Earn A Living Online » blogs

Getting Auto-Content And Auto-Backlinks For Your Auto-Blog

Keith James Lock — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:10:30 +0000

I have a few blogs that I setup awhile back that are virtually on auto-pilot. The content is all unique, automated and 100% free. Also, backlinks are created automatically. For these blogs I usually just put a banner in the sidebar, sometimes I float AdSense to the right of each post, sometimes I add eBay auctions underneath the posts or on a separate page. Also, I usually put some sort of ad on the main page above all the posts.

One of the blogs, on the topic of acai berries, has a conversion (worth $41) every 2-3 days. Did I mention that I don't really do anything to it anymore? I just let it run on it's own merit.

Free Blog Content

To get the unique blog content, automatically added, and for free, I look to SK or AMA. It depends a lot on the topic, which network I choose. AMA has a large selection of specific and broad categories to choose from. SK has just broad categories. However, with SK you can also specify keywords for the content that you want. So for the acai blog I used SK. I picked a few categories, like Health, etc. then entered the keyword "acai". Initially I set it to 10 a day until I reached 10 posts, then changed it to just 2 a day. If the specific category that you are looking for exists on AMA, that's another great choice for free blog content.

Auto-Backlinks

You can use plugins that will automatically Social Bookmark each post as it gets published. Auto Social Poster is a good choice, plus there's an Onlywire auto-submit plugin (free) floating around. I haven't used it so I can't account for it's quality. Plugins like these have to be constantly updated to keep up to date with the bookmarking sites, so it's more likely that a free plugin developer may drop the ball. Granted, the OnlyWire plugin requires just one API call, so it may be a freebie that stays up to date. Let me know.

Also, the free content you get from either AMA or SK has links to 3rd party websites in it (that's why it's free), well, a lot of times they link to other blogs, which initiates a trackback link, so you will be automatically getting backlinks from niche related blogs on occasion.

That's all I really did for, no effort, free, auto-backlinking on these blogs.

Semi Auto-Backlinking

There's another process that I use for getting backlinks to these blogs. There's a bit of work up front, then it's automated after that. You submit an article in a special format (generally 2 or more articles merged together) to SK or AMA. The articles, when processed by SK and AMA, will generate several unique versions of the article. Each version contains your choice of hyperlink(s).

The anchor text can be random and so can the URL, so it's a good idea to do some deep linking, perhaps to a category page, or a review page if you included one on your blog. Now, slowly over time, you will get backlinks from niche related blogs, which is really just the reverse process of getting free blog content to your blogs (like mentioned above).

There is a fee to do these submissions. It is a monthly fee and lets you initiate as many submissions as you want during your subscription period. It generally takes about 2 months or more for 1 submission to run its course (for slow, natural link building), but you can run multiple submissions simultaneously for as many sites as you have.

Last I checked, when signing up for the free version of AMA, you get to try the normally paid service for free for a short time.

phpBay Pro: The Extended Manual – Inserting phpBay Code Into Theme Files

Keith James Lock — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:05:16 +0000

It's been about a week since my last addition to the phpBay extended manual. My intention was to post a new piece of the manual each day until completion, but you know how things go. I've been quite busy. And, well, I'm going a bit out of order as well. I was going to write about phpBay keyword tracking, and I still will, just not today. I'll get to it soon enough.

This post covers inserting phpBay code into theme files. I came up with a cool idea for using it and thought I'd share it. I have a couple blogs that are 99% hands off, and have automated content, and I wanted a way to insert some auctions to the end of the posts without having to do it manually. Doing it this way you will end up with exactly the same auctions at the end of each post, which won't be as targeted, but it's still proven to work.

You could add some extra php code to show different auctions based on the current category, but I won't get into that here. If I get enough requests in the comments I'll edit this post.

This will be handy if you have an auto-blog on one main topic. I'm sure you can think of some other applications for it, this is just one purpose.

Look through the table of contents below if you want to jump to a different section first. Below the TOC are the quick steps to add phpBay code to your theme files.

Table Of Contents

Remember, phpBay has a sidebar widget you can use, but if you want more control, and want to add auction listings to the bottom of all posts, follow these steps...

In your WordPress admin panel, go to Appearance -> Editor.
On the right side you should see a file called Single Post (single.php), click it to open up the file in the editor on the left.
In this file there should be a command to show the post content. Look for the_content(). Just below that you can insert the phpBay code.
You can use any and all parameters here just like you would in a post or page, the example below shows just the keyword and the number of posts.

EDIT (June 9th, 2010): Use the code below if you want to show different auctions based on Category ID or Post/Page ID...

