Well, the newness has worn off, and the problems have set in.  Granted, it was not “build a niche’s” fault…it was my fault.  I know that Google is adament about content, but I failed to add enough.  That’s right, I got Google Slapped there too.

You have to add content to your pages in your Build a Niche store!  Do it right, and this will certainly be profitable to you.  Now, I am at a point where I am going to have to find me a new niche, and secure a new domain name.  Go slow, build slow, and make sure your site is up to snuff with what Google likes.  You do not want to have a ton of “affiliate links” on your page without having strong content.

I made the mistake of making huge sites that had a ton of products.  I have a ton of products, and ton of pages, but I didn’t go in and add valuable content to the site.  In the next go around, I am going to add one page at a time, and put the content on as I go.  This will ensure that I get good search results, and that I get valuable traffic via Google.  The fact is, a Build a Niche Store will not work if you don’t have some traffic coming from Google.  In the short term, I was building up quite the income through the Build a Niche Store model, but I obviously got greedy in my design.

So, it is back to the drawing board for me.  Don’t make the same mistakes I made!  I am going to keep my current sites up for now, but I may cut them out when my domain fees are due.  I’ll get something new, and start over.  I am also going to toy around with “regular” websites, and add in the ebay code to try and see if I can do it even better on my own.

Good luck in your online endeavors!

I am getting really tired of having to fight the mega giant Google to be able to make a little extra money online.  Twice I have made progress in making a bit of money, only to have Google step in and slap it down.  Mind you, I have not done anything at all illegal, black hat, or even “iffy”.  At least, not that I know of.  You see, Google makes it nearly impossible to figure out what it likes, and what it doesn’t like.  If they suddenly don’t like you, then they will take away all of your search traffic.

I have been building a website that uses the Ebay Partner Network, and compiles searches from Ebay and makes it so that shoppers can find particular items very quickly and easily.  For several months, I was getting a ton of search traffic, and was converting very well, as the search traffic was finding what it was looking for.  Isn’t that exactly what Google claims to be about?  Customers finding what they want?  But, I was making money by converting this search traffic, so Google didn’t like it.  Evidently, they are the only ones that are allowed to make money on the internet.  Now, I am not getting a single hit from Google on my site, which makes it evident that they have now blocked my site.

As I mentioned, this is the second time that this happened.  I used my personal blogs to write some sponsored posts (clearly identified as such) for some extra income.  I only posted a handful of these types of posts among a ton of normal, personal posts.  But, those few posts angered the great Google, and they took away all of my Google rank.  I had one blog built up to a rank of 4 over a relatively short period of time, only to wake up one morning to find my blog dropped to a zero.  Again, think about this:  Google rank (I thought) was based on the traffic you get, the quality links that you have back to your site, and whether you provide what searchers are looking for.  None of those criteria have changed.  The only difference is that I made a little money from sponsored posts.

I am not sure how Google got so powerful in the internet market, but it appears that they have gained too much power for those of us that are small in the market.  I know there are probably some who are trying to cheat others, but most of us are just trying to make enough to make it, supplementing our income with a few bucks here and there.  That doesn’t hurt Google in any way.  They are simply becoming the dictator of all things internet.  I am sure there is no solution to the problem, but at least it helps to vent…

Wow, I have been gone forever!  I guess my “real life” has kept me far too busy to be active on any of my blogs.  Now that winter is setting in, and things are slowing down a bit, maybe I will be able to get back to doing some writing, reading and research.

I came across something today that may be of some benefit to some folks just getting started in affiliate marketing.  This is an area that still has a ton of potential, and should certainly be evaluated.  I know that I don’t have as much time as I would like to put into the affiliate marketing area, but I am going to try and do a bit more, as I have been making a decent amount recently off of the little bit of work that I have done.

Anyway, here is the page I thought you would be interested in.   Working with Paul is a site that doesn’t ask you for any money, and he offers to help you learn his marketing technique.  I have not yet signed up, as I don’t have time to work on it for about 3 more weeks, but I hope to get it done then.  Since it is free, it is worth a shot!  Anytime you can take advantage of free information, you should.

