Thursday 31 July 2014

What is the right thing to do?



Sometimes this is a good answer to many a kids inquisitive questions and dilemmas. As a Christian there is the saying" What Would Jesus Do?". Its our conscience and our guide within. What is a good thing to do, what is the right thing to do? When I produced the two raps songs I had the choice about what to do, who to credit and this wasn't hard. When I completed my Library degree I learnt all about plagiarism and copyright. Lately I have even seen the same blog posts going around! Maybe its a copy/paste from the site itself like as an email in the "affiliate" area. The latest is also a splash page picture which has been changed slightly and not credited to the original artist.

And then there are pure mistakes and accidents...Things that are done but weren't meant to be and other people can be offended. We all get tired and the good old brain sometimes is a little slower than usual. I call it the "excuse my brain..the assembly line is slower than usual today", or brain fuzz. Ok, here was the deal, accusing someone that I thought was copying all due to me not clearing my cache! Banners especially are the worst for me. They look like my banner then I click on it and it goes elsewhere. I had to apologize profusely and cleared my cache, not that I outright accused this person but hoping they hadn't thought I had. I had the choice whether to say anything at all. I knew who this person was and it was very out of character for them to do a deliberate act. I wasn't angry with them either. I did the right thing because I learnt from this person to clear my cache often. If I didn't let them know I may have always wondered or held a grudge against them. Now I know it was an innocent mistake. Sorry to bring up a biblical reference but the right thing to do...based off scripture is," If your brother (friend) sins/trespasses against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your  brother (a friend.)" Matt18:15. Brackets are my interpretation. This scripture worked both ways as my comment may have caused offence. Working it out and chatting helps a lot. Saying sorry isn't hard either.

This question can also apply to splash pages. Today a great person from this community Skyped me to let me know a Squeeze page of mine wasn't working correctly. They couldn't put in their name into the sign up box. How long would it have been for me to notice this? I would have wasted endless credits for people that couldn't sign up correctly that say "forget it" and keep clicking. I would do the same. Time is precious in the TE community. If I see something amiss or I know someone and their splash isn't working or offline, I would tell them. I don't mean to beat my own chest but its the right thing to do.

Doing the right thing also applies to offline life. I was at the supermarket today and put a basket away for the customer ahead of me and her transaction had already gone through. I was in a bit of a hurry. I realized that she still had produce she hadn't paid for in the basket which was the same color as the basket.  She was so grateful when I asked her if the produce was hers. This was going to be the main part of her dinner and was so thankful because she would have gone home without this and have to come back again. Its really windy and wet here also so not a good evening to be out. It's the little things that can make a huge difference to someone else. I had the choice to ignore the product and leave it in the basket but I spoke up as I would have liked the same thing done for me if i was in the same situation. Remember I was in a hurry. So I had to wait for another transaction before I could be served.

Therefore, it may only be a small issue but addressing it and moving on is a part of doing the right thing. Do unto others as you would like have done to you is a very common phrase but when applied works brilliantly. Most importantly you may make more friends or get to know online ones more. Doing the right thing and having the right things done in return make me very happy.










Friday 11 July 2014

Rapping it Up



Don't get put off this post by the CTP team paraphernalia. This topic is just the means to an end being a cool rap video.  I am on a team at Click Track Profit and its so fun. It's not all about the surfing but about the learning and wanting to contribute to the team and their branding. I have made a lot of cool friends here.

This blog is a journey for me and I want to document here another first for me...A rap song. It's not really what the song is about it's about the learning of how to do something.

Anyone can learn to do anything online, even rap. There are so many resources to teach how to achieve what you want. I would love to keep all this a secret but that's not what I'm all about. I really can't keep secrets well anyway.

Rapping all the way



The first step was my son. He gave me the idea. He found an app for my ipad called AutoRap by Smule. A friend recommended it to him. When I heard this app, WOW. It converts ANY words or sentence speech into rap. It comes with a free beat to begin with but you can earn plays to hear and use more beats. The free beat is somewhat familiar to the traffic exchange industry. (Shhh, Traffic Browser). So I couldn't use that one as everyone would think I was copying.



I told one of my team mates from the Strays, about the app and Wendy Chen recommended Windows Live Movie maker. It is very easy to use. This is my first attempt at video editing properly. Here are some "raps" that I experimented with HERE and HERE!

I then decided on the simple task of using the team splash and various blog post pictures to be the video. I decided on a rap beat and made simple lyrics. I just put the pictures in order and made sure it coincided with the length of the audio track. Voila, magic.

This converted to a file that I then uploaded to YouTube. After adding credits at the end I was finished and it's 2:30 in the morning. Worth it!

Adkreator is great for embedding Youtube clips so I made a splash to advertise CTP and the Strays. HERE is the splash I made.

My next project will be a rap video for promoting FreeRewards4u. 

Until next time

Kris Rogers

P.S. If you are interested in joining the Strays please send a private message to Virginia HERE as we are currently looking for new members.






Tuesday 8 July 2014

Is Upgrading Worth it?

If it a business treat it like one. If you have your own business then you should have your own website/blog/affiliate site you want to promote. If you have your own website then you want it to be seen and "out there" more than other brands? If you treat it like any offline business and you generally have to pay for advertising. Luckily for you traffic exchanges are a free to use but it's your time that suffers if you stay free.

Free members of a traffic exchanges rarely have a 1:1 surfing ratio and if it is then the timer is longer. EasyHits4u is like this. Upgrading gives you credits per month to promote your site without having to surf the traffic exchange at all.

Upgrading gives you a shorter timer, sometimes no timer at all like Clicking Success. It is quicker to surf and get credits at a 1:1 ratio. Sometimes Clicking Success has bonus days and you get 2 credits per click with no timer! 1:1 means that for every site I view I get 1 person viewing my site in return. 

Upgrading sometimes give you random referrals for just being upgraded and you don't have to promote the site yourself. When you upgrade you can add more sites to rotate and get more bonuses the TE wishes to give you.

You trust the site if you buy an upgrade, especially if you buy a lifetime upgrade. I once didn't do my due diligence and bought a LT at a TE that ceased to exist within months. Lesson learnt but I got some money back from Paypal because I didn't get what I paid for lol. Or when owners sell a site and the new owners totally change the site for the worse or scrub the database, along with you in it. Trust is a must when I buy lifetime upgrades.

There usually are levels of upgrades. Daily, monthly, quarterly, half yearly, annually and lifetime (LT). Not at TEs offer LT and watch out for OTO (one-time offers) and specials at log in. These are usually cheaper than after you are in the members area. After a while you will pay off your LT and then all money you earned after this is profit but you are still getting the benefits and not paying out monthly. It sometimes takes spending money to make money with better commission rates (some up to 50% or more) when your referrals join under you and spend money at the site. You also earn more credits when your referrals surf.

My favorite upgraded sites are CTP Kore 4 because the bonuses you get far outweigh the monthly cost. It is a bundle of TE upgrades at one low cost per month. Another favorite of mine is Traffic Swirl where I paid for the LT upgrade and got paid commissions that paid for this cost within 10 months.

I hate having to spend money online. And free is still fine. But if you have goals to earn "X amount per week" then the free option may just take you that bit longer. Anyway who can afford to upgrade at the hundreds of traffic exchanges out there anyway. Choose wisely. Good luck.

Until next time,
Kris Rogers