Overwhelming Your Opponent

My SO has trained in martial arts, which means that every time I act silly or tickle him, and he wants to stop it, he does some crazy move beyond my comprehension and I end up stuck. He claims he's not that good, so I figure it would only take a few martial arts courses to move beyond his level, and feel more comfortable walking home at night too!

Captain Chris has just such a program. It's called Close Combat Training and he claims it goes beyond the realms or martial arts, street or reality fighting to give you something better, and more useful in real-life defense situations.

His website offers testimonials, live chat support, and an "unheard-of satisfaction guarantee" which is what I see as a pretty basic 30-day money back (less shipping charges) guarantee. I'm not sure it actually qualifies as unheard-of, but it is pretty good nonetheless.

They have empty pages for various articles on self-defense, martial arts, and close combat, as well as the makings of an affiliate program that isn't quite set-up yet. It looks like Captain Chris is in the beginning stages of setting up his website, but he has the important part: a product you can use.

One thing that worries me is that their terms and conditions page is not yet available to the public, but they do have a merchant policies page. Even so, I'd wait until they get their terms and conditions suitable for public consumption before buying the 12 dvd set.

Even if you don't think you're in the market for this, it's a pretty neat and informative site, so go check out the self-proclaimed world leader in self-defense today!

*This is a sponsored post*

Cheerio!

While thinking about where I'd go on my European vacation, the idea of landing somewhere that spoke English seemed like a reasonable one. While many countries have English as part of their language, the United Kingdom also has many brilliant and wonderful attractions.

Their history goes back much farther than most Americans can count. And since the expansive Cheaper Than Hotels site is based in the UK, this is their forte!

Into movies? Here you can find the locations where Braveheart, Goldfinger, and Harry Potter were filmed, and many more!

In case your travels take you all around, Cheaper than hotels has sites for hotels in London, Manchester, and Birmingham.

Also, VisitBritain.com can help you plan where to go and how to get there.



*This is a sponsored post*

Life Happens

So I'm looking at graduating in May, and the main thing that freaks me out that I've never dealt with before is getting myself life and health insurance.

Advantage Term Life Insurance has all sorts of information to help you with that. They sell life insurance, and have a neat insurance quoting service that is designed to give you tons of plan options.

They also do family plans or business life insurance with corporate insurance plans for employers.

I haven't made any decisions myself yet, but they're definitely a good resource to check out as you're gathering information.

*This is a sponsored post*

HubPages

I've found a new site similar to Triond and Associated Content. Triond has turned out to be kind of a bust overall, so I'm pretty much comparing this against Associated Content to see where I should focus my energies.

It's called HubPages.com and it works on what appears to be a pretty simple system, where you get a cut of advertising revenues gained from writing about things you know and like. For example, here's a page about making gingerbread houses!

The layout looks similar to Triond, but it may have a bigger network and pay better overall. We shall see!

The Best Shopping Destination

I recently decided that what I really wanted to do some day was go on a sightseeing/shopping trip somewhere exotic and spectacular. My SO pointed out to me that Madrid probably has the cheapest shopping available in a first world country. So that's next on my list of destinations, and when I go, I'll use the ever-ready CheaperThanHotels site. Though they're based in the UK, they have info on hotels or hostels all across Europe at great prices.

If you're seriously considering it, more info is available here on Madrid's tourist attractions, Spanish food (tapas), entertainment (bull fighting), and architecture, and in case you're interested in a longer, more extensive trip, attractions in Barcelona as well.

And remember, to compare a whole bunch of hotels in all genres at their best prices, be sure to check out CheaperThanHotels.co.uk.

*This is a sponsored post*

Moola

I'm not sure if I've posted about Moola.com recently, but since I've been home and had a decent bandwidth, I've gotten more into it. Don't get me wrong, this site doesn't require a huge bandwidth, just a better one than the awful service I get at school.

Now, on break, I'm playing a lot, and have earned $0.32 repeatedly. If I played smarter I'm sure I could hold onto it too!

Moola is a tournament style game where you are given $0.01 whenever you begin and you bet it against someone else playing one of three games. Whoever wins the game, gets both cents, and if you keep winning, you can double your money pretty darn fast.

What I'm interested by is their boosters, where you can complete offers and earn money to be or to cash out with, and where if you use their search engine, you can randomly win money too!

