SE Conspiracy

Update: Hmm… Unfortunately, it look like this isn’t going to send any traffic, so I will probably end up canceling my subscription. I am promoting “ShrinkTheWeb” -which is a low-traffic niche, so it’s possible that another site might do better. :-/

### Original Post ###

I don’t usually post stuff like this and this is not a paid sponsorship, but I just visited “Best of the Web” today and saw that they are offering a 60-day free trial (credit card or paypal required and $49.95/month if you don’t cancel).

I have seen this directory many times before, but I decided against sponsoring a category since I could judge how effective it would be. Now, I can get an idea for free for two months. Within that time, I can see that it’s worth it or I can cancel.

This directory has a lot of traffic, so it’s worth a try. If you’re interested, here’s a link:

Learn more about Best of the Web!

I have spent more than 100 hours going back and forth with some of my hosting customers on some of my servers, ThePlanet, spamlist databases, et cetera.

The basic problem is that all email on certain blocks of IPs assigned to some of my servers have been going straight to spam. They are listed in spam databases and no matter how much effort I expended to get them removed, nothing was helping.

This issue has been going on since January of this year, 2008. ThePlanet’s support constantly shrugged off my complaints and tickets by saying it wasn’t their problem that I was listed in spam databases –regardless of the fact that I have NEVER spammed.

Ok, I could buy that. I talked to the spam databases, spent $600 to a dedicated email service provider, spent more than 100 hours building in safeguards, SPF records, and the list goes on and on. In the end, I still saw that 10%-15% of my (and my affected customers) email was still going to spam.

Today, however, I have discovered WHY. And, what do you know? It IS ThePlanet’s problem and fault after all!

Here’s what happened:

I was assigned a couple of new blocks of IPs late last year when I upgraded three(3) of my servers to faster, more powerful servers. What I *assumed* was that I was being assigned a clean block of IPs. I believe that ThePlanet has a policy to request removal of IPs from spam databases (also known as RBLs) before re-assigning (because none were listed when I first got them), but they do not remove the reverse DNS entries that got them listed in the first place!

And that, folks, is the kicker.

Even though none of my customers were sending spam, those who were on the IPs with reverse DNS of known spam domains were still getting tagged as spam –as if they were still the old domain. That was killing my reputation -as you can imagine. I lost hosting customers over this -as they could not afford the reputation or lost credibility of being labeled a spammer -which I completely understand.

Now that I know the heart of the issue, I have had the reverse DNS removed and the spamlists I’ve been in contact with assure me that this is the remaining factor in getting my IP block off their block lists.

I have demanded that ThePlanet puts in place a “Reverse DNS Cleaning” procedure before assigning us any new IP blocks, and I have demanded a refund for my wasted time, lost income, and additional expenses in this matter.

I hope they will improve on this point in the very near future.

In short, if you have your own dedicated servers and have trouble with your emails going to spam folders, be sure that you do not have lingering reverse DNS entries for domains you do not host.

Orphaned reverse DNS entries could be making all the difference!

p.s. Please note, however, that accurate reverse DNS entries can HELP your spam score. So, please take the time to set them up whenever possible.

It IS possible to make money online, but this is a business that is deteriorating quickly.

I am not referring so much to running companies with a unique product or service but more to those that look to the Internet as a way to earn a living online -i.e. affiliate marketing.

Making money online was very likely for years up until just a few years ago. Now, there are so many people flocking to the Internet and trying their hand at affiliate marketing that this flood has begun to wash out profits of those like myself.

Deadbeat companies that take your leads and then don’t pay have become more and more prevalent and even when they do pay, they lower their payout without warning in some cases or they simply do not track all of your sales.

Case in point: tonight, I was trying to figure out why a program I was promoting and spent considerable time and money to promote last week all of a sudden stopped making money. It turns out that the affiliate consolidator no longer offers that program. They just removed it without warning and now they redirect to some other program. That is just shady. What’s worse is that I sent an email to one of my targeted lists of 25,000+ people letting them know that they could join this great (really is) program and now I look like an idiot because the link takes them somewhere else. Nice.

Making money online now takes place mostly with unscrupulous marketers lying to “newbies” about how much money they can earn online. These big-time marketers all rely on the buddy-buddy system to promote their programs and establish credibility with unsuspecting hopefuls. In the end, though, all they are selling is a $49.95-$149.95 book of lies. There may be 2-3 good tips hidden away in their package of reading materials but mostly their tips are out-of-date and ineffective or promise to take advantage of some incredible trend -such as social networking- which sounds great to the average “joe” hoping to earn a living online.

Unfortunately, in the end, these people get duped for hundreds or thousands of dollars and -in many cases- the “tools” they are sold are nothing more than SPAM utilities and email harvesters.

That’s right! One of the BIG reasons there has been such an increase in spam over the past few years is because of these so-called Internet gurus who convince “newbies” that it is ok to send an email to someone who puts their email on their website or lists their real email as the owner of their domain. However, this is still spam in most cases. I have very rarely seen when an offer sent to harvested emails was truly interesting, helpful, and relevant.

• Spammers have made email marketing very tough -to say the least.
• Scammers have made it tough to know which sales are real.
• Hackers are a constant headache in keeping a website online.

