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Today is the first day of The AdSpace Contest, and I’m proud to announce that I am one of 10 co-hosts.

The idea is simple and easy: Get as many entries as you can (very easy to do) over the next 30 days. The more entries you get, the better chance you have of winning! At the end of the 30 days, we’ll announce the winner.

The prize?

A 125×125 pixel ad spot (above the fold) on at least TEN DIFFERENT BLOGS that will run for one month. That’s at least a $100 value!

Who else is co-hosting?

• Geek Mom Mashup
• Vrtualme
• Jamaipanese
• Best of Stupid
• AxioBlog
• The Big Bald Blog
• Jason Boom
• Unconventional Marketing Blog
• Offended Blogger
• GorillaSushi

How do you enter to win?

1 Entry - Subscribe to any one of the blogs above via email.

10 Entries - Write a post about the contest (must include links to all 10 hosts OR use our suggested text)

25 Entries - Offer up an ad spot on your own blog for one month as part of the prize package (links will be listed above)

Simply put, you could subscribe to all 10 blogs, write a post and offer up your own ad spot for a grand total of 45 entries! Be sure to tell us in the comments below when and how you’ve entered to ensure that your entries get counted.

Good Luck!

I’ll tell you. About two years ago, these signs started popping up all over Fargo as a new and convenient way of marketing. I have to say that the very first bright, neon signs I saw like this did catch my attention and cause me to stop and read them. The problem was that after a little while, others thought they would make some money with this new and successful advertisement and set out to replicate the success of the originator. I am not sure exactly how much it costs to put one of these signs in front of your business. I believe about $150 / week. As you can see, it would only take about two weeks to recover the cost of the materials used to make and alter the sign’s message, then pure profit.

The major problem now is that the novelty of these signs wore off and now they are just like all the other billboards in town begging to interrupt our lives in the hopes of selling us something. The bang for the buck advertisements these signs once had is now gone. They only attract the people who were already looking for whatever is being sold. What are people to do now when they want to get their message out about a new deal or gizmo? Doing something different works for a while, but that requires lots and lots of change to stay ahead. How does this relate to online advertising?

Remember when the fold down ad corners popped up online and everyone went crazy to stick ads in there because people were intrigued? Well, that novelty has worn off and pretty quick I might add. Or how about Google Adsense? It is no wonder Google always has to invent new ways and places to stick ads in order to keep up ad generated revenue. Ads in video, ads on the sidebar, ads in email, ads on their own version of Wikipedia now named Knol, ads on cellphones and the list will go on.

What if, and I mean a big what-if, you took all of the money you planned to spend on advertising and interrupting people’s lives and used that money to better your service or product. You would probably end up with a product that people will start talking about because it has become truly useful or over the top in a way that will separate itself from anything similar to it. It would be like spending the time to run a free clinic to get people interested in a sport or new hobby. The end result could be more sales of your product for helping others get involved, or perhaps more recognition as an authority on the subject increasing your demand.

A funny thing happens when your demand goes up, so does your salary. This will never happen overnight, but it will eventually happen as you increase the value you contribute to others. In other words, you separate yourself from the pack and distinguish yourself or product, allowing for people to talk about it openly. When was the last time someone was ecstatic about the McDonald’s dollar menu and told you about it?

edit* If you don’t have these signs in your town yet, you could make a lot of money by being the first to start.

This is a guest post brought to you by Shaun Connell, webmaster of Make Money, a free resource for those who want to make money online and think outside the “money box.” Find out what the money box is by visiting the site.

Don’t get me wrong, AdSense paid me my first check. For doing that, they’ll always have a special place in my heart. But unfortunately, most bloggers rely on AdSense as their primary way of earning an income for their main blog. AdSense is fantastic, but should it be your primary source of income? Let’s do some casual number crunching to see.

This is Why I Hate Algebra

Let’s say you want to make a $100 a day with your primary site. To find out how much it will take to get there, you’ll use a super simple formula that looks something like this:

[AdSense cpm]*[x traffic]=100

If the AdSense CPM is $10, your formula will look like this: 10*[x]=100 which means this: 10*[10]=100.

This isn’t just gibberish. The “x” stands for “thousands of impressions,” meaning if you make a whopping $10 per thousand visitors, you’ll need 10,000 impressions before you make your $100. How many impressions do you serve? This is a vital question for understanding potential AdSense earnings.

How Many Baskets do You Have?

That’s nothing to sneeze at. It takes a lot of work to generate a constant 10,000 impressions a day, but the fact is that most websites, even by the pros, won’t generate that much. So what to do? Just remember the age old advice of financial planners:

Always Diversify.

Day traders always argue that you should diversify, never putting all of the proverbial eggs in one basket. If you diversify, it’s harder to get wiped out, and even if most stocks go down, at least some will go up. It’s just safer.

The same concept applies to internet marketing. Diversify. Sell ads, sell an affiliate program, just diversify. AdSense is a great supplement, but compared to the other monetizaton strategies, it simply shouldn’t be your primary focus.