Moola is only in Beta right now, so you need an invitation, but I have 100, so comment or email me if you want one. (retrogradesonnet [at] gmail.com). Moola is having a booster special tonight, so hurry up!

Losing Killed Time

More and more of my time has been filled with life and wonder recently, and less and less of it has been available to be killed. I think this is partly because my "killing time" projects have morphed into genuine activities of interest, such as creating jewelry and selling it on Etsy.com or playing games on Prizee because I genuinely enjoy the games.

And now, although I won't be having class for 7 weeks, I can't promise I'll be killing much time. I'm supposed to be writing the crowning acheivement, of my academic career, and when I'm not doing that, I'll probably still be doing something productive.

But I'll keep blogging. Perhaps the burying I'm doing now will be a more final burial than it was originally intended to be. Life shifts on us sometimes. I guess I'll go along with it.

Can of Worms

So I've been having a ball with Prizee, and as I went one day to idly browse their forums, I noticed that there are hundreds upon hundreds of these kinds of sites out there, all based in Europe!

These sites fall into one of two categories. You either play games to earn points towards money/prizes, or you play games to earn points towards codes to be able to play at yet another another of this kind of site somewhere else in the wide internet gaming world.

Some of these sites won't let you play unless you live in their country. I scratched these off my list. Some won't ship prizes to you unless you live nearby. These you can earn codes at pretty easily. Most aren't available in English. By comparison, Prizee is doing a pretty great job. The only one I've stuck with so far is Yacado.com

Their site isn't available in English, but it's pretty easy to figure out. It takes 9,900 points to earn one MaxPack, and so far I've earned an average of 214 points per day, in about five minutes each day. That means it'll take about a month and a half to earn enough for a maxpack, but from what I can tell from other sites, that's not bad.

Light of my Life

So I'm looking at graduating in May, getting my own apartment, and eventually my own house. Unfortunately, as I've begun my search, apartments very rarely come furnished, and I hardly have the big bucks to shell out on fancy schmancy designer furniture. One of the most important things to have in a room is good lighting. I learned this living in a dorm with 19' ceilings, few windows, and no lamps.

The place to go, the place I will go, is Farreys.com. Their fixtures actually cover a whole range of things, including:

• Bath
  
• Ceiling Fans
  
• DoorWear
  
• Kitchen
  
• Light fixtures
  
• Ventilation
  
• Chandeliers
  
• Home Lighting
  

You can shop by brand, use, or style, and they even have a closeout section for us broke college grads! If you're in the market for any kind of lighting, just check them out. The worst that will happen is you'll find something you like!

*This is a sponsored post*

Feeling Lost?

The GPS Insight website might have just what you need. They have a whole range of vehicle tracking devices for individuals and for companies looking to track labor efficiency and to find the best routes to deliver pizza, installer cable, or make any kind of house call. Their wireless system is run by AT&T, which has the largest wireless coverage in the United States.

The website is clean and well-put together, which should make it a breeze for even the smallest company to get their drivers organized. At a cost of between $1.50 and $2.00 a day, this service is essential for any company on a tight budget.



In addition to the fact that this hardware will save your business money overall on fuel, labor, and route efficiency, it's also a breeze to install as it plugs directly into your vehicle's diagnostics port.

The information you get is on

• Speeding
  
• Engine Diagnostic Fault codes/alerts
  
• Begin/End of day report
  
• Off-Hours Reports/Alerts
  
• Landmark Reports
  
• Detailed activity reports
  
• Miles Per Gallon / Fuel Consumption
  
• Stop reports with configurable idle stop times
  
• Idle time report using engine diagnostic data
  
• Service log with scheduled service alerts
  
• Odometer, diagnostic fault codes, emissions
  
• Compliance, and fuel usage/MPG from the engine's computer
  
• Scheduled email reports/graphs, and automated alerts
  

And the company is more than willing to work with your individual business as they will customize their services to fit your needs.

They have a strong support system on the off chance that anything should go wrong, and they even run a company blog so you can keep up to date on every new innovation and development as quickly as possible. For example, their most recent post is about how they're trying to integrate map books with their system without violating copyright laws so that the map books people will be able to sell more, and their existing customers will be able to benefit, creating a win-win situation for all involved. It sounds thoughtful and genuine, and seeing the process of scanning and analyzing the maps is pretty awesome.

