Starting from $0.00

March Earnings

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:40:00 +0000

I will make this as short and simple as possible.

PTC

Total: $7.74 Upgrade= yes $10.00 yr.

Total: $1.23 Upgraded= no
"not very much money but it pays for my subscription to Global Domains International"

Paid Surveys

Total $8.00

Total $17.50

Total $2.00

Total $4.00

Total $1.70

Total $29.50 (a new favorite...several surveys per day!)

Total $2.50

total $4.00

Total $14.00 (Daily surveys you can take every 24 hours)

BuildingMaterialsTalk.com $2.00
Buzzback.com $0.00
ClearVoiceSurveys.com $7.50
ContractorAdvisoryBoard.com $0.00
EpollSurveys.com $5.75
Esearch.com $0.00
ExecutiveAdvisoryBoard.com $0.00
FocusForwardOnline.com $2.00
FocusNation.com $0.00
GreenfieldOnline.com $0.00
HonestInsite.com $1.85
Ipsosi-say.com $2.50
JuryTest.com $0.00
Lightspeedpanel.com $18.75 (a new favorite of mine but no affiliate program offered)
MyPoints.com $0.60
MyView.com $7.00
Netverdix.com $1.00
OpinionPlace.com $3.50
Surveys.com $3.00
SurveyHead.com $25.50 (many surveys on a daily basis)
SurveySpot.com $6.00 (more and more cash surveys instead of contest entry's)
GlobalOpinionPanels.com $5.40
TestSpin.com $2.00
ValuedOpinions $10.50
VocalLabs.com $ 1.00
Your2Cents.com $6.00
ZoomPanel.com $3.00

Paid Survey Site Total for March $ 197.05 ( I have used $30.00 of this to upgrade my accounts where I can on traffic exchanges, giving me twice the production. Another advantage of upgrading your account is that you get random refferals on most exchanges. People get assigned to you randomly.)

GPT Sites

I gave up on these when I started to have problems with my computer. It had something to do with how cookies were delt with on my PC. The totals could have been a lot more without much trouble. Here are my totals anyway. I will give a more in-depth review of these sites when I get a full month to work them.

Total $9.50

Total $8.75
Total $7.50

Total $8.75Total $1.46

Traffic Exchanges

Here are 4 of the traffic exchanges I worked with the majority of the time this month. They are all ranked very high by several big internet market review sites. From all the different forums I have been reading, and all the different marketing video's I have seen, a common theme about traffic exchanges is that to make them worthwhile you must upgrade from the free membership so you make more progress without wasting a lot of time. You should also take advantage of any 2 for 1 credit offers if they have a special. I have upgraded on each of these exchanges so the amount of credits I have built up might seem high, but that is the reason. Surfing these four at the same time for 1 hour should give you about 800 credits if you are upgraded.

Credits Earned 3,875 cash $1.56

Credits Earned 8,021 cash $0.00

Credits Earned 2,887 cash $0.00

Credits Earned 6,676 cash $0.00

Wow! Finally back online!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:52:00 +0000

Just a quick post to say I am back online. I had to do some major repair work on my computer. Actually I didn't do the work myself, it was way more in depth than I could ever do. I had a friend do the work. He is the IT guy for his company, so I feel pretty confident in what he was doing. If there is anyone out there that has had problems with a combination of Dell computer, Windows XP, Internet Explorer 7.0, and the latest security update, I would love to here from you.

On a different subject, I am going to post my March earnings, but I would like to say that the results for the month are probably a lot less than they should have been because I only was able to work online for about 2 weeks. I did get invited to a phone survey that took about 45 min, and I received $50.00, and a toilet paper product test that was $10.00 and $35.00 worth of toilet paper. Yep..I have sunk to a all-time low! I am not going to add these to my totals because they are not at all typical for a average month.

4 Days of My Life...Gone!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Well the last 4 days have been absolute hell. Last Thursday my computer started to act a little funny. Things would take a long time to load, items would not close, little things I really did not pay much attention too. I have a up-to-date security system, Zone Alarm, that could find nothing more than a few tracking cookie's, so I was not concerned. On Friday I started to get Internet Explorer errors and would have to shut down every few hours or so. It was quite annoying, but I could still work. Then about 40 minutes into a very long survey, it did it again. I can't tell you how upset that made me. I am really surprised I still have a keyboard and a mouse to work with. So then I spent about 30 hours in the last 2 days trying to find the problem. Every 20 seconds or so Internet Explorer would encounter a problem and have to close. I even had to go to a friends house to research the problem on his computer because I could not use mine. To make a long story short, I finally had a friend of mine who is a tech guy for his company, help me with the problem. He has spent over 4 hours on it himself. He said it could be a virus that got by Zone Alarm by a way I did not understand, or he said it could be a quirk with Internet Explorer. Anyway, it is now running better, but still every so often I get the error again. I have a lot of work to get caught up on, and I just lost 4 days. Sorry for the lack of updates, I am hopefully back on track.

I'm Getting Overloaded With Info

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:44:00 +0000

I am sorry this post is taking so long to get out. March has been a busy month so far. In addition to the paid survey sites, I have started to market the Key-To-Cash program as best that I can. As of right now I have no one signed up. I have joined four really good traffic exchanges to get traffic to the Key-To-Cash sign up page. I have put in about an hour a day, and have sent the page out over 850 views. In addition I have had the banner viewed over 170 times. As you can see by the banner on my blog to the right, I have also joined, SpinSuccess. Because I really have no experience what so ever with search engine optimisation SEO, I thought I would pay the $29.95 to have these guys do it for me. They manually get you registered with 100's of search engines, of which I know nothing about. I'll give you a update in a month to tell you how it worked. I have also joined ClixSense.

