TweetAttacks - Super Boost Your Twitter Followers

TweetAttacks is another product I've been trialling with one of my Twitter accounts.

It is a speedy way of gathering and interacting with huge numbers of Twitter followers, which can then be used to monetise your Twitter feed.

The software, which is very simple to install, can be used to boost your Twitter audience by increasing your followers. It does this by auto-following the followers of different Twitter users, safe in the knowledge most of them will follow you back out of courtesy. The full package also allows you to auto-generate Tweets, post pre-scheduled Tweets and interact with other Twitter users in a human manner.

It comes with regular email support, which gives you the latest insider advice about using Tweet Attacks to the max without falling foul of Twitter rules. After slowly building your Twitter followers by auto-following hundreds or even thousands of different people a day Tweet Attacks cleverly allows you to auto-unfollow everyone not following you. There is also the option of protecting certain VIP followers from being automatically unfollowed, so you don't accidentally remove your most famous celebrity followers by mistake.

Once you have amassed a large audience of loyal followers you can easily monetise your Twitter feed by Tweeting targeted Amazon affiliate links or selling Tweets via Sponsored Tweets etc.

A summary of the key features is given in the video below:

A free trial version of the software is available on the TweetAttacks website even if you don't want to splash out on the full version. Just scroll down to the foot of the page and click on the free download link. Even using the free trial version I've been able to amass several hundred followers in the space of a few days.

Should you wish to harness the full power of TweetAttacks you can also purchase the full or lite versions from the TweetAttacks site.

Chitika - The PayPal AdSense Alternative

Continuing my online quest for the best AdSense alternatives I recently came across Chitika, which conveniently pays by PayPal on a monthly basis.

I suppose the nearest thing I can compare Chitika to is Amazon Associates. Their ad units typically display a small picture and some text related to the product they're advertising. Chitika ads are truly contextual, which means they are automatically related to the content of the page they're displayed on. This means it is far more likely that search engine referrals arriving on the page will find the ads of interest and click on them.

In the example below the visitor has arrived at the Chitika ads having been referred from Google with the search term "iPod Nano".


Just like AdSense a Chitika publisher earns a small amount everytime someone clicks an ad unit. The clicks of US, UK and Canadian site visitors typically earn in the region of 20-30 cents each, so with large traffic volume it's easy to make a good alternative income stream. Unlike AdSense, as I mentioned earlier, an option exists to have Chitika earnings paid into a PayPal account, which means publisher earnings are received in a faster and more convenient form. Something else to be aware of is that publisher stats aren't displayed in realtime, meaning you won't know your actual daily earnings until the following day. This allows Chitika time to verify the authenticity of each click, which is good for maintaining advertiser confidence in the quality of the service.

Chitika offers a range of attractive ad formats, which can be blended with the design of any website. Unlike some alternatives they also offer the ability to generate ad code that displays to mobile phone web surfers, meaning that stream of traffic can also be monetised. This could be particularly useful on news and current affairs sites, which receive a lot of mobile web visitors.

Preliminary indications are that Chitika is a very strong contender to be the best AdSense alternative out there, if you get a lot of clicking visitors from North America.

If you'd like to give Chitika a try then please sign up and tell them AdSense4Dummies sent you: Try Chitika Now

Swagbucks Come Good

Well, it's been a while but I can finally report on my experiences of Swagbucks. I've been using them for a few searches a day for the last year or so.

I wrote about Swagbucks a while ago, explaining how this paid-to-search site worked and that I was going to try it out. It's not quite a replacement for the now-defunct MySearchFunds, which paid above the odds for every single search a user performed. That's probably why it's now defunct!

Swagbucks works along the same lines. A user installs the Swagbucks search bar, or bookmarks a Swagbucks search page personal to them. They use the search bar or page to search the web as they would normally and every so often they are rewarded with points called Swagbucks. These points can be cashed in for a range of items including electronic equipment, Amazon giftcards and PayPal funds.

It costs 700 Swagbucks for $5 PayPal funds. In my experience I earn Swagbucks every 4 or 5 searches, spaced evenly over the day. In the course of a day I can make 20 or 30 Swagbucks, so it would take around a month of use to make enough for $5 PayPal funds. Proof of payment below:


That doesn't seem much of a reward, but it's really $5 for nothing because you'd be searching anyway. What is good about Swagbucks is that you get the Swagbucks of everyone you refer. Refer 10 people who also make 700 Swagbucks a month and you've very quickly made $50 for not much effort at all.

I think I'll be sticking with it, because it has now proven to pay and it's no extra effort to search using Swagbucks instead of my regular search engine.

