Tuesday, May 31, 2011

My New Website! Money: Don't Spend it, to Make it!

I had a revelation today. It was simply taking too long to write reviews on every single money making opportunity. So, I went ahead and created a website that will have all of the money making opportunities I know about in one place. However, no worries! I will continue to write my reviews here as well.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Constant Content


Application Process: Easy
Pay: Varies by article
Flexibility: 10 out of 10
I signed up with Constant Content and it was easy. Simply, what you do is you fill out a forum to request an account, confirm your e-mail, and then log in. It takes about five minutes in all to do. Then, you click on the Submit Content tab to submit what you would like to sell.
Here is how it works. Say you write an article “How to Clean Your Closet.” The article is about 500 words and well written. You have the option to sell your article for Full-Rights (meaning you are selling the rights and you can’t post the article anywhere else), Unique-Rights (meaning you can sell certain rights to your piece, but not full), and then just usage rights (meaning the buyer can post the content anywhere, but you still have the rights and can sell the piece over and over again).
To submit the article you will have to name the article, upload the article in a word document, write a summary of the article, categorize the article, supply keywords, and most importantly, set your prices. I’ve seen articles for hundreds of dollars sell on the site. However, it seems articles between $10 and $30 sell well for full rights. Usage rights usually go for between $7 and $15. If someone likes your article, but wants to buy it cheaper, they will send you an offer for it.
This sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Writing about what you want and selling it for as much or little as you want. What’s the catch? The catch is that your articles have to be 100% grammar and error free. They will not edit your articles at all, meaning that they will reject it for the tiniest comma problem. They will give you some editor comments on what to change, but these will rarely be specific or cover all the errors. Even if you fix what they asked for, and they find another error, it will be rejected. If you get too many rejections, you will get suspended.
I tried this site when I was still a newbie to writing, and I really wish I would have waited until I was more experienced. I wrote 20 articles or so for the site, but they weren’t very good subjects. Over a few months, I got one offer for one article. I really didn’t put much effort into the site, so I wasn’t too disappointed.
The site is free to sign up for. Another pro about the site is that you can refer people and make money that way if you don’t have luck with the writing portion of the site. I’ve read some reviews from people making a full time income with this site. However, my advice would be to get some experience with other sites before jumping in and doing this one. Your grammar, spelling, and punctuation have to be perfect to make any money here!

Panda Research

Application Process: Easy
Pay: Varies by task
Flexibility: 10 out of 10

Panda Research is a site that focuses only on surveys. The surveys and offers range anywhere from $0.25 to $100.00. The surveys that offer more usually makes you either have a credit card to try a trial or buy something. However, I have done some where all I did was fill out a form with my e-mail and then do the survey to get $3.00. It took only five minutes to do!

Sign up is very easy and you can get started right away. They usually have about twenty to thirty surveys available at a time, with more being added all the time. Let’s say you find a survey that is worth $0.50 and is about Vacation. So you click on it and get to the summary page. You read very carefully what you will need to do in order to get your $0.50. The instructions will tell you exactly what you will need to do to get the credit. In this case, it says to fill out the evaluation with your name and e-mail to receive credit. So you click on the evaluation button and do what you were instructed to do. You then go back to the summary page and click on the survey tab to fill out a couple questions about the site you visited. This is very simple and you just rate the site and process you went through with the evaluation on a scale. In all, this took about three minutes and you got $0.50!

You can also make money by reading paid e-mails. These are e-mails that are advertising current offers at Panda Research. So you not only get $0.01 to $0.25 for reading the e-mail, but you get to see other ways you get to make money. Plus, it is quick and easy!

Some of the surveys at Panda Research confirm immediately while some take a day or two to process. You will receive an e-mail when the survey goes through. Also, you can check the status of your survey on your own by going to your account status tab. This will give you a list of all of the surveys you have ever taken and what their status is.

