Monthly Total for August

It has become a tradition at Extra Cash Challenge at the beginning of each month for me to review my online earnings over the previous month and to look at my mission to create on-going online earnings. My self-imposed rules are that I only post the earnings I have actually received - this is as a result of the fact that I have learned that there are occasions that I have "earned" money never to actually receive it. Likewise, due to thresholds for payment, there are some earnings that it may well be some time before I actually get to see any of it. Adsense is a good case in point where at my current rate it will take me another 3 year before I will see any of this! I am working on increasing my Adsense income, but you get my point.

Anyway, to this month's earnings. This month's earnings have been.......(drumroll please).....ZERO!! That's right, nothing, zilch, nada, zip, nowt!!!!

This makes this month officially my worst month since I started posting my online earnings!

This does not mean I haven't earned anything. On the contrary, I have continued to earn from Adsense, I have done a few surveys, continued to get decent traffic to my Squidoo lenses and Bukisa pages, I have clicked on some paid e-mails and (most importantly) made a few affiliate sales. Unfortunately, only one of my affiliate sales gave me a decent commission, the others were really very small. But, nevertheless, this is the most sales I have made in a single month. There are also a few payments pending which I hope to receive shortly.

So, (working on the "glass half full" principle) not all bad news then!

How Can Web Directories Help Me?

The primary purpose of the internet is to provide information, but it has become an increasingly crowded place where both finding the right information and content providers ensuring that they are found by the right people has become an industry in itself. Whether you are someone looking for information or providing it, web directories can help you. If you are a provider of content by having your own website or blog then a business web directory provide all important links. Many directories can provide you with good quality links, substantially improving your visibility to search engines. Not only that though, they provide another means by which you can be found.

If you are searching for information then a web directory provides a good alternative to search engines. Of course, unlike search engines, you will not be searching the entire web to find what you want, but this may be a good thing. Also, unlike search engines, web directories are hand edited so this can lead more focused results.

The number of directories has expanded enormously over recent years, and it is true that they vary enormously in quality. Some directories will simply list sites according to category, whereas others will provide more information to assist you in finding what you want. The most well known and most established are Yahoo Directory and DMOZ. Getting you site listed in DMOZ (which is free) can be notoriously tricky as each submission is hand edited and the editors are quite picky about which sites are included. However, the value of the link is very high when seen by search engines, so inclusion is invaluable. Some other directories may be less choosy, but the value of the link is substantially less.

So, if you have a website it is likely that you will be looking to increase traffic and visibility then web directories could part of the solution to this particular problem. After all, without traffic, what's the point?

Squidoo Alternatives #10 - Xomba Review

Continuing my series of alternatives to Squidoo (i.e. sites where you get paid to write your own content and where you have the opportunity to link to your own site) brings me to Xomba. I signed up with Xomba months ago, but never got around to doing anything with it. So I thought it was about time that I checked it out. There are 2 types of content that you can post. The first they call a Xombyte, which is an article about anything you want to write about. The second is a Xomblurb, which is a review about other sites, much like social bookmarking sites except that you are expected to write at least 50 words.

The interface is straightforward enough - basically just a blank box to type into. There are no fancy modules or anything here. The earning ability from Xomba comes from Adsense which you share with the site - 50% of the impressions are yours. The good news, however, is that you can use affiliate links on Xomba so there is some potential to use Xombytes for internet marketing. The downside is that links are nofollow so will not be of great value to you if you are looking for get more links to your blog/website to increase Page Rank.

Overall, Xomba is worth putting some effort into as an opportunity to gain a bit more Adsense income (although the 50% revenue share is a bit low) and their pages rank very well. The fact that you can use affiliate links is a definite bonus.

Here is the definitive list of alternatives to Squidoo

Earnings for July

This month has been pretty poor again really. Remember though that I only count what I have actually received, so I have continued earning over the month, but this won't show up in the way that I count it. Here are the figures anyway:

Surveys: £6 (£1 - Opinion World, £5 - That's What I Think)
Blogrolled: £2.96
Blogsvertise: £2.96
Private Advertising: £3.27
Ebay: £6.96

Total = £22.15 (or $37.02)

I am not expecting August's earnings to be any better really, especially as I am away for the next week. However, I am working to a longer term plan that I really hope to start paying off in 2 to 3 months when I hope to be earning a reasonable amount in affiliate income. The challenge, as ever, is how to use my limited time effectively. All suggestions welcome!