Archive for December, 2009
So, I haven’t done a weekly update for over a month and a half so I figured I would get at least one more before the end of the year. In 2009, it was a pretty good overall year with some bumpy roads and speed bumps but you need those types of things to reflect on and improved in those areas.
Anyways, let’s get to some updates (that I can remember)!
Win an iPod Nano Contest – I’m sure you guys know by now that I’m having a contest for a chance to win an iPod Nano and it’s going pretty good. Of course, there’s less than a week left in the contest and I highly doubt we’ll hit the 200+ contestants mark for a chance at another iPod Nano.
But then again, you never know what will happen!
Advertisement Banner Change – If you guys haven’t noticed by now, I replaced the three 125×125 ads on the sidebar with a 336×280 ad block. The reason why I did this is because a former advertiser contacted me letting me know they only had certain sizes for their banner. Of course, I’m always willing to work with advertisers to try to suit their needs. Especially the ones that have had good results here and continue to come back.
If you guys haven’t had a chance to check out their website or their banner, check their “Warren Buffett reveals their secret to recession” website. It seems pretty interesting!
I don’t know how long I’ll keep the 336×280 ad space available because I personally prefer the 125×125 ones but if there’s a higher demand, then I’ll just continue with that.
Revealing Another One of my Sites – As some of you guys know, I occasionally reveal random sites that I own so you guys can check out. Not every internet entrepreneur does this but I have revealed a few sites so far. And that includes the site I sold with a site flipping team and I even gave a lucky subscriber a small portion just for guessing!
I’ll give you guys a clue, this is the site that I used my new purchased Wordpress theme on. And yes, a commentator did mention wanting me to reveal the site. 
Password Protected Posts – I sent a few of you guys that have requested the password that have been a subscriber for more than a few weeks. Of course, I delayed everything else because of the e-mail client issues, plus, it seems some people are pushy and want the password ASAP and if they don’t get it, they unsubscribe instantly.
It’s getting close to that time to get all your receipts ready for your tax deductions for self employed especially if you are an online entrepreneur such as myself. And yes, any money that you make online (in United States) will be taxed. And yes, you are supposed to report all of it. But of course, you can potentially save a lot of money by writing some expenses off.
I know the year isn’t officially over and technically you have until April to get all your tax documents in but it’s always good to get an early start. Matter of fact, you should have probably been tracking all of your income, expenses and remembering to save all those receipts to begin with.
Before I go on, this post is directed towards people paying taxes in the United States who have made money online or by being self-employed in any way. I know there are other countries in which they don’t need to pay any taxes whatsoever. And for the ones that do, I don’t know the details for them.
Earlier this year, I wrote a post on tax deductible expenses for self-employed online entrepreneur in which I listed a few key things that you can write off. You can check it out especially if this is the first year you’re going to do taxes for your online income.
People are always looking for the highest paying keywords to try to build a niche around but that doesn’t always work, does it? Well, what if I told you there’s a way on how to get $10 per click with Adsense? And believe it or not, it’s not as hard as you might think. I guess you just have to look in the right places and analyze your stats.
Let me start off by saying that I can’t guarantee you’ll get $10/click with Adsense. Sometimes it’ll be more but I think a majority of the time it’ll be less. On top of that, we, as publishers, will never know exactly how much we will get per click. It always varies depending on advertisers. But either way, it should definitely be more than a few pennies per click which I’m sure a lot of people end up with.
I’m always analyzing my stats so I know where to improve and what I should focus on more. And a good part of my income comes from Adsense so I tend to focus on that more than any other monetizing methods. Well, last week I was just checking my stats and noticed that one post on another one of my blogs got one click for $10 and some change. I was really surprised and then within the next week, I kept checking back on the stats for that one post and it was averaging close to $3/click afterward.
Yes, a contest is finally here! It’s not the big contest I’m going for to celebrate my 1,000+ RSS Feed subscribers but since it’s December and the fact that Christmas is almost here (and my birthday), I figured I would get some lucky person one of the cool gadgets… an 8GB iPod Nano! And if the contest reaches more than 200 contestants that enter, someone else will win one too! That means, there’s a chance to win TWO 8GB iPod Nanos!
The Prize
8GB iPod Nano – The newest Nano comes with some cool features that includes a video camera, FM radio tuner, pedometer to count your steps, built-in mic to record voice memos or record a lecture, and of course it holds up to 2,000 songs or 8 hours of video!