Look at it this way: Let’s say you are selling an affiliate package worth 100 bucks, and when you make a sale, you get 50 bucks. You get 10,000 impressions a day from 5,000 visitors. Of that 5,000, only 1,000 end up clicking through your affiliate link. Supposing you get the typical 1% conversion rate, you’ll make 500 bucks, which means you’ll be making well over a 100k per year.

Last Words

In light of the above numbers, a lot of people have turned AdSense off all together. I decided to take AdSense off my main website, even though I wouldn’t go as far as Chris Pearson when he said, “[AdSense] is quite literally the worst monetization service of all time for people who don’t have millions of pageviews per month.”

AdSense is helpful, but it should only be a small part of your earnings. Do the numbers, and figure out how to launch your traffic into an income. Test the waters, try out programs and increase your earnings.

This is the fifth installment of the Blogger appreciation week, found here. Blogger appreciation week was designed for me to give back to those who have contributed to this blog through many intellectually stimulating conversations.

That’s Great PR

I met Justin, the creator of That’s Great PR, recently online while exchanging blog comments. He has recently embarked on his journey to build up a blog to go along with the PR group he works with. I see some great potential in his writing and really enjoy watching new bloggers try their hand at it. One of the most important things I noticed about his writing and with his subject is the passion that is prevalent in it. Passion online will carry you through the times of uncertainty and to continuing to write when it all seems as if it is for nothing. Kudos, Justin.

What I like the most:

I like the coverage of different topics that is presented and how nicely Justin ties it into his primary subject, PR (press releases).

Quick Point:

I know Justin has a lot of PR experience and insight. As a person from the outside looking in, I would love to see PR marketing campaigns and the best ways to plan a PR marketing strategy for the absolute best results. ( One example here) I know he has the knowledge to share.

Down On Our Luck

Brenda Carter, the author and founder of Down On Our Luck has appropriately named the blog so. She set out to have an outlet to the world in which she could share her life experiences and day-to-day struggles. Don’t look now but if you read some of her posts about switching over to a new server and upgrading Wordpress at the same time, you will think the blog was appropriately named (remember to always back up your blog before doing anything remotely major).

What I like the most:

Brenda is an open book with her life, troubles and experiences. In an online world where it is easy to hide behind avatars and fake names, that is something to be desired. If you have the time and want to learn about her and her husband Q, I would read through her “my story” tagged posts.

Quick Point:

I know that her goal is to interact, share and talk with others who are facing some of the same or similar problems she has gone through. I recommend a weekly question-and-answer series with readers. My girlfriend does a similar thing with her readers and has gotten a good response over a short time period.

It Might Be Love

Everybody needs a little love from time to time and you’ll find it at It Might Be Love. Chelle has collected quite a montage of love-related pieces that cover just about every angle except the kind not allowed at work. I have found some really funny posts on her site that are totally worth sharing, but instead of listing all I will give you a couple of my favorites and let you discover the rest.

• Flight of the Conchords - If You’re Into It
• 100 Classic Rock Love Songs

What I like the most:

I love the vast quantity of posts and articles written. With a subject that can be as broad as ever, she has put together a great collection to covering many areas.

Quick Point:

I think some passionate colors intermixed throughout the blog would really draw the reader in, almost as if setting the mood for the subject at hand. I also grew up in a house with no white walls anywhere, blame my mom

The Blue Workhorse

The Blue Workhorse is a collection of sports writers (6 by my count) who have come together to share in a subject they all love. My favorite stat on the About page is the combined 100 years in sports. I would expect to find nothing less than a lot of good stats on this blog. If for some reason you don’t like sports, I bet you could still find their posts full of humorous writings. I am also sure their hands will be pretty full in about a week with the Olympics.

What I like the most:

a group of writers are working together to share about the subject they all like. I am envious of the collaboration they have in building their blog.

Quick Point:

I would like to see some rugby discussion or updates. My girlfriend and I have played rugby for a number of years and really enjoy the sport. If not rugby, the second sport I wish you to discussion is Jai-Alai. Well…, because that would be cool.

This is the third installment of the Blogger appreciation week, found here.

I don’t know much about John Leonard of Master Networker’s MLM and Internet Marketing Blog for Professional Entrepreneurs other than what I have seen over the past two days checking out his blog. But I do know one thing for sure, he is a seller. Just combing through a few of his posts, I am almost tempted to sign up for some multi-level marketing programs. From a marketing standpoint, I should steal incorporate some of his techniques into my own blog.

John uses a lot of eye candy (words in different colors or in bold, not risky photos) to emphasize key phases and draw your attention to specific areas. Within the descriptions of products or different multi-level marketing programs, he is sure to state the credibility of the originator as well as the pros and some cons.

What I like the most:

The diversity of information on various different mlm programs, tips and tricks. He has some good info on building up a list here.

Quick point:

I would like to see some more success and failure stories. I know with mlm, the potential to fail is pretty high from time and time, and I think sharing those experiences could be very beneficial to anyone who is interested in a particular mlm program.