Derek Semmler dot com - money, motorcycles and cars (with a little bit of everything else)

With all of the bloggers that are joining the blogosphere on a daily basis, many of them are experimenting with using their blog to make money.

One of the most well-known methods of monetizing a blog is to use Google AdSense.

If you are one of the bloggers that is using AdSense on a blog or website, please be sure that you have read their updated Terms & Conditions and agree to the changes that were made. This update took place a few months back and many people blindly accepted the new terms without thoroughly reading the document.

Can I see a show of hands from all the people that did that?

Wow…there are a lot of you!

In the event that you didn’t read through the new Terms & Conditions I wanted to alert all of you that there is something that you may need to do for any site using AdSense in order for you to remain in compliance and not risk losing your account.

With the latest changes, Google is requiring that all publishers have a posted privacy policy in place that notifies readers of the use of cookies and/or web beacons. Here is an excerpt from Google’s announcement:

We’ve also added some specific requirements that make it necessary for publishers to post and abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change relates to advertisers’ use of innovative products and features like Gadget Ads and other offerings in the future.

If you’re one of the people that blindly accepted the new Terms and don’t have a Privacy Policy in place - or you’re like me and have been clicking the “Remind me later” option every time you check your account - you still have time to take action.

The deadline to accept the new Terms is May 25, 2008 - which is quickly approaching.

But what the heck is a Privacy Policy?

How do I write one?

What should it contain?

Argh! I am so confused!

If you find yourself muttering any of the above questions/statements, pay attention because I have some good news for you.

When it came time to create my own Privacy Policy, those were the questions that I was asking myself. Fortunately, fellow bloggers are always looking out for one another and I found a few resources that have templates that are available for you to use.

As you scramble to create your Privacy Policy, check out the following:

• Beyond the Rhetoric Privacy Policy
• JenSense Privacy Policy
• Automattic Privacy Policy (this is the one I used)

Feel free to take a look at my Privacy Policy if you would like a slightly modified version of the one from Automattic/WordPress.

Regardless of which Privacy Policy you choose to implement, just be sure to do it before the deadline to ensure you don’t put your AdSense account at risk.

How would you like to share your voice with a new audience?

How would you like a few backlinks from a growing blog?

How would you like to help out another blogger?

Derek Semmler dot com is now accepting guest posts.

Not that I wasn’t before, as I am always interested in having another blogger (or someone that doesn’t have a blog of their own) share their voice with all of you; but I thought that I would formally make the request for guest posts.

With an upcoming trip to Las Vegas on the horizon, now would be a great time for me to line up a few guest posts - as I know the temptations of Vegas will make it difficult to post.

But I am not the only one that will benefit from guest posts.

As a blogger writing a guest post for me, you will stand to benefit in the following ways:

• Exposure to a new community of readers
• Links to your site, either in the post or in a byline
• Potential to increase your RSS subscribers if you impress everyone
• You get to help out another blogger

As a reader here at Derek Semmler dot com, you will benefit from having guest authors in the following ways:

• Hear things from a new perspective
• Continue reading fresh, relevant content
• Find another blogger to read regularly
• You get a break from me; wait, that isn’t a benefit - is it?

So, what do you think? If you’re interested in writing a guest post, please contact me or you can send me a tweet and we will work out the details.

Thanks!

Do you remember the classic (depending on your taste in movies) movie starring Macaulay Culkin as a young child who is left home alone?

Well, this week I will be starring in the fifth edition in this series as my wife and kids head out of town to visit family. It has been so long since I have been home alone for more than a day that I am not sure that I know what to do with myself.

The other day I asked the community over at The Man Page what they would do with the house to themselves and there were a few interesting suggestions.

Many of them involved a lack of clothing, as guys seem to enjoy walking around the house in their underwear - or less.

While there is some overlap in the community here and over at The Man Page, I thought that I would ask all of you about what you would do if you had time to yourself.

As appealing as it is to have a few days alone to do as I please, I have to admit that it is almost too quiet without anyone else running around the house. In addition, while it is fun to live the life of a bachelor again, I have really become a family man and already miss everyone.

