Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing » Reviews http://www.destyonline.com Bringing offline business practices online. Turning bloggers into Businessmen. Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:07:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en Chance to Win $1000 and Get a Free Hat! http://www.destyonline.com/chance-to-win-1000-and-get-a-free-hat/ http://www.destyonline.com/chance-to-win-1000-and-get-a-free-hat/#comments Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:44:06 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/chance-to-win-1000-and-get-a-free-hat/ Mywallst.net is throwing out a rookie challenge!  Sign-up for their free stock investment contest where you buy and sell stocks on their virtual market.  Winners are determined on a weekly basis on Friday evening after the markets close.  The ROOKIE member with the highest percentage gain in portfolio equity will declared that week’s winner.  The weekly prize is $1000! 

New sign-up members also get a free hat!

300x250_wallst_hat

I live for these types of Contests! :)  If you’ve been a reader of my blog over the past few months, you know I’m always talking about investing.  Every-time I see one of these contests, I always think, “hey, easy money!”  Problem with my style of investing, I go for of the long term, return compounding investment.  Buy the right stock at the right time for the right price.

Head over to Mywallst.net and take the rookie challenge!  You can find my profile at ‘www.mywallst.net/Desty’.  They have a friends feature, so we can all get together and share investment tips, strategies, and of course, help me think up ways to spend my $1000 prize money after I win.

See you there, make sure to wear your free hat so I can recognize you!


---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/chance-to-win-1000-and-get-a-free-hat/feed/ Failures to Success Blog is an Interesting Read http://www.destyonline.com/failures-to-success-blog-is-an-interesting-read/ http://www.destyonline.com/failures-to-success-blog-is-an-interesting-read/#comments Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:46:43 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/failures-to-success-blog-is-an-interesting-read/ I’ve been a subscriber to Ian Fernando’s Blog Failures to Success for about two months or so now.  Ian’s blog reads like a test case in Internet marketing and how to make money online.  Ian’s goal is to transition from the normal 9 to 5 world of offline jobs into the full time world of online marketing.

Ian writes in very practical terms about what he does in his marketing.  One of the biggest things he’s done that I admire is that while he talks about what he’s done that does work, he also mentions what he’s done that doesn’t work.  It’s the learning from mistakes and help you move forward.  He’s also not afraid to take a chance in hopes of some big exposure.  Using quality guest writers help increase traffic and bring value to his readers.

From a purely personal standpoint, the only quibble I have with Ian is that he has a tendency to jump on the band wagon with blogging related news.  Ian does give his unique view on the events, but the issue I have is that everyone writes about these things and by the time I read Ian’s POV, I know what’s going on, and am ready to move onto something else. 

Failures to Success and Desty Online do have something else in common, we have both been featured on the Wall Street Journal Online through the Sphere Related Content application.

As I mentioned before, I’m a RSS subscriber to Ian’s blog, and I suggest you subscribe as well.

This is a sponsored post

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/failures-to-success-blog-is-an-interesting-read/feed/ Desty’s Gold Starred Articles September 6th 2007 http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-september-6th-2007/ http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-september-6th-2007/#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:21:07 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-september-6th-2007/ Contest Blogger is giving out Some Quick Advice on Blogging Manners.  I’m in total agreement with them on this; the total GALL to ask for money for a backlink on a contest listed on Contest Blogger’s site.  If it were me, I’d say no thanks and remove the contest from my site.  The nerve of some people…

My buddy Chris at Blog-Op writes about The Death of DMOZ?  I have to say that there’s alot of drama going on, so many posts everywhere about what’s going on with DMOZ and Shoemoney I can’t link to them all.  I don’t know what to think or who to believe.  Mind you I WANT to believe Shoemoney, but when you think about it objectively, I really don’t know any of the people involved.  Do I want in DMOZ?  Yeah, but then again, I want in every directory I can get into ;)

On a level of personal enjoyment, Tyler Cruz shares One of the Most Fun Days of My Life.  You see, Tyler is a poker nut.  Up until recently, he’s had to be content with playing poker online, but no longer.  He has several articles about his time at the tables.  The fun he has playing poker comes through in his articles; I only wish I could play well enough to be willing to spend money on it.

