It’s finally been done, after months and months of waiting… Google has updated their page ranking system (with a new PR algorithm, apparanetly).

Some site owners will be happy from this result, others, not. YouTube, stunningly, has a PageRank of 3/10 now, and Forbes has only a PageRank of 5/10. Well, these sites weren’t that important.. oh wait, have the Earth uses YouTube.

Update: johnchow.com at PR 4/10

I wouldn’t trust the PR system as of now, what is Google thinking? (although, I’m not complaining, rygo.net is at PR 3/10).

Thoughts?

For this week’s Thursday Tip, I will be introducing a quick and easy way to make a few extra dollars per day. This strategy has been rarely used is great way to make some extra money.

The idea: Create a website based upon one product

We will consider the iPhone first. I have a friend who has setup a standard iPhone website with pictures, information, a blog, and a product page that has links to purchase the iPhone (on eBay, etc). His iPhone website is located here. This site is simple, and straight to the point. The key is simplicity. If someone is looking to buy an iPhone, the blog information, iPhone specifications, pictures, and product information page are all key to making the sale.

To create a website based on a product, you have to first select a product. A good idea is to find a product that has been recently introduced, and is good for sales. Find a product that can be found on eBay, as well.

The next step is to install Wordpress. With Wordpress, you can create pages, write blog posts, and be able to create the content that you need. This does require some HTML experience (as you will see in later steps to incorporate ads), so be ready. Once you have Wordpress installed, find a good-looking template that suits the product best. You can find a bunch of free Wordpress templates at WPSkins.

Now you have your simple blog ready. Now, you need to select a name for the website. For the iPhone website, my friend named it “Purchasing an iPhone.” You want to convey through your title that you are intending to provide information for your product and give users a way to find this product and buy it (or get it for free, as I will explain in following steps). Several ideas are: iPhone HQ, buyiPhone, Planet iPhone, etc. The name just needs to be convincing and that your site is not just “another” site selling iPhones. Sell it!

“Content is king”
Once your website is setup, you will need to add content. To add new pages, go into the Wordpress admin area and select “Write” then “Write Page.” You can use HTML to add in content as well as use the GUI (graphical user interface) HTML editor. Research your product and find unique information, unique pictures, and useful information to someone who is buying the product. This will help you make a sale because it lets the potential purchaser that you know what you are talking about. Some good tips are to include a nice picture gallery of the device, a video of the device in action, links to cnet.com reviews about the product, user comments about the item, and an option for users to submit information regarding the product (and home photos). Setup a media page for pictures and video content for the product you are trying to sell. Also setup a specification page that shows appropriate specifications for the product. Make it fit!

Appeal to your targeted audience
Once you have good content for your product (and sufficient pages), add a contact page (to show that you are serious and willing to respond to people who email in for advise, questions, etc). Also furnish the home page with a recent blog entry about things like: new shipments of the product, new press releases from product manufacturer, recent information about the product, other places to check out that has information about the product. This will show that your page is actively updated and the potential purchaser will find this attractive.

Next, the Advertisements:
The ads. I recommend using AuctionAds for some eBay advertisements. These advertisements do well and you will be paid on commission for the sales you make from AuctionAds (read more about AuctionAds from a previous blog article, here). To signup for AuctionAds, click here. Use the AuctionAds ad creator to create a nice ad (that will fit a blog post) to link users to buy your selected product through eBay. Now, write a new highlighted blog (that will always stay at the top) to show people where to get your product cheap. Write a nice article (not too long, just a paragraph or so) and then include the AuctionAds HTML in that blog. Include the AuctionAds HTML all around your site and make sure that it is very noticeable and still fits your websites design.

Second Advertisement Recommendation: Freebies
Everyone wants a free iPhone, right? Signup with an affiliate network (I recommend Neverblueads) and locate a “freebie” campaign that allows banner/text/search traffic for the product you are selling. This will pay anywhere from $1.35 per lead to $1.75 per lead. Now, write an article saying “For a limited time, get XXX product for free! Click here!” Navigate these users to the affiliate site and you will earn from this as well! This provided the majority of the income from my friends website.

Market It!
Now that you have created your new site, market it! Use the tips in this blog (specifically, the top 25 Marketing Tips for your Blog). Utilize sites like Digg.com, StumbleUpon.com and other social bookmarking sites. Make trades in the Freebies section of the Digitalpoint Forums and try and build up a solid link base.