If you'd like to give it a shot please sign up and tell them AdSense4Dummies sent you: Join Swagbucks Now

Coffee at The Marketplace on Neil

Thanks for the guest post by Jonathan Curtis

The Ohio State University's Columbus campus has a ton of different places to go for food and drinks, but none quite like The Marketplace on Neil. Open extremely late every night, The Marketplace offers all of the drink recipes and food choices of larger chain coffee locations, but with the added comfort of a smaller, home-like setting.

Their Vanilla Chai is fantastic, as are the daily specialty drinks that change not only based on the day, but on the time of year, as well. Featured hot coffee drinks make a trip there during the winter worthwhile, and students and customers alike can relax in the building. Comfortable chairs and couches by the large fireplace offer ample space to complete homework, eat a meal, o! r just hang out with friends and classmates.

Though The Marketplace on Neil is located on South Campus, it is important to take the basic steps to protect your home - and yourself - before heading out to grab a quick cup of coffee or snack. Locking doors, setting a ADT ALARM, and using the buddy system are great ways to ensure that treating yourself won't result in a negative outcome. This little coffee shop is a great way to get out of the house or dorm room on a cold night, and gives students the opportunity to change their surroundings without going too far from home.

WidgetBucks Finished

Mpire has announced that the WidgetBucks advertising program will cease operating from 10th March 2010.

WidgetBucks has been a good earner for AdSense4Dummies over the past couple of years, but I guess their generous $25 giveaways, high payment per click and current economic downturn has got the better of them.

Mpire say that they will pay out any account balances of $50 or more, but any account balances of less than that amount will be forfeited in accordance with the WidgetBucks program rules.

The following email was sent to WidgetBucks publishers:

Dear Widgetbucks Publisher,

This email is to inform you that Mpire Corporation, the parent company
of Widgetbucks, has made the decision to refocus resources outside of
the advertising network space. As such, the company will be
discontinuing support of the Widgetbucks publisher network. All
existing publisher accounts will be turned off effective Thursday, March
10, 2010.

Once your account is deactivated, you will no longer be able to access
your account statistics via the Widgetbucks.com portal. According to
section 6 (b) of the terms of service, located at
WidgetBucks - Terms of Use, Mpire will pay Publisher Payment,
subject to a minimum of U.S. $50.00. Account balances below the minimum
threshold of $50 are forfeited in accordance with Section 8;
Termination; of the terms of service.

All publishers with outstanding balances greater than $50.00 USD as of
March 10, 2010 will be paid out in full on March 15. Publishers with
balances less than $50 will forfeit the balance of their accounts.

We will follow up with an email with the balance of your account as of
closing of your account so that you are aware of the balance that will
be paid to you on March 15.

We truly appreciate you having been a member of the Widgetbucks Network
and wish you the best of luck in future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Widgetbucks Publisher Team

Now for the nightmare of removing my WidgetBucks code from everywhere!

How to Get Free Edu Backlinks

Something that always annoys me when I'm visiting Digital Point forums is the way some people like to sell links on sites that aren't theirs to sell.

I'm thinking particularly of people selling lists of .edu sites where you can obtain backlinks by leaving a comment. They aren't really selling links but rather information about how you can build your own.

Some of these sites have "dofollow" comments, which means a link obtained there has some PR juice. Backlinks from .edu domains are also highly prized because of the perception that Google finds them more trustworthy and gives them more weight.

Anyway, here's my tip for getting your free .edu backlinks:

• Most people who sell these are chancers who have already capitalised on the information themselves.
• Simply find someone who is selling a list of .edu sites and study their forum profile closely. They will probably have a link to one of their own sites either as their profile homepage or in their signature.
• Take the URL of the chancer's site and plug it into the Online Utility backlink checker.
• The backlink checker will show any .edu backlinks.
• Visit those .edu pages and leave your own comments.
• Sit back smuggly that you've got that information free of charge.

Try it yourself - it works!

WidgetBucks Paying Good

Remember WidgetBucks?

I've not talked about them for a long time but they've slowly been earning for me in the background. My latest payment of just under $100 arrived today and gave me a nice surprise when I was viewing my PayPal account.

I'm still a fan of WidgetBucks. If you've got a site with some space and traffic then plonk a few widgets on it, sit back and enjoy the profit. That's what I'll continue to do!

Try WidgetBucks yourself and don't forget to tell them we sent you: Try WidgetBucks Now

New AdBrite Inlines

Online advertising giant AdBrite has just introduced a new version of their popular inline ad format.

The new ads, which are better targeted than before, include a pop-up box with 3 or 4 related links. This means visitors to your site are more likely to find an AdBrite ad of relevance, which should improve your click through rate.

A picture of the new ads is shown above. If you want to see how well they work on your site then please sign up to AdBrite and give them a try.