I'm going to jump ahead of my self a little to catch everyone up on what I am doing with the blog. Right now I am trying to drive traffic to the blog and to the Key-To-Cash program. The traffic is not really targeted traffic, just surfers. I hope that just by the numbers, a blind squirel might find a nut. To build up my traffic numbers, I load Traffic Swarm, Dragon Surf, Hits 4 You, and ClixSense into my tabbed browser and start surfing. I put ClixSense in there for a very good reason. You are required to have the site open for about 20 seconds for each of the traffic exchanges. If you load 3 of them in your browser and surf, you have some seconds left over. That is why I make up that time with ClixSense. They pay $0.01 to $0.05 to surf their ads. Why not make money while you wait if you are surfing anyway. Well it is not very much money, but it is something! You do have to upgrade for $10.00 though or you will run out of ads to view.
I have a ton of surfing credits to use now and I have made $4.80 on ClixSense at the same time.
If you are going to do the traffic exchange thing, you might as well do ClixSense at the same time, if nothing more than to have something to show for your time.

This month I am going to work a little harder on the GPT sites like Cash Crate. I have been a member with 5 of them, and I have made a little money on each. There was more opportunity to make money on each but I did not have the time with everything else. I am going to try to make $300.00 a month, just by using the 5 sites. My next post will outline the 5 sites I am going to use, but there are a lot of them out there. $300.00 might be pushing it a little, due to the fact that a lot of the offers are duplicated between the sites. All I can do is try though.

Getting back to the Key-To-Cash experiment, I am getting a little sceptical at this point. I think that the program will work, I have no doubt about that. I have seen it work over and over in other instances. The problem I see with it is that it plays right into my personal weakness. I do not like to ask people for money. If I have a product to give someone in return, like a house, or a bookcase, or something like that, it is a different story. My early conclusions to the program is that it must be used by the right person, or else you will go no where. $25.00 is not a lot of money though to see if you have what it takes, if you are unsure.

My Every So Often Rant

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:26:00 +0000

On a blog that I like to visit, CashCrate Tips the author has a section where she posts her "daily rants". I thought this was such a good of a idea I thought I would add a couple of my own rants to my blog. This involves the survey companies that ask you to do a survey for a sweepstakes entry. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am very passionate about the value of one's time. I feel that we all have a limited time on this earth, some have a lone time, and some way to short. Regardless of how much time we have, every one's time is of equal value. Anyone who believes that their time is more important than another's, is selfish and rude. As a employer I always expected to compensate my employee's for their time no matter what I asked them to do. It is up to that person to judge if their time is worth that or not. The survey companies that would like you to take a survey, for which they are getting paid, and do it for free, or what they like to call a sweepstakes entry, is being rude and irrispective. And that's all I have to say about that.

Coming up: The last of my survey site reviews. This is a group of "get paid to" sites.

Paid Survey Site Scams? Not Really.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Well here is the rest of my list. These sites have produced little to nothing for me in the past 6 weeks. There are many people on the Internet that would like to call these scams. That is just not the case. Many of the following survey sites have not sent out surveys to me simply because I do not fit the profile that matches most of their surveys. I'm ok with that. There are also a few on the following list that are there because they sent out 2 or 3 surveys a day, but they are only for entries in sweepstakes.

I am not going to grade these sites for the fact, I just don't have enough interaction with them yet. After a few more months, I may review them if needed. I am not going to put my referral link to these either. I feel doing so when they have not really worked out for me, would be some what deceptive. I am trying to stay away from that in my blog. Please use your own judgement on these sites, some could be very productive for a different person, and I would not want to steer you away from a good site. For example, the Contractor Advisory Board never sent one survey out in 6 weeks, then yesterday I got one for a lawn tractor review, it took about 10 minutes and I made $20.00. So here is the rest...

Netverdix.com...No surveys

MySurvey.com...Surveys every day but qualified for very few, and surveys were long for little money.

VocalLabs.com...I had one survey in February where I had to call Best Buy and give my impressions on their customer service. I made $1.00 for this.

FocusFwdonline.com...I am getting more surveys the last couple of days, but in February I only did one for $1.00

Contractor Advisory Board...$0.00 for February, but I did just have a survey for $20.00 that will go towards March totals.

JuryTest...$0.00 with no surveys, but I bet it would be interesting to get on one of their jury panels.

Buzzback.com...$0.00 for February, and no surveys.

MyPoints.com...A lot of surveys for sweepstakes entries. Points are worth very little for surveys.

Esearch.com...$0.00 one survey in January and that is it so far.

Nielsennetpanel...MyHughesnet security program did not work well with their software you have to install.

Greenfieldonline.com...Nothing but sweepstakes entries. Check out my" I got a rant!", post.

SurveySpot.com...Same thing, nothing but sweepstakes entries.

ExecutiveAdvisoryBoard.com...I only had 1 survey and that was in January, it was worth $10.00.

Ipsosi-say.com...Very few surveys, worth very little.

Surveys.com...I have not been a member very long, a review is still to come.

That is my list of the Paid Survey Sites that have not been very good for ME. I would like to say again that the results might be totally different with someone who fits a different profile. If anyone out there has had different results, please let me know so I can pass it on.

