streams4freedom

13 Proven Free Traffic Generating Methods to Promote Your Website or Blog

2010-04-13T01:13:00.003-04:00

Do you want to make money with your web site? Do you want to show the world your knowledge or artistic talents? Then you need a steady flow of website traffic. If no one goes to your site, no one will read your articles, click on your ads or buy your products. Sales is a game of numbers. The more people go to your site, the greater chance you have of generating income.

With the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways to jumpstart the flow of traffic leading to your web site. Although popular web sites usually have a monumental budget for marketing and advertising, some of us who start a new web site as a hobby or as a way to bring in a bit of extra income might not have access to such elaborate resources.

Well, here's a little secret: you don't have to spend a single penny to access 13 of the best free marketing methods for promoting your web site! All you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You must have the drive and perseverance to invest some of your time doing the work and research necessary to generate more traffic for your site. Some of the following ideas are "set and forget", meaning once you have put them in place, they will keep driving visitors to your website again and again, and some of them you will need to actively promote, every week or every day in order to get the most out of them.

Honestly, I'm not saying that you will get 1,000 unique visitors overnight; getting traffic to your web site for free takes time and effort. By using the methods outlined in this article, you most likely will get a good amount of traffic to you site. Be patient and see your traffic gradually increasing over time.

Here are 13 proven methods to increase the flow of traffic to your website:

1. Submit Your Website To Search Engines
This might seem obvious to many, but it is often overlooked as one of the major ways to bring traffic to your website. No need to submit your site to 100 search engines or directories--like some of the site submission services would like you to believe--as long as you submit your site to the main players. (At the time of writing this article, submitting your site to Google, yahoo and the Open Directory Project should allow you to cover 60-80% of all web searches done on the internet since many search engines take their sources from these providers).

2. Content is King
This is THE most important of all the methods listed here for getting long-term high-volume traffic to your website. Combined with all other methods listed in this article, the traffic to your website will soar to unprecedented new heights if on your site you provide useful, interesting or intriguing content; articles, images, photos, tips, tricks, guides, how-to's, ebooks, products, reviews. People will actually do some of the work for you and link to it from their own sites or blogs. They will tell their friends about it and they'll even put links to specific content on your site on forums or social bookmarking sites (which have a HUGE potential of becoming a high frequency traffic source).

3. SEO - The Art of Search Engine Optimization
To maximize your traffic potential and get targeted traffic, you will want to use at least the most basic of search engine optimization methods: make the page title, filename, H1 tag and body text contain your most important keywords or key phrases. Make it easier for people to find your site. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs of pay-per-click or other types of paid advertising.

4. Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing also known as Viral Advertising is a technique used to build the public awareness of a product or company. The idea is to use many forms of media to reach out to the public without actually promoting the product. You make it so outrageous, funny or weird that people almost feel obliged to pass it on to their friends and co-workers, with the product or company advertisement along with it.

Viral marketing has become a popular means of advertising and marketing because of its relatively low cost. Its main and foremost advantage is that you get a lot of publicity and public awareness about your site and your company. You get to generate a flow of traffic of potential customers. With a little ingenuity and imagination, plus some incentives or prizes, you can reach out to a great number of people and announce your existence.

5. Social Bookmarking Sites
Social bookmarking sites like Digg.com, del.icio.us, Slash Dot (/.), can get you a MASSIVE flow of traffic to your site if your story makes it to the front page of these sites. Warning: If you are planning on submitting one of your stories or videos to one of these sites, it would be wise to make sure that your site can handle thousands of request in a short amount of time otherwise it might go down. The effect has often been compared to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, as many many requests made on a short amount of time floods the server which crashes, or it uses up all your bandwidth for the month. For more info on how you can plan ahead, do a web search on "how to survive slashdotting" or "how to survive a digg digg.com".

6. Article Marketing
Write articles that could pique the attention of people and provide good advice and knowledge and then submit them to free article directories.

