LinkGrand - Yep, the Upgrade is Worth It!

I really had not had much of a chance to weigh in much about this other than to say it's a good deal, but I just wanted to write a little post and mention that the (fairly recently instituted) LinkGrand premium upgrade is totally worthwhile in my opinion, as well as just a good deal.

At $10 per year, it's a bargain - but even better at $20 lifetime (meaning you never have to pay again), it's a steal, totally. LinkGrand has been around for ages, is an established site with a long and good paying history - it's likely not going anywhere, so much like the other sites that offer a one-time "lifetime" upgrade option (MatrixMails, WordLinx), you really don't have to worry that it's going to up and disappear and will likely get way more mileage out of years with a lifetime upgrade than you would paying the yearly fee annually.

UPDATED 06/24/2012: As of sometime (I guess) this year, the lifetime upgrade at LinkGrand increased to $25. The other available upgrade options are $5 for four months or $12 for two years. The lifetime's still a good deal in my book (especially compared to some other sites' lifetime upgrades) - I really wouldn't want to downgrade my account at LinkGrand even if I could. I have way more ads available daily, my earnings have increased a great deal from what they were as a regular member, and I can withdraw much more often. Love it.

If you're going to go with one of the two options at LinkGrand, I'd just go for the lifetime and never have to think about it again.

With the premium upgrade at LinkGrand, you get:

• More links to view that aren't available to regular members
• Earn double cash on all premium links viewed
• Added to priority mailing list & get news/updates before regular members

All pretty good stuff. I think I would have preferred to see an increase in commissions for premium members as well - it's still 10% for referring advertisers and 30% for referral views for both free and premium members - but it's still a good upgrade deal, especially at the lifetime price. (And who knows, maybe they will institute increased commissions in the future.)

And I would have to say the amount of extra premium ads to view is pretty good and worth it. I don't think I have yet to see an entire 24-hour period since upgrading that I didn't have ten or twelve more ads to view on average that were for premium members to view only.

LinkGrand is still pretty below the other long-term established sites in the amount they pay per view - but to their credit, their advertising rates are about 50% or more lower than the other sites, so it all kinda works out.

And those clicks do add up, especially since they made a lot of big changes on the site late last year. It took me a long time to ever get to my first cashout, but ever since they revamped the site in 2009, I've been able to cash out about every two months on average - and since upgrading, it's looking like I may be able to look forward to cashing out every month or even less so far. So that's pretty cool too.

LinkGrand is open to members from all countries (I think - pretty sure anyway, if not it's most), and minimum cashout is $5 by PayPal. If you're not already a member, join LinkGrand today!

thePaidHelp: Awesome Tool!

Yes, I still have backed up reviews to probably last me a month or more of posting, but I wanted to post about something else today.

I had asked the admin of BankRollBucks to take a look at my newly updated and modified "stuff for newbies" a few weeks ago to check behind me and see if there was anything of major importance that I'd forgotten, and she mentioned she had not been aware of the one tool I would die without, thePaidHelp. At first I was kinda taken aback 'cos I figured most everyone in the GPT forums and around knew about it, but then I remembered that (A) the post I had seen over a year and a half ago where someone was talking about it, they just happened to mention it in passing (i.e. the post wasn't ABOUT the tool) - and (B), I've had it linked in a post on here from Day One pretty much, but it was in a post for beginners suggesting what should be done before they started - so of course most people that weren't new to GPT probably had not noticed it on here. So I figured I'd just post that part from the newbies section here in a post all its own.

So here goes, and pardon in advance for my outright gushing, but it's the best invention ever in the world.

I would literally die - DIE, I tell you - without thePaidHelp. Sure, I could be keeping this stuff in spreadsheets and whatnot as far as my earnings go, but I would never ever be able to get it all as streamlined and perfect for these activities as thePaidHelp already has it built in.

I have found ThePaidHelp to be an invaluable tool in keeping track of earnings - it is literally the best $14.95 I have ever spent since beginning online money hunting. This tool will keep track of just about everything you need when working GPT/PTC/PTR and other sites - balances, referrals, cashouts - and will even tell you when you have reached cashout minimum at a program, provided you keep your info up to date regularly in it. I use it not only for GPT/PTC/PTR but pretty much everything - paid survey earnings and all other online earning efforts.

Another big plus is that it will automatically update with several of the sites I have listed here (as well as others) if a site is a ThePaidHelp enabled site, and many in the GPT/PTC/PTR community are (Cupid Cash, DonkeyMails, No-Minimum, AdPaid, several others).

