Something for UK readers only today. My apologies to USA and other country visitors.

There are basically two ways of becoming wealthier. Either (a) increase your income or (b) decrease your spending.

Let’s look at decreasing spending today. Household expenditure which is rising faster than inflation, here in the UK, are the utility bills. It really is necessary to shop around for gas, electric, phones and so on. One of the ways to do this is by using a comparison website such as uSwitch. It’s simply a case of feeding in previous bill details and they will then come up with the cheapest provider. If you are happy with the result they can also do the switch over for you.

It’s possible to make some considerable savings, especially if you have been with an electric or gas company for a considerable period.

Here’s how uSwitch describe their service (which I have used successfully myself):

uSwitch.com

‘uSwitch.com is a free, impartial online comparison and switching service that helps consumers compare prices on gas, electricity, home telephone, digital tv and broadband providers. Our aim is to help customers take advantage of the best tariffs and services on offer from every supplier. The company has developed a series of calculators that evaluate a number of key factors including price, location, service and payment method, and advises consumers on the best deal to suit their needs. uSwitch.com is not a supplier but acts as an independent advisor, giving consumers an impartial view of what’s on offer. ‘

To have a look at uSwitch, and hopefully save some money, click on the button below.

That’s it for today.

Good blogging,
Mike.

A few years back I used to publish various mail order penfriend magazines and I wrote an article about this called Publishing Penfriend Magazines.

The penfriend business has now, in a way, continued into my blogs. The ‘pen’ bit has been dropped and now it’s simply friends or contacts. It’s become part of my blogs through affiliate schemes.

Today, for example, I received US$107 from the Friend Finder Group. They have over 25 different sites to promote with various commission options. Fuller information can be seen on todays post on Mike’s Money Making Mission.

Friendship and contacts is a massive market. The Friend Finder Group, for example, have over 19 million members worldwide and this is just scratching the surface.

If friends and contacts are compatible with your own blog, this may be a market worth considering.

Good blogging,
Mike.

Are you active on Yahoo Answers, Myspace Forums, or other discussion sites?

Tons of people are. Are you getting PAID for it? No?

Why not try joining mylot. With just over 40,000 members there are new topics being posted about everyday. Start your own, or comment on others.

I’m not promising tons of money, but why not get paid doing something you already are? You can even get referrals to your site by posting your link.

Making a dollar or two a day is very possible. Hope to see your there, come find me!

Mylot.com

TaGs: Yahoo Answers, Myspace, Mylot, Paid, Free

I have been experimenting with Google Groups as a means to get visitors to my blog. I got the idea because someone mentioned my blog in an active Group and this brought me a flood of referrals.

I’ve now started a Group Free Blogs 4 Money where anyone, with a blog, is welcome to list their information and links. Now, I’m not going to say that this will bring you lots of hits, it’s early days, but it’ll only take a few minutes to get your blog entered.

I’m always writing on my own blog, Mike’s Money Making Mission, about how I feel it’s important to get Blogs listed whenever there is an opportunity. Incidently, on My Weekly Report, I list what I consider to be the best Blog Directories. This is based purely on the response I have had from over 50 directories. The fact seems to be that the majority are a waste of effort, as far as referrals go. You can, however, see my Top Blog Directories by clicking here.

Good Blogging,
Mike.

This is just a quick introduction to my blog about how I’ve been going about trying to make money on the internet. My blog has been running for a little over 2 months now and I have over 70 posts. I do a weekly report of my visitor stats to the blog and how much money I’ve made and from what. My blog also includes articles about good ways of making money and ways to increase traffic. Listed below are some of my top posts, please visit my blog and leave your comments.

• The first days of my quest - Part 1
• The first days of my quest - Part 2
• The first days of my quest - Part 3
• The first days of my quest - Part 4
• The first days of my quest - Part 5
• Blog Explosion - Quick Credits
• 6 Top Tips for Increasing Traffic to your Blog
• reddit.com can Increase your Traffic
• Syndicate your Blog with RSS and Feedburner
• Commission Junction & Adbrite - More Ways to Make Money on the Internet Part 1
• Digg It! - Give Bloggers the Recognition they Deserve
• Commission Junction & Adbrite - More Ways to Make Money on the Internet Part 2
• Top 5 Resources for a Successful Blog
• Internet Money Makers Blog Carnival
• Google Adsense, Traffic Exchanges and Making it all Work
• My Ebay Experiment
• Blogsvertise - Pay Per Post
• Internet Money Makers Carnival 1st Edition
• My Ebay Experiment - The Results
• Text Link Ads - Missing Out on Blogger Blogs
  

Tags: top posts, articles, money, internet

Hello. My name is Chad Gramling. I am a lover of life. My passions include God, my family, writing and baseball - pretty much in that order. I have always enjoyed pro wrestling too. My blogs allow me to have an outlet for it all.