If it has a green looking clock, it means that the survey was viewed and is pending. If you did not fill out the evaluation or survey right, then the survey will most likely stay at this status until you go back and redo it. However, the downfall is that it doesn’t say if you didn’t complete the evaluation or the survey. So you don’t know which one to redo. I recommend letting it sit for a few days to see if it will process before trying to redo the survey. I’ve had some that took a couple days to finally do through. A grey check means that it has been approved so it will be added to your approved funds. A white exclamation mark with a red background means that your survey was reversed because they suspect fraud or another issue. This can happen if you give the survey wrong information about yourself and they find out. A white X with a grey background means that you viewed the survey but it expired. This happens when the survey is no longer being offered.

PayPal is the only way to get paid with Panda Research, so make sure you get one! Payments are made on the 1st and 15th of a month and in multiples of $50. So if you make $58.99, you will receive only $50 and the left over will count towards your next payment. When you have at least $50, you can request payment. They will not automatically pay you, so you have to remember you will need to request the payment. There is also a mandatory 30 day wait after you request the payment.

Currently, only US citizens can register to get paid with Panda Research. You also have to be 18 years or older. Your email address has to be valid in order to sign up with Panda Research. You cannot use website accelerators or proxy servers. Also, only one account per household is permitted at Panda Research. If you don’t obey the rules, they say you won’t get paid.

I’ve almost made my first $20 with Panda Research. This is with very little effort too. I’ve probably only put an hour into the site to see if it was possible to actually make money. While I haven’t requested a check yet because I am not at the threshold, I have seen others post their checks to prove that it is possible to make real money here. So what do you have to lose?

Inbox Dollars

Application Process: Easy
Pay: Varies by task
Flexibility: 10 out of 10

Inbox dollars lets you earn in ways similar to Cash Crate and Cashle. Inbox Dollars lets you earn by:
·         Shopping
·         Doing offers
·         Playing games
·         Watching videos
·         Doing tasks
·         Referring friends
·         Using coupons
·         Reading Emails

They have a large data base of coupons that can help you save money! The neat thing about the coupons is that not only will you get the money off from the coupon, but Inbox Dollars will you give you another $0.10 for using them!

The other unique thing about Inbox Dollars is the paid e-mails.  They will send you an e-mail that lets you know it is a paid e-mail. You simply open it and click on the conformation link to confirm you read the e-mail. The e-mails will usually be advertisements, so they don’t take more than a few seconds to look at. While it is only a few cents to look at the e-mails, it is something quick and easy you can do wherever you are, even on your phone! Plus, a few cents adds up quick! They state they will send 2 to 3 e-mails a day. However, some days I have received more and some days less.

The tasks and offers range from $0.50 to a few dollars. Most take only a few minutes to do, depending on what you have to do. In some cases, you simply have to give them your email and you are done. Be warned, you will receive a lot of spam in this case. I created a few e-mails just for this instance. One e-mail is for when I sign up for the surveys and task sites so that I get all my notifications there. The other e-mail is for when I enter it on offers and know I will get spam from it. This system has worked out well for me because I can keep my personal from spam.

When I first signed up for Inbox Dollars I did a few offers in ten minutes and made over $6.00. Add this to the $5.00 they give you for just signing up, and that is $11.00! For basically no work at all! If you can dedicate a few hours a day to this site, you can make a steady alternative income. I do many of the offers from my phone so I can do them while I am in the car or while sitting at work.

The site doesn’t go into much detail about who can join. They do not specify countries or age limits. So my advice would be to just try to join and see if lets you! It is well worth it to sign up!  

Cash Crate

Application Process: Easy
Pay: Varies by task
Flexibility: 10 out of 10

Cash Crate is a great way for anyone to make a little extra income. You don’t have to have writing skills, data entry skills, or any kind of skills! You just have to be able to fill out a form to sign up, confirm your e-mail, and complete tasks for money.

There are four ways to make money at Cash Crate:
1.       Through Offers
2.       Through Surveys
3.       Through Watching Videos
4.       Through Shopping

If you want proof that you can really make money with Cash Crate, you can head on over to the site and check out the Payment Wall where real users have already posted their checks. And, just to give you an idea, Cash Crate has over 2 million members around the world.

The other nice thing about Cash Crate is that payout occurs when you reach the minimum of $20 on the 20th of the following month. Some sites make your wait until you reach higher payouts, such as $50 or ever $100. This doesn’t help when you need cash ASAP.

