The Day Google Went Dark

Today when I first went to Google, I immediately thought Firefox or my PC had some sort of virus going on. The entire Google frontpage is black today (as seen above), but it's no virus or reason for concern. Today Google has "shut off its lights", and is reminding people across the world to do the same, from 8 to 9 PM during their local time. The act is an effort to conserve energy for that hour. Here's more from Google about today's "Earth Hour":

Google users in the United States will notice today that we "turned the lights out" on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Do your best to observe today's energy conservation from 8 to 9pm, and encourage friends, family and neighbors to go dark also..It will be interesting to see what sorts of effects this has in future reports.

Read more about Earth Hour at Google and Earthhour.org.

Why I Have 8 Blogs to Make Money Online

I was chatting with a friend last night and mentioned I maintain about 8 blogs on various topics that interest me. She was stunned by the number, and I explained it can be a lot of work, with some blogs getting updated more often then the others. There's times where I look at the RSS counts and then feel those people will be let down if there's not recent updates. I tend to update the one that is my "breadwinner" while the others get a little less attention based on how I feel at the moment. So while it may seem overwhelming to have 2 or more blogs, I feel having more is better, and here's why...

In the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, Robert Kiyosaki discusses the notion of not just having 1 business, but many. The more business assets you own and profit from, the better. While it's great to have just 1 blog going and making you money, why not have several? There's no rule you need to update blogs daily, or advertise heavily on each one. Some you can set up just for search engine traffic and experimenting. You can set up a 10 entry blog, and really make it into a website to catch search traffic.

I think it's a great idea to have at least 1 additional blog, besides your main stay. Make it experimental in nature and use it to test different monetization strategies. It can be more of an "anything goes" blog, where you just go crazy. Consider an entertainment or random humor type blog, where you can let your imagination go crazy. Create your own unique character to pitch products or just give your own take on life in general. You'll see many examples of these blogs over at Entrecard.com.

The good thing about that sort of blog is you can build it up at your own pace, and then profit from paid advertising, Google (or alternatives), try Amazon product sales or even paid review sites. Sky's the limit if you set up one of these sort of blogs, because you can test the implementation of all sorts of money strategies...

Another consideration is with more blogs, you expose yourself to more opportunities, networking and link building. You also can leave some projects behind if they just aren't working, then return to them later. Tapping into your creative thoughts is also one of the keys to becoming rich. It's what many smart industrial age millionaires and billionaires did, and most of today's young dot com generation have done.

You don't need to have 8 blogs, but consider starting up a second blog over the weekend. It doesn't have to take up all your time, start simple and build from there. Make it your "anything goes" project and have fun with it. Sometimes the most creative, wacky and out of the ordinary ideas end up making you the most money!

Kettering University Offers Co-Op Education

The following is a sponsored blog entry.

When it comes to making money and creating wealth, many will argue that having a solid education is the best way to start. Choosing the best college or university is a chore many high school seniors and others face yearly. One university, Kettering, offers top notch engineering co-op programs as well as industrial engineering programs. US News and World Report has ranked Kettering University as "the #1 University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering" in its annual "America's Best Colleges Guide for 2008".

The school, located in Flint, Michigan, is helpful because it places freshmen students with companies to help them start gaining real world work experience. Kettering's class leading Co-op programs rotate students between school and their co-op job, alternating every 3 months to help give students valuable work experience. It's always best to decide early about what profession or job field you may want to get into, or stay out of. The co-op programs at Kettering will help greatly with that. Not only that, but Kettering's co-op program will give students relevant work experience on their resume, which can help with landing a job upon graduation, or they may even continue with a company they were placed at. Finding a job or job security are great benefits and this university could very well provide them to students.

Among other notable features, Kettering includes a "wired" campus, meaning the Thompson Hall dormitory is already set for students to plug right into hi-speed internet in their dorm rooms (PC/Windows support only). As for clubs and activities, Kettering offers a great variety, including hockey, karate, the Bulldog Band, scuba diving, cycling club and the Campus Crusade for Christ. Their campus is convenient to great local activities including Flint Cultural Center, Flint Farmer's Market and the Flint Generals Hockey team.

For students looking to gain real world work experience and test the waters of their prospective job field, Kettering looks like a very helpful option in terms of mapping out and acquiring a career.

Google Adsense Got You Down? Try These 5!

Like many other bloggers I've noticed a significant recent drop in Google Adsense click payouts. My best guess is this reduction comes due to the "Google Smart pricing" or even the poor economy. It could be a sign of advertisers cutting back on spending, and it makes you wonder if it will hurt the big G come stock report time. It makes for a great case to implement other advertising and money making ideas in the interim though. So what other alternatives could you use if Google earnings have taken a dip?

Here's 5 programs to consider:

1 - ShoppingAds - Places eBay style ads on your site. Get paid per click and per action (such as ebay signups and auctions). Minimum payout is $50, so it may take a while to see your first check, depending how you implement it.

2 - WidgetBucks - Puts animated widgets on your site. Allows for different payout based on visitors to your site from US or outside. Like ShoppingAds, minimum payout is $50, so it may take a while to see your first check, depending how you implement it.

3 - Amazon Associates - Get paid commission/referral fee if someone goes to Amazon through a link you've provided on your site, and buys something.

4 - Linkshare or Commission Junction - Affiliate programs which offer all sorts of lead and commission payments. For example, if someone joins Netflix or Gamefly through your link, you are given anywhere from $7 to $15. CJ's minimum payout is $25.

5 - Alternates to Adsense (Yahoo, Bidvertiser) - if you have multiple sites why not experiment on a site that doesn't perform as well with Adsense. Try Bidvertiser as it gives you a lower minimum before payout ($10).

View these and other recommended ways to make money online!

Those are 5 alternatives to experiment with if you've seen a drop in recent Adsense money. The first two, ShoppingAds and Widgetbucks give you click payout just as Adsense, and they can be run in addition to it. The #5 choices should be used carefully as they replace Adsense and may end up paying you less. But it's always smart to keep a few other moneymakers going, just in case. Experimentation will help your blog keep going along as a business, even when Google (or the economy) seems to be slumping quite a bit. And of course, if you have the time, try paid article writing (AssociatedContent, PayPerPost, ReviewMe) or Cash Crate surveys.