What’s happening to me? I just gave you a totally free Myspace Resource Site script, and now I’m giving out my money-making secrets?
Nope, I’m not doing it out of the goodness of my heart. (Give me a break, I’m still an internet marketer!) I’m doing it for a chance at a $100 grand prize in BlueJar.com’s group writing contest!
To win the contest, I have to write a “how-to” blog post. So I’m writing out a step-by-step process about how to set-up a Myspace resource site and pull in loads of cash! (Your results may vary.)
OK, let’s get down and dirty and stake our claim in this cutthroat world of myspace resource sites:
1. Check your conscience at the door.
Read this, which talks about how you can’t use Myspace for commercial purposes and whatnot. And this article, about the whole business of myspace resource sites.
2. Download the script.
This is pretty simple: just read this blog via RSS and you’ll see the download link at the bottom of each post. (More info here.)
3. Get a domain name and hosting.
This is the only step that will really cost anything, but it’s pretty basic. If you know what you’re doing, just pick your favorite host and get setup.
If you don’t have any hosting or know what to do, you can use my affiliate link and sign-up at Dreamhost since they offer tons of space and bandwidth, plus a free domain name, all for $7.95 per month. (Or HostGator, because they’re supposed to be pretty good, too.)
Domain name tip: I don’t recommend using the word “myspace” in your domain name because that would directly infringe on their trademark, and they might just shut you down. But you can use words like profile and layouts without hassle.
4. Edit and upload the script.
This is pretty simple too, just read the Install.txt file that came with the script.
Remember, the more you edit the images and the CSS file, the better. A lot of other sites will be based on a similar script, so you want your website to at least look different than them.
(It should end up something like this.)
5. Create your own myspace profile.
Now that your site is up, it’s time to get ready for marketing…
Go to Myspace and sign-up for your own profile, which will relate to your new website.
Once you signup and have to pick a name, choose something like “myspace.com/yourdomainname” so people can relate your profile to your actual website.
Add a picture, too. If you aren’t a cute teenage girl, you could just use your website’s logo. Or a funny picture of Borat. As long as it attracts attention, it’s good.
Now make your profile pretty. Real pretty. Even if you use a layout and graphics from someone else’s site, you want to convince anyone that sees your profile that you are a myspace layout expert. That will lead them to visit your layout site.
To be sure they do, put links to your site all over your profile. At least have a banner in the top corner and a text link in the About Me section, but the more the merrier.
Remember: The target market here is teenagers. You’ll be dealing with teenagers, so get used to it by scanning a lot of profiles on Myspace to get a feel for how they interact. You need to fit in, and you don’t accomplish that by acting professionally - you act like a kid again!
6. Make friends
If your profile is set, it’s time to show it off.
Which means we’re going to do some real work: getting friends, leaving comments, and socializing.
No bots allowed. We’re doing this the old-fashioned way (so you don’t get banned for spamming…)
The easiest way to start is to look for Myspace groups that are focused on HTML, layouts, graphic design, etc. Join them and add your fellow members as friends.
*Just don’t spam the groups. Everyone will HATE you!*
Next, find very popular myspace layout profiles, and add them as friends. Add all their friends, too, for good measure.
Note: Don’t add that many friends per day. Start out slowly so that Myspace doesn’t ban you.
7. Beg
If you have been nice so far, you might have a few friends. And you’ll want to leverage your friends to help yourself.
For example, see if you can do a “w4w” or “s4s” with someone. It would be like sending bulletins for each other or doing a link exchange between your profiles.
Ideally you can get someone popular to help you, but it won’t be that simple. You could offer to return the favor once you have a more popular profile, or to link to them from your real website. Anything to convince them to spread the word about you.
8. Link Exchanges
Since you can’t spend all day on Myspace (well you probably could, but try not to…) do some link exchanges with other webmasters.
By now you should have at least a few people visiting the site. So head to the DP link exchange forums and the MSP link exchange forums.
Do lots and lots of link exchanges. (Don’t worry about doing too many, just look at the amount of links plastered on both sides of this site.)
Not everyone will exchange links with a new site that has very little traffic and no PR, but some people will, so just keep at it.
Tip for your linking code: Use good anchor text, and use the Title attribute of the a tag.
For example: <a href=”http://www.mysite.com” title=”myspace layouts”>Myspace Layouts</a>
That’s what you would request someone else place on their site when linking to you.
Along with that, Myspace Toplists (like this, this, and this) are great places to submit your site. You have to place a reciprocal link though, so it’s basically a link exchange.
9. Repeat
Steps 6, 7, and 8 should be repeated daily.
Check your Myspace account at least once a day and add new friends, comment on current friends, and join in the discussion boards on group pages.
Then back to the link exchange forums looking for more webmasters.
10. Expand your advertising
As more people visit your site, your choice of advertising gets more important.
Adsense is built into this script, but there are other options you can try. Sticking with Adsense is OK, but you’ll be getting about 1 cent per click…
CPA affiliate offers are a good addition. Ones that might work well include those “free iPhone” offers. Anything free is good, especially the forms that only require a visitor to submit their email or zip for you to get paid.
Closing a sale to a myspace resource site visitor isn’t easy, so CPM and CPC ads are good choices. Affiliate links… not so much.
Note: Ad/affiliate networks frown on advertising on myspace, so make sure you only place ads on your own site.
11. Add more content.
Got any traffic and revenue yet?
Now that the basics are behind us, it’s time to set your site apart. You do that by getting cool stuff and posting it on your site consistently.
Sources for new stuff: User submissions, MSP Freebies forum, or steal them like everyone else. (Note: I’m not advocating theft, but chances are 10 people have stolen a given layout before you, and that’s how you found it!)
You could buy stuff too if your budget allows. Again, the Myspace Pros forum is the place to be.
Or you could leave the site “as is.” That’s fine too. You’ll just sacrifice some revenue for more free time.
12. Personal marketing: Seek out lame profiles.
This could be seen as very helpful or very spammy, depending on how you do it, but…
You could browse Myspace looking for people who still have the basic white/orange layout, and then let them know how easy it is to get a cool layout if they visit your site.
Ideally you could find someone with lots of friends, because getting your link on their page would pay off nicely.
Just don’t send too many random messages.
13. Repeat.
Keep working on advertising and marketing!
Improve your site daily for maximum success!
14. Relax.
Now that you have some traffic coming in, the site runs itself. That’s the beauty of it, and why it’s worth the hours of work in the beginning.
More traffic means more people will end up putting your content (along with your link) on their profile pages. And then people will see that, visit your site, and add your content to their site. And that will continue on autopilot. 
15. Sell.
Now it’s time to face reality.
You never know when the whole Myspace fad is going to collapse. Maybe Myspace will crack down on all the resource sites that are profiting off their name. Maybe everyone will switch to a new site.
Either way, you don’t want to be around when it happens. So make your site popular, maybe even build more of them, but eventually sell them off.
16. Build Facebook apps.
Hey, unless your sites get to the level of WhateverLife, you won’t be able to retire. So get to work on some Facebook apps before that market is too saturated!
Good luck and have fun!
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Posted October 28, 2007 
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