(This is a sponsored post.)
Markus Frind, CEO of PlentyOfFish.com, the largest free online dating Web site has recently decided to change the direction of his Web site in order to grow it to the next level, possibly embracing the social network's tactics of creating a full-fledged online community for users, since he sees the social networks as glorified dating sites that are responsible for the 20% decline in online dating sites' traffic in 2006. In case you don't recognize Markus Frind's name, he's the Internet millionaire who showed off his nearly CAN$1 million monthly check from Google AdSense ads on his Web site last year. He runs his Web site from his apartment and he has only one employee, so he doesn't have to distribute his profits to a large staff's salaries.
Frind's change of direction will leave a gap for smaller fish, such as JustSayHi.com, who will quickly fill it. JustSayHi.com is a no-frills, free Web site for online dating, just like PlentyOfFish.com, where members join together in a forum to get to know one another. Members of Just Say Hi want to keep the community as a high quality site that is fun to be a member of. They police themselves and don't allow any disrespectful or crude posts from any member. After all, there are PlentyOfFish in the sea, so it's best to make the site attractive to them, not repulsive. Certainly the free price at JustSayHi.com is much more attractive than the $30 per month Match.com charges or the $25 per month Yahoo! Personals charges.
Showing posts with label Sponsor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sponsor. Show all posts
16 March 2007
14 March 2007
Searching For A Cell Phone Plan
(This is a sponsored post.)
My parents have been travelling the length of California this week to visit relatives, including me. They weren't sure how long they'd stay at my sister's house, but they planned to give me a call to let me know if they were going to arrive Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday at dinnertime I heard a knock on my door. My parents had arrived. I was very happy to see them, but I was surprised that they hadn't called. My Mom explained, "I tried to call after we left, but wouldn't you know it? My cell phone battery was already dead. I just bought a new battery for it, but if I don't recharge it the full 5 1/2 hours every night, it quickly loses its juice. I need a new cell phone that isn't so power hungry."
Of course, a new cell phone means a new cell phone plan to go with it. As I'm the "techie" in the family, my Mom looks to me for advice. Since I'm not familiar with cell phone plans other than the ones available for the cell phone I used to have, I had to check the Internet for other cell phone service providers to compare the options available. Wirefly Mobile makes it easy to comparison shop with the major cell phone service providers, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Nextel, Alltell Wireless, and Disney Mobile, as well as other national and specialty cell phone carriers. Wirefly has the Wireless Wizard to help one decide the best cell phone plan to fit one's needs. Just type in your ZIP code on this Web page to start the process.
Whereas I would need text messaging, data capabilities, and low minutes because I don't want to pay for minutes I'm never going to use, my Mom's needs are simpler: a cell phone plan that offers lots of minutes, but none of the extra services and capabilities she'll never use. Wirefly Mobile shows the most popular cell phone plans by price and minutes, so I can see at a glance which cell phone carriers' plans my Mom would likely be interested in.
Many of the plans include free cell phones, which can save you hundreds of dollars over other carriers' cell phone plans, so it pays to compare all of one's options. I found Wirefly's Resources Web page to be especially helpful when explaining to my Mom the various featues available in case she wanted more than "just a cell phone."
My parents have been travelling the length of California this week to visit relatives, including me. They weren't sure how long they'd stay at my sister's house, but they planned to give me a call to let me know if they were going to arrive Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday at dinnertime I heard a knock on my door. My parents had arrived. I was very happy to see them, but I was surprised that they hadn't called. My Mom explained, "I tried to call after we left, but wouldn't you know it? My cell phone battery was already dead. I just bought a new battery for it, but if I don't recharge it the full 5 1/2 hours every night, it quickly loses its juice. I need a new cell phone that isn't so power hungry."
Of course, a new cell phone means a new cell phone plan to go with it. As I'm the "techie" in the family, my Mom looks to me for advice. Since I'm not familiar with cell phone plans other than the ones available for the cell phone I used to have, I had to check the Internet for other cell phone service providers to compare the options available. Wirefly Mobile makes it easy to comparison shop with the major cell phone service providers, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Nextel, Alltell Wireless, and Disney Mobile, as well as other national and specialty cell phone carriers. Wirefly has the Wireless Wizard to help one decide the best cell phone plan to fit one's needs. Just type in your ZIP code on this Web page to start the process.
Whereas I would need text messaging, data capabilities, and low minutes because I don't want to pay for minutes I'm never going to use, my Mom's needs are simpler: a cell phone plan that offers lots of minutes, but none of the extra services and capabilities she'll never use. Wirefly Mobile shows the most popular cell phone plans by price and minutes, so I can see at a glance which cell phone carriers' plans my Mom would likely be interested in.