Another way to earn is through the referral program at Cash Crate. You can invite other people you know who want to make some extra cash and you will make 20% of what your referrals make and then 10% of what THEIR referrals make! Sounds pretty good to me! Plus, it is really easy to make money by doing the offers because they are so simple. I’ve read some reviews of people making a full time income with this program.

Anyone can join Cash Crate, however you will need to know English well to complete the offers. Also, you only need to be 13 to join! As long as you put a few hours into doing offers, you can make a great additional income!

Cashle

Application Process: Easy
Pay: Varies by task
Flexibility: 10 out of 10

For those who would like to earn a few extra bucks a month, you should really check out Cashle. There are different sites all over the web that will pay you for doing tasks, clicking on ads, doing offers, doing surveys, playing games, or researching the internet. The need thing about Cashle is you can get paid for all of these things in one place!

As of (May 29, 2011), here are the stats for what was available in ways to make money:
·         All Free Offers: 613 available
·         Marketing Research: 14 available
·         Download Offers: 103 available
·         Service Introduction: 49 available
·         Gambit Videos: Unknown available
·         Daily Tasks: Unknown available
·         Daily Surveys: 1 available
·         $1 Offers: 18 available
·         Click Offers: 0 available
·         Trials and Paid: 288 available
·         Peanut Labs: Unknown available
·         Data Collection: 217 available
·         Gambit: Unknown available
·         Trialpay Unknown available

As you can see, there is a ton of different ways to make money on Cashle. Cashle works with Points2Shop which gives you even more ways to earn. You only need to sign up for one in order to be signed up for both.

You don’t need a credit card to sign up for Cashle and it is completely free to sign up. If you do one of the trial offers or one of the offers requires you to buy something, then you will need a credit card. However, there are over six hundred free offers. So if you don’t want to use your credit card, you don’t have to!

The other cool thing about Cashle is that you can redeem points that you earn at Amazon. Don’t let this confuse you. You earn cash or change the cash to points and use the points at places like Amazon. I looked as some of the prizes that you can buy and they include some really neat electronics, such as an Xbox. You also receive your first $0.50 for simply signing up.

To sign up, you have to be 18 years or older. However, for the younger audience, you can sign up at 13 as long as you have a parent’s permission. Another way to make money on Cashle is to earn by referring other people to the site. You can make up to $1 just for having an American sign up! You can then earn a percentage of what that person will make. But no worries, the money won’t come from that persons earnings, but from Cashles. Seems like a pretty good deal! Everyone wins!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Triond

Application Process: Easy
Pay: Revenue
Flexibility: 10 out of 10

Triond is very similar to all of the other revenue sites out there. Your content has to be original, so it cannot be posted anywhere else when you submit it. However, I read some reviews from other people saying that they would first post their ‘original’ content on Triond and then post the same content elsewhere.
“Reposting” content is one of the great debates of freelance writers. I am currently on the fence on the idea because I can see both sides. “Reposting” content is taking an article and posting it on multiple sites. The negative side of this is that when someone types in a key term in Google, your same article may come up four times, not very helpful for someone looking for more information than what you article provides. I remember in high school I would run into this problem when looking for sources for a research paper. On the earning side of this, “reposting” allow you to reach different social communities. On my Hubs, many of the people who view them are from HubPages community. I’m sure this is true with other revenue sites too. Many of the visitors tend to be from that particular community. So, if you have your article posted on four sites, then you get readers and earnings from those four communities. Like I said, I am still on the fence.
Triond seems pretty simple. You will need PayPal and AdSense to earn from this site! I signed up in five minutes and submitted my first article ten minutes later. You simply follow the directions on the submit form for your content. I found the form easy, but I didn’t like it as well as HubPages layout. I submitted two articles two days ago:


It took about 24 hours to get them approved and were posted yesterday. They show up on sites other than Triond. This can be handy, because your article goes to a site with relative information. For example, click on my Cutting Calories article. You don’t go to Triond. You go to Note Cook. This is a cooking and food website. Same with the Dragon Dictation article, you go to an electronic website, Quazen.
I’m not too happy with my results. I have only gotten two views, both on the Dragon Dictation article. I know it has only been a day within posting, but my Hub articles all had at least two views after the first hour of posting.
Of course, I haven’t earned any money yet. I plan to post a few more articles here and there to see if there is anything to gain with Triond. If someone had the time to post strong-keyword articles on a popular subject, I’m sure they could earn with Triond.
Signing up is free, so you really don’t have anything to lose to join. If you have some spare articles or can easily type some up, you might as well see what luck you can have. I’ve read some reviews where people have been able to make a little spare cash on the site.

Monday, May 23, 2011

HubPages Day 3

Today was 3rd day with Hubpages. I'm not quite seeing a whole lot of results money wise. As far as Adsense goes, I've made a whole $0.00! With the HubPages Ad Program I've raked in $0.15 so far. I guess I shouldn't complain, $0.15 is $0.15. Better than $0! I think I may have something wrong with my Adsense so I will send an e-mail and see what's up.

However, in better news, I have made some follows! I think I now have 8 people following me on Hub and have had 130+ views on my 15 Hubs. My leading artices is my Urinary Tract Infections in Dogs with 17 views and a coment. I think total I have about 14 comments or so on them.

My analysis after the first few days? I think I'll stick with it any try to make a little more money out of the Hubs. I figure, at least I'm getting my name out there and people are reading my stuff. Plus, the Hubs are So easy to write. You really don't have to have too much computer knowlege to get one up and running.

If you want to sign up or see how much success I've had so far, click here! Good luck. Anyone who has made any money or had any luck with the site please leave some comments with your experiences!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

HubPages - My First Impressions

Yesterday morning I read an article about someone who did an experiment on making money with HubPages. Their goal was to create 100 hubs in 30 days and see how much could be made on a weekly basic. During the first week, the writer created 40 blogs and made $56.20 by the end of the week. By the second week, the earnings rose to $112.56. Not bad for a week. The third week mad $88.88 and the fourth made $160.04. In all, it was $475.26. Not bad for a part time income. I then became oddly inspired to try it out and do my own little experiment. Read the whole experiment here.

Shortly after reading the article I went ahead and got started by creating my own HubPage and got started. By the end of the day, I had about 8 articles on the site. You can ear through HubPage Ad Revenue and AdSense Revenue, as well as several other options such as EBay and Amazon Revenue. The HubPage earnings refreshes every night, so you can’t see what you made that day until the following day. Well I had a lovely surprise this morning, I had made $0.07! Yes, I know, it is only seven cents, but it shows that it is possible to make a little money (or any for that matter) with the site. As you get more hubs, you get more popular, hence earning you more and more.

My goal for doing this type of site is that it is a write and leave sort of deal. I like it when I am earning money on articles that I wrote a year ago, regardless of how little it is. Plus, you gain tons of exposure on this site. HubPages rank high on Google’s search, making it possible for people to find and read your stuff. Also, there are TONS of members on the Hub site. In a single day, I’ve had over 50 views on my 8 Hubs. That is pretty neat for the articles only being up for a day.

I don’t plan on making hundred of dollars a month on this site (though I would love to), but I plan to at least make a little cash on the side. I’ll make updates when I get more experience on the site and if I make any money (or not). Stay Tuned!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Free Digital Photos.Net

I came across Free Digital Photos this morning when I was looking for some royalty-free and non copyrighted material to post on my blogs and articles. It is really handy if you need some small and simple photos for looks on your site. The wonderful part is that the photos are free if all you need is a small basic photo, about 400 megapixels or so. This size is perfect for blog and article purposes.
The next best thing is that, unlike most free photos, the pictures are taken by professionals and look amazing. They look like you paid big bucks for them. If you do need larger pictures, you can pay $1, $2, or $3 for bigger ones. Also, these photos, paid and free, cannot be used for commercial purposes. This means you can’t put them on greeting cards, mugs, T-shirts, anything you can sell basically. Also, NO SIGN UP IS NEEDED! So you can download ASAP without the hassle of signing up.
The only catch is that you need to give credit to the person who took the picture. This really isn’t that hard to do. They will supply you with the name of the user who uploaded the photo. What works for me is having a folder specifically for non copyrighted photos. When I’m downloading the photo, I make sure to put the person’s name that should get the credit so that it is easy to keep up with when posting the picture. Here is an example of what I put in the file name: (Credit Ealisa Adams) Flowers Blooming. This way, I can search by subject, and won’t have to dig through pages of photos to see who took it. Simple is best.
Photos always make your blog or articles look more professional. It is something about attracting the eye to your site. So, if you can, always try to link pictures to your site! It will increase traffic and look so much better.
Adventure on Money Makers

