Karlonia.com

About two weeks ago, I read an income report from another blogger at DuckelDanny.com who claims to have made $374 last month with an advertising network called Chitika. After looking through the archives at DuckelDanny, I am still somewhat skeptical of the claim. This other blog has only half the number of posts that Karlonia does, and most of his posts have less content. Judging by the content, keywords, and Alexa rank, it’s probably receiving less traffic than this blog does as well. But I am only generating about $50 per month from AdSense even after placing units on the high search engine traffic pages and receiving a relatively high CTR on them.

Nevertheless, I am always on the lookout for better blog monetization options, so I applied for the Chitika program and managed to get approved. Here is the official email notification:

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The paid survey site Your2Cents.com sent out a rare email update today notifying us that they have upgraded their check processing system and also will be sending us more survey opportunities in the future. I have been a member here since 2005; so far they have been reliable about payments but the rewards per survey are fairly small, usually in the $1-5 range. Occasionally I have seen survey offers for up to $20 but these are less common. There is also a $5,000 sweepstakes giveaway that is held every quarter (3 months) where one winner is chosen by a random drawing.

Currently I have $17 in the kitty with this program, so I’m eligible to redeem this balance and receive another payment. I just might do this soon so that I can post the check image and make another payment proof post. Meanwhile, here is the actual text of the update, along with a few paragraphs of my opinions and commentary placed below:

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Earlier this month, article publishing site Triond released its August newsletter by email to its membership. Most newsletters of this type typically do not hold much interest for non-members because they usually focus almost exclusively on site updates or self-promotion. However, I am republishing this one because it contains some information that may be useful for article publishers and bloggers who are trying to maintain a professional quality site. In particular, the sections on successful subjects, dealing with images, and enhancing content quality may be of interest to beginners in the blogging or article writing genres.

It’s the last month of the summer vacation, so it’s your last chance to travel to exotic places, host a beach barbecue, or engage in your favorite leisure activity – and then write about it on Triond! Read on for this month’s exciting updates.

In This Issue

1. Triond Toolbar for Firefox
2. Profile Skins
3. Beyond Jane Launched
4. Successful Subjects to Write About
5. Give Credit To Image Sources
6. Embed Photos in Your How-To Articles
7. Block Users
8. How to Enhance the Quality of Your Content
9. Stay Updated

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This week was mostly uneventful, with the usual rejection letter and cell phone queries topping the list of pages receiving search traffic. Near the end of the week, my page on Ask BigNews picked up some unexpected traffic from StumbleUpon, indicating that someone probably gave it a recent vote even though the page was originally submitted by an Entrecard member back in February.

Interestingly, I have noticed that Stumble traffic has a much lower bounce rate than search traffic or any other type of traffic that I have received so far. This means that Stumblers are more likely to click on links to other pages of the site than other visitors, which is generally a good thing because it means that they are probably reading at least a portion of my articles. Unfortunately, most of what I have read indicates that Stumblers do not like to click on AdSense or other types of ads, which means that this traffic is not very profitable from a monetization standpoint.

Meanwhile, here are the next batch of answerable queries, most of them held over from last week. I have also been saving up a batch of computer-related queries that I will deal with eventually, perhaps in a dedicated post or separate articles, but many of these require further research in order to provide adequate answers for them.

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Although most of the lessons in our English usage series thus far have focused on homonyms and homophones, after doing some keyword research earlier today I discovered that many of you have been searching for information on the correct usage of different kinds of punctuation marks. The correct use of apostrophes is one of the most popular, but since I have already covered this, we will move on to the next most popular in terms of search volume, which is “correct use of colon.”

It turns out that the colon actually has a significant number of uses, which I will describe below followed by an example of each. Afterward, I will briefly deal with other uses of the word colon that do not involve its use as a punctuation mark. The purpose of this is to clear up any confusion that readers may have about the word, also known as disambiguation.

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These world quotes from people ranging from philosophers to business leaders provide an overview of different perspectives on the human condition and our overall environment. Since my last collection on 100 Quotes About Power has been somewhat of a disappointment so far in terms of popularity, I have shortened the list to 50 this time in the hopes that people will be more likely to read through the list and possibly add their own relevant sayings in the comment section.

• The world of poetry, mythology, and religion represents the world as a man would like to have it, while science represents the world as he gradually comes to discover it. — Joseph Krutch
• To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. — author unknown
• Einstein said that if quantum mechanics is right, then the world is crazy. Well Einstein was right. The world is crazy. — Daniel Greenberger
• Since periods of great change such as the present one come so rarely in human history, it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier world. — Dalai Lama
• The world is more malleable than you think and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape. — Paul David Hewson
• I just started to see the world as it really is and it completely shocked me and changed my opinion on everything… on life and my values and certainly my own sense of self. — Angelina Jolie
• The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. — Karl Marx
• The world has entered a new era, evolving from an industrial into a knowledge-based society, and into a society that wants to live in harmony with nature. — Minoru Mori
• Man’s destiny was to conquer and rule the world, and this is what he’s done - almost. He hasn’t quite made it, and it looks as though this may be his undoing. The problem is that man’s conquest of the world has itself devastated the world. And in spite of all the mastery we’ve attained, we don’t have enough mastery to stop devastating the world, or to repair the devastation we’ve already wrought. — Daniel Quinn
• Philanthropy is all about making a positive difference in the world by devoting your resources and your time to causes you believe in. In my case, I like to support causes where “a lot of good comes from a little bit of good,” or, in other words, where the positive social returns vastly exceed the amount of time and money invested. — Jeff Skoll

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E-commerce giant Amazon.com announced to their affiliates this week that the company is launching a new section of its website called Amazon Green, a multi-category program that integrates several different kinds of environmentally friendly products into a single shopping interface. Earlier today I had a chance to check out the product listings, which feature an eclectic mix of items ranging from toilet tissue made from post-consumer recycled paper to a bicycle for commuters called “Iron Horse Transit”. Energy-related items such as compact fluorescent bulbs and relatively inexpensive solar panels are also included.

