How I made $438 from a single article with $1 investment and an hour of work

problog 14 years ago

Originally Posted by zebix

wow.. so what did you use expensive items like 100+ dollars? or like 20 dollars?

Very nice!

No, I just listed random weird things, not expensive items but you know when people click on your link you'll receive commission even if they buy something else. Would be a lot better if the cookie lasted a bit longer.
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Alastair McDermott

14 years ago

I love the simple ideas like these

Thanks
1 reply

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TheArticlePros

14 years ago

Awesome post! I'm going to try it on my lunch break today and see what I can come up with!

And I'd love to see your blog post if you don't mind sharing.

-- jason

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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JaRyCu

Awesome post! I'm going to try it on my lunch break today and see what I can come up with!

And I'd love to see your blog post if you don't mind sharing.

-- jason

Here it is:
Web's Weirdest Funniest Craziest Stuff

Some of these items are no longer available because the post is from some time ago but you get the idea...When I published it, it was the only post on my blog, I added some more stuff later.

Thanks
1 reply

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TheArticlePros

14 years ago

Dude! That's awesome! I love the Oriental lady asleep on the subway with her head stuck to the window.

I just took your idea (not the idea behind the blog, but the concept of how to do it) and made a Blogger page with a Top 10 list from my eBay EPN account. About to make it go live now to see what happens.

In addition to Digg, do you recommend Reddit as well?

Thanks
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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JaRyCu

Dude! That's awesome! I love the Oriental lady asleep on the subway with her head stuck to the window.

I just took your idea (not the idea behind the blog, but the concept of how to do it) and made a Blogger page with a Top 10 list from my eBay EPN account. About to make it go live now to see what happens.

In addition to Digg, do you recommend Reddit as well?

I haven't used Reddit for that purpose so I can't comment on whether it would work or not but you won't know until you try

Thanks
1 reply

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TheArticlePros

14 years ago

I've used Reddit for some blog promotion with an Android site that I have...there were days where I could pull 200 visitors on a new article from there.

Ok so I have my site rolling now...I also have a FB page I made that has about 1000 fans, and I have like 400-500 fans on my personal site, so I posted a j.mp link to their. I've already had about 10 hits and a couple of compliments on my FB page.

I've clicked through all the options on mTurk...how do I know if people do my job successfully, or just click that they have it done? I don't see an "approve" button like vWorker has....

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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JaRyCu

I've clicked through all the options on mTurk...how do I know if people do my job successfully, or just click that they have it done? I don't see an "approve" button like vWorker has....

What I did was I asked them to input their Digg username so I could see if they have my story in their history. There's an option when creating your hits to use a textarea where they can type their answer.

Thanks

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mikemcghee

14 years ago

Great idea, thanks for sharing. Very valuable information.

Thanks

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SamirSM

14 years ago

Some ideas you get!

I really couldn't stop giggling for a minute

**Seriously though....if you write about a single topic and add an affiliate link in between, most people just read the post and search for the item. But posts like yours would make the links look nothing but natural!

Thanks
1 reply

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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by indihow

Some ideas you get!

I really couldn't stop giggling for a minute

**Seriously though....if you write about a single topic and add an affiliate link in between, most people just read the post and search for the item. But posts like yours would make the links look nothing but natural!

Yep, I figured instead of trying to make people buy something why not just give them something interesting to read and they'd still click on the aff links

Thanks
1 reply

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Scott Casey 14 years ago

Clever & easy...thanks for sharing!
- Thanks
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Jeremy Banks

14 years ago

Just show's how valuable being creative can be!

Thanks
1 reply

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techservice 14 years ago

Yep, sweet - well done. It's on the 2do list.
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lowkey786

14 years ago

sounds good I'm going to try this soon, hopefully I see some sales come in.

Thanks

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JoeMack

14 years ago

Hi..

Very ingenious idea! I see how this concept could be used in a variety of ways.

My question to you:

how long did it take from the time you wrote the article before it went viral and earned you a profit?

JoeMack

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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JoeMack

Hi..

Very ingenious idea! I see how this concept could be used in a variety of ways.

My question to you:

how long did it take from the time you wrote the article before it went viral and earned you a profit?

JoeMack

Thanks, I started seeing commissions almost immediately after I got on Digg and over the next 2-3 weeks I got up to over $400; I still get a few dollars a month from this article to this day without any promotion.

Thanks

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omk

14 years ago

That's very creative!

Thanks

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Monidelgagrillo

14 years ago

That's an awesome idea. I'll have to give that a try

Thanks!

Monica

Thanks

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JohnSchoemann

14 years ago

Awesome tip. Thanks.

