Working Home

How I Earned from Google AdSense with Just 16 Blog Posts

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 03:42:00 +0000

Image by stokpic from Pixabay

I seldom write blog posts on this website, as I've been balancing my job while maintaining my other websites. On top of that, I revived my YouTube channel last year, which comes with the responsibility of managing its Facebook page and website. So, I only write on this website when I have the time and inspiration to discuss a particular topic.

I know I can earn from blogging, but like many others, I struggle with consistency and often get caught up in the whirlwind of everyday life. I created this blog in 2009, but as I mentioned, I haven’t been able to post regularly. From December 2009 to June 2021, I only wrote 16 blog posts for this website.

Last November 2023, I finally hit my $100 payout threshold with Google Adsense—but here’s the kicker: I only realized it when I checked this blog in December. So, I was able to withdraw my earnings last December 2023. The funny thing is, I had actually reached the $99 mark back in June 2016, but with only 12 posts at the time and my lack of activity, I didn’t expect much.

If only I had been more consistent—posting even just once a week over the years—imagine how much more I could have earned! It is really possible to earn from Google Adsense; it just requires patience, consistency, and a lot of effort to research your niche and audience. You might not see immediate results, but as a side hustle that you can squeeze into your spare time, blogging can genuinely help augment your income streams.

The more time and effort you put into blogging, the faster you could earn. It’s important to focus on creating high-quality and evergreen content that will continue to be useful over time. When you can provide valuable information that many people want to know in a single read, you’ll naturally attract readers and viewers.

However, don’t just concentrate on the earning side of blogging—pair it with the desire to genuinely help others through your writing. This approach not only keeps you grounded but also helps build consistency and inspiration, giving you something meaningful to write about and a reason to continue sharing your thoughts.

HOW TO STAY FOCUSED WHEN YOU WORK FROM HOME

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 13:12:00 +0000

Image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi from Pixabay

You thought when you work from home you won't be disturbed or distracted, however, your pets, toddlers, other people or matters keep asking for your time & attention. Here are some suggestions to minimize distractions and stay focus on your remote work or online job.

1) Whenever possible, secure a secluded or private space to work in.

If you are single and you have your own bedroom then that's great, where better place to work inside your house but in your own private space i.e. your bedroom.

However, if you are someone who shares a room with a sibling in case where both of you are still young, unmarried and living with your parents or if you are someone with a friend whom you share the cost of renting a studio or 1-bedroom apartment, it's best to create a work area outside of/separate from your common room/area. This is so that you can respect the other person's privacy and also that some work requires privacy due to sensitive documents and information that you are probably handling.

If you are living with your parents, perhaps you have an unused room in your house like a guest room or a family member who are now living/working afar & seldom goes home. Perhaps you have a corner somewhere within your house where there are minimal visual & auditory distractions.

If you are married but your spouse is working in the office, you still can use a part of your couple's room as a work area. For sure there's a corner or side that your spouse can spare you with and leave you to work privately and comfortably.

Some work requires not only privacy but a quiet environment especially when you usually make or take phone calls or video calls. Here's what you can do to seclude your work area out of a common area.

a) Hang a curtain or use a modular partition stand

b) Use a cabinet and/or drawers to compartmentalize your area

c) Line up some tall indoor plants

2) If your workspace is in your bedroom, place a partition wall or something to hide your bed from your work area.

Thank you for the background effects in Zoom & Google Meet, you can hide your actual background in virtual meetings. However, the purpose is not only that your bed will not be seen in your video meetings but to avoid or minimize the instances of you wanting to lay down/sleep every time you see the sight of your comfortable bed. Sometimes the bed can be enticing specially when boredom strikes from your monotonous or repetitive tasks.

3) Keep your child and pets away during work hours.

If you have toddlers, make them understand when the right time for play is and needed time for work, why you need to do this and be away from them for a while. Don't underestimate a young child's capacity to grasp situation where he/she needs to adjust & behave accordingly. However, be sure that they have a guardian taking care of them to give you peace of mind, so you don't worry about them while working.

If you have a pet or pets, take them out of the room. If you're working outside of a room, place them somewhere else or put them temporarily in a cage if they're insistent.

4) Maintain a clean and organized work desk/area.

You are feeling that great momentum at work when suddenly you need a pen, and you can't find it. For some if not most, there's this tendency to forget what's currently in one's mind or at the tip of one's tongue when we get distracted and it takes a little time to recall where we left of, especially when you have a lot on your mind. Maintaining a clean and organized work desk will minimize instances of losing seconds or minutes trying to find a misplaced needed item and hence minimizes the times when we lose that gained momentum at work.

5) Minimize aesthetics.

We are sometimes inspired by those images we see on Pinterest and somehow try to achieve the same aesthetics we want for our workspace. Sometimes we might even go overboard that we end up with a work desk that is overcrowded by things that's no longer helpful nor necessary on the worktable. Too much aesthetic displays can be visual clutters that makes our eyes and mind busy as it already is.

There are a lot of apps that can be downloaded in PC or mobile phone that can replace those hanging sticky notes, moreover, you also have your notebook on the side. And do we really need that analog or digital desk clock when we can set our PC to align with our client's time zone? How about those excessive photos on your desk or wall, we can place a few on our PC's wallpaper or screensaver.

6) Be disciplined.

When you know you have an early daytime work shift, don't stay up too late and try to get enough sleep. It's hard to keep your eyes open in front of the PC when you're sleepy. Also, our mind tends to be foggy when we are sleep- deprived.

7) Choose to eat healthy foods. Fuel your body with necessary nutrients.

Notice that some if not most of those who work from home have fats concentrated on their bellies. Some eat junk food during break times. Remember that we are what we eat. We are in total control of what we do and feed into our body. Why not eat fruits or nuts as your snack instead of junk foods, better if it's a fruit and vegetable salad.

Unless you have a standing/moveable desk, most of the time we sit in front of our PC. Let our blood flow throughout our entire body regularly as it should be by standing as often as you could or at least every 15 minutes. Also, sit up straight & do not slouch if you don't want to have a herniated spinal disc.

8) Prep your lunch meals for the whole workweek or at least the night or day before.

Sometimes our minds wander a lot because we have a lot of worries. Being prepared for something that you will need tomorrow or in the near future, gives you confidence to go through your day.

Preparing your meals ahead of time lessens your worries, hence lessens your stress. This is especially useful for pressing times that even a lunch break would be hard to sneak in or those unpredictable times that we suddenly get too busy with work.

9) Whenever possible, never miss your 15-minute AM and PM break time.

This is to rest your body and mind for a while and recharge yourself with a new energy to help you withstand the remaining work hours. Burn out occurs when we put too much pressure on ourselves that we forget we are humans and not machines.

10) Keep your mobile phone reachable but out of sight.

Sometimes friends, family members & other parties call you on your mobile phone during work hours. Unless it's an emergency or an urgent matter, keep your mobile phones away from sight but reachable when you need them.

Also, for some, whenever you see your mobile phone & hear notification sounds, you can't resist to check on your social media. Sometimes time flies and you didn't notice it especially when you're enjoying what you're doing. At times you thought you just checked your mobile phone for a few minutes but actually it's been half an hour.

You may want to do as follows:

- Put your mobile phone on silent but on vibration mode so just in case it's really urgent or it's an emergency, you still can be aware of it.

- Turn off social media sites notification. Set your social media profile status to "busy at work".

