Easy money isn't easy

Why I don't like the "making money on the internet is easy" pitch

I have been noticing a lot of people promoting ways to make "easy" money on YouTube. I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as easy money. Looking into these easy money schemes, I hold to my beliefs. One of the video schemes is that you can make free money by essentially copying other peoples YouTube videos. The video states that all you have to do it take someone else’s video and modify it or cut it together with someone else’s video then post it as your own. I want to explain the problem with that and give a little more information on creative commons copyrights and YouTube. I have commented on it before (http://napalmgraphics.blogspot.com/2012/11/copyright-part-three.html).

First I will agree that YouTube does use Creative Commons license as a default for videos. When you upload, generally speaking, you are agreeing to a few things. Side note, I highly recommend always reading the agreements when you upload, or do much of anything on the internet. Yeah, it is tedious but you want to know what you are actually agreeing to. Anyway, here are a couple things you are agreeing to by using YouTube: You will not access YouTube videos with any other player than YouTube. You will not post YouTube videos on your websites without using an embedded YouTube player.

The important one here is "You affirm, represent, and warrant that you own or have the necessary license...to publish Content you submit." And "(Y)ou retain all of your ownership rights in your Content. However, by submitting content to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty free, sub licensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute..." And "You also hereby grant each user of the service a non-exclusive license to access your content through the service and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through the functionality of the service and under these terms of service.” And to top it off, for every video you want to use, you have to verify that they do not have any other copy rights on their material. Creative Commons license has many different levels and some do not let you modify the content.

So based on YouTube’s user agreement you MAY be ok. It does not say that you can take someone else’s video and modify it without consent. That, to me, is a big enough grey area that means you should not be doing thing. But in order to make money off of it, you have to be running AdSense. So what does AdSense say about this practice. AdSense policy states “Any other content that is illegal, promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others.”

Putting it all together, it is a HUGE grey area. Although it may not be outright against policy or copyright infringement, it walks the line. And if you make money off of it, you take the huge risk of a law suit. I ask my readers to be wary of easy money. If it was easy to make money, people wouldn’t be trying so hard to do it. Work is not easy. Making money is not easy. So make your own videos and work hard to get your blog, website, YouTube page, off the ground. If Grump Cat (link) can do you, you can too. 

Blog Review

http://peasepudding.wordpress.com/

There are so many food blogs out there that I don't even read them. But I came across this one and couldn't stop scrolling. What drew me to it was the artwork. The food photos are amazing. I love food and have a great appreciation for eating. This blog made me want to make everything they were talking about. The pictures of the food were so well laid out and organized. The blog layout is very simple, which accents the food pictures. The recipes are also very different and interesting. I will be following this blog

Reddit for marketing

A quick blurb on Reddit

Reddit is a great community of people but they do not welcome direct marketing. Reddit is where people come together to talk about products, life stories, funny stories and anything else. It is not a place for advertising, but it could be a place to talk about products, market demand, market needs and such. Here is a great article on starting out with Reddit (http://blog.kissmetrics.com/reddit-marketing-guide/). I read Reddit but don’t post. I agree with the article that you have to make yourself part of the community before you can try and make any in-roads into selling yourself. And be sure, you are selling yourself, not your product. If you remember that, you might be able to drum up some business from Reddit. I have not tried using Reddit for my blog yet but I will definitely post when I do and let you know how it goes. 

Why I love Google Drive

The best way to keep track of everything

Why I love Google Drive. I have a horrible memory. Really. I can remember random things from 5 years ago but what I was thinking 10 minutes ago is already lost to me. Google Drive has saved me many times.

In case you don't use Drive, let me tell you what it is first. It is a cloud service for documents, pictures, and whatever else you want to have access to anywhere. It hooks up with your Gmail account, android phone and the whole lot of Google products. You can allow other people access to your document also. This allows for “living” documents for work purposes. In my dorky circle of friends, we used it to manage building projects in the game Eve. Or you can use it for budgeting with your spouse. Whatever you need. Drive also has a pretty good spell check and basic formatting.

