Make Money with an “Internet Fast”

by in Personal Finance on Dec 9th, 2010

Barbara Friedberg is editor-in-chief of Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance as well as a portfolio manager and MBA professor. She has an MBA in finance, BS in economics, and MS in Counseling. Learn to GET WEALTHY in MONEY & LIFE with Barb. Pick up her FREE eBook, 20 Minute Guide to Investing at her website.

Over the recent U.S.A. Thanksgiving holiday I was thrust into an “Internet Fast.” Let me explain. My mom and dad have NO INTERNET. Yes, you heard correctly, they have no internet access in their home! I knew it going in, but I chose to visit anyhow :). I figured that over the four day visit there would be ample time to slip out to an internet café to check email, Yakezie.com, and my blog. I WAS WRONG.

Before you begin to share my anxiety, I previously uploaded three posts for the time away, so I knew there would be fresh content on my site. Yet, that was small consolation for the internet withdrawal symptoms.

Thanksgiving Activities Read More

Challengers: Improve Your Alexa Ranking and Have Fun at the Same Time

Tips For Improving Your Site

by in Featured on Dec 7th, 2010

Welcome, challengers! So, looking to get your Alexa under 200,000 but not quite there, yet? Maybe you’re not sure about this whole blogging thing and are feeling a little burnt out? The truth is, getting under 200,000 is simple, but it’s not necessarily quick or easy. I want to share a few tips that I have learned over the past few months, as I believe that they will be able to help you out as well.

Build a community

One of the main differences between a blog and a website with static pages is that a blog has a sense of continuity and personality. Engaging blogs build a loyal base of readers and fans around them, and this community becomes an important part of the blog. Personally, I don’t know if I could keep on writing if I never got any comments or feedback. Without a community, a blog becomes a dead space. Read More

The Value of a Clean Room

The following is a member post from Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, where she covers spending, savings, and the fun stuff along the way.

In the Beginning

I am generally a little messy. I had the classic scary room that teenagers are known for. I’ve discovered the weird fuzzy stuff that grows in forgotten cups in corners of rooms. I’ve even reached moments in life where I thought burning the pile of paperwork on our counters would be way better than actually sorting through it.

Please don’t misunderstand, our house actually looks okay, but keeping things out of the way is definitely not the same as tidy. I’ve always known that I feel better when my environment is nice and organized, but leaving stuff lying around in neat stacks is a tough habit to break.

Strangely enough, I ended up marrying a guy a lot like me. To make a long story short, we both struggle to keep our home neat. But we are making progress. Read More

Caught in the 9th Grade

Faith Beyond Futility

by in Writing Contest on Dec 3rd, 2010

To help kick-start the HowtoSaveMoney.com Yakezie Writing Contest, I’ve decided to share a story about one of my big failures and what I learned.  I don’t qualify to win, but I thought it would be good practice to lead by example and provide an idea of what we are looking for in your essays & posts.  You are free to address any of the three questions anyway you like.  The deadline for the contest is Monday, December 6th at 11:59pm applicant dependent.  Best, Sam

His rough hands yanked both my shoulders back as I turned the escalator corner.  My head whipped from the force and my heart stopped beating.  “Gotcha!” he said as I tried squirming away.  The giant man with a scruffy beard had caught my friend and I for stealing a new pair of Armani jeans and a long sleeve shirt.  My life was over.

DON’T KNOW ANY BETTER Read More

Determining The Number of Writing Contest Winners

It All Depends On Demand

by in Writing Contest on Dec 1st, 2010

Thanks to the generous contributions of more than 30 people (see the exact number in our writing contest tracker in the sidebar which will be updated at least 3X a week), we have raised over $850 so far with more in the pipeline.  Given that we have past our goal of raising $500, we’d like to offer a second Writing contest prize to the runner up in the amount of $150 or more.  If there are enough applicants, and if the vote is close, we’d also like to offer up a minimum $50 award to the third place finisher.