This can get you traffic from 3 sources: 1) the article directory itself; as people search for articles, they might read yours and there is a good chance that they will follow the link to your site to know more about the author, 2) someone that really liked your article might use it on their own site (if you allow it) and some of their users might click through to your site from there, 3) by posting articles on your site, you are providing valuable relevant content which people look for on the search engines.

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias on the internet which provides free space for articles to be submitted. You will also find dozens of article directories which provide free content for website and ezine owners that will accept that you submit your articles for free. Use these resources for content and traffic.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site, something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Write articles that produce tips and guides to the subject or niche your site has.
Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link them to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site. If you provide a light, information-laden and interesting article, they will go to your site for more.

By having all those directories pointing back to your own site, most likely this will increase your site ranking.

7. Ezines, Newsletters and Autoresponders
Newsletters are really useful to provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting articles. If you do a good job of providing valuable content, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people sign up for your newsletter, the more people are likely to go to your site, increasing your traffic.

This may sound like hard work because of the quantity of articles you may need to build a newsletter, but it doesn't have to be so. There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in your newsletter. This will provide free advertising for them as well. Find out if they have a newsletter themselves; they might agree to publish some of your articles in it.
Find a good ezine service or an autoresponder and you will be on your way to growing your list of faithful followers.

8. Reciprocal Links
Another great idea is trading links with other sites. This is a sure and proven method. Rarely do you see a site where there are no links to other sites. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with other site owners to produce more public awareness about their sites. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster, and then all the traffic that goes to that site could potentially visit your site as well.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or similar content that complements the other site. They should share a common subject so that there is continuity in the providing of service and information to what interests your target traffic. See this as providing your visitors with additional content.

The efforts put forth by you and your link partner are doubly beneficial because both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with other sites, the more traffic could be expected.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic to your website very cheaply.

9. Forums, Blogs, and Social Networking Sites
Join discussions on online forums and blogs by sharing your two cents on a theme related to your site and let them see how knowledgeable you are on the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable source of information and products.
If the forum allows it, you can put a link to your website in your signature. From then on, every post you make becomes a free advertisement! Social Networking sites like Facebook, MySpace or PeopleString can offer some creative new ways to get traffic, but I won't go into details for now.

10. Traffic Exchanges
A traffic exchange is simply a type of website that allows you to get traffic sent to your website in exchange for viewing other people's. Most traffic exchange sites give you a ratio of 1:1 (where for every page you view you get 1 view to your site) or 2:1. The people using traffic exchanges will view your site for only 20-30 seconds so you need a very focused landing page (or splash page) for it to be effective.

There is a lot of information out there in internetland on how to create an effective landing page, but basically you need a simple well designed attention grabbing page, with no distracting links, with only one main goal or specific objective (sale, newsletter sign up, website sign up, etc.).

11. Write a Press Release
Release your writing prowess and start up a press release that advertises your site! This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime. Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet e-zines, newspapers and other media and massive traffic will come to you pronto! Many of the article directories also accept press releases, so be sure to check them out.

12. Turn your email signature into an advertisement
Most email programs or online services offer you a way to create and display your own signature every time you write a new message (or reply to one). Simply add your URL (the internet address of your site or blog) and a little descriptive or enticing phrase. If you have a business, be sure to add your URL to your letterheads and business cards as well.

13. Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is probably the oldest marketing method. Just let the whole world know about your site! Insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one person to another!

All of these methods will drive more traffic to your site for free. It only takes a bit of effort and time. Work on increasing your website traffic every day or once a week. Learn all you can about these methods and before you know it, you will have a site with a traffic flow that you can be proud of and that you can profit from.

SPECIAL OFFER: Get a $25 BONUS when you invest with ING Direct

2010-04-10T01:11:00.008-04:00

I have been a client of ING Direct for investments for a while and I must say I appreciate their services. Usually when I hear the word "bank", I tend to immediately think "Bleh, whatever", but with ING Direct, I must genuinely say that I actually like them! As of the writing of this blog entry, I enjoy 3% interest tax-free on my investments with them.

