Ryan Jones’ Blog

Of all ways to make money online, perhaps the easiest way to do so without having to spend any money is using paid to click sites (or ptc/ptr) sites.  Paid to Click sites are essentially ad networking sites geared almost exclusively for 2 kinds of people: advertisers looking to spread word about their sites or services as well as people looking to make extra cash by clicking on the advertisements.

You are welcome join in on the action at palmbux at https://www.palmbux.com/register.php/ryansjones.html  (sign up is free by the way, with upgrade options for more features, such as rental referrals, free credits if you plan to advertise as well as other goodies).

How Paid to click sites work

Paid to click sites are aimed at two kinds of people: advertisers looking to “bribe” people to visiting their website (similar to how traffic exchanges work where you can view other peoples’ sites in exchange for them visiting yours) and people looking to make relatively easy cash simply by viewing ads as well as taking advantage of paid to sign up offers (where you can earn money by signing up for free trials and other special offers).  In a nutshell, here is summary of how paid to click sites work:

for users in a typical day:

- you sign up (most sites are free to join, with upgraded membership options for more features)

- spend time visiting websites and advertisements.  They usually don’t pay much (typically $.01 per ad), but if you click on these sites often earnings can add up after a while.

- At sites with paid to sign up programs, if there are free trials, discounted memberships, etc that interest you, you are welcome to take advantage of them for more money.

- At most PTC sites, you can actually refer new members and earn money either 1) whenever they click on advertisements too (you get a percentage off of what they earn), 2) if any of them get upgraded memberships (the only downside to this is that most people will only get a free member at first, so you will probably want to try and offer them to get incentives to get a paid membership instead if you want them to upgrade, either that or refer lots of people and hopefully sooner or later some of them will upgrade), or 3) if any of them buy advertising credits (anyone could purchase advertising if they wish, and can be handy if you are looking for easy hits and referrals to the ptc sites you use).

- Ideally, you should do this once every day if possible for maximum earnings potienital (slackers will usually not earn much with these systems and could lose their ptc accounts if they are inactive too long).

For advertisers:

- you purchase advertising credits (where one credit = 1 page view).  Many sites have bargain packages where you can get say 1000 credits for say $10.

- get people to visit your sites.  The more hits you get the better as you get more potiential leads and customers that way.

- Some PTC sites have guaranteed sign up offers where you can “bribe” people to become a lead or sign up.  I did this at Global Domains International at clicksia.  Of course, you will want to come up with terms on how you credit people on the offer (such as registering for a free trial, getting x number of clicks at a ptc site you are advetising, etc before crediting their account), since there are posers who will pretend to sign up but never actually become a qualified lead or customer (been there done that). 

- There are ways to improve your conversion rate, such as using splash pages, advertising sites that people will want to visit, as well as installing live chat on their site.

Honest review of paid to click sites:

I’ve been in the paid to click business since last year, and here are my thoughts.  On the positive aspect about these sites is that typically these sites are 100% free to join, and you do earn money simply by viewing sites and advertisements that various advertisers have to offer.  Some typical advertisments you are likely to run into are: 1) other paid to click sites, 2) Forex sites (such as Forex eToro and FAP Turbo, which are high yield investment sites that you can take advantage of if you have the extra money to invest), 3) mlms (such as Global Domains International, matrix programs, etc), 4) Casino sites (can be worth checking out if you are into gambling and the like), and others.  Most sites do not pay much, typically anywhere between $.005 and .02 per click (varies by ptc site and ads that are presented), though ther are some that pay as much as $1 or more per click, such as Rich PTC.  Of course, there are ways to make up for the extra low pay rate, such as referral systems that allow you to refer others and earn a percentage of what they make by viewing advertisements (more if any of them upgrade or buy advertising space), upgrade options for more features (such as rental referrals, more advertisements to view, and better earnings ratios per ad you and your referrals click on).  Most systems like Freebirdbux have one tiered referral systems, where you only make money from ads you and your direct referrals view (if they refer others, you will not make anything off of their referrals).  Whereas some systems like Clixsense have multitiered affiliate programs (clixsense has 5 levels worth of referrals you can get, for a maximum earnings potiential of $4000 or more)  downline systems, where you can earn off of both your referrals and their referrals spanning x levels deep.  The only downside to ones with downline systems is that at least in my experience is that 1) you do have to be actively promoting the system yourself and build a good ammount of 1st level referrals, which can be tricky at first if you are unfamiliar with affiliate systems, and 2) every referral is different, and some will be more active than others.  I’ve gotten referrals that never seem to promote the system or be active, and so you will probably have to work with your downline and  try to encourage them to promote the system as well, aftar all, they make money too by clicking on ads and building a referral base too.  Some ptc sites like
Matix Mails, have “paid to sign up” offers where you can take advantage of special offers (typically survey sites, free samples of various products, free trials, and other special offers) and earn extra bonuses by completing the offers.  For example, one offer that is out there is that you could earn $16 simply for applying for a student discover card (regardless if you use it or not).  The only downside to paid to sign up offers is that typically, the word “free” is not to be taken literally as there is usually a catch to the so called free offer (for example, if you got Real Arcade’s unlimited pass ), you would get it free for 30 days.  However, if you kept it beyond 30 days, then you would expect to pay a monthly subscription fee (I think it is per game you get) after the 30 days are up unless if you cancel.  Perhaps the best way to get the most out of paid to sign up offers are: 1) not spending more money than it costs to join if possible, 2) starting with 100% free offers (they do not pay as much as others, such as survey sites, but do not involve any real financial obligations on your part), and 3) only taking advantage of offers that interest you.

