Every 9-to-5er has, at one point or another, looked for easy ways to earn extra money (quickly and immediately, of course).  Well, the best way to earn money is when you don’t have to work all that hard for it.  And using someone else’s information or product . . . with their permission . . . eliminates that all-important first step of actually creating a product. 

Private Label Rights (PLR) represent just one way that you can make money with someone else’s work.  PLR give you total rights to products created by someone else, like software, articles, and eBooks.  They are not “resell rights,” which merely give you the right to sell a product but not change it in any way.  Instead, PLR give you the right to change the product any way you want and claim it for your own. 

There are several easy ways to earn extra money quickly and immediately with PLR.

The short YouTube video below explains seven such methods and explains the benefits of each one.  My favorite is #3: using PLR to create your own informational products.  Last week, I explained 10 reasons why you should be focused on informational products.  You can use PLR to create these types of products and sell them to make money.

The video provides some helpful guidance.  Enjoy! 

    

Who would have thought that PLR provided easy ways to earn extra money quickly and immediately?  If you’re an employee and have little time to invest in product creation, this is for you.  There is no limit to what you can do, and anyone can do this. 

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I recently installed the Twitter Updater plugin, and I want to recommend it to everyone.

As you all might know, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (or “tweets”).  (Kind of like Facebook’s “what are you doing now” feature.)  These updates are text-based posts of up to 140 characters.  I have a profile, and you can follow me on Twitter.

It sounds like the dumbest idea ever, but Twitter now has several million users, so something is going right.  Moreover, because Twitter is free, you have yourself an easy opportunity for promoting your blog: Each time you publish a new blog post, update your Twitter feed.  That way, your “followers” will see that you’ve published a new post, and they might go read it.

Obviously, there’s no guarantee that some or all of your followers are going to go check out your new post, but the opportunity that that might happen each time you post something new becomes more enticing with this Twitter Updater plugin. 

The problem I had with Twitter was constantly updating my Twitter feed every time I published a new post.  It’s tedious, and I didn’t like doing it.  Moreover, if no one followed my feed and read my post that day, it was a wasted effort.

Well, it’s no longer a waste with the Twitter Updater plugin.  This plugin effectively automates your Twitter updates.  In other words, when you publish a new post, the plugin instantaneously creates a Twitter update in your name that notifies your followers of a new blog post with a link to the post.

This is genius!  It removes the tedious hassle of updating your Twitter feed, and yet it provides you with the benefit of promoting yourself on Twitter.  That’s a win-win. 

Downloading and then uploading and activating the plugin is very easy.  I encourage you to add it to your blog.  You have nothing to lose.  Download the Twitter Updater, and don’t waste any more of your time!   

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A reader e-mailed me a couple of months back and told me that the text of blog posts in my Feedburner e-mail feeds was too small to read.  Being the ignorant webmaster I am, I checked it out, and the text was, indeed, very small . . . a size 8 font, I think.

So, being the diligent Google researcher than I am, I jumped onto the big G, and I tried to find a way to fix this because the Feedburner site wasn’t very helpful.

Lo and behold, I found a blog post that was on point.  Ben Yoskovitz from the Instigator Blog explained how to fix this in a post entitled Your Feedburner Email Subscriptions May Be Unreadable. 

The steps he gave were as follows:

1) Log into FeedBurner, and then click on Publicize.

2) Click on E-mail Subscriptions in the left-hand column.

3) In the new page, click on Email Branding (which is very small and on the bottom right).

4) On the options that are displayed, change the headline size and body text size to your preferences.

5) Click on Save at the bottom.

Ben notes that “[m]aybe [he's] the last person to know about these options but they’re fairly hidden inside FeedBurner.”  Nope, Ben.  I have to be the last person to learn about this!

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I was reading an e-mail from a friend a couple of days ago, and he threw out a great piece of advice that I wanted to share here on this blog.  My friend and I are working feverishly on getting an informational website up and running.  He’s working on the technical side (without which, I’d be nowhere), and I’m working on the content side. 

