Which Money Changer Has the Highest US Dollar Rate in the Philippines?

Of the well-known brands or companies with money-changing services in the Philippines, Villarica Pawn Shop offers the highest rates in USD-PHP currency exchange.

SM and its sister companies such as SM Hypermarket come close.

But aside from the rate, here's another thing to consider though. SM is a much bigger place, so you'll feel safer there. Villarica has many branches, but you need to consider where they're located.

Also, it helps if your preferred money changer is near your bank so you can immediately deposit your money and go home without the burden of carrying a big amount of cash.

Bring your ID. They'll look for it.

How to Create a Header Image for Your Niche Site

You need a header image to make your niche site (or blog) more professional looking. A header text is fine, but an image has more impact. The best part is, you don't have to be a professional designer or invest in a paid software to create one. All you need are the following:

- your images

- Paint 

- Befunky.com

Now for the steps. 

1. Fire up Paint. Set it up to create a rectangular blank image. This is how a 750 px by 100 px looks like. 

2. Go to Amazon (or a free photo sharing service such as Freeimages.com), and then save some images of the products you're promoting. Save 2 or 4 images. 

3. Open these images using Paint. Then, resize them according to the height of your blank image (see step 1). In this case, it should be 100 px.  

4. Copy each of these images and display them where you want them to be in the blank image. 

5. Go to Befunky.com and type in some text on your image. When done, save it and upload it to your niche site.



6. Here's the final product.

How to Quickly Get a New Webpage Indexed By Google

Some webmasters wait for Google to crawl their site and index their new webpages. While you can also do this, it can take a few days before you finally see your new webpage on Google's index. The good news is, you need not wait.

To get a new page indexed by Google fast -- and we mean just minutes after publishing -- you'll need Google Webmaster Tools. If you haven't signed up for an account, do it now. But if you don't want to sign up, that's also fine. Here are two ways to get indexed fast with or without a Webmaster Tools account.

A. If you have an account

1. Go to Webmaster Tools and choose your website.
2. Click Crawl.
3. Choose Fetch as Google.
4. Now, on the field provided, type in the webpage's URL.
5. Click Fetch.
6. A dialog appears. Choose which one is appropriate.

B. If you don't have an account

1. Click here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url?continue=/addurl///ssl.gstatic.com/images/icons/product/webmaster_tools-42.png. Bookmark this after.
2. Paste your URL.
3. Complete the CAPTCHA.

Learning from Affiliate Marketing Superstars

It's true what they say. If you want to succeed, you need a mentor. The problem is, in our line of work, mentors are expensive.

So what's the next best thing to do?

If you're like me who doesn't like buying e-books from so-called gurus and prefer to figure things out by himself, it pays to have at least 2 IM superstars to learn from.

Take one of my favorite self-taught IMs, for instance. She's known in the field as a clever girl who has a talent of using free tools to rake in a sizeable income. When I first read her blog, I thought she knows what she's talking about. But the best part is, her strategies and techniques are truly unique. It makes you go, "Why didn't I think of that?"

I have subscribed to this IM's newsletter, frequent her blogs, and sometimes visit her affiliate sites. From time to time, she shares her techniques, but though this is the case, I know that she keeps her "best" techniques for herself.

The good thing is, she doesn't have to share her "best" techniques. All I have to do is to go over her work and figure out what she does and apply it to suit my context.

How about you, do you have a favorite IM that you learn from?

With Affiliate Marketing, the World is Your Workplace

What is the most flexible job business in the world? Your affiliate business, of course! All it takes is to be online. When you're connected, you can check your earnings report, market one product, or even collect your payment.

Wherever you are in the world, you can earn money.

Recently, I was having a great time in Hanoi, Vietnam. If you're looking for a place for vacation without spending more than $250, I suggest you go to Hanoi. The people are very warm and friendly, and the place is unexpectedly tourist-friendly.

Back to the topic...

When I was in Vietnam, I was able to mix business with pleasure. The hotel I stayed in had a very strong wifi connection, so I didn't have difficulty checking my earnings everyday. I was also able to write some entries and promote some products in the evening.

The point is, if you're looking for a flexible way to make money -- one that you don't have to watch over 24/7, or one that you can take with you everywhere you go -- be an affiliate marketer.

With affiliate marketing, the world is your workplace!

NOTE:

Not all places are affiliate-friendly. For instance, in the United States, you can't be an Amazon affiliate if you live in California and some other states under Amazon's no-affiliate list.

Also, Paypal is not available in Pakistan.

Why Writing for Web 2.0 Sites is NO LONGER a Good Idea

There was a time when it was easy to be an affiliate by simply publishing your content in web 2.0 sites such as Squidoo and Wizzley. You didn't have to pay for anything (although this is NOT really true because some sites get a piece of your earnings).

You didn't have to worry about monthly web hosting fees and yearly domain name registration fees. All you had to do was to publish quality content. Wait -- you didn't even have to worry about quality either. In Squidoo, for instance, "thin pages," or pages with more affiliate products than informative content would still rank high on Google.

The result? If you publish enough (50+ pages), you can enjoy at least $500 every month. During the holidays, you can earn more than $5,000.

But those days are gone.

Learning from Squidoo

Squidoo used to be THE site to be. Three years ago, some of our friends at the Warrior Forum advised us NOT to put all your effort in the site. Their reason is valid. You don't control the site, so if it decides to change its TOS all of a sudden, this can impact your earnings.

When their prediction happened, "I told you so's" and "I knew it's" were common.

For those new to affiliate marketing, this is what happened.

Last year (March 2013), Squidoo started an all-out war against lenses (or Squidoo pages) with thin contents. Later, it became clear that the site was hit hard by Google, and they needed to gain the "trust" and "Google authority" they lost.

What did Squidoo do to gain Google's trust back?

Squidoo limited outgoing Amazon links and unpublished TONS of product lenses. The community naturally panicked, especially those whose earnings depended on Amazon links. But there was nothing they could do but to either go away and publish their lenses elsewhere, or improve the quality of their lenses so they could stay.

Whatever happened in Squidoo, and whatever the lensmasters decided to do to cope with the changes, the takeaway is this: It's always wise to publish your content at a place where you can have total control.

How to Create a Self-Hosted Site

If you want total control, create a self-hosted site. Here are the general steps.

1. Think of a domain name and register it, which can cost less than $3 for the first year.
2. Buy web hosting service. At Godaddy, a 3-month hosting service can cost you less than $6 with a coupon.
3. Install Wordpress and fill your site with quality content.

Get my free step-by-step and comprehensive guide on creating a self-hosted site here.

When Publishing Your Content, Should You Give Out Your Real Name?

There are two possible answers: yes and no.

Why yes?

- It's easier to build trust and credibility.

You'll easily establish relationships not only with your customers but also within the community as well.

- It's easier to verify your identity.

Say, you'd like to create an account with Godaddy, the company requires that you give proof of identification before it can fully activate your account.

Why no?

- You don't want the competition to be tracking your every move.

One Google search is all it takes to reveal your affiliate websites, your social networking site profiles, and if you're not careful, your e-mail address! If the competition has advanced tools, more information can be extracted from you.

- You have several niches.

It's like having a pseudonym. Take the case of romance novel authors Amanda Quick and Jayne Anne Krentz. One is for historical romance, and the other sets her stories in modern times.

- Your real name is reserved for a brand, image, or reputation you're trying to build.

Perhaps you haven't decided which career path you're going to talk. Do you want people to know you as a lawyer, or as an online marketer? Do you have plans of becoming a pilot someday? Then having a pseudonym can be a good idea.