I don't have much experience with corporate GPS systems, but its stability and efficiency on the GPS locater side looks standard for the industry, and from what I can tell they've thought of all the necessary ins and outs of what a GPS tracking system should be, as well as adding in a lot of extra bells and whistles that you might not need, but if you have the right kind of business going, could also come in really handy.

For example, if you or your managers are always running around, say on a construction site, you might need to get your updates on your cell phone, which you can do with their handy texting ability. Updates can be sent to you wherever you are on what's going on right then with your worker who's picking up materials, or visiting the client. Is it too late to get brick instead of marble? Only if you use GPS Insight will you be able to know.



*This is a sponsored post*

Fries, Toast and Kisses

None of these are quite the same anywhere else as they are in France. I would love to visit one day, especially now that I'm 21 -- I could tour all the wineries! I'd also love to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre... and with CheaperThanHotels I could stay starting at only 25 Euros a night!

When my parents went to Paris they took a romantic river cruise on the Seine, and I'd love to do the same! (Aren't I a great poet?) For the romance to really kick in though, you have to be staying somewhere decent. Thankfully, CheaperThanHotels has 4 star hotels starting at the same, only 25 Euros a night!

CheaperThanHotels has a huge, great selection that you can sort by any number of factors, so at least go check it out. I know I will when I plan my fantastic European vacation!

*This is a sponsored post*

Ohh, making progress.

So I've eanred a good $30 or so from Blogsvertise now, which is fun and easy, but even more fun is what I've been doing at Prizee.com. I play games every day, and earn credits towards prizes! I haven't put in any money, and I have about $5.00 playing as a casual player. Sign up! Enjoy!

Have Camera, Will Travel

One of my favorite things to do with my "killed time" is travel. Well, really fantasize about traveling. It's a boring sounding word, but riding a train through Ukraine on my way to Sevastopol while eating native berries that don't even have a name in English was one of my favorite experiences ever.

Since I've headed east already, next I'd love to go west, and down. Down under.

If you are headed to Australia, you can stay at the Darling Harbour Hotel in Sydney, or the Melbourne Hotel in, you guessed it, Melbourne!

Though it's a bit more expensive I'd reccomend Sydney. It's right on the water and there's tons to do! Although if you're going to take a 15 hour flight, why not hit all the hotspots?

Activities include historic King Street Wharf, Australian National Maritime Museum, free outdoor entertainment, the Harbourside Shopping Centre, and all sorts of dining options, from Vietnamese to Italian to Spanish tapas. Australia was once used by the British as a dumping ground for all sorts of debtors and unsavory types, and that has resulted in a culture full of interest and diversity, one well worth visiting.

If you do decide to go, check out CheaperThanHotels.com.au! And send me a postcard!

*This is a sponsored post*

All sorts of dining, aquaria, museums,

Something for Everyone

Did you know that it is illegal to own or drive a car unless you are covered by auto insurance? Sometimes if you borrow a friend's car their policy will cover you temporarily, but not always.

Advantage Auto Quotes sells all types of car insurance, including commercial and business insurance, sports car coverage, classic car liability coverage, and teen driver insurance.

If you live anywhere outside of a major city, you've got to have a car, and to do that, you've got to have insurance! Advantage Auto Quotes can give you a free quote today!

*This is a sponsored post*

Compilation

Here's a random assortment of things I've been killing my time with:

King.com is a free site with a lot of fun games. It's pretty well done (I especially like "Big Bang"), but you can't make any money unless you first deposit some, which goes against my money-earning principles, but maybe not yours.

Big Winner Cash Games is a similar site, however as soon as you make a deposit, you can withdraw the money, even if you haven't played any games! I haven't tried this yet, but they say they give you a 50% bonus on your first deposit, so if you put in $10, they give you $5, you withdraw the $10 you put in, and you have $5 complimentary to build and earn with!

I've been looking for other places with an even better setup (i.e., you can earn without having to put in money, like Prizee) so if you see any of those, let me know.

Paid to Play?

I've been hearing a lot about websites where they will pay you to play games, but Bid 4 Prizes has a completely different model. You bid on things, and the person with the lowest bid, who is also the only person who bid that specific amount, wins the prize!

Now, even though you're "bidding," no one at Bid 4 Prizes pays what they bid. It's simply a new way to determine the winner. It's simple to enter a bid either online or with text messaging from your phone, and the site has clear instructions.