Go ahead and check out this site.  Sign up for the site, and let me know how you do with it.  Good luck in all your online endeavors!

Ok, I don’t know too much about this program yet, but I am all for free courses!  I read a post on another blog that recommended this set of courses, so I thought I would sign up for it.  The challenge starts at the first of July (I think), but there is a ton of stuff going on right now to help you get ready for the challenge.  The person I read said that he is went through the course before, and it helped him a lot.  I hope that it will be as helpful for me!

So, if you want to give it a try, just CLICK HERE to sign up.  There are no catches with this course, other than you have to sign up with a legit email address.  I haven’t had a chance to look around a lot yet, but hope to do so with in the next few days.  I have been far too busy with my real life to spend much time on this yet.  I am hoping that I will be able to keep up with it when it gets rolling in the classes.

If you have been complaining because it is too expensive to learn to make money online, then this is your opportunity.  If you are unwilling to sign up for a free course, then you probably will never be successful.  What have you got to lose?  I’m guessing that 30 days after the program you will be happy with your success.  I am looking forward to it.  If you sign up, let me know!

I’ve posted about this a couple of times, but one more can’t hurt!  I have started getting my free stuff from Freebie Force, and I think it has been a great deal so far!  How can I go wrong.  Let me tell you about a deal that was posted today.  You can get $25 for test driving a car.  How easy is that ?  You print out the certificate, go drive the car, and the company sends you a $25 American Express gift card!

Here’s what you have to do:  Visit Freebie Force, and sign up.  It will cost you $9.95 per month, but look at it this way–You will be sure to clear at least $15 in the first month, just by test driving a car!  I seriously don’t know what you could be waiting for…click that link up there right now!

Not only do you get great free stuff, but you also can pay for your membership just by referring your friends to the site!  It is amazing how quickly you can pay your membership, and then start making a profit off of this site.  Just tell your friends and family about it.  They will love it too.  Who wouldn’t like to get $25 just for test driving a car?

A couple of other offers that are new over the last couple of days are free coffee samples from a couple of different companies, free tickets to see the Texas Rangers in action, free screening tickets to the movie “Hancock” with Will Smith, a free beverage at Starbucks, a couple of free magazine subscriptions (I signed up for Outdoor Life for a year free!), and tons of other stuff.

Here’s my recommendation:  give it a try.  You know you can turn a profit on in in the first month, so give it a one month trial run.  If you don’t like it for some reason, you can always cancel your account.  But, I don’t think that is going to happen.  You are going to like it so much, you are going to keep on gettin’ free stuff for months, and years to come!

So, click this link:  Freebie Force, and enjoy free stuff!

I thought I would just give you a bit of an update on getting free stuff from this great freebie website.   We headed out this evening to run a few errands, and pocketed a few of the coupons that I have printed out from this website.  Unfortunately, the stores we went to were not very cooperative, and I am going to end up going back in the next few days.  I had coupons for securing several small bags of coffee free of charge, but the store was sold out of (or doesn’t carry) the proper size to get it completely free.  Another coupon was for a major nationwide store that sells computer and office supplies.  I was to get a free pack of DVD+R disks, but they too were sold out.  Their shipment is to come in tomorrow, so I may have to head back out to try and get these in the next couple of days.

We did have some success when going to a department store with a coupon for a free article of clothing.  My wife was able to take the coupon in, find the garment, and “buy” it at no cost.  That one freebie pays for my account for this month, and everything else is the icing on the cake.

I spent about 15 minutes today searching through the online offers, and getting a lot of great samples and freebies.  I think my mailman is going to be hating me when all of this stuff starts coming in through the mail.  He may have to deliver to me first, just to get his load lightened a bit!

If you haven’t checked it out, make sure to CLICK HERE to see this great site, and get a lot of great freebies.  You won’t be sorry!

One more thing–If you haven’t subscribed to this blog by email (upper right hand corner), be sure to do so!  You can get a free ebook as a “thank you”, and you will receive a notice each time this blog is updated.  It will also make it possible for me to share great online opportunities with you!