***

When you stay focus on your job and tasks on hand, you get to perform your work better and achieve great results. The client is happy, and you feel confident & fulfilled.

Top 5 Most Popular Websites for Freelancers

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 17:05:00 +0000

Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay

New to freelancing? There are a ton of websites for freelancers where you can find an online job. But as a newbie, you can start with these 5 most popular ones. These are websites which stand as a 3rd party platform between freelancers and employers.

1) Upwork

Wond'ring why Odesk and Elance were out of the online job marketplace industry for a long-time now? That's because they merged and formed Elance-Odesk on December 18, 2013 and rebranded with the name Upwork in 2015.

I am an Odesk member prior their merging. Member accounts of former Odesk and Elance were just transferred to Upwork. Our accounts were not deactivated and it's up to us if we will continue to work on the new platform given that there's a lot of changes in their policies.

Website: Upwork.com

Membership Registration : Free, chance to apply to jobs or projects is initially 10 connects but as you received projects and good feedbacks, Upwork will give you more free connects. An option to upgrade
membership is available for $14.99 USD monthly subscription with the benefit of having your profile more discoverable. You will also have additional 70 connects or application attempts to bid on projects

There is also an option to buy additional connects based on your budget.

Pros:

a. You choose how you get paid. Payment Options are direct bank deposit, Paypal, Payoneer, wire

transfer and more.

b. You can create/build your own team. You get to earn extra when you are a team creator/leader.

c) You can choose how you will work. Either short-term or long-term, on a fixed project or hourly-paid project.

d) Payment is guaranteed through an escrow.

Con:

Service fees.

Service fees, formerly called as commission, is an amount taken from every freelancer for every completed works/projects computed based on percentage of your earnings.

20% for the 1st $500 USD bill to clients

10% for the total billings between $500 to $10,000 USD

5% for the total billings exceeding $10,000 USD

You may join Upwork through this link: Sign Up at Upwork

2) Fiverr

Fiverr is a website where freelancer can offer just about anything as long as it is legal and complies

with Fiverr terms and conditions of use. There are over 200 categories to choose from.

A gig starts at $5 per project but it's up to you how you will price your service.

Example: I can translate 500 words from Tagalog to English for $5. (short-term)

I can be your virtual assistant for $5 per hour (with potential for long-term or repeat

projects depending on the needs of the clients)

Website: Fiverr.com

Membership Registration: Free

Pros:

a) You can create a specific skill/tasks that you want to work with. There's no ad hoc tasks. You can particularly specify the kind of service you are offering. For example, if you're a graphic designer, you can offer, "I can design your company logo using Canva for $5" or "I can create your Youtube intro/extro for $5.

b) Flexibility. You decide when to work on the project as long as you meet the deadline.

You decide if you want to do it part-time or full-time. You also choose your work load if you want to fully load yourself with projects, offer and accept as many projects as you want. If not, offer lesser skills/services or schedule the projects based on their deadlines.

c) No membership upgrade fees or requirement so everyone has equal opportunities.

Con.

a) You will only receive 80% of the paid transaction. Fiverr takes 20% commission per successful

transaction.

b) Payment is not released until the client approved with the freelancer's work.

You may find yourself revising a done work once, twice or repeatedly until the client is satisfied

with your output.

You may join Fiverr through this link: Join us at Fiverr!

3) Freelancer

Freelancer.com is an Australian-owned freelance job marketplace founded in 2009 which headquarter is located in Sydney, Australia.

Website can no longer be reached It's possible that the website already ceased to operate because of the legal issues they're facing since 2015 related to violation of Privacy Acts.

I only listed this one since they are one of the most popular but there are a lot of other options anyway.

Please do note that Freelancer.com and Freelance.com are distinct and separate from each other so I hope you won't be confused. Freelancer.com was founded in 2009 while Freelance.com was founded in 1995.

4) Guru

Guru was established in 1998 out of their offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA and Noida India. It works very similar to Upwork's platform.

Membership registration: Free. Guru offers paid membership options. where you get to have more number of bids, boost profile searchability and lesser transaction fee.

Pros

a) Has lower transaction fee (commission fee) compared to Upwork and Fiverr. Guru takes only

about 9-10% of your paid transaction.

b) Secured payment. During agreement with hiring employer, you may request the latter to fund "SafePay" before you begin to work. Safepay is a shared account funded by employers as an

escrow.

c) Website is user-friendly, transparent and has a support system similar to Upwork.

d) They offer arbitration services in case of disagreement between freelancer & employer. Upwork

also mediates while Fiverr didn't mention this matter upfront in their website but they have 24/7

customer support.

Con

Since the platform is similar to Upwork but has lower transaction fee, the only thing that might be

a challenge will be stiff competition. Since like Upwork, Guru is a global online job marketplace for

freelancers, rivalry is tough because you're not only competing with your countrymen but you

are competing for projects with freelancers around the globe. Winning a project is like winning Miss

Universe. 😄

Anyway, the same is true with Fiverr, People Per Hour and other freelance websites as long as it's

open to freelancers worldwide. If you have other options like us Filipinos, where foreign companies

prefers to hire most of their employees and freelancers in the Philippines, you must also be a one

lucky soul.

You may join Guru.com through this link: Sign Up on Guru - Hire Freelancers & Get Freelance Jobs Online

5) People Per Hour

Founded in 2007, People Per Hour has 3 Million registered freelancers in their platform. Their

platform is like a combination of Upwork and Fiverr where you can post skills/services to offer

or bid on posted projects by employers.

Website: PeoplePerHour.com

Membership Registration: Free, bid up to 15 projects per month. You can buy proposal credit to

increase the number of projects you can bid to.

Pros

a) The good combination of Upwork and Fiverr where you can do both, bid on projects and post

a service to offer.

b) The same with Upwork and Guru, People Per Hour provides escrow on payment.

Con

The same with Upwork, Fiverr, Guru and other global freelance platforms, competition is rigid as

in this platform, rating and feedback system are also used.

You may join People Per Hour through this link: PeoplePerHour.com - Hire Freelancers Online & Find Freelance Work

***

All of these 5 online job websites requires you to build a great profile and portfolio. You have to know how to specially sell your skills/services to beat the global competition. It could be very hard at first, but it's very rewarding in the end.

Please find this collective list of the best freelance platforms according to Payoneer.com.

Why are they popular? They are the most-recommended and most mentioned freelance platforms in blogs, Youtube videos and freelancers Facebook community. They have been a go-to for freelancers who are looking for either a part-time or full-time online job or online gig because of the following reasons.

a) Legitimacy of job post

b) Security of payment

c) More job options

d) Opportunities for longer project/s or full-time employment

e) Ease of Use

There are also websites and manpower agencies which are targeted exclusively and/or mostly open for Filipino freelancers. These are created not only by local companies in the Philippines but by foreign companies around the world. Some of these are as follows:

Onlinejobs.ph

Virtualstaff.ph

Remotestaff.ph

Virtualstaff365.com

FreeUp.net

MyOutdesk.com

VirtualAssistantTalent.com

Kinetic.Online

Vavavoom.solutions

VAAPhilippines.com

You might want to read:

Working Home: Is Freelancing Better than a Regular Office Job (onworkinghome.blogspot.com)

Remotasks, Is it Legitimate and Does it Really Pay?

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 04:21:00 +0000

Remotasks was founded in 2017 by Scale.ai, a company based in San Francisco, USA that helps their client companies accelerate their AI applications by providing human-powered data.