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-september-6th-2007/feed/ A Curious Investment Opportunity http://www.destyonline.com/a-curious-investment-opportunity/ http://www.destyonline.com/a-curious-investment-opportunity/#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:13:22 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/a-curious-investment-opportunity/

Earn By Loaning program advertises itself as the online version of Quest Holdings Inc. They offer to give high yield returns on loans you make to EBL, anywhere from $100 to $10,000. The loan is said to be protected by US contract law.
Good idea in theory. The execution is sorely lacking, however.

First problem in researching the company, their web page has some serious issues. It consistently locks IE up, most of the time only showing the top banner. Twice the page above the fold loaded before locking IE up. One thing that shouted out at me when it did load those two times did give me pause: Google AdSense. One thing I learned from basic affiliate sales, when directing traffic to a landing page, you don’t want to give anyone another choice to leave your site; you want all links to be in your site or towards the sale itself.

From what I could gather in those two above the fold page loadings, the owner of the site, one Gary Giardina, designed the site himself. After some Google powered research, I found another site for Earn By Loaning, this site ran by someone else. Due to the various amounts of sites listed on Google searching for keyword ‘Earn By Loaning’, it appears that the Earn By Loaning company has its own affiliate program, which isn’t good or bad, just makes me even more leery.

ebl1.jpg

On the reviewed site, I could not find more information as to the offered return on investment, or anything about the owner of the site.

I, personally, would suggest you learn some basic investment strategies before seriously checking into EarnByLoaning.

This was a sponsored review

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/a-curious-investment-opportunity/feed/ Referral Opportunities Create Win-Win Situations http://www.destyonline.com/referal-opportunities-create-win-win-situations/ http://www.destyonline.com/referal-opportunities-create-win-win-situations/#comments Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:01:49 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/referal-opportunities-create-win-win-situations/ Back when I first started blogging, I read a very interesting article about PayPerPost.  Desty Online was still fairly new, and I was very excited about the idea of getting paid to write blog articles, so I surfed right over and submitted my blog.

A few days later my world of being paid to blog came crashing down; you see, PayPerPost has some requirements before you can start earning money with them.  For me, it was the requirement of the submitted blog be 90 days old.  So I sat down and started my wait, all the while working to create excellent and informative articles.

During this time, I discovered two features offered by PayPerPost that you really don’t see much of on different blogs: affiliate referrals.

By referring other blog writers to PayPerPost via this banner, PayPerPost will pay $15 only 30 days after the referred blog is accepted.  You do not have your blog accepted to join the referral program.

Another option in PayPerPost’s referral program is more to my liking, and has been successful for Desty Online.

By clicking on this banner, PayPerPost will create a special opportunity for that person to write a review about an article on the referral blog.  The writer will get paid $7.50.  As the referal site, you get paid $7.50 as well.  The writer makes some money, you make some money; everyone wins!

Why does PayPerPost do this?  Simple.  PayPerPost is in the business of offering advertisers exposure on blogs that will drive traffic to the advertisers’ products / services.  This is where the blogs come in.  Blogs are paid per opportunity to write articles about these products / services.  It is a good opportunity, even if abit labor intensive, for writers to earn some money online.

While most people write about and focus on the paid posting option, I have had better success with the referral options.

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/referal-opportunities-create-win-win-situations/feed/ Perfect Example of Excellent Customer Service — Progressive Auto Insurance http://www.destyonline.com/perfect-example-of-excellent-customer-service-progressive-auto-insurance/ http://www.destyonline.com/perfect-example-of-excellent-customer-service-progressive-auto-insurance/#comments Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:09:54 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/perfect-example-of-excellent-customer-service-progressive-auto-insurance/ This is a personal example of a company that isn’t the cheapest, but its customer service proves its worth and makes the extra cost very worth while.  This is not a sponsored post; it is a real life experience from yours truly.

Back in January 2006 my family and I were involved in a car wreck with another vehicle.  My wrist was injured, we found out that my wife was pregnant with our 2nd son, and our car was totaled.  What happened was the stop light turned yellow on me as I was going thru the intersection and the car ran the red light before it changed green, so I T-boned them.  No witnesses, so my word against hers.  Rules of the road say that a vehicle turning (her) has to yield to a vehicle going straight (me) so it was ruled her fault.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I get home and the sheriff is waiting for me with a 3rd party summons.  Turns out that my insurance company hasn’t gotten anything from her, but she’s suing me as part of the lawsuit against her.

My real world experience with the legal system is non-existent, so I start to worry.  Called my insurance company about the issue and was informed that the lady over my case won’t be back in until tomorrow and to call back then.