Here are some of the services they offer: Savings Accounts, Retirement Savings Plans (RSPs), Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), Guaranteed Investments (GICs), Mutual Funds, Business Accounts, Mortgages, great rates and best of all, NO FEES :)

Use Orange Key 21431357S1 when opening a new account at INGdirect.ca with 100$ or more and you will get a 25$ bonus in your account.

Just know that you will need to send ING Direct a cheque addressed to yourself to the amount of 100$ or more. This will link your bank account to your ned ING Direct account so you can transfer money between your bank and ING Direct whenever you want. Once they have received your cheque and that it clears with your bank, your account is active and ready to use. ING Direct will then deposit your 25$ (which will be accessible for widthdrawal 30 days after the account was opened).

This offer is valid for Canadian residents who are not yet members of ING Direct. This type of offer has changed in the past (it used to be 13$ bonus instead of 25$) and could expire at any time. If you have -any- interest at all in the offer, be sure to act now, don't hesitate. English biologist Tomas Henry Huxley once said:

«Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.»

If you would like more information about financial services they offer, be sure to check out the ING Direct website or their FAQ.

12 Streams Of Income To Get You Started

2010-04-08T04:44:00.003-04:00

Here are a few ideas to get you started into the world of online wealth generation:

1) Investing
If you have a job which brings a bit more than what you need for necessities, put aside 3 bucks every day and put it into a savings account. At the end of one year you'll have $1095 plus interests. With the help of compound interests, you can even stop putting money into your account after a while and it will keep making money for you over time. You will be making interests on interests.

You can also make other kinds of investments that may bring you more return on your investment. Be aware though, that the higher the possibility for return, the higher the risks. More secure, less return. You may be interested in bonds, stocks, realty, buying a business, etc.

2) Affiliate Programs
The great thing about affiliate programs is that you can sell products without needing to keep an inventory, do invoicing... All you do is promote your referral link, and get paid a certain amount on every purchase made through that link.
A good source of affiliate programs can be found through Clickbank or Commission Junction. You can also do a web search for "affiliate program" and you will find many, many opportunities, in many different niche markets.

3) Online Auctions
If you have your own product, or maybe you have items in your house which you no longer use but that may still be of value to other people, online auctions can be a great tool. Ebay is probably the most widely used online auction site, but there are others you may want to consider.

Some people have made quite a bit of money by starting their own "Ebay business". They buy good stuff that they find in garage sales or "offline" auctions, or they buy in bulk and sell at a profit. You can even set up an easy-to-use online store on Ebay or Yahoo. I suggest getting the book "Starting an Ebay Business For Dummies" by Marsha Collier if you are interested of going in that direction.

4) Sell your own product
You may want to write an eBook and sell it on your website, on Ebay, or on eBook libraries. If you manufacture or craft your own products, a website is definitely the way to go. You might also use a pre-made online store on Ebay, Yahoo!Shops or one of the many others.

5) Paid surveys
Most survey sites pay you 2-3 bucks for a completed survey, but some pay up to $50 or even $100 for a single survey that may take you 30-60 minutes to complete.
Since most survey sites will only send you a few surveys per month, registering to as many survey sites as you can will increase your likelihood of you taking enough surveys to be worth your time, and money.

6) Paid to complete offers, to surf the net
There are some sites like Treasure Trooper, Snap Dollars, Cash Crate, Instant Profitz that pay you to complete offers. You fill in a registration form, a trial membership, download an eBook, request a free sample and you get paid a few cents to a few dollars for every completed offer.

Some sites have more offers than others, and similar offers are often seen on different GPT (get paid to) sites. Most of them will also pay you when you refer people to them which is probably why young people with lots of friends tend to like these kinds of sites.

7) Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)
If you like selling, MLM might be for you. Most MLM companies offer you to sell a product and/or a business opportunity. You sell someone a product or range of products(like natural products, vacation packages, web site hosting, etc.), and show them how they can make money the same way you are making yours. Usually you will get paid a share of everything those under you sell.