Remotasks is a micro-job website where you can earn online doing different tasks. Named from combining the words "remote" and "tasks", this website is open to anyone from most parts of the world who can do tasks such as image tagging, object categorization, lidar annotation, video transcription & others. However, their main focus is more on lidar tasks.

One example of a lidar task is to identify vehicles, pedestrians, street lights and anything that can be found on the street. You draw boxes on objects or persons, you categorize & label them.

The result of these tasks helped car companies for example to develop a modern car with radar features.

No worries though, they provide written courses & video tutorials that can help you learn about the tasks before you start doing them. Pay rate is $1-2 per hour for simple tasks depending on your accuracy. If you have some mistakes, you'll receive less than a dollar. On the other hand, pay rate is higher for LIDAR annotation.

Is it legitimate?

Yes, I can testify that it is. I have tried this website last year and have mentioned this website in my other blog. Please see payment proof in my Paypal account. It's not that much because it's just me who tried for the sake of trying. I've been busy with my corporate job since last year and I have stopped being active in Remotasks for a while now but I'm considering to go back to doing this as I continue on searching for legitimate online jobs that I/we can do as a side-hustle.

Please find below the most honest review & tutorial on Remotasks.

If you want to try and include this one in your side hustles, just click this link to join - https://www.remotasks.com/r/OIH6PVB7

Here are the list of countries where Remotasks is available:

Which Websites Offer Low-Paying and High Paying Jobs Online?

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 07:02:00 +0000

It's best to know which websites are low-paying or high-paying online so you could choose where to spend your precious time wisely and focus more on higher income-generating jobs or tasks.

Let's list down the low-paying jobs or low-paying websites firsts;

1) Doing microtasks of-course

Eg. Remotask.com, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Emotion Miner.

You will only get "micro-payments" from them as well. Amazon Mechanical Turk minimum payment for a task is 1 cent or US$2 per hour. For non-US members, the payment is via gift card.

The tasks in Remotask.com is more on image annotation although there are other task options like audio transcription, categorization, and lidar annotation. You will be paid hourly, the rate depends on the nature of the tasks. As an example, for audio transcription, you will be paid $1 to $2 per hour, that is very low.

Emotion Miner pays $5 dollar for 15 videos of 5 minutes each. So that's only 33 cents per 5 minute video. The 5-minute video does not contain a single video but a mixed video of people whose emotions you have to assess.

2) Get-paid-to read emails, view ads/websites, take surveys, watch videos, play games, etc.

These jobs or websites only pay cents for your time and effort. It would take you a long time for you to cash out or get rewarded as some sites require a higher threshold or minimum amount for withdrawal.

That's why in my previous post I suggested to do them only in times you are stagnantly waiting for the bus/train or if you're queueing in a restaurant or offices waiting for products/services.

Sites like Inbox Dollars, Cashcrate, Donkeymails, Clickworker, Swagbucks, and the like.

3) Answering surveys

Websites such as Global Test Market, Toluna, Survey Junkie, YouGov, Mobrog etc. Doing surveys is time-consuming yet the payment is only from some cents to a maximum of US$2 depending on the length of the survey.

I find some sites are irritating at times when you receive email notifications saying that you're qualified for a survey. They should have re-word it to pre-qualify because once you click the link, you would still have to answer several questions for them to filter out those who do not match the criteria.

What's tricky is, out of the filtering questions, you will find some questions that itself is the survey like "Do you plan to purchase a car within 3 months?" or Do you have a car? then the next question is, If yes, what brand?

Then after answering 10-15 questions, it would inform you that you are not qualified to take the survey.

Another bothersome thing in their email is when you click the link it states "the link already expired" when you just received the email the same day.

They should have mentioned in the email that the link will expire in 5 minutes.

4) Transcribing Audios

The highest rate you can get from transcribing audio files to text files is from Rev.com which pays 40 to 60 cents per audio minute or equivalent to $24 to $36 per audio hour.

Please note that audio hour is different from hours worked. An experienced transcriber can finish transcribing a 1-hour audio for 4 hours and a beginner might finish it after 6 hours.

Not bad for some who have a lot of patience for this task.

Now, let's put more energy on high-paying online jobs, shall we? and where are they?

1) Translate languages at Gengo.com

Want to know how much you can earn from this site? Just click this https://gengo.com/translators/

At the bottom part where you can see a calculator, choose the language you can translate to and it will display the average pay you can earn per month.

2) Do short tasks at Fiverr.com

Short tasks are guaranteed with $5 pay per task at the minimum, that's why it's called Fiverr, isn't it?

3) Do freelance jobs at Upwork, FreeeUp, Freelancer or Guru.com

In Upwork, you can choose free membership where the minimum application you can send to is 20. There is a paid-membership option where you can apply to more jobs.

With FreeeUp, Freelancer & Guru.com, there's no membership fee, joining their site is totally free.

With freelance jobs, you have the option to choose whether to accept fixed projects and short-term or hourly-paid projects which can eventually lead to long-term projects if clients are satisfied with your work.

4) Teach English Language Online via Italki.com or Vipkidteachers.com

With Italki, you can set your own price. At Vipkid, you can earn from $14 to $22 dollars per hour.

5) Write a blog and include PPC Advertising & Affiliate Marketing

I'm sure you are all familiar about blogging but you may not be well-oriented with PPC & Affiliate Marketing.

PPC means pay-per-click, that's what Google Adsense Advertising business is all about. If you'll put Google Ads in your blogs, you can earn by the number of page views or visits to your blogs, more so if they click one of the ads.

Affiliate Marketing is about selling a company's products online via posting a link/banner to your blog site/website. You'll earn a commission when someone bought a product through a link from your blogs. Popular companies accepting affiliates are Amazon and Clickbank. You may also comment on other people's blogs and leave your affiliate link through the comment section.

6) Make Youtube videos and monetize them.

Similar to #5, you may also earn 4 to 6 digits figure doing something that you enjoy. Make interesting videos or video blogs to entertain, to help, to educate people on certain topics and earn from it at the same time.

However, you need 1,000 subscribers first before Google Adsense for videos will come into the scene. If you're really good in your niche, companies might send you offers to review/test their products or services and be paid for making a video of it as well.

7) Share your skills or teach a course at Skillshare or Udemy.com

At Skillshare, you only have to record your video class, it's not a live tutorial. You'll be paid monthly for each student who watches your pre-recorded video. And you don't have to be a licensed teacher to join this site.

While at Udemy, the same with Skillshare, you will record your video-class. You will earn everytime a student purchases your video class. You will be paid monthly via Paypal or Payoneer.

Depending on how you market yourself and how you make use of the tools & assistance provided by these sites, you can earn from low to high 4-digit figures in a month.

Important Note

These high-paying jobs and/or websites requires you to put on your best effort & a lot of your time in the beginning but in the end, at least for sure, it would all be worth it.

Like for translation job, you have to pass a translation test, that's a given. For freelance jobs, Fiverr & online teaching, you have to make an astounding written & video profile to market yourself well.

For blogging & Youtube monetization, it would really take quite a long time, dedication plus consistency to create contents that are enticing and engaging. Some took a year before they actually have their first earning. But if you become successful establishing your niche and audience, you'll continuously earn from it even while you're sleeping.

Is Answering Online Surveys a Waste of Time?

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 17:15:00 +0000

Is answering online surveys really a waste of time? I think not. If you really have time to waste just watching TV or playing computer or mobile games which gives you entertainment at that point and nothing else after. Why not try to be productive during your idle time? Answering surveys is not a really a bad idea.

