DotDriven.com http://DotDriven.com Trying to make some cents out of this whole web affiliate thing... Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:30:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en 1427383http://www.feedburner.com Big Jason puts on a BIG contest http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Dotdrivencom/~3/352292050/ http://DotDriven.com/big-jason-puts-on-a-big-contest/#comments Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:26:19 +0000 BackSeatDriver http://DotDriven.com/?p=51 Jason has taken the crown of the biggest marketing blog contest ever with over $40k in prizes! Not just made up numbers for useless prizes either…some great, and valuable, prizes that most anyone in this industry would want. At least I’d want pretty much everything listed lol.

Anyway, be sure to head on over and get your entries in as it is almost over (August 1st). You can check out the contest info and the huge list of prizes here: Big Jason Contest

]]> http://DotDriven.com/big-jason-puts-on-a-big-contest/feed/ http://DotDriven.com/big-jason-puts-on-a-big-contest/ Permalinks in wordpress: easy to change? http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Dotdrivencom/~3/323791899/ http://DotDriven.com/permalinks-in-wordpress-easy-to-change/#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:30:59 +0000 BackSeatDriver http://DotDriven.com/?p=50 I’ve gone and pretty much killed my old post as far as links go, at least so far. I decided to change my permalinks to make them even shorter and more direct, dropping the “index.php” and “month” to get the meat of the post in there. Thankfully wordpress does fine updating internal link structure automatically but any inbound links you have out there to any of the old post will become broken.

Supposedly, it’s an easy and there are even a couple plugins to automate the migration (301 redirects for the old post/path). Unfortunately, I seem to be an idiot and can’t figure out how to make them work lol. I tried 3 different plugins and couldn’t seem to get any of my old links to work to redirect to the new post. Which means, if I don’t fix it I lose whatever small amount of incoming links I used to have as soon as google cleans up all the broken links. Besides wanting to save those, I’d like to finally learn how to fix this as it is something that can be used on all sorts of sites and could come in handy for other uses.

Has anyone changed their permalink structure and/or used one of the plugins to help fix their old links and gotten it to work easily? My guess is I am just doing something simple wrong and breaking it because of user error on my part. The current one I am trying to use is from Dean Lee

Here is my old and new link structures:

OLD - http://DotDriven.com/index.php/06/sample-post/
NEW - http://DotDriven.com/sample-post/

Any tips?

Besides breaking my old links I was reminded of the importance of updating, or even creating, a 404 page. Here are a few links about putting your 404 page to good use:

- making money online with missing pages
- turning 404 page visitors into blog readers
And this one I thought was pretty funny…
- SEO Boost from 404 plugin? (see if you can spot the hidden irony)

]]> http://DotDriven.com/permalinks-in-wordpress-easy-to-change/feed/ http://DotDriven.com/permalinks-in-wordpress-easy-to-change/ Milk A Cow and Win An Iphone 3G (the newest and bestest iphone) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Dotdrivencom/~3/320341965/ http://DotDriven.com/milk-a-cow-and-win-an-iphone-3g-the-newest-and-bestest-iphone/#comments Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:26:13 +0000 BackSeatDriver http://DotDriven.com/index.php/23/milk-a-cow-and-win-an-iphone-3g-the-newest-and-bestest-iphone/ John Cow just finished up with his pretty huge contest and gave away a TON of great prizes. With all the contest going around you might be surprised that his wasn’t another "Market Leverage" contest. But once he finished that up he figured he shouldn’t deny his readers some of the Market Leverage love so without any time to rest after his last promotion he is already running a new one. And this one IS another Market Leverage contest only it’s not what you have been seeing. Besides for a few lucky bloggers who got to add in the Ipod Touch to their prize list, almost all of the recent Maket Leverage contest have had the same prize packs. Though I admit they were all still some great prizes. But not the cow, he demanded something special.

So, if you want to win a 3G Iphone (the new, faster, Iphone) then you best head on over to JohnCow as he is the only one giving one away thanks to Maket Leverage…at least so far.

]]> http://DotDriven.com/milk-a-cow-and-win-an-iphone-3g-the-newest-and-bestest-iphone/feed/ http://DotDriven.com/milk-a-cow-and-win-an-iphone-3g-the-newest-and-bestest-iphone/ Get traffic and content and make money with user reviews. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Dotdrivencom/~3/320341966/ http://DotDriven.com/get-traffic-and-content-and-make-money-with-user-reviews/#comments Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:15:15 +0000 BackSeatDriver http://DotDriven.com/index.php/22/get-traffic-and-content-and-make-money-with-user-reviews/ Everyone knows that user generated content is usually great. It gives your site/blog plenty of fresh content, which the search engines love, and if done well, can create a great community of users all interested in the same thing. That usually means your own site gets better with submissions, tips and advice and help from the very users of your site.

That benefit isn’t only possible with "news aggregator" sites, video sites or myspace and their clones. You can also get that kind of contribution on your blogs as well. But what if you wanted to blend it in very cleanly with affiliate products/services and have your visitors help you sell those products for you?