AdSense and PayPal

These are two places you will want to sign up if you want to be a freelance writer. PayPal is the way that most companies and sites will pay through. This is good for you because it is a safe way to exchange money. Even people who only use the money for shopping should use PayPal for purchases and not link their bank accounts directly. It is a scamy-scam world out there and you never know who you can trust online. Use your most used e-mail address when signing up for PayPal so that you will get e-mail notices when someone withdraws or makes a deposit into the account. This way, it is easy to monitor what is going in and out of the account. If you notice wrongful activity, simply inform PayPal and they will take it from there.

Now, on to AdSense. You may be thinking, why would I need Google AdSense to make money online? Well, blogs and article revenue sites will allow you to set up your AdSense account to post ads on these sites and you will earn revenue from it every time someone clicks on the ads. This isn’t a get rich fast scheme. It’s more of a get some extra cash in your pocket slow scheme. It takes time to build up your blog and get enough content on revenue sites before you see any big dent in your financial situation. However, the lovely part about this is that it is a write-and-leave situation. You write an article for a revenue site, and you let it sit. It may only make you a dollar or two a month, but that will be for every month for potentially the rest of your life. At least until the revenue site shuts down, if it ever does. Think of it this way, say you have two hundred articles on the web that makes about a dollar each with AdSense. That is $200. And the next month, you may make that much again without even writing an article. Why? Because you do the work once and reap the earnings over and over and over again. Now, it sounds too good to be true right? Well, everything takes a little work. It takes gaining exposure so that people will even visit your articles so they may see the ads to click on.

I’ve had PayPal for a year and I love it. I use it for every business transaction that I make. Plus, it is easy to use. AdSense, however, is something I just signed up for today. I’ve read reviews on it thoroughly. Some people hate it, some people love it. I also joined HubPages today so I can start writing and see if I earn anything on revenue share articles. I will make sure to update soon on my earnings (or lack of!)

Adventure on my money-making followers!

Break Studios

Application Process: Easy
Pay: $8
Flexibility: 10 out of 10

Break Studios is great for new writers. The sign up project is easy. You fill out the simple form, confirm your email, and BOOM! You’re in and ready to get started. There is no rigorous application process like other sites. You get paid $8 for every article that you publish. It is less than Demand Studios, but the articles can be as few as 250 words and are very easy to write. Your claim limit is also 10, like Demand Studios. You don’t even have to have a reference for the article like you do with Demand Studios. It sounds great right?

However, all good things must have some down sides. The main problem I have had with them is that sometimes there are zero articles available for claim. Sometimes there may be as many as one hundred articles or so, but this is usually the max. When they add new articles, they often go fast because of how easy they are to write. I’ve had articles that are as easy as “How to Break up With My Girlfriend” and can be written with just general knowledge. Also, unlike Demand Studios, you can only claim 10 and not claim more until your articles get approved. This is a big downside because they often take a week to get back to you.

I like the site because it is easy. Even though you can only do about 10 articles or so a week, that is $80 a week. Plus, it is easy to get started, and FREE! Never, ever, ever pay a single dime to make money. Many sites that ask for money, I have learned, will help you make money. However, this is often money you could have made in the first place without paying the money.

Click here to sign up for Break Studios

Examples of Break Studios Articles:

Demand Studios

Application Process: Moderate
Pay: $3 - $15
Flexibility: 10 out of 10

Demand Studios was one of the first freelance writing sites I came across during my first adventures of looking to make money online a couple years ago. I was skeptical at first, but when I ended up signing up for the site June of 2010 I was happy I did.