In an e-mail exchange, we were talking about the framework for the site and what kinds of components it should include.  My friend is an entrepreneur, and he has his own company.  So he has extensive experience in product creation.

The Myth Of The Perfect Product 

During the e-mail exchange, he wrote the following statement that resonated strongly with me:

“One thing I’ve learned with my products is don’t try to create the ‘perfect’ product out of the box because (1) you have no idea whether anyone will use it and (2) you will spend a lot of time with potentially no return.  I prefer to get something up there and see where the users take us.”

This advice can be applied to any process in which you’re creating a product.  I’ve heard of people who spend hours, days, months, etc., trying to create the most perfect product that they think will make them money.  That method, however, often fails.

But why??  How can so much work and so much effort on a product fail?   

Let The Market Determine Your Product

The key to creating any product is understanding the market for that product.  If there’s no market, there’s no product.  I’ve written before on how to create a product.  Simply put, it begins with the market.  You have to figure out what market you’re targeting and what that market needs.  Only then do you create your product.

In our case (with this informational website), we have a good idea of what market we’re targeting, but he understands that even that is not guaranteed.  Thus, while a significant amount of work should be put into the product itself (or, in our case, the website), that shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all.  Just as much effort should be thrown into getting your product out into the market and evaluating how it performs.

It doesn’t matter if our website doesn’t look perfect or isn’t running without any glitches.  The idea is to see how users will respond to it.  User response (and not our isolated brains) is our only true indication of the website’s potential.   

By “testing” your product and seeing how the market responds to it, you will know instantly whether that product will succeed.  If it doesn’t perform well, it’s not necessarily a failure.  You can identify the mistakes, weaknesses, etc., and go back to the drawing board and correct them.

This trial-and-error approach is the only fool-proof way of determining whether you have a product that actually sells.  Don’t be afraid of throwing your product out there and seeing what happens.       

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If you’re in any way pursuing business opportunities on the Internet, whether it’s through building a blog, starting an online business, affiliate marketing, etc., you’re into buying domain names.  Sometimes you’re presented with an opportunity to buy a domain name, but you don’t know what you would do with it.     

There comes a time when you come up with ideas for online businesses, and those ideas spiral into more ideas, and all of a sudden you’re researching domain names, and you find 5 to 10 of them that (a) match your ideas, (b) are catchy and brandable, and (c) will probably be bought soon if you don’t act now.

However, you hesitate to buy those domain names because you don’t have time to dedicate to them or you don’t have the money to buy them all in one go.  If you find yourself int his situation, it presents an interesting dilemma.  Should you buy these coveted domain names?  Or should you wait it out until you either have money or time to dedicate to them?

Here are 4 reasons why I think you should buy those domain names.

1) Domain names are like real estate.  Buying a domain name is like buying a piece of land.  You don’t necessarily have to do anything with it.  If it’s a catchy and brandable, it has intrinsic value (like land does).  As time passes, and as other valuable domain names are snatched up, your domain name will increase in value. 

At some point in the future, someone else might come along and express an interest in buying it from you.  If it’s a brandable, two-word domain name, you might get a few bucks for it.  And if you have several of these (or hundreds), you can realize a substantial gain on your initial investment in buying them.

2) Brandable domains provide business ideas.  If you’re like me, you’re not the best at coming up with ideas for online businesses.  That’s where domain names come in.  I have found that a great way to come up with business ideas is to research available domain names.  Look for the shortest domains that are made up of two generic words.  You’d be surprised at how many of these types of domains are available and how thought-provoking they can be. 

For example, I subscribe to a newsletter from Dot Sauce, and here are some domains from a list of available domains that was e-mailed to me a couple of months ago:

• KeepEnergized.com
• MagazineFame.com
• ExclusivePoll.com
• ScentedThings.com
• DesignerEnvelope.com
• MoveSomething.com
• MessageShirts.com

Amazing, isn’t it?  These domains were available just two months ago.  They’re likely gone now, but you get the idea.  When I looked at these domain names, my mind flooded with ideas for each of them.  ScentedThings.com . . . a business that sells scented candles, etc.  MessageShirts.com . . . a website that sells custom-made shirts with messages.  MoveSomething.com . . . need I say more? 