In short, it is a cut-throat market online. I know, because I’ve been making money online for nearly a decade and I single-handedly earned more than $10,000 per month from my efforts up until just 3 short years ago. Nowadays, insiders at Google and DMOZ have worked really hard to crush anyone’s website that starts to do well. I have always obeyed the “rules” of white-hat SEO when it comes to my main websites and all I was rewarded with in the end were Pagerank ZERO websites and less than 100 visitors per month –when there are still spam results in all search engines for my target niches.

Making money online can be done but it is rife with peril and becomes a full-time job to avoid the pitfalls and unethical businesses/people. I think it will be interesting to see if the influx of “newbies” looking to earn money online will overcome the fact that millions of others have failed and supported lavish lifestyles for Internet gurus simply willing to sell someone a bogus, hyped dream. Only time will tell.

Since it wouldn’t be of much use for me to lay out the bad without offering suggestions, here’s a few of the things that make the big boys (self-proclaimed Internet gurus) their money:

• They spend thousands of dollars attending conferences to network.
• They build big-hype programs offering high commissions.
• They have money from people they dupe to spend on making allies.

So, those looking to make money online should have good social skills, like to party, have some money to throw away at first, and have something unique to bring to the table. Otherwise, those people will probably end up making only a few hundred dollars per month in income. The latter path is the one most people end up taking.

Note to newbies: If you are a newbie looking to make money online, you should be aware that most “free” and “helpful” articles (like this one) tend to only offer helpful tips on getting started if they are being paid to promote a program. That is biased marketing and is very common in the online world.

The ideas you are about to read are not affiliate links and are not paid advertisements or paid text links. This is truly valuable and insightful information on how I continue to make a living online in this volatile marketplace.

Many of the links I provide below can easily be made affiliate links so that I make money when you click or buy, but then those so-called “gurus” would call me out to be no better than them. So, to avoid being grouped with them, I forgo the opportunity to earn referrals but some examples are my own companies (noted beside, in each case).

So, to avoid this post being nothing more than a “venting topic”, I will end on some ways that many people (myself included) still manage to eek out a living online:

OPTION 1: Build your own website(s)

1. Learn a little bit of HTML skill and be able to build a website
   1. HTML: http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
   2. CSS: http://www.w3schools.com/css/
      
2. Buy a web design software program (such as Dreamweaver)
   1. http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/
      
3. Save money by getting a cheap or free template to start out
   1. http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com
   2. http://www.templatemonster.com
4. Find a reputable, quality web hosting company
   1. http://www.imagion.com ($6.95/month paid annually)
      *I can only feel comfortable recommending my own company here

OPTION 2: Avoid headaches of web design and hosting by using a blog

1. I use wordpress and have been very impressed so far.
   1. http://www.wordpress.com
   2. Free signup or download to host your own blog (like I do)
      *Benefit of hosting your own blog is building traffic to your site
      

NEXT STEPS: Promote Something and/or Build Traffic

1. Sign up for a wide variety of affiliate programs (better variety)
   1. For example: http://www.cj.com (commission junction)
   2. Listing of more affiliate network programs (one of my sites)
      *uses affiliate links but there aren’t any better listings
2. Target your market. Use free services to pick profitable niches
   1. Free keyword search tool: http://inventory.overture.com
      *gives idea of terms searched in a month (i.e. potential buyers)
   2. There are other tools available too. Some free; some not. Search.
3. Fill your websites/blog with unique, valuable, and helpful content.
4. Continue to add to and update your site/blog as often as possible
   *fresh, new content attracts new visitors and builds audience

Pick niche markets that you are familiar with or that you are interested in learning about. If you simply throw up a site with links, you will earn about $2 per month (with Google ads or promoting programs). It’s not worth it. Instead, try to become a trusted expert on something and you will make quite a bit more!

As a last minute note, I should acknowledge that there is quite a large audience of people looking to make money online who do not want a website at all. It can be done, but it won’t yield a tremendous income. However, it can earn a decent side income.

For instance, several members of my “Get Paid Hwy Forum” earn several hundreds per month from completing surveys online and playing games. Here’s a link to some of the programs that members have reported as high quality and -more importantly- paying: GPT Programs that PAY.

And finally, here’s a list of revenue-sharing forums (mine is included) that will help you earn commissions on clicks from Google Adsense ads or Yahoo Publisher ads just for making helpful posts and participating. This is a good way to earn a little bit for being helpful and not have to bother with a website at all.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and I hope that I have helped steer you away from the fraudsters and more into the right direction for success!

Best regards,

Brandon

I have finally had a chance to improve this service beyond the reach of any other website thumbnail generator service in the world (at least for now). This, I have accomplished by adding two major upgrades:

1. Full-length Thumbnails
2. Custom-sized Thumbnails

Here’s an example of a regular thumbnail:

And now, here’s an example of a full-length thumbnail:

It looks like ShrinkTheWeb may end up really changing the way webmasters design their websites. I have gotten so much great feedback and kudos that I think this is really something now. I’m just pleased that people are enjoying the service, because I only did this in response to someone telling me it was impossible to do the way I wanted and because Alexa Thumbnails was costing me too much.

If you are a web designer or hobbyist webmaster, check out my free website thumbnail generator service.

Ciao,

Brandon