Paid Survey Site Reviews Pt.3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:29:00 +0000

Synovate

Synovate is probably better known as GlobalOpinionPanels, so if you try to look it up, use that name. This is another site that uses the point system. In January I only received 60 points=$.60, so I was about to put this on the back burner. In February I was able to increase my total to 5,210 points= $5.21. Minimum payout is $5.00 and they send a check. The website can be a little confusing with the two names, especially if you have a lot of sites to manage. The members section is just ok, you are not able to get a history, only a total points. 7 out of 10

Your 2 Cent s
This was a pretty good site, in general. I only received 4 surveys in February and I only qualified for 1. That 1 survey was worth 6000 points! In cash terms it was $2.00. At first I did not like it that they assigned these ridiculous amount of points compared to cash value, but they all seem to do it, so its just part of the game I guess. It takes a minimum of 30,000 points to cash out, and they will send you a check. The survey I did take was short for $2.00, and the couple I did not qualify for were worth between $2.00-$5.00, that is why it is still on my list of good ones. The members section of the website is also nice in that you get to see all the surveys you have been given, whether you qualified or not. 7 out of 10

Opinion Place

I have mixed feelings on this one. I did not receive any surveys in February so my total was $0.00. The one survey I took in January though, was credited to my PayPal acount the next day. AOL is actually the backbone of this company so you will get paid, you just might not get paid a lot. The website is not very user friendly either. I would have thought AOL could have done better. 5.5 out of 10

Valued Opi nions

I receive surveys from this company on average about every 3 days. The surveys are reasonable in length, and usually $2.00-$3.00. In February I made $8.50 with this site. The bad part of this is they only pay by gift certificate to Amazon, Blockbuster, and Macy's. The pay out is $20.00. The members site is not as good as some, but you still get to see the important things about your account. I did not start getting a good flow of surveys until after I filled out my profile surveys. Hint: fill out your profile surveys. I have to give this site a 6.5 out of 10. (I don't shop at Amazon, Blockbuster or Macy's)

Zoompanel

ZoomPanel was a little different than most of the survey companies, they sent out surveys almost every day. They were only worth 10, 75, and only sometimes 150 points. 150 points =$1.50. I made 400 points in February, or $4.00 if you like. Not a lot of money, but they always give you some points even if you don't qualify for the survey. Usually it is only 5 points=$.05, but it is something every time. Not a good members site, a little hard to navigate around and find your account detail. I forgot to mention the pay out is at 1000 points=$10.00 6.5 out of 10

Paid Survey Site Review Pt. 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Test Spin

This was a OK site. Very few surveys came through. On a average the surveys were worth more than most sites. I did 2 surveys for Test Spin and I made $8.00 for all of February. The minimum cash out is $10.00, and they pay with a Amazon Gift Card. The site and members area are not to bad to find your balance, surveys you have taken, history, etc. There is no affiliate program so once again I am just giving them free advertisement. 7 out of 10

HCD Surveys

This is another site that did not send out very many surveys. One that they did send out was a Supper Bowl commercial survey. I was asked to watch the Supper Bowl and take a survey on the commercials after it was over. It was a fun survey, and it did "force" me to watch the Supper Bowl, but it was only worth $2.00. That was it for February. I have to give them some credit for their website. You can access everything about your account in detail. They also have a minimum pay out at $10.00. This will be sent out in a check. 7.5 out of 10

Global Test Market

This is actually a very good site. I didn't get a lot of surveys for it, but as I was making out these reviews I went back to the members website and there were 8 surveys I never took. I received 150 pts. and the points are 1 point=$0.05, so I made $7.50. This number could have been a lot higher if I was paying attention. This site also has a very nice members section. It is very easy to find your information, along with other surveys you can take. The cash out is a little high at 1000 points or $50.00. They pay by check. 8 out of 10

Vindale Research

Vindale was one of the better one's I came across. They sent out plenty of surveys, a ton of special offers, and good pay for them all. In January I had $9.00 and now in February I have and additional $10.00. Their website is also one of the best. Great survey tracking details in the members area. For February I made $10.00 but could have been more if I would have tried the offers on the site. They get a 8 out of 10.

Honest Insite

The surveys that I received from Honest Insite were extremely short. In fact, most of the time I thought I was just pre-qualifying for the survey, but then they say thank you and here is your points. The only problem is the points are not worth much. I managed to rack up 100Hi. points for February, I need 8,000Hi. points to cash out and get a $10.00 Halmark gift card. The low score is mainly because of the little value given to the points, everything else is quite good. I give it 6 out of 10.

My View

My View sends quite a few surveys out consistently. They are usually $2.00-$5.00, and the surveys are mid to long in length. The members page on the website is pretty good also. I made $10.00 in February but it is still pending. The minimum cash out is $25.00 and is done through PayPal. I will not count this in my February earnings. It has been pending for almost 4 weeks. I am assuming I will get this pending amount so I am going to give them a 7 out of 10.

Your Free Surveys

This is another site that I did not use to its potential. I had a few surveys each week, and ended up doing just a couple. I made about $4.00 for the month. I had forgotten that they have daily surveys that you can take each day. You can make about $2.00-$3.00 on these, but you have to remember to log on to their website because they do not send these out. Pay out is at $30.00 through PayPal again, and they pay every $30.00. Their website is a little hard to find stuff, but they do have some cool tips, and a forum with a lot of information. This is one of the better survey sites, so I will overlook the web-site navigation issues. This survey site gets a solid 7.5 out of 10.

Coming Up!

A few more good ones.

A few not so good ones.

My, pay to click offers, but not complete them, clear your cookies list? Some people have this down to a science!!!!

Paid Survey Sites Reviewed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:49:00 +0000

I have now given these sites a full month to show me what they have. I understand that this is not a long period of time to make a judgement, but I will tell you how much I made, and what to expect from each one. I am going to leave the Paid Offer sites for last because I am going to group them together and see how much you can really make off of them in a month, using 3 or 4 of them. That will be for next month. These are in no particular order, but I will rate them on a 1 to 10 scale.

