A Delayed "Farewell"

Has it really been over a year since my last post? Wow, where does that time go?! Since my last post, in March of 2014, I've embarked on some wild money-making endeavors. And that isn't counting all the other endeavors I had embarked on since this blog's inception back in 2013. What were these endeavors? I've recounted some of them in the postings on this blog. I won't go into detail about the ventures that happened after my previous post in March of 2014. Let's just say that I've been on some wild and crazy rides. Rides I wasn't quite prepared to take. So, did I make my fortune? Did I win my millions? I'm sorry to report that I haven't won my millions. Kind of disheartening when you consider the nature of The Golden Byte. What kind of credibility can I have if I, the blog's author, haven't made millions of dollars? Or even thousands of dollars? What you are about to hear is likely the most honest report ever delivered by an Internet money-man.

Unlike most money-men on the Internet who are trying to hock off there million dollar ideas for $24.99, I can admit that all of my ideas have failed and failed miserably, at that. Why did they fail? Were they bad ideas? I'll get to this in a bit. First let me give a brief listing of all the ventures I had undertaken during these past couple years. I've been involved in PPD (Sharecash), PTC (Neobux and the now defunct Probux), PPC (adf.ly and adfoc.us) CPA, GPT, blogging, adsense, review mills (slicethepie), writing mills, selling services (Fiverr), affiliate marketing, surveys, cryptocurrency trading and mining, domain flipping, selling processing power, video-making, web design, forum administration, and more.

Quite a list, right? Just thinking about all of the stuff I have tried is exhausting.

Now, why did my ideas fail? Were they just bad ideas? No, most of my ideas were solid and they could have netted me a bit of profit. So, what happened? I lacked something critical to any venture, money-making or otherwise. I lacked persistence and commitment. All ideas, no matter the idea, require working-hard and working-smart. The key word in both of those is "work". I overestimated by skills, but, more importantly, I underestimated the amount of work I would have needed to put into my ideas. There is no "golden" idea that will net you thousands of dollars within a few minutes time and with minimal work (no matter what those Internet money-men claim). There are better ideas and there are lesser ideas. All ideas require hard-work and persistence. If there is a "golden trick", it is the Three P's: patience, persistence, and practice.* Employee these three P's and you'll likely fare far better than you could have ever imagined.

I do not regret the money I've lost on my ventures or the time I've spent on this blog. I probably didn't lose more than $500 total over these past couple years, which isn't bad. And I've learned a lot about money, people, marketing, money-making, products, services, website creation/design, motivation, and persistence. I've also learned something about myself too. I've learned that I have my ups and my downs and that I should be patient with myself. I do not regret writing on this blog. It has sharpened my writing ability and my wit. Both excellent qualities inside and outside the Internet. I hope my posts, thirty-five of them in total (not including this one), have given you folks some ideas or have guided you onto the right path.

I want this post to be a kind of farewell to The Golden Byte. I didn't want to leave my readers hanging. And this isn't really good-bye. From here on, I'll be posting on my other blog, Cybermantics (explanation below).

I've decided to stop chasing the all-mighty dollar for now, get a part-time job (the horror), return to my university courses, and continue blogging on my new blog Cybermantics. It's not a money-making blog. It's a blog that celebrates my other passion: technology. Check it out and donate. "But wait, didn't you just say you stopped chasing the all-mighty dollar?" Yes, but the pennies I receive from my donation fund go to support my coffee addiction. I don't expect to earn thousands of dollars from it. So, if you like the posts on my new blog, or if you just want to donate a couple pennies out of the goodness of your own heart, please donate to my coffee fund. May the caffeine Gods bless you with energy and relieve you of fatigue!

Well, I guess this is "farewell." Good-bye beautiful friends. I'll see you on the other side. The tech side with robots, computers, and questionable commentaries! Even though I am done chasing the all-mighty dollar, I assume you are not quite done. So, please, remember what I've written about, remember the advice, remember the good times, and remember the Three P's.

And for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT buy money-making ebooks. Everything you could possibly want to know about online money-making can be found, for free, with a simple Google search. Just because something costs money doesn't mean it can make you money.

*The Three P's are really "patience, persistence, and perseverance", but I like my version better because I can't tell the difference between persistence and perseverance, and practice is really important too.

A book I just had to share…

Not to long ago, I read a book that seemed to affirm an idea I already held, but haven’t consistently applied. As you may have guessed by now, that book is The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. The basic idea behind this book is that, too master a skill or to make a huge change in one’s life, one only needs to perform small steps every day. For example, if you want to become a great free-thrower in basketball, all you’ll need to do is devote five minutes a day to free-throw practice. Over time, your free-throwing skills will improve greatly.

I’ve also applied this idea to my life, though I invest more than a few minutes each day.

