The trials and tribulations of making money on the internet.

Author Archive
Design / Freelancing

5 Ways to Get a Freelancer to Do What You Want

by Michael on Dec 3, 2010 • No Comments

With sites like elance.com, odesk.com, findafreelancer.com and more it is easier then ever to get a freelancer or amass and deploy a large workforce at a moments notice.  This can be a huge benefit to you and your company as it mainly just relies on the project manager to know what they are doing and understand how all of the cogs of the wheel fit together.  It has actually allowed me to create cheap websites and profit from jobs more than having an in-house team to do things.   It has gotten to the point for me where I am now trying to bring on an internal person to manage this deployable workforce so that I can continue to go out and find more of these highly profitable websites to build.  There have been 5 main things I have learned from doing all of this shit on my own for a few years…

1. Look at portfolios

For the love of god do not hire someone who’s work you have not seen. I don’t care if someones best friend used this person and you are supposed to just trust them on a whim, dont do it.  That best friend might have been building an alligator taming website and you are building a site about free popsicles.  They are different, will have different requirements, and might not need to look the same.  Most developers have a “style.”  Make sure you see it before you offer up your cash.

2. Read the reviews

People have used this developer/person before right?  If not, find someone else.  Do not use someone without reviews.  Look at both the good reviews and the bad reviews, I often find myself caring more about shitty reviews than people’s good reviews. Don’t ignore what people said but don’t take it as gods word, sometimes they are dumber than you and your preparedness would have avoided the reason they were pissed.  Read the reviews and use them.

3. Understand how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

If you think you do, you don’t.  You must be SURE of what you are doing. Do not wager that you will get exactly what you need from your minions because you will not unless you know exactly what to tell them.  Do not think you are smarter than you are.

4. Look for a jack of all trades

Someone who also understand how the different parts of a site fit together knows more than someone who is just a designer.  Often you can find a designer, coder, optimizer, javascript genius and more all in one elancer.  Sometimes these people can be more expensive than individuals but their knowledge is worth your extra coin.

5. Don’t be a cheap-ass

This is where people who have no idea what they are doing get into crazy messes, spend boatloads of money and end up with half a project that doesn’t do shit.  Unless you understand what you are gaining from “cheaping out” and using a workforce like this it is a bad idea.  It is not about saving tens of dollars, its about saving thousands of dollars, its the same reason someone will buy a prebuilt computer or build their own.  You can generally get a lot more bang for your buck handling it on your own, but if you dont know what you are doing,and fuck it up, than what are you gunna do? You’d much rather send it back to someone and say “FIX MY SHIT.”  Same is true here.

These lovely little tips should help you navigate the world and harness the power of these deployable work forces.


Uncategorized

Google Advertising Professional Test

by Michael on May 17, 2009 • 2 Comments

So I just hit 900 dollars a month on spending for PPC with Google across all my campaigns so I think its going to be coming time to take the AdWords Professional Test.  I took a look at what exactly you get from aligning yourself with Google in such a way and the benefits are many.  Starting with the fact that you can now post an AdWords certified image on your site (great for perspective customers) but just for passing the test you get a 100 dollar credit for your accounts, free money is always welcome.  You also get a professional status page which is like a mini-profile for people to look at and verify that Google is indeed backing you.  And last but not least, to quote Google, you get a “warm, fuzzy feeling of accomplishment.”

The test itself costs $50 to take and inorder to even be eligible to take the test you have to build and maintain a minimum of $900 dollars spent over 90 days.  Assuming you have built this up, the test should be too hard as you are already maintaining a decent amount of money in before you can even take the test.

Ill most likely do some research for a few days to make sure im “up to snuff,” no reason in wasting the $50 fee because i didnt feel like being prepared.  Look for my results soon.