First.. you want to get the ID, to do that for the catgeory, under the 'Posts' menu click 'Categories', hover over the category name and in the status bar (bottom of browser) you will see a URL. The URL links to a page that allows you to edit the category. Don't click it, instead just look at the end of the URL... the catgeory ID is after the 'cat_ID=' part.

It's a similar process for posts/pages. Go to 'Edit' under 'Posts' or 'Pages'. Hover over the post or page name and in the status bar at the end of the URL you'll find the ID just after the 'post=' portion.

Now.. for most themes you can use the Category ID and/or Post ID values in single.php. For pages, use page.php.

The code for showing phpBay ads for a specific category... (replace {ID} with the actual Category ID that you found using the steps above)

NOTE: I just remembered... you can also use the category name rather than the ID if you prefer.

Text File With Code

For displaying ads for a specific post you usually just add proper phpBay code to the post add/edit screen. However if you want to show ads for a specific post but have more control of where it goes (instead of just the body of the post) then you can do that by editing the theme. Just use the code above but instead of the 'in_category' command use 'is_single'.

Get Content Specific Do Follow Backlinks With Qassia

Keith James Lock — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:39:43 +0000

Qassia is a free service that encourages the promotion of your blogs and sites by letting you add dofollow links to the content pages you create on there. In addition, you are given 5 ad spots that you can use to promote practically anything that you want.

How Qassia Works

The way it works is quite simple. You provide Qassia with "Intel" and you can attach any of your sites links to that piece of Intel. You can add as many sites as you want to your account, but just one per Intel. Your piece of Intel has it's own page on Qassia's site. The link you attach to this specific Intel shows up underneath the Intel under the heading "PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE". It shows a screenshot of your site and provides two links. One link is the title of your site using any anchor text of your choice and the second link is the description of your site that you provided. The second link, I believe, doesn't provide that much value though. Apparently if there is more than one link on a page pointing to the same web page, only the first link passes any link juice and only that bit of anchor text is taken into account. Still, you get one sexy do follow link pointing to any web page or site of your choice.

5 Advertising Slots

Qassia gives you control of 5 advertising slots. I believe 4 show up on your profile page and all 5 show up on your Intel pages.

Qassia Best Practices

In my opinion a lot of people are using Qassia incorrectly. You are allowed to, and encouraged to provide Intel on a variety of topics, you just aren't allowed to promote any websites directly within it. That's what the CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE links are for underneath. However, the web site that you attach to a piece of Intel should be in some way related. I think that would make the link more powerful SEO-wise, etc. if it is themed. But I see people doing things like creating Intel on "dirt biking" and attaching a website link for "dog training". The person reading your Intel probably isn't interested and it is probably given less weight for SEO purposes but I can't be certain.

As far as the 5 ad slots go, you can't specify ads for each Intel so, either use one uniform theme for your account where the ads match the sites and the Intel, or just use AdSense so that the ads are dynamic and will always match the content.

Drawbacks Of Qassia

Any site that allows you to create a profile and add web site links to I usually promote the profile page a little bit by Social Bookmarking it etc... you know.. promoting your promotions. But in the case of Qassia, the web sites links are all nofollow on the profile page so I didn't bother. The Intel pages however would be good to promote. They use the title you provided for the Intel as title for the page AND in the URL so you can probably get them ranking for certain keywords eventually.

Often with Web 2.0 sites you are given an RSS feed that you can submit to RSS directories and/or use in a mashup with other feeds for your other web properties in the same niche. I didn't see one on Qassia. It would be nice to have a feed with all of your Intel and at the bottom of each Intel in the feed have your dofollow link for the attached website appended. But as of now, it doesn't exist.

Well, that's it... Now get out there and do some backlinking. Sign up to Qassia here.

Ready Made Money Making Blogs And Web Sites

Keith James Lock — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:42:44 +0000

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know I setup a couple new pages here. They both have ready made web sites ready to make money. One is a list of on-going auctions from eBay with mostly templated sites. The other is a list of blogs that I'm currently selling. Both have sites at great deals, so if you want to skip the learning curve or save a bunch of time, give one a try. Since there are no advertising expenses here I offer mine at lower prices. Also, I'm in a good mood cause I'm loving the warm weather so at the moment I have a "hot weather" special going on. Check them out.

Setting Up A Newly Acquired Blog Overview

Keith James Lock — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:08:00 +0000

After selling a blog I'm often asked what to do with the zip files sent. I'll give an overview of the steps to follow here. Most of the steps will help anyone installing a WordPress blog they purchased, 1 or 2 might be specific to the blogs I sell. If you want more in depth instructions, please ask in the comments and I'll go into more detail.