If you want to accomplish huge goals, just devote a little effort a day toward your goal.

Flipping domain names

Flipping domain names is quite a common way of making money on the Internet. It’s been around for a long, long time. “Flipping” in this case refers to the practice of buying and, later, selling a domain name. This is a basic “buy low, sell high” practice.

Typically, one of two strategies is employed in this industry.

1. Buy, hold, then sell.

This strategy involves buying a domain name, holding it for a while, and then selling it when a good price comes along. Of the two strategies, this requires the least amount of work.

2. Buy, improve, then sell.

This strategy involves buying a domain name, improving the website associated with the domain name, and then selling the domain name. This involves more work than the other strategy, but performing the work (assuming the improvement was performed wisely) will likely increase the value of the domain name.

Is flipping domain names lucrative?

Yes, it can be lucrative. But flipping domain names isn’t for the weak of heart. It’s a tough business. To make a profit, one needs to have great foresight, managerial skills, money, patience, and persistence. Being able to develop and market a website would also be invaluable.

Here are a few techniques that may aid you in you in successfully flipping domain names.

1. Watch the market

Observe the domain name market. Observe what domain names are bought and sold. What qualities and characteristics do those domain names have that make them valuable?

Typically, domain names like “God”, “Money”, “Music”, etc. will fetch a high price due to how well-known, descriptive, and desirable they are.

Needless to say, a random domain name like “75boxstreet” won’t be worth anything unless it is associated with something popular.

2. Try to buy short, and memorable, domain names

Domain names like “lime”, “pool”, “fox”, etc. may be good choices for beginning domain name flippers. These names are common, descriptive, and may be desirable provided one can find the right buyer.

3. Don’t spend what you can’t afford to lose

Realize that flipping domain names involves quite a bit of risk. You may not get any profit from selling a domain name because you. Most people barely realize any profit after putting a ton of work into improving and selling a domain name. Only spend a little money, at first. When you become more comfortable with buying and selling domain names, you can invest more money.

What factors influence a domain name’s value?

1. The length of a domain name

Shorter domain names tend to be more valuable.

2. Commonality

How common a domain name is increases its value. For example, a domain name like “God” is highly valuable.

3. Association

The associations attached to a domain name make it valuable, depending on the buyer. For example, the domain name “God” would be valuable because its associated with God or other deities.

4. Hits

Domain names that are composed of commonly searched for words are highly valuable. The word “Money” is often inputted into search engines. If a domain name was “Money”, it would be very valuable due to the fact that it is often searched for.

The key to online riches

If I were asked to provide the key to online riches, I would say two words: Internet traffic. What is Internet traffic? Internet traffic is, essentially, the amount of “hits” or “visits” a website or web page receives. Currently, this blog has had 1569 “hits” since its creation. That is this blog’s total traffic.

Most of the traffic isn’t even real traffic. This blog only has around 100 real visits by real people, which is very, very little comparatively. I’ve had this blog up for five months. For comparison, Youtube gets one billion unique visits per month. Quite the difference.

How does one make money from online visits?

There is much one can do to make money when one has a lot of traffic. Pay per download can be utilized, adsense and pay-per-click can be used, donations can requested, products can be sold via affiliate links, marketing space can be rented, etc.

Many, many things can be done once one has heavy Internet traffic.

Now, here’s the hard part. How does one get heavy Internet traffic?

How does one get heavy Internet traffic?

Here are a few ways. It’s important to note that knowing and using these methods won’t necessarily give one heavy traffic. However, using these methods will likely increase the amount of traffic one gets.

These methods vary since most Internet sites vary by design.

1. Post interesting stuff

2. Use back-links

3. Optimize keywords

4. Post frequently

5. Tag your articles/images

6. Give site distinctive features

7. Advertise site

8. Keep at it

Remember, there are innumerable sites on the Internet. Most of which are fighting over site visitors. It is very, very hard to get a lot of site visitors. It requires vision, intelligence, and, most of all, persistence.

Sharecash has failed me…

Somewhat recently, a Youtube video of mine was flagged and taken down. I asked why and I was told the reason. Sharecash wasn’t allowing my clients to access my file once they completed the necessary actions. This led to Youtube users flagging my video. Now, I don’t know if what happened at Sharecash was the result of a buggy web-script, negligence, or down-right mean spiritedness. I’m inclined to believe that the Sharecash site was simply bugged. I never received a reply as to why the site wouldn’t allow users to access my files.

I think my incident was an isolated occurrence since Sharecash is a well-known and well-respected PPD site. However, if you’re thinking about using Sharecash, you should consider my experience.

