<![CDATA[Make $$$ from the comfort of your home]]>Freewebshttp://www.freewebs.com/sbelle/blog.htm<![CDATA[So...How do you get ACTIVE referrals???]]> You've probably heard all the quick answers, buy an upgrade, ask your family and friends, post flyers, get business cards, paid to sign up ads, etc. And maybe you've tried those - and even got a few referrals, but you're still not making any money. Sure your friends and family may have signed up, but are they doing any offers? Those flyers and cards may have garnered you a few more signups, but are they working or did they sign up, say "this is too hard" and quit? The real question is not how do you get referrals, but how do you get active referrals?
Before I quit my job to stay at home, I used to work in the advertising department of a national fashion magazine, and there I learned a very important lesson about marketing - there are basically two types of advertising: The shotgun approach - throw everything out there and see what sticks or Targeted marketing - appealing to those who are looking for the services you have to offer - Three guesses on which one is more effective? Why waste your time and energy on putting stuff out there that's not going to work? Let's look at those "quick answers" and see why they don't work very well:
Buy an upgrade - this is where you pay anywhere from $15 to $35 to have unreferred sign up randomly put into your downline. Why doesn't it work? Well, most people with experience with GPTs are going to know they can sign up for Site A under Site B and get paid for it - great for them, but they're using Sign up ads that someone else purchased - in other words they are automatically that person's referral. The odds of a random sign up working hard enough to make up your out of pocket expense is astronomical - not saying it couldn't happen, but it never has for me.
Friends & Family - well, they might sign up to help you out, but unless they are seriously interested in making money online - they're not going to do any work.
Business Cards & Flyers - I've found Newbies need a lot of hand holding, unless these people know where to go for answers, they're probably going to get tired of watching the pennies add up and quit fairly quickly.
Paid to sign up ads - great, so now you pay them, and maybe they complete one offer for credit, but they've already got GPT sites that are working for them, so why should they switch to yours?
So what does work - finding people that are out there trying to make some cash online - in other words, targeting your audience. You need to advertise your sites in the places where these types of industrious workers can be found. This is where I'm going to spill the beans and let you in on a few of my deep dark secrets...and remember, I make cashout each month on several sites, all without completing even one offer! Step by step here's how you can build a line of active referrals.
Build a website or a blog - don't just make it a "sign up for these sites" blog, actually post tips to help people. Answer questions and try to build a mailing list. Obviously, you'll have your referral links, but if you try to help people, you'll reap great rewards!
Find places where people are already trying to make money! GPT forums are great - put your website URL in your signature line. Almost all really good and trustworthy sites will allow you to do so. has one of the most active forums I've seen! Post frequently - DON'T SPAM - but do answer questions and participate!
Search on Yahoo & Google for groups that are looking to make money
from home. I'm an active member on 5 in Yahoo alone. Post tips, tricks, suggestions, new
sites, new offers, and always, always, always link back to your site.
Look for networking sites, I'm not talking about MySpace or Facebook - those may work, but there are networking sites out there that pay you - that's why people sign up! They're already trying to make a buck online, you're just giving them more options. Once you're on these sites, look for groups such as "Making Money Online"
or "Work from Home" or "Stay at Home Moms". Join the groups
& participate. Each time you post, give the link to your
website (you know the one you built that has all your referral links and tips for getting started). Not only will you get referrals, but you'll also be making additional income as you do! Some of my most effective sites:
These all take a little more time, but I guarantee, you'll have the benefit of not only having a great downline, but one that is trying to make money - they benefit, you benefit - what could be better?
Stay tuned for more Tips & Tricks!!! ]]>http://www.freewebs.com/sbelle/blog.htm?blogentryid=32951012008-4-15T12:56:00-0100<![CDATA[So what makes a GPT site great???]]> First and most important thing to consider are the Admins on the site. Are they friendly, responsive? If you have a trouble ticket, how quickly are they going to answer? Do they tell you who they are, or do they hide behind an anonymous screen name? Can you contact them directly through e-mail or IM, or do you have to wait days before they get back to you? A great admin will get to know you and be more than willing to help you with any questions or concerns you might have. Since they don't make money unless your offers credit, good admins are willing to give you tips to help offers credit. Two examples of great Admins: Chris at stays in touch with his members through e-mail, blogs and a twitter feed. I know from experience that if you e-mail him with a question, he'll get back to you right away. He also sends you a PDF when you sign up that gives a few hints on getting offers to credit.
Becky at just started up and she's spending days and nights working on her site, communicating with her members and doing everything she can to make her site one of the best on the web. She also hosts a website where people can pick up tips.
Second - What types of offers do they have and how often are they added? Great admins will chase down new affiliates to try to get new offers for their sites. Since they know we can only do each offer once, they'll also try to put up offers that are different from what every other site out there has. Obviously the older a site and the more members they have, the more they're going to have to offer, so be patient with your sites that are just starting out, but even new sites should be putting up new offers frequently.