I am a marketing professional at a financial institution, but I hope to one day earn enough money through writing that I can leave the 9-5 for a career as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. My first book is schedule for release in February 2007. For details, please visit www.baseballinfortwayne.com.

My personal blog is called simply, WordUp. This is a personal blog that started as a chronicle of my pursuit of becoming a professional writer, but has spawned into much more. The title, though overdone and a bit cliche’ is symbolic of my goal in keeping the content continually upbeat and optimistic in nature. However, I do stray into the dark side from time to time (check out the “Ted Sucks” series as an example).

A blog that evolved out of WordUp is my blog dedicated to baseball; Chad Gramling’s Baseball Blog (CGBB). This blog is billed as “A Fan’s Blog for Baseball” and seeks to offer an alternative to mainstream media coverage of a sport I love while focusing again on the positive aspects versus the filth that our lazy media counterparts often salivate over.

Finally, I mentioned pro wrestling. As “The Masked Blogger” I write every now and then about pro wrestling - mostly as it relates to current trends while considering the historical perspectives. I grew up in the 80’s and watch Hulk Hogan tell me to train, say my prayers and take my vitamins - so I blog a lot from that era. It is NOT a fansite, news/rumors site or spoilers site. Pro Wrestling Pages is a simple blog that presents a unique, fresh take on the world of pro wrestling.

Have you heard about traffic exchanges? The idea is simple. Basically you visit sites and earn “credits” or “points” which in turn can be exchanged for different things. You can use them to get other people to visit your site, or maybe display a banner or text link on the traffic exchange site. Whatever you chose to do it will drive traffic to your site. It is especially useful for newer sites/blogs because you then get exposed. Other people are clicking through site by site, but if your site appeals to the person viewing you may have gained a reader or someone to exchange links with.

With traffic exchanges I’ve gotten a lot of viewers to my blogs, as well as gained relationships and partnerships with certain bloggers.

Is this idea appealing to you?

It should be. Here is a list of some of the traffic exchanges I am on and would recommend.

First being BlogMad. You could be on this site alone and drive tons of traffic to your site. This has to be one of the top blog traffic exchanges. They offer 1:1 surfing ratio. Every site you visit you get yours visited.

Next has to be Blog Explosion. I like that you not only can “surf” but theres other competitions you can do. A nice feature I like is battle of the blogs. 15 people decide which blog is the best between yours and another blog, and the winner gets credits.

Blog Soldiers is slow but steady. It doesn’t seem to use up your credits like the previous two but can get you daily traffic if you have some credits saved up.

Last of the blog traffic exchanges ranks Blog Advance. It seems to drive the least traffic, but still worth it. I’ve used my credits more towards advertising on this site. Seems to pay off better, and you get ‘quality’ viewers as well

There are other traffic exchanges that aren’t just blog related

GoldenWheelSurf is for all sites and you are guaranteed 50,000 views, since they start you with 50,000 credits!

Link Referral is a bit different and is one of my favorites. You get to visit which sites you want and can even write reviews about them. You are limited 30 sites a day and 5 reviews. If you do that daily you will get a top spot on the rankings and will generate 25-30 quality viewers.

Most importantly you need quality content and site appeal, but to start getting viewers its a nice start.

Now I wouldn’t give you this information without a bit of a warning. If you are an adsense user DO NOT use traffic exchanges. It is violating their terms of service and you will get your account deleted.

With that said, happy surfing!

Tags: traffic exchange, blogmad, blogexplosion, blogadvance, blogsoldiers, goldenwheelsurf, linkreferral, adsense

Hello!

I’m Mike and my blog is called Mike’s Money Making Mission.

My ‘mission’ is to try and make money using only free blogs and with no capital outlay. The blog is updated on a regular basis and I post a Weekly Report detailing how I am getting on, what I have made and from where.

Good luck,
Mike.

Tags: money, mission, free blogs