Wow, oh, wow. Everywhere we go, spammers will be right there! I mean, it’s part of daily life, it seems. Junk mail, spam e-mails, telemarketers, comment spammers… wait, “comment spammers?!” Yup! It seems people have just found a new (it’s actually old) way of spamming. And get this: These comment spammers are just regular bloggers!

First, What is Spam?

“Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it.”

Now, as for comment spamming, a lot of people seem to use the drop-and-go method, sort of like Entrecard droppers. Instead, they copy and paste a generic message that seems legit so it gets past the spam filter(s). Here’s an example:

“The ideas and insights are very worth reading. You really gave me valuable information. Thanks for sharing it!”

So, it looks like a regular comment, right? But if you check out the post it was commented on, they didn’t mention anything on the actual article. So, I was curious and decided to use a simple technique I remember Maki of Doshdosh.com mentioning - Google that exact comment with quotes around it.

And looky, looky, guess what I found? As you can see from the screenshot below, there are quite a few results. So, I decided to go to these blogs and “oh look!” it’s the same exact person who spammed me with that generic comment.

So, of course if you clicked on the screenshot (or Googled it for yourself), you’ll see that this person put the same exact message in quite a few comments on peoples blogs.

Now, is this right or wrong? Well, given the fact that I highly doubt they even read the article post(s), then they’re just abusing the commenting area to get backlinks or some traffic?

And if you need to be aware of this comment spammer, it’s Aurelius Tjin. And I was thinking, should I give this person a backlink? Sure, why not. I mean, he’s comment spamming for a reason, right? So, I guess that’s what he’s looking for.

In my next example, it was a person who happened to leave the same message on two of my blogs.

The message:

“I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.”

Now, I highly doubt that this person found me on Technorati for both of my blogs he left a message on. And that makes me think if he really added me to his Google News Reader. But wow, if you read that for the first time, you would think “Wow, I got another RSS Feed subscriber, that makes me feel happy!” And he would’ve gotten away with it if he didn’t leave the same exact comment on two of my blogs.

So, yes, I Googled the quote. But this time I had slightly different results.

What was it?

Well, it seems that quote has been used quite a few times. And I’m not going to lie, I checked out a few sites and the difference from the first instance I gave was the fact that every single blog I went to, it was from a different commentator, a different name, a different site.

My assumptions (even though they say you make an ass out of yourself - too late!): Either people are using this comment because it a low-radar quote and would pass as a regular comment, plus, who doesn’t love hearing that someone subscribed to your RSS Feeds? Either that, or the same person was commenting for others with the same exact quote.

I was thinking, why would someone comment for others? My only conclusion would be the fact that people would possibly pay for people to do that. Believe it or not, you’ll find some interesting ways for people to get paid just a few bucks. I mean, do to DP forums and you’ll see the wide range of things that people offer for a few dollars.

Now, I have to ask, are you a comment spammer?

Honestly, I knew a few of my blogging friends who has used this technique, and don’t think I don’t know who you are. But I’m not going to put you out there because you’ve never really done it to me. (Or at least I don’t know you have )

I know the deadline is technically today for the “Get Traffic” contest but I decided to extend it through noon time on Monday May 12th, 2008 for any of those people who want a last chance to get a few additional entries or for those of you guys that missed the contest completely.

If you want to enter the contest, please check out the details on the “Get Traffic” post.

And if you want to know some of the additional ways to enter, please check out this post.

Lastly, I would suggest subscribing to my RSS Feeds because the winners will be announced next week and they will appear only on my RSS Feed footer. Also, winners will have one week from when their names show up to get in touch with me or the default prize(s) will be donated to DatMoney.com.

Nowadays, everyone is a blogger. Whether you have terrible grammar or your writing skills simply just suck, if you have a thought and are able to get your point across through writing, then you are a blogger. Of course, there are bloggers who are the best writers in the world and no one would ever know about it. And the most logical answer would be - Not all bloggers are good marketers.

Have you heard of that saying “if you write, they will come?” Or maybe you’ve heard people always emphasizing to “write, write, write” and focus on content and the readers will eventually come? That’s almost like saying “if you build it, they will come.” But say you did build something… in the middle of the desert or the Arctic… do you think they would still come? Maybe a few, but that’s just like your readers if you don’t market it.

I like to refer to Maki of Doshdosh.com because I kiss his ass he is a true blogger and a very knowledgeable person who constantly emphasizes to write great content and people will come. I even talked to him on Twitter, briefly, when I started my “Get Traffic” contest (which is still going on so please join!) and he mentioned that people can hold contests all they want to get readers but if your content sucks, then there was no point in getting those readers simply for the contest.

That may be true as far as the contest goes. But don’t think for one second that Maki isn’t a great marketer on top of being a great blogger. I mean, that’s how he gets thousands and thousands of readers and visitors; because he’s a great marketer. Of course, it’s his content that makes them continue to come back and subscribe to his RSS Feeds.

And if you don’t believe me, he’s on tons of social media sites helping others. You’ll notice the female anime avatars from a mile away. Yeah, some may call that “networking” but if you think about it, that’s also marketing. No one will know who you are or your site if you don’t network, socialize, market or whatever else you want to call it.

