Charitable Auctions

So, now that you have made some extra money online..what do you do with it? As much as I would like to say that I save every penny I make, the truth is that I usually end up spending a good portion of it shopping on sites like Amazon and Ebay. But I have recently discovered another auction site that I think you all should know about.

Charitable Auctions is a non profit organization that, through their auction website IDonateToCharity.org, helps other non profit organizations raise money for their charities.
On this site they are able to set up a free storefront to sell items that have been donated by other people or businesses. To see what they have to offer just click here on the View Our Auction Website link. I think this is such a great idea. At least now I don't have to feel so guilty for shopping knowing that the money I am spending is going to a worthy cause.

GPT News- MyMakeUpMoney

I have been a member of the GPT site MyMakeupMoney for many months. I have always liked the site and was disappointed when the site was recently put up for auction. However, I just received in email yesterday with some good news! The site is now open again with new owners- TheTwoDivas Network!
They have already begun putting up new offers and have lowered the minimum payout from $20 to $10! Also, from July 1st through July 30th MyMakeupMoney will be holding a referral contest. The contest will pay the top 3 spots. First place wins $25, Second place wins $20 and Third place will receive $15. All prize money will be instantly paid out via PayPal on July 31st.

Abra Cadabra!

Do you believe in magic? I know I do! Ever since I was little I have been fascinated by magic and magicians. I remember when I was about 8 yrs. old my friends and I would put on our own magic shows for the younger kids in the neighborhood. We really had no idea what we were doing but it was still a lot of fun! I have watched biographies and specials on everyone from Harry Houdini to modern day illusionists like David Copperfield and David Blaine. Over the years the tricks and illusions keep getting more and more spectacular. But out of all the magicians that I have ever seen, the one that has impressed me the most is Criss Angel. He is amazing!! Have you ever seen his TV show "Mindfreak"? He has done everything from levitating from one building to another to walking through glass and even walking on water! How does he do that??

Currently appearing in the new Cirque du Soleil show CRISS ANGEL Believe at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Criss Angel stars as an enigmatic Victorian Noble. This show "transcends any preconceived notion of what it means to be emotionally engaged by the arts of mysticism and illusion".
For your chance to see Criss Angel live, simply text the word "Believe" to 22122 and you will be entered into a contest to win 2 free tickets!

Increasing Traffic To Your Blog

One thing I have been spending some more time on recently is trying to increase the amount of traffic to my blog. I have submitted my blog to a few directories and blog lists, traffic exchanges like LinkReferral and Traffic Swarm, etc.. Then I came across Entrecard. This is definitely the easiest way to increase traffic that I have found so far. And it really works!

If you are not yet familiar with Entrecard, you first sign up and submit your blog. Then you are given a your own "card" with your blog name and a code to add the Entrecard Widget to your blog. After that you can begin earning points by logging in and "dropping cards". To drop your card you just browse the blogs, pick one that interests you, visit their blog and click on "drop" on their Entrecard widget. So simple! You are allowed 300 drops per day (1 per blog). You can then go to your Drops Inbox and see which bloggers have visited and dropped cards on your blog. Some of you may have also noticed the "Entrecard Blog of the Day" featured to the right of this post. You can use the points that you earn to buy advertising on other blogs, like the one shown here.

In the short time I have been using Entrecard, my Alexa ranking has gone from 5,000,000+ to its current rank of 552,916. I think hat is a huge jump! I have also gotten a lot of return visitors, more feed subscribers and even found some great blogs that I now visit regularly!

Liquid Force Wakeboards

Now that summer is finally here, one of my favorite ways to relax and have fun is to go to the beach! Every year for the 4th of July we go to my uncles house on Lake Charlevoix up in Northern Michigan. Last summer while I was there I tried wakeboarding for the first time. My nephews had just gotten these really cool Liquid Force Wakeboards for their birthday and they were daring all of the adults to try them out. It was so much fun and I actually thought it was a lot easier than water skiing.

This year I decided to get my own wakeboard. For those of you out there that are into wakeboarding, you should really check out ModernSkate.com. They have a great selection of Liquid Force Wakeboards, bindings, wakeboard accessories, vests, swimwear and much more!! Everything a wakeboarding enthusiast needs to enjoy their day at the beach!

Another GPT Site Is Closing....

Over the past few months there have been a lot of changes in the GPT industry. Several sites have closed, including 3 of my personal favorites Fairy Tale Treasures, Mermaids Sand Dollars and Raining Riches. Many reasons have been given for the site closings including an increase in fraud, not enough member participation, and in some cases admins. venturing into other areas and not having enough time to devote to the GPT site anymore.
The latest GPT site to announce its closing is My Cash Carnival. For those of you that are MCC members, you will receive your pending payouts and pending prizes. The admin. will also be approving completed offers until June 22. Anyone that is able to reach the $10 cashout by that date will be paid.

Domain Name Scorecard

If you have started an online business, chances are one of the most important first steps was setting up your own domain name. Did you choose a name that described your business? Or maybe just a catchy name that would be easy to remember? Now that your business is up and running, do you feel that you made the right decision?

Having the right domain name can potentially affect the success of your business. If you are interested in seeing how well your domain name is working for your business, I would recommend taking a domain name analysis. It's a free quiz only takes about a minute to complete. After answering the 3 simple questions you are given a domain name scorecard, along with solutions for improving your score.

When I took the test, my domain name scored a 1 out of 10. Yikes! One of the suggested ways for improving my score was to register other available extensions. For example instead of just having a .com domain, I could also register the extensions .net or .biz. That's good advice, in my opinion. The quiz actually covers 6 key areas of domain name success. So if you have your own website, you really should try this out. It couldn't hurt and you never know what useful tips they might have for you and your business!