Yes, you heard right…I think I am over Twitter. Why?…well for a number of reasons actually but read on…

When Twitter first started to become popular I went in and created an account for one of my niche blogs but at the time I really couldn’t understand what it was all about let alone what the point of it was. But Twitter got even more popular so I persevered and created Twitter accounts for most of our websites including this one (@affiliateblogon).

But even after using it for some time, for the life of me, I really can’t see the appeal of Twitter in terms of a form of communication.  It really is both clumsy and inefficient…BUT it seems to work for a hell of a lot of people to promote whatever it is they are promoting. So the inefficiency of this networking tool is forgotten in the rush to get as many followers as possible in order to make as much money as possible.

Okay I can accept that…I am in the business of making money online too so I understand the thinking here. Unfortunately however, in my view, Twitter is starting to become one big spammy piece of junk.

Just take my own followers for instance which, as I write this post, are up around the 1150 mark…not too bad I suppose except when you consider that a large number of people are getting tens of thousands of followers with some having followers numbering in the millions  – my 1150 followers now starts to look a bit shabby in comparison.

Of that 1150, I follow about 800 or so and out of that, probably a handful actually Tweet live – the rest have preprogrammed Tweets  in place that go up on a regular basis throughout the day. Some even repeat the same posts over and over so they might have the same 10 tweets go up every day. The majority of those tweets are 140 characters of promotional garbage…the rest are quotes or retweets of someone elses garbage , so that only a small number of those left are actually worth looking at.

I also find that once you are following more than a couple hundred people it is almost impossible to keep up with the number of incoming tweets so it becomes almost redundant if you truly want to keep up with what someone has to say.

Now some of you are probably thinking why I just don’t unfollow them…and I’d have to agree with you. This has been in my thoughts for the past week or so but I also have this almost warped thinking that says if you unfollow them, they will unfollow you and then you will be back to only a couple hundred followers…and as it appears that everyone is using Twitter I might get left behind by not keeping up with it all.

I mean, a celebrity can afford to not follow anyone and still get thousands of followers but anyone else needs to work for it. This means following people, tweeting appropriately, retweeting and  generally just chatting to people you are interested in chatting to. It’s not difficult by any means but it can take up a lot of time and I am wondering is it really worth it…maybe I need to get to 10,000 followers in order to answer that question.

Others reading this might also say that I should be following those in the same niche – in other words, grab people who are interested in what you have to say…stick with quality not quantity. Actually, that is what I have been doing but unfortunately my niche is all about making money online and that does tend to attract spammers. So what looks like quality ends up  being someone who just sends out promotional tweets to get you to sign up for something or go to their recommended site if I want to get more followers!

When it comes down to it, and to be totally honest, I am really only following someone to get them to follow me…that is my total motivation for using Twitter. It doesn’t sound right does it? I am not sure whether my thinking needs to change or whether I just need to go with the flow and do what the majority of people are doing and just keep working at getting more followers.

Now you can see my dilemma – although I am over Twitter  I can see the potential in this rather clumsy system.

So despite this blog post I am not giving up on Twitter and I am trying to stay positive about it. I am going to see where it goes – my thinking is that it can only get better with more followers and I hope to come back in a few months time and say how wrong I was and that Twitter made a real difference in my affiliate business.

Even so at this point I am more disullusioned with the amount of spam on there than anything else and I know that at some point I am going to do a mass unfollow and stick with a handful of people whose tweets I really want to read…in other words, use Twitter as it was intended to be used.

Stay tuned…

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Some time back we were having trouble with one of our blogs losing its search rankings and we decided that maybe it was because Google didn’t like the number of affiliate links on the site. We had an affiliate link on just about every blog post and some blog posts had more than one.

So we decided that one way of solving this was to add the nofollow tag to each affiliate link. I’m not really sure whether this did the trick or not as a number of other factors came into play at the time to boost our rankings again but even so we continue to add nofollow as normal practice each time we add an affiliate link.

For those who at this point are wondering what the hec nofollow is, take a look at our detailed blog post on this subject – What is dofollow and nofollow?

So how do you go about adding nofollow to an affiliate link?

There are two ways actually. The first is a manual approach and the second automatic…well probably not totally automatic but it is a bit easier than the manual method.

Manual Method

This method is quite simple but does involve you playing around with the code. Now I am going to assume that you have already had a play around with HTML code at some point otherwise you probably wouldn’t know how to add the code for your affiliate links. If you are new to WordPress however you may be wondering just where the code is hidden.

In WordPress it is found under the HTML tab. So when you are typing a blog post look up a little and you will see the HTML tab sitting just above the text box to the right.

Once you click on that tab you will see all the HTML code for the post your are writing. This is where you can insert the code for your affiliate links.

