DeviantArt.com is without a doubt the biggest online community for artists, photographers, digital artists, writers and mostly anyone in between who has something to upload to their server, from the most useless scraps to stunning pieces of art, which are also offered as prints and miscellaneous products (puzzles coasters, calendars). Artists get to make very little profit; without subscription or premium print account (which costs about 30$ /year) you can generate about 15 cents from a few dollars postcard, for example. In other words, you need to be talented beyond belief, and sell millions of your prints to actually make money off your art, IF you do not have enough for, or for whatever reason unable / unwilling to invest in deviantArt subscription.
“Highly spiritual” art community, is in fact a mere money making machine, just another website that promotes no higher value than its own revenue. I can go off topic and tell you about my personal experience with their customer support. I made a print, especially for a friend of mine, and placed an order, as I wanted to send the artwork directly to the recipient. I had a pre-order question, which was answered impressively quick. After my order proceeded, I had another question, which was of course not a matter of life and death (since the order was dispatched already anyway), but their FAQ did not include this question. To satisfy your curiosity, I wanted to know if the recipient gets the artwork with out without the bill receipt attached, because I assumed it’s pretty nasty to send a gift with a price on it. As you can guess, this inquiry remained unanswered. Good insight into typical sales-oriented service, when once you proceeded to checkout, nothing else matters. Anyway, back to topic, as this was not what irritated me most in DA.
DeviantArt, as been a huge community based in the USA, cares for Copyright. This could be great if your artwork got ripped and you want to submit a complain, but… who and how proves that you are the original author? It started off when a close friend of mine, Johan, noticed that some of his submitted artwork disappeared from the account, due to copyright violation (yes, this was the reason they provided him upon removing the “stolen” content). Some of the removed images contained my own (yes, mine!) photos which of course were used by my full permission, other picture was a photo of himself, photo-edited. This was hilarious, as I know the guy, saw him many times on webcam, I KNOW it was his photo, yet it gets removed due to copyright infringement..?
Second time, a bit later, I heard from my other two friends, Dale and Paul Luuk, who’s images were deleted from DeviantArt database following the same excuse, but in this case they also were full owners of the published material and I am well aware of that.
How do I know about so many cases? Since I am running a Photoshop oriented forum, Lorelei Web, where a big amount of members have their DeviantArt accounts, it’s easy to get exposed to a many relates stories, but these were not rumors told by God-knows-who, but real cases of my real online friends, and I got to witness how DeviantArt “takes care” of the Copyright Law.
The most frustrating part is, there is no one to complain to, as DA staff’s decision is final and is not negotiable. And, the most ironic part is, there are tons of stolen content circulating on the pages of that website, photos that were taken without permission (also, I know, because my tutorials are very popular and some of the images I used state clearly - “for learning purposes only, do not use anywhere else, please“. Yet these images are massively reproduced on DA, and contacting the member, asking to at least provide credits, fails in 80% of the cases. Much as I hate seeing people mercilessly ripping my work and present it as a fruit of their own creativity, I’d never report them, because… I don’t know, I am just not the type of person who clicks on the report button.
As you can guess, I am disappointed badly from Deviantart attitude in many areas…
I made this download for my forum - Lorelei Web, but decided to share this file on the blog as well, only unlike in the forum, no registration is required for downloading. It’s a simple yet stylish looking file that will be suitable for web graphics, interface designs (portfolios, gaming sites etc) or anything else of your choice. Please respect the long time I spend making this small download and do not offer it for a download anywhere else. Text style, as shown on the example image on the right, in also included in the file.
Click HERE to download the .rar folder with .PSD file. Enjoy!
My previously released WordPress theme, Lorelei Bliss 2.0, was followed by absolutely unexpected positive feedback, I honestly couldn’t foresee so many people contacting me and thanking me for that layout, and that is only within something like 3 days…wow, I can’t wait to see what will be after 3 months… Oh, anyway, back to Earth!
This is my second WordPress theme, compatible with the latest version of WordPress, comes with pre-installed widgets. 3 Columns, fixed width optimized for 1024*768 resolution or higher.
NON-sponsored themes are offered for a download for a limited period of time. This theme is no longer available for a download.
DarkLight Free WordPress theme Terms of Use:
1. This WordPress Theme was released for free under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License, therefore please do not remove the credits and links to loreleiwebdesign.com and Toptut.com at the footer of the template.
2. You may offer this template on other websites for a free download, as long as the credits are reserved intact. Please do not hotlink the download to our server.