Thanks
1 reply

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sonic74 14 years ago

..very clever tips and the topic of the article gets immediately the attention of the reader !

What about 20 weirdest Lady Gaga's Items ?
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beatlechan

14 years ago

that's just simply brilliant. I'm going to try to figure one out for myself. thanks for the tip.

Thanks

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KhirRahman

14 years ago

That is cool and simple method. That gives my brain some idea. thank a lot.

Thanks

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cinkz

14 years ago

wow! really awesome post. Thank you for sharing
I'll implement it ASAP
Brilliant !

Thanks

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BloggingPro

14 years ago

Nice! I've promoted products via top ten lists before and its crazy how easy it is to make sales. I've never done anything like this, but definitely have made Top 5 [niche products] lists before. Works great! Thanks for sharing.

Take things a step further and add this kind of list as a message to your autoresponder list. Yikes! Tons of conversions. I do this occasionally with a list dedicated to those interest in high heels.

Thanks

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drimaffli

14 years ago

5. Now you need traffic; what I did was I went to Mturk and posted a hit - Digg my post for 1 cent, that makes 100 Diggs for $1. For those of you who don't know what Mturk is it's a place where you can post small tasks - hits, for people to complete for just cents. Now, posting tasks like these isn't really allowed on Mturk but I've seen many people do it and I've done it many times myself but last time I received an email from them to remove my hit so it would be a good idea to find an alternative for Mturk. I did some research and found that there are a few people on Fiverr that will get you 100 Diggs. The goal is to have your story on the first page of Digg.

This is exactly why we are seeing crackdowns on people promoting items on Youtube, why Google continues to Panda Slap websites. People are doing under handed things to make that little bit of money fast. Screw the rest of the people trying to do it legit. When this goes Viral we're going to see Amazon change all of their policies too. People should stop congratulating people who use under handed tactics that affect all of us and start distancing themselves from these type of people.

[ 2 ] Thanks
3 replies

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PCRoger

14 years ago

I have to agree.

Congrats on being innovative and making some cash, and I certainly understand needing some cash anyway one can get it.

Ideally, though, I want my work to go toward building a long term business I can be proud of.

As an additional benefit, when YouTube defames me publicly, I can actually defend myself publicly knowing I have done nothing wrong.

Best,
PCRoger.

Originally Posted by drimaffli

5. Now you need traffic; what I did was I went to Mturk and posted a hit - Digg my post for 1 cent, that makes 100 Diggs for $1. For those of you who don't know what Mturk is it's a place where you can post small tasks - hits, for people to complete for just cents. Now, posting tasks like these isn't really allowed on Mturk but I've seen many people do it and I've done it many times myself but last time I received an email from them to remove my hit so it would be a good idea to find an alternative for Mturk. I did some research and found that there are a few people on Fiverr that will get you 100 Diggs. The goal is to have your story on the first page of Digg.

This is exactly why we are seeing crackdowns on people promoting items on Youtube, why Google continues to Panda Slap websites. People are doing under handed things to make that little bit of money fast. Screw the rest of the people trying to do it legit. When this goes Viral we're going to see Amazon change all of their policies too. People should stop congratulating people who use under handed tactics that affect all of us and start distancing themselves from these type of people.

Thanks

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BloggingPro

14 years ago

Originally Posted by drimaffli

This is exactly why we are seeing crackdowns on people promoting items on Youtube, why Google continues to Panda Slap websites. People are doing under handed things to make that little bit of money fast. Screw the rest of the people trying to do it legit. When this goes Viral we're going to see Amazon change all of their policies too. People should stop congratulating people who use under handed tactics that affect all of us and start distancing themselves from these type of people.

What exactly is wrong with this method? There is nothing wrong with nudging your content in front of enough people so that it takes off in viral form. Actually I think most people do this, whether its paid or not.

And why would Amazon stop you from doing this? Since when are simple text aff-links pointing to products bad? I must've missed that memo.

Thanks
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drimaffli

14 years ago

Originally Posted by BloggingPro

What exactly is wrong with this method? There is nothing wrong with nudging your content in front of enough people so that it takes off in viral form. Actually I think most people do this, whether its paid or not.

And why would Amazon stop you from doing this? Since when are simple text aff-links pointing to products bad? I must've missed that memo.

It is not the simple text link to aff-links I am talking about. Its the fact that he used mturk for something against the ToS to draw traffic to a digg post to get diggs.

Thanks
1 reply

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blackjack

14 years ago

Originally Posted by drimaffli

It is not the simple text link to aff-links I am talking about. Its the fact that he used mturk for something against the ToS to draw traffic to a digg post to get diggs.

