Marhgil Macuha runs Macuha.com and a lot of other more blogs. He is known for his wit, ingenuity and blogging power. Marhgil is considered as one of the Top Pinoy ProBloggers of 2007 compiled by Basapa.

Enough of the introductions, let’s get into Marhgil’s head!

Marhgil Macuha: First of all, thank you for interviewing me. Now, to answer your questions.

Back in 2005, I’m not sure on which blog I’ve first saw those Adsense ads. I just got curious I’m seeing those ads everywhere, so I googled it and landed on Google Adsense sign-up page. I didn’t even know back then that it is a pay-per-click program. Since I just love blogging, so, I just put those Adsense codes on my old blog and continued blogging. They were not optimized. I just told myself that if it gives me money, then, good, if it doesn’t, I have nothing to lose.

For a couple of months having those ads on my blog, I just earned an average of $1 per month, telling myself that at least I’ll get my first Google check after 100 months. Hehehe. I even thought back then that Google Adsense is not true. Until I’ve read this news article from USAToday about Google’s hidden payroll. That article opened my eyes. There is really money to be made out of Google Adsense thru my blog. So, I researched. Found Yugatech’s blog. Found Macalua’s SEO contest. And the rest is history.

Marhgil Macuha: Yup. I have several blogs. Most of them, I set up when I was just learning to make money from blogs, trying to earn from free articles but to no avail. Maybe due to duplicate content penalty. birthdayguide.blogspot.com and wantusawa.blogspot.com to name some of my flop blogs My text messages blog still gives me the highest income, 60% of my Adsense income come from it.

Marhgil Macuha: Per month, I think, I’m earning an average of $600+ in all blogs and all money making programs combined. Most of my income come from Google Adsense, followed by Widgetbucks, Kontera, and Adbrite. So far, affiliate programs don’t work me. I don’t know. I still haven’t discover the trick on how to make more money on it. That’s why I just stick to PPC.

Marhgil Macuha: On MSN, my blog hit the first page on the keywords after 2 weeks. Just got lucky, I think. But on Google, it took me more than a year before I conquered the first page. I did not invest any money for promotion. Blog hopping did the trick.

Hopping from blog to blog (especially blogs of teenagers), I just left a comment on their tagboards telling them I have lots of text messages on my blog. Bloggers finding it valuable link to it automatically on their blogs, not even asking for a link exchange. When it’s already popular, I don’t need to blog hop anymore. Links come naturally and search engines deliver the visitors everyday.

Marhgil Macuha: Am I? I think, you’re mistaking me for Marc Hil Macalua. He’s the man. It was just a coincidence we have almost the same name and the same interest.

But seiously, when it comes to SEO, I still have so much to learn. I still don’t consider myself an expert. All you see I’ve been doing were just products of my SEO experiments. I only have 1 SEO client ever since I started SEO. Make it 2, including myself. Hehe.

I’ve been doing SEO only for my blogs, joining SEO contests, sharing my experience with my readers, and helping some of my friends start a blog and optimize it. I only started last June 2006. My advice for people wanting to learn about SEO? Keep reading. Be updated. The search engines update their algorithms from time to time, don’t get left behind. Subscribe to my blog. Anyone wanting to give me a full-time SEO career?

Marhgil Macuha: Actually, I’m a part time problogger. I still have a day job, a telephony application programmer/analyst in one of the companies here in Manila, totally not SEO-related. Hehe. I’m optimizing my blogs at night and blogging during office break time. If my officemates have yosi breaks, I have my blog break Some of them already started blogging too.

Marhgil Macuha: I’m online 8 hours a day, 5x a week. We have internet in the office. If I have assigned tasks, you’ll not see me online, you’ll not see updates on my blog. After finishing my tasks, most of the remaining times were spent on blogging activities.

Marhgil Macuha: It’s just an anagram of my name. Coincidentally, my first blog’s theme before is humor, so, when I discovered that my name has that anagram, I grabbed it and put it on my blog.

Marhgil Macuha: Like what I’ve said, I’m still a part time problogger. But I’m looking forward to be a full-time problogger 2 to 3 years from now. If I’m already earning at least $3000 per month, I think, it’s time for me to say goodbye to my day job. Hehe.

Just an advise to people who are trying to make money online through blogging. Don’t quit. Generate traffic + Optimize ads = Success

There is indeed money to be made online. I sincerely hope this interview can further serve as an inspiration to you and to others who are looking into earning passive income online. If he can do it, so can you!

Again, I would like to extend my gratitude to Marhgil for giving us his valuable time in answering all the interview questions. He is actually having a mini-SEO contest for the anniversary of his latest blog. Do check it out.

I’m going to leave you with something to think about. Marhgil said that he may quit his day job if he is already earning $3,000 per month online. How much earnings will it take you to quit your day job?

Don’t forget to subscribe to my feeds for more upcoming interviews.