SwagBucks

There's a new paid to search engine on the horizon that we'll be test driving over the next couple of months - SwagBucks.

Okay, all you hardened money making pros will realise that SwagBucks isn't actually that new, but the reason I'm visiting it now is to fill the void left my Homepages Friends.

Members of SwagBucks use their interface (or browser plugin) to perform web searches. Every so often they are rewarded with SwagBucks, which can subsequently be exchanged for a variety of prizes or even PayPal funds. One of the good things about SwagBucks is that every buck really does have a value and can be instantly redeemed for an MP3 download or similar. After a few days of clocking up SwagBucks you might have enough for a t-shirt, DVD or book from their online store. Currently you can redeem 70 SwagBucks for $5 via PayPal.

It's early days yet, but I'm hoping I can really bring in some extra SwagBucks by promoting the program over at my karaoke blog. I'll let you know how it goes or you can keep an eye on my progress using the widget in the sidebar.

In the meantime if you'd like to try SwagBucks please sign up as our referral.

Another AdBrite Payment

I'm just back from my summer holidays and what better to welcome me home than another check from AdBrite.

This time it's for USD 351.27, which works out at about GBP 215 in my home currency.

I'm a huge fan of AdBrite and with checks like this landing on my doormat every couple of months it's easy to see why.

Anyone interested in learning more about AdBrite, the best AdSense alternative in town, should read our AdBrite review. AdBrite can also be used alongside AdSense as a complimentary revenue stream.

If you find it useful please consider signing up for AdBrite as our referral: Try AdBrite Now

Text Link Ads Revamped

Regular readers of AdSense4Dummies will know that I'm a huge fan of Text Link Ads (TLA). The nice people at TLA have just refreshed their site and improved the affiliate program.

In the past publishers participating in the affiliate program would earn $25 to their PayPal account for every successful publisher or advertiser sign up. This was a nice little bonus but non-recurring.

The new affiliate program pays affiliates a minimum of 10% of their referrals' earnings over two years. This increases to 15% over two years if the affiliate refers more than $5,000 per month of publisher revenue.

The affiliate continues to earn a $25 bonus for each advertiser sign up.

There has never been a better time to try Text Link Ads for yourself. For further information about how the program works read our Text Link Ads review.

Supporting Friends - Charity Begins at Home

It seems Homepages Friends (previously My Search Funds) is undergoing yet another revamp, with the recent unveiling of the new Supporting Friends site.

I have written at length about Homepages Friends so won't go into the fine detail of how the programme works. In a nutshell you sign up, install a search bar in your browser, perform searches and earn a few cents per search.

What makes Supporting Friends different is that all the money earnt goes not to the person performing the searches, but to a charity of their choice instead. This should reduce instances of people making searches just to increase their earnings.

It also means people who honestly use the search box to earn a few dollars are missing out themselves.

I think the people at Homepages Friends (Supporting Friends, or whatever they're called today) have scored an own goal with this one. They have removed the very thing that attracts people to sign up to their site - the prospect of earning cash to their own PayPal account. Furthermore they have probable alienated all of their current members, who have been automatically transferred to the charity version of the site.

They say that charity begins at home.

It seems Homepages Friends have made the costly mistake of forgetting this.

Ciao Surveys (Greenfield Online)

I've been using Ciao Surveys for a long time, so it amazes me that I haven't written about my experience of them.

Quite simply they're a winner.

If you're the sort of person who has a little spare time and gets enjoyment from completing surveys then Ciao is the ideal program for you. They'll also reward you with a small payment or competition entry for every survey you participate in.

How does Ciao work?
Ciao is a market research company - businesses pay them to gauge public opinion about consumer products, services and habits. They pass on a small proportion of this payment to willing volunteers - people like you and me - who help them by completing surveys on these different issues.

Once you've signed up to Ciao you'll be asked to complete a profile, which allows them to match you to the different research proposals on offer. If you're a close match they'll send you a survey. The more detailed your profile information the more likely they are to send you lots of surveys.

How does Ciao pay?
You usually earn £1-2 ($2-4) for successful completion of a Ciao survey. A survey typically requires about 15-20 minutes of effort on your part. Most surveys begin with a few screening questions to double check you're the right target audience. You only get rewarded if you complete the entire survey and this depends on your success at the screening questions. I estimate that I get rejected from about half of the surveys I'm invited to.

Payment is by PayPal. You can request payment once you've reached £5, which is after only 3 or 4 surveys.

How many surveys will I get?
I usually receive 2 or 3 survey invitations a day. Remember that I'll probably not get past the screening questions on at least one of them, but I'll probably be able to complete one of them too.