Quite a few are NOT enabled for automatic updates, but to me that's become beside the point - thePaidHelp has kept me so much more organized and on top of things than I otherwise would have been. Once I entered all the initial information, it only takes me a few clicks and keystrokes here and there to keep it updated and I can see exactly where I stand everywhere, as well as where and when I need to go cash out my earnings. Truly, truly invaluable.

So I highly, highly recommend this tool. You can try it out for 7 days; after that some functions are not available until it's registered. Registration is $14.95 - you can very easily make that $14.95 back in a month or less with the sites listed here in these pages. ThePaidHelp is definitely, without a doubt, the best $14.95 I ever spent, period. I would be completely lost and totally disorganized without it.

Click the banners for more about thePaidHelp, or check it out by just clicking HERE.

Upgrading - MatrixMails, ClixSense, WordLinx (i.e., "Here she goes again...")

Broken record time again, but then it's been a while since I've nagged about the awesomeness of upgrading at MatrixMails, ClixSense, and WordLinx, so I figure it's about that time again. If you are a member of any of these long-established and paying sites (whether you joined under me or elsewhere) and have never upgraded, you really should consider it.

I am upgraded at a few (very few) other sites, but these are the three I absolutely would NOT do without the upgrade, which is yearly at ClixSense and WordLinx, and available at variable levels and periods of upgrading at MatrixMails.

I have gone on (and on and on and on) about these upgrades before and why it's fabulous for these three sites, but here's a little piece of new news about MatrixMails that I just kind of figured out over time...

If you are a Gold Lifetime member at MatrixMails (and I feel relatively sure this is probably true of Silver members too, and at all levels of Gold and Silver), you will really see an increase in your ongoing balance if you make a point of logging into the site and viewing the PTC ads every day. It is truly worth it to drop by for that daily. For a long time I mainly just did my paid mails and that was it, but when I started getting diligent about the PTC on site, the difference was really noticeable. So there's a good and valuable new tip for you, if you didn't already figure that one out on your own.

I personally like the Gold Lifetime upgrade at MatrixMails because, for one, I never have to worry about it again - it's paid for lifetime - it's pricey a bit, but the opportunity to bring in quite a bit of income via the matrix is worthwhile plus the fact that (big important point) you are going to make a whole lot more overall per paid mail and PTC at Gold Lifetime. Those of you who do a lot of paid mails and PTC will recognize that $0.04 per paid mail is nothing to sneeze at, and while they don't necessarily come in every single day, they do almost. PTC is higher too (it says $0.02 but I'm thinking it's really $0.04 per PTC ad too, but don't quote me on that one, I just heard that somewhere and haven't really paid that much attention when there).

Anyway, it's truly worthwhile just for the extra pay per mail and PTC alone, really, and has made a difference in that instead of waiting a year or more to cashout, I've gotten to where I can probably cash out $5 or more once or twice a month now, and expect that to continue to increase as time goes on. Gold and Silver levels and varying monthly and quarterly memberships have different payouts ranging from 1.5 cent to 4 cent mails, in any case you really can't go wrong with upgrading to at least ONE of the many membership levels available. I did the Gold monthly first, I think, and saw my balance increase enough at that rate that the next time around I just went for the Gold Lifetime because it's even so much more.

For the record, MatrixMails - unlike ClixSense and WordLinx which are PTC only - is a PTR that also (besides paid mails and PTC) has paid offers, or PTS, on site and several other ways to earn.

I'm not even going to try to begin to explain the matrix program - it's all there on the site and I still don't fully understand it all, I just know there is definitely potential there to bring in solid major earnings, especially if you're one who likes to promote a lot.

And I'm not sure about the other membership levels, but at Gold Lifetime I can vouch for the fact that MatrixMails will put a number of referrals under you (not in the matrix, just regular referrals - if they upgrade they enter the matrix under you). Right now over half my Level 1 referrals were put under me by MatrixMails, and those referrals are collectively earning me more cash every month. I'm very happy with MatrixMails and looking forward to seeing how it continues to progress there over time. (I do wish they would add new banners though, I'm kinda tired of this one and I guess I could make my own in PaintShopPro but that's about #999 on my list of 1,001 things I need to do.)




I don't think it's been that long since I nagged about how great the ClixSense and WordLinx upgrades are so I won't go on too much about them, but anyway - they're both no-brainers and so cheap, and for an entire year, there's really no good reason not to upgrade at both.