General Information

Saving Money

by Michael on May 1, 2009 • No Comments

It’s safe to assume that if you are reading this article, you are interested in making money. Be it money earned online or money earned offline, earning your keep can make you feel just as good as shooting your arch-nemisis with a net gun. However, making money is only one side of the coin, if you are going to be raking in the cash, you need to make sure that it isn’t running back out.  You see, part of why internet moneymaking remains profitable is because you are able to start with such a low overhead.  Once you see a decent ROI over time, you can then up the ante and start dishing out some money for AdWords campaigns and the like, but you want to spend your money wisely, and that includes budgeting and saving.  There are several ways you can track what you have coming in vs what is going out.  For a while i was using Mint, but for whatever reason, it seems not to ever be 100% accurate.  It sometimes forgets to send me my balance text messages and it doesn’t connect to my BoA accounts correctly,  so ultimatley its use has come second to me just logging into my Bank of America account and doing it that way.  At any rate, when you are consious of the what you are spending and can put it in an actual dollar amount, you can inadvertently save where you might have otherwise spent.

Another tip for this upside-down economy.  If you cant control yourself with your credit cards, why not ask the issuing company to lower your credit limit?  I had a $17,000 limit for no reason on my Mastercard.  I never spent over 1k/month, so i called them and had them drop it to 8500.  I know its still not close to the 1k i spend a month(average) but it allows for half of thew wiggle room and potential trouble from the larger credit line.

Overall, just make sure to spend only the money you have.  Just becasue things are cheaper now, does not mean they need to be bought.  Its great to make a lot of money, but even if you do, be sure to save wisely, not just spend wisely.

Domains / Link Building / SEO / Uncategorized

Buying A New Domain Name to Increase SERPs

by Michael on Apr 24, 2009 • 1 Comment

Often overlooked by beginning companies, buying additional domains that relate to your products and services, and hosting blogs on them can be a valuable tool in creating valuable backlinks to your site. Lets say you own PetesOrganicDog.com and sell dog leashes, collars, dog bowls, poop bags, and more.   Now, lets say you buy organic-dog-collars.com and natural-dog-products.com and host simple but related blogs on each.  As the search engines spider those additional sites and see that not only a block of relavant content is pointing to your domain but an entire site on your topic favors your brand, it weights those links heavier.  Also, aging links are often seen as the most important in search engines, and if you control the keyword rich domains, you can always make sure that your links stay valid.  This also helps you create your own ring of sites, which has the potential to rack up a lot more valid traffic, and also helps you put yourself more in control of your important links.

E-Commerce / SEO

New Magento Version Released, Updated SEO Features

by Michael on Nov 20, 2008 • No Comments

The open-source ecommerce solution, Magento has just released a new version in time for all those online Holiday stores(woot!!).  You can download the update within the Connect Manager in the admin portion of Magneto.  It includes:

  • Google Base integration
  • Scheduled DV logs cleaning options
  • Google Website Optimizer Integration

and more, its pretty slick, i sound like an advertisement – but im not, its that great.  Here is a fancy little video showcasing the Google Website Optimizer options within 1.1.7.

Full 1.1.7 Patch Notes here.

E-Commerce / Open Source

Getting In Bed With Open-Source E-Commerce

by Michael on Nov 14, 2008 • No Comments

So im at a unique crossroads in which I have the opportunity to not only create, design and manage two large online storefronts, but im not getting paid in anything other than equity for both, so naturally, I’m trying to keep my costs low. Enter Magento. A rock solid, open-source alternative to things like CS-Cart, osCommerce and more. Not only is Magento free, but its a breeze to install, configure and update. No wonder it won Sourceforge’s “Best New Product,” last year. It can be downloaded and uploaded straight to your ftp, and with a few tweaks, you can have a running storefront within minutes (minus the incredibly long ftp upload times).

Let me sum it up in one sentence for you, Magento is a pretty hot situation.  Yes, I just called an open source, e-commerce solution a “hot situation.”  It has EVERYTHING the big dogs have, countless shopping cart features, multiple shipping addresses per cart, all kinds of reporting, individual product ratings, suggestions, up-sales and cross-sales, its basically wonderful.  It also is a breeze to customize when it comes to layout.  There are several places to procure fancy themes and plugins, some cost money and some don’t, but when you are getting the expensive part of this set up for free, you can part with some green to make the site look fancy.

Time to go play with the wonder that is Magento, Ill post more impressions tomorrow after I’ve become a bit more savvy with it.

