Internet Business Daily

As you can see, I have added a simple Facebook “like” button to my blog on article pages. It’s a very easy way for people to share articles they like and also helps drive more traffic to your sites. Since it seems most people have Facebook accounts now-a-days, there should be plenty of users on blogs liking things. Best part is, it’s really easy to add to your blog too. Here is the code:

<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=<?php the_permalink()?>&layout=standard&show_faces=true&width=450&action=like&colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:530px; height:60px"></iframe>

Simply add this on your single.php page anywhere you like. You can change the parameters to customize the link button however you want. I think this is an awesome little trick and will drive more traffic than any of those “share” buttons on most blogs (including mine).

I was just speaking with one of my readers and he mentioned that my comment relish plugin was emailing him every single time he left a comment.

Basically, the comment relish plugin emails people a “thank you” after they have left a comment. It is used to increase RSS readership because it includes links to my RSS feeds. Since it emails people every single time I can see how it would be annoying.

That being said, is it annoying enough for me to remove the plugin? Unfortunately there is no way to change the settings to make it email only new visitors, or only first comments, so it’s either on or off. What does everyone think? Leave it or kill it?

I see many other blogs that report their revenue each month. It is a simple way to give perspective on the size of a blog and potential of monetization. I was recently asked in a comment to share my blog’s income, so here is my revenue for October:

• Private Ad Sales – $250
• Reviews – $150
• Google Adsense – $149.49
• Kontera – $42.69
• TOTAL – $592.18

Although this was not one of my best months I still am very proud at where my blog has come. An extra $600 per month is nothing to laugh at, especially since I had virtually zero costs to run/advertise the blog. I didn’t do any advertising at all this month and server/maintenance costs are minimal.

I am hoping to get my blog’s revenue up to $1000/month within 6 months. I haven’t been good at posting consistently lately, which I need to change. One thing that is always true about websites is: content is king. The more content you have the more traffic you will receive.

A while back I wrote a quick post about a record traffic day I had. At that time (a little over a year ago) I was extremely happy with nearly 400 unique visitors in one day. Looking back that seems like nothing:). Since then I have had many more record traffic days but yesterday was my greatest gain so far. Here is what yesterday’s stats look like:

Yesterday (Tuesday), I had nearly 1800 unique visitors to my site!!! Amazing. So far today I am already at about 1000 uniques (at 4pm). I started this blog about 2 years ago and it has come so far. From being impressed by 400 uniques in a day and averaging a few hundred, to 1800 in one day and averaging 1200 uniques. I will keep posting as long as everyone keeps reading:). I get comments on almost every post now, which is my favorite part of blogging.

I just finished this site’s redesign a few days ago, and figured now would be a good time to throw up a quick post about it. I had been looking for a new theme for IBD for a few weeks now, and I finally came across one that I liked. There were a few common elements that I wanted to keep from the old design, and some new elements which I really wanted for the new design.

• Header Image – One element from the previous design that I wanted to keep was the header image. I absolutely loved displaying a beautiful picture of Santa Cruz, Ca at the top of my blog, sort of as a goal for myself (and others) to want to live in a place like that through making money online. The new design allows for a header image, but I decided to use a different image I took a few years ago. The picture is still of Santa Cruz, but it is one of the beautiful valleys rather than the beach. Do you like the image?
• 125×125 Buttons – One of the main reasons for wanting to change my blog design was that I desperately wanted to accommodate for 125×125 ad buttons. You see these buttons on most business/money making blogs, and there’s a simple reason for that: they work! When someone clicks on one of my buttons and signs up, I get a referral commission. Now I get to display these buttons to everyone who comes to my site.
  

• Easier to Contact Me – Something I really appreciate when visiting other people’s blogs is the ability to easily find/contact the webmaster. With the new design it is now very easy (and obvious) where and how to contact me. I have used visuals to draw reader’s eyes towards that section, so hopefully more people will feel free to contact me. I listed Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, and LinkedIn.
  

• RSS Readership – Another thing I wanted to improve with this blog is the RSS readership. On the old design I only had a small RSS button, that no one seemed to see. Now I have a great big RSS button that probably everyone will see:).
  

• Wider Margins – Lastly, I wanted my blog to have wider margins to allow for more content. I really think the new blog design looks much better, and is easier to use.

These are all very important features to me to have on my blog. Although it took me weeks to find a decent theme to hack up and make my own, it was definitely worth the wait. When you decide to redesign your own blog, you should make a list of features that are most important to you before you start looking for a theme. There are enough WordPress themes out there where you don’t have to sacrifice any feature for another. If you need help finding the right theme for your needs, feel free to contact me.

A little over a month ago I was contacted by a Kontera rep who referenced a blog post I wrote a while back comparing Kontera vs. Vibrant ads. Both of these networks provide in-text advertising for both large and small sites.