Some words of encouragement

The world of online money-making is tough. There is bound to be loads of failure and, subsequently, discouragement for anyone attempting to make money on the Internet. So, for those souls struggling to scrape a few pennies out of their Internet ventures, I have a few words of encouragement. It doesn’t take money or brains or muscle or much else to make money on the Internet. Of course all of the aforementioned help, having them isn’t essential to making money online. There is one essential, however. That essential is commitment. You don’t need to be clever or wise or even intelligent to make money online; you just need to be committed.

I have a few tips that will help you strengthen your resolve and commitment in any situation.

Set goals for yourself

And don’t just set goals for yourself. Set specific goals. And don’t just set specific goals. Set specific goals and state the method you will use to reach those goals. You don’t need to know the nuts and bolts of a method; you can learn about the technicalities later. Just have an idea about the method you’ll use to achieve your goals .

Write out your goals

Is there anything more official than ink on a piece of paper? Writing out your goals not only helps you remember them, it gives you a sense of commitment.

Read your written goals twice daily

Keep your eyes on the prize. Read your written goals twice daily. Once in the morning (preferably, immediately after you get out of bed) and once at night (preferably, immediately before bed). Reading your written goals bolsters your commitment to them. It also keeps your goals in your head. The more you mull over your goals, the more likely you’ll find a way (or a better way) to achieve them.

 

One more thought…

Feeling discouraged?

It’s natural to feel discouraged when you fail to achieve a goal. When you fail, you can (broadly speaking) do one of two things. You can keep chasing your goal or you can take a break. Both of these options have their uses in achieving goals over the long-term. You must decide when one is to be used over the other.

If you’re really discouraged, I suggest taking a break. If you’re adverse to the idea of taking a break, think of the break as a time to refuel and replenish your strength. You’ll need that strength to achieve your long-term goals.

Relaxation doesn’t necessarily run counter to achieving a goal. In fact, relaxation is often a part of the process of achieving a goal.

Going bust with Neobux

If you’ve read this, then you’ll likely know how disappointed I am. Well, I am disappointed. I had such high hopes for Neobux. I even made bit of a profit, but I lost most of it, and then some. I lost all the money I invested and I lost most of the profit I had gained from Neobux. I invested and re-invested and it all went bust and I walked away with a severe net loss. I officially quit Neobux a few weeks back after withdrawing what little money I had left in my account. Before quitting, I ran the math on how much money I was “making” with Neobux. As it turns out, my rented referrals weren’t generating enough profit to cover their own costs! So, I was slowly losing money over a long period of time. This is when I realized my Neobux venture was doomed.

Admittedly, I should have “done the math” far sooner than I had. If I had done the math sooner, I wouldn’t have lost as much money. But, yes, my Neobux experience was a painful one. Quite honestly, I can’t figure out how people earn money from Neobux. It just doesn’t make sense. The most clicks you can get from a rented referral is four per day. Needless to say, all of my rented referrals didn’t come close to averaging four clicks per day.

I ran the math. It would have taken 42 clicks for a rented referral to pay for itself, for a month. Most of my rented referrals didn’t hit, or even come close to hitting, that number of clicks. They couldn’t carry themselves let alone carry the bad rented referrals.

Is it possible to generate a good profit from Neobux. Maybe, but you’ll need a lot of direct referrals. I don’t think it’s possible to generate much of anything from just rented referrals. If it is possible to generate a profit from rented referrals, that profit would be very slim and one wrong move (say, paying to keep a referral for more days) could destroy the entirety of any possible profit. The margin of error is far, far too small. Far too much is left to chance when dealing with rented referrals.

This makes me think that Neobux, which is among the most popular PTC sites, is something of a scam. Perhaps it is possible to make money from the site, but like I said, a user would need near perfect management of rented referrals and a good number of direct referrals.

I don’t see how it is possible for some people to earn thousands of dollars on the site. It just doesn’t seem possible. Considering the math, I’d say it’s more likely that the people who “earn thousands” are a select few gifted geniuses, or just people paid to promote Neobux.

Well, Neobux, goodbye and good riddance. I realize there are a good number of screen captures, floating around, which showcase user  accounts filled with thousands of dollars. I think a different perspective is due. Here’s a screen capture of my account summary as it currently is:

As you can see, my direct purchases far exceed the amount of money I received. Keep in mind, most of the money I received (around $20), was re-invested in Neobux. In the end, I walked away with $7 after having spent around $50 of my own money and a few months of my time.

What a waste…or, was it a waste? Well, it wasn’t a complete waste. I learned a few valuable lessons from my time at Neobux. Hopefully, I’ll be wise enough to take these lessons into consideration in the future.

To all you entrepreneurs of the Internet, please, for your own sake, thoroughly consider your own actions, and their consequences, before taking them.

