Popularity: 92% [?]

Since I get a lot of key word hits on buying and selling used books online I  thought I’d revisit the topic.  An acquaintance of mine was featured briefly on Oprah for buying and selling 18,000 books online in one year. He (runs his book trading business from the Island of Frenchboro, Maine (pop. 50) and I know of many island and coastal dwellers who buy and sell used and rare books for a living. One of the reasons book selling is so popular on the Maine coast (and other coastlines) is because many famous artists, writers, actors and actresses come to live or vacation in the summer months to get away from it all and “hide out” from the rest of the world.  These people are usually well-educated, well-traveled and have a well stocked library with some very interesting and rare books… but depending on who they are,  even an average book with their signature of ownership on the inside cover can bring in a pretty penny.  These summer estates are usually second, third, or fourth homes for the rich and famous, so when they die or sell the estate, the content usually ends up being sold to local auctions or book buyers for a very good price. Sometimes they send someone to retrieve the valuables but the books are often overlooked.  Who wants to pack up a bunch of old books and send them half way around the world?

Starting any home business online whether selling used books or any other type of business you choose is an excellent   opportunity to make some extra money without the usual  headaches.  There are none of the conventional rules that are needed when looking for a “brick and mortar” business, like trying to obtain a bank loan or any of that other legal stuff that is needed to start a business.  As far as looking for a store front no need for that,  just some space in your house or garage where you can store some of your books is all you’ll have to find.  You’ll need some packing materials, boxes, shipping labels,  maybe boxes to ship the books,  and work space. That’s it!

Of course you can always find books at yard, lawn, and estate sales, library sales and  even at your own home where you  always have books laying around. You may decide that you want  to handle all and any types of books to sell or you may want to stay with a certain niche and sell just cook books, mystery,  field guides, books by certain authors or specialize in rare and first edition books.  Make sure that you let your family and friends know that you are now in the business and have them networking for you,  when they see a yard sale or book  sale somewhere have them call you.  Search the newspapers for sale locations, use Craig’s List to find any sales or to announce your new business, and watch the internet for any sales on books. Have some business cardsmade up at Vista Print and give them out whenever you get the chance to spread the word that you are now in the book business. If you have an existing blog/website not generating much money  you can always sell your used & new books on the side. Books will go with any blog or website no matter what the subject. Read more »

Popularity: 37% [?]

Here’s a guest post from a fellow blogger who is truly inquisitive about the economy, stock market, and all things financial. Investment terms can be overwhelming and hard to understand, but if you study up on just a few terms a week, you can become a savvy investor in no time — or at least you can talk like one!

Learn New Wall Street Terms

by InquisitiveAboutFinance

This latest downtrend or recession has taught a common man many new financial terms. These terms are not new to the financial sector, they were just buried under the good economy for some time. Now, they are becoming part of our everyday conversations.

1. Ponzi Scheme: A Ponzi scheme is also known as a pyramid scheme. It’s a fraudulent investment plan promising very high returns to investors from their own money or money paid by earlier investors rather than from any actual profits earned. One common way for the Ponzi scheme to attract investors is with the promise of high short term returns. This scheme was named after Charles Ponzi who made this scheme popular in the 20s. Thanks to Bernie Madoff this scheme was brought again into the limelight!

The US Federal Trade Commission says that because of the pyramid’s very nature, at least 70 percent of those who invest in a Ponzie Scheme will NOT see any returns and will lose their investment. It is mathematically impossible to recruit enough investors to pay out to all levels of the pyramid. Read more »

Popularity: 10% [?]

People who know how to make money have several things in common, and one of those things is that they give to others who need help. Most wealthy people give a lot of money to charity or their community. You might think it’s because they are rich that they give, but could it be that they are rich BECAUSE they give? Giving is a very important aspect of the Laws of Attraction and making money… if you give more freely you will receive more freely. What goes around, comes around, as they say, and it’s as true for money and kindness as for anything else. Money and kindness are meant to flow. In most major religions, it’s known as the “law of reciprocity”. When you give to others, it will be reciprocated — meaning whatever you give will come back to you, and MORE, from one source or another.
John D. Rockefeller was known to say whenever he gave money away, even more came right back to him! He started working when he was very young and gave his earnings to the church because his mother told him to. Later he still gave freely not just because it was the right thing to do but also because he saw that giving to others just made good business sense. He was known to be a “mental mathematician” which helped him greatly in business matters. Read more »

Popularity: 12% [?]

When I first took over this blog, I knew the basics of PageRank and the Alexa Traffic Ranking… but I wish I had known how important it is for a blogger to be using the Alexa Toolbar! So now I want to make sure that other newbies to the blogging world know why you should install this handy little SEO plug-in even if you don’t have a blog yet.

Alexa collects website traffic statistics for every website on the Internet and displays these stats on Alexa for all to see. At Alexa.com you can look up the stats of your own blog or type in the URL of any other blog/website online to see the Alexa traffic stats for that site. Keep in mind it’s not a true reading of website traffic because most of Alexa’s statistics are generated from Alexa Toolbar users. Basically, it’s a percentage reading of traffic based mostly of those who have installed the Alexa Toolbar plug-in on their browsers.

