BlogMunch

CashCrate - another method to earn money online

Other than serving ads on my blog, putting Amazon affiliated links within my content, I recently use GPT (Get Paid To) sites to earn some money online. What GPT means is that you will get paid to:

1. Fill up survey
2. Sign up for trials
3. Request for free samples
4. Enter a contest
5. Apply for a credit card

There are literally thousands of GPT site in the internet, with hundreds popping up everyday. There are some scam sites definitely and also some sites that fold before they can pay their customers. The two sites I am referring you to have good reviews and well established track record for paying their customers.

Cashcrate.com

The web interface is nice and clean, not those flashy banner type site. After you join up, there are three offers categories to get you started.

1. Cash offers - where you will complete offers to earn cash. The one I complete is to sign up for eMusic trial to earn $3.oo.
2. Points offers - to earn points that can use to exchange for Sony PSP or XBOX360.
3. Daily survey - earn $0.75 per day filling surveys.

The problem for me is that I am from Singapore, so there are only a few offers for me to complete. I am also not eligible for the daily survey. If you are U.S. based, you will benefit the most. That’s why I am using it’s referral system.

How does the referral program work?

The referral program has two levels. You get paid 20% of what your direct referrals make and 10% of what THEIR referrals make. Members can make hundreds a month just by referring other members to our free program!

From Cashcrate FAQ

To see proof of payment from Cashcrate, go to their Official “I got paid!” Thread. at their forum.

Other reviews of Cashcrate:
CashCrate - Get Paid completing Offers and Make Money Online - From Dosh Dosh
CashCrate Proof Of Payment: $116.56- From Bloggingfingers

I hereby refer you to sign up at Cashcrate. Sign up now to start making money online.

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blog migration series - cpanel orientation

Migration of your blog is not an easy task. That’s why there are many bloggers who reflect on their first year blogging said that shifting to your own domain is of the first priority. I am starting a series of posts on my migration from Blogger to WordPress.org, so that I can share my knowledge to anyone wanting to migrate their blog . Blog Migration Series:

1. Choosing my Wordpress theme
2. Choosing a webhost
3. Choosing wordpress plugins
4. cPanel orientation

When you got a web hosting plan, the first thing you will encountered is the cpanel. For first-timers, all the new terms and variety of services in the cpanel will seems daunting. At least, it was like that to me. Even now after two weeks of using it, I have used less than half of the features there.

Fantastico

To install Wordpress, you can either for for the famous 5 mins install or you can use Fantastico. With a name like that, you will need fantastic performance to live up to it. It is certainly not a one click install per se, but as close to a one click as can be. You will still need to know the directory (I install at root) you want to install at. Configure Admin and Email.

The only time I have a problem is when I tried to uninstall Gallery2 from my set up. Not sure why, but I cannot uninstall from the Fantastico interface. Needed a technical support staff from Bluehost to uninstall it.

Unlimited ftp

Unlimited ftp client is a java applet that allows you to transfer files to and fro local hard disk and hosting server. It is a two panel screen with your local drive on the left and the server on the right. You can do the usual stuff like make directory, upload or download files. It works fine, but being java based, it is quite slow. An adequate ftp client until you install your own.

Awstats

For stats junkies. If your Google Analytics, Statcounter and Sitemeter combined is not enough for you to get high, you can activate the log program from cpanel. You can choose between Awstats, Webalizer or both. Not sure how too much log program will affect the server performance, I choose Awstats only. Most of what you see on the others analytical programs like outgoing links, search keywords, referrers and content logs is available here. Though from what I noticed, the stats here are higher than others. Maybe it logged my visits too?

I still have much more to learn

The above are my frequently used programs from cpanel. There are more that I need to explore. I will add in more as I find useful stuff on the cpanel. I think new users should not be overwhelm by the cpanel, as from what I experienced, when you need to use it, you will know how to use it. That’s how user-friendly it is. The instructions are clear on each functions with ample warning if you might break something. So be alert and you will be fine.

This ends the four parts series for my blog migration. I hope you enjoy them as I do writing them. If you have not read the other parts, just go back to the top and there are links there to guide you.  

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blog migration series - Choosing Wordpress plugins

Migration of your blog is not an easy task. That’s why there are many bloggers who reflect on their first year blogging said that shifting to your own domain is of the first priority. I am starting a series of posts on my migration from Blogger to WordPress.org, so that I can share my knowledge to anyone wanting to migrate their blog . Blog Migration Series:

1. Choosing my Wordpress theme
2. Choosing a webhost
3. Choosing wordpress plugins

One of the key advantages of shifting to Wordpress is the wide variety of plugins available. Shifting from Blogger to Wordpress, the first thing you need to be familiarize with is the usage of plugins.

The first thing you need is a ftp client to upload the php files onto your server. Initially, I use the Unlimited ftp client from cpanel. It works fine but a bit slow. Now, I am using (as are everyone else) filezilla ftp client.

Plugins installed

Once I choose redoable theme from Dean J Robinson, my task in choosing plugins becomes simple. Redoable theme comes with a list of recommended plugins. Some of the plugins are even integrated into redoable options page. These are the ones I installed:

• Extended Live Archives v0.10beta-r18 - adds a nice archive template to my page menu. You can choose to show your archive post by date (Chronology) or categories (Taxonomy). Once activated, use redoable options to set integrated styling.
• Gregarious v1.5.2 and v2 beta - social bookmarking plugins. Pop up a small menu to social bookmaking sites like, Digg, Stumbleupon and Reddit. There is also a option to email your post to a friend.
• Related Posts v2.04 - I craved this when I was on Blogger and need to updated related posts by hand. The related posts chosen is not quite related, but I imagine when I have more postings, it will be better.
• Ultimate Category Cloud v2.0 (Based on Weighted Categories plugin) - Dean wrote this plugin himself. It will reassembled your categories into weighted clouded form.
• Subscribe to Comments v2.0.8 - Another one of my favorites. Being inform when a comment list is updated will improve audience participation. Just remember if you are subscribed to a popular post, to unsubscribe when your email load is too high. 

Plugins I am interested in but have not installed:

1. Lightbox/Slimbox - For fancy image display
2. WP-Cache - For protections against Digg or John Chow effect. I guess I don’t need this at the moment.
3. WP-DB-Backup - For backing up your Wordpress database. (Critical, must install soon)
4. Popularity Contest - For showing my most popular post

Of course, I have also installed other plugins like Akismet and Redirection (my plugin of the week), but I want to highlight the ones integrated into the redoable theme. You can always look for more plugins at Wordpress Codex. Oh, before I end, I have a tip. The options for your plugins might not always be at your options or plugins menu. For example, the options for Redirection is at the Manage tab. Go figure.

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I am on a wiki…

Found this on the web while using Domaintools. Unfortunately, it’s not wikipedia. Well, any exposure is good publicity.
What is Aboutus.org? by Dan G.

Tip of the day - linkout from your wordpress pages

I have been searching how to linkout from my page menu. I have googled it but did not have a satisfactory answer. Not sure if it is too common sense for someone to post about it. The reason is I wanted to linkout to my Amazon aStore from the page menu.

Here is the method I used.

For example, you want to linkout to your aStore with the title “My aStore”. This is what you type into the Page Title:

<a href=”http://astore.amazon.com/endlidyl-20? title=”My aStore”>My aStore</a>

or basic structure

<a href=”url of the site you want to link out”>Page Title Name</a>

(note: change “endlidy-20″ to your own affilate id)

Save the page and add My aStore page to your page menu.

You will now be able to linkout to your aStore. I use this method to create a subscription page too.

Try it.

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