Anyway, I use it for everything for my blogging work. I started with a document for my research. I moved that over to Pocket (http://napalmgraphics.blogspot.com/2012/11/pocket-review.html) eventually and Pocket works a lot better for that. But, I write all my articles on Drive. I also use it to hold my random ideas. I think of things while doing laundry, playing with the cat, or sitting at my day job. Drive is a great way for me to quickly make a document and add my ideas to it so I won't forget. I had the best idea for a blog a few weeks ago. I was cleaning and was going to go write it down when I was done. I forgot immediately and can still not remember what that idea was. It made me so mad! So never again will I neglect my ideas and not write them down. Drive also allows me to access my information anywhere: from a friend’s computer, from my phone, from my work computer (during my break of course). Really useful for the busy blogger or writer. 

I'm back

After a short break

So, I guess I took a break for a few weeks. It wasn’t intentional. The holidays really make blogging difficult. The difficulty is dealing with family time and dealing with the lake of motivation. I was surprised at just how unmotivated I became. I wanted to get up off the couch and get to work but it didn’t happen. I didn’t even get up to get my tablet to go sit back on the couch and work. On a side note, my android tablet is awesome for the fact that I can sit on my couch and work. Anyway, I have been getting some work done this last week. I am trying to get a week or two ahead so that this doesn’t happen again. I was working a week ahead when I started but, the bell curve being what it is, I went on a downward slide and got behind. So my lesson for this post is that best practice is to always have two weeks’ worth of posts ready to go. That way when the holidays hit, you can slack off a little. 

New weekly Blog Review

I am starting a new weekly segment

I run around the internet all day long. I read other peoples blogs everyday. So, I decided to start a fun segment about some of the blogs I run across. I am not looking for anything or promoting anyone really. I just want to point out good and bad things I see other people doing so that we can all learn and grow. I also find it interesting seeing what niches people have found for themselves to blog about. I will post the review on the main page but also on the Blog Review page so they can be kept for posterity.
If you would like me to review your blog, email or tweet me.

So, the first review:

=> http://plumpuddingillustration.blogspot.com/

First I love the overall look and feel of the page. It is very simple but inviting. It makes me want to scroll down and see more. The simple design accents the photography and artwork in the blog. The photography is amazing. The blog is actually an agency that represents artists. The blog does a great job with this because I didn't even realize that was what it was until I read the 'about' section. It is done in such a way that I didn't feel like I was being sold or directed to anything. So check out some interesting articles and some great artwork and photography.

Advertising experiment - Month one

My first attempt at spending $10 a month on marketing

Since I started this experiment half way through the month so I only spent $5. I spent it on Fiverr.com. I paid $5 to have a short (Twitter size) sentence with link. It was sent out on Facebook and twitter, reportedly to thousands of people. The seller does give links to confirm that the job was done. It was done on time and as promised in the ad. I had zero response. I don't blame the seller at all. I think I figured out where I went wrong. The target audience of the seller was more of an age group then people related based on anything else. If I try Fivver.com again, I will look for a more targeted audience that would be more likely to read my blog.

Check out the whole story: http://napalmgraphics.blogspot.com/p/10-day.html

Copyright part three

A short note about YouTube 

If you use YouTube to post videos I hope you read your user agreement closely. Did you know that you authorize others to post your video within specific parameters?

“You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Service.” (YouTube terms of service section 6C)

This also has an impact on bloggers. This means that you can post other peoples YouTube videos on your blog. You must have it linked back to the original YouTube post though. I would also ensure that you cite your source appropriately. I would be careful but you are covered by the YouTube TOS if you want to do it. 

Pocket - Review

Keep your reading organized

If you are like me, you do a lot of surfing on the internet to find ideas to write about. You also follow a fair amount of people on twitter and Facebook. I find a lot of articles that I want to read but generally don’t have the time. I wanted to share my solution with you.

I use a program called Pocket. Pocket is an amazing website that lets you save articles to be read when you have the time. It has an Android and iPhone app also. It is very simple also. First make an account. Then add their link to your bookmark bar or you can use their browser extensions. Add articles as you find them. You can also save from your phone using the "share" feature on a website or in your browser.

