START A FLAGSHIP BLOG NOW FOR CASHCRATE REFERRALS
The best thing I did when I set out to make money online over two years ago was to start a flagship blog. I had read that people were making money with their blogs, some people lots of money, and I thought I was a good enough writer to perhaps make money as well. I didn’t really understand very much back then and I especially didn’t understand a thing about how to make money with my new blog.
I Almost Quit Which Would Have Been A Big Mistake
The first 8 months I was clueless and I wrote as much and as often as I could hoping people would love what I wrote and flock to my blog. A few of my posts got Stumbled and I was getting somewhere between 50 and 100 uniques a day. The thing was though, I wasn’t making any money. What is the purpose of spending so much time online if you are not going to be compensated? I was never here for the fame, only the money and I wasn’t making any.
Luckily, just as I was going to quit I found a source that revealed what you need to do to make money online which is what this blog is all about. You need to get targeted traffic to your blog from the search engines and NOT social traffic.
Why You Need A Flagship Blog
Anyway, that blog that I almost gave up is now one of my flagship blogs. This one could be as well someday as you can see how much writing and effort has gone into it so far. So, what exactly is a flagship blog and why do you need one?
A flagship blog is a blog you can point people to that almost acts as an online resume. It establishes your online presence and it is a blog that you will periodically update as long as you are making money online. You shouldn’t mind updating it however, as you should be able to make money with it. For me at least, it is much easier to work and spend time on something that is making me money.
Affiliate Networks Need To See Proof
You especially need a flagship blog so that you can join the affiliate networks. Making CashCrate referrals is only one of the hundreds of programs that you can join as an affiliate and make money with. CashCrate has a great referral program but you can only make so much with it. Once you become successful at making CashCrate referrals, you will want to branch out and make money with other ones as well. Trust me, you will.
Some of the affiliate networks you will want to join are MarketLeverage, Commission Junction, Neverblue CPA Network, ROI Rocket, the Ebay affiliate program, Adsense, and there are others. You need to join these networks so that you will have a big selection of products in many different industries to try to get leads and sales for. You are going to want to promote things other than CashCrate and these networks are where you will find many of your companies and products to sell.
Unfortunately, these affiliate networks will not let just anyone sign up. They want to see who you are, what type of Internet marketing you do, and determine whether they want to let you in. With CashCrate you were in automatically but with these networks you have to have something to show. A couple of these companies (MarketLeverag and Neverblue) will even want to speak to you on the phone. Sort of a mini job interview / Q & A answering session.
Stop Making Spam Blogs
This is where your flagship blog comes in. I was lucky that by the time I applied to these networks I had my flagship blog to point them to. Once they took a look at that, they could see I had been around for almost a year, the blog was of medium to high quality and I was accepted right away. Take note, my blog wasn’t a spam blog with one or two pages promoting CashCrate. You might want to take this into consideration when you start a blog and try to make it as high a quality blog as possible.
Most of the blogs I see promoting CashCrate are nothing more than a page or two of spam. They are low quality and they all say the same thing:
1) Do you want to get paid for surveys?
2) Have you ever heard of CashCrate?
3) You can make great money with CashCrate
4) Here is a check payment proof picture
5) Make sure you use my link
6) Here is a tip or two
7) Don’t forget to use my link!
This kind of blog is not really a blog but just a page of spam. It takes little effort to do and if someone does find it they will probably click out right away. It is most certainly NOT a flagship blog and will not get you into any of the affiliate networks.
You Have To Work Hard To Make Referrals And Money Online
To make CashCrate referrals and to make money online you have to put in effort. Just like with anything else in life, you have to work hard to succeed. If you put out crap you will get crap in return. Start a blog today that you can be proud of. It won’t be great right from the start as you will have to learn how to write better and learn what works and what doesn’t. Keep at it and build your online resume. This business of making CashCrate referrals and money online is a long term endeavor and you need to start now so that you can be successful at making money in the future.
I have been working on getting my online presence known for a few months now. I rank pretty good with some search terms. Some I am not even close.
Take a look at my blog. http://cashinacrate.blogspot.com
Your blog looks better than most CashCrate blogs for sure. The one thing I left off and forgot to add in my post is that I started out with a .com blog. I know there are some really great Blogger blogs out there but I have no way of knowing whether they are acceptable to get a person in to some of the affiliate networks.
