Why do a lot of big earners hide the websites they own? Do they fear copycats? Do they fear they will become targets to hackers or worse?

If you spend time on Digitalpoint or other forums, there are a lot of members who will not share what sites they own. Most bloggers in our industry love to share the sites we own. More publicity means more traffic which of course results in higher earnings. Why would you not want to promote your site?

Maybe they are ashamed of the sites they own? Who wants to admit they make their money from porno sites, warez sites, spamming, or online pharmacies. Sure owners of these sites can make a ton of money, but it’s not exactly something you can tell your mom about.

I’m sure a lot of big earners who don’t reveal their sites are totally legit. I know there’s quite a few of them on my friends list.The best thing about working online is you can be anonymous. People have the right to hide the sites they own, I’m just trying to find the benefits in doing it.

I want to open this up and discuss why someone would tell people what sites he owns, and why someone would hide them.

I am proud to announce that my small network of sites set a new record yesterday for total earnings in 1 day from contextual advertising. In January, I set a new Adsense record. Back then I was only running Adsense, I didn’t have YPN on any of my sites. On January 8th, my Adsense earnings were $46.55 and my Adbrite earnings were $1.12 for a total of $47.67.

Yesterday I broke that record. I didn’t shatter it by any means, but any record being broke is a good sign. Yesterday, my total earnings from Adsense, Abdrite, and YPN were $47.89. A cool 22 cents higher than my previous record. Yay for me!

Back in January the only reason my earnings were so high was due to the NCAA Championship game. My Fight Song Lyrics site was getting an insane amount of traffic. Earnings quickly died down after the game was over. The best thing about my earnings yesterday is that there were no events or special occasions to cause such an increase. It was simply due to my overall increase in traffic and some lucky clicks.

Now getting nearly $50/day is a very nice accomplishment. In fact, averaging $50/day was one of my goals to accomplish by the end of 2007. Here we are in March and I’m getting very close.

I don’t expect to maintain these high earnings from here on out though. I think throughout the week I’ll go back to around $30/day which seems to be my average. I will be pleasantly surprised to see another $45+ day today or anytime this week. I take this as a sign of progress. A $45+/day here and there will eventually turn into an every day thing.

I saw 300 over the weekend on Friday night. I just wanted to make a quick post about how awesome this movie is. If you haven’t seen it, then you need to stop what you’re doing right now and schedule a time to see it. 300 is flat out amazing.

The movie itself is based off the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, where 300 Spartans, led by King Leonidas, and a few thousand other Greeks take a last stand against King Xerxes of the Persian empire and his 100,000-500,000 troops. Using the phalanx formation and hand to hand combat, the Spartans fight off numerous waves of Persian attackers, including an elite group of Persian soldiers called the Immortals. The 300 defend their position for a number of days and suffer few losses.

According to historical scholars, the movie does not portray the actual events with 100% accuracy, but really, what Hollywood film does? I love historical epic battle films. They are my favorite genre. While 300 is not as epic as Braveheart, Gladiator, or Lord of the Rings, the storyline and action propel this film to the top. Not to mention the special effects rival that of Star Wars.

If you have a weak stomach, you might have to close your eyes for some parts… well for most parts. It is a very violent movie. Also there is a sex scene, so be careful if you’re taking your kids.

You only have until tomorrow at like 11:00 AM EST to sign up for the Bloggers NCAA Tournament Bracket Pick’em Contest.

On top of Byran Le’s Forum Shock prize, we also have a new prize offered. You can get any free (or paid) skin from www.skinsforwp.com fully customized for FREE. They have a nice selection of wordpress skins. Want a free customized skin? Then sign up!

Remember, you don’t have to know anything about basketball to sign up and win. You can guess every game and still win.

Sign up information:

1. Go to this page - http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/
2. Click join a group
3. Click join private group
4. Enter in Group ID #103030 and password bloggers
5. Create your bracket name. Remember the rules!!!
6. Fill out your bracket
7. Pray you win

I was browsing Forbes this morning. Among the man lists they have, I found one that was quite amusing. It’s a list of the wealthiest fictional characters.

You can view the list in it’s entirety here.

One that stands out to me is #9 Prince Abakaliki Of Nigeria. You may remember him from those famous email scams.

The first son of the late KING SANI ABAKALIKI, the former head of state of Nigeria; presently under protective custody as a political refugee. Despite his confinement and rumored physical and psychological torture, PRINCE ABAKALIKI does have a broadband Internet connection and keeps busy sending out countless e-mails to complete strangers who he hopes will cooperate with him in a mutual transaction. Specifically, PRINCE ABAKALIKI wants to get his hands on his share of his father’s estate ($50.000.000 US DOLLARS) which has been deposited in a fund with an unnamed foreign security company. Once a trustworthy stranger has opened communications with PRINCE ABAKLIKI, he will send a LETTER OF AUTHORITY to them, so that they may clear the fund and invest the money for him. For their services, the lucky stranger will receive 30% of the $50.000.000 US DOLLARS. New member.

Funny stuff huh? Who hasn’t received that email 100 times?

I know I’m not the only blogger out here that loves the NCAA Men’s Hoops Tournament. I am starting the official ‘Bloggers NCAA Tournament Pick’em Contest’. We are going to find out who the best bracket busting blogger is. I mean, it’s probably going to be me, but maybe there’s a darkhorse out there? Maybe John Chow secretly studies bracketology.

This pick’em contest is going to be run on Yahoo Sports, so you have to have a Yahoo account to sign up. If you don’t have one, then make one… it takes 1 minute.

Rules:

• Only bloggers. You need to have a blog about web/business/internet/money, like me and the people on my friends list. If you own a random fashion blog, thats fine… but you need to also have a personal/business type of blog too. If you sign up and you don’t have a blog you will be banned.
• Your bracket name must be either your domain, name, or blog title. It must distinguish you from the rest of the pack.
• You must complete your bracket by Thursday March 15, before the first game.
• Anyone who signs up must acknowledge the winner in a blog post. The blog post must have a link back to the winner’s blog. You can simply say ‘Congrats to David Lithman for winning the Bloggers NCAA Tournament Pick’em Contest’.
• If you do not acknowledge the winner in your blog somewhere you will be ostracized from the community.
• I am the commish and control the league. Don’t mess with me

Prizes:

• A free link back from every blogger who signs up in the tournament. This could be a lot of free links if we get everyone to signup.
• 1 week of advertising on my blog in the 468×60 banner spot.
• Electric Shock package from Forum Shock - Thanks to Bryan Le for this one.
• Free customized skin from http://www.skinsforwp.com/
• If anyone else wants to ante up a prize, let me know.

Sign up information:

1. Go to this page - http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/
2. Click join a group
3. Click join private group
4. Enter in Group ID #103030 and password bloggers
5. Create your bracket name. Remember the rules!!!
6. Fill out your bracket
7. Pray you win

For those of you who don’t follow Men’s Hoops, you really don’t need to to have a chance to win. Anyone can win this. You can just pick your favorite mascot and have as good of a chance as me at winning.
I hope this really gets a lot of interest. I love doing this stuff. If you sign up, please spread the word. And sorry to discriminate, but this is for bloggers only!