So, why am I writing this post? Well, there’s a few reasons:

1. I believe that if you’re trying to make money online, you need to market, social and/or network your product/site
2. You can in fact get tons of traffic without marketing but either a) you have tons of cash to spend or b) you write content for search engines and know a lot about SEO
3. You need to take initiative to get your message across, get noticed or want to make money… in general
4. Anyone can be a blogger but everyone can be a good marketer. If that was the case, then all these other MMO blogs would be making money online. But a majority do not.
5. If you aren’t a great marketer, there’s ways around that. Become close with A-listers and maybe, just maybe, one day they’ll help you out that one time and you’ll be well on your way.

In conclusion, great writer and bloggers doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be noticed. If you write and no one knows about it, then the message basically means nothing. It’s like that saying “if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a noise?”

It does. But no one is there to listen.

This is not a paid review of any type.

I don’t know how many people have heard about Xpango but quite sometime ago, a lot of people were going through some frenzy about the site being a scam. After doing some thorough research, I found out that Xpango is NOT a scam. So, I think you should be safe! I mean, getting free stuff is equivalent to making money online, isn’t it?

So, what is this Xpango?

Well, it’s like a rewards site in which you take on certain small offers and stuff and they’ll reward you with prize(s). If you ever heard of GetRewardz.com, it’s basically the same thing but definitely a wider selection of prizes.

They have a credits system in which you need to build up points to get those free prizes. Most of the small offers are free to do such as referring a friend to sign up. Though, to make it fair, your friends need to do more than just sign up; they also have to complete at least one offer for you to get credited – essentially be active. But that’s fair enough so that way people don’t try to cheat the system.

There are other ways of getting credits but some require you to actually purchase something through their site; which doesn’t sound as bad as you think it would. I mean, you would probably buy an iPod or a cell phone or something eventually, right? Well, if you purchase it through them, you’ll get credits to get a free Xbox 360 or a PS3 (there are a lot more prizes you can choose from, but that’s what I’m aiming for!)

How does it work?

You sign up and earn credits for your gift(s). The various ways of doing so are:

1. Completing offers – again, most of these are free but it is recommended to do some offers that cost like $5 or so. But again, you don’t have to, though, it’ll take longer to get your gift(s).

2. Refer your friends – Like I said before, your referrals need to be somewhat active, meaning if they just sign up through your link but doesn’t do anything at all after, then you will not be credited.

3. Compete in their contests and promotions – I’m new to this but supposedly they have some contests and promotions that can get you some good credits.

I’m sure there are other ways but I’m relatively new to Xpango.

How do I know Xpango is not a scam?

Well, do your own research. You don’t have to take my word for it but I was told by a good friend of mine and I trust him so I signed up for it. Plus, I actually did my research.

And when you Google “Xpango scam” or something equivalent, you’ll probably see youtube videos of people stating it is a scam. But those people jump the gun because they obviously don’t read the fine print. Things like referring someone and not getting credited for it right away. It states that it takes up to 72 hours for people to get credited it into their accounts. Things like that… and you can tell people like that don’t read disclaimers, and TOS’s, huh? But Xpango is not a scam!

But all and all, Xpango doesn’t seem too bad and it definitely doesn’t seem like a scam. I’m giving it a shot so why shouldn’t you? I mean, you don’t have to spend anything if you don’t want to and you can get FREE prizes like Xbox 360’s, iPod’s, cell phones and stuff.

If you want, you can sign up through my Xpango referral link which would be greatly appreciated, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.  If you do, and I get my prize, then that will just be another reason telling you that Xpango is NOT a scam!

We all know the majority of internet traffic comes from pornography and if you didn’t know that, well, that’s the truth - but is that enough to take advantage of to make money from it? Well, I guess it’s up to you to decide that. You could set up a porn website and fill it with porn affiliate links and not tell anybody about it, but would you? I can tell you that if you did it right, you can make some good great money.

Now, I have not made or tried out porn affiliates to make money online, I just wanted to make that clear. But if you did set up a site, you could get tons of benefits from it. Don’t get me wrong, the closest thing relating anywhere near the subject is “Dat Sex Education Class You Wish You Had” but it actually has absolutely NO pornographic material. It just discusses various issues on sex, things that everyone should know about. But the benefit you could possibly get from it (besides the great search engine traffic) are the incentives and money making possibilities.

I own DatCurious.com, which isn’t even a porn site, but I’ve been approached quite a few times from companies offering me FREE products and sponsorships if I mentioned their company once in a while. Just imagine if I wanted to start an online adult store from my site, then these companies would basically sponsor these “products” and I would make quite a fair share of money.

So, just imagine setting up a porn site and including porn affiliate links in it, that basically equals lots and lots of money. I mean, to make money online, you need to take advantage of the opportunities, right? If you see a good thing or have an idea, you need to run with it, right?

I’m not suggesting that you should set up a porn site with affiliate links to make money online but it was some food for thought. Plus, if you are considering it, just look at some of the advantages for setting one up:

- You can possibly get free products, free porn, etc.
- It is by far a lot easier to get traffic - and a lot of it is search engine traffic. You know what they say, search engine traffic = people who click on Google Adsense
- More than likely you’ll make a lot more money from that than any online venture
- Also, who knows? You may learn more than just making money online
- No one has to know that you’re behind the site. Let the A-listers be celebs, you can be the director… usually they get paid more too!

Hey, porn is probably the best money maker on the internet so you know I had to mention it!