Lightspeed Panel

This by far was my best site. Surveys came on a regular basis and I did not even try them all. The surveys were not extremely long, but a few went over 1 hour. These I received 2000 and 3000 points for. I had a total of 8600 points for February, or about $65.00. I have not cashed out yet. Minimum is $6.00 and they pay with PayPal. They don't have a affiliate program or a referral program, so I am just giving them some free advertisement here. 8.5 out of 10

Opinion Outpost

This site really surprised me. Looking at their ad with the cowboy on it, I thought it would be a bust. Not so! I received 34 surveys in February, converted on 14 of them. These were more interesting than most, and of reasonable length. I had a total of 170points or $17.00 for February. Cash out is at a min. of $5.00, and they pay by check. 8 out of 10

Mindfield Online

This was one of my favorites. Not as many surveys came through, but the conversion rate was better. One survey was on a new show on the DIY Network. I had to watch the show, complete a survey after it was over, and then the next day, participate in a online chat for about 5 min. For that I received $12.00 for the survey, and a $5.00 Amazon gift card for the follow up. The other surveys were usually movie trailers or commercials. My total for February was $17.00 and a $5.00 Amazon gift card. The cash out minimum is $5.00 and they pay by check. 8 out of 10

Clear Voice Surveys

This survey site did not send out very many surveys, only about 7 or 8 in February. I did convert 3 for a total of $9.00. The surveys were nice and short. The minimum cash out is $10.00. They pay with a pre-paid credit card. I would have to say there are some good things and bad things with this site. 7.5 out of 10

American Consumer Opinion

I have mixed feelings on this site. They only sent out 2 surveys for me in February. I did not qualify for either one but they were both worth over $10.00. I can't give this one to low of a score because if I would have qualified, it would have been one of the better ones. My total for the month was $0.00. 5 out of 10 ***I will need to evaluate this one again in a month.

E-Poll Surveys

This site started off really strong, but in February I received only 1500 points. Sounds like a lot but it equals about $1.50. The site is not very user friendly either. It did send out a few surveys in January and February, so I will keep it around. You can convert your points into PayPal deposits, or other rewards. Cash out minimum is set at 5000 points, or around $5.00. Many people like this survey site, but I have to give it a 6 out of 10.

Survey Head

I have to be honest with this site. I did not even try to sign up for it. I was filling out a offer and "clicked" on "sign me up". Well this has turned out to be a great survey site. You can go to the site and get surveys in addition to getting them through e-mail. You can get a bonus cash for signing up, and cash for filling out your profile information. The part I really like is they show you what %chance there is for you qualifying for the survey. For February I have make $19.30 and $6.00 pending. You can cash out at $25.00, and they go through PayPal. I give this site a 8.5 out of 10.

Starting from $0.00 update

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Paid Survey Sites:

Now that I have a few different things going on, I hope I can give you more information on a daily basis. I have had the opportunity to do some interesting surveys in the past few weeks, but for the most part I have to sit down with a 16oz. can of MONSTER energy to even get through one of them. I am trying everything this past month, but the sites like Cash-Crate, Treasure Trooper, Panda, Surf Bounty, could take all your time doing just one of them. In March I think I am going to concentrate on 3 of 4 of those" paid offers" sites to see if they produce more than regular paid survey sites. For the next few days I am going to review each site I belong to, and give a total earnings for February.

The Blog

I also have to look at the blog itself as a money making tool. I guess you have to look at it like a online store. The idea is to get as many people to come into your store as possible. Like any store out there, if the isles are bare, the employees are rude, or if the management is untrustworthy, you probably will not shop there ever again. The advertisements on the site are a product I am basically selling. I have signed up with the three traffic exchange programs you see in the blog footer. It is basically, you scratch my back I'll scratch yours. You spend time looking at other people's websites, and in turn you get people to come to yours. These are free to join, but you have to work to get anything. You can also pay for traffic, but I have not done that yet. It takes about 45min. to an hour, and in return I have received about 20-30 unique visitors per day. I have had 7 clicks on the advertisements in February, and all said and done, I have made $2.49 using the blog as a tool itself.

I have had no one sign up yet. I have not marketed this product like I see others doing it. The ad on the site has not produced any results at all. I am going to put the site on the three traffic exchange sites, and any others I can find worth doing. I hope this helps. I think you can see that even getting 5 people to join for only $25.00 can be a challenge. I wrote my sister a e-mail trying to get her to join. I felt real uncomfortable doing this. I think I will feel even more uncomfortable asking friends to join. This is a major road block! Even if I did get some friends and family to join, they are the kind of people that would also not be able to solicit members. My only hope is for people to join through the blog or traffic exchanges. A alternative solution I have been thinking of is giving the first 5 people to join with me, a free offer to join. I am thinking that this would cost me $125.00, but in return I would probably get 5 people that are serious about making money with this and market it better than I would. Any thoughts out there if this would work?

Frustration Level: Yellow

Determination Level: Still in the Green

Blown Away

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:50:00 +0000

Well here I am reading a blog I have been following, and all of a sudden my name and my blog pops up. I was shocked and honored at the same time. This is all a little strange to me. For all of my life my world centered around what is right in front of my face. If I could not see it, feel it, smell it, hear it, or taste it, then in my world it did not exist. I have always worked with my hands, and at the end of the day I had something to look at, and that is what I got paid for. Well now because of the economy I have opened up a new door. I can now see that even though you cant see the people creating these blogs and websites, they are there and very much real. Many of these people are just like yourself, going through the same situations in life that you are. There is a mind blowing world out there that I had no idea of the extent of. The blog I was reading was by a person I only know as MJL. His blog is Confessions of a Poor, Insane, Future Millionaire. His blog is very similar to what I was trying to do. Take a look, and if nothing else, he has posted a short video of a Michael Jordan commercial I think everyone could benefit from. I think I am going to save it on my computer to show my kids when they get older. In fact, I think I will put it on my desk top so I see it every day!

IRS Publication 950

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:55:00 +0000

Just a quick update on the previous post. If anyone is interested in the documentation from the IRS that specifically outlines cash gifting, you can read all you need to know in the IRS Publication 950. (you can Google it) I gave you some wrong information.... in 2008 the total gifting allowance was $12,000. In 2009 the total gifting allowance is $13,000. This might even increase with the new tax law that is to go into effect shortly.

