Something that a lot of us tend to overlook is the concept of "pay yourself first", which is a big recommendation many financial experts make. We all spend hard-earned money on ourselves but that money isn't really ours. It's being payed to a hair stylist, babysitters, the movie theater, a restaraunt, etc etc. Paying yourself first means making sure you have money put aside which is all yours, and turning into even more money. I want to cover two things I've done in the past that are great ideas for "stockpiling" your hard earned money and making it work for you!
1) High interest Money Market or Savings Account - There's a lot of these accounts online that you can check out. In the past I've used two different ones. Netbank and now ING Direct. The interest rate right now is down due to the economy. It's close to about 3% or less, when in the past it's been 5%. It should recover as the economy does. This MMA can become your "emergency fund" or savings fund for that home or whatever project you are planning. With ING you can actually refer friends and you'll earn $10 for each who opens an account (with $250 or more), while your friend gets $25 after their account is active for a month. Who doesn't love free money???
Bankrate.com - to compare different savings, checkings and money market accounts.
ING Direct Website - great savings or money market account, run online, connects to your bank account.
Netbank.com - similar to ING direct, they may have a higher or lower interest rate.
2) Investing in Stocks - I don't purport to be a big investor anywhere near the level of people like Mr. Warren Buffet or Wall Street mutual fund managers. But in the past I've used two cheap stock buying sites and done reasonably well, after research. The first is Sharebuilder and the 2nd is Buyandhold.com. They allow you to purchase small amounts of stock ($20 and up at a time) for a fee of about $3.99 or more per transaction. If you want to dabble in stocks, or start to build up your stocks slow, these are a great place to start. Of course if you have more money to invest, go for the places like e-Trade, Schwab and the other big boys who take $1000 or more to start up. I currently recommend BuyandHold.com. You could start up both a "play" stock account (if you want to try short term trading, etc) and an IRA there. I recommed the Roth variety as it won't be taxed when you retire.
BuyandHold.com
Sharebuilder.com
(Note: always make sure to do your research on stocks so you don't lose that money! I tend to like higher dividend blue chip stocks that continously pump $$$ back into your account every few months.)
By paying yourself first, you become disciplined to take 10% or more of all the money you make and devote it to your own welfare. Make the money you make work for you. There's no reason to pay everyone else and neglect yourself!
(PS: You may have credit card debt like many do, but that's still no reason not to pay yourself. Be mindful of the bills, but work on acquiring wealth at the same time, at whatever level possible!)
5/8/08
Pay Yourself First!
5/6/08
The Monetizer's Mom now has a Blog!
It's funny how whenever you mention to any person not familiar with the blogosphere or making money online, the idea that you can make money online, they become stunned. Multiple questions are raised and the wheels start turning...
"How does that work?"
"How do you do that?"
"They really pay you?"
"Is it LEGAL?"
Most recently included in the naysayers and non-believers was the Monetizer's own mom. After explaining some of the concepts weeks ago, specifically Google Adsense, out of nowhere mom declares "I need to start a blog". And so my mom now officially has a blog, which of course Monetizer has assisted with. Mom doesn't realize that blogging does take effort and work. If you could just throw a blog up with Adsense and be a millionaire, you wouldn't be reading any MMO blogs.. Anyways, with Mother's day approaching I feel this blog will be a gift that "keeps on giving", as it already is turning a profit, with minimal traffic.
Now for a bit of the background on Mom's niche blog which is a work in progress. I won't go into the topic, but here's the basics.
- - The blog is a free one, set up on everyone's favorite Blogspot.
- The blog was started about a month ago.
- The blog is monetizer using LinkShare.com
- Traffic has been generated via Craigslist, Entrecard, social bookmark sites, and some search engine rankings work. The blog currently gets anywhere from 5 to 30 visits per day.
- The blog has about 12 entries and is updated maybe once or twice a week, if that.
- The blog ranks first page for a few keywords that bring in thousands of searches a month.
What's been done:
- We've submitted two different articles to over 20 directories with links in the resource box below the article.
- We rotate the Craigslist advertisement by US city maybe once a week or so. Craigslist has been an impressive way to really target specific traffic. You just have to list the blog or site right without being spammy.
- The Monetizer has been using Directory Submitter to submit to search engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN were among the first submitted to.
- We use Social Marker to bookmark specific posts we want to rank for on Google, and it's worked very well.