General Information

Naming Your Own Business

by Michael on Jun 23, 2008 • No Comments

Alas! It has been sometime since I have posted on the greatness that is InternetGangsters.com but I do have a good reason.  Starting an IT consulting business is hard work.  One of the hardest parts being picking a name.  Since I started the business right out of college I was a bit more interested in coming up with a “cool” name instead of a marketable one.  After lots of thinking I came up with the name Chasing Squid.  Now, I know what you are all thinking right now. “Hot damn Michael, that is one of the coolest combination of two words I have ever heard!”  I agree with you.  However, it most certainly is not very practical.  Several of my clients asked me what it meant, and I wish I had a better answer then, “I just have a bizarre obsession with the giant squid.”  (I do, but this is neither the time nor place to discuss that wonderful sea creature)  Anyways, I was able to grab a good amount of clients out of the gate, most of them being friends of friends, so I initially wasn’t too worried that my IT company sounded like an expedition led by an old Sweedish guy.  Once it came down to getting new clients, Chasing Squid wasn’t looking so hot.  I had a sweet logo, pretty cool website(75% done @ www.chasingsquid.com) and a handful of clients but I wanted to grow.  So I had to think of a new name and completely rebrand the company.  As I sit here on Monday morning, I am deciding between a few different new names and I will keep you all updated with what I choose.

Lesson to be learned here: Think before you name your company. Pick something inline with the others in your industry.

General Information / SEO

Getting Started Part 2

by Michael on Feb 11, 2008 • No Comments

So, here we are. You have your site all set up and you are ready to take over the internet, but you cant do that without content. Content is king. How do you write engaging content you ask? Well, you could rip off from other sites, which is generally a bad idea and frowned upon by your fellow interneters, so instead maybe let those other sites serve as an inspiration for your writing. Ultimately this is the sort of stuff that will make or break your site, since once visitors come, you need to provide them with a reason to stay. Depending on what your website is about, there is usually some static information about that topic that you can use as reliable subject matter.

For the sake of this article lets assume, you have a site about Scuba diving. There are several different static content pages you could add to your site. Something like common scuba locations would be good, since all new scuba-ers are going to be looking for good places to dive. You could also have a page on how to get certified, because that sort of information does not change too frequently; also good for SEO due to the general keywords in a How-To article.  Also maybe something like general saftey procedures for scuba.  As you can see, this is all good general information related to the topic.  It is static and will provide you a good starting ground for your posts on whatever.  If at first you are not seeing the type of traffic you are looking for don’t give up.  Generating traffic is not an easy thing to do for a beginner, especially if you have a difficult niche.  Remember not to get discouraged because this is one of those areas where persistence pays off.

General Information

Getting Started Part 1

by Michael on Feb 9, 2008 • No Comments

So, you found your way to IG somehow, you started reading some of our articles and now you are saying to yourself…how do I get started? Well the first thing you have to do is pick a niche. Now, this sounds signifigantly easier than it actually is. What you are gunning for here is an under-saturated area that you are confident you know enough about to actually drive traffic to a worthwhile site. Unless you are just reposting 100% Ebay links, which in theory works too, but is not what we are talking about for the sake of this article.. Anyways, pick something. Anything. For the sake of this article we are going to pick used guitars. So, say I want to hawk some used guitars via Ebay, generate some coin on adsense and try and create a foothold for myself on the internet. Now, you need a domain. A .com works best for obvious reasons, but if you cant find anything that ends it .com it is alright to use .net, .org and .info. I’d stay away from .biz because people are going to assume its a business. After that, you are going to want to install WordPress, or any other blogging/CMS software you want. Next you are going to want to sign up for Google’s Adsense, which will give you a few cents everytime someone clicks on one of their links. Shopping Ads is also a nice and easy place to get some Ebay auctions on your website without too much work. If you are interested in a more indepth program, you can sign up for Commision Junction, which is, for the most part, the status quo for this type of stuff. After you get all of this stuff set up, you are almost ready to go! All you need now is some content. Part 2 of Getting Started will be all about writing valuable and engaging content and keeping people coming back to your site. Check back soon for the second part of the article, where we will talk all about your website on guitars.