This morning I contacted my claims adjuster and she knew all about it.  My auto insurance company had already assigned a team of lawyers to the case and it was all taken care of!

Too many times, if you don’t have to use it, auto insurance just seems like a drain on your bank account.  We were actually in the market for a cheaper auto insurance company last year when the accident happened.  Our auto insurer, Progressive, has been nothing but outstanding throughout the entire incident.  From start to finish, they have taken care of me and my family and always kept us informed as to what was going on with our claim.

For service like that, now I’m MORE than willing to pay extra.

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/perfect-example-of-excellent-customer-service-progressive-auto-insurance/feed/ Desty’s Gold Starred Articles July 9 2007 http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-july-9-2007/ http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-july-9-2007/#comments Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:06:00 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-july-9-2007/ Most bloggers over the last few days have been mentioning Feedburner making two of their Feedburner Pro services free of charge.  What most of those articles didn’t do was look at the services offered and go over how these new features can be good things or bad things for your feed.  Andy Beard was laying down some Important Tips On Using Feedburner Pro - Now Free and how the new service could cost you some links.

The newly created Blogstorm gives a Beginner’s Guide to Linkbait. Linkbait are posts that you create on your blog, promote, and are so interesting that people just can’t help to link to and talk about. While I’ve written a few articles that I hoped would take a life of their own, I have never really written anything just so it will get links. I try to write articles that readers enjoy and help the readers somehow.

Derek Beau hit a couple of deal breakers when it came to an investment in Before Buying a Website, Make Sure You Are Comfortable Managing It. This directly relates to my article about common investments. Derek went with what he knew, researched, and determined that it wasn’t for him.

JohnTP gives a great explanation of The Power of Anchor Text. If you’re looking to increase targeted traffic from Google and other search engines, you don’t want to miss this.

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-july-9-2007/feed/ The 2 Questions You Must Ask Before Taking Paid Reviews for Your Blog http://www.destyonline.com/the-2-questions-you-must-ask-before-taking-paid-reviews-for-your-blog/ http://www.destyonline.com/the-2-questions-you-must-ask-before-taking-paid-reviews-for-your-blog/#comments Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:25:40 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/the-2-questions-you-must-ask-before-taking-paid-reviews-for-your-blog/ July’s fixed expenses for the hosting of Desty Online were covered this morning when Bloggerwave paid me for my sponsored review. While I am writing with joy that planned expenses have been met early in the month, along with 10% of the revenue has been invested, I really want to touch on a warning to the many would-be reviewers out there.

There are a host of paid to blog or pay for review sites out there. Check with Dosh Dosh on what paid review sites are available. If you’re just starting out, there won’t be very many opportunities for you. Let me pass on this small piece of advice: DO NOT TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY OFFERED TO YOU!!!

There are two hard and fast rules to follow when taking on paid review gigs.

Rule #1 Does the product / service / site mesh with your blog?

Desty Online focuses on two areas of interest in its posts: the set-up and running of businesses, and some Internet marketing. In basic terms, we’re here to help you start your business and to pass on tips about blogging and how to market your blog as we learn them. A sponsored review of Bloggerwave, an advertising site that buys and sells for reviews of products and services, falls into a tip for other bloggers in how to earn some extra income from their blog. I had another opportunity for a paid review through Bloggerwave, but the service had nothing to do with Desty Online and its focus, so I turned it down. If you take every opportunity to do a paid review, no matter what the subject is, you will lose readers. Readers are at your blog because of your brand of information. If you go outside that brand just to get paid to blog, you’ll be perceived to be after the fast buck, and who wants to go to a blog just to read ads.

Rule #2 Does your paid review give any value to the reader or is it just to make some money?

Readers don’t want to read ads; they want to read what you normally write about for free. If you do write a paid review and the subject fits in with your blog’s topic, don’t make the review posting itself an ad. You want to tailor the post to what the product is about, but write the post as if it were one of your normal non-sponsored articles. Tie the product into the article, but don’t make the article about the product.

Having the opportunity to get paid to blog via sponsored reviews is a great gig for the blogger, but the blogger himself has a responsibility to his readers. That responsibility is to not only do reviews that fit in with the blog’s content but mesh the product of the review into a quality post so as to enhance the reader’s experience.

