Wednesday, September 23, 2009
HAPPY TO HELP
Avoiding Scam PTC Sites
The Internet is saturated with so many paid to click sites to join nowadays, and for every legit site there exists a scam site. Sometimes it is not an easy task to discern a legit site from a scam site, so you really need to take the time and research before you join a site. The last thing you want to do is invest time and money into a site only to have it all disappear. There are some simple rules you can follow to help avoid scam sites.
Read the TOS
Look at how much they are paying per click and per a referral’s click. If it the amount sounds too good to be true it probably is. Don’t be drawn in by the big numbers with promise of making quick money. Any site that is paying too much will not be able to survive on its own advertising and will eventually go down taking whatever cash they have made with them.
Overall Site Impression
Second, take a look at the site as a whole. Does it look professional or does it look like someone downloaded the clone Bux.to script and just slapped a site together by changing a few things. Legit sites have a more original feel, even if they have a modified clone script to develop their website. You can also easily tell that a legit site has invested the time and money to develop it.
Read Paid to Click Forums
Check the forums to see what kind of feedback other members have about the site. Forums have a wealth of knowledge about almost every PTC site out there. Posts by happy members are a good indicator of a legit site and a good gauge of how successful it is. If a site is not so good or really bad, you will definitely see posts about it. Sometimes there are conflicting posts of good and bad experiences, in which case you should use the other factors to help you decide. Also many forums have blacklisted or scam sites section showing you which ones to avoid which makes the research alot easier.
How Active is the Admin of the Site
Good sites have very active admins. He/She is usually very busy fielding trouble tickets, complaints, answering PMs and running the site. If the admin doesn’t respond to any of these in a timely fashion, it’s usually an indicator of a poorly run site or a site that should definitely be avoided. The forums of the site will tell you how active the admin is and the impression members have of him/her.
Search Google
Another easy way to check is to just do a search in Google or Yahoo for the name of the ptc site in question. You can cross reference the search results with some of the research you did earlier to see if it checks out or not.
Ultimately its up to you to decide which ptc sites to join. There are many resources to help you decide. Do your research and don’t take any shortcuts or you may end up wasting your time and money if you invested any.
Surviving The PTC Site Click Grind
The PTC sites click grind can sometimes get so boring and time consuming that you don’t feel motivated to continue doing it regularly. What you may not realize is that your Internet browser can make a big difference in your efficiency and Firefox from Mozilla is one such browser. Firefox allows you to do several things that will make your life a lot easier not to mention its more secure.
Multiple Sites Open in a Single Window
The first thing is that you can have all your PTC sites open in the same window using different tabs. This makes switching between them a snap and easier to manage. I will usually open 10 sites at once in a single tabbed window and cycle through them clicking on ads. Doing 10 at once this way saves alot of time.
Open Up Multiple Sites With A Single Click
Another thing Firefox allows you to do is to open all the sites in a bookmarked folder all at once. So for instance, I have a folder I call PTC Sites1, which I have the 10 sites I am a member of in this folder. All I have to do is right-click that folder under bookmarks and click “Open All in Tabs”. Presto! all 10 sites open up in single window. Saves you alot of time instead of having to open each one. The only prep you need to do is create bookmark folders and add sites to these folders.
Cache Passwords
The third thing that firefox does is to cache your passwords for sites. This makes the whole logging in thing a breeze.
The Process Step by Step:
- Open Firefox
- Under Bookmarks right click PTC Sites1 folder or whatever name you used and click “Open All in Tabs”
- After all your sites have opened, select the first tab
- The login and password should already be filled out if you enable password caching, just click the login button and begin surfing ads
- Go to the next tab and continue the process until you have completed clicks at all sites in that folder
- If you have more folders with PTC sites to click, open them and continue until all sites are done
Bux vs Aurora PTC Sites
PTC sites, is their a difference?