ClixSense - for $10 a year (less than a buck a month) you will generally see a ton of ads (300-500 or more) the first time you upgrade (that's $5 or so right there), and after that you will definitely see more ads than you would as a free member, especially depending on your category choices in your profile. There's also the opportunity to earn a whole lot more money with referrals that upgrade, though even as a free member you still make a little per referral anyway whether they upgrade or not. It's just exponentially a whole lot more if you are an upgraded member, and a LOT more if your referrals upgrade.

ClixSense also recently introduced the ability to upgrade with your earnings, which is really cool, although if it's your first upgrade you probably won't be able to because it takes so very awfully long to get to $10 if you're a free member - though you'd get there eventually, it's just a lot quicker if you're upgraded - but you can use Google Checkout for the first upgrade and then plan on using your earnings to pay for your upgrade thereafter, which I like.




WordLinx is also only $10 for a whole year, and while you won't see quite the dramatic increase in hundreds more ads on your first upgrade to Verified member with WordLinx like you do the first time you upgrade at ClixSense, you will see more ads regularly and make more and plenty faster if you're upgraded than you would otherwise. There are also a bunch of nice bonuses for upgraded members - signup bonuses, upgrade bonuses, more earnings on referral clicks than as a free member - it all adds up, and to me (like ClixSense) it's just a no-brainer at what amounts to less than a dollar a month for a whole year.

WordLinx also recently introduced a Verified Plus membership, which is a lifetime upgrade (so you never have to upgrade again) and has an added benefit of being able to upgrade through your PayPal account, and without a credit/debit card, for those that don't have a card. Upgrading to Verified Plus also comes with 1000 paid credits and a month of banner advertising, which is all pretty cool.

For now I'm remaining an annual subscriber, but I may well upgrade to Verified Plus in the future just to not have to fool with paying to upgrade again every year. This also makes sense because none of these sites are likely going anywhere - they've been around "forever" (getting close to ten years in one case); I've already been a member of all for nearly a year and a half so five years from now, when they're all still likely there and I'm still likely earning from all three, my Gold Lifetime membership has already paid for, and the Verified Plus membership would have paid for, those six-ish years of membership - and I'm liable to be a member at all three many more years than that, as long as I and they are still around, which we probably all will be. If ClixSense had a lifetime upgrade option, I'd probably add that to my future plans as well.




Anyway, once again, it just makes sense to upgrade at all three. Even though I've been a member of all for nearly a year and a half, I can pretty much guarantee you I would STILL be waiting to make my first cashout at all three of them and probably be waiting much longer, and instead I've cashed out at MatrixMails multiple times, ClixSense once (and won't be long 'til I do again), and would have already cashed out at WordLinx except I bought advertising instead, but probably will be soon. WordLinx has paid tons of folks in the many years they've been around, though - there are payment proofs all over the community.

I have payment proofs from MatrixMails, and don't from ClixSense yet since they pay by check and I wasn't scanning checks for payment proof then, but will on the next one. If you're reading this post six months in the future, I will probably have payment proofs from all three on my Proofs page (click HERE) by then.

In any case, yes, it is WELL worth the cost of upgrading at these three sites - you will likely be able to cashout at all on a regular basis rather than waiting forever, and the potential for much larger earnings especially with MatrixMails and ClixSense is VERY high if upgraded (in the case of MatrixMails, upgraded to a membership level that includes entry into the matrix), and especially if you can promote.

And one more thing - here's another little factoid about ClixSense and WordLinx you may or may not already know (I didn't for a while after I joined) - new ads are added throughout the day at different times of the day, and many ads at both only have a small number of views and they're gone, so it's worth your while to log into both several times during the day to maximize your earnings. (At ClixSense, there are usually a bunch of new ads up around 6am CST or a little later most days.)

I talk a lot here on the site about making money "off" the various programs I have listed, but the fact is I have also found a lot of other ways of making money online (and lots of other useful stuff) through the ads on many of the sites, but especially these three and a few others like AdPaid and LinkGrand and Readers Pond. And I found Phil that way too, through ClixSense (I think), and some other sites I now read daily... my point being you just never know what you will find every day that will be beneficial to you!


By the way, I would be remiss in not mentioning that Readers Pond also has several reasonable upgrade levels where you can cash out a lot quicker and some nice other benefits too. The upgrades at Readers Pond range from $8 to $50 year a year and that's not a bad deal at all either.