If you are active to promote "your" business, this might be a profitable endeavor for you to look into.

8) Start a business
Have an idea for a product or service to sell? Start your own business! It can be a brick and mortar business, but you might want to take advantage of the internet and put your business online.

9) Sell advertising on your web site
If you have a popular web site, selling advertising on your site can bring in some hefty dough. The Adsense PPC (Pay-per-click) network is well-known and widely used. It is also very easy to implement on your site. Yahoo! Publisher Network(YPN) offers a similar system.

10) Accept donations on your site
Your visitors get some great information, tips or free tools on your site... why not give them opportunity to experience giving as well! :) Setting up a PayPal donate button is an easy thing to do and can be implemented quickly.

11) Sell your old stuff by having a yard sale
Just like online auctions, yard sales can be useful to rid yourself of stuff you no longer need or want. It might not be a stream that will last very long, but it's a great way to clean up your home!

12) Freebies/giveaways
Ok, not really a "stream" of income, more like a "possible sudden pile" of income, but who doesn't like free stuff?

Those were just a few simple ideas to get you started.

Having multiple streams of income will keep money pouring into your bank account whether you are at your desk, asleep or on vacation. No longer will you have to work at a dead-end job that you hate, working on someone else's goals rather than your own. You will have more time to spend with your family and live your life the way you want to. Make sense?

The most important thing to remember from this article is: get started right away! Don't wait until everything is perfect; the sooner you set up an automated system, the faster you will start making money, even if it may seem minimal in the beginning.

To the best of your success.

PeopleString - How to accumulate 3000 People Points per month

2010-04-02T02:22:00.002-04:00

As you may know, PeopleString is a social networking site that pays back 70% if its advertising revenues to its members. Your share is based on your use of the site. The more you use it, the more People Points you accumulate, the bigger your share of the loot. With the following method, you can easily rack up 3000 People Points every month.

a) Not a member yet? Join up for free!

b) Invite as many new people in as you can; you make 0.50$ for every person that joins under you, then you earn 5% of their earning and 2% of the earnings of their referrals for 6 levels deep.

Ok, let's get started!

1) Logging into PeopleString - 10 points
You may want to make sure you log out of PeolpleString when you are done so you can do this again in 12 hours.

2) Google search - 10 points
Using the google search field (top right corner), search for a topic of interest, feel free to follow the links to any of the results if you wan to(optional), then close that window

3) PeopleString email - 10 points
Click on the peoplestring email (yellow guy, down right), check if you have any emails if you want to, then close that window.

4) Mailbox-Cashbox - 10 points (or more if you have paid surveys or offers in there)
Click on the Mailbox-Cashbox (down middle, blue letter icon), fill in any paid surveys or offers if you feel like it, then click the Home link to get back to the PeopleString home page.

5) Shopping - 10 points (even if you're "just looking")
Go down left to the Shopping area and click a category, then pick one of the shop now buttons, then when you're done, close that window.

Note: I read somewhere that you also get People Points for usimg the Social Networks and Instant Messaging links (bottom right corner of the home page) but I haven't seen my points going up after using them.

If you repeat these 4 steps every 12 hours, you will get 100 points every day. Multiply that by an average of 30 days per month, you will be accumulating 3000 People Points every month. At the end of each month, People String will deposit your share of the advertising revenues in your account (I joined at the end of march 2010, and for about 400 People Points, with no referrals, my share was $0.48).

Enjoy!

How to get the most money out of PeopleString

2010-04-02T01:11:00.007-04:00

PeopleString is a social networking site (similar to Facebook) that pays you to do the things you are already doing. The site was launched back in September 2009 by the same company running BigString known for its Mailbox-Cashbox, destructible video mail. PeopleString offers pretty much the same things you may find on other Social Networking sites, the main difference being that PeopleString shares up to 70% of its advertising profits with its members. The registration is free and there are no monthly fees.