They have at least one winner every day, and it's more fun than the other sites, especially since there's some amount of strategy involved. In case you have trouble, Bid 4 Prizes has three methods of customer service, online, by email, or by telephone. Overall it's a fun and entertaining site, easy enough for my mom to use! (Hi Mom!)

*This is a sponsored post.*

A Moment of Reflection

I'm going on vacation for the next two and a half weeks, so there may not be an update in that time.

I would like to point out the benchmark of hitting $1.00 at Helium, and that the benefits I've derived from MyLot have been greater than their simple monetary value. I've gotten a lot of comments and linkbacks from using mylot as a place to genuinely respond to discussions, and if appropriate, link to one of my blogs as a helpful resource.

In the absence of my direct influence, I'd like to ask you, my ever-loyal following, for your advice and input. What's the best way you contribute to community?

The Best

Ironic as it may be, I think the best and most time-effective methods of earning money online are through article-writing sites.

Helium, Triond, and Associated Content are all well and good, but they are pretty indiscriminate in terms of what content they take. The closer you get to freelance writing, the better off you'll be. Look at it this way, even if an article that pays $60 (which is low for quality freelance work) takes you three, four, or even five times longer to write than an article for those other sites, you're still making over 100x what you would make on that other article, even if it were posted at all three sites.

I think paid posting is a nice middle ground if you don't want to put in too much effort and you like the blogosphere. You can increase your earnings as your reputation increases by writing on specific subjects, but a little more casually than if you were writing articles. However, since I've begun "the real thing," i.e., a blog about things that interest me, I've discovered how much more difficult it is to promote a blog that's not in this "making money" niche. I hope, though, that it will be easier to get regular readers, and I know that with a topic I'm more passionate about, I will be able to produce higher quality content.

Expect further bulletins as warranted, but on a less frequent basis.

What Now?

I've got everything here set up pretty well, I'm checking my earnings regularly, trying to network on places like MyLot (although I could always do more of that). What do I do now? I've gotten to the point where all the further money-making sites I find have the same links to the same programs. There's not much new out there.

So, given that I've done a fair reconnaissance job, and am waiting to hear back from a number of places in certain genres, I think my next few posts will be reviews of the genres of online money-making. Sound good? Sounds good to me.

A Fine Line

I haven't done much with Triond lately, mainly because while they do pay, they don't pay much, and having learned more and more about this content creation/revenue-sharing endeavor, it quickly bleeds into freelance writing. And for freelance writing, Triond pays peanuts.

1) If I were to actually come up with a business plan I would design two or three blogs around interesting and popular topics I feel confident writing about, and work on those for fun until they become three months old, at which point I would sign up for all the different paid posting sites.

2) Even without a business plan I can see that sites which don't advertise how much you might reasonably expect to make and which actually pay you maybe a couple dollars a month just aren't worth the bang for your buck. NicheBlast is not like the others. They are very upfront about how much you are likely to make on average, and in the beginning it's $4.00 per month, per article. Why so much? Because they have four sites which fill a niche, and articles which require the writer to write well and do research. Even so it only took me about 20 minutes for each of the two test articles I wrote. If you're on the paid to click side of things, this might not be for you, but if you fancy yourself a writer in any way, give it a try.

Google Vs. AdBrite

Which one is better? Which one rocks my socks? It should be obvious by the side-bar ad to your right that it's

(click it if you're feeling generous). But the relevant question is why AdBrite is the best.

If you run a making money-blog: Google AdSense does not endorse any blogs which make money by paid blog entries or paid links or referral programs. This is why they never approved my AdSense application (even though they didn't have the courtesy to tell me so) and why I was running public service ads for nearly three weeks.

If you want to make money on your website:

had me approved, up and running, and earning money in under 24 hours. That is darn impressive.

So if you're looking for no hassles on a blog with content you control completely... well you get the idea.

*This is not a sponsored post, it just sounds like one because I'm so jazzed*

Link Exchanges

In this networking endeavor I've run across a whole lot of making money online blogs. Basically, none of them specify what kind of money-making they're concerned with, and none of them are by any means complete.

However, (there's always a however, isn't there?) Making Money Online has a fantastic layout and in-depth reviews with proofs of payment.

Also, Work at Home: Proof of Payment has proofs (duh) and has been around a little longer, resulting in a broader range of sites reviewed.

And last but not least, Melanie's Make Money Online List distinguishes itself with a whole gaggle of gadgets designed around representing how she's made money over the past month on her way to a $16,000 goal. She also offers some proofs of payment.