I think that maybe it's a little more difficult to promote and gain new referrals for all three of the main programs mentioned above - ClixSense, MatrixMails, WordLinx - because for the most part, most folks that are already pretty active in GPT/PTC/PTR are already members and have been for years because these sites have been around so long and been so reliable and been so popular.

But in today's horrific economy, more and more people are going to be looking for ways to earn extra cash or just plain earn online, so potential new referrals are out there, and while a lot of the "get paid" sites might come and go, those three and the others I mentioned and a lot of other old well-established and long paying standbys (like Hits4Pay and Deals 'n' Cash) - they are not likely going anywhere ever. If you really wanted to work super hard on promoting, you probably could eke out a full-time income or almost on the sites I've mentioned in this post alone.

P.S. If you clicked on my Payment Proofs link above or have been looking at any proofs links in the individual posts here lately, you probably found my new "quick list" of sites (click HERE), which is now completed (well, it will always be a work in progress but all pages are open now). I mainly put that together for two reasons - one, I have friends who can't stand to read blogs and reviews but are interested in GPT/PTC/PTR; and second, the way it's set up is saving me a lot of time in updating payment and other information regularly.

That said, there are sites on those pages that I have not yet listed and reviewed here but am actively working - and will be reviewed in posts here soon - but if you want a head start on sites I just haven't gotten around to posting about yet, you'll find them there.

OK, I'll get off my upgrading soapbox again for a while but yes - once again - if you can manage the upgrades at any or all of the three sites, it's totally, truly worth it.

Happy moneymaking and I'll be back tomorrow!
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Helpful Hint: Don't Go Inactive On Sites You Want to Hang Onto

I am all but 100% totally bedridden with the flu or something right now - lovely! - luckily I had managed to draft several posts last week and over the weekend, so if this gets any worse I can at least still post this week.

One thing I did manage to do before I started feeling horrible was something I've been meaning to do for a while now - I dropped by some of the sites that I am not terribly active on (but some of my referrals are) and did a few offers.

This is why that's a good thing: Most sites will delete inactive accounts from time to time (some quicker and sooner than others). So if you have sites you don't work a whole lot on but don't really want to lose out of your stable of income, it's always good to drop in and do some offers once in a while. Some say once a month; my experience (with general GPT sites anyway) is it doesn't necessarily have to be that often, but you really should every once in a while.

PS: This is especially true for PTC sites and you really need to be more diligent in that case - some of those will drop you like a hotcake if you don't show up and click for a month, or even a week.
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ClixSense Upgrade - Get to Cashout Fast

Yeah, I keep going on and on about this, I know, but I just cannot stress how great the ClixSense upgrade is for a measly ten bucks for a whole year.

Once upon a time, I thought I'd never make it to cashout at ClixSense. I just realized yesterday that I AM going to make cashout this month, and probably every month after that, thanks to the upgrade.

I would have gotten there even quicker if I hadn't gotten lazy for a few weeks and not reviewed the 300-400 ads I had sitting there every day waiting. Once I finally got through the backlog, it's gotten easy to keep up with and I get plenty of ads every day to review.

So that $10 for the whole year has already paid for itself (and would have sooner if I hadn't gotten lazy) and I should be able to cash out every month from now on.

It's cheap, it lasts the whole year, and the benefits are immense. Upgrade, you will NOT be sorry you did.

More ClixSense & MatrixMails Upgrade Info

Was just browsing this weekend and found a good post on the Web by another blogger explaining the benefits of upgrading (only $10 for a year) at ClixSense. Here it is:

ClixSense Worth Upgrading

I wish I could find a similar post about the Gold Lifetime with matrix upgrade at MatrixMails, maybe I'll run across one someday.

With the ClixSense upgrade, you not only make more money yourself because you get lots more ads to review, but could potentially make hundreds. With the MatrixMails Gold Lifetime upgrade, you not only get paid four times as much for most things you yourself do, but you have the opportunity to not only make hundreds but thousands of dollars and regularly.

And another nice thing about the MatrixMails Gold Lifetime with matrix upgrade is you only pay it once - one time, that's it. Even without the extra benefits, I am making so much more and faster just on my own activities at MatrixMails, I should recoup that $60 in a few months on my own activities alone. And I never ever have to pay again!

Same with the ClixSense upgrade on a smaller level. I get so many more ads to review daily, I'll have made that $10 upgrade money (again, good for a whole year) back this month or next month.