- I also tinker with which ads will offer the most profit on the blog. So far we've done well despite low traffic from search engines. That tells me with more traffic comes more profit, the basic principle most MMO pundits and bloggers will tell you.
Where we go from here:
- Wait for Bidvertiser to hit the minimum $10 payout. While Bidvertiser can give some additional income, it's not nearly as targeted to your topic as Google Adsense. Therefore a switch could mean more clicks and eventually a bigger payout from stray search engine traffic!
- Continue using LinkShare.com
- Continue updating content on a weekly basis, and submit to more directories. Another article or 2 may be in store to submit to directories as well.
- Submit to blog directories and RSS directories. This is something I haven't even touched with the niche blog yet.
- I'm also considering the idea of using Clickbank to find a good product to recommend on the blog.
- Another thing that is always on my mind is the look and feel of a blog, which is just like a website. You may want to convey professionalism to visitors with banners, layout, etc. However, there's schools of thought as to "crappy-looking" blog sites will make more money, because visitors just want to "click out".
- I always toy with buying a domain name once a blog has churned out enough profit to buy it. However, you can't go wrong with free. One thing I never like with domain names is the WHOIS listing which gives the owner's name and address, forcing you to pay more $ to keep your identity safe.
So that's all there is to it.... Another day, another blog is born! With this I'm already starting to think of more niche blogs to open up, to get more income rolling in! I will continue to update the progress made on this latest project for dear ol' Mom.
The Monetizer wishes a Happy Mother's Day to Moms everywhere this coming Sunday. Hopefully you're blogging, or your offspring are setting one up for you! Be sure to check out the recent article below from Problogger discussing why Mom Blogs are the best thing since Moms and Blogs!
Also see:
Five Reasons Why Mom Blogs are the Blogs to Watch at Problogger
Cash in with LinkShare's Affiliate Marketing Programs!
5/5/08
My 1st DealDotCom Deal
The Monetizer was recently keeping an eye on "DealDotCom" just waiting for them to offer me a deal for relatively cheap, such as $5 and under. Mainly I wanted to see how good the deals are, and if it had the resell option, I figure it could more than pay for itself. The deal I purchased just yesterday evening was a $4 e-book about how to use forums for generating traffic. A basic concept, but I figured if it had at least one valuable nugget of wisdom, it'd more than pay for its cost. If nothing else, it did have that re-sell option and I could turn to eBay or elsewhere to make back the purchase money.
Nothing against DealDotCom, but I was a bit disappointed by the "deal". It was a 16 page e-book (PDF) which had a lot of already known info. It's a good reference for newbies to the game of getting traffic to their blog or site, but if you've been at this a while it doesn't give much. At this point, it'd be hard for The Monetizer to re-sell because it's not a product I would truly believe in. I also recently learned on another site that eBay has banned sales of eBooks on its site as well as domain name sales. Anyone heard this or to the contrary?
On the flipside, I do agree that forums are a great way to get traffic to your site and make money. Participating in the right forums can build up new readers for your blog, as well as provide valuable backlinks (from your signature) pointing to a keyword phrase you want to rank high for in Google.
Are you an active participant of forums within your niche?
5/1/08
17 Principles of the Rich & Poor
The following principles are derived from T. Harv Eker's book called Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth
- 1. Rich people believe "I create my life." Poor people
believe, "Life happens to me."
2. Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people
play the money game to not lose.
3. Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people
want to be rich.
4. Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
5. Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus
on obstacles.
6. Rich people admire other rich and successful people.
Poor people resent rich and successful people.
7. Rich people associate with positive, successful
people. Poor people associate with negative or
unsuccessful people.
8. Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their
value. Poor people think negatively about selling and
promotion.
9. Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor
people are smaller than their problems.
10. Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are
poor receivers.
11. Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor
people choose to get paid based on time.
12. Rich people think "both." Poor people
think "either/or."
13. Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people
focus on their working income.
14. Rich people manage their money well. Poor people
mismanage their money well.
15. Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor
people work hard for their money.
16. Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear
stop them.
17. Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people
think they already know.
The above principles definitely can be applied to blogging, your web-based business, or other online moneymaking endeavors. Fine tuning your beliefs so they are "richer" just may lead you on a path of riches! Eker also has developed a 3 day "intensive seminar" which deals with the topics above and those in his book. View more about Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar at www.millionairemind.com
