Google Adsense Account Disabled

Hey there.  When I first started this blog many moons ago, I looked around for ways to earn a few extra bucks from it.  I remember getting my feet wet in programs like ProjectWonderful and CMF ads.  When I learned that it could all be so easy if I just signed up with Google AdSense, I did and it was great.  I remember earning close to $30 my first month and I was pretty excited about that.  I told myself that my blog is still a nobody site and if I were to have better than decent traffic, my Google AdSense earnings would multiply!  Then... just like that, my account was disabled.  WHAT!?!?!?!  I was extremely disappointed.  I appealed but I got nowhere.  And the worst part is that they do not offer you an explanation.  They simply state that they cannot provide any details at this moment.  I do not like that answer.  If there is something wrong, whether it's my fault or not, I would like to know!  How else am I going to fix the problem?  Do I have offensive material on my site?  Did an inappropriate ad display on my site?  Were there invalid clicks?  Tell me what was/is the problem?!?!  I never found out.  Fast forward close to 5 years later and I reapplied for Google AdSense.  After another site review, I was accepted!  Oh happy days are upon us!!!  Then... 2 days later, my account was suspended...  AGAIN!  WHAT!?!  And again, for reasons unknown.  What really upset me this time around, though, was that my site was reviewed and got the OK from Google Adsense a mere 2 days BEFORE being disabled!  If there was something wrong with my site, why would they OK it only to disable it a mere 2 days later???

Malware Warning! IZEA Media Ads Cause 1,000s of Websites to be Flagged by Google

Hey there.  If you have stopped by my website anytime within the past 24 hours, you may have gotten a message saying that my website may contain malware and it may be dangerous to view my website.  Rest assured that if you proceeded to my site, you were NOT infected with malware.  There was no malware hosted on this site.  The problem?  The IZEA Media Ad block that I was running in the right column.  Turns out that an advertiser purchased a spot in the ad block from IZEA and somehow, someway, that advertiser managed to get through the IZEA screening with some kind of malicious code on their ad.  In effect, Google flagged THOUSANDS of webpages running the IZEA Media Ad block as hosting  malware, causing that red warning screen.

At Least the Beer is Safe

Thank goodness!!!  lol

A Review of www.branders.com

Hey there. This year has been a banner year for www.metallman.com.  Income is up, promotional opportunities are up, readership is up, and pageviews are up.  Everything is pointing in the right direction!  So I've been thinking of small ways to keep the readers engaged and coming back and I think that a few promo items would be good.  I've expressed interest before in branching out and getting some promotional items for the site. Nothing too fancy and nothing too pricy. Just a little something that I can give away to my readers, friends and family. I decided to start off small and then see where that takes me.

Are Pro Accounts on Sponsored Tweets a Red Flag for Izea, Inc.?

Hey there.  I'm a big fan of Izea, Inc.  They have opened the doors for me to make some money while blogging and sending out tweets.  I have nothing but sincere thankfulness for them.  With that being said, the fact that they are now offering "pro accounts" on Sponsored Tweets is alarming.  If a monthly fee, you're twitter account will get this neat "pro account" symbol attached to it and will be pushed up the queue, ahead of basic accounts, when advertisers are looking for potential tweeters.  I understand that it's an optional service and it's not necessary, but the fact that they are offering it raises some red flags for me.

First off, I don't see the need for pro accounts.  At least on the outside, Izea is doing wonderfully.  Their many platforms are alive and active within the online community.  It's hard to find an online entity that is not associated with one of the many services that Izea offers.  So the fact that they are trying to squeeze out money for pro accounts tell me that 1) Izea is not doing as well as we think they are or 2) they've turned into a bunch of greedy bastards.  lol  I doubt it's the second one since they've all been more than awesome when I've spoken to them, so I'm more inclined to say it's number 1. Then again, it could be that the company is expanding and is looking for extra income to fund upcoming projects.  I don't know, but I'm not so sure if the pro account thing is the way to go.

I've always looked for Izea to come up with fun and innovative ways to make it easy for average Joes, like myself, to make some money online.  I really don't want to hear that Izea may be having some funding issues.  I'm hoping that my observation is wrong and that they're doing it only as a means to further fund their expansion not because they are strapped for cash.  Especially when you consider the amount of online companies that did not make it.  I hope you guys know what you're doing and the same fate doesn't come down on you.  Later!

Many Uses for Duct Tape

I don't believe in many things... but I do believe in duct tape!