PTC sites in general are either one of two types, bux or aurora. The Bux PTC sites are much more popular these days because of the higher earnings, however there is also much more risk as well with so many Bux site failures. Some Bux sites that you may be familiar with are Bux.to and IsabelMarco. While you may also be familiar with these Aurora sites such as ClixnCash, Prowling Panther, and Advercash. Let’s take a closer look at the differences.
Bux Sites Pay Much Higher
Bux sites generally pay a lot more then aurora sites. Earnings per click are usually about $0.01 and referral clicks are between $0.005 and $0.01. On the other hand Aurora sites pay much less, usually in fractions of a cent from $0.001 to $0.005 and referral clicks even less. While this seems like Bux sites would have a huge advantage in this respect, it is actually a trade-off of sorts. Because of the higher payouts, bux sites tend to fail a lot because their payouts per a click are usually higher then the amount they charge for advertising. Take CrewBux for example. CrewBux pays $0.01 per click and $0.005 per referral click which potentially means that the site is paying $0.015 per click or $15.00 per 1000 clicks. Yet the site only charges $7.00 to advertise for 1000 clicks. That’s a difference of $8.00 for every thousand clicks for a standard member.
Revenue Models
Bux sites cannot survive on advertising income alone as illustrated above. Instead they are forced to make money from alternate cash streams. These include selling premium memberships with incentives such as higher click rates for both the user and referrals. Also premium memberships tend to get more ads to click. Bux sites also sell referrals and jackpots as other forms of revenue. Because bux sites are not self sufficient on advertising alone, many tend to fail. Aurora sites on the other hand pay out much less for click rates and can rely on advertising income to sustain site. They also have the option of selling premium memberships and referrals, but they do not have to rely on those revenue streams like a bux ptc site does. They don’t have the same payout issues because they generally have positive cash flow from advertising alone.
Advertising
Aurora sites while not as popular for members because of the low click rates, do however attract many advertisers because it can sell ads at lower prices. This lends to the stability of aurora sites versus bux sites in this respect. Bux sites as mentioned above, have negative cash flow when it comes to pay per click advertising and rely heavily on other means of revenue.
Risk vs Reward
In the end, what it comes down to is fast earning/high risk investment versus a slow earning/stable investment. Aurora sites are on the safer end of the spectrum and bux sites on the high risk side, with many other PTC sites falling somewhere in between. Bux sites failure is usually the result of negative advertising cash flow. This leads to prolong delays in payouts because as the cashout requests begin to mount they must wait for additional revenue to come in via premium upgrades and referral sales before they make payouts. Sooner or later this gets to a point where the payout turnover is so high that the site will go under or delay payouts for ridiculous amounts of time. Aurora sites on the other hand are generally self sufficient with advertising income alone and referral sales and premium upgrades are just icing on the cake. Slow but steady and usually higher percentage of success.
New Breed of PTC Sites
In the past few months we have seen a new trend in PTC sites. Many newer sites have featured faster payouts, even instant payouts. This is a direct result of the “old school” bux script type sites that have payout delays of up to 6 months. These new PTC sites are a hybrid of the old bux and aurora sites. They still have the high earnings payout per click, but at the same time they are charging a lot more for advertising to see a positive cash flow. Some are also offering other features such as renting referrals like NeoBux, Buxout and SandraClicks. These sites are paving the way for a future with a better and prolonged life of paid to click sites.
Banned Accounts On Paid to Click Sites
Accounts getting banned on ptc sites is very common. Many times its a direct result of people new to the world of paid to click sites and are not familiar with some of the more common “no-no’s”. Other times it is just unreputable ptc sites who decide they no longer want to pay someone. Regardless of the reason, the results are the same, you lose all your money and time you put in. Let’s take a look at what not to do to avoid getting your account banned and what you should do if it does.
Multiple Accounts
The most popular reason most members get banned is for having multiple accounts. Many times it is a member who is not familiar with the TOS of the site and refers multiple members of their household. Most PTC sites only allow one member per household and violating this rule could result in having your account banned. Having said that, there are more PTC sites that are now allowing two members per household. The grey area here is really how do you define a household from the perspective of a ptc site. In most cases its defined by your ip address, since this is the easiest way to determine the source of its members.
