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First, something a bit off-topic: I'm glad to have returned to my normal blogging routine, after 7 days of inactivity. You may wonder why I haven't published any article for almost a week (!). The thing is I was quite busy, both at college and in my daily life. Plus, I also spent some time online reading lots of interesting stuffs and joining some programs and websites which I found to be useful in promoting my blog and some of the affiliate links I have. I would like to apologize to all those who haven't received any news from me lately, to my subscribers ( which weren't able to read new and fresh articles on a daily basis ) and to anyone who either contacted me via email or through comments and didn't got an answer yet. Don't worry, I'm back now and I will contact you. I promise:)

With that said, let's get to the main subject of this article: driving traffic to a blog or website using 5 easy and even free ways to do it. I believe that you already know how important the traffic is, so I don't have to stress this once again. Not that I hate doing it, but it's somehow obvious:) In fact, it's a no-brainer: without visitors coming to your website/blog, you won't be able to get noticed or earn money. The saying "Build it and they will come" looks a bit outdated to me. Of course, it is important to build a web page, so anyone can see it, but if it doesn't receives any traffic, it's pretty much useless..all your work has been in vain ( sad, but true ).

Now, you're probably thinking: "How can I drive traffic to my newly created site ( or blog ), without having to rob a bank to pay for it?" No problem, I will explain you right away. Just keep reading this article until the end ( and yeah, don't rob any banks, please..it's not necessary :)

1. One of the first methods you can use to increase the number of visitors your site/blog gets, are the forums. It is a known fact that this types of online communities can send you a considerable amount of traffic. And all this for free! Yep, most forums you'll encounter and you'll sign up for won't ask you to pay anything in order to have a membership there. Not only that, but you'll also receive answers to your questions, tips, articles and various other sources of information, which can prove to be useful to anyone. By being an active member, you'll earn the respect of the others, good karma and everyone will consider you as a guy who knows what he 's talking about.

2. Writing articles and/or other kind of content. If you're a good writer, why not to start creating some informative articles and distribute them to a bunch of article directories? It is a win-win situation: people who are interested in the information you offer in those articles will be satisfied they've found it ( and that it had helped them ) and will also visit your website/blog, should they want to read even more or buy one of your products. Not to mention the amount of traffic you may get from doing so ( which is free, by the way ).

3. Exchange links with other webmasters or bloggers. This is yet another proven way of increasing your traffic stats. Every time you exchange links with a fellow blogger, for example, and he/she has a well-trafficked blog, you'll be able to "steal" some visitors, too ( steal here is a figurative term, meaning driving visitors to your own blog..don't think at something else :). For this to happen, you first have to find such a blog and make sure it's in the same niche as yours.

4. Publish a newsletter. If you have regular visitors and a websites which is offering information, reviews etc on a certain topic ( such as how to correctly SEO your web pages, for example ), you have to send such a newsletter to all your subscribers periodically. It may may be hard for you to write so many articles on a daily, weekly etc basis, but if you know someone who could and would like to help you, then this should make your job easier. In the end, all your efforts will bring you some results ( in this case, visitors ).

5. Traffic exchanges. I know this type of websites aren't everyone's favorites, but they can also send some traffic down your way. Even though they may seem as waste of time in your point of view, you can at least try them for a period of time. And if they don't give you good results, you can stop using them whenever you wish. I don't think it hurts to try them.

This are my top 5 picks for today. Yes, there are many other ways of driving traffic to your site or blog ( either for free or for a reasonable amount of money ), but the list would be way too long and I don't want to bore you to death. Time isn't something we have in great supply, this is why I want to keep things to the point:) If you are interested in reading more about this topic, I would advise you to go to EZineArticles.com and read more interesting articles, in the "Traffic Building" section..or simply google for this terms: "traffic building", "drive free traffic to your site", or "free website traffic", and you should find lots of resources to help you. I wish you good luck and enjoy the articles you find!