Thoughts on Weight Loss Pills

Hey there.  You know, a few years back, my wife was in the market for some diet pills and was quite surprised by the variety of stuff that is out there.  There were fat burners, metabolism boosters, stuff hoodia, stuff with ephedra, etc. etc. It's not wonder that she pretty much just said screw it and just picked one, tried it, finished it, then tried a different one.  With so many choices, I can see how one can be confused as to what is best.  That's where you guys come in.

What are your experiences with weight loss pills or diet pills?  Good?  Bad?  What did you try and did you have any side effects?  I'm curious to know which ones worked and which ones didn't and I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one out there wanting to know.  I don't think I can trust many "reviews" of products if they are not coming from blogs.  I think that some reviews may be manufactured by the product to make their product favorable. 

BCBG Sale Nov. 20th

Hey there.  I'm spreading the word on the BCBG sale that is going to be going on this Saturday, November 20th.  I know that many are familiar with the BCBG Max Azria name and these kind of sales only happen once or twice a year.  So, if you're in the Los Angeles area and are looking to score some designer clothes, stop by and get yourself some high end stuff at dirt cheap prices.  Details are in the flyer below.  Later!

Looking for Some Kick Ass Advertising

Hey there friends.  You know, maybe business have a hard time looking for publicity or advertising.  I think that I've been fortunate enough to be able to find a small audience that I engage in for this site.  I'm not a big company that needs all sorts of exposure, but if you are an up and coming business looking for a great advertising team, you definitely need to check out THAT! Advertising Agency. 

This is definitely an agency that thinks outside the box.  That is apparent by it's awesome tabs on their home screen.  When you see tabs labeled as "kick ass advertising" and "mad marketing", you know that you are not dealing with your typical advertising agency.  And when one of their slogans is "THAT! + Advertising Agency = Kick Ass Success" , you have to take a look and see if this is for you.

I'm in the blogging business.  I don't think that I would benefit much from this kind of advertising.  But you're in an industry that requires some publicity, some ad space, and some over all buzz, THAT! Advertising Agency may just be for you.  Plus,. they're giving a 1 hour free phone consultation so what is there to lose?  Call em up, see if they can get a kick ass package for you and if you don't like, you can simply say no thanks.  Check it out, my friends.  When a company this awesome comes about, you're almost inclined to check them out.  Later!

Video Game Reviews are Coming

Hey there.  I've got a new gig doing video game reviews!  How awesome is that?!  Now I have a legitimate excuse, err... I mean reason, to play video games!  I need to go over the terms and conditions of the job to make sure that I am not violating any kind of exclusive rights of any kind.  Since the reviews are for a different site that is not mine, I don't know if I'll be allowed to post the same content elsewhere.  If not, no prob.  I'll just provide a link to my awesome review! 

Now, I'm on the hunt for a good video game renting system...  Should I go with Gamefly?  Which I've heard good and bad things about?  Or should I go with that "Red Box" thing that I have seen pop up on super markets everywhere?  Or should I just borrow them from friends and return them when I see fit?  lol  Since I will be reviewing the games, I figured that it would be an expensive job if I were to have to purchase a game a week so I'm sure it's best to rent them out for a few days to get a good feel for the game.  So what do you guys think?  Any suggestions?  Once I go live, I'll provide more details on where I'll be posting my reviews.  Until then, I'll keep you guys in the dark.  =oP  Later!

A Little of This and A Little of That

Hey there. I've been tinkering with the site a little bit. I've removed some buttons and added 6 ad slots. I was recently upgraded to a Premium account in Paypal, which is great since I'll be receiving a PayPal debit card to use where ever I want AND receive cashback. I took advantage of this and added a "buy me button" for the ads that I am offering. 1 week, 2 weeks, or a full month are being offered at $1.75, $3.00 and $5.00 respectively. I removed the Mybloglog button. I figured it took a lot of space. I want to be able to condense my affiliates. I still need to mess with that.

The comment contest is going well. I've already seen a nice jump in comments and that's what I was shooting for. A site where my readers a little more engaged and I'm sure that a little cash incentive doesn't hurt. I think I'll let this be a monthly thing going forward from now on so here's the break down that I am going to give out.

Top commentator - $5
2nd and 3rd - $2.50 each

Not bad, right? So I'm devoting $10 a month on my readers and I don't think that's bad at all. If I can increase Metallman's Reverie's revenue (crazy alliteration!) then I'll increase the monthly prize. I'll definitely be mentioning the amount up for grabs once I announce the winners so make sure you check out the 1st of the month post since I'm not going to have that sticky post declaring the contest up forever.