Why? Your honest opinion in surveys helps businesses to make better products and services for us consumers to use. It is also used by institutions to analyze and better understand public views about current news & affairs. At the same time, you earn extra money just by answering multiple choice questionnaires or ticking a mark to answer and this won't even make you sweat.

Answering surveys will not be a waste of time when you do it to spend your time wisely. For example, you may do it while taking time on these activities;

1) Waiting for the bus or train to arrive while going to work or going back home.

2) Waiting in line to buy food, movie tickets etc.

3) Waiting for your friends & loved ones in your meeting place.

4) Waiting in queue for your business/personal transaction to be served.

5) While seating at the toilet to poop

Most of the legitimate and paying survey sites have mobile applications for IOS and Android phones so you can do it wherever and just whenever you need to kill time and avoid boredom.

The reward or pay range for answering surveys vary from site to site but it typically ranges from a few dollar cents to a couple of dollars per survey depending on the length of the survey. If it is by point system like that of YouGov Philippines, it is convertible to mobile load card, gift cards to stores/restaurants, charity donation or cash via Paypal.

Here in the Philippines, a burger meal at Mc Donalds or Jollibee will only cost us US$2. So imagine that when you're answering a few surveys while waiting in line to order your favorite burger, you are actually earning to pay for your next burger meal.

Also, the minimum wage here in Pampanga, Philippines is only P400. That is equivalent to P50 per hour which is less than 1 US$. As of this writing, the US dollar exchange rate to Philippine Peso is P53.51.

Mobrog.com for example pays .50 US dollar cents to US$3 per survey. To earn the aforesaid minimum daily wage, you only need to earn US$7.48 from surveys which can be from answering 4 to 5 surveys that you can complete in 1 hour. What if you can answer more in 1 day in different survey sites.

See, the pay you can get for a whole day worth of work can only be earned in 1 hour ticking the multiple choice options in answering surveys. Well, that's the case here in the Philippines where US dollar is 53 times fold. It is an advantage for countries whose US$ value is equivalent to multiple amount in their own currency.

However, the number of surveys you can partake to depends on the country where you're at, the clients of the survey site, the profile and interests you've filled up in the survey site. Some sites offer more surveys to members who are more active than the others.

As much as you want to earn more from having enough patience to answer surveys, you might just be able to do so by joining a few or several sites.

At the moment, I've been trying the sites - YouGov, CashCrate & Mobrog. However, I do not recommend YouGov & Mobrog based on the first week of my experience. Cashcrate is better than the 2 aforementioned sites so far. Global Test Market is another legitimate site.

As a recap, answering surveys is not a waste of time if you would do it during waiting time and to kill your boredom. At least your time is not really wasted as you've become a little productive earning some pennies in those idle moments.

Is Freelancing Better than a Regular Office Job

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 07:05:00 +0000

image credit: blogimages761 of photobucket.com

The answer is either a yes or a no, depending on your life’s situation and preferences. If you want more freedom & flexibility in exercising your profession or career, you may want to be a freelancer. A freelancer is someone who works for one or several employers on a per project basis which may either be on a short term or long term basis depending on the needs of the employer and how well you perform. There may be a contract/bid agreement depending on where you sourced your freelance job. A freelancer can classify himself/herself as self-employed as he/she practices his/her own profession or know-how.

A freelance home-based job can be sourced through freelance websites like Upwork.Com (joint Odesk & Elance) and Freelancer.Com, FreeeUp.com, Guru.com and many other sites where you can get to choose the kind of work you want to do, for how long and how much. You can work for as many employers as you can & serve many of their projects as long as your time and energy could allow. You may work wearing a pajama, you never have to commute and wake up early to beat the clock. You work according to your own time & pace and you get to choose or bid for projects with a more desirable rate as the pay rate is posted outright the job vacancy. You work on your own and finish the tasks without having to deal with office colleagues & their work attitude. Once you have established a profile and good feedbacks from previous project employers, old & new employers will used these profile/feedbacks as a basis for hiring or rehiring you.

While having a regular office job, your salary is either fixed per hour, per day or per month. It only increases annually depending on the result of your performance evaluation by your immediate superior. You usually get to know your pay rate only when you receive a job offer after passing the employer’s exam (if any) and/or interview. Reject, accept the job offer or bargain for a higher rate, it’s also up to you but you have to go through the screening and evaluation process for applicants over & over again should you decide to reject the job offer and find a new one. You need to work for a minimum of 8 hours and might be required to render overtime even on weekends & holidays. Once hired and become permanent, you will enjoy some rewards and benefits which freelancers don’t typically get. You may also be promoted in time if you surpassed employees’ competition. You get to meet a lot of people along the way.

If you’re a freelancer, you may also do get bonuses from your employers if you made them happy with your work. Your rate can increase depending on how satisfied your employer/s is/are. You don’t have to work on weekends & holidays if you don’t want to but you can if you want to earn more. You only have to submit your project on or before deadline which is made known to you before the start of the project. You will not be forced to do anything that is not stated in your bid agreement. Promotion is also possible if you work within a group/team.

Freelance home-based jobs are ideal for mothers who can’t leave their young children, for physically handicapped or physically-challenged individuals, for introverts or those who simply enjoy working alone, for fresh graduates who are still unemployed but wanted to gain some work experience, for experienced professional contemplating on a career-change and for students who need to support themselves to go to school.

While a regular office job is good for people who enjoys the company of others while working, loves to work in an engaging environment, is challenged by stiff competition and prefers to be physically and socially active.

Both may fulfill your sense of fulfillment & need for recognition. They may also be both rewarding. Whichever way you work, your success will always depend on your patience, diligence & dedication.

How to Avoid Bogus Buyers Online

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 09:13:00 +0000

image source: listal.com

If you are selling products or used items online, you may have encountered and possibly will encounter a lot of bogus buyers, joy inquirers, fake bidders and joy reserves’ in your online selling business. This can be irritating and frustrating because it is just a waste of your time, effort and phone cost. I am an online seller myself and have actually experienced the same so I thought of writing this blog for our guidance especially the newbie’s in this online business.

So how can we avoid bogus buyers online? Here’s what I’ve come up with based on my own and other online seller’s experience;

1) Post a complete advertisement.

State in your ad the specifications and necessary details of your products/items as well as your terms and conditions as a seller. Include information like if you provide free shipping, if your price is fixed or open for negotiation, if you’re open to item swapping and other information that a buyer might ask. Put yourself in buyer’s shoes, what do you need to know?

This way you will avoid wasting time replying to inquiries for information which should have been stated in your advertisement in the first place. This is also that bogus buyers will have no chance to ask about information you have already mentioned in your advertisement. You will then have a valid reason not to reply to their text messages.

2) Limit your replies to 3 text messages or 3-minute phone call only.

Consider your business time precious. Be straightforward and only talk business. Bogus buyers will make ways to turn things around so as to make your conversation far from closing your sale transaction. Remember that their goal is just to irritate and annoy you.

In your first message, ask them if they will already buy the item, as well as their real complete name, address and mode of payment. Better if you can also ask where he/she is working. Since you have already provided all the necessary information in your advertisement, the ball is already in the hands of the buyer to establish his/her willingness to buy your product/item. If he/she is a genuine buyer, he or she will not hesitate providing you his/her personal info if he/she has a sincere intention.