When you have time, waiting for an appointment, riding a train, whenever, you can read your articles. The best part is that on your mobile device, it is all saved offline so you don’t need to have internet access to read.

Pocket has a lot of options when reading an article. You can modify the layout, change the font size, or share the article to other applications. After reading you can delete the article, save it, or star it. Pocket also saves the images embedded in articles. Pocket saves the original link back to the article so you can always get back to where you found it at.

I love Pocket for keeping track of articles I want to read. I also use it to save websites that I want to review later. I spend time in the morning roaming the internet and saving articles to Pocket. Then, throughout the day I read them and determine if they might be useful to my readers. If not it gets deleted. If it could be useful I save it and write a post about it later that night or when I have time.

Check out GetPocket.com. Oh, and did I mention that it is completely free? 

7 keys to blogging success

Be successful in your blog:

I found this while roaming the internet. I thought it was a really quick and concise starter:

AdSense... part two

My experience with AdSense

So I applied for Adsense about two days after starting my blog. I very quickly got a form email back stating that I didn’t have enough content. They need content in order to decide what, if any, ads were pertinent to my blog. That sounded reasonable. I waited two weeks or so and then re-applied. I wasn’t hopeful but I wanted to see what would happen. I got the same form letter back. Again, I understand. I am not even remotely established. I am still growing and finding my feet. So I waited a few more weeks and applied again. Then I got something I did not expect.

I got an email back a day or two later. It stated, essentially, that Google AdSense was too big to deal with the little guy. Ok, that’s how it felt at least. What it really said was that AdSense was not able to contract with me because they have to be selective in who they choose to advertise with.

I will accept that I am naive when it comes to these things.  I have only been at this for a little over a month. I have done a lot of research though. I also roam other peoples blogs and YouTube pages. Google Adsense is seen on a lot of different websites and YouTube streams. Based on this roaming, I assumed that anyone with an active blog or YouTube stream qualified for Adsense. I was wrong.  It is my guess that AdSense has grown too large to pay attention to the little guy now.  I will look around and see what other options are available and report back. 

HootSuite - Review

Don't let Twitter overwhelm you

If you are like me, you started blogging and used twitter to draw in to your blog page. For me, it was a great way to start getting my name out there. I had never used Twitter before so it took me awhile to get the hang of it. As time went on and I started using Twitter more frequently it became apparent that I needed to change the way I was doing things. That’s when I found HootSuite.

HootSuite is a great website that helps you manage your Twitter feed(s) and Facebook posts. You can set up streams of content depending on what you want to view. There are also plug-ins for it for other things like Reddit and Linkedin.

The best part of HootSuite, to me at least, is the Publish feature. This allows me to schedule my Tweets. I try to schedule three days out. I have heard that people with a more established blog/community schedule a week out. I don't have enough to say to do that.

The website is really simple to use and they have a good tutorial to walk you through how to use it if needed. To sweeten the deal, there is a mobile app. I am running it on my android phone. It doesn't slow my phone down or interact with other apps, like general twitter apps do. I like that because I work hard to keep my private life separate from my blogging one.

To top everything off, it is free. They have a professional version that does cost cash but for a small time or new blogger/twitterer (I don’t know if that is a word) the basic version is perfect. The professional version is an reasonable price also, if you need the upgrade.

So check out Hootsuite.com. 

Copyrights...part two

Infringement and Creative Commons

With the invention of the internet a lot of issues have come up around copyright laws. In the past few years there have been a lot of questions about what is and is not covered by copyright. Is anything I post on the internet automatically protected? Can you use any picture you find on the internet for whatever you want?

First off let me say, no, you cannot use anything you find on the internet for your business use. You must check to see if it is covered by a copyright, patent, or trade mark. It is your responsibility to check. If someone else is using an image in violation of a copyright and you also use it, you are still guilty of copyright infringement. So check your source or purchase your images from a reputable source.

With the ongoing arguments and lawsuits over copyright infringement, there are a lot of different ways that peoples works are protected. The first and easiest is a copyright. In part one of this series I explained that when you put something in print, or post it on your website, it is covered by a limited copyright. It is your idea that you have memorialized in print and is protected. Applying for a copyright gives you more protection though.