Here are a few of the exciting things that I did today:

• Put in a few hours at the day job working from home
• Drafted a few posts for two of my blogs
• Balanced the checkbook and scheduled payments for remaining bills
• Dropped off shirts at the dry cleaners
• Stopped at the post office to mail a few things and buy stamps
• Picked up a few staples (beer, brats, burgers) at the grocery store
• Sushi for dinner

Sounds like an exciting time, don’t you think?

A day like today might be hard to beat but I do have a few things on the list for the rest of the week, including:

• Watch American Gangster and No Country for Old Men (from Netflix)
• Write more blog posts
• Get out and ride the Harley
• Refill the propane tanks so I can grill every meal
• Prepare for my trip to Vegas

Other than the items above, I will most likely spend my time working and/or staying up late watching bad movies on TV while surfing the Interweb - unless of course any of you have any interesting suggestions.

What would you do if you had the house to yourself?

Between all of my blogs, I’ve now been publishing posts for nearly two years.

Tonight I experienced something that I don’t believe has ever happened - or at least I don’t remember it happening if it ever did.

Sitting here watching a baseball game with the Macbook on my lap, I had started a draft post and had entered in a handful of notes and links that I planned to use within the post.

Satisfied that I had everything that I needed, I began to write the post and hammered it out in just a few minutes. As I entered a few tags and selected the appropriate category, I clicked the save button and planned to preview the post before publishing.

When I clicked the save button, I was directed to the login screen.

Thinking that was kind of odd - and immediately feeling a pit in my stomach that the draft had not been saved, I logged in and was redirected to the “Manage” page. The number of draft posts indicated that my post was saved and I felt a small relief.

That relief quickly disappeared though when I realized that the post had last been saved when it contained my notes and roughly one paragraph of content.

Damn!

Even though the post is still fresh in my mind, I just don’t feel like writing that any longer and thought that I would share this experience with all of you.

While I am surprised that I don’t remember something like this happening before, I am sure it is something that happens to people more often than we care to admit. Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn’t be authoring my posts within the WordPress writing area, instead opting for a text editor to create the initial drafts.

Have you ever lost a post that didn’t save properly when you clicked the save button?

Share your most painful experience here - or by writing about it on your blog and linking back here - and I will pick one random person to receive a random t-shirt.

While attending SOBCon08, I had an opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and meet a wealth of truly remarkable people.

Throughout the weekend’s activities, one theme that continued to present itself is that we have the power within us to achieve anything. As you will see in the posts highlighted below, we are often our own worst enemy as our minds impose artificial limits on what we think we can do.

We need to stop limiting ourselves with negative thoughts and trust in our abilities, as the power is within all of us to achieve the grandest of goals.

1. Have you heard the saying that you are what you eat? Well, Darren Rowse recently discussed the idea that what we say is what we are and that many bloggers have blogger inferiority complex. This is something that I have been guilty of myself but I am making an effort to eliminate, as I know that the success that I envision is within me.

2. Chris Garrett shared the magic ingredient that separates dream from ambition. It sounds too simplistic but there is so much truth in the fact that making the decision to take action leads us to the life we want. As I’ve discussed on my personal finance blog, not until I truly made the decision to eliminate my debt did I achieve the success I had wanted for so long.

3. Terry Starbucker offers further inspiration as he relates chicken tikka masala and the power of the individual. Terry reinforces that we all have the power within us to make huge changes happen as long as we don’t allow fear to hold us captive.

4. After listening to Wendy Piersall’s moving presentation at SOBCon08, Brian Clark opened himself to the Copyblogger audience as he shared the secret of life. From a near-death experience, Brian awoke with a newfound clarity and realized his mind was creating false limitations.

5. Gary Lee recently shared 20 ways to pay it forward offline to work towards his own dream to do something that will impact the world in a positive manner. The amazing thing about performing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return is that we are often able to learn something extremely valuable about ourselves in the process.

Please take some time to read through all of these posts, as I truly believe that the power is within all of us to live the dreams that we have and these people do a fine job of illustrating that belief.

The Power Is Within You!