Yeah you read that right. JK are getting divorced and here is a video to prove it. You most likely have watched this video of the wedding entrance already but if not here it is:

While here is the video of Jill and Kevin’s divorce:

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Just kidding! They are not getting divorced but someone wants to take advantage of their current popularity to make their own prank. LOLZ!

So July 2009 has come and pass and many intersting things have happened. The month of July is a memorable month for me as this is the first time the Big G will be paying me! It took 3 months for me to reach the payout threshold and hopefully it would take me less time to do so in the future. Here is proof that the Big G is paying me (as of this writing I have already gotten the payout via Western Union):

So my little sideline has paid off!

Now a little of statistics. I’ll go over my earnings for the month of July for my various earning channels:

Adsense Earnings: $52.53
Infolinks Earnings: $2.75
Chitika Earnings: $9.44 (not bad…)

I am taking the The Keyword Academy course online and am following their system. Using it, I have created 4 sites that have yet to earn some income. This is due to their being new. Let us see next month what happens with this 4 sites.

Last month I said that I will create 5-10 more niche sites and be earning $100/month. I failed on both counts But hopefully I can reach my goals for August by being more realistic. Here are my new goals for August:

• Create 2-3 new sites
• Take care of already created sites by backlinking
• Increase online earnings from $50/month to around $70-$90 /month.

So I’ll write another update next month and hopefully I would have achieved my August goals by then.

I seldom take pictures using my E71 phone, but when I do I make sure it is either an interesting one or a funny one. I know that the E71 camera does not take pictures in good quality (but is still bearable..) but what is important here is the subjects of the images. Let us go through this 1 by 1.

The first 3 pictures are funny pictures. This is what happens when you have no more money so you resort to selling your officemate’s things (I did not do that, someone else did…) ! LOL!

While here is what happened in Festival Alabang while waiting to buy a ticket for Transformers 2. Surely is a box office hit huh?

Talk about portability, here is a portable(or should I say mobile…) school from STI. Saw this while on my way to work. If only the University of the Philippines had one of this buses…

Image via Wikipedia

I often read books in finance and investing. You may probably have heard of Robert Kiyosaki and his book Rich Dad Poor Dad which is a best seller. However, since he lives in the other end of the world and is probably a very busy man, I do not have the chance to interview him

But what I have to day is another expert. An expert in financial intelligence who is also gaining popularity both in the online and offline world. With his informative financial tips in all aspects of life, he has created a name for himself that could rival Robert Kiyosaki himself in years to come. This expert is no other than Tyrone of www.millionaireacts.com . Let us see what he has to say on his online adventures…

Paolo: So thank you Tyrone for accepting this interview, so how are you doing?
Tyrone: I’m excellent.

Paolo: How long have you been blogging?
Tyrone:I started blogging last year April 2008. But I did not take it seriously. Eventually, November 2008, I came to a decision to have my own domain with a WordPress theme and take blogging to the next level.

Paolo: Other than blogging, what do you do? Do you have a full-time job?
Tyrone: Yes, I do have a full-time job. I am a Competitive Intelligence Analyst for the Market Insights Team in a multinational BPO firm for a client in the IT industry. I handle Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) Region.

Paolo: Do you have any plans to taking this online earning venture to the next level (full-time)?
Tyrone: As of now, I don’t have plans yet. For now, it would be an asset and source of passive income. My short-term goal is to settle abroad. But who knows? As I have an entrepreneurial spirit, I might venture into an online business someday. It depends on the opportunity that will come.

Paolo: How long did it take for you to earn $100 in Adsense?
Tyrone: It took me 8 months before I earned my 1st $100. But when I transferred into my new domain WordPress themed blog, it took me 3 months to earn the 2nd $100. The third $100 took me 2 months. Hopefully, if God permits, I could earn $100 on a monthly basis.

(Ok now to the meaty part of the interview)

Paolo: No need to give the exact figures but how many digits of income do you earn from Adsense(dollars/peso)?
Tyrone: I earn a little income from Adsense. As I’ve said, I’m averaging 2 months before I earn $100.

Paolo: How many blogs do you have to create that income?
Tyrone: I have two blogs to create that income. But Millionaire Acts is the main contributor around 99%. Although I do have 4 blogs in total, the others don’t have huge visitors.

Paolo: For those starting to blog, what niche do you recommend them take?
Tyrone: Always take the niche that you are passionate with. It’s because if you are passionate with your topic, then it would create a buzz in the blogosphere and you would be recognized. You know what Millionaire ACTS had brought me? I was featured at Good House Keeping Magazine. I was shocked when I received a text message direct from the President and CEO of a major insurance firm inviting me to explore career opportunities with his company. I received a direct call from Canada from the leaders of Max GXL (a networking company) inviting me to be a leader.

One of my blogs is Millionaire SEO (www.millionaireseo.com) but unfortunately, I found myself not passionate about just writing anything for the sake of SEO.