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/the-2-questions-you-must-ask-before-taking-paid-reviews-for-your-blog/feed/ Desty’s Gold Starred Articles June 30 2007 http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-june-30-2007/ http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-june-30-2007/#comments Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:37:02 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-june-30-2007/ Chris Lodge at Blog Op is looking for Guest Bloggers while he goes on vacation July 7th.  This is an excellent opportunity for bloggers to not only network with other bloggers, but can possibly drive some traffic to your own blog, IF you submit some quality content.  I read his 1st article mentioning that he was looking for a guest blogger last weekend.  I contacted Chris and submitted what I considered a fairly decent article contrasting the news print media and the explosion of blogging.  Chris has been great and checked out my blog, giving excellent suggestions on places I was stuck on with the technical aspects of the blog.  Hopefully my article does Chris justice during his vacation.

Andy Beard rails against new Mybloglog features in MyBlogLog New Features - The Abusive and the Incomplete.  I had a conditional different opinion and posted it in comments.  MyBlogLog is an excellent social community site and if you’re not there, get there now!

Dan and Jen at Blog Success Journal posted a great article on How to Start a Blog and Make Money Online in 10 Easy Steps.  Being the type of person who believes that he can always learn more, I starred it to consume this weekend. 

The VERY first blog I started reading was Building an Empire.  Its a personal blog on a lady who invests in real estate for a living.  She chronicles how she was able to quit her job (actually she got laid off, but it was what she needed as her job was getting in the way of her investing) and takes you into the world of real estate investing.  She has an excellent community on her blog.  If you like real estate, check her out!

Last, but not least, test your blogging addiction at Daily Blog Tips.  I was only 60% addicted, thank goodness, but I don’t know if I should go for a lower number (that’s what my wife says) or go for a higher number (pointers anyone?).

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/destys-gold-starred-articles-june-30-2007/feed/ Online Marketing is a Must For Any Business http://www.destyonline.com/online-marketing-is-a-must-for-any-business/ http://www.destyonline.com/online-marketing-is-a-must-for-any-business/#comments Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:21:39 +0000 Desty http://www.destyonline.com/online-marketing-is-a-must-for-any-business/ Any business owner that has a lick of sense will tell you that marketing is a tricky business. Whole departments are dedicated to it. You can study it in college for four (or more) years to get a degree. You can take the following statement to the bank:

Your business lives or dies by its marketing strategy.

That statement is true for all businesses, offline or online. Online businesses have a greater task in their marketing. Like it or not, online marketing is still in its infancy. While the World Wide Web appears to be everywhere and on the cutting edge, there are two limitations that people just don’t realize when thinking about marketing.

  1. The majority of the world’s population is still offline. According to comScore Networks 771 million people over the age of 15 used the Internet in May 2007. Based off of a world population of 6.6 billion people, that’s only over 11.6% of the world online. From January 2006 to January 2007 these numbers increased by 10%. World population growth and the percentage of that population that goes online both show continued signs of growth.
  2. Technology and context change instantly online. Facebook and mySpace did not exist 5 years ago; now you couldn’t imagine that they didn’t exist. Yahoo! used to be the 800-pound gorilla when it came to search engines; Google reigns supreme now, with Yahoo! trailing in 3rd behind MSN. Trends, what’s hot, and what’s popular change in the blink of an eye. What’s the rage today, for sure, won’t be tomorrow.

To get your business noticed online, your marketing must be ahead of the curve, not playing catch up. In order to do that, you need to be dedicated to your online marketing. When I say dedicated, I mean, focused on what the search engines are saying about you, and how they’re saying it. This is where SEO comes into play. Read 100 different sites about SEO and you’ll get 100 different opinions about SEO. Which of those 100 opinions are correct? Who knows?

Your best bet is to get professional help with your SEO and your online marketing. I don’t mean buying some book. You need to outsource your online marketing needs to people whose only job is to stay current on online marketing trends and keep your business current as well. An example of one such company is Discount Click.

Discount Click offers a comprehensive online marketing service. They offer search engine optimization services, link popularity campaigns, SEO self-service tools, ad management services, and email list management and processing. Discount Click allows you to focus your attention on building your business while they take care of making sure your online presence is effective and taking full advantage of all the perks that being online allows.

Whatever method or strategy you use for your online marketing, it must be serious.  If you don’t take the online marketing of your business serious, then, really, what’s the point of being online?

This is a sponsored review

---
Related Articles at Desty Online -- Online and Offline Businesses, Online Marketing:


]]> http://www.destyonline.com/online-marketing-is-a-must-for-any-business/feed/