Keith James Lock has a great post on how to turn a simple WordPress blog into a user review and ratings site. Not sure how user reviews can help make you money? Well take his personal test site as an example…his Hotels In Windsor blog is converted into a simple and clean user review site. Real people who have stayed at the hotels leave their review and comments. By using TravelNow he then adds affiliate links for people to make reservations at those very hotels being reviewed. In some cases the same people doing the reivews may end up booking more lodging through links so not only do they help with the content but also become great leads. I mean if they took the time to write a review of previous stays, they just might come back to the site to check out other peoples reviews on other places they may stay as well as coming back to leave new reviews.

So, as you can see, it’s an excellent way to get some decent little review sites up and get your visitors to help build the reviews. I think it would work best with really targeted topics/products but you could put one of these sites up for plenty of different things…not just travel. What about a TV review site? Or maybe a video game review site? Everyone has opinons and people love making others hear their opinion lol. So take advatage of that and let them help you make some money ;).

Check out Review Site How-to post over there to get all the info and learn where to get the plugin to make it easy to turn your WordPress blog into a review site.

]]> http://DotDriven.com/get-traffic-and-content-and-make-money-with-user-reviews/feed/ http://DotDriven.com/get-traffic-and-content-and-make-money-with-user-reviews/ contest galore! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Dotdrivencom/~3/320341967/ http://DotDriven.com/contest-galore/#comments Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:38:50 +0000 BackSeatDriver http://DotDriven.com/index.php/20/contest-galore/ Maybe I should just change my theme to covering contest lol. Seems sad but there are just a bunch of great contest going right now…more than I ever remember and not just because of Market Leverage. Sure they have done a nice job with contest but there are plenty of other great contest.

Anyway, through the rest of June, TechSuave.com is offering nice alternative to the various prizes out there right now. There are quite a few really great premium wordpress themes on the market these days ranging from $50 to over $100 and more. Not only do they look great but they can bump up the appeal of your blog and make you look all that more professional. Hey, I’m all for free themes but in most cases it’s pretty obvious when you are using a free theme and beyond not having a unique look it just doesn’t come across as professional. I don’t mind as much for this blog but mostly because I am too cheap to get a custom theme done or even just buy one of the great premium ones out there.

Well if I get lucky I may not need to ;). TechSuave s contest is offering up a bunch of really great premium themes. Pretty much all the best well known theme makers are represented. And all are excellent in their own right.

Whats cool about this contest is it’s actually multiple contest with the prizes spread out. So if you prefer one specific theme you can just enter that specific contest. Or if you wish to go for everything you can enter them all. But this way it lets you concentrate on specifically what you want and improves your odds as more entries will be spread out…at least that is what you want to hope for.  There are also prizes related to traffic and hosting and such. But the main theme is, well, themes.

Here is a list of the various prizes but be sure to check out the contest page to get an idea how they are broken up and how you enter each if you want:

  • 2 Copies of the Elite Wordpress Premium theme from Brian Lovin
  • 2 Copies of the Revolution Wordpress Theme from Brian Gardner
  • 1 Copy of the Video Flick theme and 1 Copy of the TV Elements theme from Jason Schuller
  • 2 Copies of the Mimbo Pro Wordpress theme from Darren Hoyt
  • 1 Year Web Hosting from Reel Suave
  • Unique Visitors to your blog from Mixed Market Arts
  • 3 Copies of the Latest E-book “Work Smart, Get Rich” from The Net Fool
  • Featured Blogger Interview on Bloghology from Search for Blogging
  • 1 Month complete Ad Package from Search for Blogging
  • 125 x 125 AD spot on Tech Suave
  • 728×90 AD spot on Reel Suave
]]> http://DotDriven.com/contest-galore/feed/ http://DotDriven.com/contest-galore/ Another marketing contest - some great prizes! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Dotdrivencom/~3/320341968/ http://DotDriven.com/another-marketing-contest-some-great-prizes/#comments Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:41:25 +0000 BackSeatDriver http://DotDriven.com/index.php/20/another-marketing-contest-some-great-prizes/ Keith James Lock has a pretty cool contest going on over at his blog with a bunch of great prizes starting with a grand prize package including free hosting, domain names, websites, BANS software, speedppc software and much more OVER $1,900 worth of  goods (not just silly ebooks and entrecard credits and such). This is actually a great package for anyone wanting to get started in affiliate marketing as it has a lot of the types of products, services and scripts you would want to start with. Besides picking a niche and adding content you would be set up with a good handful of sites ready to go. So all the hard parts, and expensive stuff, is already done for you. Very cool…though I’d rather not hype it up so I have a better chance to win :).

It’s also one of those contest that are very easy to take part in. Basically you get entered after just a few basic requirements then can go on to earn extra entries by doing extra task…all very easy and fast. Then you just need to cross your fingers and hope for the best ;).

Here is a breakdown of the prizes given to the grand prize winner:

]]> http://DotDriven.com/another-marketing-contest-some-great-prizes/feed/ http://DotDriven.com/another-marketing-contest-some-great-prizes/