It doesn't always pay to upgrade everywhere, but MatrixMails and ClixSense are two places it definitely DOES pay to upgrade. If you're a member (or if you want to become one), you really should read the info about the upgrades on both sites and think about it. They truly are worth it.

Make MORE Money! Recommended Worthwhile Upgrades for Paid to Click (Again)

While I'm busy talking up paid to click ads sites again, I would be really remiss not to once again bring up (and yes, at the risk of sounding like a broken record again) the benefits of upgrading at some - not ALL, but definitely some - paid to click sites.

Listen, I'm not really big on recommending putting out cash out of pocket on too much in the online moneymaking world, but the bottom line is that some of the paid to click sites have such excellent deals on upgrades that it just doesn't make sense not to take advantage of them and make MORE money.

If you are serious about earning extra income online with click sites, you just CANNOT go wrong with these upgrades.

The ones with upgrades for monthly fees, I usually pass on - but there are several that offer upgrades for $10 to $12 a YEAR (a dollar or less a month!) and you just generally get sooo many more ads, usually daily, with those upgrades. I always have so many in my ClixSense account waiting for me, I've yet to catch up fully on them and have none waiting on me when I logged in there YET. I've ALWAYS got ads waiting at ClixSense.

I don't know about where you live, but the price of a soda or bottled tea here is running about $1.29-1.39 each these days. For less than that a month, I can have a whole year's worth of more ads to click on at several sites and make more money at them than I would otherwise! So I can justify figuratively (or literally) doing without one soda or bottle of tea a month in order to make more money ALL YEAR LONG, if you follow me.

So now that I've added a few new click sites to the mix, let me go over the sites that I feel are really worth the upgrade to earn more money due to the excellent deals they offer. Again, I have upgraded at all four of these myself, and all are established, long-term, proven sites (or in Buddy Pond's case, a newer one run by an admin I have complete faith and trust in), and I think in a very short amount of time I will more than have made up for the (cheap) expense in money earned. Here we go:


ClixSense - $10 per YEAR - once again, I strongly recommend this upgrade, especially because it is ONLY $10 for a whole entire YEAR. You will honestly get SO many more ads to review, you won't believe, and you have the opportunity to make even more money by referring others. I STILL have yet to stay caught up enough to have no ads waiting after having upgraded because I have been so busy with other things lately. When I log in, I usually have over 100 ads waiting and sometimes as many as 300. This upgrade is WELL worth it for what amounts to less than $1 a month.




WordLinx - $10 per YEAR - I recently upgraded to verified member status on WordLinx and was thrilled to see how many more ads I had to review. At 1 cent per ad, that can really add up fast! Verified member status on WordLinx is also just $10 a year - VERY reasonable for an entire year's opportunity to earn much more than in free status. They have other upgrade options as well, but this is the cheapest one and is just yet another of those deals that doesn't really make sense not to take advantage of and make MORE money, for what amounts to less than a dollar per month.




MatrixMails - (variable upgrade packages, as low as $5 for 3 or 6 months) - MatrixMails is another that, to me, just doesn't make sense not to upgrade on because (among other benefits) you earn SO much more per paid mail by upgrading. They have a large variety of upgrade packages to choose from - I initially opted for the one-time Gold Membership which was only $5 for three months, and have been earning twice as much per paid mail since. I have been so pleased by how much faster my earnings have accrued with the upgrade that I am now considering upgrading to one of the Gold Package Memberships, which will earn me about four times as much per mail than as a free member, among many other benefits. In any case, the upgrade here is worth it even if it's just the $5 for three months Gold Membership or $5 for six months Silver Membership - those are dirt cheap and you immediately earn MORE.




So there you have it - those are the ones that are so cheap, especially the three you can upgrade on for a WHOLE YEAR, it just doesn't make sense to me not to upgrade. If you're going to click to earn, why not earn the most you can? And if earning the most you can amounts to spending a dollar or less per month to upgrade on a site - easy decision to make, for me.


So you have those four I highly recommend upgrading on - let's make more money clicking and reading. Now, add the other two click sites I have recently recommended:

LinkGrand, which has no upgrade package and all ads are free and available to all:




Financial Freedom Ads, which has per-month upgrade packages but you can still earn at least one cent per ad and often more as a free member:




... and you have a pretty nice little portfolio of paid to click sites to earn extra income on, and even more if you refer others to the sites.

