Problems I Encountered With My Blog

Blogging is indeed exciting especially when you have so many interesting ideas to share to your readers. It is easy to set up your own blog for free. However, don't get too excited especially if you plan to increase traffic and market your blog. Aside from posting quality contents, one has to know about SEO (search engine optimization) in order to gain more readers for your blog and maximize your blog's potential. I do not have much idea regarding SEO. I am just lucky that there are fellow bloggers who are willing to share their ideas about SEO stuffs. I still have so many things to learn. Right now, I can say that my blogging experience is great. I learn several things from expert bloggers and get to connect with them as well. 

Anyway, this blog of mine is almost three months old and still I experience several blogging problems, both technical and SEO problems. So, I decided to write those problems I encountered while blogging. This would serve as my guide when I set up another blog. Here is the list of my blogging problems and some solutions I made. Still, I have so many things to resolve. Hopefully, I could address these soon.

1. Feedburner Stealing My Backlinks - this one had already been resolved and I made a separate article for this and how I corrected the problem with the help of a fellow blogger.

2. Making Post Title Appears Before Blog Title - The same fellow blogger who helped me with the problem about feedburner also informed me regarding this problem. I am so glad that he is very helpful. I will make a separate review on this soon. I already corrected this problem. It would take some time though before I can see better results once Google and other search engines would reindex those previous articles I made on this blog.

3. Alt Tags on Images Posted on My Blog - I am still trying to figure out this problem. I found out about this when I checked the status of my blog site. It says there that alt tags on images posted on any blog is relevant to tell search engines about what my page is all about. I got only 19 images which have alt tags and around 70 images got no alt tags in them.

4. Internal Pages Have No Page Descriptions - I do not have any idea about this, still trying to figure out how to resolve this problem...or is this really a big deal for SEO? Anyone???

5. Social Subscriptions - I know social networking sites are helpful to increase audience in any blog. I would work out on this soon.

6. Archive Page - I already had an archive section for my older posts. However, this problem came up when a particular paid to blog site that I applied for required their applicants to have an Archive Page on their blogs. I read blogs regarding putting up Archive Page, still I have trouble setting it right.

This would be all for now. I know there would be more things to learn and explore in blogging. Gradually, I would be able to resolve these problems in due time.

My Experience With ClixSense

ClixSense is just one of those several pay per click sites on the internet. I have been a member of ClixSense for a year now. I am not really an active member on this site. I never made any effort to advertise my affiliate link. I just log into the site during my free time from work. All those clicks I made were converted into small amount of cash. Just last week, I requested to cash out my first earnings from ClixSense. Here is a proof:

How do you earn money on ClixSense?

Each click that you made on ClixSense advertisement has corresponding amount which ranges from $0.001 to $ 0.02. These are actually  very small amounts. However, there are other ways to maximize your income through their affiliate program. You refer people to join Clixsense and you earn extra amount every time they earn from ClixSense. In addition, you can earn from ClixGrid. It is another portion on ClixSense platform in which you click small boxes from the picture. You can win extra cash prize if you hit the right box with a corresponding amount of cash.

How payments are sent?

Payments are sent through AlertPay, PayPal and Liberty Reserves. You can request for a cashout once you reached the minimum limit which is $8 for standard members and $6 for premium members. You have to cash out before Monday since payments are made during this day. 

My verdict:

You really have to work hard in promoting your affiliate link in order for you to earn bigger income from ClixSense. There are some members from the site who are successful earners. All in all, ClixSense is not something that you can rely on to sustain your daily needs. Nonetheless, it is a legitimate site that really pays its members. If you are interested, you may just click the image below: 

MinuteWorkers.com Review

Minute Workers is another website which I signed up last year. I was not able to attend tasks on this site since I got busy with other online job sites and with my full-time job as well. I revisited the site just a few days ago. There are still several tasks available such as answering surveys, signing up on sites, downloading files, pay per clicks and several others. Anyway, here is an additional information about Minute Workers:

What is Minute Workers?

Just like Microworkers and CentWorkers, there are available "micro" jobs that members may work on. You are get paid every time you submit complete and accurate task. There are several members on the site which have posted their earnings in the forums. You might as well check it out if you wanted to know whether it is a scam or not. You can judge it for yourself.