Of course, there’s a chance to win another 8GB iPod Nano… keep reading!
How to Enter
There will be various ways to enter which you can accumulate points for (winner will be chosen at random):
1. Subscribe to RSS Feeds via e-mail AND comment – 1 point Simply subscribe to my RSS Feeds via e-mail, confirm and comment below. If you are already a subscriber, all you have to do is comment below with the same e-mail you subscribed with.
This way it’ll cross off a lot of people who subscribe and don’t pay attention to these posts. Plus, it’ll finally give a LOT of people a chance to finally comment here after being an active subscriber and never saying a word here.
2. Blog about the contest AND include links – 5 points Just write up a quick post on your blog about the contest but make sure you include these following links:
- Internet Entrepreneur
- iBlogtoBlog
- Contest Post
For those of you guys that will probably question, the second link is one of my other sites. Hey, it might potentially sponsor the second nano. 
3. Donate to a Charity (show proof) – 5 points If you have donated or contributed to a charity of any sort in 2009 and you can show some sort of proof then you deserve more than just an iPod. I’m sure no one donates to charities to try to win something but I figured I’d at least give back to give you guys a chance to win an iPod for your generosity.
For the proof, if you have some sort of receipt (which you should be getting for tax purposes ) or something equivalent, send it on over and let me know. And please don’t try to lie or game the contest because that’s just plain shameful.
Chance for a Second iPod Nano
There is a chance to win a second 8GB iPod Nano but we have to have at least 200 contestants to enter this contest. That means if 200 of my e-mail subscribers decide to simply comment with a valid subscribed e-mail, or say 200 different people decide to post about the contest or some mix, then I will be giving out an additional iPod Nano!
Of course, I’m not counting total points, I’m counting strictly individual contestants. Please keep that in mind!
Deadline and Additional Info
The contest will end on December 23rd at noon Eastern Time. No late entries will be accepted! I’m hoping to get a winner picked that same day but if not, the following day.
The drawing will be picked at random and winners will have to contact me within 48 hours so I can try to get it to you.
Unfortunately, if you do not live in the United States, a cash equivalent will have to substitute for the iPod. Of course, if you prefer just taking the cash option, $150 will be sent via Paypal instead.
Also, if you would like to donate anything worthy of giving out for Christmas, feel free to contact me. It’s all about giving back and if people have donated to charities, don’t you think they deserve to try to win something to?
I think I covered everything, if not, I’ll update this post.
Good luck!
So, recently I decided to just go purchase a Wordpress theme design from Theme Forest just because I felt like it would be handy for some of my future sites. And although, they have tons of incredible Wordpress themes for a pretty cheap price (most ranging from $5 to $40), I just went with my gut and purchased one that just stood out to me.
I spent a lot of time just going through the entire collection of themes and I saw so many that just caught my attention. But I was basically thinking how I would use these themes and how it would help me with some of my sites. Well, after a long deliberation by myself, I finally just picked one.
The Wordpress theme I chose is called “BlueLight” and it’s a pretty professional looking theme that is just amazing. Plus, for the price of using it, I have to say it’s definitely worth it. Check out the screenshot of the theme below:
If you guys can’t judge it just by the screenshot, check out the live preview here.
I probably won’t be using this new theme on DatMoney because the layout wouldn’t suit my ads the way I would like. But the reason why I bought it is because I’m sure I will be using it on a future site. Who knows, I may just use it on an existing site and just replace everything. But unfortunately, this amazing theme will not be displayed on DatMoney.
Feel free to check out the wide selection of themes at Theme Forest to see if you would enjoy any.
Why did I purchase a Wordpress theme when I’m working on designing my own? As you guys already know, I have been designing my own WP theme from scratch but it takes a lot of time. And it seems as though I’m my own worst critic when it comes to, well, just about anything I seem to make.
On top of that, I’m just a rookie learning the ropes of designing an entire Wordpress theme. Shoot, I haven’t even gotten to all the coding. But if I do manage to design a theme that I actually like, I think I’m going to outsource the coding part because I found someone that does it for a decent price. Though, eventually I will want to learn all the coding by myself simply because I want to learn as much as I can while I’m doing this internet entrepreneur stuff.
Anyways, what do you guys think of the BlueLight theme I purchased? Or have you checked out any other themes you like? Feel free to share!
