My Multiple Incomes

How To Get Private Advertisers for Your Website – Advanced Strategies

Do’s and Don’ts of Applying for a Staff Writing Job

My Monthly Income Stream Report – April 2013

Understanding the Future of Your Credit Score After Saying “I Do”

Simplified Savings Plans for UK Workers

How To Get Private Advertisers for Your Website – Advanced Strategies

Published on May 16, 2013 by Robert

I’ve talked about the 6 Easy Ways to Get Advertisers to Your Blog or Website before, but one of the biggest questions I get is, now what? Well, if you’ve followed the actions in that article, but you’re looking for more advanced strategies on how to get advertisers for your website, here’s a great resource for you.

Some of these explicitly require you to to have made it easy for advertisers to find you, while others will take a bit of sleuthing around to find the right contacts.

The Money is in the List

In my first article I mentioned setting up your website with an “Advertising” page to attract advertisers to your site. After you’ve done that, I encouraged you to treat all emails as potential leads. But that’s only the first part of what you should be doing.

Every lead and every deal, regardless if completed or not, should be added to your “list”. I keep my list in Google Docs, but you can use something that is conducive to you. On this list, include the following:

Name
Company
Contact (email, Skype, social media, etc.)
Terms of Advertising
Other

No matter what, I add my contacts to this list. Now, here’s where the money is – ping your list every 3 months.

I send out a generic email as follows:

Hi Advertiser,

We recently did business together and I was reaching out to see if you had any other advertising needs. If there is anything I can help you with, please get in touch.

I value our continued relationship.

Thanks!

Quick, simple, and too the point – but the great thing is that you’re trying to help your advertiser. Typically these guys run lots of campaigns and are dealing with hundreds, if not thousands, of sites. You never know what new campaign they are working on now, and if it could be relevant to your sites. Sending them a friendly reminder you exist is a great way to get more advertising.

On average, I would say I get a 10% conversion on these emails.

Keep Diligent Records on Timing

One rule of thumb for advertising – never accept permanent advertising on your website. Some companies only want permanent advertising, but that just doesn’t make sense. Could you imagine permanent advertising in the real world? You’d never see this:

If you wouldn’t see it in real life, don’t put it on your website. Plus, having a permanent ad could have negative SEO and search implications as well.

Instead, I always setup timelines on my ads – typically one year, but I’ve done anywhere from monthly to 3 years. The great thing is that this opens up another way to get more advertising – renewals. Keep a diligent list of your advertisers and when they expire. About 30 days before the ad expires, reach out and ask for renewal.

I would say about 20% of the time they renew, and another 20% of the time they don’t renew, but instead place a new, different ad.

Get an Affiliate Manager

Another important part of advertising is affiliate advertising. I’ve talked before about how I’m developing my affiliate income, but one of my biggest learnings is to get an affiliate manager to help you when needed. Every affiliate company has affiliate managers that help you with your account – it’s beneficial for them and you. When you make more money, they make more money.

As such, an affiliate manager can help you:

Get into specific advertising programs
Get bonus commission rates
Get special incentives for your readers (i.e. discounted pricing)
Get customized banners or other advertising

You may not think you could get an affiliate manager, but I promise you that you can. At most companies, someone will naturally reach out to you. If they don’t, use the contact form and ask to be put in touch with an affiliate manager. When it comes to sales, nobody is going to turn you down if you want help selling more of their products!

Connect on Social Media

This is a new one, but I’ve had three successful advertising deals close this year directly from social media. I’ve done one deal each on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The trick is to follow a brand and people related to the brand. You also need to include your website details on your profile.

Then, when you talk about a brand (in a positive way), be sure to tag them or tweet them. No doubt they’ll be checking out what you have to say, and it could lead to a meaningful relationship.

The second approach is to contact them directly through social media. I used this strategy on Facebook and LinkedIn, with some success. Typically, brands outsource their social media endeavors to PR companies. Well, these same companies are typically responsible for advertising as well. In both cases, the social media manager gave me the contact information for the advertising manager, and we were able to connect and put together a deal.

Ask Around

Finally, it never hurts to ask around. If you want to work with a specific brand, search for people that may have advertising already with them, and see if they can put you in contact with the specific people. Or, contact the brand directly and see what happens.

Another option is to ask your affiliate manager for info on the brand. If they don’t offer an affiliate program, the manager may still have contact info you can use. In fact, this worked for me once, and I was able to connect with one of the most elusive personal finance brands on the Internet. I haven’t solidified a deal, but at least I’m talking to the right people now!