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For those who are new in his site, James is the founder of PinoyMoneyTalk and is earning $1k+ per month consistently. Check out this picture of his $4,500+ Adsense check, that’s around P200,000+ pesos. Wow!

Enough of the introduction, let’s get into James’ head.

James: Interestingly, we just finished our About Us page in the site. You can read our short history there. But to summarize, the site started in 2005 as a venue for Filipinos to discuss high-yield investment programs or HYIPs. Eventually, however, we got tired of HYIPs and started looking for alternative income opportunities. PMT now caters to discussions of just about any money-making opportunity — stock trading, mutual funds, problogging, work-at-home jobs, etc.

James: I only started focusing on Google Adsense in late 2006. Before that, the site uses Adsense but is not properly optimized, earning only a meager $10-20 per month. By adding more blog content and optimizing the ad units, I was able to dramatically increase the click-through rate (CTR) and overall performance of the ads. The site started hitting the $1,000-level in June this year, peaking at $1,800+ in July. Recent changes in Adsense’s policies negatively affected the performance of the ads, but fortunately our ad earnings still currently hover above the $1,000-a-month level.

James: Adsense still comprises the majority of my online income sources. I’d say affiliate marketing and direct advertisements provide only 20% of what I earn online. FYI, I still have a day job although it doesn’t pay much compared to my online earnings

James: I am connected to the net around 10-15 hours a day. Yes, I admit, I am an internet addict. LOL.

PinoyMoneyTalk is not really an online business, so there’s no need for me to advertise. I’ve never paid for online advertising in the past, although I had free coupons from Google Adwords and Bidvertiser that I previously used.

James: Making money online is no different from making money using traditional activities such as putting up a business or being employed by a company. One still has to work hard in order to achieve a sustainable level of online earnings. Earning money online, however, has more perks because you get to stay at home, you don’t report to a boss, and you control your own time.

A lot of people think it’s easy to make money online and that it’s possible to earn big bucks overnight. Those claiming this are lying or have not really made much money. Surveys say that only 20% of new businesses manage to succeed. Online, it’s possible that this percentage is much lower. Anyone can attempt to make money online but not everyone will be successful. If it’s easy to make money online, then everyone who has access to the internet should be rich by now.

James: After graduating from the university in 2002, I went abroad to study Master’s. Then for three years, I worked in the headquarters of a multinational electronics company, implementing a change management initiative in several countries. I started PMT on my second year of work and tried to manage the site while also working. I’m just glad my company did not fire me for that. Hehe…

Early this year, my contract with that company expired and I decided to go back to the Philippines to start my own business. At present, I focus on managing PMT and have also taken a job as a teacher in a university while finalizing the details of the business I want to put up.

James: Not really. For almost three years now, the site just relied on word-of-mouth advertising, banking on members to recommend the site to their family or friends. Search engine optimization or SEO does help but we don’t actively implement it in the site. I think our numerous articles and discussion posts regarding money and personal finance are what made the site be on top of search engine results.

James: If you can make money both from online and offline sources, why choose? Earning online is definitely nice because you get to be your own boss, but one should also remember that this may not be sustainable in the long run. One should thus learn to diversify, that is, to not rely on only one or a few income opportunities.

In my case, I channel my online earnings into passive offline income opportunities, as I explained in the article Make more money offline using money earned online. That way, even if I don’t get to earn online anymore, I will still be making money from other sources!

James: I’m not sure if you can consider these useful but I’ll just share the ideals I live by.

1. Find your passion. You can’t really give your all to something you don’t like doing, so don’t just love what you do, do what you love!

2. Success doesn’t come overnight. It’s possible that after a year of blogging, you might still be earning less than $100 a month. But if you followed Tip #1, you’ll just have to continue doing what you do because, in the first place, you love what you are doing, right? Be patient. Success comes to those who persevere.

3. Set goals for yourself. Regularly assess your performance in order to find out whether you’re on the right track. Is your site traffic or income growing consistently at a decent rate? If not, then you’re not doing enough.

4. Build a community around your site. Marketers say that it’s more costly to get new customers rather than to retain old ones. In that case, make sure your visitors keep on coming to your site. Interact with them, give incentives to encourage them to visit more often, and listen to their inputs and suggestions. Remember that if they like your site, they will tell other people about it, and that’s free advertising for you.

5. Be known for something. The height of popularity is when your site is already associated with something. What brand is known for tissue? Kleenex! How about online search? Google! Video sharing? YouTube! What about your site? Your site needs to be an authority for something for it to become popular. If, for example, someone asked “What’s a good site to visit to learn how to make money online?” and somebody replied “McBilly.com!”, then you have already made a name for yourself.

I hope this interview would serve as an inspiration to others who are looking into earning passive income online. I’d like to thank James of PinoyMoneyTalk again for agreeing to be interviewed and for sharing some of his experiences on running a successful online business.

Lastly, PinoyMoneyTalk is giving away two $25 as Christmas give-aways. It’s very easy to join, so do check it out. Happy Holidays.

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