How does Minute Workers work?

You can grab those small tasks which you think you can completely finish. Those small tasks available on the site have corresponding amount which would usually range from $0.10 and more. It would only take a few minutes to finish a particular task. Just take note that some tasks have specific location requirements for members.


How do I get paid?

Payment is through AlertPay and PayPal account though there might have been some troubles about withdrawing funds through AlertPay. There is a special notice on the platform that goes like this, " NOTICE: If you have recently deposited money with AlertPay your account balance may not of been updated, the problem was not fixed due to the admin being away. To claim the money via refund or balance update please click here".

What  is the minimum amount to withdraw funds?

You can choose an early payment method. You can withdraw funds once you reached $2.00 but a 10% fee will be deducted from your earnings. You can also choose for a normal payment method which is $10. This time, there will be no deductions on your earnings and you can withdraw the money in full amount. 

Are there other ways to earn money from the site?

Yes, one can earn through their referral system. When someone sign up from your referral link, automatically, you will earn $0.05. When that particular member get paid for a task, you also earn an extra amount which is $0.10. Another way to earn extra income is by forum posting. The site has available forum for members. You are paid $0.01 per post. 

My verdict:

I already did 3 tasks on this site. I have not yet reached the minimum requirement for withdrawing funds. I can say that the site is decent enough. There is an available forum in which members can freely discuss stuffs. In addition, there are proof of payments from members which may attest that the site is legitimate. Another thing, I like the fact that the site updates their members' payout through tweets. 


The site offers low payout. Do not expect that you can get rich through working on this site. However, once those earnings piled up, you can get some decent amount of cash. It is another simple way to augment your online income. You can always work on the site during your free time. If you are interested, just check it out: Minute Workers.

Reasons Why I Stopped Reading Your Blog

I enjoy reading different blogs everyday. I read almost everything from blogging ideas, fashion blogs, historical, musical and even showbiz blogs. The internet is just so vast that one can learn all sort of things in just a matter of short time. Anyway, there are several blog sites that I have bookmarked for years now. I still have some of those interesting blogs while I deleted those blogs that I lost interest reading. I posted here my personal reasons why I stopped reading those blogs.

1. Your blog takes several minutes to load up.

Readers do not like to keep waiting on a blog site that would load up too long. You may have uploaded several widgets and other stuffs that may not be important in your blog. When things like this happen, I readily cancel loading up the blog site.

2. Your blog is unreadable.

Sometimes, you think adding several colors would entice your readers to follow your blog. In fact, this is the exact opposite. I do not want to strain my eyes reading on something that is too splashy nor too dark. It is also difficult to read blogs with small fonts and those with overwhelmingly huge font size. I would prefer to read simple text font and decent color blogs that are not eye straining. After all, simplicity is beauty.

3. Your blog is simply a total mess.

I cannot locate where your latest article is. There are just too many ads and other stuffs on your blog that it distracts me from reading your latest article.

4. Your blog has so many pop-ups.

It is quite frustrating that instead of reading your article, all I can see are those annoying pop-ups. There are some blogs with simple pop-ups on the side. However, there are blogs that have several pop-ups that would occupy the entire blog platform. It leaves the readers getting annoyed and would never return to your blog site.

5. Your blog is not updated.

The latest article on your blog is dated two or three months ago. Either you are too busy with your life or with other jobs or you simply drifted away. I love to follow your blog when you keep fresh contents every week. It is something that readers are looking forward to.

6. You simply do not reply to comments.

I love leaving comments to interesting articles on your blog. However, you are not quite interactive or you simply do not care. Isn't it exciting and wonderful knowing that someone took the time reading your blog? I guess out of appreciation or letting the reader know that you are indeed alive and kicking, why not reply back to those comments? Not only will your reader appreciate your effort but you gain avid readers, too.

7. Your blog does not have a particular subject.
One second you talk about blogging ideas, then the next, you give your thoughtless bickering about the world and the people around you. I would definitely get lost on that one. In the first place, I visited your blogs because I want to learn interesting ideas from you, not about your personal problems. I guess there is a specific place on that one.