I know, it's everyone's dream to be number 1 in Google's SERPs ( Search Engine Results Pages ). But the fight for this position is very fierce. You're not the only one hoping to get there and you'll have to fight your way to the top. Your competitors want the same thing and they will try to be one step ahead of you, so you must be prepared to outrun them at anytime. This means you'll have to spend some time understanding how a search engine works, do some SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ) for your site/blog, spend some money on advertising ( and especially on pay per click advertising ), write keyword rich articles and quality content. If you're going to do all this properly, then you may have the chance of being the "king of the hill" on Google and other search engines, for the business/niche you're involved in to.

As you can see from above, it's no easy task to be the best..and to maintain this status all the time. Usually, when a webmaster or blogger wants to rank high on SERPs for a certain keyword or keyphrase ( which is relevant to his business or niche ), he'll want to search engine optimize his site or blog. If he knows how to do this by himself ( and do it right ), then he won't need a SEO specialist or company to do it for him. Hence, he won't pay a dime for the job. On the other hand, if he isn't so savvy, he may need help. And believe me, SEO services are quite expensive, not just useful. But if you have a large expenses budget, then I guess you can afford them:)

Now, there are good search engine optimization companies and individuals and bad ones, too. This is why it's important to first do a little research and see what company can provide you the best services, at a reasonable price. If you think that you've found the right one, then you can go with it. If not, keep looking, there has to be one to fit your needs and tastes.

Let's get to today's subject, though. And no, it's not about SEO and how to do it right. It's about a website I have heard and visited lately, named 1on40.com. What's this all about, you ask? Let me explain it to you: this guys claim that they can get your site/blog from its current position on SERPs ( be it 1000 or 10,000 etc ), to number 1, in just 4 months ( that's 120 days ). And best of all, it's free! Well, at least while they're still in BETA ( and this testing period ends somewhere around 30 of March ). So, according to what they say, if you sign up now as a client, you will be able to take advantage of their service, without paying a single cent, for 120 days. Once you'll get to be #1, you'll have to start bidding on that position, so you can keep it.Also, if you're an affiliate, you have the opportunity of making money, by referring clients willing to try the service ( not just during BETA, but even after this period ends ).

Now, I don't know about you, but this looks somehow shady to me. You may ask me why? Because I've done a quick search on Google, for the terms "1on40.com scam" and found some articles, on various sites, blogs and forums, stating that this service is indeed a scam. Chris Bailey mention the same thing on his blog, reminding us about other "get top position quick on search engines and flood your website with traffic and sales" scams which existed on the internet few time ago ( such as Monopolizer.com and MoreThanTraffic.com - very similar to 1on40.com ). In this case, here are the red flags you should pay attention to, should you be interested in signing up as a client for 1on40.com:

1. Guaranteeing something which can not be achieved, though ethical means ( yes, this guys are actually so sure they'll get your site to the top, that they guarantee the service is working ).

2. Lots of anonymous and probably fake testimonials ( I've seen them myself and these were the kind of testimonials you see on all those scam sites out there: people claiming to make thousands of dollars per month, after using the X product or service ).

3. The 1on40.com website has no PR and seems it's not on a top position for keywords such as "SEO" or "SEO services", which should be specific for it.

4. They promise you to submit your site/blog on other "search engines" too. I've put the words "search" and "engines" between quotes, because the ones they'll submit to, don't even exist or are not SEs ( search engines ) at all.

( Thanks to Chris Bailey for the above information )

From what you've read by now, you're probably thinking that it's not worth your time to sign up for 1on40.com. And yes, you're right. I would also recommend anyone who reads this article to stay away from such a site. Even though they don't want you to pay them, you'll still waste your time using their service. Not to mention that your site or blog may be hurt, if this guys won't be using ethical SEO methods, during the 4 months period, while they'll try to get it to the top. Be safe!