The Overall Theme of Online Advertising

Are you seeing a pattern here? The key to online advertising is building relationships. And it takes time. And it requires give and take. You don’t want to undersell your advertising space, but would you offer a discount in exchange for volume?

Remember, advertisers have a clear goal – increase exposure for their products and services to make more money. Advertising is an expense to them. You need to align your goals with your advertiser and make it mutually beneficial for both of you. Become a partner and help them. That will in turn send more business your way.

One advertiser of mine consistently accounts for 10% of my advertising revenue. Why? Because we’ve built a solid relationship and fully understand what we both need. You can do that too!

What other strategies have you used to get more private advertisers for your website or blog?

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Do’s and Don’ts of Applying for a Staff Writing Job

Published on May 8, 2013 by Robert

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been looking to hire some staff writers for my sites, as I talked about in my April Income Report. Since I’m transitioning to having a fuller publishing schedule on two of my sites, I really wanted to have some talented writers help me and provide awesome content to compliment the site and continue to improve the brand.

As such, I put out a call for staff writers. When my close contacts were exhausted and I still needed some writers, I went to the ProBlogger Job Board. Needless to say, that was a great source of talent, but also a great source of resume spam. Posting on a major job board really has made me appreciate the talented individuals that are out there, and I’m so happy for the couple that I’ve found so far.

With that, I thought it would be great to highlight some of the Do’s and Don’ts that I’ve seen in staff writers, coming from someone who has now screened over 100 applicants for the jobs I have listed.

What I’m Looking for in a Staff Writer

First, you should know what I was looking for in a staff writer. Here is what I put in the listing:

Entrepreneurship Life is actively looking for bloggers and writers from around the world who share a passion for business and entrepreneurship, as well all the bells and whistles that go with it.

We are seeking writers to contribute a weekly article at least 800 words long.
Is able to focus on entrepreneurship topics, including money, technology, insight, leadership, and lifestyle (including dress, food, etc.)
Is active on social media and willing to promote their articles to their own following

We want the writers to think about this as their own column, and all topics will be the writer’s choice, as well as the writer’s own research.

Beyond the listing, I had a few personal criteria that I was looking for. First, spelling and grammar are huge! Second, I wanted to hear how the writer/blogger could contribute their own unique perspective.

Unlike being a journalist, bloggers have it a different – we are encouraged to share our perspective and not just report the news. This was key.

Finally, I had to meet certain budget criteria.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Applying for a Staff Writing Job

Now that you know what I was looking for, let me highlight some things that you shouldn’t do when applying for a staff writing job (or any job really).

Do: Have Spelling and Grammar

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. You’re applying for a writing job! You should have perfect spelling and grammer. However, I deleted 70+ applications simply on the grounds of poorly written emails!

For example:

First, let’s talk about proper capitalization. You don’t even capitalize the “I” are the start of your sentence? Then, do you even know what a blog is? What about this “…………” and your name. Come on! Whether you write online or offline, basic grammar rules apply!

Don’t: Used Generic/Not Relevant Resumes

I can’t believe how many generic emails I received, or resumes from staff writers who weren’t even in the business space. I received countless emails from “foodies”, “mom bloggers”, and more, all who wanted to write about entrepreneurship. Not to put them down – they may be excellent writers – but in a short email sales pitch, that doesn’t convey how you’re going to help me and my site.

Second, too many people simply copied and pasted their responses. Here’s a classic example:

Notice the change in font? Yea, I did. I could go on and highlight how all of the examples they provided in the email were to non-relevant InfoBarrel articles. If you’re applying for a staff writing job, and least be relevant.

Don’t: Apply Multiple Times

Given I work full time, I wouldn’t normally respond to emails until late at night. As such, people would apply all day, and I’d have a big queue when I got home. Since I use Google Apps for my business, Gmail automatically groups together the same emails.

And every night, I’d come home to this:

Beyond the grammar, you could tell this person was basically spamming all the job applications on the job board. Everyone who applied more than once got automatically deleted without even looking at it.

Do: Include Nice Touches

Finally, one of the biggest things that set apart the resumes that at least avoided the big don’ts above was to include some nice touches.