So here's where I would like your opinion. Nothing is in stone just yet. I'm moving the buttons, pictures, changing prices, and anything else around. What would you like to see removed? Added? Or switched around? A quick comment with your thoughts and I'll take them all into consideration. I know my site looks messy and I want it to look it's best so I'm reaching our to you, friends, for some help. Many thanks! Later!

Giving Back Some Website Love with E-Referrer

Hey there. I just added a new feature on this blog, A Top 10 Website Referrer list. I have tried my best to give back to those that comment and visit Metallman's Reverie. I added a top commentary list to rewards those that leave comments on this site. Now, with this new list, I'll be able to provide a link to those sites that bring in traffic.

I just added it today and I can filter out certain websites, if I chose to. I'm leaning towards just leaving blogs on there... that would eliminate Entrecard and Adgitize (and others) as referrals, but I'm not sure if that is fair. I'll let it run the way it is for a good week or two and then decide as to how I will tweak the widget. If you guys want to have your own, check it out E-Referrer. It's free to sign up and use and it's definitely a nice little perk to be able to provide a link to those sites that provide traffic to your blogs. Later!

Affordable Hosting with Robson Communications

Hey there friends. Robson Communications and Parallels Optimized Computing have teamed up provide affordable packages for Canadian based hosting solutions. With affordable hosting services, Robson has a package for you. Whether you are a small business running Linux or Windows, or a blogger looking for managed hosting, VPN hosting, or exchange hosting, Robson has what you need. With a client retention rate over 98% and 100% customer satisfaction, their service and dedication to assure that you will be taken care of definitely speaks for itself. It's definitely worth a look, especially since it's risk free (30 Day Money Back Guarantee).

You can't go wrong with $4.99 Shared Hosting services and you have absolutely nothing to lose with a 30 day money back guarantee. Check out www.robsoninc.com right now to get details on this and other services. Later.

This is a sponsored post

Metallman's Reverie August Income

Hey there. I've been meaning to post a monthly income statement for this site. I've seen other sites that tend to do it and I kinda think that's it's not a bad idea. If you show that the programs that you use are not BS then people are more likely to check em out. Personally, I just want to show that an average Joe, such as myself, can make more than a few bucks online if you work hard and build an audience. I don't have a fancy spreadsheet or anything of that sort, but here is where I stand with my online income:

Adgitize - $17.11

I like Adgitize. It's a very simple program and it keeps my site updated. You earn points for visiting sites, displaying ads, and writing posts. All things I do anyways so why not get paid for them, right?

Adsdaq - $6.61

This is a relatively new ad service for me. I'm getting tired of the low payout from Adbrite. The great thing about this is that you set your own price for each 1000 impressions. The huge negative on this ad service is that they do not offer referral links and the payout is set at a high $50. It's pretty much a "set it and forget" type service so once you sign up, you don't really need to do anything else but request a payout when you've reached the threshold.

Adbrite - $1.46

This is another set it and forget type ad system that did fairly well for me at first. I made more $20 a month with this ad service but for whatever reason, it's not earning me anywhere near that any more and I am seriously thinking of dropping it. Maybe other alternatives are stealing their advertisers? Who knows, but I'll keep it around for a bit longer and hope that maybe it's a just a slump and in a couple of months, they'll be back as a top performer for me.

Associated Content - $ 2.30

I really like this system. You can write about whatever you want and get paid for the page views. You can also take some of their assignments for upfront payments or for ideas about what to write about. I've seriously lagged it in this area. This can produce a nice stream of income if you work on building a sizable audience for your work. You start off with a base "salary" of $1.50 for every 1000 page views. After hitting a certain number of page views, you earn bonuses that will build upon that base pay of $1.50. This is perfect for those that have an itch to write short stories or poetry, but will do just as well for game reviews, photos, life experiences, and all sorts of other creative writing.

Socialspark - $205.63

Socialspark is definitely my bread and butter site. I love everything about it. The friends that I have made there are wonderful and the opportunities available to you are many. You will need to get your blog approved before you can join, and if it's approved, it's very well worth it. Once you're a part of the team, you can browse opportunities and request to be part of advertiser's blogroll. The CPC program is great and payout can be requested at low $20. Any paid opportunity that is approved for payment will be paid 30 days from approval, so this $205.63 that was made is from opportunities that were written in July. This is definitely one you should check out.