General Information

Firefox Plugins

by Michael on Feb 8, 2008 • 1 Comment

For those of you out there who are so very anxious to combine your love for internet money making and the fantastic browser Firefox, this post is most certinly for you. I am going to show you some of the plug-ins and resources we here at IG use to spend less time hunting for information and more time learning from information.

1.) SEOQuake

What this wonderful toolbar does is provides you will all that information you would spend a good 10-15 minutes hunting for about any website on the internet. The toolbar sits right under your address bar, or wherever you decide to place it and gives you a plethora of valuable information for the budding internet entrepreneur. Information starts at, but is not limited to: Google PageRank and Index Number, Yahoo Links and LinkDomain, the MSN Index, Alexa Rank, the site IP, easy access to the Whois information, Link Density, Incoming and Outgoing links, and a ton more. There are so many options for this toolbar its almost ridiculous.

2.) Web Developer

This hot little piece of code lets you pretty much tear down any website on the internet. You can turn off CSS, add your own custom CSS, disable links, disable images, show borders around tables, view rulers, delete session cookies and buttloads more. A fantastic tool for any web-savvy individual.

3.) MetaTags

Pretty self-explanitory, MetaTags shows you all of the meta-information for any given page. It also can show you MIME type and charset, DTD, root tag, and XML namespace, last modification time, referrer and more. However it does not stop there, arguably the best part about MetaTags is the built in automated search engine submission tool.

4.) EzSidebar

Now, assuming you have a few different plugins installed, your interface can get pretty disgusting looking. While numbers everywhere might be good for impressing your parents or your girlfriend, it most certinly get get annoying when trying to browse. Enter EzSidebar. This little bugger lets you detach your sidebar, and anything that might live within it. No more StumbleUpon, WebDeveloper, ForecastFox bars crowding up your browser, they can now be added to the sidebar, detached and dragged wherever your little heart desires.

5.) StumbleUpon

Chances are, if you are reading this blog you are already going to be aware of this gem. Not only is it the absolute best way to kill time when you have run out of websites to read, but it is a great way to make sure that others are going to see your website. StumbleUpon is a tiny little addon that sits in the bottom corner of your browser with 3 icons (once configured) and lets you sit endlessly entertained. It works by showing you webpages based on your interests that have also been given good ratings by others who like similar things. StumbleUpon has won countless awards, and once you download and install it, you will see why.

6.) BlogRovr

BlogRovr is a neat little application that will fetch posts related to what you are browsing from blogs all around the internet. Rovr sits in the background and pays attention to that knitting pattern you are researching and will go hunt for other knitting related articles through the blogs you tell it to. They then pop up as headlines in the sizeable tray. From there you can either click and read just a summary or Ctrl+click to open the post in a new window. More of an information hoarder then a handy tool, BlogRovr is a great way to find trusted information about any particular topic.

These plugins are just a few that I would consider worthwhile. If you see something I missed, let me know!

General Information

Hello There

by Michael on Feb 8, 2008 • No Comments

Hello, and welcome to Internet Gangsters. Here you will find all sorts of information on all things related to making money on the internets. Tom and myself have decided to share our experiences with domain sales, internet marketing, SEO, PPC and whatever else has the potential to generate revenue online. A bit of background first. A few years ago both of us graduated from an unnamed art college in Chicago with degrees in interactivity on the web. What the fuck is that you may be saying to yourself right now? Well that is also how we feel about it. Nothing against the school, well maybe a little, but we left school no better then we started off, a pair of computer-savvy kids who didn’t want to go to a big state school and study accounting, like everyone else we know. They can all manage all the money we make. Works well for everyone. Anyways, this “interactive multimedia” major was supposed to be some revolutionary hybrid program that combined creativity with web technologies. It did not. Nothing against our professors, because most of them were pretty good at what they did, it was just a jenky program that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be when it grew up. So we graduated, worked for the man for a few years and here we are, trying to supplement our day jobs with the few cents that Google tosses our way for an ad click, so start clickin’. That is just a breif overview of who/what we are. Tell everyone you know, set us to your homepage, link to us, digg us, stumble us and most of all come here as often as possible for a healthy dose of sarcasm mixed with money making.

Michael

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