The gAdget Obsession

I appreciate the guest post, Marian Combs


Working from home is great but I tell you one thing, it’s gotten me really addicted to shopping online. I don’t shop for clothes, though, I like to look at gadgets! Since I’m always in touch with the clients and my office I’ve got all kinds of little communication gizmos that help me… I was one of my first friends to have an iPad and of course I’ve got ever version of the Droid they make. I guess you could call me a gadget hoarder! I went online to look at directTV last week and decided I have to have it too, if only because that’s one gadget I know my wife can get behind. She can watch all her sappy BRAVO shows and I’ll get all the big games on my already huge TV – what’s not to love? I’ve been looking for my next purchase and I think this is it but if my wife knew how little time I’ve been working this week she would haul off and kill me!

Time for a New Laptop

One thing you'll learn about making money online is that it really helps to keep your technology up to date.    I am going to be in the market for a new laptop soon and this time I am considering purchasing an apple laptop.  I have always been a PC user but about a year ago I purchased an Apple Imac for my son and I am really impressed with the Apple company and their computer equipment.

I am still figuring out which model to purchase but I really like the super thin laptop models that I have been seeing alot lately.   Light weight really appeals to me since I take my laptop with me most everywhere I go.  I'll post an update once I figure out exactly what model to purchase.

Getting Things in Order

Todays Guest post has been written by Marla Billkins

This month, we are in the process of putting the final touches on refurbishing our old home. We just took advantage of the connecticut sears cabinet refacing offer, and I'm proud to say that we are pretty much done with everything that we wanted to do with the house. We have one last thing, and that's get an early start on spring cleaning. We have mounds and mounds of old stuff inside the house that we just don't need anymore. Sure, some of it has sentimental value, it just all keeps adding up and we lose a lot of free space in the house.

We live in a house that is pretty close to the beach, so over the summer, we usually play host to a lot of our friends and family members. It's nice to have people over, but we definitely don't want them to have to stay in a pig sty. We are going to stop using the guest room as storage space and get it back into condition so that we can have people over again. I can't believe it's that time already.

Make Money Online with Squidoo

I created 6 or 7 Squidoo lenses last winter as a way to build inbound links to my websites and kind of forgot about them.  A few days ago I logged into Squidoo and found that I had earned $1.65.  Not alot of money I know but my theory is that if I can make $1.65 then I can double it and make $3.30.  If I can make $3.30 I can double that and make $6.60 and so on.  You get the idea.

Squidoo shares its Adsense earnings with those who create lenses.  I found a formula once.  The more highly your Squidoo lens is rated the higher your percentage of earnings.   Here is an examples of my squidoo lenses:

http://www.squidoo.com/CurlyShoelaces

Affiliate Marketing

There are tons of ways to make money with affiliate marketing.  Affiliate marketing is where you put links or ads on your website or blog.  When someone clicks the link or ad and buys the good or service then you receive a commission.

If you have a blogger blog be sure to sign up for the Google Affiliate Network.

Create a Zazzle Store

Zazzle allows you to upload your own orignal artwork and photographs and design great products like t-shirts, bags, mugs, and even skateboards and shoes. Your designed items can be purchased by anyone and this is a great form of passive online income.

My first Zazzle product that sold was a pair of womens Keds sneakers that I had designed with photos of my peony flowers that I grow (and also sell online). They sold about a month after I had designed the shoes on Zazzle. I earned almost $10 as a royalty on my design from Zazzle. The customer had bee referred from my website http://www.bridgewatergardens.com/ so I earned another $10 in referral fees. Not bad for my first sale on Zazzle.

Please visit my blog http://www.travelwithpaula.blogspot.com/ which will give you more information on one of my Zazzle Stores.

My Zazzle stores are:

http://www.zazzle.com/bridgewaterpeonies

http://ww.zazzle.com/travelwithpaula

Make Money Online with Google Adsense

"How to increase your adsense earnings" is a topic that I have typed into the Google search box many times.  I started running Google Adsense on my flower and gardening website in about 2004 or 2005.  It took me one year to make my first $100 and receive a check.  With Adsense you don't receive a  check until you reach $100.    I am happy to report that my Adsense income has nearly doubled every year.    There are alot of great books and information resources on how to increase your Adsense earnings.   The most effective ways I have found to increase my Adsense earnings are:

 

1)  Make the Adsense ads look like they are not ads, this means:

• No Borders in the Adsense ads
• Match the font/colors of the Adsense ads text to the fonts/text on the webpage
• Make the background of the Adsense ad the same color as the background of the webpage

 2) Place the Adsense ad next to the item of most interest on the page, for example next to an eye-catching photo or at the top or bottom of an interesting article

 

3)  For my web content I have found that the best place for ads on my flower and gardening site is the dead center of the screen right now to a very beautiful photo that grabs everyones eyes.  For your own website you will need to experiment and see what works best for you.

Did you like my post?  If so please leave me a comment.  Or if you have Adsense tips and tricks on your own please feel free to leave a comment. 

Thank you so much for reading my blog!