So you are saying using Google Adwords, Any media buying would be against the TOS to drive traffic to your site ( Note: he didn't drive traffic directly to Amazon which is against TOS)

Also all the companies paying for TV ads would be breaking the law because they are paying to drive traffic to websites.

Well done Problog for sharing this great CONCEPT.

Thanks
1 reply

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drimaffli

14 years ago

Originally Posted by blackjack

So you are saying using Google Adwords, Any media buying would be against the TOS to drive traffic to your site ( Note: he didn't drive traffic directly to Amazon which is against TOS)

Also all the companies paying for TV ads would be breaking the law because they are paying to drive traffic to websites.

Well done Problog for sharing this great CONCEPT.

Don't believe I said one word about Adwords. I said him using Mturk (which is Amazon) to get digs for an article on Digg is againt the TOS for Mturk. If you want to try to attack me at least get your facts straight and don't try to put words in my mouth.

Thanks
1 reply

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blackjack

14 years ago

Originally Posted by drimaffli

Don't believe I said one word about Adwords. I said him using Mturk (which is Amazon) to get digs for an article on Digg is againt the TOS for Mturk. If you want to try to attack me at least get your facts straight and don't try to put words in my mouth.

Hi

I am not attacking you at all. I have just comparing buying traffic either by Google Adwords or any other media buying. This what I meant

"So what you saying means that then Google Adwords would be against TOS of Amazon".

I was just comparing two different things. Sorry if it came across as attack. I didn't mean it.

You may be correct that it is against Mturk TOS for getting diggs.

Thanks

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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by drimaffli

This is exactly why we are seeing crackdowns on people promoting items on Youtube, why Google continues to Panda Slap websites. People are doing under handed things to make that little bit of money fast. Screw the rest of the people trying to do it legit. When this goes Viral we're going to see Amazon change all of their policies too. People should stop congratulating people who use under handed tactics that affect all of us and start distancing themselves from these type of people.

I just wanted to address this real quick because I'm being blamed for the Panda Slap here which has to do with the quality of websites more than anything and I don't see how it's relevant to this thread.

My goal was to inspire people to think outside the box and take action and I'm so glad many of you found it useful. I don't see why this would cause Amazon to change their policies, I simply wrote a post and promoted it. I didn't do anything wrong against Amazon. I didn't make anyone click on my links.

Anyway, yes, I did use Mturk because I saw many other people posting similar tasks - I've seen CPA offers on there, affiliate websites, Digg hits, etc. And I also warned people to maybe use something else like Fiverr to try and get enough Diggs. You'll probably say that's "under handed" too so why not share ideas on some other ways to make your post/article/video viral? I'd love to hear more ideas.

I think Facebook could work really well for this method too, if you have thousands of FB friends, you could start there. A funny and interesting story can easily go viral and people wouldn't take it as affiliate promotion.

Thanks

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joel1031

14 years ago

You could always try Microworkers. It's basically the same as Mturk but you'll have to pay a wee bit more to each person.

Thanks

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JamesGw

14 years ago

People really underestimate the power of websites like Digg. Awesome that you got it to make you some good money. Press releases can do similar things.

Thanks

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luckyshah290

14 years ago

Nice Idea ...

I Just Got An Idea From your Example .. Thanks Once again ...

Thanks
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ksmusselman 13 years ago

Originally Posted by luckyshah290

Nice Idea ...

I Just Got An Idea From your Example .. Thanks Once again ...

Brilliant! I'm in the wedding industry so I'm working on an article now for my blog.

Meanwhile, I'm always kicking myself in the butt for not have one creative bone in my body. I believe my little brother inherited the family creativeness because every day I find myself having another "Aha... why didn't I think of that" moment while he cranks out ideas left and right and I have to piggyback on OP (other people's) ideas. :rolleyes:
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- tayuyaa 13 years ago
  
  That is nice, even if some people start
  to ask whether it's true or not, I'm sure they
  will trust you after reading this thread:
  
  http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...idiculous.html
  
  It's a thread wrote by a successful guy where
  he shared how he made $2336 with an idea
  similar to yours.
  
  Again, nicely done and keep thinking outside the box!
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  DamenRabat 13 years ago
  
  @problog
  
  Cool stuff!
  
  I am curious as how you came up with the products you promoted. How did you find them? Was it just by strolling the Amazon website and noting down a few funny items?
  
  I totally like your idea! And I like htat you share it here freely. You could have easily created a WSO on it and sell it as the next untapped approach in IM.
  
  Thumbs up, dude!
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
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veenafurtado

14 years ago

wow..what agreat idea.