As I said earlier, the more detail you put into your profile the more survey invites (and potential earnings) you'll receive.

Does Ciao pay?
Well, yes it does. I have received money directly into my bank account from them (their PayPal payment option is fairly new). They're a well established company with a good reputation - try Googling them.

Conclusions
If you're the sort of person who enjoys completing surveys then Ciao is a pleasant and reliable way of earning a little extra cash. It probably won't make you a fortune, but will give you a nice little bonus once in a while.

In the meantime if you'd like to try Ciao yourself please sign up as our referral: Try Ciao Surveys Now

My Homepages Friends Payment Received

I was getting a bit concerned about this one because the payment was a few months overdue. I can now confirm, thankfully, that My Homepages Friends (formerly My Search Funds) has now sent me payment. It's only £47 (just short of $100) but now they've proved legit I'll be making much more use of them.

Find out more by reading the AdSense4Dummies My Homepages Friends review. If you fancy a go then please sign up under us and remember to keep searching and wait patiently for payment.

Sign up to My Homepages Friends directly (ref).

WidgetBucks Improves Referral Program

Online advertising company WidgetBucks has just announced changes to their referral program that should make publishers smile in these uncertain economic times.

From now on publishers will earn 15% of their new referrals' earnings for a year. This is up from the previous (miserly) 5% referral rate. Lots of small publishers (like me) make the majority of their income from cost-per-click (CPC) ads and referrals, so I'm pretty pleased with the new rules.

If you've got a large site I recommend now as the ideal time to try WidgetBucks and cash in on the generous referral program. CPC is still paying well too, with most of mine in the 20 cent range.

More details about WidgetBucks (including proof of payment) can be found in my earlier WidgetBucks review.

PR Update in Progress

Google is currently updating the toolbar PageRank values of different sites. PageRank (PR) is Google's measure of how important one site is compared to another.

Sadly the integrity of the entire PR concept has been brought into question by Google's penalisation of good sites - well known sites with lots of quality traffic and backlinks - just because they don't comply to the Google one-size-fits-all Webmaster Guidelines.

If your PR has increased this time congratulations, but take the result with a huge pinch of salt.

WidgetBucks $25 Bonus Weekend

You heard right - WidgetBucks are yet again offering their famous $25 sign up bonus to all publishers who sign up this weekend.

Once the publisher has accumulated $50 revenue they will credit the account with an additional $25, making the first payout a cool minimum of $75. Payment is available via PayPal (recommended) or check.

There's never been a better time to try WidgetBucks with their CPC/CPM country lists recently expanded to include most North American, European and Australasian nations. Remember that CPM traffic pays from a lot of other nations too.

You can learn more about WidgetBucks in my review article (includes links to proof of payment).

To make the most of this limited opportunity sign up to WidgetBucks now. Remember the $25 bonus is only available to publishers who sign up this weekend.

AdBrite Payment

In my previous review of AdBrite I wrote about what a steady earner it was and how it was a viable alternative to AdSense. Most of my earnings come from free Blogger blogs, proving that AdBrite works well with Blogger too.

What I neglected to do was include any proof of payment. To remedy that I have taken a photo of this month's payment check for $315.03 (click image to enlarge). The check was issued on 2nd September and arrived with me here in the UK on 14th September - quite a reasonable delivery time.

As you can see, AdBrite really can be an effective money maker. My only complaint remains their NET60 payment terms, which means payment isn't made until 60-days after the end of the month where the payout minimum is achieved.

If you're interested in AdBrite I recommend reading my AdBrite review and giving it a go.

Blogger Cocks Up on Spam... Yet Again

I've written about the primitive and uneffective automated spam detection methods of Blogger in the past. That time Blogger decided that a brand new blog of mine - so new it had no content whatsoever - was a splog and they disabled it for about a week. How can their spam detection methods be that poor that they mistake a blog with no text content at all for a splog?

It appears that last Friday their inept spam algo whirred into action yet again, crippling the blogs of thousands of rule abiding Blogger users.

Blogger is rapidly getting a reputation for unwarranted censorship and poor reliability.

I hope they get their house in order pretty sharpish.

New Search Engine Takes on Google

Former Googler's have launched a new search engine that they hope will rival Google one day.

The new site, called Cuil (pronounced 'cool'), has built up an index of 120 billion pages, which they claim are indexed in a more efficient way than Google.

According to Cuil founders the new search engine can understand the context of each page allowing the retrieval of better targeted search results.

Unlike conventional search engines Cuil displays search results in a magazine format. Unlike Google the new service will not harvest information about the search history of individuals.

Cuil founders, Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier are former Google staffers. The other founder Tom Patterson worked for IBM and others on search and storage technologies.