September 2008

Oh boy, it looks like we have an update on the Sitemeter Sucks Saga.  Earlier they decided to do an “upgrade” to their stats system which has led to a mass exodus to better services like Stat Counter.  I signed up for StatCounter and so far it seems to be doing the job.  I’m sure there are other services that are just as good and just as reliable as StatCounter… other services EXCEPT SiteMeter.

Now they are trying to apologize.  Sorry, SiteMeter… too little, too late.  So, now that they see they are losing money they can roll back to the old system?  Right.  SiteMeter, please get a clue.  You made a LOT of people angry when you screwed up a couple months ago and caused everyone’s blogs to go down.  Now you do this and expect us to welcome you back with open arms?

I don’t think so.  I actually paid for your services for awhile, but cancelled that after all of my blogs went down.

Did I get a credit for the hassle, inconvenience and lost revenue because someone over there made a stupid mistake?  Nope.

It would take a lot for me to go back to SiteMeter.  If they gave me a year credit for their premium services AND a personal apology, I might consider it.  Problem is they’ve burned me one too many times and I really DON’T TRUST SITEMETER anymore.

So, SiteMeter….. YOU’RE FIRED!

Anyway, just had to vent…. if anyone would like to recommend a good stats service, please leave a comment below.

P.S. If bored, check out this Google search for Sitemeter Sucks.

Like many bloggers, I have been using SiteMeter’s free counter service for quite awhile now.  A couple months ago they had an outage, which brought down thousands of blogs.  Now they have “improved” their services and people aren’t very happy about it:

5XMom.com - “Sitemeter has changed its format and it sucks! Whatever happened to those stats? Plus it takes a million years to get the information.”

TechNudge - “As you can see if you click the image, it’s turned into a steaming pile of useless crap.”

AftNews - “I have also paid accounts at sitemeter. Probably i’ll cancel them.  Even statcounter is better than new sitemeter.”

I’m TOTALLY DONE with SiteMeter.  Once a site starts acting assinine like eBay, I’m done.  Another reason to leave them is I don’t trust them.  Does anyone ever stop to think about what they are doing with all of that search data?  Hmm…. I’m sure it isn’t helping you, that’s for sure.

Goodbye Sitemeter.  For those interested, here’s a link providing some alternatives to SiteMeter.

Here’s another cool application for your iPhone - RulerPhone, an app which turns your iPhone into a measuring tape!

The application takes a picture of a credit card sized item and uses it as a point of reference to measure just about anything - furniture, windows, doors, doorways, cabinets, etc.

RulerPhone can take accurate measurements of objects ranging from a few inches to well over 10 feet.  I found a more in depth video review of this application, which you can watch below.

Click Here to Buy RulerPhone

Click Here to Buy RulerPhone

If you love steaks and want to order Omaha Steaks online, then you might also want a coupon code or two to go along with your order. I did a bit of searching and here are a few places to get codes so you can get that discount you’ve been looking for. Mmmm…. steaks. Yuuummmm.

RetailMeNot Omaha Steaks Coupon Codes

If you have an Omaha Steaks store near where you live, be sure to see their In Store Coupons here.

You can also buy the Supreme Sampler and receive up to 62% off your purchase.

Well, I’ve about had it with NOT making money online.  I’ve had many ups and have made halfway decent money online, but somehow a wrench always gets thrown into the system and I have to start all over again.  A recent wrench has screwed up my income, so I’ve decided once and for all I’m going to try to uncover the “secrets” of making money online with affiliate marketing.

I’ve messed around with this a little bit, but it always seems like 99.9% of the offers are really scammy looking.  Some offers look like they were created in 1995.  So, I assumed that as horrible as the ads looked there was no way they could work.

I read a few money making blogs including ShoeMoney, John Chow and Zac Johnson.  But a recent discovery I made was CPA Share, a blog run by a 16 year old dude that makes SIX FIGURES A MONTH!  This has been a nice slap in the face and a wake up call at the same time.  It’s always good to hear stories like this if you ever need a wake up call to take action.

It seems like the common theme many of these blogs have is that the majority of the money they make comes from affiliate marketing.  Sometimes there’s shroud of mystery trying to figure out exactly what they do to make money, but I’m taking a wild guess that it goes something like this:

1 - Sign up on an affiliate network
2 - Pick out an offer that seems to be performing well
3 - Build a landing page
4 - Buy Google ads pointing to that landing page
5 - Convert that traffic into money

Ok, so I probably sound like a total noob at this, and yes… I am… sort of.  I have been on MaxBounty for several months now, but am not even close to six figures a month.  I’m at the low 3 figures a month though!  Anyway, I’m going to begin my journey into this affiliate marketing stuff and test it out and try to get to $1,000 a month as my first goal.  I’ll be really conservative about this and set a deadline to reach this by December 31, 2008.

That’s all for now.  I’m doing some research and after some polling am going to list the best affiliate networks to join.  There are so many out there, it’s hard to tell where to start.  In my next installment, I’ll try taking a closer look at networks such as Commission Junction, Pepperjam, NeverblueAds, Rocket Profit, Market Leverage and a slew of others.

I’ll try my hardest not to look like one of the countless other make money online sites with a hundred million ads slapped up everywhere.  Or… maybe not.