I posted a while back about the Google Money scams. They’ve been all over the place, heavily advertised through AdWords, presenting itself as fake blogs and fake newspaper stories. Google finally did something about it, at least the parts that go through their site.

They terminated the AdWords accounts of those advertising them.

Not just suspended or deleted the ad campaigns. According to Search Engine Watch, they deleted the accounts and informed the account holders that they cannot open new ones. Period.

They mean business this time!

But don’t you worry! If you need big money promises, similar programs claiming you can make big bucks through Twitter are now out there, according to the L.A. Times.

Usual routine, you too can earn hundreds of dollars with little effort. Tons of Twitter followers! Big money! Easy!

Just pay a little money for shipping and handling. Oh, and even more per month, but that’s deep in the terms and conditions. You might not even notice until it shows up on your credit card.

These kinds of programs walk a very fine line on legitimacy. While they technically do list all charges, they’re often hard to find. In addition, the claims are pretty hard to believe for the simple reason that they aren’t likely.

Sure, some people do make good money with Google or with Twitter. Most people, even with instructions on what the other guy is doing… won’t. That’s business for you.

These companies can be deceptive about where they’re located and/or make it very difficult to cancel your subscription and get your money back when you find out what you’re being charged. They aren’t always on the wrong side of the law, but they’re often not far from the edge.

If you want to make money advertising on Google, study pay per click advertising. Perry Marshall is a reputable source.

Making money on Twitter can be more difficult, in part because it’s newer territory and there are fewer guides with a proven history. There are plenty of tricks to building a big following, but pick the wrong one and your account gets banned. Or just appear too spammy and see what happens.

Building a loyal following that cares enough about what you have to say in a tweet and will buy from links you post is an entirely different challenge.

It comes down to the simple truth that there is no easy solution to make big money for most of us. Sometimes someone will hit it lucky, but the next person to do what appears to be the same thing may not succeed. If it were that easy we’d all be earning the big bucks.

My mother saw this activity when she was at the Maker Faire earlier this year. She was impressed by how simple it is.

First you need some plain white t-shirts. I suppose you could use other colors, but then it’s harder for kids to figure out how their colors are going to turn out.

You can also use old pillow cases if you like. Mom used one for practice so she’s be ready to help the kids the first time she did this with them. Kind of a neat look and not a bad idea for kids making a present for grandparents or something.

Aside from the t-shirts, you will also need colored Sharpie markers, rubbing alcohol, a plastic cup, a dropper and I recommend having rubber bands to hold the shirt to the cup. A hair dryer can be useful too, for speeding up the evaporation of the alcohol so the kids can do more sections of their shirts quickly. Plastic grocery bags stuffed into the shirts can also help to keep colors from bleeding to the other side of the shirt while the ink dries.

I strongly recommend having windows open during this project, or do it outside. After a while, rubbing alcohol really stinks!

Put a plastic cup inside the t-shirt, wherever you want to begin this project. Wrap a rubber band over the t-shirt on the cup to hold it tight.

Draw dots or a simple design with the Sharpies. It looks great with no more than 2-3 colors. Too many colors will lead to the colors turning kind of muddy. Be firm enough with the markers to leave a fair bit of ink, or your results won’t be too impressive. Light dots don’t have enough ink to spread out very much.

Don’t get too fancy or detailed in your design. You’ll be blurring it most of the way away in a moment.

A design closer to the center works for a more classic tie dye look, but my kids liked dotting or drawing all over the area they were working with, and it turned out fine.

My kids did fireworks patterns, drew hearts, just whatever pleased them. Make sure there’s still some white areas left so that the colors have places to go other than just into each other.

Once the design is drawn, it’s time to get the rubbing alcohol out. Bring some up into the dropper, and wet the area of the drawing. The alcohol will soak into the shirt and bring the colors along with it.

Give it some time to spread, and you’ll come up with something like this:

Don’t give up on the spreading too quickly. There’s the immediate spreading you’ll see as soon as the alcohol soaks in, then more as it goes.

If you want to do more than one section without a lot of waiting, plug in that hair dryer and blow it dry once you’re satisfied with where you’re at. Rubbing alcohol evaporates pretty quickly. That’s why I said earlier to open the windows or do this outside. If you didn’t, by now you may know why I said that. It may help to take something for the headache after you get those windows open!

If you haven’t already, stuff the shirt with a plastic bag so that colors don’t bleed onto the back while they dry. You can still do more work with the bag in there.

Once you’re done you can set the colors either by throwing in the dryer for a while or by soaking in a white vinegar and water mix. I think I did about a 50/50 mix. You’ll get a bit more color out, and help keep the colors from bleeding into the rest of your laundry later.

I’ve had new red shirts bleed far more into the vinegar and water mix than these did, so I don’t know how bad it is if you skip setting the colors. But I did see some definite color coming out. Hopefully no one will tell me how bad it was when they failed to set the colors. Just take the time and get those colors set.

Not me, sigh.

Just not up to dealing with what it would take to have someone else care for the baby during that time. She doesn’t take a bottle well still, and while by the time BlogWorld actually starts I expect her to be eating some solids, this just isn’t a year I feel will work for me.

Pity, because last year was a blast. Very much worth my time and money.

The cheapest passes are gone already, making me wish I had noticed this sooner. But you can still get passes at a good price, as full price doesn’t hit until September 14, 2009.

I had a blast going to sessions and meeting other bloggers in person that I had only known online before. Admittedly it was a pretty tiring experience for me, since I was pregnant with Selene at the time. But fun, very, very fun and educational.

Now is a great time to register if you know you can make it, so you can also get your rooms reserved, maybe find a roommate if you want to save money, and get travel plans made. Best to do that early most of the time!

So… anyone going? I promise I’ll be jealous.