So there you have it friends. I made a grand total of $233.11 for the month of August via Metallman's Reverie. I have joined a few more sites to see if traffic can be boosted, increasing my exposure and hopefully, my revenue. I didn't post some of those here since the funds are pending. The above is only what has been transferred to my paypal account. If you are interested in those sites, please check out the links at the top of this page and those under affiliates near the bottom. One that seems to be working pretty well is Easy Hits 4 U. They will give you $.30 for every 1000 pages that you visit and it asks you to visit a site for a minimum of 15 secs. On top of that it offers bonuses which include cash for surfing. I've only been a member for a few days so I cannot say its the best thing out there, but I'm giving it a shot and so far liking it. Hopefully, I'll be posting it as part of September's income post.

Feel free to check out the links in this post. And don't forget, tell them Metallman sent ya. =o) Later.

Metallman's Reverie Not Indexed on MSN (Bing)

Hey there. I'm fairly proud of this site. From my very first post, to what it is now. There is a sense of pride in building something from nothing and I'm definitely feeling proud. At first, I paid very close attention to this site's statistics: Page views, visitors, Alexa rank, Google PR, indexed pages, etc. etc. It got to a point where I would check it once a week to see if my trend was going up. I don't do that as much anymore. I occasionally check on the stats to see if there have been any improvements and I keep widgets on this site to tell me my Alexa rank and Real Rank. I gave up on Google PR. I'm finding it difficult to gain any love from Google in that aspect (or Google Adsense for that matter, since I was banned without warning).

Well, today was one of those days I decided to check up on Metallman's Reverie to see what's up. I like that Google decided to add me to their search engine. Typing in "Metallman" displays Metallman's Reverie in the top spot. Same deal with Yahoo. I like that I'm on there and it will display all or most of the places I'm mentioned. Not the case with MSN.

I logged on to the webmaster tools on MSN to see what it tells me. None of my pages are indexed. Not one. Hmmm.... So I go to Bing.com and enter Metallman and search. Metallman's Reverie does not come up. I see all my profiles, though. Every profile from Socialspark to NBA.com to Twitter. But absolutely no mention of Metallman's Reverie on Blogspot. What the hell???

I mean, I don't think it's a big deal, since I strongly believe that the majority of the world uses the Google search engine and I'm on that, but considering that I've been around for well over a year, I'd figure that MSN would acknowledge that I exist. I just find it a little odd that I'm not on there and am wondering if I'm the only one having that problem. For SEO reasons, you should be indexed in the "Big Three" of the online world but I'm curious as to why MSN refuses to index me. I'm going to need to look into that. I'm pretty comfortable at where I stand as a website. Pretty good Alexa rank, pretty good Real rank, I have 600+ feed subscribers, I get over 10K in page views a month, etc. It make me feel good that this is a moderate success, but this MSN thing bugs me. If I were to be indexed in MSN, would it bring more readers? Could it be possible for me to increase my visibility? Who knows... But I'm going to try and get to bottom of it and see why MSN is ashamed to index my site. lol Until I uncover the truth, later.

There's Something Wrong with Esther

Hey there. How can you NOT want to see this movie? I'm a horror and thriller film buff and there is just something about this flick that has caught my attention. The advertising for this film is spot on. Everything from the tag line "There's something wrong with Esther" to the freaky ass posters all over the city. I'll be driving by and out of the corner of my eye, I see the movie poster and it's Esther, giving me a stare down. It brings shivers to see a child with such a cold stare.

The movie comes out in theaters today and my wife and I are going to try and catch it this weekend. We don't really go out to the theaters as much as we would like. I want to say it's mostly because we don't see many movies that catch our attention. Even if they are movies for the kids, if they don't seem to excited about it, we don't see it. Well, not until I can rent it on Netflix. lol I'm kinda glad that the kids are leaning towards my love of fright. I've caught them watching Ghost Hunters on TV and the little one always asks if the movie we're watching is a "scary movie". If we answer yes, she tends to stick around and watch. lol I don't mind the kids watching stuff like that, as long as it's not overly gruesome or violent. There's no way they'll be watching Hotel or Turistas or anything like that.

Anyways, The Orphan somewhat reminds me of other films in which the child actor is NOT portrayed as innocent. Such great films as The Omen, where Damien is the son of the devil, or The Good Son, where Frodo and Macaulay Culkin represent good and evil respectively. Both of these movies hangs the question, "What would you do if it was your child?" I have a sense that The Orphan may follow suit and ask that question to the reader. From what is shown on TV, the film doesn't seem to go for cheap scares, so it's natural to assume that psychological and ethical questions are going to drive this film. If we get a chance to see this, I'll definitely be posting my comments and thoughts on this film. Until then, there's something wrong with Esther.... Uh, I mean, later. lol

Metal Crow Productions

Hey there. A guy can dream, no? Well, in this case, it's the dream of two guys. My compa (Crow) and I have finally decided jump on our ideas and make them into reality. Introducing, Metal Crow Productions. The logo on the left is something that he came up with. Not too bad, right? The logo may still change even though I think it looks pretty bad ass as it is.