Some great examples of nice touches included:

Using My Name (not just “sir” or “to whom it may concern”)
Doing Research (look at my site and show you care)
Genuine (really highlight how your story fits my site)

Lessons for Applying for a Staff Writing Job

Realize that, on big job boards, there will be hundreds of applications for each job. As such, you have to stand out.

But, what most people don’t realize is that the easiest way to stand out is to be proper and correct. Out of over 100+ applications, I only really looked at about 10 – the 10 people who used correct grammar and spelling, and put in the personal touches mentioned above.

So, if you want to be a staff writer, follow these do’s and don’ts and start landing jobs today!

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My Monthly Income Stream Report – April 2013

Published on May 2, 2013 by Robert

Welcome to my latest income report for the month of April 2013. Sorry that it has been a slower month around here – I’m still working full time and trying to put together a couple big ideas on my other sites (which I’ll share with you below). Regardless, I have my editorial calendar set back up here at My Multiple Incomes this month, so hopefully you’ll get some new content that will be worthwhile.

Important Happenings

The biggest happening in my online life is the launch of Beat the Nine to Five. I’ve been incredibly thrilled everyday with the initial success of the site. I had my first 1,000 pageview day mid-month last month, and I’m on the way to 200 email subscribers in the first month, which is amazing (for reference, it probably took me 6-12 months to get that many email subscribers here). If you haven’t checked it out, please head over and see what I’m working on. The home page is designed to be an opt-in magnent, and it’s converting extremely well. Since I only post weekly, my strategy is to leverage my list to continue to drive traffic. So far, it’s worked, and even though I’m just pushing my RSS to my list right now, I’m not getting any unsubscribes from it!

Second, I’m trying out a Pinterest strategy for the first time, and it seems to be doing pretty well. I’m starting on just The College Investor for now. What I’ve started doing is using PicMonkey to add fun text to my pictures, so that they are a little “cuter” and they carry more meaning. Then, when I share them on Pinterest, people can actually understand what the picture is about. For example, check out my post on the best investment blogs. What I did was just add the post title to the pic. Pretty simple, and it’s been brining me a steady flow of traffic everyday!

Finally, as I discussed in my post are you a blogger or online publisher, I’m changing my focus on The College Investor and Entrepreneurship Life to reflect more about what the site is, since they are not just “blogs”. As part of this, I’ve been searching for more staff writers, which I’ll discuss more later this month. I’ve learned some very interesting things as part of the process, so hopefully you’ll enjoy the insight.

Income Report

Alright, onto the multiple income stream report! By now, you should know how this works, but I like to break down my multiple income streams into categories so you can see how I make my income. You can read more about my investing income stream here.

I don’t include my salary or my wife’s, although I do consider those part of my multiple income steam strategy.

Investments
- Dividends: $1,741.30

Websites
- The College Investor
  - Private Advertising: $1,825.00
  - Affiliate Advertising: $60.10
  - CPC Ads: $38.95
  - Amazon: $0
  - Sponsored Tweets: $0
- My Multiple Incomes
  - Private Advertising: $470
  - Affiliate Adverting: $0
  - CPC Ads: $4.91
- Entrepreneurship Life
  - Private Advertising: $575
  - Affiliate Advertising: $156.67
  - CPC Ads: $8.66
- Kids Ain’t Cheap
  - Private Advertising: $340
  - Amazon: $0
  - Affiliate Advertising: $0

Gross Total: $5,268.12

Difference from Last Month: +$834.77

What I Learned

This may be a little more investing focused than normal, but my biggest takeaway is income investing. I love getting dividends! But with that being said, I’m keeping my dividends in cash right now. I love that I have the choice of either keeping the cash or reinvesting. The market is very high, and sell in May and go away always seems to hold semi-true, I’m opting for cash and waiting to see what happens. This year, I made my IRA contributions in March, and those are sitting in cash as well. Hopefully we will see a pullback soon and I can deploy this money at better valuations in the stock market to make a solid return.

What To Expect This Month

This month expect me to get back on track here. Also, continue to expect some great content over at The College Investor, and more content on Entrepreneurship Life as I get that site going full-steam ahead. I’m continuing to focus on developing my affiliate income like I talked about in an earlier post, and hopefully some of my experiments with Pinterest will pay off on that front. More to come as I get some solid results!

How was April 2013 for you? Glad tax time is over?

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Understanding the Future of Your Credit Score After Saying “I Do”

Published on April 28, 2013 by Robert

On your wedding day, when you recite your “I do’s,” you’re not only agreeing to a life together for richer, for poorer, through sickness and in health, but also to a life in which you share nearly everything. You’ll share your house, cars, friends, and family, and you may even inherit your spouse’s Chihuahua and last name.