Wow, I didn’t expect to type this much…

One Final Note

Funny enough, while I had an account at Neobux, I also had an account at Probux. I worked on both accounts, diligently clicking ads on most days. However, with my Probux account, I walked away with $5, pure profit. Though, I wouldn’t say this is much of an accomplishment considering it took me just over four months to get those $5. Hehe…

I’m exhausted…

The many ways of making money online

Lately, I’ve come to realize how many ways there are to make money online. There is a large amount of general ways and there is an incredibly large amount of “sub general” ways. By “sub general”, I mean ways to make money within ways to make money. Yes, there are many ways to make money online. As a refresher for the veterans (or as a primer for the newbies), I’ll list the general ways to make money online.

Here they are:

PPD (pay-per-download)

PTC (pay-to-click)

PPC (pay-per-click)

PPI (pay-per-install

PPP (pay-per-post)

PPU (pay-per-upload)

GPT (get-paid-to)

Online marketing

Affiliate marketing

Online selling (products and services)

SEO (search engine optimization)

Adsense or Adrevenue (making money from advertising)

Flipping products (both physical and virtual)

Completing online surveys

Cryptocurrency speculation/mining

Resource selling (selling processing power)

*Phew*

Well, it isn’t a comprehensive list, but it’s a good start. There are so many ways to make money online. But that doesn’t make or mean it’s easy. Find a talent or skill within yourself and choose which area of online money-making you are best suited for. Take the time to explore each area of online money-making. Once you find an area you like, or are suited for, gather your talents and skills, and jump in.

My first Slicethepie ebook

After spending nearly half a year on Slicethepie, I’m confident enough to release my first ebook on the site. In this ebook, I explain how to get the most money for your time. I explain how to “game” Slicethepie’s algorithm in order to get the largest payout per review. I’ve been using this “gaming” method for quite a while and it has served me well. This leads me to believe Slicethepie’s staff don’t change (or don’t change often or fundamentally) their payout algorithm. So, enough talk. Here’s a link to the ebook:

http://verified-download.com/file/0TW5Q

I also made a Youtube video for the ebook:

How to make money by being free

I know what you’re thinking: How is it possible to make money by being free? Well, rest assured, it is definitely possible to make money by being free. Let’s make this quick.

1. Samples

Everyone who sells a good or service would do well to give away free samples. Free samples give people a taste of what the product or service is like. If the people like the taste, they likely won’t hesitate to purchase the produce or service, provided the price is within their budget.

Please note, the free samples need to be of good quality or else you risk leaving a bad first impression on potential customers.

2. Follow-up products or services

A Follow-up product or service is a product or service that is intended to help maintain or improve a purchased product or service.

For example, let’s say that you are given a free car. The follow-up goods and services would be oil changes, tire rotation, engine maintenance, etc.

Here, the seller doesn’t make money from the initial sale of the car. The seller makes the money from the follow-up products and services.

3. Additional goods and services

These are similar to follow-up products and services, but, unlike follow-up products and services, these aren’t necessary to maintain the initial give-away.

Using the car example again, the additional goods would be heated seats or a built-in skylight.

The additional goods don’t come with the free car. They must be added later.

 

These are just three areas where money may be made by being free. There are many, many more.

Quid pro quo: the basics of money-making

How could anyone expect to get anything without first giving something? In Latin, “quid pro quo” means “something for something”. Quid pro quo is the basis of most money-making ventures, and most transactions. For our purposes, we’ll focus on money-making. So, how does quid pro quo relate to money-making? It’s simple. To receive money, we must first give something of value to someone.

Now that we know how to receive money, we need to discover what people value. How do we do this? There are many ways to discover what people value. I’ve listed two of them below.

1. Take a look around.

-What are people willing to buy?

-What do people ask for?

-What do people want?

2. Take a look inside.

-What are you willing to buy?

-What do you want?

Better yet, learn why people buy. Why do people buy? To improve their lives. It’s as simple as that.

Now that we may or may not know what people buy. Let’s move on to how to get what people value.

Let’s say that Julia values cars and she’s willing to pay a high price for a good, used car. How do we get the car? We buy it. From where do we buy it? Now that’s the question. I suggest setting up something of a network of sellers. You know that old saying “buy low, sell high”. I suggest buying low from these sellers and then selling high to Julia.

So, what are the primary steps to engage in quid pro quo on a large scale?

1. Discover what people value.

2. Obtain what people value.

3. Exchange what people value for money.

This is the basis of money-making on a large scale. Though, this won’t necessarily tell you the specifics of making money. It’s important to develop a money-making framework first, and then fill in the details later.