8. Your blog is a product of plagiarism.

This is very disheartening. There are several bloggers out there who make extra effort and time to research on certain topic that they want to post on their blogs. Now, here comes a lazy blogger who simply wants to copy other's content. I read two or three blogs in the past that literally copied one's blog word for word. I never visited those blog sites again. 

I am not an expert on these stuffs. I also had my shortcomings regarding my blog. However, I try to reinvent so I can gain more readership. After all, I put up this blog not just for my personal use but to share to everyone. Anyway, feel free to share your reasons why you stopped reading other blog sites.

Feedburner Stealing My Backlinks

 

FEEDBURNER STEALING BACKLINKS??? I really do not have any idea regarding this stuff until a fellow blogger emailed me about this problem. I have been leaving some comments on his interesting and informative blog  for a few days now. Then, I was surprised when he informed me that my CommentLuv link on his blog is giving a link back to FeedProxy.google.com instead of a backlink to my site. I really do not have any idea what he was talking about at that time. Fortunately, he was kind enough to send me a great article that would explain thoroughly on how to rectify my problem on feedburner settings. The site link is  http://www.synactable.com/blog/charleston-sc/feedburner-commentluv-backlinks/. Once you read the article, you will understand how much you have lost by not paying attention to your feedburner settings just like what I did. You will lost  valuable backlinks on your site. I really would like to thank  Peter for this valuable information. 

Image via CrunchBase

Due to this incident, I learned how important backlinks are. Those established webmasters and bloggers may give credit to any blogger who would frequently visit or comment on their blogs. This thing is a great advantage especially to newbie bloggers like me. This would mean that those search engines would give a higher status from the quality backlinks one would get from those webmasters. I also learned that a blog site may gain higher status if you get quality backlinks from blogs with the same niche. So, in my case, I was lucky enough to get quality backlinks from some established websites which has the same niche as mine.  When you get more backlinks, your blog site will also improve its rank. Remember, these backlinks are freely given by the site administrators especially when they appreciate your efforts on taking the time to read and browse over their sites and leave interesting comments. 

How about you? Have you ever encountered such problem with Feedburner?

CentWorkers.com Review

I revisited some of the sites that I signed up before. One of these is CentWorkers.com. I have been a member of this site for almost 6 months now. Unfortunately, up until now, I have not received any payment yet from the site. Anyway, here are some interesting information about CentWorkers:

What is CentWorkers?

CentWorkers, a website which caters both employers and employees. Employees begin some job campaigns and look for workers to do some micro jobs which  include writing articles, uploading videos, joining a Facebook group, voting, following on twitter and several other tasks. CentWorkers is almost the same as Microworkers. I did a separate review on Microworkers. You might want to read it as well.

Who can apply on CentWorkers?

Anyone can apply as long as you can do those micro jobs efficiently. You are only entitled to use one user account within your household so you will not be banned from the site. 

How and when do you get paid? 

There are several tasks that a worker can choose from the platform. You click any of the available tasks, follow the instructions carefully and submit your task. A worker should  get a "satisfied" rate from the employer before earning is approved. If you get a "not satisfied" remark, you will not get paid for your task. According to the site, workers can withdraw money through PayPal account. However, just like Microworkers, I do not understand why they still ask for a PIN number. On the site, you can read words like these:  

PIN will be sent to your mailing address after placing first withdrawal request.
Once you submit correct PIN we will start sending payments to you.

I tried requesting for a PIN on my Microworkers account but it never went through my mailing address.I noticed that both sites, Microworkers and CentWorkers, have almost identical rules and style.

My verdict:

I cannot attest whether this site is a scam or not. I stopped working on CentWorks since I also got busy from my full-time job. I revisited the site a week ago. It is still working and there are still available tasks. I just hope that the PIN number can be sent through email. There is a big chance that the post mail will not reach its mailing address just like what happened when I requested for a PIN from Microworkers. This is my main concern from the site. What about you? Got some interesting ideas to share about CentWorkers?

StartUpLift.com Review

Have you ever tried getting paid to provide feedback on websites? Well, I stumbled upon StartUpLift just days ago. This is another interesting site that you can earn some extra income. I have been browsing the site for days now before I signed up. I read some feedback and most of them were positive. Some members showed proofs of payment from the site. Anyway, here is what I found out about StartUpLift. 