For those of us who are trying to make money from Amazon’s affiliate program, this provides us with an opportunity to showcase a pre-selected subset of their product line that can be targeted toward environmentally conscious consumers. If you would like to check out the products yourself, simply click on one of the banners in this post to view the main Amazon Green page. Meanwhile, I have reprinted the email text of the announcement to Amazon associates below.

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Smart business owners plan for growth. In this tutorial article by Angela Baca, you will learn you can never spend too much time planning and managing your company. You’ll look at how securing cash through internal controls is an important consideration for a growing business. As your business reaches new limits, you will be encouraged to step up your management and planning strategies.

One way to improve business management is to create better controls for your company finances. If your operation involves collecting cash (either physically or electronically), more sophisticated controls are needed. First, think about how you can analyze your operations. What kinds of payments do you accept? What kinds of security features do you use for each transaction? How secure are your methods? These questions and others are important to design controls that fit the current dimensions of your business.

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Nearly everyone who is connected to the Internet has an e-mail address. It’s the new way to communicate and receive what is now known as “snail mail” in a much shorter amount of time. However, due to this relative convenience, we sometimes send and receive things we probably shouldn’t. This article by April Aragam provides four tips for keeping your e-mail manners up to date.

1. Do not send too many forwards

There are few people who actually enjoy receiving these. Most of the time they are repeats going around and around, year after year. We all have many e-mails to sift through each day as it is, so please don’t make it any harder for others.

If you receive forwards and wish they would just stop, don’t be afraid to ask your friend or family member to cease and desist. Politely say that they are more than welcome to e-mail you anytime, but you’d rather not receive unnecessary forwards. People forget that when they send forwards they not only contain your e-mail address, but that of possibly hundreds of other people who have received the same message before. This is a sure-fire way to get even more e-mail that does not interest you because everyone who sees that message now has access to your e-mail address.

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This recipe for deviled eggs is one that has remained in our family and has been passed down through oral tradition for at least four generations. Until very recently, it had never been written down with any standardized ingredient lists or procedures until I discovered that there were significant numbers of people searching for deviled eggs recipes. A few days ago, my mother prepared it as a side dish for one of our dinners, and this time we paid attention to exact amounts and preparation methods so that the recipe could be officially recorded and published.

The secret ingredient is the sugar, which helps to bring out the flavor and increase the pleasant taste of the other ingredients. We always add at least one teaspoon, but more may be added to suit individual tastes.

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This Sunday was the end of the first full week in which I have been able to test the Google Analytics tool and use this data to select the favorite search queries for this series of posts. Although the overall traffic numbers seem to be a little lower than what FireStats was reporting, the data is presented in a better fashion and there is more of it to look at and analyze than there was under the old FireStats system. The only major exception is that I cannot seem to view individual IP addresses with Google Analytics; however, simply being able to see a combined tally of each day’s search visitors instead of having to manually count each query probably more than makes up for this.

can having crumbs on the floor cause ants — While they do not really “cause” ants directly, having crumbs of food on the floor is one of the factors that can attract ants into your house. Keeping spilled crumbs off the floor and kitchen countertop areas is a good preventive measure against future ant problems.

is it possible to change your wordpress url — Yes, you can change the URL of any WordPress post by changing the “Post Slug” from your writing interface. Remember to separate words with hyphens - this will become the text at the end of the URL that is created when you publish the post. It is also possible to change the permalink format, which will change the URL for all posts.

what foods need to be taken to cure scurvy — Eating any food that contains vitamin C can prevent or cure scurvy. Most fruits and vegetables seem to work pretty well, although you can always use vitamin supplements if you are not sure.

is it correct to use “an”? — Yes, as long as it is used as an article before a noun that begins with a vowel sound (this is not necessarily an actual vowel). Otherwise, use a instead of an if the noun begins with a consonant sound.

will ron paul be on presidential ballot — Unfortunately no, at least not for the general election. However, you can still vote for the Libertarian Bob Barr, who seems to be the next best candidate.

why would atm machine eat card — Some machines do this as a kind of security feature if the user fails to enter the correct PIN after a certain number of attempts (usually three). It is also possible for an ATM to simply malfunction and fail to return the card after the transaction is completed.

which hyip sites are legitimate? — The notion of a legitimate HYIP is much like the idea of a necessary pork barrel program or a progressive tax; it’s essentially an oxymoron. In practice, none of the HYIP sites are really legitimate for serious investment purposes. However, if you know how to play this particular game, it is possible to make money from short term speculative plays.

what kind of rice do you use to fix your cell — The rice should be uncooked and as dry as possible so that it can draw moisture out of the phone. As far as I know, the exact brand of rice does not make much of a difference.