All you have to do is ask…

Most people fear rejection, so they don’t ask for much. Try not to be afraid and just ask for something if you want it. How does this relate to making money on the Internet? Imagine you want to build a site. You want the site to have high traffic, so you can make money off of it when you eventually monetize it. The problem is, you don’t know a damn thing about website coding and design. But, fortunately, you know someone who is a pro at website construction. All you have to do is ask him for a few pointers on how to design a website. Or, better yet, ask him to design your website! Is this too much to ask for? Maybe, but you won’t really know until you ask him. If he says “no”, you can just move on. If he says “yes”, well, you have just employed a great web designer who will build you a great website which will make you a lot of money when you eventually monetize it.

All you have to do is ask…

Unfortunately, some folks are really scared of rejection. This fear of rejection, unfortunately, limits their quality of life. Imagine the quality of life boost that could be gained from asking for more stuff, more often.

If you are one of these people, and you are very afraid to ask for things, please read this post and watch the video included in the post.

There’s money in funny

You don’t need to be a genius, or even smart, to figure out that the ability to make others laugh can be quite profitable. For proof of this, you need look no further than Youtube. Take a look at the users who have millions of subscribers. Chances are, those users are very funny. Well, you may not like those user’s brand of humor (which, more often than not, involves over-the-top silliness), but the numbers don’t lie. A LOT of people like that kind of humor. It’s the reason all those people stick around this or that silly Youtube personality. So, in our quest to make money off the internet, how do we use humor to make money?

One method immediately comes to mind. Here are the steps:

1. Upload funny animal videos to Youtube

2. Gain subscribers by regularly posting videos

3. Post adf.ly or PPD links in the description

It really is that simple. Well, simple to understand, but a bit harder to pull off due to the fact that many, many people compete for views on Youtube. 

Understanding how to make money is a crucial part of the battle to gain money.

If you are going to start posting videos on Youtube, in the quest to make money, I’d suggest using silly humor since it is the humor that appeals to most people.

Also, look at this Youtuber for tips on silly humor. You may not like him, but the numbers don’t lie. He’s a funny guy.

Additionally, keep in mind that, while humor is important, its execution is incredibly important. Humor executed badly will likely bring limited results. So, with this in mind, post videos with great video and audio quality.

Have I actually made any money?

If someone came across this blog today, they may think I’m a millionaire by now. I mean, look at all these wonderful articles I’ve written about money-making methods, techniques, and strategies. How couldn’t I be rich by now? Well, the truth is most of my plans, techniques, strategies, and ventures have fizzled out. I’ve lost time, effort, and even money to failed experiments. I’ve signed up to many “money-making” websites with nothing to show for it.

But, amongst all this failure, I have found one venture that looks promising. I’ve even earned some money from it. I’ve decided to abandon all other “money-making” ventures to fully pursue this one venture that has made me money. What is this venture? Well, I’m into voice-acting/narration. Believe it or not, but this venture has earned me $12 so far and it promises to earn me more in the future. I even have a few prospective customers lined up. It isn’t much, but it’s something. And after all my previous attempts at making money, this one has finally made me money.

Here’s a picture of my earnings on Fiverr thus far:

Why did I decide to take up vocal narration? Well, I had some decent recording equipment which I bought in the summer of 2012. It was just laying around, collecting dust. I also have a somewhat decent voice and I was already signed up to Fiverr. So, I decided to put these items and qualities to use. I put up a vocal narration gig on Fiverr and I waited. It took over a month to get my first job. Then I got another job, and then another. Currently, I’ve had three jobs on Fiverr. I left my customers completely satisfied. I also advertise my services on a forum I frequent. I’ve uploaded vocal samples to both Fiverr and the forum for my potential customers to view. If they like the samples, they hire me. As I said before, I always leave my customers satisfied.

How to create your own success

What can you gain from my story? You may gain success as well if you follow the guidelines below.

First, acknowledge this basic idea: In this world, you need to give value in order to receive value.

That means you must produce quality products or services if you wish people to pay you for them.

Second, discover what you’re good at. Take inventory of your skills and knowledge. What do you know or what can you do that is of value to other people?

Third, show potential customers samples of your work. Your future customers will want to know that you can do what you promise to do.

Join a forum, create a blog, create a web page, or join some service directory in order to show the world what you can do.

Forth, practice practice practice. Be sure you’re getting better at what you do.

And that’s it. You may want to add to these guidelines, but these four basic guidelines are a good start.

Now, get out there and make some money.

 

End note: I wouldn’t seem credible if I had a money-making blog and didn’t make any money…

It’s a good thing I finally found a way to make some cash.

Do the math

When it comes to making money online, it is likely that you will need to spend money in order to make money. Or, you may need to invest and manage the money you’ve already earned. It goes without saying that you’ll want to always make a net profit. For clarity, the formula for net profit is: total money made – total costs = net profit.

To further illustrate net profit, I’ll provide an example.