Check these sites out for more info, and keep checking back here, as I promise to always supply full disclosure of payment. If there is a demand for proof of payment, I'll supply it. Just comment to ask for it.

What Now?

In spite of the things going on which I posted about recently, there is a distinct lack of things to do right now. No one has responded to my interactive comment challenge, Google AdSense has yet to approve me after close to three weeks since my application, and while I've gotten one sponsored post, there are no more immediately on the horizon.

My goal was to set up a blog and membership at revenue-sharing sites such that I would continually be presented with opportunities to earn and be productive, but I am beginning to realize that I need to keep myself busy, especially at these early stages. So what should I do with myself and my yet-to-be-famous killed time? I'm thinking ... networking. If anyone knows which of these community sites are best for actual interaction and networking with people with similar blogs, please let me know. (i.e., Technorati, Digg, MyBlogLog... you get the idea.)

More More More

Wow. There's a lot going on right now. I read a great article at ProBlogger.net about how to keep readers' loyalty. The thing that most made sense to me was to interact with your readers. So here's how that's gonna go. If you are reading this, post a comment. That's not good enough for you? Okay, the first comment should be at least one word starting with the letter "A," the second with the letter that comment ended with, and so on. All I ask is one word! When I do my next post, I'll blog about whatever the last word was, and bam! we start over with those comments.

I'd really like it if you actually had something to say, but if not, that's fine too. Don't let that stop you from commenting. Whoever you are, just stick to the rules.

I've started getting paid post offers, so be aware that those will be coming in and will always be labeled as sponsored posts. Also, I will always be honest about what I think about a website, service, or product. It'll probably sound too nice or sugarcoated, but I'm a generally kind and forgiving person. I try for that benefit of the doubt stuff, so I may be encouraging, but I will never endorse the use of any particular service which I have not experienced myself. For example, in the last post I endorsed the information available at the given website, not the credit cards they offered, because I've read some of the information, but I never signed up for any of their credit cards.

Now for less boring stuff. I signed up for MyLot the other day, and while I've only made $0.04 from them so far, they may be a good place to post links (where relevant) to your blog or articles. You can respond to discussions on the subject you wrote an article about, point them to an article. You get paid for writing the post, and for the readers who went to see your article. Two birds!

Speaking of which, I am completing the poetic circularity of this endeavor by having written an article about The Best Way to Earn with Paid Content, which details my article writing method. Yes, the host site is a Triond affiliate. The irony.

I've also been playing on a site called Prizee for a little over a week. It's completely free and the games are pretty fun, and when you earn enough Bubz you're eligible to get certain prizes (including cash certificates) by various means. I think I may have posted about this before, but I just got the referral link so here it is again, in more detail, with more experience backing it up.

There's a lot going on and a lot to be done, but it's pretty late here on the East Coast, so look for more updates tomorrow.

Give Me a Little Credit

So one option for making money online is to invest it. As you know, the premise of this blog is to earn money online without spending any, but as businesses grow sometimes they need to invest so they can keep growing and keep earning more.

GoldStarCredit has a user-friendly website and they offer credit lines for businesses and students. They have compared different credit cards so that they have all the information you need to help you make an informed decision.

They also have a debt help section on their website, with information on debt consolidation and DiY debt reduction. I'm always suspicious of companies whose sole business is debt consolidation (they have to make money somehow, right?), but it's in a credit card company's best interest to help customers learn to manage their finances well.

GoldStarCredit also has a slew of information about loans and mortgages. If you're in the market for a new house, car, or any line of credit, I would definitely suggest checking out GoldStarCredit.net as a first step to start gathering all the information you'll need.

*This is a sponsored post*

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Well, I'm done with my boring summer internship now, so I won't have quite as much time to kill (don't worry, the real shift will be when I start back to school in a month or so). I'll probably feel like doing slightly more productive things, like writing my senior thesis, or cracking down on that summer reading list.

Luckily, Helium has just updated their site to include a "Marketplace" where writers can add articles according to the usual rigmarole, but the article titles you're writing under have been supplied by publishers who are willing to pay for quality articles on that subject which meet or exceed their standards. Helium makes no promises, as well they shouldn't, since publishers have complete discretion, but the same ranking and payment system through Helium kicks in, so why not give it a shot? You're just writing the articles you'd probably write anyway, except this time with a built-in audition for (relatively) high-paying publishers.