GETTING STARTED
1) Sign up to PeopleString for free

2) Set peoplestring as your home page (optional but highly suggested)
This will make sure you use PeopleString often. The more you use PeopleString every month the more People Points you get. The percentage of the advertising revenues you get every end of month is based on how many People Points you have. Find out how to get 3000 People Points every month.

3) Complete the quick $1.50 paid survey to setup your Mailbox-Cashbox (US/Canada only)
From the main page, if you scroll down about half a page, to the center you will find the blue and green Mailbox-Cashbox icon asking you to fill out your first survey which consists of a few questions to know what kind of e-mails and snailmail (and how many) you would like to receive. 2-3 weeks after completing this survey, you should receive a card in the mail with a confirmation code for you to enter and confirm your mailing address. That's when you'll start getting paid for mails.

4) Invite all your friends and get $0.50 for each one that joins under you
You will also get 5% of their income and 2% of their referrals' income 6 levels deep. Entrepreneur members earn 20% of their direct referrals earnings and 6% of all earnings on levels 2 through 6. Please note that more than one person per household can join PeopleString as long as they each have their own e-mail.

5) Fill in paid surveys, and offers in the Mailbox-Cashbox
A few weeks after filling up your first paid survey, you should get a card in the mail with a code. Once you've entered that code you will start recieving paid mails (emails and regular snailmail), surveys and offers.

6) Go on a shopping spree and get cash back
If you go to the lower left portion of the home page, you will find links to different shopping categories. Any purchases made through those links will get you rebates in the form of cash back into your account. According to the PeopleString FAQ: "online rebates typically appear as soon as 2-4 days after the item has shipped or up to 30 days."

7) Promote your referral link
There are many ways you can do this, I will go in more details in another post. You can find your referral link from the home page by clicking on the "Invite" button and then going to the "Get Invite URL's" tab. You can also find promotional banners by going to the "Tools" icon.

Multiple sources of income: your own money tree

2009-01-05T02:22:00.015-05:00

One day when I was about 7 years old, my mother and I were at a store and I saw a toy that I "had" to have. I asked my mom to buy it for me. She said: « Dominic, we can't afford to buy that, money doesn't grow on trees you know. » My mother was a widow with two children and was not rich. We had enough to get by, but anything more was usually out of reach.

I daydreamed about how much fun I could have if I had such a tree. I saw myself picking a few twenty dollar bills from that tree, with a big smile on my face thinking of all the cool stuff I was going to buy with it. About twenty years later, I am amazed that such a tree actually does exist: the multiplis streamae incomum.

Plant a tree, reap the rewards

image: Christian Ferrari

What first caught my attention in multiple streams of income is the possibility of having many different automated or semi-automated income generating systems. It seemed like a great way to make a living. The internet brought this possibility to anyone who has a little bit of knowledge about the way the web works.
There are many advantages to this approach:

Security
If you lose one of your "jobs", you can count on your other ones to keep you going. Something catastrophic would have to happen for you to lose all your sources of income.
Low cost
Many streams of income can be set up at little or no cost. All you really have to spend is a bit of your time, more initially, then less and less afterwards to keep your system oiled up and running. You might want to pay for advertising, but then again, there are many great ways to advertise for free.
Frees up a lot of your time
Once you have put an initial investment in time (and sometimes a small investment of money), you can let your system, your automated machines, do most of the work for you and start piling your money. While it's true that many will seem to generate only small amounts of money at a time, they will all add up to a substantial amount fairly quickly. Once your machines are set up and running, you'll have more time to do the things you really want to do and best of all, since most of your money will be coming from automated sources, you will earn money even while you sleep or when you are on vacation!

I love the idea of passive income; income that does not require your direct involvement. You'll want to put your streams on auto-pilot as much as possible.

Be ready to fail many times

Brian Tracy said that « The best way to have good ideas, is to have lots of ideas. » The same thing applies to your streams of income. Set up a few streams, keep those that bring you money, and toss those that don't. It's as simple as that. By knowing from the start that some of your streams will not work, you won't be as disappointed and it will be easier for you to keep your focus and your drive. Don't be scared of failure. Fail a lot! Try as many different ideas as you can, especially if there is no up-front cost to you. This way you will have the best chance of succeeding.