Say I have a lemonade stand. It took me $50 to build the stand, buy the lemonade ingredients, and buy all other supplies.

$50 is my total cost.

I run the lemonade stand for a day and I make $100. This $100 is my total profit.

To calculate net profit, I simply enter the numbers in the above formula.

total money made – total costs = net profit

$100 – $50 = $50

I made $50 running the lemonade stand for a day.

This is simple enough to understand without an example, but I gave an example just for illustration.

Unfortunately, calculating future net profit is always as the above example suggests. However, it is still incredibly important that you know you are making money, so always do the math.

Currently, I’m “doing the math”, and creating a strategy, for my Neobux venture. Admittedly, I should have done this a long time ago. I began Neobux without much of a strategy. Fortunately, it hasn’t cost me too much, but, while creating the strategy, I learned that I could easily make more money by using said strategy.

I haven’t completed my strategy, but, once I do, I’ll likely post it on this blog.

As I mentioned above, “doing the math” isn’t always easy since you may have to account for the unknowns. I’ve run into a few unknowns while creating my Neobux strategy. I’ve discovered that the best way to handle these unknowns is to assume the worst. To explain unknowns, I’ll use the lemonade stand example again. Let’s say I don’t know how much the sugar is going to cost me. So, I’ll assume the worst. I’ll assume that the sugar is going to cost me a lot, and then I’ll take this into consideration when calculating my net profit. If my calculations show that I’ll still make a net profit, even when considering the expected high cost of the sugar, I’ll know that I can afford the cost of the sugar. Now that I know I’ll likely be able to afford the cost of the sugar, I’ve prepared for the worst case scenario.

Doing the math relates back to my “stacking the odds” principle. When you do the math, you are stacking the odds for success in your favor. Additionally, doing the math helps to manage risk. There is always a risk when attempting to make money. By doing the math, you’re able to discover how much risk you are taking. Doing the math can also help you manage the risk, as shown in my explanation on how to handle unknowns.

Math is hardly my favorite subject, but I can’t deny its usefulness when trying to make money. So, do the math, and make some money.

Do you know your odds and can you beat them?

It’s no secret that gambling is popular on the internet. However, gambling isn’t the only venture that depends on chance. Binary Options, a still somewhat recent investment instrument, has exploded in popularity over the past year. Now, you may say that luck isn’t involved in Binary Options since an investor simply has to predict market outcomes to get paid. It is true that not every bit of investing in Binary Options relies on chance, but, ask yourself, what is the investor doing when he invests in Binary Options? He’s making a prediction on whether the option will increase in value or decrease in value. I’m not certain how he would know this ahead of time, so it may be safe to say that he’s relying on chance.

This doesn’t mean that Binary Options are a bad investment idea. There are many ways you can “tilt the scales” in your favor when investing in Binary Options, and most other things. That’s what this entire article is about: knowing your odds and how to stack the odds in your favor.

Discovering the odds

So, how does one go about “knowing the odds”?

You may want to watch these free videos on Youtube. They explain the basics of probability and you’ll likely find them valuable.

Okay, now that you’ve watched the entire series of videos on probability, how does one discover what the odds are?

The answer is observation.

Observe the likelihood of something occurring.

Say you want to know how many lightning bolts hit trees during an average thunderstorm in a particular area. Just look out the window during a thunderstorm, you likely won’t see many lightning bolts hitting trees. You may conclude that the likelihood of lightning bolts hitting trees is slim to none in your neighborhood.

This can be applied to many things.

Say you want to know of the likelihood of success on the pay-to-click site Neobux.

Read reviews on Neobux, read comments, actually join Neobux and discover how easy/difficult it is to earn money.

Now, you may notice something interesting. Different people may have had different amounts of success on Neobux. Why is this? Were some people just luckier than others? Or did the successful people do something to “stack the odds” in their favor?

Stacking the odds in your favor

There is a quote by Thomas Jefferson that I rather like. This is what he said:

"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

Too better understand this quote, imagine this:

There are two men stranded on a deserted island.

One of the men decides to make a plan. He makes the plan in his mind and he decides to follow the plan. He gathers wood, leaves, coconuts, and an assortment of fruits and vegetables. He builds a shelter with the wood and leaves. And he digs a rather deep hole in the sand in order to gather clean, drinking water. He also does many other things to make his stay on the island comfortable.

The other man looks around, spots a boulder, then walks over and sits on the boulder. He decides to wait for a rescue ship.

The man who decided to just sit on a boulder died a few days later when he tried to quench his thirst by drinking salt water.

The man who made the plan survived for three weeks and, then, was rescued by a fisherman from a nearby island. 

