My PS3 Quest: January 2008

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

What I'm Doing Now

I've been focusing on video game talk for the last several posts and have pretty much stopped posting about making any money. The reason is pretty simple, I've already bought the PS3 so my goal has been reached. But I've had a request to update on this topic and explain what I did, so here you go.

To answer the first question I got, no I'm no longer doing anything with CashCrate or FusionCash. Both of these sites were great and they both paid. I made somewhere around $175 with them combined, which is nothing to sneeze at for next to no effort. That's with zero referrals, too. I've seen some folks that make $600+ a month just off their referrals. So, if you're interested please use my link, hint hint.

The reason I stopped using the GPT (Get Paid To) sites is because I found the Thirty Day Challenge. What is the TDC, you may be asking. It is a course that was put together by a couple of internet marketers (Ed Dale and Dan Raines) to teach people how to make some money on the internet. The goal is to make your first $10 in the 30 days. It officially runs through the month of August, but due to the success and high demand of this year, they've left the site up and kept the forums running. They're also adding new content, but not often. Can't really complain though since it is 100% free.

I got into the TDC a week or so late, but even with that I was able to catch up and more than made my $10 by the end of the month. I won't go into a lot of details about the TDC, because Ed Dale really explains it better than I ever could. The course uses some YouTube videos and podcasts to teach the lessons and they're fantastic. I'd never even heard of internet marketing before this and was able to be successful at it, so anyone should be able to follow the advice.

I want to say that it isn't easy money. I mean, it is easier than working my job, but there is still effort involved. If answering surveys is all you feel like doing, then stick with the GPT and hope for some referrals. The TDC consists of doing research into what markets you can get ranked in Google and then posting some quality sites about those markets. When I say markets, I'm talking more like interests or hobbies. For example, my first site was about aquarium enthusiasts. I got ranked highly in Google for my search term, too. But not all sites pay. In fact, my first 2 sites didn't make a single sale, even with plenty of traffic. That's why you have to do research first.

The thing is, some people put up total crap sites. You've seen the kind I'm talking about, where it is nothing but spam and ads. That's not what the TDC is about at all. The TDC is all about putting up good, quality sites with good, quality information on it. Besides the fact that it is the ethical thing to do, it has economic benefits, too. If someone goes to a site and finds the info they're looking for, they're going to be much more likely to buy something advertised on that site. That's where the real work comes in. I wrote a ton of articles that I put a lot of time, effort and research into so that whether people bought the product or not, they at least got some benefit from coming to my site. Also, I only advertised products that I thought were decent.

As for the products, I went to Clickbank and found some that were related to my site. I also set up some Amazon.com links. Also, my sites weren't covered in links. There was one ad at the top of the page and sometimes a single link at the bottom of an article. That's it. No spam, no crap, just a link saying, "Hey, if you're interested in this topic, you might like product x."

If you've been reading this blog, then you know the end results. I expect to get the PS3 in around 6-12 months. I got it in less than 6 weeks. The TDC method works, big time. After I got the PS3, I stopped updating my internet marketing sites but they're still making money for me. I've made over $1000 so far and am still getting sales, which is really nice. Since I've totally neglected my sites, the Google rank has fallen and sales have dropped off, but I'm still seeing $50 or more a month, which buys me a game.

So there you go. That the method I used to buy a PS3 in a nutshell. If anyone has more detailed questions, I'll be happy to answer them here. However, I can't suggest strongly enough to check out the Thirty Day Challenge if you want to try it yourself.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Game of the Year

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been too busy actually playing video games. The last several weeks have seen more great games released than the rest of the year combined. This is also the first time in a long while that I've felt like I need to hurry to play a game so I can move on to the next one. Even better, I feel like I need to complete each game, where my normal MO is to play until I get bored and then move on. That means I've got stacks and stacks of half-finished (or never started) games. But now I'm putting a good solid dent in my backlog.

Rock Band - Man, I've played a ton of this. I got just the game, since I'm waiting on the wireless guitar for the XBox 360. It seems easier to me than Guitar Hero, but I like it better. I still haven't picked up GH3, but I've played my friend's copy of it and this is the better game. But don't take my word for it, my friends agree, too. When we get together, we're playing Rock Band, not GH3. I can't wait for February to get here so I can pick up the drums.

Call of Duty 4 - This is actually the first CoD game I've spent any time with. I've played 1 & 2, but only for about 30 minutes each. I guess that from buring myself out on WWII with Medal of Honor. For those of you that don't know, CoD4 is a modern day shooter and a damned fine one at that. I picked it up during a pre-Xmas sale on the cheap since I wasn't sure I'd put much time into it. I couldn't have been more wrong. This game is fantastic. I also give it points for not making me sick like many FPS's do. I have to build up a tolerance for first person views or I get a headache, but there have been no ill effects from CoD4, which is nice. The missions are fun and varied, plus there are multiple ways to finish them. I prefer to take a slower, sniper kind of route and am able to do that with no problems here. I should also mention that the tutorial put me in the average difficulty level, which is fun. I normally play an FPS on easy for two reasons. First, I suck at the FPS (though I can usually hold my own in local multiplayer. Maybe my friends suck, too) and secondly because I like to play games for fun not for frustration. But the average difficulty is challenging for me without being annoying. In fact, once I finish the single player campaign, I plan to retry it at a harder level. Now, why haven't I finished the game when it is only 5-6 hours long?

Mass Effect - The first few hours can be kind of slow, but once the story really gets going, this game is amazing. I was rushing home every day after work to play this and once I beat it, I started a new playthrough. I did the math, and it is going to take me 4 playthroughs to get everything I can out of this game, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Assassin's Creed - This is a late-comer to the party, but a very welcome one. This is another game I picked up cheap after Xmas because I had read some spotty reviews. Turns out the reviews were wrong. I think that the nature of reviews ruin this game for the reviewer. The reviewer has to play and beat several games in a short amount of time, so they don't get to really savour what they're playing. AC is a game that is best played slowly and carefully. If you just rush through the game, you're missing out on all the best stuff. In fact, you can complete an assassination with very little investigation, but if you do that, you're really missing the point. I also think this is the best Batman game ever made. You're running on rooftops, climbing, and kicking ass. Just reskin this puppy and you've got an amazing Batman game.

Ratchet & Clank - I haven't gotten too far into this one, but I'm really enjoying it so far. A fine platformer with some good humor and fun puzzles. The graphics are fantastic, but that wouldn't mean anything if the gameplay sucked. Luckily, it doesn't.

Ok, so after all that, what is my game of the year? I've got to go with Mass Effect. No other game this year made me start to replay it as soon as I'd finished it. The fact that I'd just spent over 20 hours playing it and still wanted more is the sure sign of a great game to me.

So, here's my top games. I'm factoring in fun plus the amount of time I spent playing each one. Unfortunately I missed some games that look great this year (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune) and haven't spent as much time playing some as I would have liked (Super Mario Galaxy).