Stay focused

Try not to do everything at once. Start small. Focus on one stream until is has a life of its own, then move on to another idea. Don't try to make it perfect from the start either. It always seems to be easier to improve something that has already been set up, once you have seen it running for a while.

Where to start when you want to earn money

2009-01-03T04:44:00.009-05:00

So you decided you like the idea of getting paid from several sources, from multiple streams of income so that you can gain stability and greater freedom. But where do you go from there? There many many ways to make money online and offline. Here's something to get you going.

Step 1) Get a presence going on the internet by creating a blog or website

A blog (which is essentially a dynamic website presented in a diary format) can be a formidable tool in your quest for achieving financial freedom. Even a very simple 1-page site can be very useful to promote your own projects, your affiliate links, connect with similar-minded people.

If you don't have any web design skills or don't know anything about setting up a website, I suggest you try out one of the many free blog sites like Blogger or ~~Wordpress~~ (*I can no longer suggest the free version of WordPress as they do not allow any kind of advertising. On the other hand, many hosting companies offer easy 1-click installation of WordPress which is really the way to go). Once you've created an account you'll have access to creating a new blog (you'll need a name for it), and then you'll have access to customizing it(selecting a layout, changing colors and themes, adding features or widgets) and creating new posts (or articles).

Step 2) Write content on your site

The best way to get people to go to your website is to post useful and/or interesting information on it.

Say for example one of your hobbies is learning spanish. You should make your website (at least part of it) revolve around that subject. Write interesting new stuff you learned, add photos to new places you visited, review useful or fun spanish websites you found, set up a spanish-english chatroom, put links to spanish dictionnaries and resources, etc.

Once you have a few pages of content set-up, now is time to monetize it.

Step 3) Monetize your website or blog

Once you have value to offer with your free content, you'll want to add a few ways to make your site bring you a bit of money from your viewer's visits. A simple, effective and very popular way is through content-related advertising, meaning that the ads displayed on your site will be related(to a certain extent) to the content on your site, making click-through more likely.

Google Adsense is probably the most popular content-related ads out there (but there are alternatives). Once you have become a member of Adsense you will be able to create ads of different sizes which you will be able to customize to make them blend into your site's layout. Once they are setup on your pages, everytime a visitor clicks through one of those ads, you will get paid a bit of money by Google. Once you have reached $50 or more you will be able to request a check from Google Adsense.

You'll be tempted to click your own ads... DON'T! It is against the Google Adsense TOS. They will close your account and ban you forever.

Step 4) Get people to visit your site

You can have the best content in the world, but if no one knows it is there, then on the internet it doesn't exist.

Put your website address everywhere you can think of (but don't spam); add it to your e-mail signature, put it on your facebook/myspace/Yuwie/myLot, add it to your business card, tell your friends, advertise in the classified ads if they allow you (and many are free), write useful comments on other people's blogs and put your website address in your profile if you can(some will let you add your address in your comment). The more places will point to your site, the better. Find online forums on content related to your site and again, add your website to your signature or profile. Participate in discussions (or start new ones). There are many more free traffic sources, one of them being manual surfing exchanges like EasyHits4U.

Step 5) Repeat steps 2 and 4 until you have a good amount of traffic

Step 5.1) Keep your site up-to-date, fix broken links and add fresh content

Step 6) Reap your rewards!

There are many more things you can do to set up streams of income and we could go on and on about it. In fact, I set up this blog for this exact reason. Check out popular or recent posts on the right column or use the search tool on top of the page to find specific content you are looking for.

Earn extra cash with paid opinion surveys

2008-12-27T05:55:00.005-05:00

Looking for ways to make a few extra bucks each month? If you have a bit of spare time, you can bring in some extra income by doing paid surveys from home, at your own leisure.