Until about 2 days ago, I wasn't aware of the existence of RevResponse.com. If someone would have said to me "I'm making money online with my blog/website by using RevResponse and I'm satisfied with the results ", I guess I simply have said that I have no idea what this is. Fortunately, now I know what RR is. But probably you don't, so I'll have to tell you more about this opportunity.

I've discovered the above mentioned website by accident, while visiting various blogs, through EntreCard. At one time, I've stopped by a tech blog, as far as I can remember and read some of the articles listed there. Just before leaving it, I noticed on the left hand sidebar of the respective blog, a kind of widget ( or better-said, a banner with some ads ). And below that banner, there was a text link saying something like "Monetize your ad space with RevResponse" ( now, I can't say for sure that the text of the link was the way I've put it above, but nevertheless, was similar ). You know the saying: "Curiosity killed the cat." And you've guessed it: I've clicked the link and went to the official RR website, just to check it out in detail ( I had no intention to sign up, at first..remember: I was curious :).

How can you make money with it? There are 2 main ways of earning with RR: you either display some banners on your website, blog, newsletter or RSS feed, featuring subscription to various magazines ( such as Profit Magazine, EWeek, The Scientist, to name just a few of them ), or, if you think you already have enough advertisements placed on the site, you can promote your own TradePub.com co-branded website, which you're given once you become a RevResponse affiliate. Either way, you WILL make money. The minimum commission you'll get for every successful subscription to any of the advertised magazines, it's $1.50 ( which I don't think it's a low one, by the way ). I haven't found which is the maximum amount of money you may receive for your work, but I guess it depends on how much the owners of the respective publications are willing to pay to RevResponse.com.

Now, let's talk about that co-branded website I've mentioned earlier. What I like about it, is that it's not just like all the other affiliate sites out there. You too know that, when you become an affiliate for a certain program, you may receive a site, so you can promote the products or services of the company for which you've registered. Most of the time, this sites look all the same ( take AffiliateJunktion, for example - just take a look at a few replica websites provided by AJ, if you have the chance to do it, and you'll see what I mean ). But not RR's websites. It's true, you promote the same products like any other affiliate, only that your own site's design will NOT be the same with someone else's.

Instead, the site hosted on TradePub's subdomain ( like http://myaffiliatesite.tradepub.com ), will look EXACTLY like your site or blog ( speaking in terms of design, not content. You don't have to worry about content duplication, as this doesn't exists..only the design it's "duplicated", not your articles. So, the Mighty Google won't penalize you for this :). Don't understand? Here's an example:

I have signed up using this blog's URL: http://www.myppcadvertising.info. No need to show how the design of my blog looks, as you can see it yourself right now;) And my RevResponse affiliate website looks like this: http://myppcadvertising.tradepub.com. Now, you know what I mean? As you can see/you'll see, both the blog and the site have the same design, only that content is totally different. That's something unique, isn't it?

There are no differences between the earnings you generate from your original website/blog ( the one with which you've signed up for a RR account ) and those which come form your TradePub.com site. Same commission as told before. Signing up for RevResponse is fast, easy and most of all, free. Yes, you don't have to pay a single cent ( not tomorrow, next week or next month..but never! ). Once you will register to be an affiliate, your application will first have to be approved ( meaning that the staff of RR will have to take a look at your site/blog and decide if you're eligible or not for their program. If yes, you'll be notified about it and you'll receive your login details. If not, you won't get this details, but you will be notified too ). So, if you want to make money with RevResponse, just sign up now and start earning. Good luck!

Ok, hold on a second..what's with that title? Looks like being wrong, huh? I must be drunk or something..How the heck you can combine Made For Adsense ( MFA ) websites with EntireWeb's contextual ads and see any results ( like earnings )? I know, I know, may sound a bit strange ( or more than just a bit ), but this thing really is possible. Don't believe me? Then let me explain you how I got to this conclusion.