Thanks

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Steve L

14 years ago

Originally Posted by problog

Hi, everyone, I'll share with you how I made $438 from just one article and an hour of work and $1 investment and I'll tell you exactly how I did it. I hope this helps some of you earn some money.

1. First you'll need an Amazon Associates account for this method to work.

2. Next you'll need to create an article but not just any affiliate promotional article - it has to be an article that appeals to a wide range of readers. I'll tell you exactly what topic I used - "Top 20 Weirdest Items on Amazon"; the reason I chose this topic is because it has the potential to go viral which it did. I wrote it myself but if you are not very good at writing you should outsource it. I used only plain text links like this:

20. {Funny commentary about product}{Affiliate link - plain text}
19. {Funny commentary about product}{Affiliate link - plain text}
etc.

If you guys want to see my actual blog let me know and I'll post a link to it for you to see exactly how it looks.

Do not use image links or people won't be as tempted to click and see the actual product.

3. I set up a free blogger blog for this but you can easily use your own hosting if you have it. At the time I just wanted to create something quickly so I went with blogger.

4. Publish your article and set up your social buttons like Share on Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.

5. Now you need traffic; what I did was I went to Mturk and posted a hit - Digg my post for 1 cent, that makes 100 Diggs for $1. For those of you who don't know what Mturk is it's a place where you can post small tasks - hits, for people to complete for just cents. Now, posting tasks like these isn't really allowed on Mturk but I've seen many people do it and I've done it many times myself but last time I received an email from them to remove my hit so it would be a good idea to find an alternative for Mturk. I did some research and found that there are a few people on Fiverr that will get you 100 Diggs. The goal is to have your story on the first page of Digg.

My story quickly became viral, people were sharing it on Facebook and forums so I got $438 in my Associates account for that month from just that one article. Not bad for an hour of work.

Now, don't just go and everybody write the same article about the weirdest items on Amazon, come up with something original and something that a lot of people will find interesting. Hope this will help some of you make some cash.

I like it! So what do you have planned for article #2? :p

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showmegreen

14 years ago

you mean the digg now will flooded with articles like" top 20 ...."?

Thanks

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WDM

14 years ago

thats a great idea. I've seen similar strategies used for getting most viewed articles and videos by paying a few bucks for 1000 hits shortly after creating it. nice post! thanks

Thanks

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unlimitedmarketing

14 years ago

Awesome post! Thank you so much! Valuable information, and you kept it short and simple. People can do this in 1 hour. Thanks! Signing up to mturk now . . .

Thanks

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Jake Gray

14 years ago

Amazon affiliates is an excellent income stream. Although I haven't
taken it very serious lately, I remember it being extremely reliable and
great in bulk. So, give it a try guys!

Thanks

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AdwordsMogul

14 years ago

Just out of curiosity, why does this post appear to have less than 16 diggs?

Thanks
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problog 14 years ago

Originally Posted by AdwordsMogul

Just out of curiosity, why does this post appear to have less than 16 diggs?

As I mentioned before that was from some time ago so if noone dugg it recently it wouldn't have many or any diggs. The number of diggs doesn't stay the same over time.
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brik2500

14 years ago

That's an absolute great idea! I love it when I hear stories like that....

keep up the good work!

BEST

Thanks

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matt5409

14 years ago

Great post but I feel you gave TOO MUCH away - you just know that loads of people will go and try that exact same method!

Originality is lost on most people, but thank you for the inspiring read!

Thanks
6 replies

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shaunyb1 14 years ago

I agree, it was good to read and get inspired all over again... Heres to the top 20 best top 20 lists
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francoza 14 years ago

Great post. Keep it up
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jonnieke 14 years ago

That's an interesting topic. I have been trying to make money online through search engines but what i get is mostly scams or underpaying jobs.
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IMWinner 14 years ago

I have been scammed several time to a point an article teaches you how to make 20 000 dollars a day. Their catch is to buy their package/ kit allegedly to help you achieve this. What you have written though looks realistic if one follows the steps step by step.
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magnates 13 years ago

Must be my birthday or something .. This is an amazing tip . Never knew you could get that much leverage from Digg

It goes to show what you can achieve if you take a chance on your ideas and implement

Thanks for sharing
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maxmalini 13 years ago

That's awesome! Too bad we can't do that with Amazon in Illinois, since "The Man" wants his cut of taxes from Amazon.

- Max
- Thanks
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drimaffli

14 years ago

I do not see how Adwords would violate the ToS. However here are the guidelines for Mturk. I have made the ones this violates in red.