From what I have read, there are quite a few survey sites that don't pay, so I have chosen only those whom have the best ratings, the best reviews overall and I participate in most of them so I can give you information from first-hand experience.

Below you will find links to those sites, a little description as well as my own personal experience for each one of them. You can judge for yourself if the offers are worth your time or not.

How it works

Most survey sites will pay you a few bucks for a completed survey, some pay up to 100$ for a 20-30 minute survey. Some sites will pay a small amount for surveys that you do not qualify for, to say thanks. Most of those listed below pay cash (by PayPal or by check, mailed to you) but some pay with points which can be redeemed for cash or gifts and others put your name in one of their (daily/weekly/monthly) cash draws.

Since you might not receive that many surveys from each survey site, it is suggested you register to as many of them as possible to make the quantity of surveys sufficient to be really worth it.

Before you get started

You may want to bookmark this post so that once you are done with one, you can come back here for more goodies!

Some advertisers can be unscrupulous when it comes to spam (although I am in no way suggesting that survey companies on this list are spammers), I highly suggest that you get an email address that you use just for these types of offers. Might I suggest Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo? Also, make sure you regularly check your spam folder as surveys sometimes find their way in there. In fact, many companies will let you know in advance from which e-mails they will send surveys so it's a good idea to add those to your address book or "white list".

There are some sites out there that make you pay for lists of paid surveys, but all survey sites on this list are 100% free to join.

If you live in the province of Quebec, Canada (where most interesting gift offers or sweepstakes are usually not valid... grrr!), you'll be pleased to hear that the following links are available to you as well as other Canadian and US citizens (might be available in other parts of the world as well, but you'll have to verify that for yourself).

Paid surveys:

Google User Experience Research
If you are selected to participate in this program, you can get paid up to $75 per hour for giving your feedback on prototype services, either in person at Google HQ, or over the web while you are on the phone with a Google researcher. They also have online surveys and according to Google, it does NOT involve having electrodes attached to your body... Thankfully, "Do no evil" is their motto ;-)

Pinecone Research
I have heard many good things about Pinecone Research. Unfortunately, they are very selective about who they accept and the only way you can join is by clicking on one of their banner advertising which I have never personally come across. Maybe some day...

Global Test Market
This site pays you in MarketPoints which can be redeemed for cash once you reach at least 1000 MarketPoints. Each survey pays up to 100 MarketPoints, sometimes more. If for some reason you do not qualify for a survey, you still get 5 points. Each point is worth $0.05 which means when you reach 1000 points, that'll be $50 for you.

I started receiving my first paid survey within a week and got about 1 survey offer every 4-5 days or so since. I highly recommend this survey site.

Hotspex
This survey site is one of the most creative I've seen so far. This site is fun and definitly worth a try! :)
The site pays you in BUX (a sort of points system). You can get BUX by doing surveys, by participating in the Hotspex Hotpot and sometimes (during a survey), you get to "Spin the wheel" for extra BUX points and prizes.

Surveys sent by mail pay a minimum of 50 BUX if you qualify, and numerous "fun" surveys on the site pay you 1 BUX for 5-10 minutes of your time.

For a chance to win a nice amount of BUX points, you can participate in the Hotspex Hotpot. Each month Hotspex loads the HotPot with 10,000 BUX. Members who wish to participate contribute a certain amount of BUX to the Hotpot. At the end of the month one lucky winner who has contributed to the HotPot will win half of the BUX that are in the HotPot. The other half will be donated to the Hotspex featured charity of the winner’s choice.

Whenever you win BUX points, you always have the choice to add them to your balance or donate them.

Thanks to a partnership with points.com, you can convert your BUX points to other points systems(HBC Rewards, Airmiles, etc.) or gift certificates. As an example and to give you an idea of the value of BUX points, you can get a $50.00 (USD) iTunes Store giftcard for about 3000 BUX.

