Archive for August, 2009

New Domainers Alert: Namecheap Domain Coupon Code for August

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

My favorite domain registrar, namecheap, released their August discount coupon code. Regular price for a domain is around 9.92, but with the coupon code, you pay only around 8 dollars and a few cents. August’s coupon code for new domains is SOLARSEA. What I love about Namecheap is the ease of use. I buy domain names there and then host them on my server. Read below to find out how you can host your Namecheap domains on your own host.

Steps to Making the Most of Your Namecheap Account

1. Sign up for free and then search for your domain name on Namecheap.com. If it’s available, get it! Use the bulk domain search function to search for more domains simultaneously.

2. Host your Namecheap Domain on Your server. Once you buy the domain, it will appear on your list (see My Account -> Manage Domains tab). Click on the domain name and look for “domain name server set up” on the left panel menu. Place the nameservers your host gave you (on your hosting cpanel, click on ‘add domains” if your hosting package allows multiple domain hosting) on the first and second lines.

Example: for Bluehost accounts, you have to point the nameservers to your domain first by following the instructions above before you can add the domain to your bluehost server.

3. If you want to give away a domain name you purchased on Namecheap, it’s easy! Just click on the domain name on your list and look for “push this domain” on your left navigation menu. Your friend (or a contest winner on your blog) must give you his namecheap username so you can push the domain to him.

Once again, if you want to buy more domain names through Namecheap this August, August’s coupon code for new domains is SOLARSEA..

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How Affiliate Bloggers Earn More Than “Hobby” Bloggers

Monday, August 17th, 2009

If you’re like me, you must have dabbled in affiliate marketing even when your blog has served only as a reservoir for your thoughts. The idea to try being an “affiliate blogger” must have come to you after you studied your stats on google analytics and realized that your blog can attract search engine traffic. This means your hard work is paying off. You have something on your blog that gives value to people looking for good information on a particular niche.

This means a lot to you because you can earn more from your blog. Maybe you’ve had some luck putting up ad banners and invitations to advertise, but there are times when you simply wish you can create an active income stream without relying on passive means to earn.

The clear solution is Affiliate Marketing. And here are the steps you need to take before you can start earning off affiliate income and commissions.

1. Join a very good affiliate marketplace, particularly one with a stellar track record when it comes to giving affiliate commissions. Here are some examples:

  • Shareasale and Neverblueads for getting commissions referring people to companies selling tangible goods and brand name consumer products
  • Clickbank for digital products like self-help ebooks on every conceivable niche, and software.

2. Find a good way to redirect or cloak your affiliate links. There are several ways of doing this…

  • Free methods include link shrinking sites like tinyurl and biturl. The resulting URL does not look professional, but it will do the trick. Here’s an example: this tiny’d URL redirects to my ninja link cloaker affiliate link
  • Free but labor-intensive. Manually uploading an html file with your affiliate link. First you have to learn how to create an HTML file, then you have to make sure you upload it on your server via your cpanel files. Here’s an example, my SR affiliate link.
  • Free wordpress plugins that can redirect your links. Just do a search on your add-plugin menu and look for link cloakers or redirect plugins. The problem with free plugins is that you don’t really know whether there’s a bug or not, and it’s pretty embarrassing to pester the plugin author with support questions considering you didn’t pay anything to use his plugin.
  • Paid Wordpress affiliate link manager plugin, the Maxblogpress Ninja Affiliate Link Manager. Nothing to learn, just paste your affiliate codes and create your cloaked URLs on your admin panel. This is helpful if you have more than 3 blogs you use for affiliate marketing. The best thing about it is you can track the number of clickthroughs for each link, and you can bug the Maxblogpress customer support people if something isn’t right.

For hobby bloggers out there using self-hosted wordpress, learning affiliate marketing tricks like these will make sure that you have a source of income so you can pay for next year’s hosting fees.

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Get One Year Free Hosting – If You Hurry (Ends Aug 31)

Friday, August 7th, 2009

If you’re serious about earning online in the next couple of years, you know you need to set up your website in your own server, by getting a hosting plan you control. If you share the same belief, then you’re going to like 1&1’s latest offer…

HOT 12 Months FREE Web Hosting Offer. Insane 1&1 Internet August Special. One Year Free Hosting Deal Ends August 31st!

This is applicable for the second shared 1&1 package, which includes 2 free domains (free for life as long as you host with them) and larger web hosting space compared to the ‘beginner package’. Now you might be asking “what makes this 1-year-free promotion special?”

1. You can use the two free domains to set up different business models.

The first domain can be your blog, and the second can be an affiliate site. The best thing about this deal is that you can test drive both ideas for one year before the hosting meter starts to officially run. If you’re on the fence about this, try availing of 2-year plans elsewhere and check the price tag. Right now, getting another domain means you can set up another blog that isn’t hosted in a free server and have another revenue stream (monetize with SR, RM and CB)

2. Think of it as paying for hosting every two months, or paying half of the regular monthly price for 2 years.

You’re renting space online every month so you have an “overhead” cost to think about monthly. This means your blog or affiliate website has to earn higher than that amount monthly to cover the overhead and to show profit. Now, with this plan, you can ease that pressure slightly because the “rent” is cheaper.

3. You can finally own your “own name” domain

Because there are 2 free domains included, you can use one to get a keyword rich domain name, and you can use the other one to own a site that has your name on it. It’s no secret that we would rather prioritize the “earning” site than something that is truly ours. Now if you have an extra domain you can use for anything, you can finally put up a portfolio page that you can link to if you work as a freelancer on elance and getafreelancer.

Here’s how you avail of this offer until Aug 31: Click this special promo link and order the “1&1 Home Package” 24-month minimum contract term ($4.99 setup fee).

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