I wanted to wish everyone a happy holidays and Merry Christmas to those that celebrate!

I’ve been pretty busy the past week due to the holidays and trying to get some landing pages ready for the new year.

January is the start of the “new years resolutions” and you should know what does well during that time! Weight Loss/Fitness, stop smoking etc…

In early 2010 I hope to finally get an eMonetized.com site redesign complete. I also have several more good interviews to post.

Take care and again, have a safe happy holiday!

I was reading a guest post by Jonathan Volk titled “How I Made Over $1,500,000 Using A Free CSS Template” over on the ShoeMoney blog and some of the comments are pretty ridiculous.

Yes, the post title shouldn’t have included the word “HOW” and it was short on substance but Jonathan was simply trying to make a point that you don’t need to be a design expert or programming guru to make a ton of money online.

Really the actual sites visual design plays a very small part in how much you can earn. It’s more about what you say than any type of flashy design. But that’s not what this post is really about. It’s about some of the comments left on the post.

Here are a few snippets from some anonymous repliers:

The only way he could get anyone to read his blog or have any level of credibility is to constantly flash those gross numbers. If anyone knew what the real profits were I doubt he would have much of a reader base. As his main campaigns are now defunct he is leveraging his blog by doing paid reviews, guests posts, etc.

and

You are a joke. Everyone who matters knows this. When you post shit like this it just makes you look worse. For those who are interested, his profit margins were close to 5-10% and all his numbers are gross.

Notice how volk always speaks of his PAST numbers. This is because he currently makes close to zero and has been for many months now.

He is a person who got lucky with one method, did not once change or adapt his strategies, and as a result is now a complete loser and a total washout.

and

Anybody can show off a few numbers.

My question to these people would be if THEY have Made 1 Million+ Dollars Lately? EVER?

If so, then congrats! Six figures in a year? Still, Congrats! The measly 3 figures a month you probably make a month?

Here is what the haters say (and there is a LOT of them):

1. He is only posting Gross numbers!

Gross or Net, who cares! Even at 10% net that’s still a nice $150,000 profit which is far more than most affiliates make gross revenue in a year. His actual net was a lot higher than 10% so I suspect his profits were $300,000+

How much did you make lately? If a whole lot more than that then that’s great but don’t be jealous because he gets attention for it and you don’t. Otherwise start a blog.

2. Anybody can show off a few numbers.

That’s far from true. Let’s see your revenue numbers? A lot of big affiliates choose not to share their revenue numbers but a lot of affiliates have nothing real to show if they wanted.

3. He got lucky or He Made a bunch of money once but doesn’t make shit now.

I love luck. And regardless of if Jonathan is still making 7-figures or 6-figures he has still reached a ton of revenue goals many affiliates can only dream of. Affiliate Marketing is a roller coaster. I’ve gone from $350,000+ revenue in one month to like $30,000 the next and everywhere in between in other months. Today things suck for me. Tomorrow could be huge. You define what your own success is anyway.

4. All he does is post paid reviews or push affiliate links.

The answer to this is simple. Unsubscribe and don’t read the blog if you don’t like it. They won’t miss you and while you bash them, you are probably still a subscriber. There is a difference if you are blogging to just express your thoughts or blogging as a source of income for your business. Examples: John Chow and Zac Johnson. You might not like what they post half the time but what they are doing works and it makes them a nice amount of money. It’s business. If you don’t like it then just don’t read it.

Quit all the hating and jealousy. It doesn’t make you look cool. Get to work and make some money.

I just wanted to make a quick post and wish a safe and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate this holiday.

I have a whole bunch of interviews to post from both top affiliate marketers and social media bloggers. I’ll also have several posts coming related to media/advertising networks.

I’ll do my best to post a new interview or two over the next couple days if I get some spare time.

Have a great holiday!

In this post I just wanted to give a shoutout and thanks to Convert2Media.

I recently placed second place in one of their affiliate revenue contests and I won a new iMac.

Being that they don’t sell the 24″ versions anymore, they upgraded my prize to a 27″ iMac for free.

Here is a picture of my old monitor setup:

I got back from a conference several weeks ago and the dang monitors above were not working. So I had to run off and grab a temporary monitor from Best Buy (20″ Hannspree) which is sitting next to the iMac in the picture below.

The picture of the 27″ iMac above doesn’t do justice. This baby is HUGE with a LED-backlit display. You might have noticed that it is about as wide as the two 17″ monitors side-by-side at the top of the picture.

Thanks again to Ruck, Steve and the rest of the Convert2Media crew for the upgrade.

Hey guys!