Want to earn even more money? Add these programs to your portfolio where you get paid just for reading email ads:

Hits4Pay




Deals 'n' Cash




SendEarnings (which also has paid offers and games and other stuff on site)




InboxDollars (which also has paid offers and games and other stuff on site)




AdPaid (which also has paid to click opportunities and paid offers on site)




Take the Internet Back (get paid to read mail + receive shares ad revenue in the company)




... as well as some of the other paid click and paid mail opportunities I have listed previously here and here. You just cannot go wrong, and I know many folks who are making a nice little extra income every month with many of these and others in the links I just gave you, and I'm certainly working towards that myself!

Your profits may look small to begin with, but trust me - they WILL all add up in time and altogether. ESPECIALLY if you go for some of the extremely reasonable and cheap upgrades I mention above with ClixSense, WordLinx, and MatrixMails - for less than the cost of three or four sodas a month, you can make even MORE money at all four sites.

For me, that was a no-brainer, and it just doesn't take that much time out of my day to do the paid clicks and read the e-mails that come (and they DO come, in a steady stream pretty much daily). Easy, easy money.

Have at 'em, and good luck!

HELPFUL HINTS: Read Before You Start - Updated!

(This information originally revised/updated 9th July 2009 - updated again 3rd June 2014)

I wanted to revise some of my original hints, tips and tricks, and "read before you start" advice and have been in the process of working on a quick list of sites that I included this information on, so I felt rather than garble up the continuing blog with this addition, I would just remove the older, somewhat outdated information I had in this post and stick all that good "before you start" info here.

This is divided into three parts and most is self-explanatory, but if you have further questions after reading, feel free to drop me an e-mail at missmoneyhunter at gmail dot com (in proper e-mail format, of course).

Here we go...


PART I: WHAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU START...

An Alternate E-mail Address. This is an absolute must, because working most of these programs is going to create a LOT of e-mail, and you don't want to get all that e-mail mixed up with your "regular" e-mail. You're also liable to catch a lot of spam, even though the sites on these pages themselves won't be the ones spamming you. The best thing to do is set up an alternate e-mail address at Gmail - it's accepted pretty much everywhere, it's good at filtering out the REAL spam and easy to find stuff that winds up in spam by accident, and it's just a great webmail system period - the best. I would caution against using a Yahoo address because #1, Yahoo has become very unreliable, and second, many of these sites will not allow Yahoo e-mail registrations due to all the bouncing problems Yahoo has. Just set one up with Gmail - it's free, it's great, you'll love it - and everything will be just fine. Use this alternate address for all of your GPT/PTC/PTR activities except for one (see next paragraph on paid surveys). Register a Gmail e-mail account HERE.

Another Alternate E-mail Address. If you are going to participate in paid surveys, I recommend setting up ANOTHER alternate e-mail address with Gmail JUST for surveys and similar stuff (for instance, MyPoints). This way your survey invitations don't get mixed up with your regular e-mail (there will be a lot of them), nor will they get mixed up with your other alternate e-mail you're using for GPT/PTC/PTR activities - and therefore, you won't likely miss a potential survey invitation (and miss the opportunity to make money). A lot of these surveys fill up quotas fast, so it's best to keep that e-mail completely separate so you can stay on top of it all, and get in the habit of checking it at least once a day if not more. Again, Gmail is recommended here - it's just plain better and more reliable. Again, register for Gmail HERE. You can register as many Gmail addresses as you want to, it's free.

A PayPal Account. Some of the programs within these pages do still pay by check, money order, or even gift certificates and gift cards - but some of them ONLY pay by PayPal. With the ones that have many options, you will likely get paid quicker if you select PayPal as your payment option. If you don't already have one, consider going to PayPal and registering one - and verifying it when you do (see instructions on how to verify your PayPal account at their site). Some of these programs ONLY pay to verified PayPal accountholders. Register for PayPal HERE.

CCleaner: Especially if you are going to be doing paid offers at GPT sites, but CCleaner by Piriform is useful in just keeping your browser running better anyway. I don't even do that many paid offers/PTS offers anymore, but I still use CCleaner daily just to rid my browser of all the junk it picks up in temp files and such. However, if you're doing paid offers on GPT sites, you need to clear your cookies after doing each offer, and this is the best way to do it, and is the recommended program by the majority of GPT sites in the online community. Quick and safe download and easy to install and use. Get CCleaner HERE.