Now that you have found the code you need to add the nofollow tag. Locate your affiliate link code in the html and then insert the nofollow tag which is rel=”nofollow”  just after the url. So it will look something like this:

<a href=”http://www.afflilatesite.com?AID=12345″ rel=”nofollow”>Text Goes Here</a>

The affiliate code may look a bit different to the above but just look for the http link in the code and pop your nofollow tag just after it.

Automatic Method

This method I like because I don’t have to play around with the code. This involves using a plugin called TinyMCE Advanced.  To upload this plugin to your WordPress blog take the following steps:

1. Click on Plugins–>Add New from the left hand side menu bar on your WordPress Dasboard. This may be in a different location depending on the version of WordPress you are using so you may need to look around for it. If you have a really old version of WordPress then you will need to upload the TinyMCE plugin using a program like Filezilla.

2. In the search field type in ‘tinymce’ and click Search Plugins. The TinyMce Advanced plugin will most likely be the first one in the list of results but if not, just take a look down the list until you see it.

3. Once you have find it in the list click the INSTALL link on the right hand side of the screen. This will install and activate the plugin for you.

4. The plugin will now be displayed in your menu on the left hand side of your dashboard. Scroll down and you will find it listed under the Settings option. If you can’t see it then the plugin probably isn’t activiated. If so, click on Plugins—>Installed and you will see the plugin in the list on that page. Simply click the Activate link to activate it.

5. You can go in and configure it if you like as TinyMCE has a lot of cool features but for the sake of what we are trying to achieve here you really don’t need to.

So now that you have installed the plugin you are ready to use it. To do this you simply click on the ADD NEW post link and start creating a post. You then add an affiliate link in your post which will display as a hyperlink – something like this –> Buy an Ipod.

Highlight that link with your mouse and then click on the Insert/edit Link icon on your tool bar just above your post.

You should now have a pop-up menu on your screen. Click the ‘Advance’ tab on that pop-up and then the ‘Relationship Page to Target’ drop-down box. You will see ’nofollow’ as one of the options. Just click that and then click Update. The ‘nofollow’ attribute should now be added to your affiliate link.

Just a quick post to gloat, um let you know that our blog has been added to Alltop.com.

For those that don’t know, Alltop is an online magazine with the latest stories from the net and it’s updated every hour. This makes it a great site for looking for topic ideas for your blog. I also use it quite a bit to get link ideas for my tweets on Twitter.

There are categories for just about every topic you can think of. We have been added to the Blogging section and are in with the likes of www.problogger.com and www.shoemoney.com.

It’s well worth a look so check out Alltop.com

Have you ever wanted to remove the Blog Title in WordPress because it interferes with your header? This can often happen when you insert a new header and in the background the Blog Title bleeds through so you can see both your new header and the Blog Title.

The Blog Title is found in the WordPress Dashboard under the Settings –> General menu option. You’ll see it at the top of that page. Removing the title from here will solve the problem but what happens when you do this is that your RSS feed doesn’t display your blog title which really isn’t a good thing.

So what do you do? …well I had the same problem and couldn’t figure out how to fix it but of course there is always someone on the internet who has the answer but what I am going to do today is add a few extra steps to that information for those who have no idea how to edit their WordPress theme.

1. On your WordPress dashboard click the Appearance –> Editor option. This may differ slightly depending on the version of WordPress you are using but on latest version it is on the left hand side menu bar. Just scroll down until your see ‘Appearance’ and under that should be the ‘Editor’ option.

2. You should now be on the Edit Themes page. On the left hand side of the screen is a list of Theme Files. (Again this may differ depending on your WordPress version so you might have to look around for it.) Click the header.php option.

IMPORTANT: At this point it is worthwhile saving all of that code in case you make a mistake and stuff it up. So just select all the code in the box and paste it into a Notepad document. If you make an error you can easily paste all of that code back in.

3. Now you need to look for the following bit of code:

<a href=”<?php echo get_option(‘home’); ?>/”><?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?></a>

4. Once you’ve found it you need to delete the second part of the code:

<?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?>

5. Now just update the file to save your changes.

Now the Blog Title should have disappeared from your header but still display in your RSS Feed.

And thank you to Desperately Seeking for helping me to solve this issue.

Working from home is something that more and more people are trying to achieve.  You get to work the hours that you want and can earn money in your pyjamas…right?  Well, yes and no.  If you’re considering earning a living by writing articles at home, read on…

How easy is it to find a job writing articles?

Actually, it’s harder than you might imagine.  If you do a Google search for Work From Home Writing Articles you will get a huge number of hits so it would appear that there is a lot of work available.  However, be very, very careful.  There are many sites which look extremely professional and are easy to sign up to.  But a lot of them are scams or very low paying at best.