Sometimes, you don’t find the idea.  Rather, the idea finds you.

3) Build your queue of business ideas.  At times, you hesitate to buy certain domain names because you figure you don’t have the time to do anything with them.  My answer to that is, Who cares!  Buy them anyway.  If anything, buying domain names is like building a list of your business ideas. 

You might be working on one project right now and not have enough time to think about how to develop an available domain name into a profitable website.  No big deal.  Buy it.  Park it.  And get to it when you can.  Since you bought it, it won’t go anywhere unless you let it expire.  In the meantime, it’s another business idea you have in your arsenal in your quest for a web empire.

Last week alone, I bought three domain names in one sitting.  One of them was for a BANS site that I have yet to put up.  The other was for a membership-style site that a friend and I are working on.  And the third one was just a catchy, simple, two-word domain that I couldn’t pass up.  It’s just sitting there now, and I haven’t thought of what to do with it.  But I’ll eventually get around to it. 

4) Make passive income From advertising.  While you’re parking your domain name and figuring out what to do with it or what idea you should settle on, you can make money from it in the meantime.  If the domain name you purchased is related to some brandable niche (e.g., message shirts), you can place ads on it and make passive income from it while you settle on what to do with it. 

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A couple of weeks ago, I listed my favorite money-making blogs.  Those blogs provide some of the best entrepreneurial advice on the Internet and some great ways to make passive income online. 

One of the blogs I listed was The University Kid.  Jason Pereira, the webmaster behind that blog, is a young student brimming with ideas.  I read The University Kid daily, and the major reason is Jason’s creativity and sense of innovation.

Creative Ways To Make Passive Income Online

His posts are quality insights into his thinking on how to make money . . . and how to make it passively.  Jason regularly comes up with new and fresh ideas on how to make money online, and he even takes old, proven ideas and adds innovative twists to create additional fool-proof methods for online passive income. 

Some of Jason’s ideas include:

• How to make money flipping niche websites.
• How to make money with your own products.
• How to make money blog commenting (method #1).
• How to make money blog commenting (method #2). 

The money advice doesn’t end with his posts.  As a subscriber to The University Kid, I’ve also received several e-books Jason has written himself that detail additional ways to make passive income online.

Jason’s Laziness

There are two character traits I like about Jason.  First is his perceived laziness.  In addition to his money-making ideas (which are obviously the main attraction of his blog), Jason’s fearless proclamation that he doesn’t like to work provides some humor interspersed throughout his posts. 

And that’s the point of passive income: income for which you don’t have to work.  Jason doesn’t hide his true feelings: he wants to make money and not have to work all that much for it.

His insistence in this regard is refreshing and takes the guilt out of the whole process.  We don’t need to spend so much time on income generation.  It should merely require an initial burst of work and effort, and then that should be it.  We should then be able to sit back and enjoy the money that comes in. 

That’s Jason’s formula, and he’s proven that it can work . . . time and again.  And he has the proof.

Get Off Your A–

The other trait I like about Jason is that, despite his aversion to work, he understands (like all successful entrepreneurs) that any money-making vehicle does require some work.  The problem with today’s “get rich quick” mentality is that people think they can get rich without any effort whatsoever. 

Jason states clearly that, while you can make money passively (and easily), you still need to put in the work initially in order to establish that stream of income.  Without it, he says, you won’t achieve any sort of financial freedom.   

If you haven’t checked out The University Kid, I strongly encourage you to do so.  You’ll come away with some refreshing ways to make passive income online and some inspiration as well.

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Yes, it is possible to earn money taking online surveys.  Surveys may not be the most lucrative means of achieving wealth.  However, you CAN earn money taking them!  This is a great way to make a little money on the side if you’re a stay-at-home mom or dad, or if you have some extra time on your hands.

