pilkster.com

Google’s Adsense program is one of my main online income streams. It is really simple to use (which is great for newbies) and doesn’t require much monitoring or modification when you have added it to your site.

Many of my friends have asked me how to get a start making an income online, and my recommendation to them is always the same; blog about something that you are interested in, and add Google Adsense to the blog.

This is easy to do with Google’s own blogging software (blogger), although I strongly advise buying your own domain (which can cost as little as $0.60) and using Wordpress. There are many reasons for this, but my main ones are that:

• Your blog belongs to you. You are creating value in your domain which you own (and are free to sell if you wish). If you use blogger and a blogspot subdomain Google own your website address.
• Wordpress is customisable and upgradable; checkout some Adsense ready Wordpress themes.

Read more about making money with adsense.

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I use Amazon’s web services on many of my Wordpress websites. Originally I was using MrRat’s excellent Amazon Product Feed (APF), a Perl/CGI script, and hand-coding the templates to match the Wordpress theme for each website.

I needed a neater and more time-effective solution, so after having a look at the various available scripts I decided that a hacked up version of freekrai’s ASM2 would better suit my needs, especially as it is written in php.

The modified script isn’t a true plugin, it simply pulls in the active Wordpress theme. This can lead to occasional problems if the theme hasn’t been coded correctly.

Installing the script is simple. Upload the files to your server and set a couple of values in the config file and that’s it!

Some small bug fixes to the original freekrai script have also been implemented.

Wordpress sites running the Amazon plugin include:

Astral Health, (view store)

BlogMeDo, a Beatles fansite

Soul Trekker, a Star Trek fansite (view store)

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Just booked a ‘business trip’ to the Hyatt Regency, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Should be good. Putting together an affiliate site along the lines of ‘Egyptian Luxury’ – and hopefully gonna teach Anne a thing or two about the business! (note to self – buy a new camera before the trip!)

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Well, I guess seeing as I am now recruiting for bloggers, I better tidy up my own show a little. This blog has always just been a notepad where I can scribble down interesting stuff that I come across – but I’m gonna get into some more regular posting (yes, really). Current stuff going on (kindof in line with the New Year resolutions):

Beginning to get a grip on CATIA V5. Something I needed to do. Just got back to my old desk next to my mate Brazie after a week or two in the naughty corner.

Pete is expanding my affiliate sites nicely. We have just put up a new pregnancy site, a tattoo site and a baby names site within the last couple of weeks. Pete also tied up the lasix content & template. Got some good writers on board at the moment.

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I’m not usually one for the forums, and don’t bother reading n00b posts when I do go sniffing around, but this response to a n00bs question about the pitfalls of buying sites is excellent:

Buying a site is usually plain sailing when you are dealing with someone reputable, like Honey says. A couple of things I do before buying a site …

Run a linkage data check using SEOBook’s LinkHounds
Use the Neat-o backlink tool from WeBuildPages to find anchor text on inbound links
If linked from the Yahoo! directory, is it a recent addition with a recurring annual fee
Is it in DMOZ.org?
Does it have any .ac.uk / .edu / .gov links?
Ask about existing reciprocal links, will they stay up?
Ask if there are any paid links, if so what do they cost per month?
Establish the history of the domain using Whois.sc
Does the site rank in Google / Yahoo! / MSN? If so, what are the phrases?
Does the current owner buy traffic using PPC?
Get screenshots of income and traffic stats (Forget about Alexa)
Chat with the vendor
Check out their history on other forums by searhing for their name

I tend to concentrate on getting a solid picture of the site’s foundation because this is what will make you the money in the month’s ahead.

Once you are satisfied, go ahead and make the deal. Settle on a price and a timeline. Most buyers accept PayPal for smaller transactions. However, if you would feel more secure using an escrow service then go for it.

Good job, Andy Boyd. One of the best posts I have ever seen on Digital Point, and a real help to newbies & some of us more ‘experienced’ types too.

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