Create a new MySQL database. The steps to create a database may be different depending on your host but 9 times out of 10 you will likely be using CPanel and the process is simple. GoDaddy steps are a bit different but still pretty straightforward. Check your servers docs to find out how to create one. After creating the database make note of the database name, username, password and host.
Unzip the db zip file and import the unzipped sql file into your new database. See your servers help files for these easy steps.
Unzip the web site files onto your computer. Open up the wp-config.php file in a text editor. Notepad in Windows sometimes jumbles up this file. If it doesn't seem orderly, try using a different text editor to open it. TextPad is a good one. Now fill in the details you gathered from step 1. (database name, username, password and host)
At this point you can upload the files to your server via FTP but there is a quicker way. If you decide to use FTP, switch the upload mode to Binary because in most of my blogs I sell there is a file that needs to be uploaded in Binary mode (the file is for Syndicate Kahuna). The rest of the files are fine to be uploaded in binary mode as well. A quicker way than FTP'ing all the files unzipped is to rezip them and upload the zip to the server. Most Control Panels, if not all, allow you to unzip files from the server which saves a bunch of upload time. Go that route if you can.
You should be ready to go at this point. There might be another zip file included which is just a text file that contains all the accounts usernames and passwords that were created for your site. Your WordPress login ID will be in there.

Let me know if you need any further help.

Host Unlimited Web Sites With GoDaddy Deluxe Plan, Plus Get $125 In Ad Credits

Keith James Lock — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:36:55 +0000

I host my sites at the same place as I get my domains. GoDaddy has a great hosting package that I recommend to anyone who asks...plus it's nice to keep my domains and web site hosting all under one roof.

EDIT (July 23,2009): Among web professionals who have been in the business a long time, the general consensus is that GoDaddy is the best place to register domains. The domains propagate very quickly and are usually ready to go within minutes after purchase, compared to hours at other registrars. However, there are a lot mixed reviews about GoDaddy hosting. I personally am still happy with my shared hosting account at GoDaddy, but I do have hosting accounts at other companies now as well. For reasons I won't get into in this post, it is sometimes handy to have multiple hosting accounts as your business grows and you reveal new strategies. Also, there has been some new competition in hosting, offering some more affordable prices. Check out this post to see a list of unlimited hosting companies and the prices: Should A New Affiliate Get Dedicate Hosting? END OF EDIT

The features with the GoDaddy deluxe plan are great. You can host unlimited web sites with just one account. I literally have dozens of web sites but only one hosting account that costs me less than $80 USD per year.

With the hosting package you get plenty of storage space, plenty of data transfer, plenty of email accounts and as mentioned, unlimited web sites.

You also get 25 MySQL databases (which is the database engine used for WordPress blogs for example). I personally only use up a few of them, yet I use a database on practically every single web site that I manage. That's because most of my sites are really WordPress blogs and with WordPress you are able to easily use the same database for multiple installations.

One thing though is that only your hosted domain has access to the, I think it's 500, email accounts that they give you. But the extra domains that you purchase to setup your other web sites are given an email address and 100 email forwards. I have never needed anymore than that, but if you do, GoDaddy gives the option to buy extra email addresses.

Facebook, Microsoft adCenter and Google Adwords Credits

Currently offered with a 12-month deluxe plan is $25 worth of Google AdWords credits, $50 worth of MSN adCenter credits and now $50 worth of Facebook credits to do PPC advertising. The AdWords credits are for new customers only. And make sure you claim the credits quickly otherwise they'll snatch them back. I think you get a week but I'm not positive. You don't have to use them immediately, you just have to claim them. I don't know the rules with MSN adCenter but I do know that the offer is good for only US residents.

So...if you are able to take advantage of all 3 PPC credits you are really getting paid to buy hosting for the first year and plus you can scoop up a domain name at the same time for $1.99. I believe all non-domain related purchases grant you a $1.99 domain. Not bad.

To get you started, here are the steps to get a hosting account and domain name at GoDaddy:

Go to the GoDaddy hosting page (link will open in new window).
Scroll down a bit and click the orange "Add" button in the center under the "Deluxe Plan" section.
To take advantage of the $1.99 domain name offer, enter in the domain name you are interested in in the box at the top right.

At this point your hosting package/domain should be in the shopping cart. You can change the domain registration to just 1 year if you like. So...if you choose the 12 month deluxe hosting package and 1 year for a .com domain name, your shopping cart total should be $81.85. (price verified on July 23, 2009) Not too shabby for being able to host unlimited web sites and getting a domain name for one year.

Now go ahead and put checkmarks in the boxes if you accept the terms and the agreement and checkout.

Setup your hosting account with unlimited web sites now.