I like doing polls for two reasons. One I get to see what people think and the other is just to simply ask questions. I’m always curious in the minds of bloggers.

Lots Of People on Blogger

My most recent poll was, “Do You Own a Blogspot Blog?”. You may not know but some great blogs started out on Blogger, such as Dosh Dosh and of course, this one. Should you move off blogspot? Yes! But it can’t hurt to have blogspot blogs. You can use these to build links to your main blogs, or really just start a project.

I recently just made another blog on blogspot, My Healthy Info. This is to test to see how my content would do, and if I could make money with this health blog. I enjoy writing the articles so it’s all in fun.

Blogger also offers easy ways to redirect a custom domain from your .blogspot domain. This is perfect for beginning bloggers, and exactly what I did with several blogs in the beginning.

Poll Results

Out of the 47 votes we have, 68% of bloggers own a Blogspot domain. Well I guess you don’t really “own” it, but they have one. This simply shows that Blogger is a huge blogging platform that is perfect to start your first blog on.

This is something I used to do quite regularly. It was both a profitable business and was relatively simple.  And now that I am no longer involved in domain “real estate”, I thought I would share with you exactly how to flip domains for profit.

When it comes to domaining there are two paths you can follow.  The first is buying really valuable domains such as www.shoes.com and make money off ads. See lots of people type in shoes.com every day without even bothering going to a search engine. But the problem with this method – it requires a huge capital outlay.  Thankfully the second option is a lot more affordable, and you can even get started with just $20.

This method involves purchasing domains with PR (pagerank), adding value to the domain, and then selling (flipping) them on for a profit.

Buying the Domain

So logically the first step is to find a domain with PR. Pagerank is very valuable and buyers will pay a premium if the site they will acquire already has PR.  But where to find these domains?  I have found the easiest way is to use a free tool called FreshDrop.  Using FreshDrop you can search through various sources including TDNAM (GoDaddys domain auctions), eBay and Sedo, and rank the domains by PR.  I have found many domains with PR and paid only $15-$20.    Look for domains that are short, contain no numbers, and have good keywords in them.

My tip is to only buy domains that you are interested in.  For example I’m interested in blogging, marketing and design and will only purchase domains based around those themes.   Buying domains you are interested in, will make creating content and adding value a breeze.

Adding Value

Once you have purchased a domain the next step is adding value.    The easiest way is to use a WordPress blog – its free, highly customizable and allows for speedy content creation.  In terms of content its important to always think quality.  Quality content will sell for a premium.  So take the time to sit down and write some quality articles that add real value to the site.

The Flip

And finally its time to flip the site.  Don’t be afraid to hold onto the site for a while.  If you continue to build backlinks and promote the site, it should only increase in value.  Remember every backlink, visitor and blog post will increase a sites value.

For small sites I recommend selling them on DigitalPoint or similar forums.  Any site you own, that you expect to sell for more than $200 should be listed on SitePoint. How much will a site sell for?  It varies hugely, but I was consistently flipping sites for $100+ profit.

Guys, make sure you follow me on Twitter here and check out my blog iDezy.com updated daily with the best resources for web workers.

Directories arn’t guaranteed to bring you swarms of traffic, but they are a handy resource when it comes to SEO and delivering the odd visitor here and there.  Besides, what do you have to lose by submitting your blog?

So here is a short (but worth it) list of directories for blogs:

blogarama
Blog Catalog
Globe of Blogs
WeBlogAlot
EatonWeb
Blog Flux
Blogion
Bloghop
Bloggernity
Blog Search Engine
Technorati
blogBunch
Feeds4All
FeedBoy
Blogs.com
Blog-search
SpicyPage

Have I missed some?  I know I have, but let me know so  this list can grow!

For more resources for webmasters and bloggers, updated daily, checkout iDezy.com

Some of my websites are strictly for money making, others for fun, and some are just projects. I’ve made a lot of my free samples blogs into money makers.

Lately I’ve had quite a bit of success with Google Adsense, getting payments almost every month now. This month I am expecting to receive $200 in payments. One site has had nice increase in earnings, simply due to the WordPress theme.