You may not use Amazon Mechanical Turk for illegal or objectionable activities. Here are some examples of prohibited activities:

collecting personal identifiable information
fraud
disrupting or degrading the operation of any website or internet service
direct marketing
impermissible advertising or marketing activities

HITs that directly or indirectly promote a site, service, or opinion
HITs that violate the terms and conditions of an activity or website (for instance asking Workers to vote for something)

HITs that generate "referred" site visits or click-through traffic

These are the rules for the service and what he is promoting is against those services. That is my only point. I am not saying it is wrong to advertise the eBook with any other method, just the method of "farming" digs is against the ToS of the service he is using for said actions. And it could result in Amazon changing the rules on everyone.

Thanks
1 reply

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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by drimaffli

I do not see how Adwords would violate the ToS. However here are the guidelines for Mturk. I have made the ones this violates in red.

You may not use Amazon Mechanical Turk for illegal or objectionable activities. Here are some examples of prohibited activities:

collecting personal identifiable information
fraud
disrupting or degrading the operation of any website or internet service
direct marketing
impermissible advertising or marketing activities

HITs that directly or indirectly promote a site, service, or opinion
HITs that violate the terms and conditions of an activity or website (for instance asking Workers to vote for something)

HITs that generate "referred" site visits or click-through traffic

These are the rules for the service and what he is promoting is against those services. That is my only point. I am not saying it is wrong to advertise the eBook with any other method, just the method of "farming" digs is against the ToS of the service he is using for said actions. And it could result in Amazon changing the rules on everyone.

I said from the very beginning that you're not supposed to use Mturk for this purpose, however many, many people do it. No one is saying that it's not against their TOS. That's why I also mentioned a couple of other ways to promote your posts and asked if anyone could share other ways to drive traffic as well.

But why make this thread about Mturk TOS, it's not really about that.

Thanks

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drimaffli

14 years ago

I am noting that you use underhanded, black hat tactics to do what you did. These type of tactics are what is poisoning IM as a whole.

Thanks

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Julie70

14 years ago

That is great! I really liked the blog!! :-)!

Thanks

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Shakd

14 years ago

What would be awesome is if you did it again!!

Thanks
1 reply

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TheArticlePros 14 years ago

After doing this approximately 8 hours ago in almost exactly the same fashion, here's what I found out:

Instead of using Amazon, I decided to use eBay. I did a Top 10 Father's Day gifts ideas. I built a Blogger page as described, putting a little blurb about each link, and even putting multiple links in a few lines (watches, shirts, etc).

I then did the mTurk thing, except I dropped $10 in to it to see what I could get...turns out Amazon charges you a fee of 50%...so my $10 costed me $15. I also asked the users to use Digg and Reddit. I've gotten massive traffic from Reddit in the past. I also dropped link into my personalized j.mp for tracking as a shortlink and dropped the short link into my Facebook page (almost 1000 fans and growing), my personal FB (around 400-500 friends), multiple Twitter accounts, and a couple of other places.

I got 634 impressions in 8 hours, but only 8 clicks. I don't see any purchases...but it's only been 8 hours. In a few weeks, maybe I'll see some stuff. It was a fun experiment...can't wait to see what it's doing in a month or so. I might have to add another Top 10 list or two.
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- mydream247 14 years ago
  
  Thanks for the great idea, I have decided to try, but only the blog setup, I will use other methods to drive traffic to blog, but the concept sounds great, and can be used for clickbank products as well.
  
  Thanks
  
  Thanks
  
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dagaul101

14 years ago

Nice tip, the trick ofcourse is giving the public what they want in such a way that they are keen to have it shared with their friends

Thanks

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John Taylor

14 years ago

If you paid people to Digg you post and it "went viral"
why does it show a total of only 22 Diggs?
http://digg.com/search?q=site:weird-web.blogspot.com

Talk about the weirdest things...

John

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problog

14 years ago

Originally Posted by John Taylor

If you paid people to Digg you post and it "went viral"
why does it show a total of only 22 Diggs?
Digg - 5 Results For site:weird-web.blogspot.com

Talk about the weirdest things...

John

As I mentioned before this was some time ago so if no one dugg it recently there wouldn't be many diggs because the number of diggs doesn't stay the same over time.

Thanks
1 reply

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John Taylor

14 years ago

Originally Posted by problog

As I mentioned before this was some time ago so if no one dugg it recently there wouldn't be many diggs because the number of diggs doesn't stay the same over time.

Look at the dates on the Diggs dude.

John

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terrencewan

14 years ago

Thanks for sharing and well done, congrats.

In the Internet, everywhere is gold, it just depends on
individual to come out with something unique, special,
mystery, etc. to get people interested in it.

Those use it today and made money tomorrow
are fading away, people are getting smarter now.

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JacobsIM

14 years ago

I've always had trouble making any money using Amazon. The steps you laid out here seem easy to follow.