I am assuming that everyone was waiting to find that out before you invested $25.00 in this system Key-To-Cash. Please don't everyone rush in at once, we don't want the server to crash. Seriously, for a one time payment of $25.00, you could be making thousands and thousands, be your own boss, work in your bathrobe or even your underwear if you want.

I'm sorry about that. I promised I would give it a fair shake and that was uncalledfor. Seriously though, if anyone has any ideas how I can promote this site/program so people sign up under my link, please drop me a note. I am sure that people can make a little money with this, but I have a hard time telling people that they can retire by next week.

My First Thoughts on Key-To-Cash

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Sorry for not posting in a while. After I picked , or should I say, after the program was picked for me, I had to do a little research. I am going to start off with a quick description of the program, and then I will give you my first thoughts on it.

First of all as you can see by the banner ad, this is a cash-gifting program. The basic concept to this program is ..

You sign up for this program for a one time, all inclusive fee of $25.00
You are asked to create a account with either AlertPay or Safepay
Your $25.00 is divided up into 5 payments of $5.00 that goes to the people that have signed up before you, with your referring partner being one of them. This is all done automaticaly for you . Your gifts are put in your account automaticaly also.
Although they say this is a program that goes on auto pilot, you need to find at least 5 people to sign up under you.
You are given all the banner ads and referal links to promote your website across the web. This is not hard work, but it is not auto pilot either.
The website you are given is the one this banner ad is linked to. Everyone uses this one. They state you can customise it, but all that is, is your name at the bottom of the home page.
Your name becomes one of 5 on the list that the people you signed up pay. This goes on until you become the first on the list, then you will be 5 layers deep.

I'm not going to go into much more detail because there really isn't any. It is a pyramid program and I am sure everyone knows how they work. You can also click on the banner and take a look at my Custom Website. He he.

My thoughts: well pyramid schemes have been around forever, and they always come back with a new name. Amway was the first big name to use this system successfully. Very successfully I might add. What cash gifting has done, is take the product out of the equation. Now you don't have to sell products, you are just moving the money. In the late 80's people were making huge sums of money on these. The problem that emerged was simple, there were billions and billions of dollars not being taxed by the IRS. This lead to the idea that these pyramids were illegal. They in fact were if you failed to pay tax on the money. There is no doubt that these things work. They work great for the people at the top, ok for the people in the middle, and the bottom people struggle to make anything. The bottom people loose interest, or become frustrated and quit. If people quit faster than people join, the pyramid starts to erode.

My first big concern with this program was, is it legal. I am going to admitt here that I did not want to spend the money for legal advise, although I probably should. Instead I used a few pointed questions to a friend of mine that is a attorney. I don't feel bad about not paying for this because he asks me questions about building all the time. I also talked to my CPA. Do you think I could get a strait answer out of either of them! Not a chance. What I did come away with is this. The current tax law states that you may gift money to anyone and as many people you want not to exceed $12,000. That seems cut and dry to me, but here is where it gets a little gray. You may not accept any compensation for this gift, or expect any kind of compensation in return. This makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Say I was to give my friend $12,000.00 , he turns around and gives it back. It would be very easy for the IRS to loose the tax on that $12,000.00 unless they did a audit on both people. So how is this going to effect me? I think I have to approach this program, Key-To-Cash like this. I am not going to expect to get paid, but if I do, I am going to make sure I pay tax on it and it gets claimed.

I do know people that have made money on these types of programs, but I am the last person to ever go out and bug someone to join something like this. The problem is that my entire success is based on this fact. It is going to be very hard for me to promote this program and harass people to join like you see everywhere else. Not looking good. The good news is that it is only $25.00. Its not a lot of money just to see what happens. I will still give it all the attention that I promised I would in order to get a accurate report. I can't really bash anything if I don't try. You will see the advertisement on this blog. Sorry, if I didn't put it on, I wouldn't be trying.

This last point is very important. Please do not take anything that is posted here or anywhere on the web, as sound legal or financial advice. It is always better to seek out professionals, even in the smallest of circumstances.

Comming up: My paid survey list gets a little updating. Some sites I did well with, but some will have to go in that trash can on my desktop.

Picking the Program

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Key to Cash

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Thank you for all the support. I really think that this idea could be of some value. If for nothing else, to give you a better idea of what some of these programs are like after you have spent your money. The system that was picked as you can see in the video, was Key to Cash. I know very little about this program so as I learn it I will report on it. I will give this a good strong effort, and I will follow each and every instruction to the best of my ability.

If you don't mind, I am also looking for some feedback on posts, would you rather

Just watch a video post
Just read a post with some pictures
Have a mix of video and text.

Your comments would be most appreciated, thank you.

Video Post Test- Money Saving Tip #1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 04:01:00 +0000

My first money saving tip...don't spend money going to a amusement park when you can build one in your basement. Sorry this is just a test of a video post. By the way, you don't have to call child protective services...I already caught hell from my wife. The slide is now dismantled.

Quick Update

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:21:00 +0000

I have not posted in a few days so I thought I should at least let everyone know that I am still here. Tomorrow I will choose what program I will try. Actually it will be chosen by my daughter. She asked if she could pull the site out of the hat. I said OK. I was also offered a program to try for free from a stay at home mother. I did not take the free offer, but instead joined as a regular member. I have recently found out how hard it is to take care of 2 kids all day for a week. I tip my hat to all the moms and dads that can do it. The program was very inexpensive so I thought I would try it. I would like to do a review on this site also. I will give it some time to start working, and then start giving my 2 cents. I am shocked that I did not get any takers on the offer to join someone up for a program in exchange for some feedback. I can understand though, after all it could be a lot of work for nothing. But maybe it would turn out to be good? I would like to say one more time, you may choose the program.