3. Should you have any questions regarding the Terms on Use, please contact me at lorelei@loreleiweb.com
4. Much as I’d love to help everyone, I am sorry but due to very busy schelude with my other websites and blogs, I am unable to provide personal support with regards to installation or modification of the theme. If you wish, however, to receive assistance, please feel free to discuss it in Lorelei Web Forum
I often stumble across very professionally looking blogs, that appear to be successful and respectable, and then I see what puts me off the most in any website: “If you like our site, support us and make a donation!”. Or it’s just this nice blue PayPal’s button with puppy eyes saying “Donate”.
I honestly understand webmasters who overflow the site / blog with ads, hoping to milk the maximum from each visitor / hit. I might not be a big fan of sites dominated by adverts, but still - the webmaster is making money, he invests some work and in a respectful way gets it in return. But donations? Whats the point in paying for a decent host, getting a top level domain, designing your site, giving some marketing advice and at the same time sit on the floor waiting for handouts..?
What amazes me is that many online marketing pro’s actually recommend using the donations button as a way to monetize your site. Washington Post, Steve Pavlina, ShoeMoney and many others, suggest donations as one of the top 5 ways to make money with your site, blog or forum. I personally see no difference between online and offline donations. In your office, on your working desk, will you put a cup with a small note on it - “if you like my work, donate me”?
If you have been into marketing for some time now, you must have stumbled across Joel Comm and similar Internet … There are many “Adsense gurus” out there, though this name springs to mind first. What do we get when we enter his website? We see a so-so layout, website that is certainly targeted (not “optimized”) for Adsense, yet the guy showing off the screenshot of his earnings where every other every day he seems to get a three figures sum… Wanna know his secret? Sure, he is willing to share! In his adsense secrets website he even almost “guarantees” you your earnings will go rocket high, although if you ask me, no one on this planet can guarantee you that. Not even Google.
Maybe he gives some nice tips, but I personally doubt there are more valued advices than the information that Google Adsense already provides free on their optimizations tips pages. Modifying the code, unless you have Adsense Premium account (can automatically be obtained if you have over 2 million hits daily), is strictly prohibited, so whatever you do, you are still bound to the same ads structure, customizing it only as much as your account allows you to and the only significant factors in your revenue are ads placement and traffic. Put the ads in according to Heat Map, get 10k visitors a day and I (!) will guarantee your earnings will go rocket high, no need to pay Joel Comm for it.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against him, I honestly wish him well if he really makes that much though naturally all these success stories, that tells you need to pay only 25$ to earn 25,000$ tomorrow, always sound… suspicious. I personally have much more respect to Steve Pavlina or Darren Rowse, who also brag with their impressive revenue, yet they share their secrets free of charge, without trying to flog anything to their blog readers and rely on nothing but same ads revenue they collect from their faithful audience.
Maybe I am just stingy over the eBook fee, maybe I had seen to much fraud over the internet or maybe offers that appear “too good to be true” always make me cautious… This is just my view point on things. And no, this was NOT a sponsored post!
Yay, after breaking my head with WordPress Theme coding, I finally got there, here is my first ever WordPress theme - Lorelei Bliss 2.0. I must say, as arrogant as it may sound, I love the result… The theme is widget ready, although I must confess I pulled the widgets from a few other free themes put it together, modified… but it works, and it’s all that counts! Code mostly based on Earthling theme by mandaringmusings.com
Specs: 3 Columns, Fixed width, Widgets ready, optimized for 1024*768 resolution, best viewed on 17″ or 19″ monitors.
Lorelei Bliss 2.0 Free WordPress theme Terms of Use:
1. This WordPress Theme was released for free under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License, therefore please do not remove the credits and links to loreleiwebdesign.com and Toptut.com at the footer of the template.
2. You may offer this template on other websites for a free download, as long as the credits are reserved intact. Please do not hotlink the download to our server.
3. Should you have any questions regarding the Terms on Use, please contact me at lorelei@loreleiweb.com
4. Much as I’d love to help everyone, I am sorry but due to very busy schelude with my other websites and blogs, I am unable to provide personal support with regards to installation or modification of the theme. If you wish, however, to receive assistance, please feel free to discuss it in Lorelei Web Forum
NON-sponsored themes are offered for a download for a limited period of time. This theme is no longer available for a download.