Anyways, though our ideas have been brewing since forever, we have absolutely nothing to show for it... yet. This will serve as a great portal for us to display some creativity from just about any means that we see fit. We've talked about filming a short movie, we've talked of creating a web show, we've even discussed the possibilities of creating a web comic. We've even gone as far as to discuss a whole story, from beginning to end over the course of an hour long instant message, but we've never got around to putting any of it in paper. Many people have lost ideas into obscurity because they either had no means of expressing them or they were seen simply as ideas and not something that can be actuality. No more excuses for us! I'm excited, I'm ready, and I'm curious as to how far we can get this to fly.

We have nothing but an extremely brief introduction on the site. I wanted to get it set up so that when ideas come a flutter, there's a place where we can store them. So, remember the name, Metal Crow Productions, so that one day, you too can be like, "Hey! I know that guy!" lol Later!

Adgitize Advertiser Clicks

Hey there. This will be a quick post but wanted to express my pleasure with Adgitize. 24 hours have not passed since I've become an advertiser with them and already I have 130 clicks on 7538 views. That's close to 1.75% click rate but better yet, that's 130 extra page views (and potential readers) to this site. Hopefully, it's not beginner's luck but if this keeps up, they may have just earned an advertiser for life! Later.

New Member of Adgitize

Hey there. As most of you know, I've been dropped by Project Wonderful a few weeks back and have been looking for a new ad type platform. I haven't really been looking around but I did stumble across a very convenient source of online income. I am now the latest member of the Adgitize network.

From what I've read and the way it works, I think it's great! I never really noticed it but it seems that many Entrecard members are already a part of the Adgitize network so it's extremely convenient to "drop and click". Similar to Entrecard, you gain points by clicking on the ads (that's a first!) of Adgitize members. Most Entrecard members, such as myself, have placed an ad right next to the Entrecard widget to make it easy to Drop and Click (I should trademark that sucker!). Each click gains you a point. Points are then converted to cash at the end of the month. No waiting for approvals, transferring to a cash out account or anything like that. And clicking on ads is not the only way to get points. Each page view that your web site generates is converted to points. Each time one of the Adgitize ads is displayed generates is converted to points. If you have more than one ad block displays, the ad and page view points multiply by the number of ad blocks you display. Being an advertiser generates an automatic 100 points a day (more on that in a bit). Posting articles generates a cool 100 points a day. And by articles, it means posting, period. So if you're an active blog writer, this is basically getting paid to do what you do anyways. So there are many ways that points can be generated.

So what is the conversion to cash? That depends on how active advertisers are and how many points are awarded but just to give you a general idea, here is the May 2009 conversion table.

Score less than 100 points in a day and you will earn 1 cent a day.
Score 100 to 199 points in a day and you will earn 2 or 3 cents a day.
Score 200 to 299 points in a day and you will earn 15 cents to 25 cents a day.
Score 300 or more points in a day and you will earn 76 cents to $1 dollar a day.

Again, those numbers are not written in stone so don't quote me on that but it gives you a general idea of how many points you will need to earn some cash. Looking at the table above, 200 points is very doable but you definitely want to score 300 points a day.

That sounds great, Metallman, but what about the advertising that you mentioned? Glad you ask. lol Adgitize cannot pay it's members if it does not generate any revenue. So advertising is a cool $14 a month (other options are available) and your ad is guaranteed to be shown on all sites that have the widget installed on their web page to the tune of at least once every 100 page views. So if 'X' site has 100 views a day, your ad will appear at least once on their site. Considering that there are thousands of sites in the network, you will definitely get your money's worth. And if you hit the 300 point mark daily, the ad will pay for itself each month. All while bringing you traffic and readers. Sign up is free and you do not have to advertise. You can gain points by other means but being given 100 points a day for being an advertiser is not a bad deal at all.

I haven't seen any complaints from anyone in regards to this. Paying to display your ad seems to be one "nuisance" that surfaces, but considering that you can pay $10 for a month long ad on any given website, you might as well ad the $4 and display your ads to thousands more. I'm quite thrilled about trying this out. Hopefully, it will bring in quality traffic as well as some online income. I'll keep you posted with how much it brings in after the first or second month. Check it out, friends. Later!