Just a quick update on the surveys. I have been getting a ton of offers this month. I was told that February is always a big month because companies have to get started on projects for the next year. I am still learning how to get a screen shot on to the blog so I can show everyone proof of the income. A reader had suggested that. Also I will try to get some video on the blog so it is not so boring.

As you have probably noticed, there are now advertisements on the site. I am going to get into them more in a few days. I wanted to say that Adbrite, like AdSense, pick there own advertisements. The Amazon books advertised are books I have read and feel they are very valuable. The David Ramsey program specifically saved me and turned my life around. What I did want to say is that when you click on them or purchase something, I do get a small commission. Around $0.03. Just wanted to get that into the open. This is indeed part of the income test idea, but if anyone feels that it takes away from the sincerity of the site, I will have to consider taking them off. If you have strong feelings either way, let me know.

David

My Big Idea #2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:25:00 +0000

I think I have come up with a even bigger idea. One that might be a lot of fun. I can see how there could be some holes in my last big idea. After all there would be nothing stopping me from "planting" a website or system just to promote it. I hope my readers would trust me enough to know I would not do that. On the other hand, with the infinite amount of dishonesty on the web these days, I could not blame anyone for being skeptical.

Well that brings me to my next big idea. I thought it would be interesting and informative if one of my readers were to join a program also . Then we could have a report of two money making projects going on side by side with a report at the end of each month. You may be asking yourself why would anyone want to do this? The catch is I am going to pay for it. Yep, if there is anyone out there that would like to try a money making system that seems like it might work, leave me your email and the system you would like to try. I will run this contest/offer for a week, and then pick someone out of a hat. Yes this could be a plant also, but at some point you have to trust me a little. I can't think of a sure way to prove it is for real. Please make sure you are not already a member of the program, and I will only pay up to $100.00 for you to join. If the program is only $20.00 and you want to spend $80.00 to build traffic, that sort of thing is ok.

The same rules that were in my previous post still apply. Please, please, because this is so informal, everyone has to be on the honor system. I would also like the person picked to agree to make at least one post on my blog each month to describe how it is going. You wouldn't have to do it past 6 months if you don't want to. If we find value in a system that would be fantastic, but if we don't, maybe we can provide the reader with some good information.

Get Rich...Or Get Wealthy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:31:00 +0000

I have been looking at a lot of different websites offering ways to make you RICH. Whatever happened to trying to become Wealthy. Is there a difference? I think so. Being rich is having more money than you need. Being wealthy is having everything you need. No one really talks about all the other things besides money that you need. Money isn't everything, in fact it is almost nothing. Money is paper and ink, and a little metal. If you are reading this blog and starting a journey to make money, try to build wealth along with it. To be wealthy you must be able to love and be loved. You must also know exactly who you really are and be OK with it. You must find a purpose in life, and be able to leave something positive behind when you are gone. Most of all I would like to tell people not to get too wrapped up in making money. Don't wait until after you have made a lot of money to make the most of your life. Make the most of your life while you are making money, even if it means you are not making as much. When I started my construction business 20 years ago, I was so concentrated on becoming rich, I forgot that time was passing. I was sacrificing everything then, to become rich and happy later. When I think about it now, I could have been happy all along. What a waste.

On a more serious note...I have not received many suggestions for what money making system to try so I am going to give it a little more time, at least through this weekend. But in the meantime I think I have come up with a even better idea I will share with you tomorrow. I have to think it threw a little more first.

My Big Idea, but I need your help!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:56:00 +0000

I have been online now for about 30 days straight looking at every, get rich quick, earn $1,000.00 a day while you sleep, never work again, and be a millionaire overnight sites that are on the Internet. I think a few more days and I will finally get to the end of the Internet. There is a end to all this, isn't there? Anyway, every income generating system did have a certain kind of curiosity to them. My rational side would never let myself succumb to the teasers. Well that brings me to my big idea! I thought it would be interesting if you the reader picked one of these income producing systems, and I would join it. I promise I would give it a honest effort, follow the instructions to the tee, and most of all, report to all my readers the honest results. If something were to work out, I would also find a way to submit proof. I think this will work because you, the reader are picking the system to try. I am going to try to get this going as fast as I can. If you will please, post the site or system in the comments and I will put the names in a hat, and pick one out. Go ahead and think of that one website that almost gotcha, but you were to smart to join. I will cure your curiosity one way or the other. Thank You!

Some guidelines I must follow.

Absolutely nothing illegal in any way.

I will not implement any system that takes advantage of the ill-informed.

If it is a system built upon deception, I will not do it.

I don't want to spend any more than $100.00 to join.

I feel I am a man of average intelligence. I have limited computer skills, but enough to create this blog and edit it. I have more persistence than most and I will give it all the time it needs. I think this will satisfy any prerequisite for any of these money making programs. Thank you all in advance for your help.

January's Earnings and Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Well my first month in the "make money online" community has a mix bag of emotions for me. I made money on 19 of the 40 paid survey sites I joined. Some of these sites had sign up bonuses, so that was a one time payment. I also have to take in consideration that I didn't finish the sign up process until midway through the month. I can already tell I am getting more surveys coming through this month.

My total earnings for January was a whopping $74.35.

Total hours spent working on this. Thousands! Well maybe not quite that much, but that is how it felt. I can see how someone could look at this and say it is not worth it. I actually thought to myself, I would have been better off working at McDonald's. Then I thought about it some more and came to the conclusion that if I can make just a little more a month, that would buy a lot of Christmas gifts next year. Or even better, maybe a vacation to Disney World for the kids. Yes it was worth it! I just have to look at it like this...would you like it if someone gave you $5 to brush your teeth, or $3 to make your bed, maybe $2 or $3 to do a load of laundry? Of course we all would. These are things we do in our daily routine that we never realy look at how much of our time we are taking out of our lives, we just do them. Now, filling out a survey or two is part of my daily routine, and the payoff is a vacation for my family. I can live with that.

