people blindly follow those who follow them. Then, you simply stop following the people who are not following you (unless they have information you are interested in) and continue the process again.



So think about that and add a comment telling me what you think of this movement towards HUGE amounts of followers and "followings" (upwards of 3000 or more).

Get Twitter Marketing For Dummies and see what it has to say about the issue.

Better Returns with Cash Crate - Clear Cache with Google Chrome

Just today I checked out my CashCrate account again and it turns out I made $2.50 in referral bonuses in February... and I haven't even blogged since November. CashCrate really is an amazing system! Now you and I both have to get out there and make the most of it!

I was checking the forums and there is a lot of great information there for beginners. One useful tip is to clear your browser cache and "cookies" so that when you fill out a form, it won't remember that you've been there before. A cookie is a small file that a website will leave on your computer to tell it that you've visited before, and to also store information about you.

I sometimes use the Google Chrome web-browser, and here is how you can clear your browser cache (and delete cookies) using it:

1. First, click on the "wrench" icon in the top right corner beside the addressbar. It will look like this: 

1. Then, click on "Clear Browsing Data"
2. You'll see the dialog box like the one above. Make sure Empty the Cache and Delete cookies are the only two options checked.
3. Then click the Clear Browsing Data button.

Now you should be all set to fill out your next series of surveys. Remember to use a different email address!

Sincerely,

Rick

If you want more info on Google Chrome, check out whyusechrome.com. If you want to keep up-to-date with methods of making money online, follow me on Twitter (username: rickhenderson) and if you really feel like finding me on Facebook, I have a small group you might be interested in.

Referrals and Downline

Thanks to all of you who have checked out CashCrate and signed up. It is a great site and I'm sure you're finding it as intriguing as I do. In the 3 days that I've been a member, as of September 3, 2008 I now have 7 "level 1 referrals" and 2 "level 2 referrals".

In marketing terms, this is known as a "downline". It is a term I picked up from a multi-level marketing organization that I am an (inactive) member of, but it is a term of great importance.

With CashCrate, you can make some good pocket change by filling out surveys in your spare time. If you were to work it full-time for an 8 hour day.... the payout would be approximately oh, less than 50 cents an hour! That is, assuming you stick with the beginner rule of only filling out the free (ie. no cost to you) surveys. If you are lucky enough to live in the United States, the number of surveys and offers available to you is HUGE, and there are people on the CashCrate forum who are making $20, $30 or even $100 or more per month.

Here in Canada, we're not as lucky. Same with other countries. However there are options. One of them is referrals.
Referrals
"I'd rather have 1% of 100 people's efforts than 100% of 1 person's efforts."
Referrals is a way to get a little bit of gain from a lot of people's work. Its the way in which we can help other people make money.

Depth versus Width
Since I have 7 "level 1 referrals", there are 7 people who decided that they wanted to make a little extra money. At that point my "organization" is 1 level deep, and 7 people wide.

Now I have 2 "level 2 referrals", which means that of those 7 in my top level, either someone helped 2 people learn to make more money or 2 people helped one other person to make more money.

Which is more important? Well neither. A healthy organization (or business you might say, if you want to take this seriously) needs to have both width AND depth. At the moment, the CashCrate system is slightly limited in that it only appears to have 2 levels... but I'll check into that more and see how that works. However in some multi-level systems you can go as deep as you want! It is recommended that you research a system that you are interested in and find out how deep it can go.

Now the "ADDED VALUE" part of the blog:

I appreciate that you have taken the time to read this blog, joined CashCrate and started working on a system that can help you make a little extra money. I can help point you in the right direction to build your own downline and together we can both make a little extra money, and help others do the same for themselves. I'm doing this because I would love it if my wife didn't have to work if she didn't want to, and I'd love the freedom to spend more time with her and my future family.

To that end, simply email me if you have any questions about CashCrate or are interested in any other ways to make money online. I am currently learning more about monetizing blogs, building websites and search engine optimization (SEO). I even have a Facebook group! So if you want to take this seriously or just want a little bit of help in the right direction, leave a comment or email me directly.

Sincerely,
Rick

Make Money in your Pyjamas with CashCrate

With CashCrate, I was able to realize an incredible dream today: I made money from home, while still in my pyjamas!

To celebrate the long weekend, my wife and I had some friends over last night and then went out and had a few drinks. Perhaps I had a few too many, because when I woke up this morning I was a little hungover. My wife had gone to work but I had the day off, and I was laying in bed trying to get some more sleep when I remembered I had signed up for CashCrate the day before. I realized that instead of sleeping I could have some cereal and make some money while still wearing my pajamas. I had always heard that you could use the Internet to make money from home and do it naked or in your PJs. So that's what I did.

In about an hour I had made about a dollar, but I had over $3 in payments pending to be credited to my account. Now admittedly, thats not a lot of cash.... but it is if you consider I could have been sleeping and making nothing! It was also a pleasant surprise to learn that I had also made almost a dollar on referrals. Not bad considering that was only for 1 day at the end of August.

With referrals, I've been able help someone make a little extra money, and that someone has helped me make a bit of extra money. And that is what I call win-win.

So in all seriousness, if you are looking to make a bit of extra money from home (and not to mention get the chance to get in on some great offers of trials or free product) then you should check out CashCrate and sign up.

Welcome - First Post

Hello and welcome to the Intentional Wealth blog!

I have a number of other blogs on the go and I have found that one of the most common topics that keeps cropping up is how to make money online. I have done some research and found a few ways and I am constantly learning more so I wanted to collect the information and share it with others.

Just to let you know, these are definitely not "Get Rich Quick" schemes. But they are honest and easy ways to make money from home, in your spare time. I have a good paying job, but I want to make extra income for simple things like better vacations or even the possibility of having my wife stay home and not work if that is what she wants. Or so I can stay home and not work because that's what I want! :) Not working would free me up to spend more time helping people. It might sound cheesy but that's really all I want.

But I also want to help people. I was introduced early on to the idea that by helping and supporting others in their quest to make more money for the reasons that they have, then I would be opening the door for abundance and wealth to come my way. In short, I can (and you can too!) make money by helping others make money. I call that a win-win situation.

Its not JUST about the money, but you can't deny the money is important. We need it to live. But the freedom we can have by not being chained to a job... now that's priceless.

Sincerely,

Rick Henderson