Did I mention the publishers list the payment they're offering beside each article? As well as how much of that you would actually get. It looks like Helium takes a 20% cut, which isn't bad compared to the 35-50% net standard.

The Lazy Way to Earn

So I've blogged before about AGloCo and their toolbar, but as of yet, due to AGloCo's completely reasonable business model, they're not paying out until they have a sustainable revenue.

Now, however, I've found out about Cash Fiesta. They have a slightly more obtrusive toolbar, but that's because you earn money from it by viewing banner ads. You technically don't have to view them, they just appear in the toolbar as you surf the net.

They also have a counter which keep track of your points in real time, as well as your referrals. They have a special offers section too, and while increasing special offers can increase the amount you earn, they're the usual survey sign-up and online poker sites.

Because Cash Fiesta makes its money by advertising to you, the toolbar has no viruses, spyware, or other harmful code in it. I've tested it out and my computer is running normally. In addition, the site has been around for awhile, so if there were viruses attached, people would have begun shunning it long ago. (Like WeatherBug. Don't ever download WeatherBug.)

In the time it's taken me to write this post I've earned 141 points. What that equates to is undetermined since I will complete special offers. Basically your earnings aren't meaningful unless you do a couple offers to increase your pay rate. There are a few which don't cost anything. Every 1,000 points of special offers completed is equivalent to $1, and for the month of July every user to sign up gets an extra 1,000 points.

Their payout is at $50, which is a little bit high, but they pay by check, which I think is nice and convenient, but costs them a little bit more, so I can't knock the minimum here. This may be the best opportunity I've found so far, because it pays reasonably well, and you can see your earnings add up before your eyes.

Cold Hard Cash

It's official. I just got my first actual payment from this gig. $5.01 from Associated Content for one article. Hurrah! Success!

I've just started to figure out a system for doing this, and while your time constraints and interest may vary, it should be pretty easily adaptable to anyone's earning money online demands.

Decisions Were Made

I cut the paid review sites from the stats sidebar since none of them have offered me anything as of yet.

I added Associated Content since they offered me $5.01 for the only article I submitted. Pretty good, huh?

I also found a couple sites which involve playing games to earn money or prizes. As usual, none of them require any investment to play or earn. The first isMoola. They give you a penny whenever your account is empty, and then you play double-or-nothing games against other players in real time. You can cash out whenever you want, and they pay by PayPal. The second is Prizee, where you play games for their points, which are directly equal to Euros.

I Hope I Get It!

Having found a lovely and fairly complete list of paid review sites, I went through it systematically to see which ones this blog might be eligible for. I didn't apply anywhere that had clear requirements which would rule me out. If I did, they might be bitter and not take me when I do meet their standards!

I've applied to Sponsored Reviews and LinkWorth. Both of these sites have to approve your blog before you can do anything, so let's keep our fingers crossed!

Note: Blogsvertise is another option for newer blogs, but I've already signed up for them!

Edit: That was fast! LinkWorth approved me in just 25 minutes!

Progress and Standstills

I think the weekend strategy was a good one. It really brought into clarity what enterprises were making progress and what ones had stalled out.

Progress: My Triond earnings increased by $0.30 which puts me at $0.64 cents total. Because that exceeds their payment minimum of $0.50 I'll get paid through PayPal when they do their June payments (July 15th). Unfortunately I am no longer on the Hot Members page, even though I have a lot of recent views. Maybe that means the site is getting more popular overall. Whatever it is, I'll have to write more to stay in the game.

Helium had further earnings of $0.02 for me, which is really just negligible. I like the site and it's fun, but because of how they're set up you have to write to answer the specific question they have on the site. Given that and my lower earnings, it doesn't seem worth it to work at that.

Global Test Market sent me two surveys over the weekend. One I was ineligible for, and the other had filled up by the time I tried to fill it out. Even so, they gave me 15 Market Points for the attempt, which is equates to $0.75. Not bad. I don't feel terribly helpful, but I'm getting paid pretty well.

Standstills: Survey Spot sent me a lot of surveys, almost none of which I was eligible for. Their payout is much bigger at $2-$10 per survey, so I guess I'll keep trying.

Blogsvertise has yet to send me a single "task" (paid post). I am on probationary status, but their suggestion to get off of probationary status is to accept and complete the tasks they offer you! Well Blogsvertise, I've done every single (n)one!