So, how can you get your work out there without losing your connection to it? Creative Commons license might be your answer. (http://creativecommons.org) There are different levels or types of creative commons license but in general, they let other people use your work as long as they cite and link back to you. You can allow people to modify your work if you want or limit commercial use of it. It is simple and free to use.

Citations: http://creativecommons.org, http://www.youtube.com/t/creative_commons

Other work from home ideas

Not into blogging?

I understand that everyone might not be into blogging or writing constantly. If not, I have added a page to help out. I do a lot of research for this blog and sometimes come across things that are cool but not directly applicable to blogging. I have added a page to post these cool finds. So if you are interested in working from home but not blogging, check out the Other Work from Home Idea's page. 

Copyright laws...part one

The basics:

Did you know that the moment you publish, i.e upload it to the internet or in print, you are covered by copyright laws? A copyrights is automatic when your work is created. It just has to be in a hard copy form, and not just in your head. You have more protection if you register your it officially though. But either way, if someone copies your work off the internet without giving you credit, you have legal recourse.

Minors can hold copyrights also. The only limitation is on selling their copyright as they are not of a legal age to make a contract. So if you are under 18, make sure your parents do any dealings when it comes to buying and selling copyrighted material.

If you are an employee of a company, they hold rights to anything you make on work time or for your employer. What that means is, don't use your work computer to work on your music, program, or any other project. You might lose all rights to it if you do.

What is not covered: names or titles. Anything that has not been “recorded.” Ideas in your head. We have all had them. I great idea that then someone else comes out with a year later. I thought of Amazons Whispersink years ago! But I never did anything with it. Lesson learned.

In the next article I will cover specific copyright concepts like how it effects your YouTube videos or website pictures. 

Citation: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf

Review: ColourLovers: Themeleon

Make your Twitter page look great

If you are using Twitter to promote your business, you have to check out Colourlovers: Themeleon. It is easy to use and has thousands of options. It is also completely customizable. So, even if someone else uses the same background, you can choose the colors that best fit your business. To top it all off, it is completely free. You do have to sign up for the service. I have not received any spam or any emails from them other than a confirmation email. I highly recommend using them as an easy way to distinguish your website from others. They also keep track of what background you use so if you want to rotate between a group of backgrounds, they make it easy.

Distinguish yourself from everyone else in no time at all by using ColourLovers: Themeleon.

http://www.colourlovers.com/themeleon/twitter

The $10 marketing experiment

The beginning

To make a long story short, I have started a new blogging experiment. Every month I am going to spend $10 on advertising. That's it, just 10 bucks. It is looking to be a lot harder than I though, but I guess that is what makes it interesting. I am dedicating a page to this experiment. So check out the experiment on astutely named "$10 marketing experiment" page. 

Twitter for marketing...part 2

Some good etiquette to follow.

I definitely suggest using Twitter to drive more people to your website or blog. It is a great way to reach new people and keep your followers up to date on what you are doing. Start by following people and companies that are similar to what you are doing. I follow Google, android, a programming company, and some other bloggers. Tweet as often as you can but make sure you are writing about things that are relevant or interesting. Don't send a lot of spam tweets out or no one will want to follow you. I started out doing two tweets a day, then adding more as I got rolling. According to Hubspot, 15-25 tweets a day is the “sweet spot.” I find it difficult to have that much relevant or interesting information on a daily basis. But do what is comfortable and works for you.

 Follow people that are following you. Send them a private message thanking them for following you. Ask them to check out your blog or like your Facebook page. You can send them a private message, or what twitter calls a direct message by using the gear icon at the top right of the screen. 

Make sure to tweet every time you put a blog post up. Tweet with a link back to the post to drive more traffic your way. Use a couple relevant hash tags to direct people to your tweets. Tweet a few times throughout the day to catch people who may be in different time zones or on different schedules.

Always check out the Trends screen. It is on the left side of your twitter home screen. This shows you what searches and topics are popular at the moment. If you see something relevant to your topic, tweet about it with the hash tag. It will draw a lot of extra traffic to your twitter feed and your website. 