My first comparison determined Vibrant Media to be the winner, because they paid more and were more of a well known brand. Since switching back to Kontera a month ago, my revenue has stayed pretty much the same. My eCPM is around $1.25, which is actually decent. Assuming Vibrant and Kontera were making me the same amount of money, the question now becomes what other factors play into choosing an ad network.

My account manager, Katherine, has been very helpful. This is one of my most sought after features of any company, not just on the Internet. Customer service and quick response time I value more than making slightly more money with an ad network. Any question I have had she responded to in the same day. For this reason, I am going to continue with Kontera until I get more data to review. Hopefully I can get my eCPM up to $2 through optimization. More updates to come.

You can sign up with Kontera here.

Lately, I have been writing about things that were a little off topic for this blog. My original plan was to have a blog that displayed all the ways I have learned to make money on the Internet, and to help other people discover ways to make money.

That being said, I wanted to give an update as to what was making me money lately. I do not want to give exact figures (you can email me if you really want to know), but I will give an idea as to what is really working and what is not.

Right now, the eBay affiliate program through CJ.com is still making me the most money. This accounts for about 90% of my Internet income (not including my day job at an Internet company). eBay has recently decided to drop CJ.com and go with their own in-house affiliate program, and I have not had much luck with it yet. If this does not change soon, I will need to look for other methods to monetize my traffic. Next in line is Adsense, Kontera, and other direct deals I have made. These are usually insignificant amounts, or one-offs. Also, I have been doing consulting, but again these are usually one-offs and not a steady source of income.

My goal for 2008 is to double my earnings per month from the Internet. Right now, this source accounts for about 15-20% of my yearly income (including my day job). One thing that I have learned is that you cannot give up. I have hit a plateau with my earnings and traffic for about 3 months now, and I have wanted to give up many times. I just need to keep plugging away and hope for the best. My ultimate goal is to be able to work full time on my web sites and money making ideas, like many of my friends already do. Hopefully, this happens sooner than later. Wish me luck!

**UPDATE: (8/20/2007) – Here’s another linkback, thanks! Google Blog

(6/21/2007) – I received another review shortly after this so I figured I would just include the linkback in this post: Tax Rebate. Thanks for the review!

First Blog Review
I received my first blog review for a linkback. I started this program about 3 weeks ago and finally someone has noticed. I have received many linkbacks from sites listing all the sites that run programs like this, but unfortunately those are not my rules and will not receive a reciprocal link.

Free Link Back
Someone finally took advantage of this great program and easy way to get a free link. Since they are the first, I will dedicate this entire post to linking back to them so maybe other people will see how easy this really is. The review of my blog can be found at chemstudioweb.com, specifically at this location. I would like to thank chemstudioWEB for writing the review of my blog, it seems like he both enjoys and learns from my posts. He also listed some of my mini niche stores, which was not necessary but welcomed anyway…thanks again.

How to do a Blog Review for a Free Link Back
The rules are very simple and can be found at: Review My Blog for a Free Linkback. The basics are you have to write a review of my blog, and link to it at least once using anchor text from the following choices: Make Money Online, Learn Internet Business, Blogging for Money, and now SEO Tips. Use any one of those to link back to my site and you will receive a link back to your site. If the reviews keep coming in slow, ill give anyone who does it a dedicated post. Thanks again Chemstudioweb.

**UPDATE: I switched back to my old theme, the web2.0 theme did not match the topic of IBD…oh and I miss the picture of Santa Cruz.

As I am sure most frequent readers have noticed, I have installed a new WordPress theme last night. I wanted to go in a totally different direction with this look, and I think I accomplished it. I went very Web2.0′ish with this theme so I hope people like it and don’t think it is not business-like enough.

Changes to Come
I’m still doing more custom coding and design on it to fit all my needs, but so far I think it looks great. I am going to have a logo designed for the top left, and either a picture or an ad in the 468×60 spot at the top center. I also need to add in my Feedburner plugin and a few other little things.

Sweet Link-Lovin
On a separate note, a couple people have been helping me accomplish my goal of getting the #1 spot in Google for Matthew Berman. I thought since they were giving me link love, why not share the love back. StuntDubl, and SEOMumbai are among the first to help me get #1 SERPS for Matthew Berman, and I will list more as they come. Thanks so much!

I am a huge Meebo user and first thing this morning I noticed a significant addition to the main screen. A new feature called “rooms” has been implemented. Basically what a room is, is a place where people can come and chat about a particular subject. Anyone can create a room. Not more than 5 minutes after noticing this new feature, my boss emailed the marketing team asking them to build a room for our company to promote our websites. This is a great idea to get in early, because Meebo is the first and only web-based chat application that I know of. Here is what it looks like:

It is just a small visual addition at the bottom of the meebo browser window. I am not sure how well chat rooms will do in general because not a whole lot of people use them. It kind of reminds me of old school AOL chat rooms. Anyways check it out and let me know what everyone thinks.