So it has obviously been a long time since I made my last post. Here are a few random updates:

1. I’m finally getting TimSchroeder.com designed and will be starting a new blog there. eMonetized will still be around but I’m probably going to make some changes to this site. Go follow me on Twitter so you will know when the new blog is ready!

2. I’ve been working a lot with Market Leverage lately and hitting some record revenue numbers for myself.

3. I went to the Market Leverage Charity bowling tournament several weeks ago. ML hooked us up with a limo ride to and from the event. Thanks again. I tried to teach my affiliate manager Chelsea how to become an expert bowler like myself but that was a hopeless cause. Dina R. as usual ran around taking pictures and videos of everthing. Mike K. wore his gang attire.

4. Finally visited the ML offices in Orlando/Lake Mary FL. About time considering I live about 30-45 minutes away. Really nice offices. Chelsea even made my lunch for me so I plan to stop by every Friday now. Now I just have to just make it to the C2M offices mansion which is literally 10 minutes from my home.

5. I finally got a Mac! I’ve always been comfortable with my PC but I thought it was time to compare. It’s rare that you hear about someone getting a MAC and not liking it a LOT more than their old pc. I got the new 17″ Macbook Pro and so far I am loving it! I just bought Parallels today so I can also run Windows on it…

6. I need a haircut.

7. Tyler Cruz owes me some free advertising (he knows what I mean)

8. I have not Twittered in a couple weeks but I will soon so remember to go follow me.

9. I’m probably going to do some big advertising and big contests when TimSchroeder.com goes live. I’ll probably blog there a couple months and then decide for the second time that I’d rather work on my affiliate campaigns than become a famous blogger.

10. I had to put something here for 10 because I didn’t want to end on a 9. I just thought of something to put here. Andrew Wee, I’ll finally get to that podcast in another few weeks months.

11. …609, SM, geigo, 787, k… How about a little competition fellas? Oh, and again, Tyler get my check in the mail.

I’m back from a two-week vacation to the beach (Boca Grande, FL) and a long brake from blogging. A few days after I returned, a big FedEx box arrived on my front porch. From who you ask?

Who else than from the marketing geniuses and also my new best friends… The Market Leverage Affiliate Network Crew!! Thank You!

Market Leverage rocks! And a special thanks to the super-cool Market Leverage Marketing manager, Dina Riccobono. We all know that building relationships is important and they have definitely started off on my good side. No matter how much money I make, I’ll also be the type of guy that likes a good deal or even better, free stuff!

What did Market Leverage send me?

1. A sweet Flip Video Camera!
2. A Flip Video Tripod!
3. A Flip Video Soft Pouch!
4. 4 great shirts! My son Austin and daughter Katelyn are wearing cute “Future Blogger” t-shirts. Deb and I are also wearing high quality Nike gold shirts with the Market Leverage logo. I’ll be proud to wear it.
5. A cool Market Leverage hat. Deb is wearing it. It’s in youth size so it didn’t quit fit my head. I’m going to see If I can order an adult size because they are nice hats!
6. Gas gift cards.
7. A Ruth’s Chris Steak House gift card.
8. Movie ticket gift cards.
9. Two spiffy Market Leverage flash drive pens.
10. And a really nice Market Leverage Nike duffle bag (which all the great stuff arrived in).

Here are a couple more pics of some of the goods:

When you join the Market Leverage network, you will notice some of the highest default payouts anywhere! I’ve found several offers with payouts several dollars higher than the defaults at some other networks. This is NO joke and I’ll be giving several examples in a new review. I’m really excited to start working with them ASAP.

By the way, Market Leverage is giving away a lifetime referral bonus for each Publisher you refer to their network! Earn (5%) five percent of the commission for each and every Publisher you refer that signs up as a Market Leverage Publisher.

Thanks again Market Leverage! If you have not joined Market Leverage yet, you should do so now! Click Here

As mentioned in my previous CX Digital blog post , I am opening up this new post as a chance for you to ask me anything.

It can be about affiliate marketing, blogging, seo, what sports I like, my favorite foods, what I do in my free time….pretty much anything! It does not have to be related to affiliate marketing. It’s your choice.

Also just because I said you can ask me anything does not mean I will answer everything! For example, I’m not going to give you the URLs to all my PPC landing pages (most are registered as “Private” by the way). I will try and answer most questions.

Please be as specific as possible with your questions. “How Do I Make Money Online?” is NOT a good question.

I’ll leave this post open to questions for several days. I’ll then begin answering the questions in a new post. If I’m really brave (I probably won’t be) I’ll answer some of the questions via video from my new FLIP ULTRA camera.

Thanks!

