Make Money With Associated Content

Hey folks, I'm back with yet another moneymaker to add to your income stream. Associated Content is "The People's Media Company", a site which publishes high quality content such as member-submitted articles and pictures. The Monetizer had heard rumblings about it from various members of other sites here or there, but never really gave it a second thought. At first, Monetizer hadn't done the homework to check this site out and figured it only payed you money for page views of your content. Then, Monetizer read about it over on DayJobNuker.com and decided to give it a try. What a pleasant surprise this site has been so far!

The Monetizer decided to submit eight old blog entries that seemed high quality enough to present for "upfront payment". This means if the editor approves the article they will make you an immediate offer for it. Six of the eight entries were approved within several days with a payment of about $3.50 each or over $20! Knowing the Monetizer has other blogs with different topics and around 1,000 entries total, it looks like a great idea for a continual money maker.

The best parts of the Associated Content site are:

1) Your published content can be used elsewhere. Therefore, you can take an older blog entry you've done, submit it for approval at Associated Content and profit from it. You will need to select this option when you publish an article (you can choose between articles "exclusive to AC" or articles you "may have published or will publish elsewhere").

2) Payment is alot faster than other moneymakers online. There's no waiting for the following month or for a buildup of your money to a minimum threshold. PayPal payment is typically done within 3-6 business day to your PayPal account. Not a bad deal at all. Fast, easy money straight to your PayPal.

3) Once you accept an offer on the site, the payment doesn't stop there. For every 1,000 views your article gets (by others, not just your IP), you will receive $1.50. It keeps going on and on. Theoretically if you had 100,000 page views of your article, you'd receive $150.

4) Other offers will be presented to you for the taking. For example you may have submitted gardening articles that were accepted. AC may display relevant opportunities for articles with upfront payment. They may want an article about specific gardening practices and will present those opportunities to you for payment should your new article be approved.

5) You don't need a website or blog to make money. You don't need to be a blogger or own a website to qualify for this free site. Perhaps you enjoy writing or have some material already prepared on your computer. This site is suitable for just joining and providing freshly written content to.

Aside from these benefits, AC offers templates to make your publishing of content even easier. For example there are "How To" and "Town tour" type templates which allow you to publish articles very specific in nature. The site will take a little getting used to and you will need to make sure to provide articles with no spelling errors or poor grammar. Once your articles get accepted though it's money in the bank!

Surely you can see the benefits with using Associated Content's site if you're a blogger. You're using material that you either have blogged about, or will blog about in the future. It's a win-win for you, because you may have 20-100 plus blog entries to choose your article material from. You may need to tailor the piece slightly for the site, but once several of your articles are accepted, you will see new article opportunities. Yet another win for you because many of the opportunities may match your blog topic, giving you new material. The Monetizer quickly took 5 new opportunities worth $4 each and figures why not earn some extra money here? So if you like to write, need blog ideas, or have plenty of past blog entries to choose articles from, give Associated Content a try. A little extra work might provide you a nice extra income!

Head over and check out www.associatedcontent.com to get started.

What Sells on Ebay?

In the Monetizer's recommended reading list there is a book written by Cameron Johnson who began businesses as a kid and eventually became very successful and rich. One of his first businesses involved latching onto the whole "Beanie Babies" craze that was sweeping the nation. He basically set up shop in his parents' home and had boxes of the stuffed animals he ordered in bulk and sold to hungry customers. His parents' lovely home basically became a warehouse for the supply and demand of Beanie Babies and the kid was making serious money from it!

Of course that craze has pretty much died down, with only a few of the stuffed toys really being worth any decent money these days. However, eBay used to be a vehicle many people used to buy and sell them and make good money from. The online auction site is still used very very heavily as well all know for buying and selling all sorts of items, even food items that look like Jesus or Elvis. Now this post won't tell you how to use or sell on eBay, because that could be a 10-20 part blog series on its own. There's a lot involved beyond just uploading a pic and making a catchy description to sell your item. This post is more to talk of one type of item that always seems to sell.