AdSense... part 1

An introduction to AdSense

If this is the first time you are hearing about AdSense I will give you a quick description of what it is. AdSense is a Google program that runs ads on the side of your blog. It also works on YouTube by running ads before your video plays. The page or YouTube video makes money for people clicking on the ads. There are other similar services but AdSense is one of the largest.

You can only register for AdSense once you have an established blog or YouTube stream. They are looking to see how much content you have and how many followers. AdSense gears its ads to what you are blogging about, so you have to have articles for them to read to decide if there are ads that would be appropriate. I recommend giving it a month or two before applying for AdSense. It is free so there is no loss if they deny you. Try again in another month.

Another thing to know about AdSense is that the rules for using it are strictly enforced, so it is a good idea to read them and know them. Two important things to know are: is that you can't click on your own ads. AdSense will also revoke their services if you violate copyright laws. It is in your best interest to know the laws so that you do not accidentally violate them. Work hard to get people to your blog or to watch your videos and you will see AdSense work for you. 

Twitter for Marketing...part 1

A quick introduction:

I held out on Twitter until just recently. I was annoyed with all the news about which celebrity said something inappropriate on twitter. I thought it was all about people saying things I didn't really care about. But since starting this blog and its associated Twitter account I am learning that it is a lot more than that. I am also learning how Twitter works in regards to advertising and getting more page views. If you are new to Twitter there are a few things you need to know to make Twitter work for you.

The first is hash tags. You have likely already seen a lot of hash tags if you watch TV or roam around the internet. Hash tags look like this: #word . You see them on Facebook or on overlays during your favorite TV shows. Hash tags allow people to search for posts about topics. So if you search #blog on Twitter you will get posts that have to do with blogging. It is a great way for people to be able to find your post if they are interested in your topic. Don’t put more than one or two in your post.

The next is what I look at as reciprocity. There are a lot of people on twitter trying to make a name for themselves. You never know who is going to follow your Twitter feed. If it is a person or business that has something in common with what you tweet about, then follow them also. It gives both of you more visibility. Re-tweet things that you find interesting or relevant

The last is @ tags. If you are talking about someone’s product, website, or concepts, include an @ tag for their Twitter feed. This lets them know that you are talking about them, and if you are reviewing their product, they may ask you to review other products. They may also provide you products to review if you have enough followers. 

Starting a new blog

I won’t start by saying you are going to make a living blogging. I don’t think it is possible if you are not already famous. According to Forbes, 13 million women bloggers make some money from blogging. Many also get free products to review. But how do you do it? The first step is having any idea. That, to me, is the hardest part. Think of something that you like, something that you know about or are interested in. Start coming up with ideas to write about now. Search the internet, search your life and surroundings for things that interest you and might interest others. Next step is to make a blog. It can be easy to make a basic average blog. If you want something different, exciting, and unique, you will need some knowledge the internet, in programming HTML, marketing, and social media. There are different ways to get that done. There are books you can read and do it yourself or you can hire someone. In addition to this blog, I also do blog design and logo design for people starting a new blogging business. See my Get Started Now page for more info.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2012/04/25/is-blogging-really-a-way-for-women-to-earn-a-living-2/

Finding your niche

There are over 164 million blogs out there. Writers, artists, photographers, moms, dads, kids! Everyone seems to have a blog now a days. Writing a blog is a great way to express yourself, meet like-minded people, and possibly make money. The first step is determining what you want your blog to be about. Look at yourself. What are you about? What do you love and have knowledge in? What do you want to learn about in the process. Writing a blog should be about expanding your readers knowledge as well as your own. Once you have a topic, next you need to find a specialization or niche area of that topic to focus on. The more focused the less like everyone else you will be. there are a lot of photography blogs. Some are about nature, or technique, or lighting. So find a topic, then find the niche that will make you blog stand out.

The first post

This is my first attempt at blogging. I am learning how to do it for a new business idea. I will be adding more and making it more distinct and understandable as soon as possible. If you are actually reading this, thanks.