I did this and I consistently observed that if you asked their name, profile and location on your first reply, then the bogus buyer will stop texting you.

In case you were given a fictitious identity, if you have answered back 3 times and your conversation is not going anywhere, then stop replying.

3) Observe how the buyer communicates.

Does the buyer take very long to respond? Are you been given alibis or excuses? Bogus buyers just really want to stir your patience and be a bother.

4) Do conduct a research on the persona of the buyer.

Okay, the bogus buyer gave you a name and address. You must check first if you have not been given a fictitious identity. Go and Google check, type in her name and city location. He/she might have a social network account; check if his/her personal info is consistent with the data you have researched. There shouldn’t be another Juan dela Cruz in one specific address.

5) Ask the buyer to pay first.

You have checked that the person is really living and genuinely human but he/she has no established good online reputation. If you have agreed to meet up, ask him/her 20% of your product’s price. If he/she is willing to shed a small portion of the cost of your item, then this buyer could be genuine.

If you both agreed that the item be delivered via courier/freight company, you can demand full payment first prior delivery especially if you, the seller, has established good online reputation through the posted feedbacks from your previous buyers.

If the buyer does not want to make any payment saying he/she does not trust you enough to pay first, then be firm with your terms. Business always involves risk, yes but you shouldn’t be exposing yourself to it when you can always play safe. The buyer has the responsibility to scan sellers he/she can trust, you the seller on the other hand, should always prioritize protecting your business by limiting the risks involved with your business.

6) Don’t persist on the buyer who ceased to communicate before the agreed date of payment or meet-up.

Not answering your phone call or text message before the agreed date is a hint that he/she is a bogus buyer. Don’t waste your time and energy anymore. If he/she is a serious buyer, he/she will be the one to persist and insist on buying your item.

7) Don’t easily trust based on one good transaction.

Not that I’m encouraging you to be paranoid but we are living in a dangerous world. Even if the buyer has one good transaction with you, it doesn’t mean that he/she can now be easily trusted. Thefts can mislead you with bait. Do stick to your terms.

8) Post the bogus buyer’s given name (real or fictitious), contact details and other info on forums, blogs and in website where you conduct online selling.

Bogus buyers usually uses a prepaid sim and he/she wouldn’t not throw it away in just one or few use, it cost him to buy one too. Since he/she is a pest in the business, warn your fellow online sellers to not transact with this bogus buyer.

9) Keep a record of these bogus buyers’ contact numbers so you cannot be annoyed by them again and again.

I have experienced a bogus buyer who has been texting me for three times using the same number on different days. I replied once and told him/her to follow the procedure in my ad. He/she ignored my reply and sent me the same inquiry message after 5 days. I didn’t reply, he/she text again the same message two days after. Since I already recorded his/her number, I no longer waste my time and energy on that bogus buyer.

Bogus buyers are psychologically ill because they get joy and pride fooling and annoying people. We shouldn’t be just tolerating them. I hope this writing would help online sellers to minimize encounter if not totally avoid bogus buyers online.

Odesk has a New Withdrawal Method

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:30:00 +0000

Good news to all freelancers in the Philippines! Odesk has a new withdrawal method, you can now directly transfer your earnings from Odesk to your local bank account in the Philippines. This means shorter waiting time, it will only take 2-3 banking days to receive the funds. Another good thing is that it has the lowest withdrawal fee of just $.99 compared to all the other withdrawal methods in Odesk. What’s more, your first withdrawal in local currency is free.

Please check below the processing time & withdrawal fees using the various withdrawal methods in Odesk for comparison.

Withdrawal Method Processing Time Withdrawal Fee (charged by Odesk)

a) Local Fund Transfer (Php) 2-3 days $.99

b) Payoneer Debit Card 3-4 days $2.00

(You also have to maintain $3 maintainance fund in your Payoneer account monthly to keep

it active)

c) Moneybookers 2-3 days $1.00

(You will also be charged of currency exchange and commercial fees by Moneybookers)

d) Paypal 3-7 day $1.00

(You will be charged a minimum of P50.00 for withdrawal of less than P7,000 in Paypal)

e) Wire Transfer (USD) 2-3 days -

(You will be charged $30 per withdrawal in the Philippines)

f) Direct Deposit 1 day free

(Only applicable for those who have bank account/s in the US)

(Please note that the withdrawal fees do not include the ATM withdrawal fee charged by the local bank.)

You see, local fund transfer is the best option and it’s made available especially for freelancers here in the Philippines.

Setting up local fund transfer as your withdrawal method is so easy and hassle-free. Odesk has provided the step to step guide very simple and quick. It also offers an option for you to learn more about the procedure before setting it up.

So join Odesk now and receive your earnings happily in the Philippines!

(Just click below banner to join and register)

Why Join Paid-To-Click Sites

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:06:00 +0000

image source: credit to ampamuka of photobucket.com

Many people tend to find no practical reason to join these Paid-to-Click Sites saying “Why would I waste my time doing those things for some dollar cents?” thinking their time & energy is worth more than that. Who’s belittling who anyway? Yes, you might find this a no-brainer activity but the thing is this is the easiest way possible for some people to earn decent money without having to leave important people and things behind.

Get Paid-to-Click jobs are ideal for:

- Full time mothers
- Fresh graduates who are still looking for a job
- Career shifters who are still rethinking their career paths
- Any one of at least 18 yrs of age and have lots of spare time

Joining Paid-to-Click sites doesn’t require much of your time, all you need is just a few minutes of your time each day. Just open all paid-to-click sites in different tabs in just one browser and in 5 minutes you’re done. In 6-8 weeks, say you’ll earn a minimum of $2 each for 10 paid-to-click sites, that’s an easy $20 for just spending a few minutes a day. If you’ll put an extra effort to gain referrals, you’ll earn more in shorter time. If you think you have no skill in encouraging people, you can just post your referral links to traffic-generating sites like EasyHits4u, GetDirectRef, Traffic Swarm etc., to gain referrals.

Doing Paid-to-Click jobs
- Doesn’t demand much of your time
- Have no quota, deadline or pressure
- Can be done at the comfort of your own home at your own free time
- Doesn’t require special skills

If you’re able to spend a lot of time on Facebook playing games or chatting with online friends, why not try this a few minutes every day? You have nothing to lose anyway but you have something to gain. It’s also one way of maximizing your unlimited hours of internet connection.

This is just one of the easiest and most available opportunities to earn online, it’s just up to you whether you’ll hit or miss it.

TheClixWorld.Com Has Become a Scam

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 07:22:00 +0000

TheClixWorld.Com has become a scam so refrain from joining this site. The past several days, only 1 ad link appears on my earnings area, it's the same and only ad appearing everyday, no new ad links are available to click. Worse, the link collapses in a few seconds. When you click the forum tab, the site will redirect you to a different forum page.

I've also noticed that only a few member log in, perhaps majority of the members already know what happened to this site. TheClixWorld.Com has been technically and literally been abandoned. But there are still many unaware of this and are joining the said site so please inform everyone you know to stop referring this site by removing their referral banners on their blogs/websites. It is useless anyway, TheClixWorld.Com has stopped paying its members.

Other references:
http://www.royalptcworld.com/2010/04/theclixworldcom-review-scam-fraud.html
http://uronlinebiz.com/2010/04/new-owner-at-theclixworld/

How to Earn from Donkeymails.com

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:55:00 +0000

How to earn from Donkeymails.com

Prior reading this article, you must have read my previous articles below to fully understand the idea.