Good Antivirus/Adware/Malware Security. You probably already have an antivirus program of some sort on your machine & that's fine. If you DON'T already have some additional security measures in place, then I highly recommend these - because once you get in the routine of viewing ads, you probably won't pick up a virus (though it could always happen), but you're almost certainly going to come across ads here and there that contain, at the very least, some minor annoying adware. Best to keep yourself protected at all times anyway nowadays, even if you do NONE of this stuff on these pages. Here's my stable of anti-bad-mojo weapons:

• Antivirus: I use Avast's free edition (click HERE) for antivirus. AVG from Grisoft's free edition (click HERE) is also good and has a free version. If you already run Norton or McAfee or something else and keep it updated and scan regularly, then you're probably fine.
• Spyware Blaster: Javacool's SpywareBlaster is just about the greatest thing since sliced bread, and it runs all the time to keep your browsing safe as possible, whether you use IE or Firefox. Update it frequently and set it for all protection when you do, and it will keep a lot of the nasties away. Get it HERE.
• Malwarebytes: It might be overkill, but Malwarebytes was the ONLY thing that finally eradicated one nasty piece of adware/malware I wound up with, so now I scan with it regularly too as well as doing regular scans with AVG. This thing is beautiful. You can get it HERE.
• AdAware: I don't really use this as much anymore 'cos it really is almost overkill security-wise, but AdAware from Lavasoft is also a very good program. You can get it HERE.

PART II: OPTIONAL STUFF THAT'S GOOD TO HAVE...

A Separate Phone Number: This isn't so hard as it may sound, and if you're never going to do paid offers (also known as PTS) at GPT and PTR sites - if you're only planning to click and view PTC ads - you won't really need this... but the bigger earnings are in doing offers. You DO (absolutely) want to register your real & genuine phone number on all of the sites within (it's against TOS at most of them not to and you could get banned for not doing so). But if you're going to do paid offers at GPT sites - you really need to have an alternate phone number that you can enter when you're doing offers (you don't want to use your cell phone number either), or you will be fielding zillions of calls left and right. Skype offers a real, honest to goodness local phone number for most locales for a reasonable fee - it varies by location, but is usually around $27-30 a year - and you can also add voice mail service for a tiny additional fee (generally around $6 for three months). You can listen to your messages online - you can take calls online with it, if you have a headset or microphone - it's terrific for these activities, then you can decide which calls you want to take or return or not. Unless you want your regular phone ringing off the wall once you start getting paid to do offers, you need something of this sort. Check out the options with Skype by clicking HERE.

Another alternative is Simple Voice Box, which you can check out HERE - however, Simple Voice Box gives you an 800 number with voice mail and it's not quite as good of an option as getting a separate real local phone number like you get with Skype. I recommend a Skype number much more, and the voice mail addition is just so cheap at only two bucks a month.


PART III: THINGS TO KNOW LIKE THE BACK OF YOUR HAND ABOUT GPT...

• ID or Phone Verification Requirements (regarding GPT, PTC, or PTR sites) - Check to see whether they require a photo ID before you can cashout. Some do, some don't. Some also require phone verification where you either call in and leave required info on voice mail, or they may have an automatic system that will call you or text you with a code to enter to verify yourself. Good to know beforehand though (and go ahead and do it and get yourself verified if the site does require it) - you don't want to get to cashout level and then not be able to cashout yet because the site requires verification and you're not verified.
• Don't Do The Same Offer Twice! (regarding GPT & some PTR sites) - If you don't do anything but clicking on ads (PTC) and reading paid e-mails, then you don't have to worry about this, but if you are going to do paid offers on sites, that's another story. When doing paid offers (PTS) at GPT sites, and at PTR sites that have them, you absolutely cannot do the same offer twice, ever - even if it's on another site. This is considered fraud, and can get you banned not only from the site(s) you did the offer on, but others in the community as well. Nearly all the GPT sites have a lot of information about fraud available, so educate yourself on how not to screw up in that regard.
• Don't Use A Prepaid Credit or Debit Card (regarding GPT & some PTR sites) - You cannot use prepaid credit or debit cards to do trial offers or anything you must make a purchase for when doing paid offers (PTS) on GPT sites, or at PTR sites that have paid offers. If it's your debit card tied to your bank account, that's fine. It's the prepaid cards like you can buy at Wal-Mart, Sam's, and pretty much all over - or the prepaid credit cards offered by various companies online - that you absolutely cannot use. If you are going to do trial offers, or do shopping on paid offers, you need to use a regular, traditional credit card, or your bank account debit card.