Remember to use my friend’s site as an example and please comment below with your new site once you have created it and I will review it and let you know what you should ad or change.

Have you ever wondered about those spam emails or popup advertisements? Have you ever considered the possibility that some of those offers may be legitimate? This article will empower you with information that can help you take advantage of some of these “free” offers.

Most of these incentive-based sites claim that all you have to do is enter your zipcode or email (or both) to receive some lucrative prize reward. If you read the fine text at the bottom of the page, you will see that it is a much more involved process. This article is about how to follow the fine text and claim a reward from these free offers.

Today, I will be examining www.getmyfreelaptop.com, a free laptop site that I found by Googling “free laptop.” This offer claims that you can receive one of 4 laptops and has an email entry form.

Step 1:
Register for their site. Simply selecting your desired gift and entering your email (some websites have zipcode instead) will enter you into the database as a potential sale (someone who will complete 1 or more offers). These sites earn revenue by people completing offers (sometimes up to $120 per 3rd party sale). When you register, make sure you enter an email that you don’t mind getting spammed, as they sign you up for hundreds of email lists (because under the fine text you have consented to do so).

Next, you should be asked to enter in your information (address, phone number, etc). Enter all legitimate information as this will be the contact address and shipping address (should your package get mislabeled, etc). If you enter false information, their obligation to send you your reward is void.

Step 2:
You will now begin the process of signing up for mailing lists. There are hundreds of offers (I usually am not interested in any and select the “No” option for every one; however, you can select “Yes” for as many as you’d like) that you can choose from. Sometimes there is a “Skip” option at the bottom to save you some time, so you might want to check for that.

Step 3:
For this next step, you will be directed to the offers page, where they want you to sign up and complete a series of offers (many are free trials and sometimes won’t cost you a penny). A lot of these sites require you do a set of 3, 4 or even 5 pages of offers (select anywhere from 1-5 offers on each page). Usually, the last page is the hardest offer (in terms of how much you will have to break the bank). Always, always, check the last page to see what the offer is and whether or not you are interested in completing any of the last page ones.

Your best bet: make a game plan. Find out which offers from which pages you are going to complete. I usually find out ones I’m interested, ones that have free trials, and ones that are plain the easiest to go through with. Free trials are generally offers you can cancel after a certain amount of time and not get charged at all. Some offers require you pay solely for the shipping and handling (which can be from $1 - $9, depending) for their “free trial.” Make sure you assess each of the offers fine text as to whether or not you will be committing yourself to any contract of payment obligation. Sometimes if you pay the shipping and handling and forget to cancel the trial, you will be charged a lot for something you may or may not have wanted. You may need to ship the item back, so always check for that!

After you have thought out which offers you want to complete, find out all the contract details for each offer and write them down in an Excel spreadsheet, notepad file, or on paper. Write down the 800 number if you decide to cancel the offer. If you forget, you will be charged and you won’t get that money back.

Be warned that credit card offers are usually involved processes. You will not receive instant credit for having completed this offer.

Step 4:
Once you have completed everything (and have completed the offers), proceed to the main page (or look around for a “member login” button) so that you can track your progress. Sometimes the offers will report that you have completed their offer immediately. Other times, it may take anywhere for 1 hour to 2 weeks. Just be patient. If an offer you have completed does not report, give the website a call (not the advertiser) or email them. They may require you to provide documentation of completing the offer. If you do not get credit for an offer, you will have to complete another offer from that category.

Step 5:
This is the waiting process. Once you have completed all of your offers, you will have to wait. For one of the sites I did, I had to wait around 4 months after verification to receive my $1,050.00 check. It was worth it, however. Make sure that you call them every month or so to check the status of the order and see whether or not it has been shipped (sometimes they will just send you a check for the equivalent value of your item as they sometimes don’t have it in stock).That’s it! There’s the 5 steps to receiving a free gift from those shady advertisements.

Remember: I cannot vouch for every single site, but from my experience, they have all been legitimate. Research each site before signing up and completing any offers. Do not do any offers until you have a solid strategy!

Good luck! Post here if you have any questions or follow up stories or advise!

It’s finally been done. The facebook.com source code has been leaked out on the internet.

To my dismay, while I was browsing around a friend’s blog, I came across another blog which had the source code visible. The blog was taken down nearly 1 hour after it was posted, because the facebook lawyers didn’t like the fact that facebook’s source was being spewed over the internet.

It’s nothing but a simply coded CMS frontpage.. It’s not much, but it’s rather interesting, I thought..