I will try this out and let you know my results after a week or so. Thank you for the helpful tips.

Thanks

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johnmags

14 years ago

Thanks for sharing this. Its very useful

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KennethYu

14 years ago

One of the best examples of actual monetizable viral marketing I'd seen. Kudos.

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ankushkohli

14 years ago

These kind of posts attract me to warriorforum again & again.

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WebsiteMarketer

14 years ago

Very creative way to use your available resources to generate cash. Definitely gives me some inspiration.

While I'm sure not every article would go viral, if you did this once a day for 30 days straight you could probably build up a significant revenue stream.

I think I'll have to run a little experiment myself. Thank you very much for being so generous to share this technique with us.

Thanks

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GetMoreTraffic

14 years ago

Proves that there is always room for a good new idea.

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gie grace

14 years ago

Talk about the power of VIRAL MARKETING.

Warriors, I've got a suggestion. Next time you see a blog post, page or video that is being shared in Facebook or forwarded in your emails, you have found your next VIRAL MARKETING STRATEGY

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Heidi White

14 years ago

OK - took your basic idea - changed it up a bit - spent an hour writing - will try some other methods to promote - fun - thanks for the inspiration...time to eat.

Thanks

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DonMarketer

14 years ago

Originally Posted by problog

Hi, everyone, I'll share with you how I made $438 from just one article and an hour of work and $1 investment and I'll tell you exactly how I did it. I hope this helps some of you earn some money.

1. First you'll need an Amazon Associates account for this method to work.

2. Next you'll need to create an article but not just any affiliate promotional article - it has to be an article that appeals to a wide range of readers. I'll tell you exactly what topic I used - "Top 20 Weirdest Items on Amazon"; the reason I chose this topic is because it has the potential to go viral which it did. I wrote it myself but if you are not very good at writing you should outsource it. I used only plain text links like this:

20. {Funny commentary about product}{Affiliate link - plain text}
19. {Funny commentary about product}{Affiliate link - plain text}
etc.

If you guys want to see my actual blog let me know and I'll post a link to it for you to see exactly how it looks.

Do not use image links or people won't be as tempted to click and see the actual product.

3. I set up a free blogger blog for this but you can easily use your own hosting if you have it. At the time I just wanted to create something quickly so I went with blogger.

4. Publish your article and set up your social buttons like Share on Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.

5. Now you need traffic; what I did was I went to Mturk and posted a hit - Digg my post for 1 cent, that makes 100 Diggs for $1. For those of you who don't know what Mturk is it's a place where you can post small tasks - hits, for people to complete for just cents. Now, posting tasks like these isn't really allowed on Mturk but I've seen many people do it and I've done it many times myself but last time I received an email from them to remove my hit so it would be a good idea to find an alternative for Mturk. I did some research and found that there are a few people on Fiverr that will get you 100 Diggs. The goal is to have your story on the first page of Digg.

My story quickly became viral, people were sharing it on Facebook and forums so I got $438 in my Associates account for that month from just that one article. Not bad for an hour of work.

Now, don't just go and everybody write the same article about the weirdest items on Amazon, come up with something original and something that a lot of people will find interesting. Hope this will help some of you make some cash.

This concept sound very promissing. I'll give it a try.

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celente

14 years ago

I love posts like this one. It clearly shows the minds that wander around the traps here. Very interesting technique you use.

Just proves that with a little thinking out of the box, and a little ingenuity can go a long long way online.

Kudos to you and congrats!!!

Thanks

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magnates

14 years ago

Originally Posted by problog

Hi, everyone, I'll share with you how I made $438 from just one article and an hour of work and $1 investment and I'll tell you exactly how I did it. I hope this helps some of you earn some money.

1. First you'll need an Amazon Associates account for this method to work.

2. Next you'll need to create an article but not just any affiliate promotional article - it has to be an article that appeals to a wide range of readers. I'll tell you exactly what topic I used - "Top 20 Weirdest Items on Amazon"; the reason I chose this topic is because it has the potential to go viral which it did. I wrote it myself but if you are not very good at writing you should outsource it. I used only plain text links like this:

20. {Funny commentary about product}{Affiliate link - plain text}
19. {Funny commentary about product}{Affiliate link - plain text}
etc.

If you guys want to see my actual blog let me know and I'll post a link to it for you to see exactly how it looks.

Do not use image links or people won't be as tempted to click and see the actual product.

3. I set up a free blogger blog for this but you can easily use your own hosting if you have it. At the time I just wanted to create something quickly so I went with blogger.

4. Publish your article and set up your social buttons like Share on Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.