What is StartUpLift?

StartUpLift is actually a good chance for both startup website owners and workers to work together. Those business owners who are planning to launch their sites and other web-based projects can ask some insightful feedback from members through StartUpLift platform. For the workers, there are questions given and you answer them based on your opinion of the site or project. Give your honest opinion as this will help business owners improve their projects.

How much will you earn from the site?

Payments are around 5$ and more. It all depends on the client's offer. You need to browse the site thoroughly and write your honest opinion in a detailed manner. Anyway, the awards given from most clients are very limited like around 5 awards only.

How are reviewers paid?

Although I have not started any project on the site yet, it mentions that payment is through PayPal account and they pay every Monday. You have to take note that you are not allowed to review more than five sites in a day. This is to ensure quality reviews for the clients.

Who can apply at StartUpLift?

It is not specifically mentioned as who can apply on the site. I know they ask for Paypal account as a mode of payment. So, I think it is safe to say that anybody can apply as long as you have your PayPal account and of course can write proper English.

My verdict:

So far, I have not written any reviews yet though I tried writing a review yesterday. Unfortunately, that particular project was closed during the time I started writing my review. The client already awarded the reviewers. You really have to accept projects as fast as you can since a time duration is posted on each project.

Anyway, all members are welcome to review and only the required number of good reviews are approved and paid. So, there is no guarantee whether you will get paid for your reviews or not. You have to make sure to submit excellent quality reviews to increase your chance of earning. In addition, bear in mind that not all projects posted on the site give an award to reviewers. I encountered some of those while browsing their platform.

StartUpLift is still a new site and was just created around 2010. There are not too many clients yet but I can see there are several reviewers available. I read some of the reviews from members and they were quite detailed, informative and useful. So, the best tips that I can give for anyone who aspires to work on the site is try to be as detailed as you can be. Be very honest with your opinion, give some constructive criticisms, offer some suggestions and of course you also give praises on some positive features of a particular project. After all, StartUpLift was created in order to give clients the best ways they can do to improve their products, sites and businesses based on the opinion of the people. If you are interested, you can always check it out, StartUpLift.com.

What is a Blog Directory?

As a newbie in the blogging world, I always wonder what are those small buttons above. I usually see those buttons from almost all of the blogs that I browse every day. I really got curious and so I did a few investigations. The collective name of those small buttons is a blog directory button. I researched further and I found out that there are hundreds of blog directories out there. Here are some interesting facts I learned about blog directory. 

What is a blog directory? 

A blog directory categorizes and compiles all those millions of blogs on the internet. It is helpful in sorting out a certain blog site into its appropriate category. It would be easy now for blog visitors to browse over the different categories of blogs that would interest them. There are even great blog directories which allow small descriptions and reviews for blogs so it would be easy to identify them from the rest of the blogs.

What is its importance in blogging? 

All bloggers wanted to be visible on the internet. You want someone would read your blogs and so you build audience. Promoting your blogs play an important role in blogging. Aside from social networking sites, one way to gain audience is through blog directories. The importance of blog directory is that it may improve a blog's position in search engines. There are several blog directories that have high ranking because of the high amount of inbound links to them. Those top blog directories got relevant contents and are strictly structured. An inbound link from these top blog directories can improve a blog's position in the search engines. Google crawls blog directories oftentimes. So, all the sites listed in a particular top blog directory will also be crawled by Google. It helps in promoting your blogs and increase back links. In addition, you can be a part of a growing community of bloggers in which you can learn additional tips from them and exchange some links.

Now, there are different blog directories that you can choose from. There are those that function automatically. A blogger may submit his/her blog so it can be automatically included.It is quite easy to join in any blog directory of your choice. You only have to submit your blog, fill out a form, copy and paste the html code of a certain blog directory on your blog, then wait for approval. Any blogger can submit their blogs as long as it does not violate the terms and condition of any specific blog directory. Furthermore, there are other blog directories in which employees or volunteers will check blogs that are submitted before they are approved. Blog directories may or may not require bloggers to have a small blog button on their blogs. There are several blog directories that you might want to submit your blogs. Most of the blog directories on this list have high page rank:

1. Technorati - One of the most established blog directories with more than 30 categories to date. It can increase visibility of your blog sites with thousands of bloggers on the site.