When I had a Google Adsense account ( and I say "I had", because I was banned long time ago ), I was looking for some MFA websites, because I was curious to test them myself and see if and how do they work. So, I've stumbled upon a site which was offering free, ready-made Adsense websites ( I believe that the respective website is called FreeAdsenseSites.net, though I'm not quite sure, as I haven't logged in to my account for some time ). All you had to do was to create a free account, choose what MFA site you want to download after registering and then you had to confirm your registration, so you could receive full access to the site. You could also refer other people to FreeAdsenseSites.net and for every person you were bringing, you would receive points. With the points you had gathered, you were able to "buy" other ready-made sites, from their shop. All the sites you were "buying" ( there were no money involved, you were "paying" only with points ) were having different topics, hence they were geared towards a specific niche, such as Xboxes or Xbox games, for example.

I never had time to really put the sites I have downloaded to the test, so I set them aside for a while. After starting this blog ( on 5th of August 2007, to be precise ), I've remembered about signing up for a SpeedyAds account. Just in case you don't know what this ads are, here's a short and quick description: they are contextual ads ( very similar to Adsense ads ), served by EntireWeb.com, which can be placed on a site or blog and can bring you money every time a visitor clicks them ( so they are pay per click ads ). Signing up for an account at EW is very easy and free: just go to their website, click on the "Sign Up" button, complete the registration form and when you're done, log in to your new publisher account, generate some HTML codes for banner ads and then place them on your site. This whole operation may seem complicated as I've explained it here, but you'll see it's not like that, once you'll do it yourself.

"Yes, I got that, but still..how is it possible to combine MFA websites with Speedy Ads?", I hear you say. Well, that's simple: we have EntireWeb's ads, which are contextual, right? And we have those Made For Adsense sites, which are optimized to work with such type of advertisements. Just grab one site like that ( or more :), and place some banner ads from SpeedyAds on the them, by simply doing a copy/paste operation. Of course, you do have to possess some HTML knowledges, to be able to work with HTML codes, but you DO NOT have to by Einstein to make this work ( I mean, look at me..I'm no genius either, but I've managed to put together this test site, just to see if MFA websites and SpeedyAds can work when combined ).

So, have I made thousands of dollars yet, with this crazy and strange idea? Nope. Why? Because I haven't promoted my MFA ( or should I call it "Made For SpeedyAds"? ) site for now. I was just curious to find out if such a combination will work, or not. I was thinking that maybe this type of sites are made ONLY for Adsense and will not perform well if I will use other alternatives to Google's ads on them. I will have enough time to concentrate on my domain names site later on, should I consider it is a way of earning some extra money online. But for now, I will keep it in "BETA" for a while:)

If you'd like to try this idea of mine too, feel free to do it and please don't forget to tell me what results you were able to get. Good luck!

The reason why I've written this post is because I would like to hear your opinion about AffiliateJunktion.com. I want to know how many of you are actually involved in this program and if you earn any good money out of it. As you may have guessed, I'm not using this money making opportunity, this is why I can't tell you my own opinions and experiences. But it's always nice to read, see or hear what other people have to say:)

So ok, you're already looking strange at me, because you may not know what I'm talking about. Not a problem, I will clear everything up for you in just a second. Because I'm an active internet surfer ( like most of you, I believe ), I'm always visiting lots of websites. Not all are related to topics such as making money online, search engine optimization or affiliate marketing ( hey, I need to take a break from time to time too :), but it are interesting and informative, nonetheless. And lately, I'm keep seeing AffiliateJunktion.com replica websites popping up almost everywhere I turn my head. Now, don't get me wrong: I won't say "This is a scam and avoided it at all costs!", as it would be a silly thing from me, especially that I'm not a member of this site.

