The link leads to an article in the Washington Examiner.  And yes its true.  Philly really is charging blogger $300 for a business license –even if they are only hobby bloggers.

The lady mentioned in the article should have read my book, How To Make Money Blogging From Home.  Even though the city is charging her $300 a year to blog, she noted in the article that she had only made $50 from her blog.

Both blogging on a topic and setting up niche WordPress blogs is a great way to make anything from a few extra bucks to actually making a living working from home.

And blogging is fun.  I just hope that the city fathers in Philly come to their senses and if not that other cities don’t try to fill their coffers by copying them.

Of course it could be something more nefarious. It is well known that governments hate bloggers as they are often the source of stories that embarrass governments and government workers when they uncover bad behavior, corruption or wasteful and silly spending.  There is an old saying: “If you want less of something then you should tax it.”  I wonder if maybe that is what’s really going on here?

By now most of my readers are tired of hearing about this, but since its going away on Monday, this is your last chance and the last time you will hear from me about this.

I know that many of you were shocked by the high price of the system, but I strongly recommend that you watch the entire sales video. Even if you can’t or don’t want to buy –there is some great educational material that you get along with the sales pitch. I have been doing SEO for years and I even learned a lot that will help me drive more traffic to my website and blogs.

So if you want to learn Ryan’s secrets for getting free traffic from Google, you need to go NOW and signup before it’s too late:
http://budurl.com/McGPTLaunch

Training for “Perpetual Traffic” starts on Monday, and since this is a LIVE
coaching program Ryan wants everyone to get started at approximately
the same time.

That’s why I KNOW this training will close on Monday, so if you’re still
sitting on the fence, now is the time to see what Ryan has to say:

http://budurl.com/McGPTLaunch

See you again soon,
Skip McGrath

Here is the link: http://budurl.com/McGPTLaunch

If you have a chance you should also watch the sales video. The price of this system is too expensive for most folks, but there is a lot to learn in the video that can help you get traffic to your website or blog.

Skip McGrath

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How to Make Money Blogging From Home shows you how anyone can quickly and easily set up a blog with no technical skills and start monetizing your blog the first week.

Exactly how does Perpetual Traffic Work?

Watch this Q&A video NOW!  http://budurl.com/McGVideo

Ryan Deiss just released a video he recorded live at 1:30 AM last night that answers every question you could imagine about his powerful FREE traffic system.

Ok – The video is really long but that is ok because you can zip through the parts that don’t interest you.  If you can’t watch the video there is also a FREE audio download too.

Be sure to listen carefully to this recording BEFORE tomorrow when Ryan goes live with the PTL launch.

Click below to get to the recordings NOW!

http://budurl.com/McGVideo

Thanks,

Skip McGrath

P.S. If you haven’t got Ryan’s two special reports & his FREE software yet, there is a link for that too.  There is also a place where you can get in early to get a look at the system before anyone else.

Grab it all while you can, I’m sure he’ll lock it down soon.

There are also links to the free reports and tools in previous blog posts if you scroll down

Here is the link to the Q&A one last time

http://budurl.com/McGVideo

As part of the promotion we are giving away a FREE software program (small and easily installed on your computer) that helps you find those elusive little niches that get lots of traffic with no competition.  Use this software to find blog post or article subjects that will land on the first page of Google searches.  I have been playing with it since yesterday and it is really cool.

This new software shows you how to find the easiest spots on Google to get FREE traffic.  And it works !

This software will tell you more about your market and your competitors in 2 minutes than a team of researchers could. Even if you decide not to join our promotion, you still get the software for free.

http://budurl.com/McGSoftware

Run your own website or blog through first and find gaps on your pages that are easily plugged.  Even though I have a professional SEO expert working on my site, I found three things I can easily fix that will increase my traffic. It only took about 15 minutes of work.

This software will help anyone with a website or blog whether you sell products, information or are just doing affiliate marketing.   …and it’s perfect for those of you who develop niche affiliate sites.  This is the first time I have seen a Free product that can put money in my pocket –and in this economy we need all the help we can get.

The entire thing is FREE. You don’t even have to opt in to a list to get it.

Here is the link:

http://budurl.com/McGSoftware

Please note:  The software runs on Adobe Air which is a safe and free software you can download from Adobe at http://get.adobe.com/air/

Cheers and good luck,

Skip McGrath

Here is a screenshot of the software in action:

This is the second part of the Joint Venture promotion I told you about the other day.  By now you should have received the Free Perpetual Traffic Report I told you about on Monday.  If not, you can click here to get it. (This one does require an opt in, but its well worth it.)

This new software shows you one thing and one thing only…How to find the easiest spots on Google to get FREE traffic.  And boy does it work!

Ryan even added a 40 page report explaining how the software works and the system he uses to get 20 times more FREE traffic than you can buy at any price.

This software will tell you more about your market and your competitors in 2 minutes than a team of researchers could. You better grab it while it’s in BETA and still free.

Run your own website or blog through first and look at all the holes you

find that are easily plugged.  (I Bet you’ll thank me for this one).

The entire thing is FREE. You don’t even have to opt in to a list to get it.

Here is the link:

http://budurl.com/McGSoftware

Enjoy,

Skip McGrath

How to Make Money Blogging From Home is the title of one of my best-selling books that I released late in 2009. In the book, I explain several ways of monetizing a blog for income –but the top way is with affiliate marketing.