While some of those instances may be for better or for worse, the good news is that when it comes to your credit score and credit report, sharing isn’t an option. Your credit will remain yours, and only yours, regardless of whether you tie the knot.

The following explains just a few facts about your post marriage credit, so that you can spend more time focusing on your wedding day, and less time worrying about the state of your credit score.

Last Name Change

Some people worry that changing their last name after marriage will erase their credit history. However, because the credit reporting agencies associate your credit report with your Social Security Number, you’ll retain all of your credit information even after you change your last name.

With that being said, it’s your responsibility to report your name change not only to the Social Security Administration, but also to all three of the credit reporting bureaus. This is an important step you should take after getting hitched to ensure that your credit history remains with you despite the change in your last name.

Separate Credit Reports

Once you have a ring on your finger, nothing will change on your credit report, except for maybe your last name. Your credit report will still store all of your past and current credit information, but it will remain separate from your spouse’s credit report. Your credit reports won’t merge after marriage.

The only time in which your credit report may reveal anything related to your spouse’s credit report is if you open a joint account together, in which case, the account information and payment history will appear on both of your credit reports.

Individual Credit Scores

In the same way that your credit reports won’t combine after marriage, neither will your credit scores. So you don’t have to worry about your spouse’s terrible credit score altering your stellar score in any way.

However, do keep in mind, that if your spouse has bad credit, it won’t lower your score in any way, but it could negatively affect your chances of applying for joint accounts. Generally when you want to apply for a loan, mortgage, or credit card together, the lender will run a credit check on both you and your spouse. So even if you have excellent credit, your spouse’s low credit score could lead to higher fees and interest rates on the loan.

Regardless of whether you’re planning on getting married, or still enjoying the honeymoon phase, you shouldn’t worry about the future of your credit post marriage. If you’re concerned about the differences between you and your significant other’s credit scores, use it as an opportunity to discuss ways in which you can improve your credit score and handle opening joint accounts as a married couple.

Chloe Mulliner is a writer and editor for CreditSources.org, a website dedicated to bad credit personal loan information, credit related services, and all things credit.

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Simplified Savings Plans for UK Workers

Published on April 12, 2013 by Robert

One of the hottest topics right now in the world of employment is workplace pensions, not least because of the major new scheme launched last year by the government. The Workplace Pension Scheme was launched in 2012 with much fanfare, and was designed to help simplify saving up for retirement thanks to auto-enrolment.

Auto-enrolment is where a worker can sign up to a scheme and expect a small portion of their salary to go towards their pension pot while their employer will also contribute. In theory, this could work, but it seems that some firms feel it’s not the best option, especially at a time when recruitment and staff retention are declining in many industries.

Small Firms Affected

For larger companies, the cost of auto-enrolment is manageable, but smaller firms may find it harder to find the finance to auto-enrol its workers on such a scheme. To make regular monthly payments for all staff could prove costly, plus there are questions over whether workplace pensions actually offer value for money.

The government are trying to encourage larger firms to join the scheme, as they feel that more could follow. However, there is some debate as to whether larger firms could also find them useful. Some argue that large companies shouldn’t be used as ‘guinea pigs’ for auto-enrolment, saying that smaller firms should try first.

Too Little, Too Late?

While cost is an issue for smaller firms, the scheme has come at the right time, but for larger companies, the opposite can be said. They were among the first to be told by the government to enrol their employees onto pension schemes, something which they may not have been prepared for.

According to Scott Mullen of auto-enrolment site mypensionexpert.co.uk:

“This latest announcement of simplification of Auto Enrolment rules for SME’s will no doubt be welcomed for the UK’s smaller businesses but will obviously come as too little too late for the large employers. It is unfortunate that these great policy changes announced by the government punish those most prepared.

“We have seen many examples in the past where large organisations have efficiently prepared for major changes at great expense in time and resources only to have their best efforts wasted by a whimsical government minister.

“A great example being home information packs in recent years where a whole industry was built up to provide a service only to be scrapped by a later government. That said, any simplification will be very welcomed by all concerned”, he added.

Time Running Out

The government hope that all businesses will sign up to the scheme by the end of 2013, with small businesses among the last to join. If successful, then it seems that workplace pensions will be much easier to understand from now on.