But curiosity kicks in and I just can't help it to ask myself: "How profitable this opportunity really is? It looks like a good way of making money, if so many people are joining AJ everyday."
All those who have signed up to get a replica website and start making some greens with it, have already promoted their sites heavily, mainly through Google AdWords. Not only that, but there's also a good chance for you to simply stumble upon one while googling for ways of earning money online:). But what does AffiliateJunktion offers, so people just can't say no? Things are pretty simple to explain ( and please correct me if I'm wrong ): first of all, you have to sign up to the above mentioned website. Once you're done with this step, you need to buy a hosting package and a domain name for your future website ( the costs are somewhere around 60 or 70 bucks, as far as I've seen ). Your replica website will be ready in 24 hours, after which you can start promoting it and earning some moolas ( dollars, I mean ). How do you make money and how do you advertise it?

Simple: you just have to refer as many people as possible to AffiliateJunktion and they will pay up to $2/lead ( this means you get paid for every person which joins this site via your own one ). As about advertising, you're given a certain amount of money ( for free, you don't have to refund the sum later on ) so you can place Google and Yahoo ads, this way trying to attract potential customers. You also receive support from your own affiliate manager and if you have any further questions or you encounter any problems, you can contact the main support team from AJ.

That's all and it looks simple. Probably that's why so many have signed up for this opportunity. I read myself on a forum few days ago that a certain affiliate has managed to earn as much as 6000 dollars per month, since he ( or she, can't remember exactly ) took advantage of the offer. And in general, all of the persons who got their AJ replica website made some nice money out of it. But there were also others who have experienced lower earnings or were unable to earn anything at all ( as in any business..seems plausible ).

Now, I'm asking you: Are you a member of AffiliateJunktion.com? And if yes, would like to share your own experience as an "insider"? Would be really nice to see some opinions about this highly popular ( I say this because I guess it is, since they already have lots of members ) website. Either good or bad, just let them coming! Thanks:)

You're probably curious to find out what this post will be about. It sure has to do with some money making opportunity or some way of building traffic for your site or blog ( the usual topics I write about here ). Want to know the real answer? It's no..exactly..no! Not today. Why? Because I have something else to talk about and show you.

If you remember, in some of my latest posts I was apologizing for not posting new articles daily. And I was also mentioning that I'm working at a "secret project" with my friend Peter, from MakingMoneyExperiment.com. I have a good news for all of you: we've finished our website yesterday and it is ready to go live now! "But what's you site about? Won't you tell us?"

I was about to do that:) I'm sure that most of you already know what TinyURL.com is and you're probably using this service for quite a while now. In case you have no idea about it, let me explain you what's about: TinyURL.com is an URL shortening service..a free one, to be exact. "Oh, and why is it so special", you ask. Because here you can transform long and ugly URLs ( such as http://www.myownwebsite.com/index.php/images/myphoto.jpg ) in to ones which are considerably shorter and look better ( such as http://www.tinyurl.com/myphoto ). This can prove to be an useful service especially if you're an affiliate marketer. Usually, the URLs you have to promote are very long, complicated and quite hard to remember, even for you. Not to mention that some potential clients of yours may not even click those links, if they see so many numbers, symbols or characters in it. What's the result of this? You make few sales and not enough money..sad, huh? It's not your fault, but that's some people's nature: they are doubtful.

Now let's talk about Shrtnd.com, the site me and Peter put together ( oh look, I got a rhyme :P ).
First of all, it is similar to Tinyurl.com. Yes, you're right: it's an URL shortening service ( by the way, we provided it for free, too! ). The funny thing is that we weren't even thinking to start such a site. But one day, I was surfing the web and found some scripts for sale. More exactly, it was a pack of 10 scripts, valued by its owner at just $8. I know what you may say: "So cheap?! Probably they are not even working!" Guess what: the scripts are fully functional! At least the one we used:) I thought: "Heck, this stuffs may be useful someday, so let me grab the pack!"