Paolo: How do you look for a profitable niche?
Tyrone: An SEO guru said that Food, Health, and Nutrition blogs have one of the highest CPC. This is followed by finance niche.

Paolo: Do you only do pure seo or do you use PPC as well?
Tyrone: Pure SEO only. And I do entertain direct advertisers also if the offer is good.

Paolo: So how many hours do you allot for SEO per day?
Tyrone: With my current work load, I don’t have enough time to post articles on a daily basis not withstanding the time to compose a finance related article. I just write articles during the weekends. If my time permits during work, I also blog hop and make comments on other blogs.

Paolo: When you say you do SEO, what exactly do you do? Or is this a secret =P?
Tyrone: SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Build good content, link it internally through your posts, link it externally through blog carnivals and other blogs, and promote it both online through social bookmarking sites like digg, yahoo buzz, etc. and offline through your friends and other acquaintances. My blog has been promoted through word of mouth I think because there are some people searching for Millionaire ACTS.

Paolo: How do you optimize for a keyword?
Tyrone: I optimize a keyword first by placing myself in the shoes of a user. If I am a user and will search a topic in the internet using search engines, what would I type? Second, I go to google trends to know if there is a trend for a particular keyword. And third is I do link building both internally and externally as discussed above.

Paolo: Do you think content is King?
Tyrone: Definitely content is KING. It’s where you will create a brand for your site like famous people such as John Chow and Shoe Money. Create a content that will be helpful to your readers because blogging is like a business. Your readers are your clients which are the lifeblood of your business. In my case, I chose finance and business as my niche. You never know who might contact you because of your content. Almost everyone in the world has access to the internet.

Paolo: To the newbies (like me), what do you think is the best step we can do to increase our Adsense incomes?
Tyrone: I’m not an SEO guru like the others such as Randy, the first person you’ve made the interview. But I would suggest that you find a niche that would be helpful to your readers and that would interest you and that you are passionate about. Second is to implement some SEO techniques like link building, etc. And third is to market.

I think that content is king BUT marketing is the queen. You wouldn’t have the motivation to write if there were no readers to your blog even if you write good quality articles.

Paolo: What mistakes do you often see newbies doing in their Adsense campaigns?
Tyrone: They give up easily. We all started in that $0.01 income in Adsense. Don’t give up! That’s why I recommend to choose the niche where you are passionate about. Then next would be the money. Also, experiment with different colors and places of your Adsense. I recently changed one of my Adsense ads to show only pure image ads. Some Adsense guru said that an image ad side by side with a text ad in a good location in your blog would generate nice amount of clicks if you have nice traffic.

Paolo: Who is your Adsense mentor? Do you have one?
Tyrone: Adsense mentor? I think Jehz would be the one. He is one of the famous SEO bloggers here in the Philippines and he literally retired himself from working as he generate enough income to live without working. I think his income is enough to put some executives to shame.

Paolo: How about Infolinks, do you earn from it?
Tyrone: Infolinks? Yeah, I earn very little from it. I started implementing it February of this year. Unfortunately, I think it would take me one whole year to reap a $100 minimum payout. It earns so slow. I think it would just be good if you have really huge amount of traffic in your blog.

Paolo: I often see a lot of newbies get discouraged quite easily when they only see cents in their daily earnings, what message do you have for them?
Tyrone: I think I already answered your question. Don’t give up. And choose your niche.

Paolo: Would you like to thank anyone for helping you when you were a newbie before?
Tyrone: I would like to thank Jehz, for all the bloggers who keep on visiting my blog, for James of Pinoy Money Talk who has a forum that has the same niche as mine, for Rochelle yap who designed my blog, and definitely to almighty God for all His blessings.

Paolo: Any additional tips for anyone wanting to earn an income online?
Tyrone: Choose the niche of your blog with your interests and passions coupled with hard work and discipline

Image via Wikipedia

The other day I was looking for a way to convert .wav files to .mp3 format. I tried looking for .wav to .mp3 converters which were free. I found some free softwares in the internet but was disappointed since they only converted a portion of your file and if you want to convert the whole file then you need to buy the full version of the software!

Then I remembered that I had the VLC media player. Not only is it a player but it can do things you would not expect it to do. For example, it can save your DVD movies into a file among many other cool things. So, I tried to see if it can convert .wav files into .mp3 files and what do you know it does. So for those of you who were as frustrated as me in finding such a free software to convert your .wav files into .mp3 then you’ve come to the right place. Just follow the instructions below and you’ll be on your way to .wav to .mp3 file conversion frenzy!

1. First and foremost, you need to have the VLC media player.
2. Once you have it, on the Menu, choose File -> Open File..
3. In the File tab, browse for your file and select it.