ProSense WordPress Theme

Dosh Dosh put together a great list of 18 adsense ready WordPress themes. At the top of the list (and rightfully so) is Prosense. Dosh Dosh co-designed this theme and it has been great for me.

The theme comes preloaded with Adsense codes, all you need to do is simply change a few numbers to make it ready for you. It’s full of a lot of great features and Adsense is integrated perfectly.

Prosense comes in three different colors. The header is also easy to change and make custom (some themes can be tricky).

The only downside of this theme for me has been using images with it. When you see the images on the main page, it looks good, but with the heavy Adsense on post pages, the images can break up the page.

Earnings Increase

Running the Prosense theme on Its All Free Online has already doubled my earnings. Last month IAFO made $17 on Adsense. Being only halfway through October I’ve already been able to double that ($35) with 100 less visitors, and about 400 less impressions. If traffic and clicks hold the same, I can expect to quadruple my earnings.

So with almost the same amount of traffic, my earnings has doubled due to the Prosense WordPress theme.

Do you use an Adsense ready wordpress theme?

Download Prosense Here

The best and simpliest contest of the net, only for you…

$20 Cash Weekly

Win $20 Cash every week by joining Garanew’s contest. A simple post on your blog and you are in!

$25 from Europe Stamps

Put a link to  Europe Stamps on your blog/site and get points when people click it. The more points you gain, the higher chance to win $25!
Ends on October 15th.

Cash from Web-Freak

First Blog Contest at Web-Freak.com with 2 cash prizes ($50 and $25) plus a banner advertising. To enter gain your points with a blog post, a subscription and some stumbling or digging.
Ends on October 15th.

If you’re looking for blog contests, if you want to promote your own competition, don’t forget to visit About Blog Contests!

Websites and blogs can take advantage by following trends. The past few weeks people have been interested in the presidential campaign. Seemingly the most fascinating thing in that campaign has been Sarah Palin. She has been one of the top web searches the past few weeks. People want to find out about her.

Following the Trends

Now it may be a little late to start an entire blog dedicated to Sarah Palin. Of course it would be short term (unless she becomes VP). However if you were following the trends you may have found a way to include her name into a post of yours already (like this one). With so many different searches you may be bound to get some of the traffic. There are several ways to try to work her in. My favorite is a video of Sarah Palin’s Miss Alaska Pageant Video.

This is also a great method to do with upcoming movies, technology releases like computers, cell phones and music players. Of course once they are finally released you will see competition and most likely less traffic.

Be Creative

So should you blog about Sarah Palin and what’s hot? Yes and no. Be creative in working in hot topics into your post. It all really depends on your niche. Titles like Why Sarah Palin Wouldn’t Be Good At Making Money Online or Would Barack Obama Be A Good Webmaster or Is John McCain Too Old For The Internet could be funny, on topic, as well as able to do well on social media. These titles alone could intrigue people enough to read, especially as we get closer to the voting day, everyone seems to want info!

Are you blogging about what’s hot?

Rumors are circulating that SU has been sold and updated their algorithms. This basically means how they value the “power” of your stumbles. Some users think that only “spammers” should care about this but of course I disagree. The whole point of SU is to share what you like, so wouldn’t you want as many people to see it as you can?

The LinkBackProject wrote about their beliefs of the new StumbleUpon algorithms. There are several new theories which basically says not to submit your own websites as well and not to “power stumble” and more.

This will supposedly inflict a penalty on your user, but which can be changed if you follow certain guidelines.

This claim by the Link Back Project has brought out loads of Stumbleupon users to either agree or disagree. Make sure to check out their comments as well as Stumbleupon feedback on the page. There is 9 pages of reviews on the stumbleupon page!

It’s Been Sold?

This is another ‘rumor’ going around. I would expect that they would announce this eventually if this rumor were true. I’ve heard that people think eBay has purchased SU and that would definitely be interesting.

If you start seeing “Stumble this Auction” I think it’s safe to say they purchased it!

What do you think?