Late last year, I joined two consumer survey groups: (1) Lightspeed Consumer Panel and (2) NPD Online Research.  These organizations offer surveys on a periodic basis and reward you for your time with monetary rewards.  Membership is free.  The way it works is that you sign up with your pertinent information (name, e-mail address, etc.), and they e-mail you surveys when they become available.

(There is also Ampsurveys.com, but I haven’t tried it yet.  Nevertheless, it supposedly works great.) 

This is how I earn money taking online surveys:

Lightspeed

I receive two to three surveys from Lightspeed every day via e-mail.  If I didn’t work full-time…..well, if I didn’t work like a slave…..I would be able to complete all of these surveys.  But the reality is that I can’t.  Nevertheless, anyone else with some time on their hands can fill out these surveys. 

When you complete surveys from Lightspeed, you receive ”Lightspeed Points.”  Each survey has a specific point value.  I receive some surveys that offer 75 points (and take about 5 minutes to complete), and I receive some that offer 300 points (and take about 20 minutes to complete).  

You can redeem your points on the Lightspeed website for cash (in the form of Paypal credits), online gift certificates, music downloads, and hundreds of other prizes.  You can also save your points and build them up for bigger prizes.

As an example, 550 Lightspeed Points get you a $5 gift certificate for Chili’s or Macaroni Grill.  Not bad.  I got two of those last month.  (If I had more time, I could generate about 6 to 8 of them per month . . . or, in other words, the equivalent of $30 to $40 per month.)    

NPD Online Research

I receive fewer surveys from NPD than I do Lightspeed.  Yet I do get about 3 to 4 surveys per week.  That is more manageable for me.  But NPD works differently.  Instead of points that you can redeem for cash or monetary value, NPD rewards you with “Sweepland Points.”  (You earn these Points for every survey you take.) 

You can use these points as entries into various sweepstakes.  The website has sweepstakes for $100, $500, and $1000 cash gifts, HDTV’s, vacations, cruises, etc.  You obviously are not guaranteed value for your work on these surveys, but it is still enticing enough to try.  Moreover, after each survey, you play an online instant win game to win cash, bonus prizes, and other awards. 

I completed several of these surveys and accumulated some Sweepland points, but I have not won anything yet.  However, I have heard and spoken with people online who have won prizes (including one guy who won $1,000). 

I have been very busy at work, and, thus, I haven’t been able to focus on these surveys as much as I’d like.  Nevertheless, the program seems legitimate.  Moreover, it replaces the security of earning a set number of points per survey with the potential to win bigger prizes.  There is certainly a market for that. 

Lightspeed Is The Way To Go

If I had to choose one, I would go with Lightspeed simply because you know you’re going to earn some value for your efforts.  In addition, you realize that value right away.  

For example, when I redeemed points for a gift card, I received the card within two weeks.  Alternatively, I could have opted for a deposit into my Paypal account.  Either way, you gain some money, no matter how insignificant. 

Money For Other Projects

$5 or $10 (or one or two 20-minute surveys) may not seem like much.  But if you’re looking at ideas for making money online and don’t like the price tags associated with those ideas (e.g., cost of domain names, hosting, BANS software, website design, etc.), you can use the money from these surveys to offset those costs. 

The money from one of these surveys represents the cost of a domain name for your new website.  You can even leverage that $5 or $10 into a month’s worth of advertising space on some low-traffic blogs or websites.  You can also use that money as a bid maximum for Google Adwords for one month.  I can go on and on. 

It’s a game of inches, and every little bit helps.  When you’re trying to achieve wealth, every penny counts.  Especially in today’s spendthrift society.  If you have the time, I recommend taking advantage to earn money taking these online surveys.  You can let companies know how you feel about various products and services, and you can make some easy money in the process.

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I must be dumb.  A friend told me last week that, if you Googled “go daddy” and “coupons,” you’d find a whole bunch of websites, forums, etc. where users have posted Go Daddy coupons and promo codes that help you take a few bucks off of a Go Daddy purchase.