2. Blog Catalog - A premier blog directory that aids you to promote your blogs, connects with other bloggers and find relevant blogs that would suit your interest.

3. Blogged -  An interesting blog directory that allows you to write reviews on some blogs. You can also gain information about news events around the world.

4. Globe of Blogs - There are several categories on this blog directory but you can narrow down your search according to topic, location, title, author and even by birthday.

5. Bloggeries - The platform is quite clean and easy to maneuver. Check it out and submit your blogs.

6. Blogarama -  Blogs are reviewed by editors before they are approved. This is one decent blog directory in driving traffic to your blog.

7. Blogflux -  A great resource to get your blog site up and running. This blog directory features a great number of community bloggers who are ready to help you about blogging.

8. FuelMyBlog - Blogs are reviewed manually before adding on the site.It offers several services to bloggers. Check it out.

9. Topbloglists - This blog directory has more than three dozens of categories. Ranking of blogs is present on this site.

10. Bloghints - Gain visibility of your blogs by submitting it on this blog directory for free.

More top blog directories that you might interested to check out:

• Bloglisting
• OnTopList
• Blogging Fusion
• TopBlogging
• Blogs
• AddYourBlog
• Submitblognow
• BlogTopList
• Blog Collector

Finally, gaining exposure for your blogs is very crucial in building organic traffics and a good revenue. There are many ways in building links but blog directory submission is quite easy and cost effective.

Work-Online.org.uk Review

There are just too many writing sites on the internet. It is a matter of searching the most credible and established writing sites for any online writer to work on. As you know, my blog is all about discovering income generating websites, something that I can share with my readers. Most of the websites that I have reviewed so far have been tried and tested by yours truly. However, there were also some sites that I have not tried yet. Now, this is where I need some honest opinions from my blog readers who can share a thing or two about a particular website. This is a great channel for us to brainstorm ideas, make suggestions, and even identify some scam sites. 

Anyway, talking about my topic for the day, I found out Work-Online.org.uk while searching the internet. Here are what I learned from the site:

What is Work-Online.org.uk?

Work-Online.org.uk is a UK based company.The site has its slogan, "You type, we pay". This is a writing site in which you can showcase your skill in writing stories.

Who can apply?

Anyone can apply as long as you are 10 years old and above. For under 18 y.o., you need to have your parent's permission to register on the site. This is actually a good chance for teenagers who dabble into writing and work at home moms who have ample time to write online. You just need to use your skills and imaginations, then put it into writing.

How to start writing on Work-Online.org.uk?

It is very simple, you sign up, choose your username and password, provide your email address and date of birth. Then, an email validation will be sent to you and you need to click the link. After that, you can log in, start writing and earn money. You need to browse your account page and choose a group from the list of stories available. There are no limits as to how many you can write. You just have to finish writing one story before proceeding to another story group. Now for the writing material, there are keywords provided and you should include these keywords in writing your story. Once you finished writing and are satisfied with your content, you can submit it and then it will be checked by a moderator. If your work is declined, it will be sent back to you and see the reason/s why your work is declined. Do not worry, you can make some necessary changes and resubmit your written story.

How much do I earn? 

You can earn from 5p to £1.50. You earn more money depending on the required words. So, if you have written around 400 words, you could earn around 75p. For 25 words, you could earn 5p.

What is the mode of payment?

As of now, they pay through PayPal or cheque. When your account balance reaches £10.00, the "Transfer Money" button will be visible. Click it and request for the transfer of your funds. Note, you will get everything that you earned. The company will not take any percentage from your earnings. It will take up around 14 days to process payments from the moment the company receive confirmation of your payment request. In addition, aside from writing stories, one can earn from this site through their referral system. If you are interested just visit the site, Work-Online.org.uk.

My verdict: 

I read both positive and negative feedback about this site. We can see on the site's homepage their top 5 earners. Let me just note that I have never tried this site so I cannot attest whether it is legitimate or not.  Remember, before you apply for any writing site, read for feedback first from other writers. Of course, never shell out any amount of money to apply for an online job.  Anyway, if you have any experience from this site, feel free to share it.