5. Now you need traffic; what I did was I went to Mturk and posted a hit - Digg my post for 1 cent, that makes 100 Diggs for $1. For those of you who don't know what Mturk is it's a place where you can post small tasks - hits, for people to complete for just cents. Now, posting tasks like these isn't really allowed on Mturk but I've seen many people do it and I've done it many times myself but last time I received an email from them to remove my hit so it would be a good idea to find an alternative for Mturk. I did some research and found that there are a few people on Fiverr that will get you 100 Diggs. The goal is to have your story on the first page of Digg.

My story quickly became viral, people were sharing it on Facebook and forums so I got $438 in my Associates account for that month from just that one article. Not bad for an hour of work.

Now, don't just go and everybody write the same article about the weirdest items on Amazon, come up with something original and something that a lot of people will find interesting. Hope this will help some of you make some cash.

I love the idea . It goes to show what would have happen if you were a bit diffrent from the norm . This is pure genius . Thanks for sharing

Thanks

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areoo

14 years ago

hey pro blog... so basically... you got that amount over a day?

Thanks

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himanuzo

14 years ago

Is Digg the main traffic source?

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tym733

14 years ago

Very good idea.

Thanks

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MikeMorgan

14 years ago

WOW!

Great post .

As you said creating high quality article that appeals to a wide audience is very crucial .

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TheArticlePros

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Chris Kent

Everyone's going crazy! Everyone's inspired!

The method is great but the subject is INCREDIBLY MISLEADING.

This is NOT scalable folks. An easily scalable 43,700% return does not exist.

Hey Chris...I took the guy's idea and ran with it and did a Father's Day post on Blogger. Took me maybe 20-30 minutes. I didn't make the money that he did, but I used eBay items instead of Amazon. My site's still up, and it's still drawing traffic, although obviously not as much as it did pre-Father's Day.

My question is this: Why do you say it's not scalable? You make one post, 10-20 items, stick the links in, and go do another. You're not worried about Google indexing it so you're not going to SEO it. About the only thing you're doing is posting to mTurk and, in my case, I sent it out to a few thousand people across Twitter and Facebook.

I'm new to the IM game, having only been attempting it since January of this year, and honestly I make a lot more money via vWorker and my own website, writing and spinning articles and doing WordPress setups than I do through IM. Maybe your answer about scale-ability will help me to learn something, though?

-- jason

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Chris Q

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by JaRyCu

Hey Chris...I took the guy's idea and ran with it and did a Father's Day post on Blogger. Took me maybe 20-30 minutes. I didn't make the money that he did, but I used eBay items instead of Amazon. My site's still up, and it's still drawing traffic, although obviously not as much as it did pre-Father's Day.

My question is this: Why do you say it's not scalable? You make one post, 10-20 items, stick the links in, and go do another. You're not worried about Google indexing it so you're not going to SEO it. About the only thing you're doing is posting to mTurk and, in my case, I sent it out to a few thousand people across Twitter and Facebook.

I'm new to the IM game, having only been attempting it since January of this year, and honestly I make a lot more money via vWorker and my own website, writing and spinning articles and doing WordPress setups than I do through IM. Maybe your answer about scale-ability will help me to learn something, though?

-- jason

But at least you made some money too right, but not much?

Thanks
1 reply

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TheArticlePros

14 years ago

Originally Posted by lamposproject

But at least you made some money too right, but not much?

Had I really thought it out, I wouldn't have gone for a Father's Day posting as I did this like 2-3 days before the holiday. That didn't give people a lot of time to buy something and have it shipped. I think I recouped my cost, though, as it wasn't much. (Maybe $5 spent I think.)

I'm probably going to throw out 5-10 Back-to-School blogs towards the end of July using this method and see if I can do better with it, and then do a few more 2 weeks before each major holiday here in the US.

-- jason

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Chris Q

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by JaRyCu

Had I really thought it out, I wouldn't have gone for a Father's Day posting as I did this like 2-3 days before the holiday. That didn't give people a lot of time to buy something and have it shipped. I think I recouped my cost, though, as it wasn't much. (Maybe $5 spent I think.)

I'm probably going to throw out 5-10 Back-to-School blogs towards the end of July using this method and see if I can do better with it, and then do a few more 2 weeks before each major holiday here in the US.

-- jason

We'll, MTurk is only for United States "employers" there, so I'm not eligible to join there. Microworkers is a good option, but quite expensive though (minimum of $0.30 per US worker) and for MinuteWorkers, considered worldwide workers at $0.20 each.

So it means if I had more Diggs, more popularity and traffic?