Third - How often do offers credit? All GPT sites have 2 types of offers, those that credit automatically and those that have to be credited manually. A really good site owner will check in with their site several times a day to do the manual credits, or they will tell you up front when they plan on doing the manual credits (ex. Chris does his manual credits first thing in the morning with his coffee, while Becky is teaching 3 other people how to do the manual credits). There is nothing more frustrating than having a Pending folder that is full! One site I tried only did the manual credits once or twice a week. To me, that is an admin that doesn't take an interest in their site, so why should I? Also, watch your approval rating - theoretically if you do offers correctly, you should have about the same approval rating for each site, so if you find that normally you have 80% - 90% approval rating, but on one particular site you only have about a 30% approval rating then its time to change sites.
Fourth - Do they have a forum (or blog where people can post comments) and what are their forum policies. A site that doesn't have a way for members to post their comments and opinions is probably a site that doesn't want others to see how many of their members have complaints. In addition, this seems to be controversial, but I am very suspicious of any site that will not allow you to discuss other sites or post referral links, if only in your signature. To me that says the site knows that if you visit another GPT site, your going to find out how bad a site they have or how poorly they maintain their site. A good site is not afraid of competition, because they know they measure up!
Fifth (and last) - What is their minimum cash out? Most legitimate sites will have a cash out anywhere from $5.00 to $20.00. A few good ones have cash out at $25.00, but anywhere above that, it's time to ask yourself why. If a site has a cash out of $100.00 they're probably hoping you get tired of trying to make it and quit before you reach that point. When you do, not only do they get to keep the money they made from the affiliates, but they get to keep your money. When signing up for any site, read the FAQs to find out what the minimum you can withdraw will be - if its too high, don't waste your time!
Those are my 5 major check points - a couple of other quick tips that I follow:
When I first join a site, I will work the site to get to the minimum cash out then I wait to make sure I get paid. Once I receive my first payment and know the site does pay and pays on time, that's when I'll go back and seriously work it. I'm not going to waste my time on sites that don't pay and neither should you!
Be very suspicious of impossibly high "sign up bonuses" or offers that pay way to high. One site (that I'll not name although it starts with pb and ends with cash), set themselves up with a $10 sign up bonus, and offers that were $8 to join other GPT sites or $5 to join PTC sites, but once their members reached cash out, their accounts were marked as "cheater." This site was nothing but a scam with the owner taking all proceeds and not paying their members anything. The old adage - if it looks too good to be true applies!
Check GPT Boycott before joining any site - if the site is listed as a boycott or on their watch list, pass on by!
That's it for today, make sure you check back in frequently for more tips & tricks!
]]>http://www.freewebs.com/sbelle/blog.htm?blogentryid=31917272008-3-26T09:12:00-0100<![CDATA[Brandarama & Generous Genie Offers]]> Today I thought I'd talk about a couple of offers that give tons of people fits! These are the ones that either work for you, or it seems like they never will. I'm going to tell you what seems to work for me on the Brandarama and Generous Genie offers.
Brandarama - These offers seem to approve or not approve for no rhyme or reason, but I have found if you do a few little tricks, your approval rating will go WAY up. First of all, Brandarama offers approve best when they first come out. One of my friends that owns a GPT site says they have a quota and once they fill that no others approve - don't know if this is true or not, but I always have better luck with the brand new ones than with the older ones. The steps I take are as follows:
Always use IE for these offers. The have never approved for me in FireFox. Make sure your pop-up blocker is off.
On page 1, use a different e-mail address for each offer.
Fill out page 2 completely. Brandarama does check your telephone area code against your zip code, so make sure you use a valid phone number with the correct area code for your area.
After you hit submit on page 2 you will either go to the "survey" or get a pop up that says "Congratulations you have completed the survey requirements and are almost
done!" If you get this pop right away, you can skip step 5 and go directly to step 6.
If you get the survey after page 2 you must complete the entire survey for this to credit. Very easy though, you can hit "skip" or "no" all the way through.
Once you get to the Congratulations page, click on one offer and leave the pop-ups open. Go down to the bottom of the page and you'll have a link that says something like "After you've completed the required offers above click here to go to the next page" or "After you've completed the required offers above, click here for bonus offers"
If you have to go to another page, click one offer on that page. Continue until you reach the bonus offers page and open that.
Leave all windows open for 3 to 5 minutes. Go back to the GPT site and hit submit. If asked put in the e-mail address you used on page 1.
Close all Brandarama windows (you should have about 7 open by now), clean your cookies and do the next Brandarama offer.
It is not necessary to click on the e-mail Brandarama sends you. Really - don't do it. If you do, you'll find all the Brandarama offers you've done because they record your IP address and you will probably not get credit.
Following these steps should help the Brandarama offers to credit for you.
Generous Genie or GG offers These are either an e-mail or zip submit and very simple to do and receive credit on, but there is one little trick to them.
Enter your zip / e-mail on page 1
Fill out page 2. You should get a pop up window that says "Last Steps"
Click on one offer on the "Last Steps" page. You'll get a window that says "To proceed to this offer enter your e-mail address below"
Enter the same e-mail address you used on page 1 or 2. Click submit.
Leave these windows open for 2 min.
Go back to the GPT site and submit the offer, if asked put in the e-mail address you used on this offer.
That's it, you're done. No need to confirm an e-mail or complete the survey.
Three of my favorite sites, , and all have tons of these offers.
Hope this helps with your crediting ratio! Check back frequently for more tips & tricks - I'm thinking the next blog might be about Winning Surveys!
has one of the most active forums I've seen! Post frequently - DON'T SPAM - but do answer questions and participate!