It is hard because I would recommend using a self hosted .com or .net as your flagship blog. However, many people don’t have the money to start that way and have to start with a free blog.
So, it’s kind of like a catch 22: you should have a self hosted blog as your flagship just to be sure, but you might not have enough money until you start earning money online and for that you need a blog!
The only problem with a free blog on one of the free platforms is that it is never yours. It can always be deleted by the host and that is kind of scary especially if you put lots of time into it. Also, a lot of people look down on the free blogs and think people with them aren’t serious. However, you can earn money with them just as easily as a .com blog as it is all about the anchored links you have coming to your site.
damn it ,i looked at my my stat counter and i have 0 views. i CANT DO THIS!!!!!! IM DOOMED TO MAKE 20/MONTH on cashcrate =(
Dave,
That is why most people quit. What you do today to help build your site will not pay off today. It may be 6 months down the road before you start to see results. Keep adding content and getting backlinks. I will write more on backlinks in future posts.
i think my blog got deleted also. i tried to log in and it says theirs no account for my emails.
This blog has great information in getting referrals. I’m starting to get more referrals but just not enough.
So is it better to submit your website or a blog to the affiliate programs? I have both, but my website is my main “program”, and I have my blog attached to the website as well.
Frank,
Website or blog, it doesn’t matter. A blog is really a website anyway. The whole point is though, that some of these affiliate companies will need to see who you are and learn more about you before accepting you. THEY DON’T ACCEPT EVERYONE.
So, you need to have at least one blog or website that looks like time has been put into it and looks professional. They will not accept you if all you have is a spam blog which so many CashCraters have.
Could you take a quick look at my website and let me know if it is what you just said? I have tried to make it look as much profressional as I could, but most of it is Cashcrate with a few additional stuff. If it is, what do I need to do to make my website more acceptable to the affiliate programs? My website: http://franksite.atspace.com
I also read about how you suggest not to use your “name” in the title of your blog, but I have tried changing it before and the new blog wouldn’t be accepted by google or other engines since I have created a site. So I ended up just leaving my original site up.
Thanks.
Frank,
First of all I would change the blue background color as it is VERY hard to read and hard on the eyes.
Second, is there any way anyone would ever reach your site and sign up? There is nothing there that would ever convince anyone to sign up and your check picture is even blurry to the point of being unreadable. I don’t want to offend you so please don’t get angry but your site would never be accepted with an affiliate company if it had to go through a manual review.
A flagship blog is something that you update periodically, it has a purpose, it is about something, and it looks good. Unfortunately, your site is lacking in all those areas and the only links it has all say “my first online paycheck” and your site doesn’t even rank for that. Personally, I’d start over or at least figure out some keywords and start getting anchored backlinks.
Take a look at my site here. Look how many posts I have, how many words and sentences I have written, how I have tried to make it look as clean as possible. I have spent many hours on this blog and I may or may not profit from it in the end. It is HARD WORK! Now you don’t have to do as much as I have but your site looks like it was slapped together in about an hour. In fact, I could put something that basic up in about an hour. Again, don’t be offended, I’m just “keeping it real” as Randy Jackson on American Idol would say.
Yeah, I realize about my check picture. I didn’t take the time to make it look good, I would have to wait until next month when I get my next check to redo it.
I have attempted to get backlinks like how you mentioned here, but I don’t fully understand it. One thing I have been wondering is, are backlinks similar to ROBOT meta tags?
Anchored backlinks are links that are on other sites that link to your site with the words you want in them.
See your name in front of every comment you make? That is a backlink to your site. Your link says “Frank_The_Tank” so you are telling Google that your site is about Frank_The_Tank. Do you think many people search for Frank_The_Tank that are trying to make money?
For instance, a housewife in Michigan sits down to her computer one day and says “I think I am going to try to make some money online. I wonder how to do it? I guess I will start by Googling Frank_The_Tank and maybe that will show me how to make money”.
Guess what? The earth will end before that ever happens so you better pick better keywords if you want to get any search traffic that is looking to make money.
Ah, ok. Thanks for the tidbit. I also realized when I was reading through your blog I was doing everything exactly as you said. Made my website, waited and waited for responses, posted on social networks, and you were right– nothing happened. How long have you been at this?
(Formally Frank_The_Tank… lol)