Thanks
1 reply

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TheArticlePros

14 years ago

Originally Posted by lamposproject

We'll, MTurk is only for United States "employers" there, so I'm not eligible to join there. Microworkers is a good option, but quite expensive though (minimum of $0.30 per US worker) and for MinuteWorkers, considered worldwide workers at $0.20 each.

So it means if I had more Diggs, more popularity and traffic?

Something close to it. I set mine up for Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit. I also have several Twitter accounts with medium-sized followings, a 1000 fan FB page, and 500-600 "personal" friends on my personal FB page, so I broadcasted to all of those as well.

-- jason

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seobuzz

14 years ago

Great idea and thanks for letting us know about that. The methods are simple but has lot of potential.

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jaysol

14 years ago

This sounds interesting. Has anyone else tried it ? I am tempted but just have too many irons in the fire and before I commit the time was interested if it has worked for anyone else.

Thanks

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absolutelee

14 years ago

That's a great idea to create a piece of viral content like this. You could probably do a YouTube vid of the same type of thing and get people to Digg that. With the last two Google slaps, article marketing like we used to do it seems like pretty much a dead end.

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renukoot

14 years ago

Great Post. That's something good. But should be avoided the same with Clickbank with Adwords.

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chewmike

14 years ago

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XRay 14 years ago

@Problog: This is an excellent idea. Thank you for sharing it!

I hope the people reading this thread will use their God given creativity and come up with their own twist on the concept as well as their own method(s) of generating traffic. You can create linkbait content for whatever purpose that suits you/your business. You don't have to use Mturk, Fivver or any similar site if your concerned about doing anything that's on the "grayish" side . You don't have to use Digg to make it go viral.

Ray
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epandusa

14 years ago

Good idea, plus it sounds like it was fun to do. I love that you were able to do this using Blogger!

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Warrior X

14 years ago

Originally Posted by problog

...Now, posting tasks like these isn't really allowed on Mturk but I've seen many people do it and I've done it many times myself but last time I received an email from them to remove my hit so it would be a good idea to find an alternative for Mturk.

Thanks for this idea. I thought I'd add that my Mturk posting was quickly removed, so as OP says, best to look for other ways of getting Diggs.
__________-
Jeremt

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lkpub

13 years ago

Not only creative but profitable... I'm having one of those "I wish I had thought of that moments"...

I definitely see the potential in this, and not just for Amazon either... Will definitely play around with this idea and see what I can do...

Great Share! Thanx...

Linda =}

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supersonic

13 years ago

What people get if they are doing some work for ONE CENT on Mturk? This won't cover PayPal fee even.

Thanks

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bumba1988

13 years ago

Awesome technique to say the least. Thanks for sharing this anyway. However, the exact implementation won't yield results as good as the OP got. Hence, a bit of tweaking is necessary according to me. That being said, this thread will definitely help many outline what to be done to earn money easily.

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Onora Oz

13 years ago

Lists of funny weird things are a traffic magnet. And I can see the power in getting people to Amazon using them. Nice tip.

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rowanman28

13 years ago

People buy diggs, stumbles, tweets, and Facebook likes all the time, I do gigs like that on Fiverr all the time.

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cantaxian

13 years ago

That was a really fantastic idea of going viral. If the product gets targeted visitors by luck, then its sure to make your day. I will definitely try this thing. The only problem is searching for some marketable "niche".

Thanks

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Tiptopcat

13 years ago

This is a great little story. Thanks for sharing it.

As someone else mentioned, you could have easily created a WSO and made even more cash so thanks for sharing this info for free.

Tiptopcat

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Dwight Anthony

13 years ago

I like the viral aspect of your article as well as the mturk leverage, very good tactic.

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Internetjunky

13 years ago

Wow! Very cool.....simply awesome thanks. Have any more golden nuggets to share?

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4Frankie

13 years ago

Great post. Thanks for showing how to go about it.

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Musique

13 years ago

Wow, that's pretty simple and clever. Thank you for sharing this!

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harchenko

13 years ago

Thanks, it's great idea!

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NoBSGuy

13 years ago

Neat method to generate some viral traffic. THanks for sharing

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TravellingMissie

13 years ago

What a great post and a brilliant method to making money. Thank you for sharing this information - as other people have said you could have made this into a WSO. I am currently looking to start marketing Amazon products, so this has been an interesting post.

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ayomyde

13 years ago

So simple and yet so effective. I will give it a try.

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BrightShinyObjects

13 years ago

Thanks for the ideas. There are so many ways to do this internet marketing. I'm in awe.

Mary

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Arsjaad

13 years ago

Awesome Idea. Thank you for sharing.

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Rachelj

13 years ago

Hi,
I love this post and am going to put it into action. Can this be done on wordpress? I can't seem to find a share option for social networks, would it be a plugin?