One thing the Monetizer has learned is that "one man's trash is another man's treasure". While working at a previous job as an IT project manager, the bosses wanted to move to a newer and nicer office down the hall. Due to this, a lot of "junk" needed to be liquidated or thrown out in the process. Junk = electronics and computer equipment. Some of that junk was still of value though. So in the process, nearly $5,000 in sales were made on eBay! Now this money didn't go to Monetizer, it went to the bosses, but the lesson here is there is a great market on eBay for used, new and even broken down electronics or computer items and gadgets. Some of the items that sold were really old MAC computer equipment, old video and audio editing equipment and even old cables. It's amazing what other people want to buy these days!

Take a look around your room, your garage, your basement, and your attic. Is there some old piece of electronics you just held onto for the sake of it? Maybe you bought a Palm Pilot because it was the "thing to have" but now its more of a doorstep or dust collector. Maybe you have a shortwave radio, an old mp3 discman or even old stereo equipment. It's stuff you're not using, and it could bring you some money. There seems to be someone out there that wants it and usually it will get snatched up on eBay. Another idea or plan is to hit up the garage and yard sales or even if your neighbor tossed an item out. Don't become a garbage picker, but keep your eyes peeled for electronics. Even a broken iPod or other electronics item can fetch interest from those who like to take things apart or use the parts to build things.

Monetizer won't make any big guarantees here. You need to do your homework. Research the item before you put it up for sale. See if other items of that type or brand or make/model have sold on eBay so you can gauge what yours might sell for. To do that, do an Advanced Search for "Ended listings" of your item only. See what the sales prices have been if the item has sold on eBay. Or try searching for your item new or used online at other sites. Also, don't expect to make thousands off some old PDA or MP3 player, but overall there's money to be made with electronics on eBay. This isn't to say that other items you have won't sell, but if Monetizer had to select one consistent eBay seller, it's been electronics gadgets, devices and accessories in all conditions.

(Friendly Monetizer tip #514376: If you don't have an eBay account, consider signing up for CashCrate first. CashCrate has an offer that pays you $8 just to join eBay and place a bid on any item. In effect, you can sign up, make a bid on an item that you won't win (such as a $1.99 iPod) and earn yourself an easy $8!)

October 15= Blog Action Day

Ok just a little bit late, but Monetizer didn't want to forget to mention October 15th was Blog Action Day. The concept involved getting as many bloggers as possible to blog about ways to save and protect our environment and the Earth. The official Blog Action Day blog made mention that at least 5,000 blogs had done so, so let me make it 5,001. The Monetizer would like to present some appropriate sites and articles on these very subjects. Many of these ways which include saving or conserving energy will save you money. Useful tips for bloggers and computer users are to turn your computer off when it's not in use, keep lights and other appliances you don't need off, and do not leave the bathroom faucet running while brushing your teeth. These small things will go a long way if enough people can get into the habit of doing them.

Here's 4 articles to check out as well:

Time Magazine's 51 Ways to Save the Environment

101 Easy Ways to Save Energy

50 Quick, Painless Ways You Can Help the Environment Today

Energy Quest on Saving Energy

The Monetizer encourages other bloggers to make mention of this important cause as we can all do a little bit each day to keep Mother Earth alive and well.

Contests & Prizes Galore!

Ok don't get too excited, this is not about a contest from the Monetizer (yet) but from other people online! That's right, one cool thing Monetizer has noticed is how generous other blog sites like to be in giving away stuff like the iPhone, iPods, Nintendo Wii's, Blog Designs, Cash and more! Some of them even win stuff from one contest, then just turn around and give it away to someone in their own contest..Smart thinking!

RockNRollSolo.com has a win a 16gb iPod touch contest going on until November 12th. The iPod Touch is a pretty nifty piece of technology complete with a you guessed it, a touch screen. You can flip through album covers for your music, watch videos or movies, check out your stored pics, and surf the internet all on a 3.5 inch screen! It has a gift avalue of approximately $399. To enter this one, just head over to win a 16gb ipodtouch at rocknrollsolocom and follow the rules!

There's a big bad blogger battle going on between blog legends, Shoemoney and John Chow. Each guy is trying to outdo the other in terms of getting the most RSS subscribers for his blog before the end of this month. Monetizer previously mentioned John Chow's contest which includes a ton of prizes. Since Chow is giving away prizes, Shoemoney decided he will give away a prize a day because he's been slacking in the contest. Head over to Shoe's blog to sign up for his RSS so you don't miss out!

Beyond those big 3, if you want to check out other contests going on you may want to check out this blog: MyBlogContests.com for more great giveaways!