Google AdSense has yet to approve me. They said they would get back to me within one week of my application. That was on June 24th, exactly one week ago. Am I a difficult case? Worse blogs than this have Google Ads on them! I can't give you a link because really, why would I save a link to a blog worse than this one?

Other: AGloCo, Constant Content, and Slash My Search are all dependent on my activity, and as such have not changed over the past few days.

Hiatus Help

I'm thinking that maybe if I take a hiatus for the weekend my earnings will seem spectacular once I get back. Since I'm going out of town and won't have Internet access until Sunday evening anyway, that's what I'll do.

Of Note: I have maintained my "Hot Member" status at Triond and while my earnings stayed at $0.19 for awhile they have once again skyrocketed, this time to $0.34. Why? Well, 73% of those earnings are from one article about weight loss. I thought it looked like a popular subject, so I shared what I do. It was really easy, and legitimately fun.

Of Further Note: I have added SurveySpot
to the Stats. I joined awhile ago, but since I wasn't certain whether they were a scam or not I didn't want to link to them. They're a legit survey company. The only drawback is that most of their surveys don't offer direct rewards. Rather, they offer chances at winning prizes. That's all well and good, but it's not what I or this blog are about. However, they do sometimes offer paid surveys, and so far I've been told that I've earned at least $13.00, just by taking two surveys. The drawback there is that it takes up to six weeks for those earnings to be posted. Oh well. If I needed the $13.00 that badly I'd probably be in another line of work.

Hitting the Big Time

The Good News: I've made it to the top. Triond is listing me on their "Hot Members" list under the "Popular" section. (Pen name: Samantha Enns)

The Bad News: What made me popular? A total of 78 views which has garnered me $0.19. That's what it takes to be a "Hot Member"? By those standards the hottest members are earning maybe $1.75 a week. Oh well.

Other News: Those numbers mean I'm earning 1/5th of a cent per page view. Of course they have their own algorithms and whatnot, but that's with a mix of articles and photos. I couldn't find a site to give stats on this, so I'll supply them myself.

Other other news: Agloco has had a lot of downtime today. I'm wondering if they're having far more success and traffic than they had anticipated, or if they're just poorly managed.

Something I Actually Do Anyway

Yes, I waste my time online as a matter of course. But I wouldn't be choosing to waste it like this unless I were looking to earn money, right?

Well I found a site that pays you to use it as a search engine and to use its forums. They do a pretty good job, from what I can tell, and I like that they give you a preview of the site before you click on it, so you can browse more effectively. The money's not bad, from what I've been able to learn by researching. Go ahead, try it out. You know you want to.

The other thing I'm looking at is AGloCo. You surf the web with their toolbar installed, which sends info to advertisers, and they pay you in cash and shares. I'm not sure I buy their business model, but it's free and right now they're just building their network anyway. They're going to release the toolbar to people in the order they signed up, so get in line!

Edit: whatever website referred me was WAY out of date. The toolbar has definitely already been released.

Various Updates

I added Constant Content yesterday. They're more of a freelance service, which means writing tailored articles, but also getting paid more ($20-$50 per article). You can also just post content and wait for someone to buy rights to it.

I joined GlobalTestMarket awhile ago, and this morning I got my first survey offer. While I didn't qualify for the survey they offered, or the one listed on my homepage, GlobalTestMarket did give me the equivalent of $0.25 for trying to take each survey. They use a points system where 1 point is worth $.05. Their minimum to cash out is 1000 points, or $50, which is a lot, but I'm earning more there than anywhere else. It looks like it will take about as long to get to Triond's minimum payout of $0.50!

Mitigated Success

I logged into Helium to check my earnings for the day, and they had skyrocketed to a whopping 17 cents! Why then don't my Stats reflect that, you ask? Because an "adjustment" was made which took 8 cents off my total! After much searching and digging, I eventually found a grain of factoid in their discussion forums which said that adjustments can be because articles which have earned money have been deleted. Problems with this system:

1) If an article has earned money (i.e., acheived financial success), why is it being deleted?

2) Any money earned is because of advertising. That money is earned by Helium, regardless of whether the article later becomes deleted. So when they delete your article and rescind your earnings, they're just keeping that money for themselves.

It gets better. The article that was deleted? The title I wrote under was "How long should Helium articles be?"

My article?

"Like a girl's skirt: long enough to cover the subject; short enough to keep it interesting."

The reason they deleted it?