Read the Terms of Service
Every paid to click site has one and if they don’t, avoid joining them. The TOS explicitly states all the rules of the site and most have a section defining the terms of user accounts. Here you will find exactly what you can and cannot do regarding your account. Many of them look the same and have common practices such as no multiple accounts. Follow the terms of service or risk having your account banned.
Public Internet Access
This is another common reason many members get banned. By using a computer at a public venue such as an internet cafe, at your workplace or at your university, you risk the possibility of someone else who uses that same computer and potentially same ip address who just so happens to belong to the same ptc site as you do. Avoid using public computers to access your paid to click sites if possible.
AOL Web Browser
Another common mistake is AOL members who use their AOL browser to access paid to click sites. The problem here is the fact that AOL uses proxy servers and your one account will be accessing the site from multiple IP address. From a ptc site perspective, this starts to look suspicious when a member accesses their account from many different IP addresses in a short period of time. Only use Firefox or Internet Explorer when accessing your ptc sites. We recommend Firefox for its ease of use and security features.
See this article on how Firefox can make your life easier and safer: Surviving The Paid To Click Grind
What To Do If Your Account Gets Banned
First and foremost you need to contact the admin of the site via support ticket if available, pm or forum post. Do it immediately after you realise your account has been banned. Don’t wait as this is crucial in recovering your account. Be sure to be courteous and respectful when communicating with the admin. This could be a misunderstanding of sorts, or a mistake so keep your cool. Be patient when waiting for a reply, spamming the admin using pms, the forums or support tickets is not going to help your cause. Forum moderators are also helpful in this respect. Go to the forum of that ptc site and message one of the moderators, as they are usually more prompt with replies then the admin is since he/she is very busy. After correspondence has been made with the admin or moderator, they may just give you a warning and reinstate your account. If not, you must convince the admin or moderators that this is a mistake not exploitation which is the assumption. If you have friends in the ptc community have them vouch for you. This lends creditability and the admin is more likely to see this as a mistake instead of exploitation.
Scam PTC Sites
Unfortunately you may have followed all the rules and common practices and still fall victim to a banned account. Only this time it may be a site that uses shady practices such as banning accounts for no other reason then to stop paying that member. Others yet use it as a front for acquiring userids and passwords to try at other PTC sites to break into your accounts. Avoid suspect sites like the plague. The following article has some simple rules to follow to avoid scam sites: Avoiding Scam PTC Sites
Conclusion
Follow the TOS and common practices and you will be fine. If you are unsure about something message the admin or moderators of the forums. Better to be safe then to throw away your money invested and time put in. Many times these situations tend to be misunderstandings or human error, so don’t over think it until you have contacted the admin.
The Next Generation Of Paid To Click Sites
If you have been following PTC sites for a while then you already know the changes that have been taking place. Many of the “old school” sites such as bux.to and isabelmarco which have prospered because of their popularity, are seeing the threat of newer PTC sites that offer better features. One might argue that this is not a threat because you could just add these new PTC sites to your rotation and keep the older sites as well. However, added pressure by its members and the PTC community as a whole may change that. So what makes these next generation sites so great? Let’s take a look.
Payouts
The problem with the older ptc sites is their payout turnover rate. Many of these sites take months to pay its users. In fact bux.to has had so much trouble with their payouts that its taking up to 6 months to get paid. The next generation ptc sites are offering instant payouts. This gives its members several advantages. Obviously you get paid quicker, and this allows you to reinvest faster thus building your earnings from the site. Also its much easier to determine if the site is legit or not because you don’t have to wait months to get paid. So why can’t older ptc sites offer instant payouts you may ask. This has to do with the difference in revenue models. Older ptc sites offer per click earnings higher then what they generate in advertising alone. Thus leaving them with a negative cash flow for advertising. For example, IsabelMarco standard members earn $0.01 per click and $0.005 for referral’s click potentially costing the site $15.00 per 1000 clicks, yet they only charge $10.50 for 1000 advertising clicks. This is a negative cash flow of $4.50 per 1000 clicks. Thus they are required to make money in other ways such as membership upgrades and selling referrals. This creates the long waiting periods as they must recoup the difference before they can pay its members. Newer sites have higher advertising rates, but are self-sustainable on advertising fees alone, allowing them to pay its members instantly.
