My early days being scammed (as a newbie) in the PTC world!

Yep, i'm not ashamed to admit it! i was greedy, naive and lots of other things as well....and that is why i fell victim to a scam!

Back in my early days, when i was still a very fresh newbie to the whole PTC scene, i was in a rush to make a few bucks -Dollars nogal! So lo and behold i was suckered into joining and clicking away like crazy….. u know these kind of opportunities come along sort of always at the right time (for them at least)…..

Here i was a very fresh newbie, ripe for the picking!

How did it happen? Well, i was busy clicking away and being a newbie, was looking out for more sites to register with - you know, more sites more money - when i came across this absolutely awesome site, 'elephant mails', and they were really offering 'ELEPHANTASTIC' payouts. My mind went into overdrive, automatically...i signed...immediately!!!!!!!!

Who in their right mind was going to refuse such exceptional click rewards, with such a low payout? NOT ME CERTAINLY!! Would you refuse the following? :

• Free Memberships
• All Emails Worth $500
• All ptc worth $100 $50
• $2000 signup bonus
• $200 referral bonus
• Redeemption starts only $10000

It took me a few days to reach payout! Shu....$10000 ...here i come!!!

WAS I DISSAPOINTED......!!! :-(

I get too.....i don't even know what to call it....just thinking about it...!!!! I won't bore you with the details of my struggle to obtain payout! That's a story all on it's own.

Well the rest is history. I'm actually glad it happened to me so early, actually right in the beginning of my PTC 'career'.

I've learnt to:

• Research
• check out what others say
• be patient
• stay with the tried and tested

and most of all...to believe in the old maxim: 'if it sound too good to be true....it probably isn't'

After that i told myself never AGAIN!!!

Blog rank proof

In my state of excitedness, to post and share with you the news, i completely forgot to upload the proof...so see for yourself below:

Blog rank jumped 100 fold in two months - Yippppeeee!!

		Target	Base line (Sept)	Nov Stats	Climbed
Blog Rank	In Africa	<3000	4104	3413	691
	In RSA	<2000	2945	2397	548
Site Visitors		<4000	5593	3443	2150
Page Views		<1800	2680	1850	830

   

Site visitors

Based on the above, you will see that the most significant increase has been in the number of visitors to the site. My success in this regard I can attribute to making relevant and insightful comments on various blogs, sites and forums, as opposed to what a lot of people do: spamming a forum with their links without really making a contribution to the discussion at hand.

Surprisingly, I would discount the influence of Facebook and Youtube, since I’m hardly active on Facebook and not even registered with Youtube. Twitter I’ve only recently joined as you can see from an earlier blog post, and I’ve not even made a tweet yet!

I’m sure though that these sites and social networking sites in general, have plenty to offer, by way of generating traffic and driving it to your site, the idea is to show that there are plenty other ways of achieving the same!

Page views

The increase in page views is a logical outcome of the increase in site visitors. I’m almost sorry I downloaded the stats today, instead of waiting for another week – I would’ve definitely achieved another target…only 50 views away!

Blog Rank

I’m very pleased with the blog rank movement in both Africa (up 691 positions) and South Africa (up 548 positions). I’m well on my way of achieving year end target of being among the top 3000 and 2000 blogs. I’m mighty proud of myself and am not shy to take the credit…LOL.

I achieved this in the space of 2 months in my spare time (which there isn’t much of) and didn’t pay a single cent to help me along, instead my increased activity and change in strategy increased my earnings gained from ‘online activity’.

   

Sharings links can increase your traffic and referral sign-up rate...here's how!

Why not make friends while at the same time increasing traffic to your website....FOR FREE!! How does the saying go: 'many hands make light work'...so let's help each other expand our horizons!

How it works...

Shortening a link with Moreshare automatically creates a share page. The page contains your link, plus several related links from other members. Visitors to your share page earn you credits which can be used to promote the site of your choice on other members' share pages.  

Why should I use it?

Get more when you share! Instead of just shortening links, every link you shorten and share with Moreshare earns you credits for free online advertising! Your link can be anything* with a web address; your website, blog, video, profile page, online store, affiliate link - the list is endless!

If you don't have time to earn credits yourself, you can show your link on members' pages by purchasing advertising. Target new website visitors by interest, category and location.

Sign up here: Share Links to Increase My Webtraffic

Completing surveys for a living!

I would really like to meet someone who is able to onnly do this (complete surveys) for a living!! This post has been prompted by a number of queries i've received recently from people who would like to earn some sort of income in their spare time and for whom completing surveys would go a long way not only to spend their idle time, but also fill a gap or two in their budget!

It is not quite as easy as that...trust me...i've been around for a while.

First thing to watch out for is the scammers out there...who typically promise the world, but can't even deliver a lollipop...and then still make you pay for a so-called 'survey list'.

The saying that 'you have to spend some to get some' is only true in some cases. I've made it a point NOT TO PAY a single cent for any of the programmes i register with....they WANT my business, in this case THEY want ME to fill in surveys; in exchange, THEY pay ME and in turn get paid by their client...that is just how it works! The trick is to find really trustworthy sites...who will not 'sell' your information to third parties, etc. For this reason it is always important to read the TERMS AND CONDITIONS and other fine print very carefully to fully understand what you agreeing to.

Always do some research on whatever site or programme you intend to register with or sign up for...a simple search will pay lots dividends in the end..and spare many a heartache or even save you from an embarasing hole in the pocket!

My next post will provide a list of trustworthy sites that do not ask any money to complete the surveys and only ask for reliable people giving honest answers.

Another South African PTC site....going DOWN!

Easyclix have announced the closing of the PTC website at end of November 2010.

It's a shame really, but i must give guys over at easyclix some credit.....they really tried their utmost to keep it going! For me, a number of things about the site is significent: firstly, i must commend them on always responding ASAP to any queries i've had....and the were many - it was always resolved to my satisfaction (and i'm not easily pleased)! Secondly, the site layout was good, making it easy for new users to sign up and navigate. Thirdly, i've never had any issues w.r.t payment - come payout, there is no hassles.

The only thing that did bug me was the quality of the referrals and the allocation of refs. This was quickly sorted though after i complained.  I wish all my other sites could be as accomodating.

So where did they go wrong? Not enough reserach before launch? Is our economy a tad small or perhaps not really geared to this type of marketing or advertising form? Was the payment system flawed or advertising rates too high...or maybe too low?

Yep, many questions....and i don't have the answers!

For me it comes to a focus on the source of revenue: if your main income is from advertising, then by all means get the word out.....cheap ads - lots of traffic, pricier ads - targeted traffic, etc. If your signed up members provide the bulk of income.....make it worth their while to stay members and recruit new members; a task i must admit is easier said than done! Make it exciting, have competitions, etc.

Anyway, wish them good luck in their next endevour and hope they'll take valuable lessons from this experience!

Tweet button added

Just added a tweet button to the blog....don't know why i didn't do this long time ago....would've helped a lot in getting more traffic! It is just so easy - so if you don't have one yet, click on my button and follow instructions....in 3 easy steps you can be tweeting like crazy!  create a twitter account