Update 2010-04-03: Hotspex has ended its partnership with points.com. You can use your BUX to donate to charities of your choice, you can buy chances to win contest draws and there are also monthly draws of cash prizes. Hotspex also plants trees on your behalf when you fill in surveys.

SurveySavvy
Probably not the highest paying surveys (avg. $3 per completed survey)... But the most effective way to earn money with them is through their referral system: You get an average of $2 every time a member you refer completes a survey and an average of $1 every time a member they refer completes a survey.

Say you refer 5 friends which in turn refer 5 of their friends and each one of them completes 5 surveys, well that's $175 in your pocket for doing almost nothing... -Ka-Ching- *sound of cash drawer ringing*

Greenfield Online
For most survey completed here, your name gets added to a cash draw but sometimes you can participate in paid surveys ($2, 5$, etc.).

Opinion Outpost
Paid with "OpinionPoints". You are usually paid 20 opinion points per completed survey and you get 10 OpinionPoints ($1) for each person you refer which completes at least one survey. You can cash out once you reach $4.00 (40 points).

ResearchByNet
Become a NetPanel member and start earning NetPoints. Once you have reached 400 NetPoints you can request $10.00 payment by cheque. (750=$25, 1000=$50).

CashCrate
Although not technically a survey company, CashCrate does offer daily paid surveys (usually paying $0.50-$0.80 each).

SendEarnings
Similarly to CashCrate, SendEarnings is not a survey company but offer daily paid surveys as well.
Like Treasure Trooper, Snapdollars and CashCrate, SendEarnings also pays you for signing up for offers, shopping (cash back), reading e-mail, playing games, etc. Once you reach the minimum payout of $30.00 (which I must say is a bit high for this sort of site), you can request payment by check.
Again, like many others, you get paid 10% of the "qualified earnings" that your referrals make.

In conclusion

Join as many survey sites as possible and tell your friends about those sites which pay you for referrals (= more money).

As I find similar sites that are interesting, worthwhile(they pay their members, send lots of surveys) and well rated by participants, I will add them here so check back once in a while.

You found a very cool survey site you would like to share? Make sure you add it to the comments of this post so everyone can share. Don't forget to put your referral link if they offer one ;-)

streams4freedom - What's it all about?

2008-12-27T04:44:00.005-05:00

The idea behind streams4freedom is that in order to be free from 9 to 5 "slavery", you need to set up various streams of income to make money work for you(so that you don't have to work for it).

Getting rich? Becoming a millionaire? It's not my personal goal. When my various streams will be bringing in enough income to replace my 9 to 5 job, that's when I'll know that I have reached my initial goal. On the other hand, the goal of streams4freedom is to share knowledge with people around the world about earning money online and offline. I am no expert, but I am very excited about this project. A lot of what I have learned and practiced over the last 15 years were related to this project in some way or another.

Why become free? Am I a prisoner in the first place?

People who don't have to worry about money all the time can focus on what they really like and want to do. When you no longer have to worry about paying your bills, about having a roof over your head, about having clothes to protect you from the elements and having food in the pantry(and in your tummy), a burden gets lifted off your shoulders and your creativity is able to flourish.

«I work for money, and I can buy all the stuff I need. What's so bad about that?»

What if you were to lose your job? What if the company where you work were to close down? What then? How would you survive?

If you set up various streams that bring you income every month (or every day), then even if a few of those streams dry up, you still have plenty of income coming in from other sources to compensate. It is then much more secure and stable. Remember what they say about not keeping all your eggs in the same basket? Well it's the same idea behind this.

The beauty of the web is that you can share your knowledge, share your experiences with much of the "civilized"(or industrialized) world. Your audience is no longer your neighborhood, or your town, it's now the world.

Some people see money as an evil thing, a dirty thing. Sure, people who obsess over money will do almost anything to get it. Money is simply a medium, a way to exchange time or knowledge for other "useful things". In olden times people traded things they made for food or other necessities. Money is basically a way to exchange value. If you have something useful to someone else, that thing has value.

So do something of value and offer it to people, and you will get something of value back in exchange.