Renting Referrals
Another common theme among the new PTC sites is offering the ability to rent referrals. This feature allows members to build their downlines quicker since its cheaper then buying referrals outright. Another great aspect about renting referrals is the ability to recycle them. You can recycle as often as you want to keep your pool of referrals active.
Active Members
Many newer PTC sites are implementing policies to promote active clicking. They are doing this by requiring its members to click ads in order to get credit for their referral clicks. Sites are adopting the two times multiple for clicks, meaning if you click two ads the previous day, you will get maximum credit up to four clicks per referral. So if your referral clicks five ads current day, you only get credit for four.
Better Account Management
Some of the newer sites also offer better ways to view your referrals activity. They offer charts and statistics that you can use to analyze such as average clicks per day, and date of last click. This greatly increases your potential to get more out of your referrals and saves you time.
Security
Many newer PTC sites also have much better security then its predecessors. Some offer second password protection and even a graphical interface to click letters instead of typing them in to avoid keystroke loggers. Many also offer PINs for added security when it comes to cashing out or changing account information. The better of the newer sites offer SSL connections throughout your sessions whereas none of the older sites do. Most of the older bux scripts don’t even encrypt user passwords in their database, making you very vulnerable should they end up in the wrong hands.
Conclusion
The next generation of sites is paving the way for a better PTC world. The new instant payouts, better features, management ease, and security make it leaps and bounds above the “old school” sites. Some of the older sites have already started to change while others are locked into a revenue model that prohibits it. Only time will tell if the older PTCs will survive and whether Darwinism applies to PTCs as well.
Joining Too Many PTC Sites
One of the biggest mistakes people make is joining too many ptc sites. Many who just start out with paid to click sites tend to join as many sites as they can. Their reasoning is that the more sites that they join, the more money they will make. While this may sound logical at first, your time is not really being used efficiently this way and moreover you may burn yourself out. The better approach is to join 5 to 10 quality sites at first, not more then 15. This allows you to concentrate more on being able to grow your monthly revenue with a handful of sites instead of just trying to click your way to earnings by joining every site possible. You can concentrate more on promoting the sites you belong too and building your referrals. At some point, you can add another site and because you have centered your focus on just a few, you will have the revenue to build up any new site that you add to your rotation fairly quickly with your established monthly earnings.
Manageability
The first problem with having too many PTC sites in your portfolio is your ability to effectively manage them. With so many sites to keep track of it makes it very difficult to keep on top of your stats at each site especially if you are promoting your referral links through forums, referral exchanges, etc. Limiting the amount of sites you have gives you more control over the status of your sites and makes you better able to grow the earnings and referral base.
Out Of The Loop
Another issue with having too many sites is not knowing the current news and situation of all your sites. This is very important as PTC sites come and go rather quickly. Keeping informed about your site’s status is essential to your success. If you begin to see the tell tale signs of a site that’s in trouble you can shift your focus and resources to another ptc site, and add a new site to your rotation. Wasting time on a site because you haven’t looked at its news, announcements, or other information in its forums is a mistake that will come to bite you later on.
Steps to Success
- Join five to ten quality PTC sites (see Our Recommended Top 10 PTC Sites)
- Grow the referral base at these selected sites (see How to Get Referrals article)
- After you have established a satisfactory monthly revenue from your handful of sites you can add other sites to the rotation
- Use the “house” money to continually reinvest in your PTC empire and withdraw when needed
- Keep up to date about PTC sites by browsing forums and reading articles