I started the day doing an FBI news story that you really need to read, and then, strangely enough, saw an ad later on that caught my eye.

The web site I ended up on is called Swipebids. Now, first and foremost, I did NOT create an account. I will tell you it looked awful tempting, BUT I’m savvy enough to first investigate.

Always look before you leap.

This auction site looks impressive at first glance. It’s ratings in terms of traffic are through the roof. The products shown on the front page, in real time bidding, also impressive. Information on what’s what, well I did not go by what the site says, I first put it into Google to do a “background check”.

Turns out that when you open an account, it works the opposite of say eBay. On eBay you can bid, but it doesn’t cost you anything unless of course you are the lucky winner and get what you wanted.

Swipebids makes you pay upfront each time you bid. For example, say you see something for $2 and there is, oh an hour left on that item. According to sources online, your $2 is removed from your account right then and there. You literally put your money where your mouth is… and then you wait. If someone else bids, and you still want it then you bid again.

This time say you want it badly enough to outbid the last bid by another $2 (let’s assume the other person bid $4). It now costs you $6 on top of the first $2 you initially placed.

And, yes, the money is taken… gone for good, unless you win the bidding war and get that precious whatever for $6.

I found comments at Yahoo! Answers ranging from “don’t go there” to “swipe bids is ‘legit’ but you need to know what’s up with these sites”.

So there you have it, my advice for the day. Plus you really, really need to read the FBI news story. It, too, is advice you don’t want to disregard.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks to MathTeacher’s comments in the previous post, I will stop dreaming of ways to spend all that money and get back to work LOL! Just also shows how much “we the people” would love a bit of help from our government versus the elite always getting a helping hand. The state of affairs worsens as the days pile up. While bailing out single entities (which by the way most of us ordinary people would have landed in jail for), once again the government overlooks the critical component in any scenario. We, the little people, are the backbone of any country. With no money to spend, it doesn’t really matter how many special interests they bail out does it. We end up footing a bill that no one can afford to foot.

While the Birk Economics thing sparked hope, unfortunately, the math doesn’t pan out. Even at the 700 billion dollar level, it’s still peanuts. Can’t anyone think up a way that would put everyone on equal footing, ensure their futures, and help in the here and now?!?!

Okay, coming down of the soapbox (but I think “we the people” had better start yelling and screaming louder!), on to the next bit of news for the day. (more…)

This was Part 5 in a series HubPages has been sending us, and shows why we go on at such great lengths about how truly wonderful Hubpages is for online marketers of any business.

Testimonials and Advice From Current HubPages Users:

“Just to give you an idea, I’ve been with HubPages 4 ½ months, and I make an average of $10 a day from AdSense, plus a couple hundred every month from Ebay/Amazon… It’s been increasing steadily over the time I’ve been here, and I expect that to continue as I get more content up and published!”
- Maddie Ruud – One of Maddie’s Hubs: The Truth About Wu-Yi Tea

“Now I’m making a few hundred dollars per month for the things I enjoy doing. I know more people here are making thousands of dollars per month.”
- len7288 – One of len7288′s Hubs: Health Benefits of Cabbage

“If, like most people, you are on HubPages to share information and make a few dollars, be patient; you won’t find success overnight. Keep writing quality and original content and the money will follow. It took me three months before I got my first click on Google; I now receive a check every month.”
- jimmythejock – One of jimmythejock’s Hubs: World War 1 Trench Warfare

If you need some help publishing your first Hub, read through their step-by-step guide here:

Download the HubPages Starting Out Guide
(PDF file)

A step-by-step guide you can follow or print out that will show you:

- How to start your first Hub
- How to add pictures, videos, links, and more
- How to attract more readers to your Hubs
- How to set up your Google, eBay and Amazon accounts so you can make money

Ready to begin? Click on this link to begin publishing and earning!
Start Your First Hub

If you’d like some guidance and assistance from helpful members of the HubPages community, feel free to ask for help or participate in a discussion in our Forums

And just to prove that we are using HubPages, here are our current hubs that you’ll also find referenced throughout this blog. Note that we write about different things, not always internet marketing and we will be branching out even more as time goes by. Also please do feel free to rate the, you’ll find the thumbs up/down at the bottom of each article as they end (just before the comments start):

Wipe Out Stress With Stress Management

YouTube Video Sites In A Box Software Review

Weighing In With Weight Management Resources

Social Bookmarketing A Useless Tool or Clever Marketing Strategy

Keyword Research How Scrabble Is A Prime Example Of Getting It Right

Stress Management Meditation Technique

Qassia Even Without the U Is A Great New Social Media

Taking Your Online Business Local

Building Credibility On The Road To Success

You’ll note that our profile is not as high as those shown above in their testimonials, but we hover between where we are now, and 91. Hopefully growing as we continue to publish.

* * * * * STAY TUNED TOMORROW * * * * * *

We’ll be bringing you another amazing free way to socialize and make your website popular (screen shots included when possible).

A recent post on the Nichebot Keyword Research blog makes the assumption that too many people rely strictly on keyword research to begin figuring out what niche they would like to develop to make money online.

We agree with the overall presentation that one should not use keywords as the starting point to building an online business. Instead, your keyword research is conducted to further enhance search-ability for that particular segment or niche after you’ve determined your market. While keyword research is a mainstay for developing tags, metas, titles, and content on your website, as stated, it is a tool used to uncover what people are searching for.

On the other hand, to reveal what people are buying online, you need to use “market research” tools. The article goes on to give you some solid starting points which include:

To Uncover Hot Selling Products

Head to eBay and click on their BUY tab. You’ll know in a flash what people are purchasing. The “Popular Products” is another link resource to ferret out even more information.

Amazon is, of course, another place to go to see who’s buying what. The idea, keep in mind, is you are trying to figure out what niche you could likely corner based on what people are physically buying.

Where to Find Popular Digital Products

A good solid source for information about popular digital products is Clickbank’s Marketplace. You’ll be able to set specific criteria and pull up what’s popular based on criteria you set.

In fact, Clickbank suggests the following:

“How do I identify the most successful products to promote?”

“Some affiliates prefer to promote very popular products that attract lots of affiliates (high affiliate gravity), while others prefer to promote products with less advertising exposure (lower affiliate gravity). The Marketplace can be sorted, within each category and sub-category, by item gravity. Either way, your best bet is to promote products that are well presented and likely to appeal to the people who visit your website, or view your advertisements.”

Competition

The final section of their post discusses the dreaded word “competition!” Many people fear competition and so never make a choice of what to plunge into online. If you read the article, you will discover that:

“There is NO reason to feel that way. In fact, you should get excited when there is a lot of competition. Here’s why…

“If there is no competition whatsoever in a marketplace, there may be no marketplace (or people to market to) at all. You should actually be worried if you don’t find any competitors for a market you wish to enter.

“The more competition there is in a marketplace, the more commerce is being moved. The more commerce that is being moved, you’ll have a chance at grabbing a bigger piece of the pie.”

We give this informational article a thumbs up for clarifying a business builder’s first steps, and again we have only presented an outline of the full post.

You can read it for yourself here:

“Market Research (or finding a profitable niche market) has Nothing to do with Keyword Research”

Enjoy!