Make Money Online with Brandon Hopkins

If you haven’t used AuctionAds yet, it’s a pretty cool (blog is decent too), easy to use eBay affiliate. Basically they serve up keyword (you supply the keyword) based eBay auctions based on the keyword you supply.

I added it to this blog about a week ago with the keywords “Make Money Online”. All I got were a bunch of 1 cent listings (scammy stuff) that I knew nobody would buy. I tried “Make Money” and the results were similar.

Then I tried “Website for sale”. The results were much better, but I was getting a lot of adult themed ads. Then I tried “website for sale -adult”, and that seems to be the ticket. Well, at least it works.

I haven’t, however, made any money. 6 cents and 18 clicks. Maybe I need some new keywords.

What do you think would be good keywords for a blog about websites and making money online? Try to think outside the box because the obvious keywords aren’t working.

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As usual, I commit to posting regularly to this blog then I let things slide. It’s in my nature to start a new project then drop that project for something more interesting. Currently it has been some stupid tower defense Shoemoney posted about (stupid because it’s been wasting my time like crazy), Starcraft (the OG of games), and a client website.

I was reading a post Michael Gray wrote about client work and blogging. It’s true, clients don’t want to see you posting new posts to your blog when their deadline is up. That post reminded me about making money online.

There are two distinct methods to making money online. Work for yourself or work for others. Currently I do both. Currently I do a LOT of work for myself and a little work for others. Most of my work for others is website design for my company AfterHim Media.

However, as I said I tend to get distracted from a project very quickly. With that fact in mind, I’m going to try something new this month. I’m going to stay focused on ONE project for the entire month.

I don’t know if it is possible for me to stay that mentally focused and not sway, but we’ll give it a go. My monthly goal is going to be $5k a month. That could come from someone wanting to hire me full time for one month (I do social media marketing, design, and other SEO/SEM related marketing) or whether that is me writing for this blog or one of my many niche sites.

I am still in the process of deciding on what project I will take on for next month but it will be a personal project because I don’t have any business projects lined up right now. Currently I’m thinking about trying to linkbait my business cards website or try to get this blog to make some cash.

This blog is pretty easy to monetize because of the traffic that it gets. The business card website is more difficult because linkbaiting for “business cards” isn’t easy. Here you can see my first attempt. I realize that I’m late with the HD-DVD jokes, but sometimes I’m a little slow on the funny bandwagon. Look for a Paris Hilton business card soon. That will be just in time for her taking over Martha Stewart’s jail cell.

So what do you think, should I work on this blog or my business card site in June? Or do you want to hire me instead?

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If you haven’t heard of Prosper.com, it is “where people come together to borrow and lend money.”

Making money with Prosper does require some startup capital, but can be very lucrative. All pictures are screenshots from my account.

Here is how to make money with Prosper.

1. Open an account.

Creating an account is easy and free. Here is the signup page.

2. Join my group.

Groups are about more than just community. You will be following my lead and the lead of other group members. When group members are bidding, you should bid as well. Of course that person could still default, but when everyone is doing their due diligence, everyone wins.

3. Deposit money.

When I first started, I deposited $250. That was going to be my total investment. Now after almost a full year, I have over $1000 invested in Prosper and am adding more monthly. You can start with whatever you feel comfortable with. The minimum amount you can bid on any one loan is $50.

4. Find a loan you like.

I like small loans at decent rates. I’m looking for borrowers who are asking for between $1000 and $5000. These borrowers should be asking for between 8% and 29%. I’ve found that borrowers who are asking for a small amount tend to pay it back and don’t default as often as people asking for $15-25,000. That is why my group is for people who are asking for loans under $5000.

5. Lend money.

Choose how much you want to lend, and click the “Confirm Bid” button.  I try to make at least one loan per month on the payments and interest I receive.  As you can see, my cash balance is currently $24.61.  Once it gets to $50,  I’ll make another loan.

6. Cash in!

You have now helped another fellow American and should feel good about yourself. Don’t forget, you’re also making much more than you will in your ING Direct account (currently at 4.5%).  There are people lending on Prosper who have hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Many people will even lend $2000+ on one loan!

Here are my current stats for Prosper.

As you can see I haven’t had any defaults and have an average APY of 12.29%!

Prosper is a great way to diversify and get more than you could in a regular savings account! If you have questions about Prosper, just post a comment!

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