4. Still in the File tab, check the Stream/Save check box then click Settings…
5. In the Outputs section, check the File check box, enter the filename of the target converted file and make sure it ends with .mp3 .
6. In the Encapsulation method section, choose Raw.
7. In the Transcoding option section, check the Audio codec check box, choose s16l from the dropdown menu then choose your preferred bitrate(the higher the better quality but bigger file size…)



8. Press Ok twice and start the conversion.
9. Once done then that’s it! Check your file in the directory where your chose to save it.

Those are the steps to convert it to .mp3 . If you want to experiment a bit, you can convert it to different file types other than .mp3 .  Let me know if you have any questions.

PS. Pamela Call Recorder is the call recorder for Skype…

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Last May 9, I read about Adsense Smartpricing in Griz’s make money online blog. One of the top make money online blogs that is truly worth considering. It offers very very relevant and informative information (duh..) which is not what you will see in other make money online gurus out there (the A-listers…).

As usual Griz, wrote very very very long posts but which I thoroughly read (I read all his posts thoroughly…). In a nutshell, what he was saying was if your site is not a niche site and not laser-targeted in its topic then most likely any quest to earn Adsense from that site would ultimately get smartpriced. After reading that, it got me worried with this blog. As you can see it contains Adsense ads to help pay for itself (in terms of hosting and domain..). This is a personal blog which talks about everything and anything under the sun and basing from Griz’s post, my site is to be smartpriced sooner or later. And not just my site but also my other sites because smartpricing is not at the site level, but at the account level.

Griz also said that social traffic is bad for Adsense. This is because visitors coming from social sites are not in the mood to click ads but to just browse around. Or if they do click, it is just out of curiosity and the probability of the them buying is slim. Granted, this is not always true. But there is wisdom in his words. Social traffic normally tend to just browse around and surf. And if your goal is to earn money online, then social traffic is not the sort of traffic you would be going after. Now what does this have to do with Adsense smartpricing?

Well, Griz theory is that since social traffic generally is not there to buy and on the event that they do click the ads and go to the advertisers sales page, they would just simply leave since they are not there to buy. This is bad for the advertiser since it cost them a click which did not result in a sale. This is bad for Google because this implies that their system does not work. And to solve this problem, Google introduced smartpricing which will give you a prorated CPC (cost per click) depending on the quality of the click. That means if an ad-clicker clicks and buys, then most probably, you won’t get smartpriced. If an ad-clicker clicks and does not buy and this happens many and most of the time, then you will get smartpriced. Well, this is just a theory anyway but well worth taking into consideration.

So on the very same day, I checked my earnings. I did see some $0.01 to $0.10 clicks and assumed I was smartpriced. On the other hand I still do have $1-$3 clicks. But still I assumed I was smartpriced. I cannot afford to turn off Adsense for a week or two (minimum amount of time to get desmartpriced…) so I looked for WP plugins that would only show my Adsense ads to search engine visitors. This was good. However, there was a problem. If an SE visitor enters my site, then the plugin would take care of showing the ads. But what if this SE visitor click on links to my other posts, will the plugin still consider the SE visitor an SE visitor? Sadly, no. This would mean that ads would have less views and thus less chances of being clicked thus my low May 2009 earnings.

Come June 6 2009 and I turned the plugin off. Back then, I wanted to see if I would still get those dreaded $0.01 clicks after 2-3 weeks of showing ads only to SE visitors. To my utter surprise, I still did see $0.01 clicks! But then again, I still also saw those $1-$3 clicks. So what’s up with that? Am I still smartpriced? I did some more research on the quality and topics of my posts. Then I came to the conclusion that I was not even smartpriced from the very beginning! I noticed that my posts that had $0.01 clicks came from posts that were tied to gaming. And as we all know such niches pay poorly. That means those $0.01 click were legitimate clicks and I earned what I deserved. Those clicks probably were just worth $0.05 to $0.10 to Google (I only earn a portion of what Google earns…) that’s why I only get $0.01.

So what have I learned from this? Smartpricing is real as can be seen from other people’s reports. But we do not have to get scared of it causing us to abandon our Adsense earning altogether by pulling them out. As one of the veterans I have talked about this said, we just have to make sure that most of our visitors come from the SE and not social traffic (90% above would do…).

This is also points out that onpage SEO is as important as offpage SEO. Never neglect onpage SEO reasoning that offpage SEO (backlinking…) is only what’s important. Creating a neat site (good HTML, CSS coding) for the SE robots and following the onpage SEO guidelines showing ‘respect’ to them is certainly important. It might have been that those sites that got smartpriced and blaming that their being smartpriced is due to their site not being a niche site were probably smartpriced because their code was cluttered thus the Google bots were not able to identify what their site is all about thus causing to show irrelevant ads thus causing low quality clicks thus causing being smartpriced.

The bottom line is this, Google is smart. We won’t know their algorithms fully and all we can do is guess. But like in real life, if we show respect to someone, more likely than not that someone would also show respect to us. So, respect Google and its bots and hope that the big G won’t smartprice you.