Earn Money Through PTC

Best and Trusted PTC Sites

Done that? Now proceed on reading this part.

1. Paid-to-read emails contains ads with higher value than the direct paid-to-click ads link.

2. To have more paid-to-read mails the next day. you must have clicked many paid-to-click ads link a day before.
3. Prioritize clicking ads with $.0025 & $.002 value than the $.001. It will show up in the first page after clicking a few $.01 value ads.
4. Be consistent in clicking ads everyday, it can be relatively small in the beginning but as the days go by, your patience will soon be paid off.
5. Promote your referral links, you'll earn a percentage of your referral clicks too.
6. Keep on clicking, you will not earn from your referrals clicks if you're not clicking.
7. Avoid the cheat links and click ad one at a time, you will not be paid if you click more than one ad at the same time.

How to click paid-to-read mails from Donkeymails.com

1. Click "your inbox"
2. Click the "subject" of your mails, it's colored red and will redirect you to a new tab.
3. Click the URL in the "paid ad" portion (in blue font), do not click "non-paid ad" because of course you will not earn from it.
4. The URL will redirect you to another tab containing the ads. A statement in the upper left portion will appear "Thank you for supporting our sponsors. You will receive $.25 once you have visited the sponsor's site for at least 15 seconds". You may click other PTC sites you joined in while waiting, after 15 seconds a confirmation message will appear "Your account has been credited. Thankyou".

Note:
I observed that when the displayed value is $.01, the actual value credited is $.001 or $.0001, if $.02, the amount credited is either $.002 or $.0002, if $.25, its actually $.0025. But what's important is Donkeymails.com really pays and they have a contest from time to time. I've once won from their referral contest, I earned $5.00 for having a new referral and I'm still entitled to the grand prize. Please see below proof.

I just joined Donkeymails.com last September and I have missed a lot of days clicking ads too, but now at least I have a few bucks from spending around 2-5 minutes of my free time everyday in this site alone, I'll be earning from other sites too. This can be relatively a small amount of money for you but it's like dropping a coin to your piggy bank. In time, you reap something from your efforts.

Join Donkeymails.com too! Click below banner to register.

How to Earn from Paypal

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:50:00 +0000

Paypal.com has a promo! Get the chance to earn up to $100 USD. Here's how:

Promo Period : November 16 to December 31, 2009

Promo Description : Add Paypal WishList Application on your Facebook account, create your own WishList and invite your friends to do the same.

How to Qualify for the Promo:

1. You must be a resident of the following eligible countries:
India, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore.

2. You must have a Facebook account. (Click this link to join Facebook now and come back to this page for further instruction/guidance)

3. You must be of legal age i.e. 18 years of age and has an active Paypal account. (If you have no Paypal account yet, you can still join the promo by registering a new account with Paypal within the promo period. Click the banner below to open a Paypal account now. Registration is totally free.)

For those who are not familiar with Paypal, it is an online payment processor wherein you can receive and send money worldwide without having to disclose your credit card or other financial details to each of your online transactions. It is the safest and fastest way to receive and send money online.

How to Join and Earn from the Promo:

a. For those who already have a Facebook and Paypal account, just click this link to be redirected to Paypal WishList Application on Facebook.

b. In the upper left side of the page, you must register and submit your Paypal email address (this is the email address you used to open a Paypal account) so your earnings for this promo will be credited.

c. Select 5 items to create and complete your Wishlist. You will be credited $1.00 for doing so.

d. Invite your Facebook friends by clicking their name on the list and your non-Facebook friends through their email address. You'll earn $1.00 for every friend who also added Paypal Wishlist application and created their own WishList.

e. You will be notified by Paypal through email or other method, as to how much you have earned. It will be credited not later than February 28, 2010.

f. Read the "Terms and Conditions" of the promo for other important details.

g. You may also post your referral link to Tweeter and other social network sites to invite your friends to join the Paypal promo so you'll have more chances to earn.

To get your referral link, go to your Facebook's profile page, you should see on your profile wall the posted invitation you should have made when you joined the promo. Just click "Create your Wishlist" link and get the URL after you have been redirected to that page.

Here's more!

You can still earn up to $1,000 USD if you refer people to join Paypal. Paypal rewards its users for bringing business to their site.

Join Paypal now!

That's it! I hope we can all earn the maximum from this Paypal promo. Goodluck!

Odesk Proof of Payment

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

Odesk Proof of Payment

Above is the screenshot of my financial activity in Odesk showing the payments I received from buyers (employers) for the months of September and October. I just post this screenshot to prove that Odesk really pays. But it doesn't mean that you'll earn this little too. I haven't spent much time in Odesk because I have other online endeavors. But if you would really dedicate your time and treat it as your permanent source of income, you would earn a lot lot bigger than mine.

Odesk Sample of Job Postings

As you can see, in just one project or assignment you can earn $50 or $60, but you can also find projects that range from $100-$1,000 depending on the nature of job.

Apart from that, you may receive appreciation and acknowledgment you might not get often from the outside corporate world.

Sample Work History

Join Odesk now!

Just click above banner to register

Note: Click images to see a larger version.

How to Earn Money from Odesk

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Before I teach you how to earn money from Odesk, let me first orient you what Odesk is about.

Odesk or Odesk.com is an online global marketplace for both employers and freelancers. It is where freelancers looking for job can choose and apply from among thousands of job vacancies worldwide. This is also where employers post their job vacancies and choose among the qualified and competent freelancers from all over the world.

Odesk means zero desk because work is done and submitted online, you work at the comfort of your home. Odesk.com was established since 2003, it is owned and managed by Odesk Corporation consisting of high profile individuals of different races. Odesk Corp is headed by Mr. Gary Swart, CEO and co-founder followed by his co-founders Odysseas Tsatalos (also acts as Chief Technology Officer) and Stratis Karamanlakis (VP of Development), supported by Brian Goler (VP of Marketing) and Bin Xu (VP of Engineering and Technical Operations).

Odesk currently have 385,334 registered providers and has 357,215 jobs posted as of this writing.

Some Basic Terminologies

Freelancers are called providers because they provide services while employers are called buyers because they buy or pay for services

Types of Jobs

Hourly-rate jobs are jobs with an agreed rate per hour.

Fixed-price jobs are jobs with a fixed price or pay rate per completed job.

Payment Methods

Odesk Payoneer debit mastercard, Paypal, Moneybookers, direct deposit and wire transfers.

Jobs Available in Odesk
- Jobs related to web development, software development, networking and information systems, writing-translation and transcription jobs, administrative jobs, design and multi-media, customer service, sales and marketing and various business services.

The most in demand people in Odesk are website designers/programmers, web and software developer, website content writers, article writers, bloggers and virtual assistants. But almost all of the job which do not require your physical presence is available like bookkeeping.

How to Earn Money from Odesk

To earn money from Odesk, you should start working through them. Just follow these steps to get started.

1. Register for a free account. Please click this link to join Odesk

2. Read Odesk policies, terms and conditions and take Odesk Readiness Test. This is mandatory, you cannot apply for jobs if you have not taken this test. Don't worry if you fail the first time, you can retake the test over and over again until you get a passing score. It would be best if you can rank high on the test. This will look good on your profile. You need not memorize the policies, you have to understand it by heart in order to pass. This will also be good for you to know all your rights and limitations in Odesk.