Making money blogging

It is no secret that thousands of people make money blogging…but many more thousands of people blog and don’t make a dime. In many cases it’s just that they don’t want to –they are blogging strictly for fun.  And that’s all right.  Blogging can be a great way to connect with other people who share your interests or to reach out to friends and family.  But in these hard times, who wouldn’t appreciate some extra money every month?

If you are not familiar with affiliate marketing, it is nothing more than earning money in the form of commissions for recommending a product. And blogs are one of the best ways to do that.

Finding Affiliate Programs That Match Your Blog Topic

The most important thing you have to do to make money blogging from affiliate programs is find programs that relate to the content of your blog. If you were writing a blog about cooking, then you wouldn’t want to promote my affiliate products about selling on eBay. Instead you would look for programs that promote cooking gadgets, gourmet foods, and so on.

However you if were blogging about way to make money working from home or eBay or other related topics, then my affiliate program would be a good fit.

There are several affiliate networks that represent hundreds of companies. Some of the larger ones are Kowabunga, Share a Sale and Commission Junction. Just Google those names and it will take you right to the site.

Amazon & eBay Affiliate Programs

Amazon and eBay both have affiliate programs.  These can be really great because those two sites have a wide variety of products you can promote. No matter what your topic is, there is probably a book or gadget or product of some type that relates to your subject. For example I saw a blog about travel to Spain. In the margins were eBay banners for luggage and other travel products.  When people reading the blog click on those banners and buy something on eBay, then that blogger makes money.

My book, How To Make Money Blogging From Home takes you through the simple and almost free way to set up your blog, how to find subjects to write about how to get traffic to your blog and several ways that you can make money from your blog.

I had to read the letter a couple of times to make sure I got it.  It seems that I had written an article last year about the interesting and profitable niche of selling coupons on eBay.  (Here is a link to the article).

In the article I showed a list of recent coupon sales on eBay as an example of the types of coupons that sell and what they sold for.  One of them was a coupon for a large bottle of Bertolli Olive Oil that had sold on eBay for just over $12.

Well it turns out that the coupon was fake –a counterfeit.  There are a lot of completely legitimate Bertolli coupons –but none of them were for a free bottle of oil. (Which is too bad as Bertolli is my favorite olive oil).

So Bertolli and the nice folks at Grupo SOS hired this law firm to get everyone who was promoting the sale to cease and desist. In my case they felt that mentioning the value of the coupons on eBay would incent others to try and reproduce and sell more of the counterfeit coupons.

I called the attorney in Houston as instructed in the letter to see what this was all about. Not knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised that she was actually a very nice lady whom I enjoyed speaking with. She explained her client’s position and asked me to remove the offending line from the article.  I explained my position, that I was reporting on a fact that had occurred –not promoting others to do that.  In the end I made a counter offer. I said I would remove the offending passage, if Bertolli would send me a free bottle of olive oil to compensate me for the web costs. She said she would pass my request on to Bertolli.

The offending passage is now gone and I am waiting for my bottle of olive oil.

Yes, I could have objected and played hardball. Since I carry advertising liability insurance, a court proceeding wouldn’t have cost me any money. But heck –my time is more important. And the fact that Bertolli’s attorney took the time to be pleasant and reasonable, instead of belligerent, went a long way towards finding a solution. Also, the cost to remove the line from the article was not that great, so why get in a fight over something so minor?

If you blog or write newsletter articles, this points out some of the pitfalls. Even when you are working with the best of intentions, an innocent mistake can cause you problems. As things go this one was pretty minor, but that is not always the case.  A couple of years ago, I inadvertently broke some arcane consumer law in a state where a company I was writing about was located and it cost my insurance company $5000 to settle the case.  So you do want to be careful.

Carry Advertising Liability Insurance

Always check your facts and carry advertising liability insurance.  If you blog for a hobby, you can get this protection as a rider on your homeowners insurance. If you blog for money, like those who read my book, How to Make Money Blogging From Home, then you should take out a basic business liability policy with an advertising rider.  This type of policy pays attorney’s fees, court costs and even damage awards if you are sued or threatened with a lawsuit. Had this been a more serious case, I would have called my State Farm agent and he would have put me in touch with an attorney in Houston to deal with the matter.

So all’s well that ends well.  But my current bottle of Bertolli Olive oil is about half-full.  I hope the new one gets here before I have to buy a new one.

Skip McGrath

One of my blogging heroes is Yaro Starak who runs a blog called ProBlogger. I was looking at his site and he is offering a great 23 page free eBook called Blog Profits Blueprint. Yes, Yaro is trying to sell something, but his material is great and even if you don’t buy anything from him, the eBook is excellent. Blog Profits Blueprint is not a sales pitch –it contains real “how-to” information.

Here are some of the topics Yaro explains:

• The one vital skill that most bloggers lack, and how YOU can easily acquire it.
• His “Pillar Method” for creating great content that magnetically attracts links and pulls in wave after wave of traffic for months or years to come.
• How he builds multiple, ongoing streams of blog traffic using “Communication Channels”.

Plus, you get access to a LIVE VIDEO that let’s you look over his shoulder as he gives you a guided tour of exactly how he makes money from his blog.

Yaro’s blog gets over 25,000 visitors a day so he really knows what he is talking about.

And don’t forget to check out my latest book, How to Make Money Blogging From Home. We take you step-by-step through setting up your blog and showing you how you can start earning money your first month blogging.