Proposal for how to determine the number of Writing Contest winners: Read More

Online Entrepreneur Resources Sale & Contest Fundraiser

Raising Funds To Help Others

by in Writing Contest on Nov 29th, 2010

It’s with great pleasure that we highlight a 72 hour sale of some of the best blogging and online entrepreneur resources we’ve ever come across.  We’re talking 23 guides, books, and courses by some of the most dedicated bloggers around.  If you add up the total costs of all products, it comes out to $1,052.  The sale starts at 10am EST on Monday, November 29th ends Thurs, December 2 at 10am EST and costs only $97!

We’ve never done any affiliate marketing before, but this just sounds too good to pass up.  It begs the question whether these products are worth $1,052 if we’re only selling them for $97, but Adam Baker from Man vs. Debt promises us you won’t be disappointed.  He’s putting his reputation on the line, as are all the other bloggers who’ve created these products, so we trust them.  At one point or another the 23 products have sold for their list prices below.  All these resources are written by essentially full-time bloggers who’ve made a living on-line and teach others how to do the same.  After all, this is their main source of income, so it better be good, or else!

Click here to buy this amazing package for only $97. When you do, we’ll donate $30 of the $53 in affiliate commission we earn from your purchase to the Yakezie Writing Contest.  Some of the funds will go to the HowtoSaveMoney.com Yakezie Writing Contest for December 2010, where will will have potentially 3 winners, and some will go to help kick-start January’s contest as well.  Thanks for your support!

What would be fantastic is if Members and Challengers who buy this product, implement what they learn and help share their ideas with all.  Members are free to utilize Yakezie.com as a platform to help market their own respective products in the future.  In fact, we will probably try and do an affiliate marketing fund raiser once in a while to help raise funds in addition to donations.  A majority portion of all affiliate income will go towards funding the writing contest of the month.  If you have any worthwhile products, please let us know!

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL GET FOR $97: Read More

The Storyteller And Content Generation Ideas

by in Personal Finance on Nov 28th, 2010

Hello Friends!

I’ve been thinking of various ways to come up with the right Member and Challenger contribution content for Yakezie.com and perhaps I’ve come up with a solution, which needs your input.  The goal is to make content interesting, thematic, easy, and collaborative.

All of us enjoyed reading the Yakezie Member Posts from the Alpha Class that went up the months of September, October, and November.  It was a chance to learn more about each other and share stories that go beyond just personal finance.  We got to learn about the why, the when, and the how which is always so fascinating.  Come February 1, 2011, Beta Challengers will also get to share their Member Posts as well, so get excited!

STORY TELLING IS KEY Read More

The $100,000 A Month Yakezie Goal

Building Sustainable Online Income For All Members

The first Yakeze challenge was simply to improve one’s Alexa ranking by getting as low a rank as possible.  The ultimate goal was for everyone to breach the 200,000 mark, and I’m pleased to say most have and are continuing to improve.

What I discovered during my first 6 months journey of blogging is that once Financial Samurai breached 200,000, random people from all over the world started contacting me about promoting their products.  This is why I introduced the 200,000 Alexa hurdle mark.  We’re talking book reviews & giveaways, online budgeting tools with free 6 month memberships, and other neat things which I welcomed.  Soon thereafter, I started getting overwhelmed by the amount of offers, so I politely turned them down because I wanted to focus on writing about fun stuff that interests me and the readers.

I was careful not to upset anybody and responded to every single solicitation with a basic “No thank you.”  A couple more months passed and I started getting advertisement solicitations for real money right after breaching 100,000 in Alexa.  Money has never been a motivation for me to run my site mind you.  If I focused on the income generation of blogging, I know I’d get depressed because I’ve devoted countless hours writing, editing, and interacting with the community.  We all have.  How can you put a dollar value on something which is priceless?  You can’t.

THE REALIZATION Read More

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