We just announced the five winners of the Webmaster-Talk.com $25,000 contest winners. It was a huge success and I thank those who participated or announced the contest in some way. Lee and I have been busy the past several days verifying the winners points. This contest was BY FAR the biggest webmaster forum related contest ever. The prizes were so cool and so big (Macbook Air etc) that I really wished that I could have participated myself. However, being one of the owners and admin of Webmaster-Talk.com that was not really possible.

On the same day the WT contest winners were announced DNXpert, a Daily Domain Blog, announced their own contest with over $9,000 in prizes up for grabs. Now I have a chance to participate in a really big contest with almost $9,000 in prizes up for grabs. DNXpert claims it to be the biggest domain name blog related contests ever held. I’m really glad to have been able to contribute as a sponsor.

The Current List of Prizes Include:

• $700 in cash from We Build Pages who offer Link Building Services. ($700 value)
• $200 credit deposited into NameDrive domain parking account courtesy of NameDrive.com. ($200 value)
• $100 Godaddy Gift card from instantdomaintool.com. ($100 value)
• $100 credit in Bidvertiser account. ($100 value)
• $100 cash from WordPressFreelance. ($100 value)
• $50 cash from Ades blog ($50 value)
• $35 Cash from Tim Schroeder of eMonetized.com. ($35 value)
• $35 Cash from Web Hosting Reviews. ($35 value)
• $30 Cash from Life is colourful. ($30 value)
• 1 Market Leverage promo pack consisting of: MarketLeverage iFlip (digital camera), MLRewards card ($50), MarketLeverage USB Pen, MarketLeverage Polo and hat, MarketLeverage/Nike duffelbag. ($350 value)
• 2 x Market Leverage promo pack consisting of MLRewards card ($25), MarketLeverage USB Pen, MarketLeverage Polo and hat, MarketLeverage/Nike duffelbag. (2 x $220 value)
• 3 x Market Leverage USB Pens with $10 ML Rewards card. (3 x $35 value)
• 6 months subscription to MarketMotive.com. ($1794 value)
• 1 hour of SEO Consulting from Todd Malicoat from stuntdubl.com. ($500 value)
• 1 year’s PRO Subscriptions membership to FreshDrop.net. ($395.40 value)
• 5 x 1 license of the software product Domain Name Pro (5 x $64.95 value)
• 3 months membership at Aaron Wall’s SeoBook course. ($300 value)
• 3 x 1 copy of the Domain Graduate ebook. (3 x $87 value)
• 5 x 1 exclusive list of 100 expired domains from DNXpert.com (5 x $50 value)
• 6 months premium clustered hosting at iMountain.com (6 x $39.95 value)
• 2 months VIP membership at ClickMojo ($200 value)
• 15 minute one on one phone coaching session with Simon Johnson from Domainer Income ($200 value)
• 2 year subscription to DNSstuff pro tools. ($139 value)
• 1 x 100 domain parking account at WhyPark.com ($99.95 value)
• 1 copy of the Revenue Domains Exposed ebook ($97 value)
• 2 month subscription at Wordze.com ($90 value)
• 3 x 1 copy of the Domaining Manifesto ebook. (3 x $27 value)
• 1 copy of Wordze’s Guide to Keyword Research & Niche Wealth Building! ($80 value)
• 1 copy of a single use license of Brian Gardner’s Revolution blog theme of the winners’ choice ($79.99 value)
• 1 copy of Optin Comments WP plugin. ($77 value)
• 1 DNForum.com Platinum membership. ($59.95 value)
• 1 yearly subscription to Gold Account at iwebtool.com ($59 value)
• 3 x 1 copy of the Killer Domains ebook (3 x $17 value)
• 2 x 50 available domains from WordFuse.com (2 x $24.95 value)
• 1 featured listing on Sedo’s homepage for 1 domain. (worth $39)
• 1 DNForum.com Gold membership ($19.95 value)
• 1 Month DomainNews.com Newsletter Sponsorship – Top Position Advertizing ($500 value)
• 2 months 160×90 ad on ClickFire.com homepage (2 x $200 value)
• 1 Month text link on JustDropped.com search pages ($100 value)
• 1 month text link at DomainNameWire.com ($60 value)
• 1 month of 125×125 banner advertising on Winning the Web ($50 value)
• 1 month 125×125 banner advertising at DNXpert.com ($50 value)
• 1 month 125×125 banner advertising at DotSauce.com ($40 value)
• 1 month text link on blogaboutyourblog.com ($10 value)
• 1 copy of Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger ebook ($16.49 value)

To Enter the Contest and Earn Entry Points You Just:

* Subscribe to DNXpert newsletter using the form above – required. (1 point ).
* Blog about this contest (10 points).
* Blog about this contest and include the Prize Recap list in your post.
* Follow the DNXpert newsletter and blog for further chances of gaining entry points during the contest month.