 

Both of these men were subjected to the forces of chance. Assuming that they were in the same physical condition, either may have died from a heart attack or a stroke at any moment. However, only one of the men decided to increase his chances of survival while the other man decided to just sit on a rock and wait to be rescued. The first man took action and his actions increased his chances of survival while the other took no action (well, no action that increased his chances of survival).

Now, was one man “luckier” than the other. Yes, but his didn’t appear on its own. The man who survived tilted the scales in his favor by creating the conditions in which he would be the “luckiest”.

Using the lightning scenario again, you could increase the chances that a tree would be struck by lightning by attaching a lightning rod to a tree.

Similarly, you can increase the chances of becoming successful on Neobux by learning about Neobux, learning strategies, discovering how much you should invest, discovering if you should invest at all, discovering if you should use “autopay”, discovering if you should buy or recycle your rented referrals.

Similarly still, say you have to give a speech two weeks from now and you want to get a good grade on the speech. You can dramatically increase your chances of getting a good grade by practicing your speech, researching interesting topics, speaking slowly and fluently, etc.

There are few guarantees in life, and there are many, many unknowns. However, you can stack the odds in your favor by taking certain actions.

That is the central method behind all money-making: taking the right actions and increasing your odds of becoming a success.

 

If you ever want to be successful at anything, first discover the odds of success, and then discover and take the actions necessary to increase your odds of becoming successful.

Affiliate marketing: Spreading yourself too thin

A common mistake many novice affiliate marketers make is spreading themselves too thin. What I mean by this is that these marketers take on too many products at one time. They promote too many products at one time! Why is this bad? Well, first, it’s a waste of time and energy that could have been spent advertising one product on many different media. I’ve known marketers who would take a product, make a slideshow for it, upload the slideshow to a file hosting site, and then repeat this process with another product. Though, this isn’t an absolutely bad thing to do, there are more effective ways of selling products. Second, spreading your efforts too thin won’t get you any sales. Focus on one product, and hammer it on every media.

If you are a beginning affiliate, I suggest you take one product and market it using different media.

I think people underestimate the number of media by which a product can be marketed.

Here’s a couple of ways one product can be marketed:

• Make a Youtube video advertising the product
• Upload a product presentation to SlideShare and Docstoc
• Create a Twitter page for the product (I’m serious)
• Create a Facebook page for the product (I’m still serious)
• Advertise the product on existing Facebook, Twitter, etc. pages
• Advertise the product on any forum you visit
• Create a website and advertise the product (it’s fairly easy and cheap)
• Buy advertising space, on the web, for the product

These are just a few of the media you can use to promote your product. Click here if you want more information on affiliate marketing, advertising techniques, and advertising media.

So you want to become an affiliate…

Or maybe you don’t. Maybe  you don’t even know what affiliate marketing is. If that is the case, a brief explanation is due. Affiliate marketing is really quite simple in concept, but hard to pull off in practice. Well, hard for me anyway. So, what is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing refers to the practice of using affiliates to market products or services to customers. In simpler terms, an affiliate is a “middle-man”. The affiliate connects a potential customer with a product or service of a vendor. If the customer likes the product or service, he buys it. Being an affiliate can be very, and I mean VERY, lucrative.

But how is it lucrative? What does the affiliate get for directing a customer to a product?

An affiliate gets a piece of the pie. In other words, an affiliate gets a cut of the profit the vendor makes off of the sale. THAT is the lucrative part. These cuts can be HUGE, though, they often vary between 1% and 75%.

If you’re an affiliate and you “sell” a $100 product to a customer, you could get 75% of the money. That is, in this case, $75. That’s a lot of money for just having someone click your affiliate link and buy a product.

Oh, how could I forget about the links! An affiliate uses product links to direct potential customers to a products, again, if the customer clicks the link and then proceeds to buy the product, the affiliate gets a cut of the profit. These links could be put any where. They could be put on web forums, blogs, websites, documents, servers, any where  and every where.

Affiliate links are found on websites where users register to become affiliates. I’m an affiliate. The site I use is ClickBank. I registered there and I get my “promotional” affiliate links from the site. You may have noticed that I strategically placed affiliate links in some of these articles.

Being an affiliate sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Well, it is great. But it’s tough to get people to click on your links and buy a product. Just because I placed my links on this blog doesn’t mean anyone will click them and buy the product.

So, how does an affiliate get people to click the links and buy the product?

How to get buyers

There are a few ways to advertise the products you are trying to sell. Here they are:

Friends and Family

This is a method, on the subject, that I haven’t seen any where else. It’s also a reliable and safe method, so I was surprised I didn’t see it elsewhere. Here it is: sell your product to family or friends. Seems simple, right? Well, it is. If you know of a family member or friend who want some kind of product, recommend a product from your affiliate products. Be sure to keep your ears and eyes. You’ll need to be ready to recommend a product. Or, you could just ask your friends and family what they like. Then, send them you affiliate link in an email. If you value your relationships, be sure to recommend products of good quality.