I just found a website that makes it possible to get tons of free stuff. There are hundreds of samples that you can get, and there are tons of products that are available, and all you have to do is click on a link to get them! Some of the programs have small shipping charges associated with them, but most of them are completely free! I spent about 2 hours on the site last night, and I am sure I secured at least a couple hundred dollars worth of free products.

This site does have a small monthly fee, but you will recoup that fee easily each and every month. For example, just this morning, there was a free coupon to a major department store for an article of clothing that is valued at about the same amount as the monthly fee! That’s right, you can redeem the coupon, and pay for your membership for the month, and you haven’t even touched the hundreds of other opportunities available. There is also a free gift card to a major, nationwide discount retailer that is the same amount as your monthly fee, and to get it all you have to do is sign up for their email list!

This is not one of those “complete and offer and get a product” sites. This site is easy to use, and easy to snag some great products and free samples. You don’t ever have to worry about having to complete 12 sponsor offers to get your stuff!

And, you can take this a bit further and make a business out of it! Do you know people who like to get tons of stuff for free? You can refer them to the site, and start building a residual income! You get a percentage of every person that signs up to get their free stuff. To me, this is just an added perk, since I have already secured enough stuff to pay for at least the first few months.

So, be sure to check it out, and see what you can find. I am sure you will not be disappointed! There are enough products and services available to keep anyone busy!

I found another good place on the web to make a bit of money. As I have stated before, the key to making money online is to start bringing in some money from multiple sources. This source is not going to make you rich by itself, but it will add to what you have going on, and it won’t take much time or effort. This is a PPC source, where you make money based on reading emails, visiting websites and completing offers. There is a small payout level of $20, and you can be paid by PayPal.

Programs like this are great, especially when you are just starting out online, or not being very successful. It is nice to find a program like this where you can see some money coming in. It helps to know that there really is money out there to be made. You can spend a little time online today, and see some money in your account.

One word of caution when completing “offers” for cash. You should start with the programs that are really interesting to you. Try free offers first, and then move up to ‘paid trials”. These can provide you with not only a little cash in your account, but get you information or products that you can really use. Make sure to keep up with all the offers the you join, and cancel those that you decide are not really for you.

Some people think that these type of programs are scams, but they are not. I have been successful in making some money through these type of offers, and I have ended up with some great products and information. It certainly provides a way to try out some products, without having to worry about being locked down in a commitment with the companies. And, many of the programs are things you may try anyway, so you might as well get paid for them!

So, to get started with this program, just click the banner below, and sign up! Let me know how you do with it.

I am adding a new feature to the blog today, and it is the ability to subscribe to the Next Best Thing through email! I am also offering a special e-book that you can download when you subscribe. You will receive an email asking you to confirm your address, and when you do, you will receive the link to the e-book, “Mining Your Future on the Internet.” This book will give you some good tips for earning money on the internet, and may give you a few new ideas for creative projects that you can use to make money.

Make sure that you check your email shortly after submitting your address. If you do not receive a confirmation email with in about 10 minutes, make sure to check your junk email box. Make sure to add the email addresses found in the sign up screen to your “white list” so that you won’t miss any posts.

I will also be sending you occasional emails about various internet opportunities that I think you will be interested in. Don’t worry, I won’t be sending you tons of email, just the occasional email that will share with you something that I think is particularly valuable and will be helpful to you as you are trying to make money online. I also will not ever rent, lease or sell your information to any other lists. Your address will only be used to contact you about The Next Best Thing (kcjmarketing) and products, services, or sites that I think will benefit you and your online experience.

So, go ahead and sign up for the list, and enjoy the new e-book on me!

Here is a program that I found just before Memorial Day, but have not had the time to actually try it yet. I am planning to get signed up for this sometime in the next couple of days. I don’t know whether it is any good or not, but I figure if it is free, I might as well give it a try! Now, the catch is that you have to participate in one sponsor’s offer to gain access for free. That is a pretty fair trade off to avoid the purchase price of $97.

So, go ahead and give this program a try, and let me know what you think. In the meantime, when I finally get a bit of time, I will sign up as well, and give you a report on what I think about the course. So, just click on the banner below to get started!