When you start a blog it will take some time for your website to appear on the Alexa Traffic radar. To help speed things up you need to install the Alexa Toolbar. By installing the Toolbar onto your web browser you’ll be helping your own Alexa Ranking and the ranking of the sites you visit. The more visitors you have using the Toolbar the better ranking you will get with Alexa.

Like Google, Alexa gives each website on the Internet a rank but since Alexa’s numbers are based on traffic percentages the numbers are larger and it ranks from high to low, with low meaning more traffic. The top traffic ranking is a #1 and Yahoo holds that spot right now. In the beginning, your number will be in the millions because there are millions of websites on the Internet that you are competing with. The more visitors your site gets from the Alexa Community (users with the Alexa Toolbar installed on their browsers) the lower your number will get. Having your number go down to 100,000 or even 200,000 is good, and less than that is even better.  Here’s one way to look at it: If your blog has a number of 165,000 then you know there are 164,999 sites out there with a better rank than you.

Techies and/or bloggers will be more inclined to install the Alexa Toolbar or other SEO plug-ins that include the Alexa Toolbar, so some say that you’re only getting a reading of the percentage of techies or bloggers that visit your site. It stands to reason that if you have a technical blog and most of the users have the toolbar, you’ll have a good Alexa Ranking, but the system does allow for a small percentage of traffic outside of the Alexa Community. The average web user doesn’t install the Alexa Toolbar so if your blog is about a non-technical topic such as gardening or beauty products you might not have a good Alexa Ranking because most gardeners or women into beauty products would not care or even know about Alexa. It doesn’t mean you don’t have good traffic coming in, it could mean you don’t have many other bloggers or “techies” visiting your site. Even though a good Alexa Ranking will give you bragging rights, you don’t need good ranking to have a successful blog.

MomsCashBlog’s Alexa ranking went so far up (which is not good!) this summer that it was off the chart and was no longer displayed on Alexa! However, at the very same time my other stats told me that MCB had the most REAL traffic in it’s history and I made the most money during the same time period that I lost my Alexa ranking! Obviously, I lost some “techie” visitors over the summer, but I gained some non-techie visitors and I made some good sales. I don’t worry too much about my Alexa ranking because my goal is to make money… and ranking well on Alexa doesn’t necessarily mean you make more money. Still, a good Alexa number gives your blog more credibility so if you have a good rank, be glad! If you don’t have good Alexa, don’t sweat it… just keep blogging, strive for good content, install the toolbar, and the rest will fall into place. (My ranking finally came back up to 210,805.)

You can install the Alexa Toolbar and become a member of the Alexa Community from either the Internet Explorer browser or Foxfire and you don’t need to have a blog to do this.  If you want to install it onto your Foxfire browser you have to go to the download page from your Foxfire browser. (The download is on the same page for Foxfire but it’s called “Sparky”.) Upon installing it you’ll have a small bar chart down in the lower right-hand corner of your browser which will change with each site you visit. Some SEO plug-ins have the Alexa Toolbar built in and displays each site’s Alexa ranking along with PageRank and other stats helpful to bloggers. Once you use the Toolbar and encourage your readers to install it, you will definitely see better ranking, so do it now!

Popularity: 13% [?]

Selling our used  books is a great way to recycle and help the environment as well as declutter our homes… but selling used books usually doesn’t bring enough money to make it worth the effort. Traditional used bookstores only offer around 50 cents or less per book and with eBay, you have to sign up and create an account and then enter the auction and all that jazz. It’s a waiting game and it doesn’t usually pay off, because no one wants to pay those shipping fees. Well, I found a wonderful website, CKYbooks.com, that pays a good price for used and new books. It’s easy to use, you get an instant quote (offer), shipping is FREE,  you get paid within 24-48 hours… and if you get a better offer, they will “match” it!

Popularity: 46% [?]

When I bought MomsCashBlog in early May I knew very, very little about how blogs worked and my technical skills were ah.. pretty low! lol. One thing I did know is that to make money sometimes you have to take a risk, and the best way to learn something fast is to just jump right in feet first!  That way you have no choice but to learn the ropes. (it’s sink or swim… and most people swim! lol) So I bought a blog that was already in progress… already monetized by a pro, had good PageRank, and had a great tutorial to market and attract new visitors.

Back then I planned to tell my blog earnings after the first 3 months, no matter what it was. August 4 will be the official end of the 3rd month, but this is close enough to give you an idea as I’m rounding off the amounts anyways. I have never divulged any of my incomes before, much less put it on the internet! lol But I want to do my blogging earnings just this once. I feel obligated to tell this because I think it’s encouraging to others who are starting a blog and for those who want to get into blogging. It’s just good to know  what some blogs make. Read more »

Popularity: 20% [?]