Youtube Method

One of the most common ways to promote both affiliate products and PPD links is by creating and uploading videos to Youtube. It’s rather simple, though it will be difficult to get views and purchases if you aren’t already an established member of Youtube. So, the method goes like this: create a video and upload the video to Youtube. Like I said, it’s simple. Make the video about the product you are promoting. You can review the product, test the product, or just give the product a shout-out. Be sure to put your affiliate link in the video description.

As I mentioned above, this method is simple, but it’s difficult to get views. I suggest creating multiple videos about the product. You could also buy views in order to get your video ranked higher in the Youtube index, but I wouldn’t do this immediately.

If you decide to review the product, be sure to give an honest review. Honest reviews, as opposed to exaggerated or dishonest reviews, tend to sell more of the promoted product. People will trust you more if you are somewhat critical of the product.

Blog Method

Create a blog or use an existing blog to promote the product you’re trying to sell. This method is also both simple and difficult. Here’s the method: create a blog about something in general (it could be about sports, gardening, social media, etc.) and put your affiliate links on that blog. I suggest first building an audience before you try selling them products. As you’ll likely discover, building an audience is the hard part of this method.

Website Method

Build a website around some general hobby or idea and include affiliate links to products that are related to that hobby or idea. This will cost a bit of money since you’ll need to pay your web hosting site, but it shouldn’t cost you any more than a few dollars.

Forum Method

If you participate on a forum, add your affiliate links to your posts. Be sure the forum allows you to post affiliate links.

Advertisement Method

This is the most expensive advertising method. Well, it depends on where you advertise. So, this method involves buying advertisement space on a popular website. Be sure you advertise a product site users will find interesting.

 

Okay, I’m going to end this article here, it’s getting a bit wordy. I didn’t intend for this article to be this long. Ha! Oh well…

Investment fraud article…

I found this article a few days ago. This article is just way too good. Generally, these types of articles give a few simple tips on how to avoid investment fraud. This article takes the same approach, however, it offers a ton of tips in comparison to other articles like it. I suggest you read it, and read it often.

Click here to read the article

I don’t agree with everything this article says, but it does give a lot of solid advice.

Banned from Bubblews…again

As the title states, I was recently banned from Bubblews…again. This is my 3rd or 4th ban from the site. I’ve tried to contact them about the ban, but I have yet to receive a response. To be honest, I think Bubblews is the most ban-happy site I’ve ever used. I’ve never had an account banned on the Internet and I mean, literally, never. So, this whole “ban” thing has left me a bit confused.

For those of you who don’t know what Bubblews is, Bubblews is a site where you can submit papers about almost anything. From beauty to politics, entertainment to fashion. The article variety is fairly large, though, the site didn’t offer many text enhancers i.e. different font size, bold, italics, etc. However, I wasn’t drawn to the site by its limitations. I was attracted to Bubblews when I learned that users were paid in accordance to how many views, likes, favs, etc. their submissions get. And the pay was pretty good. Before I was banned, I had made $1.25 from 28 views and a couple likes.

Back to me being banned, as I was saying above, Bubblews is ban-happy. If you ever decide to have an account with them, be sure you follow their terms of service to the letter. If you break a rule, you won’t receive any warnings, e-mails, messages, etc. You won’t even be told that your account has been banned. Do you want to know how I found out my account had been banned? I tried logging into Bubblews one day and I couldn’t access my account. I thought I was just typing in the wrong password, so I decided to have Bubblews help me recover my password via email. I typed in my email account’s name, pressed “Recover”, and received the message: validation.email.unique_key_exists. So, I took this to mean that my email, along with my account, had been removed.

So, yeah, I was banned. I’ve decided to stop creating accounts with them. It just isn’t worth the time to upload my articles if they ban me outright and without warning.

If you care to know, the articles I was uploading were from my blog, The Golden Byte. I think I know why they kept banning my accounts. They have a policy which states that submissions shouldn’t solicit the use of other services on the Internet. Perhaps this is what the site, or its owners, thought my articles were doing and, thus, banned me for it.

Additionally, I’ve heard that the site is a scam. Purportedly, they aren’t paying some of their users when they, the users, request payment. I’m not certain what to think of this. I’m not so certain they are a scam site. But, I don’t have any evidence one way or another. All I have is random, internet comments and we all know how reliable those are.

I’m not bitter about the bans. Bubblews lacks many features that I love to use in my articles. It’s also restrictive in regard to what it allows its users to say. I’m just too much of a wild card, I guess. I like to speak freely and criticize. I don’t think Bubblews would appreciate my above criticisms. C’est la vie…

In summary, use Bubblews at your own risk.