Negative aspects about Paid to Click Sites:

Like all money making opportunities online, paid to click sites do have their downsides.  For one, the pay rate is low for each ad you click on.  If you are earning say $.01 per click, you would need to click on at least 100 ads to break a dollar unless if you have a referral base.  Also, if you join as a free member, you will find that you will not have as many ads to click on as paid members do.  At Freebirdbux for example, free members have an average of up to 5 sites you can click on per day on average, whereas paid members might be able to click on up to 16 ads per day on average (each paying at $.01 each, with free members making up to $.05 per day and paid members making up to $.15 per day).  Another down side is that you really can’t expect to get rich with these systems, unless if you are able to build a monsterous downline (though many of these sites do have a limit as to how many referrals you can get).  Even at 20 referrals, you would be making no more than $100 per month per site on average.  The nice site about these sites though is that you are not required to sell any products (the referral system is optional though you do get bonuses for referring new members) as you do with traditional affiliate programs (such as Linkshare or Clickbank) or network marketing opportunities (like Global Domains International).  However, building a good referral base can be beneficial for maximum earnings potiential.  You will probably want to have plenty of extra money to live on when doing paid to click sites unless if you are an expert at getting referrals for these kinds of systems or are good with downline systems (for PTC sites with downline systems).  Also, while PTC sites are free to join, you can expect to spend some of your money if 1) you decide to get an upgrade membership, 2) buy or rent referrals (affiliate marketing can be extra difficult especially if you are new at it and have no prior sales experience, and renting or buying referrals can give you easy sign ups), 3) you see advertiser’s sites that interest you (after all, their goal with these systems is to generate leads and/or customers), 4) or if you decide to take advantage of paid to sign up offers (the word “free” is usually not to be taken literally if you are familiar with paid to sign up programs, such as Project Payday as most special offers do have some sort of catch to them).  One last downside to paid to click programs worth cautioning you about is that while most sites are legit, there are some scam sites around (such as sites that don’t have regular payout periods, sites that have hidden costs to them, etc).  Also, I’ve noticed that some of these sites can go out of business (usually happens when they run out of funds to give to the public) and when that happen, you will not be able to earn any more with these sites and may or may not be able to cash out.  Happened to me at glitterbux and bux.es

Recommended strategies with paid to click sites (based on experience):

- try to be active with these systems (clicking at least 5 days a week if possible, and be sure to set aside at least 1 or 2 hours a day to do this).

- Don’t join more programs you can handle (my advice is to start with 10 at the most and stick with them.  Join too many, and you will find yourself spending lots of time on theses sites, say 4 hours a day or more).  Also, you will usually be expected to be active at them and some can suspend or delete your account if you are inactive too long.

- Try to build up a referral base.  If you are looking for a site where you can get easy referrals, I recommend that you join earn money space at http://www.earnmoneyspace.com/forum/index.php?referredby=2558, which is a special forum aimed at helping people to build their downlines (primarily at traffic exchanges and paid to click sites).  One thread you might like is referral for referral thread where you can offer to join other peoples’ programs in exchange for them to join yours.  You can also offer incentives for people to join your site such as offering “bribes” if they join your site and say become a paid or active member.  One thing to be aware of though is that once you open up a trade, you will be bound to it unless if either of you opt out and typically with PTC sites, most members will expect you to be active at them (clicking at them at least 2 or three times a week).  If you are the inactive type, this kind of approach may not be for you as members can blacklist you if you fail to uphold your end of the trade (for example joining another person’s site and never clicking on ads there and ignoring their messages to get active).  Also, you will probably want to set a limit on how many programs you join (unless if you are planning to do this full time), as joining too many programs can get overwhelming after a while, especially if you are finding yourself inactive at some and having people getting upset because you are not clicking at them.  You could also build a website and promote them that way (at Global Domains International, you can build a website complete with a domain name, hosting and all for as low as $10 per month, which you can join at www.website.ws/ryansjones, but you can always opt for other services like Go Daddy, Site Build it, or yahoo hosting if you don’t mind investing more).  You could also join traffic exchanges that allow paid to click sites (not all of them do), and surf for traffic for them.  If you are looking for a list of some of the popular traffic exchanges out there, consider joining either traffic tornado at http://www.traffictornado.com/x/ref.cgi/28980/, Ads and Cash at http://adsandcash.com/6.php?r=7296, or at Affiliate Funnel at http://affiliatefunnel.com/?rid=20985 (which is a popular downline builder site that allows people to vote on top traffic exchanges).  How you promote these sites are up to you (some even have invite systems where you can invite friends, coworkers, etc to join your network and earn money clicking on ads too). 

(for next post):

- PTC sites I use

- Paid to read programs

- paid to sign up programs