I bought three domains yesterday, and I tried this out.  I happened to find a Go Daddy coupon for 10% off the entire order.  The three domains (.COM domains) came out to be $30 or so ($9.99 x 3).  With the coupon, I got it down to $27.  Three dollars isn’t a lot, but it’s something, and if you can save any money at all, why not?

Anyway, here are some other Go Daddy coupons and promo codes I found.  Some of them might be expiring soon.  But whichever ones work, feel free to use them:

• cjcdeal71 (10% off any order)
• gdbb776 (10% off)
• command10 (10% off)
• cjccab10 (10% off entire order)
• Gadget1 (10% off entire order)
• cjccab30 ($5 off order of $30 or more)
• cjccab50 ($10 off order of $50 or more)
• catalog1 ($20 or 20% off $75 order)
• Bottle4 (20% off $75 order)
• cjcdeal (15% off order of $75 or more)
• cjccab75 (15% off order of $75 or more)
• cjchost (20% off shared hosting plans)
• cjccab20h (20% off shared hosting plans)
• cjcdollar ($1 off)
• cjcwinner (.COM domain transfers for $6.95/year)
• LOL65 ($5.99 for .NET domains)

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If you haven’t heard about Theme Spinner, they produce a series of premium Wordpress themes that are several levels above all those free blog themes you come across. 

A unique blog theme is one of the most important features of having a professional and successful blog. 

Theme Spinner does offer free themes, but its premium themes are pretty good–and affordable.  They range in price from $29 to $69.  Once you glance at some of these themes, you’ll realize that dropping $50 for one of them gives you some generous bang for your buck.

 

What’s even more generous is that I have a 10% off coupon that I’m giving away!  I’m an affiliate with Theme Spinner, and I received this coupon a few days ago.  I didn’t check my e-mail over the weekend, so I just discovered this coupon yesterday.  Unfortunately, it expires tomorrow (July 30, 2008), so I have to give it away quickly!

Hence, the first person to comment on this post receives the coupon.   

Whoever gets the coupon, I encourage you to check out the different themes offered and invest in one of them.  It’s well worth it.  Even if you don’t win the coupon, you should still have a look and buy one of their premium Wordpress themes.  It’s a good investment for your blog.   

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Before I left for my short vacation late last week, I wanted to get an update on my two Build A Niche Stores. 

I’ve put up two stores.  One is focused on a good niche (that I know very well) with below-average demand (i.e., low number of Google searches).  The other is focused on another profitable niche with more than adequate demand and low competition (i.e., about 200,000 Google search results). 

I have barely done anything to these stores.  On one, I changed the color scheme myself (with my limited HTML knowledge).  On the other, I found a free BANS theme, uploaded it, and selected it.  I made a couple of changes to the store pages on the left sidebar.  But that’s it.

All in all, after installing BANS, I’ve spent about an hour TOTAL on both of these stores.

I checked my Ebay Partner Network account last week, and I found the following:

Now, as I stated in my first BANS update, this isn’t going to make me rich.  Heck, it doesn’t even buy me a movie ticket or a gallon of gasoline these days. 

But it’s a start.  And passive income is a game of inches.  Every little bit of cash that trickles in adds to your grand passive income total.  Like I said, I did about an hour of total work on both of these sites.  They don’t look all that great, and I have done very little on-page search engine optimization and virtually NO off-page optimization.  And yet, I made $3.59.  And I can guarantee you that more change will trickle in. 

These earnings illustrate the potential of BANS.  I urge you to purchase the software and try it out.  If almost no work makes me $3.59 (and likely more than that), imagine what another couple of hours of site design and SEO will do.  I’m so addicted to BANS already that I want to sit down on a Saturday and spend the WHOLE day fixing and optimizing my two sites.  I know that, once I do that, my passive income from them will increase ten-fold.

And then I’ll put up more sites.  $$$$ 

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