To try to give a honest review of paid survey sites this early would not be very accurate. I do think there are legitimate ways to make money with survey sites. I think some of the dollar amounts some sites are advertising are inflated for the average person though. I would not have enough hours in a week or surveys to take, to bring in $1,000.00 a month. My plan is to let the surveys ride and find other streams of income. Cashcrate Tips, a blog I just recently looked at, gave me ideas on how to maximise some of the survey sites I belong to. I am not affiliated with him/her but I thought I should give Cashcrate Tips the credit.

I Have Become What I HATE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:24:00 +0000

It seems these days the Internet is bulging at the seams with people trying to funnel you to a link or site to make money. I was told one time by a tech friend, that every time you click on something, someone somewhere is making money. With that being a fact of the Internet, how can you trust anything? Well I don't think you can. That is why I am writing this post. As you will see in my list of survey sites, there are links for each one. In the description, I tell you if there is a affiliate program or not. If any of my readers click on that link, sign up for a survey site, I will hopefully get any where from $0.50 to $2.00. Sometimes they must complete at least one survey to qualify. If I state that it is a referral site, the link is just to go to the site and I do not profit at all. To make money on these referrals, you must give them the names and e-mails of friends you would like to join. They send a unsolicited e-mail with your name attached. I hate that, so I won't do that. I have found that there are very few places on the Internet to make money that does not use some version of this. Commonly known as affiliate marketing.

My problem is this... if I don't use affiliate marketing, the possibility for making money online is going to decrease significantly and the whole point of the blog in useless. If I do use affiliate marketing techniques, I will lose my credibility. I don't know that I can have both.

A possible solution? Tell me what you think.

I will promise you that if you use my links when you sign up for a paid survey site, I will sign up for a survey site for you under your affiliate link. It must be proven legit and be somewhat worth the time of signing up. I hope to have a list off to the side where I can post these for other people too. Give me something to name it with so you know it is yours. Please only one per site, and research them well. I will have to research them myself also. After all it is going to be my reputation on the line. Please only 2 per reader at first. I have no idea what will happen.

I am doing this because, when I started signing up for these paid survey sites, I didn't know I was making money for someone else. I don't really mind that people do this, but I would have liked to know who I am working for. My next post is going to be totals for January. Don't worry its going to be short.

On a completely different topic: I found out how to put a photo into my profile. This is the only one I had on my computer. It was my baby before my son was born. My wife said we were only having two kids so I had to sell it. I sold it on Ebay if you can believe it. A guy from California bought it. He flew out here to pick it up and drive it home. A sad day for me.

Cheers
David

Paid Survey Tips and Tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:14:00 +0000

I want to start out this post by saying my tips and tricks are things that I have found to be useful. If anyone has more, or better ideas, I would be happy to post them and give credit where credit is due. Many of these will be repeat stuff for you paid survey novices, but I hope I can shed some light for the newcomers like me.

1. Before you start signing up for a bunch of survey sites, go purchase a package of 5X8 index cards, and if you can find the ABC dividers for them, buy them as well. Also if you don't have a box for them, buy that too. This is the important part. Each time you join a paid survey site, you will want to record some information on your 5x8 index card. This is what I record...

Name of the survey site xxxxxx.com

Your user name and password (don't use the same one's for all your sites)

The e-mail address to add to your accepted e-mail (the site will give you this)

The address (http:/your specific affiliate link) they will give you if they have a program

***Important*** if you take a survey, write down the survey number or confirmation #

Now alphabetize your cards. I know this is old school, but I can't tell you how many times I have misplaced things on my computer. When you get a e-mail for a survey, pull out that card and record the survey.

2.Use a completely different e-mail address for your survey site e-mail. Don't forget to enter the accepted e-mail from above. Now it is important you keep your e-mail organized. I have made several folders to keep different e-mails in. Here are three folders I made.

Survey Sites-after I am sent the confirmation e-mail I send this to this folder

Completed Surveys- The e-mail inviting you to take the survey

Points and Cash-If you get a e-mail confirming the points or cash into your account, put that here.

*****Notice**** Some sites pay with PayPal, so if you made a new e-mail for surveys, you must add that to your PayPal account or your payments will be held in cyberspace. If you don't have a PayPal account you can go here. PayPal

3.Keep your e-mail ORGANIZED!! If you don't qualify for a survey, delete it. Any offers or spam that get through, delete them. Put away the surveys you need (folders), and empty your spam and your trash. You will start to get a bunch of it.

4.Complete your member profiles. If you don't have time to do it when you sign up, put some kind of mark on your index card to remind you to do it. You wont get paid for these, but after I went back and filled all mine, my surveys increased quite a bit.

5.Always be honest!!! You will probably become frustrated at how many surveys you are disqualified from, but trying to manipulate answers to qualify more might have the opposite effect.

6.Look(google) in your industry for specific survey sites. There are several survey sites that have special interests. For example, I came across BuildingMaterialsTalk, and Contractor Advisory Board by accident, and I have received surveys from both.

7.Find out if the survey site has a referral or affiliate program. This is a good way to increase your profits. Please read my post I Have Become What I Hate!

I hope this helps. Good Luck!
David

Paid Survey Sites - My List 31-40

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:39:00 +0000

31.Test Spin-Nice, easy to work with site. Only a few surveys so far, and none that I qualified for. I am adding it to my list because I have confirmed with others that they have been paid and the survey come on a regular basis. I will keep you notified if this changes for me.

