Amazon Associates: Giving It a Try

I have three blogs that I am currently writing.  My fishing in New Brunswick Blog is the one I have been working on the longest and gets a decent amount of traffic.  I am certainly trying to get more traffic to the blog.  Over the summer I started up two new blogs. One is about hockey and baseball which is called Hockey and Baseball Talk and the third blog is called Random Thoughts. The last two are new and I am having trouble getting traffic to the sites but hopefully that will pick up. 

I decided to add a few things to the blogs to try to make a little money.  One is called Infolinks, which I will do a blog on later.  The newest item I put on is called Amazon Associates.  I can add widgets that have items for sale on Amazon and if someone clicks on it and buys the item I get a referral fee.  There are also text links I can add in my blogs and the same thing happens.  If they click on the link and buy the product I get a referral fee.

The other item which is pretty neat is that you can create astores and choose what Amazon products you want in your store.  Again, if someone buys products from your store you get a fee from Amazon.  I have created two stores so for.  One for my fishing blog is this one: Jamie's Fishing Store and the one for my Random Thoughts blog is Jamie's Random Thoughts Store.  I am trying to figure out how to make these stores more prominent on my blogs but I still need to figure that out. 

I certainly do not expect to get rich from this but it is completely free to set up so why not give it a try.  They have different options to pay you.  You can get gift cards, they can pay through direct deposit, and by cheque.  The first two options have a $10 minimum and to be paid by cheque you need to make $100 and there is a $15 processing fee for the cheque.  I choose the gift cards as I did not have to give any banking information.

My main goal now is to get more traffic to my blogs and to see if I can make any money from the program.
If you want to read more about associate and affiliate programs give this book a try: The Complete Guide to Associate & Affiliate Programs on the Net: Turning Clicks Into Cash

Watch Hunting and Fishing Shows Online

If you are someone like me who enjoys fishing when ever you can you probably also enjoy watching fishing shows on television. I enjoy watching these shows to see the fish they are catching but also to learn new techniques, see the lures they are using, and any other equipment they are using. Well, I came across this website that is dedicated to showing fishing and hunting shows online. It is called MyOutdoorTV.com.

The website is set up very well and it is extremely easy to find what you are looking for. When you click on the fishing tab it offers fishing shows for fresh water fishing and also salt water fishing. When I clicked on a Bill Dance show it loaded up very quickly and played smoothly. On the right hand side of the screen it listed a big handful of other episodes I could watch. It has a title for each episode along with a small written summary of the show.

It also has a selection of hunting shows you can watch, although I will be sticking to the fishing shows. The site also lists many outfitters for hunting and fishing that you can look into. It looks like they are all in the United States.

The great thing about the site is that it offers you the chance to watch these shows when ever you want. All you have to do is click on the show you want to watch and you are all set. Give the site a chance and I am sure you will bookmark it like I did.

iPod Touch App: textPlus

I have had my ipod Touch now for six or seven months and have downloaded and tried a handful of applications. One of these applications is called textPlus. It is an application that lets you send texts to other people that are also using the application and also to people's cell phones. What is very exciting about this is that it is free. The app is free and texting to people's cell phones are free as well in Canada and the United States. Texting to people who have the app is free worldwide. The person receiving the text to their cell phone will incur texting charges if their plan does not cover it. You obviously need to be in a WiFi area for the application to work on the Touch. It will also work on 3G and Edge.

You can organize the people you text with through the "People" tab at the bottom of the app. Within that tab it will list the people who also have the app, your favorites, a recent list, and contacts you have on your ipod Touch. It also has a "Conversation" tab at the bottom that stores old conversations so you can simply click there and continue texting to that person.

People can also start a text conversation with you to the app. To do this they will need to know your textPlus username and text that name to 60611 and when you reply to them your text conversation has begun.

There is also a new feature in the app that is called "Communities". This is a place will people can start a community and people can join it. People then post messages to that group and everyone in that community will get the text. I noticed when looking through some people who run a sports team have started a community for the team and the person updates playing times here.

I have been using the app more and more over the past month or so and truly enjoy it. Many people have text plans on their cell package and texting is the way most people communicate with their cell phones so I figured I would start using it. Overall, it has worked very well with only a couple of times I have had to resend a text. If you are like me and do not have a text package on your cell phone and would like to start texting then I strongly suggest you give this app a try. You honestly have nothing to lose as it is completely free.

If you get the app and want to try it out my username is HABS. Text that to 60611 and let me know how you like it.
Please check out my Random Thoughts Amazon.com store.

Online Shopping: Try DealExtreme

I have shopped online at many different places and last February I came across this website called DealExtreme. It is based overseas. I will be there first to tell you that if you are looking for top notch products then this is not the site for you. I do not say that in a bad way as I find it is an excellent source for buying add-ons, or accessories for the products you already own.

At a Super Bowl get together this past February a friend of mine was showing me a battery pack he had for his IPhone. He told me he got it from this placed called DealExtreme. He also had a charging station for his Wii remotes. When I got home I checked out the website and since then I have placed seven orders.

I feel the website is well laid out, it has an endless amount of products to choose from, it has free shipping, and you can pay through your Paypal account. The main categories the site has are electronics, car accessories, computers, cell phones, Ipod, and a handful of others. Once you put your mouse over one of these categories another subset opens up.

The battery pack for the Ipod I bought is pictured below. For $11.37 I feel it has been a fantastic buy. You charge it with your Ipod charger. Once it is charged you can plug it into for Ipod and it charges the Ipod as if it was plugged into the cable. it is great to have if you are out and about and are low on battery. I use mine all the time and recommend it to everyone. They have more than one to choose from.

I have also bought cases for the Ipod, screen protectors, charging cables, usb wall plugs, and an extra dance mat for a Wii game my girls play. The game obviously came with one mat but said you could play with two players if you had another mat. For $22 the mat arrived and works great with the game. I also just bought another set of earphones with a mic for my Ipod Touch. I was at a store the other day and they had the "real" brand kind and they were $30. I paid $2.79. They arrived the other day and work great. Who knows how long they will last but for under $3 I will give them a try.

The site is also good in the respect that people can leave their comments about the products. Since there are many similar products I find it is good to read to see if one is better or worse than another one.

The checkout process is very easy. Like many other sites you add items to your cart. Once you have completed your shopping you click on Pay with Paypal and make your payment. You do have to create an account but that is very easy to do as well. When you are logged in you can view your old orders and/or look to see if your order has been shipped.

I do not work for the company but thought I would do a little write-up because there are probably many people out there that have never heard of the company and I wanted to make you aware so you may be able to buy some products and save you some money in the process. Like I said, going in, I knew the products I was looking for would be accessories or back up items. For the price I have paid I am extremely pleased with my purchases.