3. Create your profile. You need to fill up some required information just like creating a resume. But you really need to do your best in creating your profile because this will be your selling point, meaning this would help you be hired because this is the first hand information buyers can get from you.

4. Take some tests relevant to your skills and if possible, concentrate well to get high scores. This will make your profile more appealing.

5. Select how you want to be paid. I advise you to apply both for Odesk Payoneer debit Mastercard and Paypal. Wire transfer is costly while Moneybookers and direct deposit may not be applicable on your country.

6. Read and watch the videos in Learning Center to fully understand their system and to help you decide whether to apply for an hourly-rate job or fixed-price job or both.

7. Apply to jobs everyday. Don't give up and don't lose hope if you are not hired immediately. Some took a couple of months prior having their 1st project. As for me, I registered May 2009 but I only got my own computer last September so that's the only time I had been able to apply for jobs in Odesk. Luckily, I received my 1st job in Odesk after 10 days.

System or Flow of Transaction

a. The provider search for job vacancies and applies to job vacancies.

b. The buyer browse the profiles of applicants(providers) and invite them for interview.

c. The provider accepts the interview and the buyer conducts the interview.

d. The buyer will select the best provider, the provider will receive a notification that he/she was chosen to do the job.

e. The buyer will give further job instructions or details.

f. The provider works on the job.

g. The buyer will assess the completeness and quality of the provider's work. Once satisfied, the buyer will send payment to Odesk. Odesk will then transfer payment to provider after the payment security period.

h. The provider receives the payment.

Advantages of Odesk over other Online Jobsites

- Their website is user-friendly, very easy to navigate
- They do not ask for a membership fee. They earn 11% commision from our projects paid by the buyer.
- There are a lot of available jobs to choose from.
- The site has useful tools and information like the Learning Center, News and Odesk Economy (Oconomy) status
- The site has an active support team. You can chat live with a support representative or submit a help ticket. There is an open general forum where you can make suggestions or support suggestions by casting a vote. They have already implemented many suggested features in the site. They even re-designed the website to accommodate the provider's request.
- The site has a referral program where you can earn if your referral earns/spends his 1st $1000 as an Odesk provider/buyer.
- You can create your own team or hire providers, outsource jobs for them and earn commission.

The only thing I don't like about the site is the withdrawal fee but overall I'm very pleased and satisfied with my experience in Odesk.

How to Identify a Scam Site

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:57:00 +0000

A lot of people like you and me have turned to the internet for some ways to make a decent living. We always look for opportunity to earn money while we still spend quality time with our family. But sadly, there are some people taking advantage of us, wanting to make money out of our own time and efforts. But let us prove to them that we are wise and not desperate.

These are some basic guidelines on how to identify a scam site, whether be it a paid-to-click site, paid-to-read, paid-to-sign up, paid-to-promote, a survey site etc.

1. They require you to pay for a registration fee.

Most, if not all of the legitimate websites offer free membership. You don't have to pay anything to be a member of their website.

Or the registration is free but they require you to purchase their ebook to qualify as a member.

You're looking for ways to earn money, why would you need to pay first before getting paid?

2. They offer a huge amount of money.

As an example, richestmails.net offers $500 sign up bonus and pays $100 for every paid-to-read mails or links. The minimum withdrawable earning or pay out is $20,000.

So good to be true isn't it? Who on earth will pay you $100 just for clicking a single advertisement? So unbelievable!

3. They set a high minimum withdrawable amount.

Their click rate or pay rate is low and the required minimum earnings before cash out is too high. The usual highest minimum pay out for a legitimate site is $10 whether paid via Paypal, Alertpay, mailed check etc. If the site requires an amount higher than that, the possibility is, the site have earned so much from you before you realized you have been scammed.

4. The site always change their domain name and always undergo "site maintenance" as an excuse for not paying their members.

This is their way to escape from paying their members. It is so easy to rent or buy a domain name, it will only cost you $9-10 a year, the cheapest I know, compared to their liability to hundreds of members.

Example: cashmails.net, cashmails.biz, cashmails.org

5. No FAQ link is provided.

FAQ or Frequently Answered Questions should always be present in a money making website because the important information a potential member should know must be all provided for.

6. No response to "contact us".

When you have tried to sent them an email inquiry by clicking their "contact us" link or by submitting a "help ticket" and they don't respond.

A legitimate site usually responds to an inquiry within 24-72 hours. And the answer should be rational and acceptable.

7. No contact particulars provided on the site or their contact particulars is incorrect or non-existing.

Information as to their office address and telephone number are basic contact details they shouldn't miss to provide. If it is provided, check if it's correct or existing. Perhaps they used a city in Australia when they disclose their address is in the US. A scam site can also fake contact information. Lack of proper information and misleading information are clear signs of deception.

+++

Before joining any site, research about the website's reputation first. Use google search engine and type the name/address of the site. I personally check the 1st 3-5 pages then I will weigh the positive and negative comments found on some blogs and forums in the net.

If the site is really a scam, in the 1st page alone you'll be able to read blogs /comments from a lot of people cursing it. But there are also some suspected sites having positive comments. Please note that administrators of some scam sites can also be dummies and post fake testimonies to build good reputation. What you can do is to analyze and balance these comments to arrive at the right decision as to joining the site or not.

I hope I had helped you on identifying scam sites. I wish there would be no more scam victim.

Image credit: photobucket.com

Best and Trusted PTC sites

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:32:00 +0000

These are the best and trusted PTC sites as recommended by most bloggers who were also doing PTCs themselves (including me). They become the best and trusted PTC sites because of their good track record of religious payments, growing number of members and site stability.

You may click above banner to join.

Established since 2003; members: 188,494 as of this posting

Number of Ads per day : 10+ shown at different times

Click rate: $.01 Viewing time: 20-30 seconds

Minimum Withdrawal Amount: $10

Payment method : Paypal

Features: Usually have promos and contest giving cash bonuses

Referral Program: Earn $.05 for every active referral; Earn $.50 for every referral who upgrades membership; Earn 5% for every referral click/referral visitor purchase
Tip: Stay logged in the site during your whole surfing time since the ads are shown at different times so you can maximize your earning opportunity.

Sample computation:

You refer 5 people who upgrade.
5 x $0.50. You earn $2.50.

Those referrals refer 5 people who upgrade.
5 x 5 x $0.50. You earn $12.50.

Their referrals refer 5 more people who upgrade.
5 x 5 x 5 x $0.50. You earn $62.50

Total earned from 5 referrals = $77.50 USD

Premium members earn double.

You may click above banner to join.

Established since Feb 2007; members: over 512,000
Number of Ads per day : variable

Click rate: $.01 Viewing time: 30 seconds

Minimum Withdrawal Amount: $10

Payment method : Mailed Check

Features: You can purchase clix or ads through your own credits/earnings. Pay $10 to upgrade membership.

Referral Program: Non-premium members will earn $.10 for each new referral; earn $2 if the referral upgrades to premium; earn 10% revenues from your referral's ad purchases.
Tip: Stay logged in the site your whole surfing time because just like Wordlinx, their ads are displayed at different times. Having a static IP address is also preferable.

Please see attached computation table.

Level	Referrals	Upgrades	Commission
Yourself
One	5	3	$6.00
Two	25	15	$15.00
Three	125	75	$75.00
Four	625	375	$375.00
Five	3,125	1,875	$3,750.00
Totals	3,905	2,343	$4,221.00

You may click above banner to join.