It’s easy and well worth the shot at almost $9,000 in cash and prizes!

More Info on the DNXpert Contest… 

You might be wondering just what the title of the post means. No, they are not having some kind of feud. No, it is not a battle of which of these super affiliate is making the most money online. It’s……drum roll please……

The Battle Of the 125×125 Banner Ads, UBER vs VOLK!

So your probably thinking that this “case study” is not really that fair. You’re kind of right because Uber Affiliate (aka Paul Bourque) is sitting at a 3340 RSS readers according to his feedburner. Jonathan Volk is sitting at 972 RSS readers. However, I decided to go on an advertising spree and those are the first two blogs I decided to start with. I have some additional banner ad battles planned.

I purchased a 125×125 banner spot on Uber Affiliate for $100 (30 days). Given Paul’s RSS and how fast his blog is growing, that’s a really good deal IMO. I’m really glad I’m locked into that price for life and there will never be any price increases! Right Paul? I happy with landing a 30 day spot on Jonathan Volk for just $40 as well.

Some of my favorite case studies in the past were those where I would advertise in various places and then share the results. I’ll let you know after 30 days how much traffic Uber Affiliate and Jonathan Volk sent to eMonetized! Of course they could always thank their sponsors in a post or something which would count towards the total (hint, hint)

Now I’m not usually one to do too much butt kissing (well, except for my I Love John Chow Ads) but Uber Affiliate and Jonathan Volk are two blogs you need to be reading. Quite frankly, they will make you more money. If I had to keep just three blogs in my reader they would be two of them (I have to throw in CDF as the third I think).

I was just thinking that every time I advertise anywhere, I link and chat about them. Maybe I should be asking for a discount first? (kidding)

If you are visiting from Uber Affiliate or Jonathan Volk, first subscribe to my feed. Then please say hello and let me know which blog sent you in a comment below! Welcome to eMonetized!

Random Updates:

RINGTONES: In my last post about my ringtones marketing project I wrote that after 8 days I had made $1544 in commissions but basically ended up breaking even on the campaign at that point. Since then I have had lot of things going on and I have not had a whole lot of time to scale this campaign. However, I have done a lot of bid tweaking and just recently started another round of content network campaigns.

This month I’ll only make a couple hundred dollars in profit. Seems hardly worth it. However, I expect to make anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 profit with ringtones next month. Now a $1,000 monthly profit probably sounds like peanuts to some of you. There are those “super duper” affiliates making $1,000s in profits daily. But anytime I can add a few hundred or even thousand dollars to my monthly income, I’m certainly not going to complain. Especially given that I really have not spent a huge amount of time working on the campaign.

Like mentioned before I think I’ve figured out exactly what some of these guys are doing to make these huge earnings and I have no doubt I’ve ran into some of their landing pages (“YES”, I like “CLUBS.” You guys “ROCKED IT.” hints to site owners). I can’t seem to get the impressions I need yet at a reasonable CPC. I’m hoping it’s just taking a long time for some of these new content network campaigns to propagate to some of the website I want to get on.

I didn’t enter the ringtones market because I knew I’d be making thousands in profits my first month. There was a thread on Digital Point (maybe from Paul of UberAffiliate?) that sort of inspired me to enter the market. I saw it as a fun challenge and no matter what my long term success is with ringtones, the learning experience was worthwhile.

I will be sharing many more specifics on what seemed to work or not work for myself but it’s still too early to share those results. Meanwhile I’ve also had several new landing pages designed and am entering four new markets including foreclosures, and dental plans.

WEBMASTER-TALK.COM CONTEST: The WT $25,000 merge contest is about half way over. It’s still not too late to become one of the 5 winners. The top two referrers have 24 and 13 referrals respectively. I have no doubt that a lot of you could easily get into a referrers lead. Or you could just work hard writing some articles and making quality posts.

SHITTY BRAKE SERVICES: ignore this ->> At the time of this post, eMonetized is now ranked #10 for JustBrakes and JustBrakes.com

TWITTER: I just started using Twitter and so far I find it more fun than blogging! There are so many times I just have a deep thought (kidding) but I don’t have time to write it down. Sometimes these “deep thoughts” are also too short or too irrelevant to make a full blog post about it here. Twitter solves that problem. Follow Tim Schroeder on Twitter here.

P.S. >> DON’T FORGET TO SUBCRIBE TO MY FEED!