What can be better than to make money when you sleep? For example Adsense - check your balance before sleep, make up in the morning and see how nicely the number grew up while you were snoring, just like a classical bamboo tree. There are only 2 categories of people who can make money while sleeping - webmasters with monetized websites, or big company / factories owners that go to sleep while the workers continue their job and the “machine” keeps rolling. However, while opening a factory is definitely not something you can do with minimum effort, expenses and time - opening a site is THE solution.
What do you actually need? A good domain name for a start, as having your own name guarantees you will never lose traffic + it looks a lot more respectable. You can start off with a free host and a decent free web layout if you cannot make your own and get the business going. Of course it’s time consuming, it will eat up many hours, but believe me it’s worth it. After all, how hard is this job? Sitting in your socks at your desk, drinking coffee and writing some content for your blog readers of website visitors? Hard manual labor? I don’t think so.
Choosing marketing strategy.
This is the most important and most essential step - choosing HOW will you monetize your website. If you choose the wrong strategy - no harm, unless we count in the loss of time, disappointment and low / lack income for longer then expected. Before you start getting creative - face one fact: online marketing has been prospering for years now, many blooming years and all the possible and impossible ways to make money online has been invented by now. There is a very slim chance that you will manage to come up with some ground breaking strategy, which will change the world’s perception on Marketing. So, don’t re-invent the wheel, a good and smoothly rolling wheel has already been invented, tested and successfully produced before you, all you need is to take the model and apply to your site. After all, there are not all that many ways to make money online, however the countless are the sources.
Wasting time and working out everything by yourself, testing it all on your skin, is yet another good way to throw the time away and lose precious energy. Go to some big forums, ask for help, or ask friends - how do they make money? What affiliate program pays and which did never paid them? What ads bring good revenue and which are useless? You really don’t need to go by the trial and error path. Find a successful website that is similar to yours in both niche and layout. See how other successful website owners implemented Adsense, AdBrite and other other income streams on their websites. See also, WHAT do they actually use? For example blogs rarely use Adbrite, because I can say from personal experience that it does not pay out to keep a huge square for ads that might never be purchased while contextual ads like AdSense will generate a massive income depending on your keywords.
All or nothing?
Many people tend to think that since they have already employed one type of ads, what they earn from it reflects their website’s potential revenue. No, it does not. You can combine as many income streams as you wish, see what works best for your site’s layout, niche and traffic. I personally never tried Amazon and eBay affiliate programs, neither Chikita eMini, because all my websites are freebies oriented, and it’s a lot easier to make a freebies seeker to click on an advert, rather than make him buy a laptop for only 700$. Study your traffic, perhaps if most of your traffic comes from a particular country you might want to take advantage of it? Whatever you decide, my point is - do not rely on one income opportunity solemnly. If one did not work for you, it does not mean your site is crap and it’s time to shut it down. Try as many options as you can.
I will give you an example. For the past 1,5 years I was “faithful” to Adsense and did not even try anything else. Of course not forgetting that up until recently competitive ads were not allowed together with Google (they still prohibited for YPN), but still and all I was very narrow minded. A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to Text Links Ads and ReviewMe. Both sites are run by the same owner, and I got 4 links sold at TLA within 2 weeks and one very nice review offer from RM last week so I can only but hope this will double itself text month. Text Links Ads has just covered my annual hosting fee for this blog in mere 2 weeks of absolutely passive participation (once you install the script you really need not worry about anything anymore) and if I’d not have tried, I could miss this opportunity.
Most important is to be open minded yet cautious to new offers, ideas and revenue streams. Experiment with design, ads position and colours, and see what works best for you.
As any enthusiastic webmaster, I ceaselessly look for websites that teach you about programming. Some tutorials websites are nice but have a very measly variety while others require a registraion fee to be able to download material.
A few days ago I found a website, which in my opinion is really worth visiting as been by far the best programming resource. Dream In Code is a huge community (with over 20k members) that offers its visitors answers to all the commonly asked questions regarding C/C++, Java, Visual Basic, ASP, .NET, php, ColdFusion, and almost any other programming language in between. Additionally to the help you can get from the experts participating in the community, visitors get access to downloading miscellaneous code snippets, tutorials, and more.
Not only this, but there are also goodies giveaway. Visitors and members with over 500 posts in the community are eligible to receive a free T-shirt and participate in a monthly drawing contest for a 1GB Thumb Drive. That’s not bad, considering that you participate in a community that educates you free and lifts your programming skills to another level. I’d really recommend to visit Dream In Code and check their exclusive content out.