Scam sites

Adsense Revenue Type Sites

These sites say that you can write about anything you like and post articles to their site as often as you like.  They will then put your article onto a website that matches its content and you get paid a percentage of the advertising revenue from that site.  You can build up a modest revenue over time.  For example, if you had 150 articles up, you could expect to earn around $1 per article per month.  To do well at this you would need to know a fair bit about SEO (search engine optimization) and be sure that your article contains the correct percentage of keywords.  Too many and the search engines will boot out your article – too few and it won’t get found.  Google offers a free keyword analyzer which is worth a look.  The good news is that once your articles are written and submitted, the money just keeps coming in.  The bad news is that it’s not great money.

Credit card scammers

As we said, be very, very careful what you sign up for.  There are other sites that entice you to write articles for them and they are easy to sign up to – just your email address and name.  Then when you click to register, a grey box pops up, offering you an amazing discount to join them and get the benefits of their membership club.  This discount price is usually around $2.95.  This obviously makes it very tempting to sign up to but please, don’t!  There is a box to tick to say that you have read the Terms and Conditions and in those T’s and C’s you will read that if you give them your credit card details, they will take a substantial sum each month.  We have seen amounts varying from $47 to $70.  A quick trawl of forums shows that some people were able to cancel after the first amount was taken but many were still frantically trying to get through on the ‘helpline’ number. 

So are there any real opportunities?  Yes, there are.  Here are a few of the better ones.

Craigs List

You could try Craigs List.  This looks like a very basic site but has a wealth of job opportunities for anyone who wants to write from home.  First, select your city from the list on the left of the page.  When the page has refreshed, look under jobs and scroll down to writing / editing.  Then simply browse the jobs by each area and when you find one that you like the look of, email the address at the top of the page.  Clicking on it will take you to Outlook or you can copy and paste it into another email provider such as Hotmail etc.  You still need to be careful as some of the scam sites do post on Craigs List which can be disappointing.  But as long as you don’t sign up for them, that’s all it is.  Look for jobs that don’t require you to be in a specific area and accept ‘telecommutes’ i.e. working from home.  You can browse every city which is broken down into towns.  This can be very time consuming but it is worth it as it won’t cost you anything to apply and you may get work from it.

Associated Content

AssociatedContent is free to sign up to and will pay an upfront payment ranging from $1 – $20 depending on the content of what you submit.  The average payment is $5.  They accept articles, as well as audio, slideshows and others.  You can either write whatever you wish or look for assignments.  These are articles which AssociatedContent wish to be written so it’s a good idea to go for these.  They also offer Performance Payments which pay $1.50 for every 1,000 page views your content receives.  It’s worth noting that if you’re not a resident of the United States, you can’t get upfront payments – you may only submit content for Performance Payments.

There is a lot to learn about how to get the best from this site so spend a good chunk of time reading their faq’s, their help pages and other people’s articles on what to do.  There is money to be made but you need to put a lot of work in to get started.

Elance

Elance is a site for professional freelancers and writing is among the skills that buyers are looking for.  You can signup for a basic free membership and get to work that way, although it can be slow to start with.  If you’re really committed, shell out for an Individual or Business membership which will display you higher in the search ranks when Buyers are looking for a writer.  You can also optimize your chances of success by filling out your Profile page and taking the free online tests that Elance provide to show Buyers your level of ability.

A Buyer will post a project.  They describe the job, how long they wish you to spend on it and how much they are willing to pay.  You then bid for the job, using a ‘connect’ to do so.  Each level of membership awards you a certain number of connects.  If you are awarded the job, it then goes into a ‘workroom’ where you and your buyer can Private Message each other if required.

Before bidding on a job, check out how many projects the Buyer has posted and how many they have accepted.  If a Buyer has posted several and not accepted any, it’s a good idea to pass – however tempting the job may sound.  You can also checkout the Buyer’s feedback and they can look at yours so make sure it’s good!  Elance displays your 6 monthly earnings, lifetime earnings and feedback score when you bid.  Payment is usually through Escrow and you can then transfer it into your bank account or PayPal.  Don’t forget that Elance takes a cut so add that to the price that you bid.  Be aware that there are many providers on Elance so the competition is fierce.  However, stick with it and if you are lucky, you may find a Buyer who posts repeat projects and invites you to bid for them.

Other bid sites

The other main sites where you bid for writing jobs are GetAFreelancer, Guru, and iFreelance.

Advice

This will sound obvious but it is something that many Freelancers don’t pay attention too, surprisingly.  Always remember that you are selling your writing, so first of all, make sure that your profile is filled in as comprehensively as possible.  Check the spelling and then check it again.  When you get a job, do it to the best of your ability, present it well and make sure it’s in on time.  And enjoy!  Good luck!