New design
So, I spent much of the day today re doing my site. I hope you all like it. I have been craving something cleaner and with more whitespace and I found this design the other day.
It’s actually a design by Brian Gardner (Revolution) The code is perfect, clean and the load time is amazing. There were a few more themes of his that I loved but I settled on this one because I love the blue color that was in this theme. I have loved the Revolution Themes since the day it came out and some day I hope to be able to actually purchase it. But until that time, I will use one of his other awesome themes! He has a ton of great themes over at his blog. I suggest that you go check them out.
There are still a bunch of things I want to do to my side bars and all - but for now, as long as I am up & running and you guys can read, I am ok with them not being “perfect.”
My RSS feeds buttons are now in the upper right hand corner and I added a fun “GD Star Rating” to my posts too. Not sure what I wanna do with my BlogLog stuff and all that yet. Also, I added a Twitter tool to my sidebar again. This one is cool because when I post it will automatically update my twitter feed. (Sorry to my Twitter peeps for this double Twit) and, I finally got around to fixing my “Contact Me” form. 
There are still a few things I need to tweak, but I am not in any hurry.
Lemme know what you think of the new look. Yeay? or Nay?
Any ideas? suggestions?
Two excellent affiliate programs
When I first started this blog…
I ended up signing up for a lot of different affiliate programs. Some were really great programs. Some I did not like at all and I ended up closing my account a few days after I signed up. Like my Entrecard account I was telling you about a few posts ago…
Some, I have been using for years, way before I even started blogging professionally, like Inbox Dollars. I love Inbox Dollars. I have been getting checks from them since 2002, for about $50.00 - 60.00 bucks a year. It’s a small amount, but it is easy money, it’s one of the few programs that actually do pay you for reading emails and referring friends. Click on the picture for a larger image. This is currently what I made so far this year.
inbox dollars
Some were actually good programs that I totally forgot I even signed up for, like “Shopping Ads.”
Today, when I was trying to clean out my Yahoo bookmarks, I saw in my affiliate programs - Shopping Ads. I have to admit - I tend to be pretty OCD when it comes to my email, bookmarks, desktop and all that.
All of it has to be neat and orderly. And I also like to have visited the site at least once a month. This way I keep it in my bookmarks. If I bookmark something, and I end up never going there within that month - I delete it.
I know that sounds strange - but, well think of who is writing this - You all know I have never really made it to the “normal” category.
My neat (Re) discovery…
While cleaning out my bookmarks this morning, I noticed that I had “Shopping Ads” in there. So I decided to go to the site to see if I could remember signing up for it.
When I got there it looked familiar, so I logged in. Can you believe - I still had not “activated” my account! It must have been one of those sites that I signed up for in a hurry, meaning to go back but totally forgot about.
So, I activated my account and took a look around.
The thing I like about Shopping Ads is that -
1. You can use it with your Google Adsense account.
2. You are paid monthly.
3. Shopping Ads is both a CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) & a CPC (Cost Per Click) ad program.
4. When you sign up, the Shopping Ads affiliate program is built into the ads you display.
5. You can run as many ads on your site as you want.
6. You can use the same account for multiple sites!
7. You can link to Ebay. Who doesn’t love Ebay?!
I buy stuff all the time from Ebay!
My New (again) affiliate…
I almost feel like kicking myself in the ass here. Why? Because I signed up in March…!
Freaking March. I have been missing out on money because I did not activate my account and also place any ads here! I am actually amazed that I somehow “overlooked” my link. Normally, it would have been deleted. But for reasons unknown to me - I kept it.
So I have added my shopping ads links. You will find them in the footer here. And also on the Right side bar too.
Go there - sign up for one or both of the affiliate programs. I think you will like how easy they are to use. Honestly, I don’t think you will be disappointed.
I think I am going to be following these two closely for the next month or so. Then I can report back on how well I did - or didn’t!