Many of the plans include free cell phones, which can save you hundreds of dollars over other carriers' cell phone plans, so it pays to compare all of one's options. I found Wirefly's Resources Web page to be especially helpful when explaining to my Mom the various featues available in case she wanted more than "just a cell phone."
06 March 2007
Making Money On The Internet, Update 4
(This is a sponsored post.)
Another good way to make money on the Internet is to sell merchandise online, but that requires either a merchant account or a business/merchant PayPal account to accept credit cards over the Internet, because people don't want to write checks for online purchases. I checked out AdvantageProcessors.com, and it seems that online Web sites are considered high risk merchant accounts. That makes sense, because you don't have the luxury of seeing the purchaser eyeball to eyeball on the Web. If you see the buyer in person and he's wearing tattoos and leather motorcycle gear, yet he's purchasing goods with a credit card and drivers license that has the name and picture of a female Sunday School teacher on it, you'd think something was fishy and refuse to accept the credit card. So selling online can certainly be riskier than selling from a walk-in establishment.
AdvantageProcessors.com has a list of helpful tutorials to help new merchants get started and manage common problems, such as chargebacks. AdvantageProcessors.com advertises competitive pricing and low credit card transaction rates, but one needs to apply for a merchant account before finding out what those rates are.
Another good way to make money on the Internet is to sell merchandise online, but that requires either a merchant account or a business/merchant PayPal account to accept credit cards over the Internet, because people don't want to write checks for online purchases. I checked out AdvantageProcessors.com, and it seems that online Web sites are considered high risk merchant accounts. That makes sense, because you don't have the luxury of seeing the purchaser eyeball to eyeball on the Web. If you see the buyer in person and he's wearing tattoos and leather motorcycle gear, yet he's purchasing goods with a credit card and drivers license that has the name and picture of a female Sunday School teacher on it, you'd think something was fishy and refuse to accept the credit card. So selling online can certainly be riskier than selling from a walk-in establishment.
AdvantageProcessors.com has a list of helpful tutorials to help new merchants get started and manage common problems, such as chargebacks. AdvantageProcessors.com advertises competitive pricing and low credit card transaction rates, but one needs to apply for a merchant account before finding out what those rates are.
Making Money On The Internet, Update 3
(This is a sponsored post.)
I found another Web advertising network called DClickAds.com, which apparently includes both Web sites and blogs as ad publishers, too. A BlogSpot.com URL is listed in one of the Publisher's Profiles displayed on the home page. (The profiles probably rotate so you may not see a BlogSpot.com URL if you look right now.) The Web site ages for each profile are listed in years, so perhaps new blogs such as this one may not be eligible. On the other hand, it's a new advertising network, so they may be willing to work with newcomers.
The ad publishers get to choose what to charge and whether to display banner ads, text link ads, or embedded link ads (which suits me because I'd rather avoid those distracting banner ads). Ad publishers also choose the methodology for the advertisement, whether it be pay-per-click or by time frame, either by the week or by the month. So there's enough flexibility for everyone.
DClickAds.com requires a download and install of their ad placement software, and the Web site hosting the ads must support PHP 4 or ASP/Windows. I suspect this may conflict with Google's AdSense guidelines about other similar ads on the same Web page, but it's hard to tell at this stage.
It's also hard to tell how the ad publishers get paid, because on this page they mention that payment is by check, which will be mailed 30 days after the ad campaign ends or the click count is reached, while on the FAQ page, they explicitly state that they only support Webmasters through PayPal.
I found another Web advertising network called DClickAds.com, which apparently includes both Web sites and blogs as ad publishers, too. A BlogSpot.com URL is listed in one of the Publisher's Profiles displayed on the home page. (The profiles probably rotate so you may not see a BlogSpot.com URL if you look right now.) The Web site ages for each profile are listed in years, so perhaps new blogs such as this one may not be eligible. On the other hand, it's a new advertising network, so they may be willing to work with newcomers.
The ad publishers get to choose what to charge and whether to display banner ads, text link ads, or embedded link ads (which suits me because I'd rather avoid those distracting banner ads). Ad publishers also choose the methodology for the advertisement, whether it be pay-per-click or by time frame, either by the week or by the month. So there's enough flexibility for everyone.
DClickAds.com requires a download and install of their ad placement software, and the Web site hosting the ads must support PHP 4 or ASP/Windows. I suspect this may conflict with Google's AdSense guidelines about other similar ads on the same Web page, but it's hard to tell at this stage.
It's also hard to tell how the ad publishers get paid, because on this page they mention that payment is by check, which will be mailed 30 days after the ad campaign ends or the click count is reached, while on the FAQ page, they explicitly state that they only support Webmasters through PayPal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
SUBSCRIBE (RSS/Atom)