"It was meaningless content."

Excuse me? I answered the question and the answer encapsulates its own message in its length, which is the subject proposed to be addressed in the first place! That's meaning on two distinct levels people!

Approved!

Blogsvertise has approved this blog! That was really fast! That means that I will occasionally be posting paid entries. Don't worry though, they can't pay for my integrity! I won't lie about the company or product, at least not anymore than I already lie to all of you!

Unfortunately, I don't have any assignments yet, so we'll see whether this site ends up being worth my time or not. Even so, I am updating the Stats table accordingly.

Slight Progress

I'm making four cents a day between Helium and Triond, which isn't half bad, and will only increase if I keep writing and submitting content. Submitting pictures to Triond hasn't earned me a cent yet, it's all from the two articles I've done.

I signed up for MyBlogLog today under retrogradesonnet. I think it's the first thing I've signed up for in this experiment that doesn't directly purport to make me money. I'm still not quite sure how it works. It seems pretty obvious that it's a giant community of networking bloggers, but how it could possibly succeed I'm not sure of.

I also signed up this blog for Blogsvertise, a site which pays bloggers to talk about certain advertised products on their blogs. It's one of the only ones that might take me even though my blog isn't 30 days old, so I've given it a shot, but I've yet to be approved, even on a probationary status. We shall see.

In the meantime I think I'll be focusing my efforts on writing articles for Triond which I will then post on Helium. Triond is better, but you can do both with barely more work, so why not?

Harder Than It Looks

Well, after getting all seven of my tips rejected in less than a day by DayTipper, I'm officially giving up on them. I did my research, tried to write well and on a variety of topics, but alas, no luck.

At least I've earned four cents on the content sites.

Normally at this point I'd get discouraged. But since I have the time to do this when I'm on the clock, I might as well, right? Four extra cents per week is more than I would otherwise be adding to my income.

It's funny, I'm now at the point where these pennies seem like Monopoly money or points, rather than spendable cash. Who would do this for the spendable cash? It's a crazy lot of hoops.

Publicity

For any of this to work at all, I have to be on a radar screen, right? So I'm going to blitzkrieg the web and try and get page views in the following ways:

-- Blog Listings: Earn Money on the Web has a great post with a whole bunch of blog listing sites where it's free to add your blog.

-- Link-backs: GaryConn.com is a big site with all sorts of info on how to make money online. He offers a link-back system (which I'm fulfilling the terms of at this very moment!) which is pretty sweet.

-- Ask and Ye Shall Receive: I'm also going to ask for link-backs to other respectable money-making info blogs like JesseBlogsItAll, which I adore already.

-- Offer and Ye Shall Receive? I am also extending an open link-back invitation. Link me and I will link you. Tit for tat. Mention me in a post (and let me know about it) and I'll do the same. Add me to a links list on the sidebar, and I'll put you in my "Free Lovin' Links" section.

Reluctant Opening

I have an addiction to starting things. I start websites and blogs and craft projects and novels on a regular basis. This addiction often prevents me from finishing anything. Ever. Which is why I am reluctantly writing the opening post of yes, a new blog.

I always want a summer project. This summer my project-on-the-side (you know, next to the paying job) has been to see if I can actually make money on the internet! I've pored through reviews and FAQs and wikis all to see what the best schemes are and what the best ways to go about them are.

I ran across this article which gives a pretty good overview of lots of ways to make money online, some of which I'd heard of, and some not. One new one was the idea of being paid to review something on a blog. Unfortunately, this requires (surprise, surprise) a moderately well-established blog. In my enterprising nature I thought, "Sure, I could have a well-established blog and do this and make money on the side!" but I realized that such was not the case and that in my desire to forever begin projects anew, I will never follow through.

(Sorry, didn't mean to rhyme that one.)

The one thing I have kept up with is my work through Google. Google is so EASY! You just sign up for the one account, it's only one password to remember, and you have all sorts of applications at your fingertips! Including Blogger!

So we'll see. I've got lots of time to kill at my job, and I'm trying to put it to good use. Basically the idea is to see if I can bum around online and accidentally earn some cash along the way, which is better than none!

To keep myself organized, so I don't forget to check my earnings anywhere, links to sites I'm currently using (and my username, in case you want to look up my work, or I forget what my login is...) will be to the side.

Could this be... off in the distance ... is that what I think it is? My goodness yes!

A PLAN!