Verified: Pending
Payments: Amazon.com gift card
Affiliate Program: No
Payout to Date: $0.0

32.Tiktik Cash-This paid survey site has a lot of different offers to choose from. Many of the high dollar ones you must sign up for a free trial period. I personally can not do these because I am not organized enough to remember to cancel before the free trial is up, and then I have to pay. There are a lot of free offers also though.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Refer a Friend only
Payout to Date: $5.00

33.Treasure Trooper-Well ordinarily I would not sign up for this kind of site. Less professional looking, kinda cheesy, but it has a lot of offers and surveys to choose from. Takes time to look around but there is a lot of incentives.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payment to Date: $0.00

34.Valued Opinions-This paid survey site is straight and to the point. Not a lot of junk advertising on this one. I have received only 3 surveys in the last two weeks, but I qualified for one and it was really short.

Verified: CASRO, AMA, MRS
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: No
Payment to Date: $1.00

35.Vindale Research-This was my first site I signed up with. There are a couple of on-site surveys to take that give you quick cash. There are also a lot of surveys that want you to sign up for something and use a credit card. I would suggest you stay away from those and stay with the 100% free ones.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check/PayPal
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payout to Date: $9.00

36.Vocal Labs-I don't have a lot of information on this one. I will have to take a survey to comment. Looks like a good professional company. Terms and Conditions are standard.

Verified: Pending
Payments: PayPal
Affiliates Program: No
Payout to Date: $0.00

37.Synovate-I received a couple of surveys right off the bat. I thought I was doing good with 60 points. It turns out that that is only worth $0.60. Watch these sites that pay with points and then convert them to cash. They might be perfectly legit, but the point per dollar might not be so hot. $5.00 = 5000 points. I am sorry this is out of order, I had to delete a site.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Points/Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Refer a Friend
Payout to Date: 60 Points

38.Your 2 Cents-Good site with a fair amount of surveys starting to come in. Some nice incentives for filling out your profiles also. Members account page is also very good.

Verified: AMA, MRA, CASRO
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: No
Payout to Date: $0.00

39.Your Free Surveys-This is a site I really like. I started getting surveys the next day after signing up. Daily surveys too. They usually range about $0.50 to $1.50 and you can do two a day.

Verified: MRA, CASRO
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payout to Date: $8.90

40.Zoompanel-Very good site with lots of surveys and daily surveys on site also. Downside is they have a point system for merchandise.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Points for Merchandise
Affiliate Programs: Refer a Friend
Payout to date: 380 points, I think that is about $3.80

Well there they are, my 40 free paid survey sites. It took me almost six days to sign up for these 40 sites. Many sites I went to take a look at and just passed on them. In tomorrows post I am going to give you some tips and tricks I have gathered over the last 6 weeks. Also tomorrow I must review my earnings for my first month, January. Its not going to be pretty.

Cheers

David

Paid Survey Sites - My List 21-30

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:18:00 +0000

.21Netverdix-I just joined this site a few days ago and I have no information on their surveys yet. I will update this as soon as I get some surveys to take. The survey company holds a good reputation with the BBB and the site is easy and well organized.

Verified: By Me, BBB
Payments: Cash/Check, PayPal
Affiliate Program: No
Payout to Date: $0.00

22.Nielsen Net Panel-This site is on just about every one's top lists around the work from home community. That is the reason I still have this on my list. *NOTICE* I signed up for this paid survey site, and then removed myself. Although I have read it is a good producer of income, you must download their software onto your computer. It might not be clear to the average person that this is a tracking software and monitors ALL your online activity. I believe it is safe, but it is a little BIG BROTHERish for me.

Verified: By Me-See NOTICE
Payments: Drawings and Contest Entries
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payout to Date: Not a Member

23.Opinion Place-This site is good and bad. The good part is I was sent 1 survey, qualified, took the survey, and had the money deposited automatically into my PayPal account. The bad part is that you can only take one survey every 7 days.

Verified: By Me
Payments: PayPal
Affiliate Program: No
Payout to Date: $1.50

24.Opinion Outpost-This site might not look as professional as some survey sites, but the members area is great. Laid out very well, easy to see rewards and all your survey information in one place.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payout to Date: $0.00

25.Panda Research- Another site you find heavily recruited among the serious paid survey crowd. This is one of my favorites for a couple of reasons. The website is well thought out and easy to navigate around, I received surveys right away, qualified for most of them.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payout to Date: $6.00 and $24.00 pending

26.Pine Cone Research-This came highly recommended to me but I could not get to the sign up page. I am told you have to find a banner somewhere to even get in. I will try to find a banner, or see if they will post a banner here. I will update this as soon as I can.

Verified: In Prosses
Payments: Unknown
Affiliate Program: Unknown
Payout to Date: $0.00

27.Surf Bounty-This site is not as professional looking like some, but I have been getting surveys 2 or 3 times a day. Most I did not qualify for, but I have not filled out my profile yet either, so that could be my fault. Lots of stuff to find on the site itself also.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payout to Date: $6.75

28.Survey Head-This is a great paid survey site in my opinion. This site does something that no other site I found has. They tell you ahead of time what your chances for taking the survey are. That is very nice. They also have surveys to take on a regular basis.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Yes
Payout to Date: $5.00

29.Survey Savvy-Well recommended on the work at home forums. I was going to write that I had not received any survey invites, but I just realized I had not filled out my profile. I will have to update this list next month to give you a better prospective on this survey site.

Verified: By Me
Payments: Cash/Check
Affiliate Program: Friend Referral
Payout to Date: $0.00

30.Survey Spot-Many people like this site, I personally don't that much. You do get a ton of surveys, but they are always for the instant win game. If I do get a survey for cash, I get bumped after too long into the survey. I will keep it in my list though for a couple of months. I don't see what it could hurt.

Verified: By Me, with conditions.
Payments: Cash/Check, and a lot of entries into their monthly drawing.
Affiliate Program: No
Payout to Date: $0.00, About 3000 entries into the drawing.