Established since established April 2008; members: over 1 million

Number of Ads per day : 4-5 ads for standard members; 9-10 ads for gold members

Click rate: $.01 standard member $.02 for gold members
Viewing time: 30 seconds
Minimum Withdrawal Amount: $2.00

Payment method : Paypal & Alertpay

Features: You can rent referrals through your own credit/earnings. Be a gold member by clicking 100 ads & renting referrals twice

Referral Program: Earn $.005 per referral click - standard member; $.02 for gold member

Rent 3 referrals for $.75; 10 referrals for $2.50; 20 referrals for $5.00
Tip: Enable auto pay on referrals so you only pay them when they log in and click ads, this way you'll save 10% from the usual cost. You must have a static IP address to be able to click daily. If your internet service provider provides a dynamic IP address, you can only click once a week because Neobux resets advertisement clicks based on geographical location. Also, recycle rented referrals the 1st 5 days of being inactive so your paid rental cost will not be wasted.

Sample computation:

Gold member with 10 referrals
Own clicks = 10 ads x $.02 x 30 days = $6.00 a month
Referral clicks = 10 ref x 10 ads x $.02 x 30 days = $60.00 a month
Total earnings: Own clicks + Referral clicks = $66.00 a month
Rent more referrals for bigger earnings but it is more advisable to have direct referrals than rented referrals.

You may click above banner to join.

Established since 2005; members: 330,000 as of this posting
Number of Ads per day : 30+ ads minimum

Click rate: $.001-$.01 Viewing time: 10-15 seconds
Minimum Withdrawal Amount: $1.00
Payment method : Paypal, Alertpay, Liberty Reserve & others

Features: Get paid to read mails; get paid to sign up; Pay $7.50 to upgrade membership

Referral Program: Earn up to 10% of your referral earnings; has 5 referral levels
Tip: To get more paid to read mails the next day (mails contain ads for viewing), do as many ads clicked on the PTC section. Paid to read mails have higher click value than the ads in the ptc section.

Click here to view other list of the best and trusted PTC sites.

You need to have a Paypal or an Alertpay account to redeem your earnings. Please click below banners to open an account with Paypal and Alertpay for free.

Once you have funds in your Paypal or Alertpay account, you can transfer the amount to your local savings account and withdraw your earnings through local ATMs nearest you.

General tip: After clicking or viewing ads, click the "my account" menu so that your recent clicks will be reflected and the ads will be refreshed. You may also opt to adapt my practise of monitoring all my online earnings by keeping, recording and updating my daily earnings on a columnar notebook. This way I'm able to compare which sites benefits me the most. It's also nice to have your own statistics of how many referrals you have encouraged over time and how much you have earned from their clicks too. You know, basic accounting since you are doing an online job/business.

Earn Money Through PTC

noreply@blogger.com (cbguillermo) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:21:00 +0000

To earn money through PTC is specially helpful for full-time mothers and students who wants to help in paying some of the household bills. This may also serve as an additional income for those who can spend some time maximizing the use of their unlimited broadband internet service.

What is PTC?

PTC or paid-to-click is an online activity where you will be paid by clicking or viewing advertisement banners or links.

How can I earn through PTC?

Everytime you click an advertisement banner or link, the advertiser will pay you from $.001-.01 for each ad viewed. Some PTC sites display a few ads but pays higher than those sites with many ads.

Example:
Scenario A : 1 ad = 10 seconds ; 100 ads = 16 minutes ; 1 ad = $.001 to $.01
100 ads from 5 websites in one day = $.100-$1.00 a day x 30 days =$3 to $30 a month.

Scenario B: 1 ad = 10 seconds ; 200 ads = 32 minutes ; 1 ad = $.001 to $.01
200 ads from 10 websites in one day = $.200-$2.00 a day x 30 days = $6 to $60 a month.

What if you can devote an hour? that will be $12 to $120 a month

Why will the advertisers pay me for clicking ads?

When you are watching a TV program, the advertisers pay the TV network for displaying/showing their advertisements. This work in a similar way.

There are two ways in which the advertiser benefits from the ads you click or view. First is the potential that you,the viewer of the ads, might purchase their product or avail of their service. Second, everytime you click or view the ads, it increases the pageviews of their websites which also earns through affiliate marketing programs with Google Adsense, Admob, Adbrite, Bidvertiser, Kontera and others.

How can I earn more through PTC?
A new member of the PTC site is called a standard member, while a person you have encouraged to join the site is called a referral.

1. You can earn more by having referrrals.

You also earn a portion/percentage of their earnings, just like having a commission. The more your refer, the bigger your earnings.

Some sites allow you to rent referrals through your own accumulated credits/clicks. You may also encourage your friends or other people you know to join the PTC site.

Example:

Neobux standard member:
No. of Ads = 4; Click Value = $.01; Referral Click Value = $.005
3 Referrals Cost $.75; 10 Referrals Cost $2.50; 20 Referral Costs $5.00

Own clicks = 4 ads x $.01 x 30 days = $1.20 a month
Referral clicks = 10 referrals x 4 ads x $.005 x 30 days = $6.00 a month
Own click + Referral clicks = $7.20 a month

Rent 10 referrals again; 10 old referrals + 10 new referrals = 20 referrals

Referral clicks = 20 referrals x 4 ads x $.005 x 30 days = $12.00 a month
Own click + Referral clicks = $13.20 a month

2. You can earn more by upgrading your membership.

You may pay a minimal cost to upgrade your membership from standard to gold. Gold members have more ads to click and will have a higher percentage of referral earnings. You can pay them through your credit card or through your Paypal/Alertpay account. Some sites also upgrades your membership if you have at least rented some referrals twice.

Neobux Gold membership = 30 days active + 100 clicks + 2x rent referrals

Gold member = 10 ads + $.02 per own click and referral click
Referral earnings = 4 ads x $.02 x 20 referrals = $1.60 x30 days = $48.00 a month
Own clicks = 10 ads x $.02 x 30 days = $6.00 a month
Own clicks + referral clicks = $54.00 a month

Rent referrals again and again. If you are earning $100 x 5 PTC sites = $500 a month. Not bad, isn't it?

Is there any cost to join?

None, joining a legitimate PTC site is always free. Want to join the best and trusted PTC sites? Just click here.

How and when am I paid?

Most of the PTC sites require a Paypal or an Alertpay account from where they can credit/transfer your earnings.

Paypal and Alertpay are online payment processors where you can send and receive money from anywhere in the world. Registering to these sites are absolutely free. Each has a unique applicant verification process.

Paypal has 3 types of accounts namely Personal, Premier & Business
Open a Personal Paypal account if you plan to shop online.
Open a Premier Paypal account if you plan to shop and sell items online
Open a Business Paypal account if you are applying in behalf of the company or group's name

Click the banner below to open a Paypal account.

While Alertpay has only two types of accounts, Personal or Business Account
Personal account for individuals and Business for companies or groups.

Click the banner below to open an Alertpay account.

Once you have opened and confirmed your Paypal or Alertpay accounts, you can make withdrawals by clicking the PTC site's withdrawal button, as long as you have reached the required minimum withdrawal amount. Then log in to your Paypal or Alertpay account and withdraw/transfer the amount to your local bank account. Between 3-7 days (depending how fast the bank process is), you can then withdraw your PTC earnings to an ATM machine nearest you.

Some PTC sites pays instantly while others have their own payment schedule like once every 2 weeks. Since it varies, it'll be better if you'll read the site's terms and conditions and FAQs portion before anything else.