I hear that their application process can be tough because they turn away a lot of people. I applied on a whim without much research or experience and got in within a day. My husband, the English major of the family, had to apply three times before getting accepted. Before signing up, make sure you have a resume that looks professional and is concise because they will ask for one. You will also need a writing sample. Once you have these two items, you can get started filling out the application.  

I’ve enjoyed my time at Demand Studios. At Demand Studios you write for various sites, eHow being the largest. I’ve seen several other sites on their needing articles written, but eHow is the only one I’ve written for so far.  Average pay for a full article is $15, while shorter articles are $7.50. You can also do tips for $3. I mainly focus on doing How-To articles because I find them easier. My niches have turned out to be health and pet topics. They also offer revenue share articles. Payment is twice a week, which is wonderful! I get mine through PayPal, but there may be other payment options.

There are currently 80,000+ articles that are waiting to be written on the site, meaning you will always have something to write about. Your claim limit is 10. However, starting out I think it is 3. The wonderful thing about the claim limit is that, unlike some other sites, when you submit an article, it is removed from your claim limit. Some sites will keep it in your claim limit until it is approved, making it possible to only write 10 articles until they get accepted. With Demand Studios, you can write as many articles as your little heart desires.

Rewrites are common with Demand Studios. When you submit your article, it goes to Copy Editors (which you can also apply to be at Demand Studios). They will edit your site and may send it back for some clarification. Usually, 1 out of 5 of my articles comes back for something to change. Many times, it is something small like changing a sentence or two.

When I can’t find a good article to write, I use the “Create a Title” option. This allows you to create a title of your choice in a How-To format. I love this option because it allows me to change it up once in a while. The title needs to be original, which can be tough to come up with sometimes. However, a little rewording is a wonder thing! Once you create the title, it is added to your claim limit to write. You are paid for these articles through the revenue share program. I am on the fence about revenue share programs, but I gave it a shot. I have written 20 articles or so for this program and make approximately $10 a month. It’s not much, but its $10 a month I’ll make as long as the program is still running. Also, it gains you a lot of exposure and traffic because eHow is such a popular site.

My experience has been wonderful, although I’ve heard some people who have claimed it’s a scam. However, trust me, it is no scam. I can see people getting upset at being rejected to join the site or getting hired only to not like it due to all the rewrites. But realistically, in income sense, you can make some serious money here. At $15 an article, 10 articles a day is $150 a day, that’s not chump change! Starting out, a single article took me almost two hours to do (I was scared to death of rewrites). Now, I can finish two articles in about an hour. Sometimes I can do more, it really just depends on the complexity of the article.

I hope you guys try this site out. If you have problems getting hired on, contact me and I may be able to help you. It seems they can be a stickler on the resumes, so maybe I’ll to a post soon on professional resumes to help everyone out.

Click here to sign up for Demand Studios

Examples of Demand Studios Articles:
How-To Articles
How to Treat Canine Flea Infestations
How to Take Care of an Abandoned Baby Rabbit
How to Treat a Minor Cut on a Dog

Short Answer Articles
Can Guppies Live in a Fish Bowl

Revenue Share Articles
How to Treat Flea Infestations in Canines

Money Making and Saving Adventures

Money’s tight. Boy, can you say that again. Money is REALLY tight. Pennies are being pinched extra hard and jobs are long and far between. For me, my adventures of saving and making a little extra money stems from several factors. First of all, I am nineteen years old and married. No, no children. Actually, I guess I should take that back. We have a rambunctious puppy named Luna that is a hand full. She might as well be a child, she loves being babied. Second of all, I am a full time college student. This puts a tight string on how much I can work, and make. Third of all, we just bought our first house. We are so excited, but it’s a little scary too! So I thought that I would try to make a little extra money on that side, and learn to save a little too! I’ll keep everyone updated on how much I’m making and whether or not I run into any scams. Please send me any feedback or questions you have. I would love to hear them!
Adventure on my friends!