I've paid 8 bucks via PayPal and few minutes later I was already the owner of those scripts. The next day I've sent an email to Peter and asked him "How about starting an URL shortening website?" And he agreed. Before doing anything else, we've setup a free hosting account at X10hosting.com, so we can test the script to the max. After that, we bought a hosting pack from HostGator, a domain name from NameCheap and we moved the newly created site to its current "home". But the job wasn't finished yet. There was no text on the website, so we had to think at it and write down..I mean, we couldn't just leave the site as it was..a simple, blank template. Sounds too unprofessional.

Today, our URL shortening service is ready to be launched! You can visit the site at anytime you want and give it a try. There you can find out more reasons on why you should use such a service and if you think it's useful to you ( or any of your friends ), feel free to link to it or even blog about it. Speaking about spreading the word..Me and Peter thought at a little and evil contest, to call it so: the first 10 bloggers who will write a short review about our site, will be rewarded with 200 EntreCard credits! Yeah, it's not actually an outstanding contest, but we appreciate it if you're one of those 10 blog owners to talk about Shrtnd.com ( Shrtnd stands for Shortened ).

All you have to do to grab your free EC credits, is to write a short article about the site we've just launched and link to it. That's all! Once you're done, leave me a comment on this post ( or go to Peter's blog at MakingMoneyExperiment.com and comment there ), mentioning the exact link of the review. We will take a look at it and if it's ok, you'll get your credits. But in order for this to happen, you have to be an EntreCard user! If you're not, you won't get the prize!

We will contact every winner via EC's private messaging system, so be sure to leave us a link to your EC profile:) Thank you so very much! And enjoy the service:)

Good day to you, all my readers and visitors. As you know, we've just started a whole new month. And you also know that this is the time when I release my blog income and traffic reports. There's no exception today either..It may be a bit delayed, but a blogger's life is sometimes quite busy: you have to write new articles daily, you have to search for fresh information, to promote your blog and so on. That's why I've posted the article about my reports today, instead of yesterday. If you're curious to see how much cash I've earned last month or how many people visited my blog in February, then please keep reading until the end of the post:)

As usual, I will start by showing you which were the programs and websites that brought me a nice income last month. And this are:

- BringABuddy: $0.59
- EntireWeb SpeedyAds: $0.48
- Bidvertiser: $0.31
- Comission Junction ( also known as CJ ): $100
- Sponsored Reviews: $3.25
- FreeMoneyTeam: $1.18
- LamPay Ads: $0.80

TOTAL: $106.61

The best money maker in February for me was Commission Junction, which earned me 100 bucks ( as you can see from the list above ). The rest of the programs I use for monetizing this blog made only pennies, comparing them with CJ. The truth is, I was more concerned about promoting my blog, rather than earning money, that's why I "only" managed to make $106.61. And this is what I'm going to do in the following weeks to come: I will work on increasing my traffic flow and RSS feed subscribers, which are 2 important aspects, in terms of running a successful blog.

Now, let's move on to analyzing the traffic stats. Last month, this blog was visited by a total of 3,011 people, which generated about 4,210 page views. Most of the visitors arrived here from StumbleUpon ( 860 ), EntreCard ( 209 ), LinkReferral ( 208 ) and from the EntreCard widget ( through the ads placed by me on other blogs - 163 ). The rest came from search engines, various directories, forums, or websites. I'm satisfied with this numbers, especially because it are better than it were in January. As about other stats, I can say that my Google PR ( Page Rank ) remained at 3, as before ( no increase or decrease yet ), but my Alexa and Technorati ranks improved: 256,805 ( for Alexa ) and 418,100 ( for Technorati ).

Conclusion: As you can see too, February was a good month, overall. But this doesn't mean that March will be the same. In fact, I'm planning on improving my stats even more. This will require me to put in extra efforts, but I'm willing to do it. If you want to help me, you can do it by either subscribing to my RSS feed or by telling others about my blog. In the end, I would like to thank you all: my readers, visitors, commentators and others who have been with me until now and helped me grow this blog. I'm aware that without you, I wouldn't be where I am now. Hope you'll keep close to me in the following weeks and months to come, too!