*****

OK, that's pretty much it for my "before you start" (or "while you're doing it") info for now... please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me with questions if you have any! And good luck in your endeavors!
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ClixSense & MatrixMails Revisited, Again

Yeah, I know I've been posting a lot the past two days - lots to catch up on, LOL! Come Monday or Tuesday we'll get back to one or two short posts a day (now that I'm posting daily contest updates), but I just had so much good information stored up to share with you. So if you're serious about trying to make and maximize earnings online, it will be beneficial to you to catch up on all the information I've been posting this week (or at least since Wednesday or so).

Right now, though, I want to talk a little bit about ClixSense and MatrixMails again. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record about these two programs, and I also know there are several visitors here that have signed up for them but have not taken advantage of upgrading their memberships, and I wanted to talk a little bit about why it might be a good idea to do so (or if you haven't joined them, to join and do so).

As most have been reading here know, my favorite way to make money with these sites is the lazy way - clicking to read ads and paid mails and whatnot. If you've been doing these activities, then you know it's a slooow way to build up a balance, since many pay 1 cent or less per e-mail or ad. And with ClixSense, you've probably discovered that with the basic membership, you only get maybe a dozen or so ads to review a day.

ClixSense and MatrixMails are, at this point, the only PTR programs I have paid to upgrade my membership with. I may go for more eventually (and, more importantly, when I can afford it) but I decided these two were very worthwhile to do so. They've both been around a while (MatrixMails has been in business since 2002), so I consider them safe to upgrade with.

And in ClixSense's case, here was the real clincher for me - it's only $10 for a whole YEAR to upgrade to premium, and you get SO many more ads to review with the upgrade. Frankly, I've got so many now every time I log in, I never get through them all. At one point a few weeks ago I had over 300 and now I've got it down to just under 200 left to watch (and get paid for).

With MatrixMails, I went for the 3-month Gold membership upgrade initially, which was only $5, but I believe my next upgrade with them will be for the Lifetime Gold membership - pay $60 and never have to pay for the upgrade again.

Why? Well, right now I am getting paid twice as much per mail with the 3-month Gold membership than I did with the free basic membership, and I've already seen how much more that adds up over time. With the Lifetime Gold membership, you get paid FOUR times more than you do with the basic.

That is really going to add up, and MUCH more quickly. And both of these programs constantly have new ads or mails to review every day, they're not likely to stop coming.

I really like the idea of making four times more than basic on the MatrixMails plan, but I DEFINITELY encourage anyone who already signed up (or wants to sign up) for ClixSense to go ahead and spring for the $10 premium upgrade with ClixSense. It's $10 for the entire year and it just makes the biggest difference in getting you more ads to view. When I upgraded, I had maybe 10 or 12 ads to review, and after upgrade there were well over 300! That's a pretty big jump.

I think they're both worth it - especially the ClixSense upgrade - so if you're a member of ClixSense or MatrixMails either one (no matter who you signed up under or where), I just strongly encourage the upgrades. It really, really helps when you're trying to earn cash the lazy way!

** READ BEFORE YOU START!! **

(UPDATED: April 29th, 2008)

Hi!

So, here's the deal. I was out of work for a few months & in pretty dire straits. While searching for anything that could help me get thru this period financially, I started joining some of the GPT ("get paid to") and paid survey sites, or going back to some of the ones I had been a member of before. I plan to update my blogs with new ones that I find (or note ones I decide aren't worth the trouble), update with notes when I actually get paid (or ones I know pay), and so on. I'm a longtime blogger so this was kind of a natural progression for me & hope that I can help others find ways to pick up a little extra cash when needed. **

While some of the sites I will list are pretty "fast" & "quick" about paying out, most of them only pay out once a month and/or have minimums they pay out, and you are not going to "get rich quick" by any means. Depending on what you can put into it & how much time you can put it on to it will make the difference - that said, I was able to put $67 in my PayPal account in February 2008 with just a little bit of time and work (probably about four hours' time total, if even that much).

That said, there are three things you should probably do before you start your venture into GPT, survey, & other sites for making some extra cash:

(1) I would suggest getting yourself an entirely different email address specifically to use on the GPT sites, because you WILL get spammed to death & you don't want to have to search for your "regular" e-mail amongst it all. I would recommend setting up a separate Gmail account, as Gmail has good spam filters & will filter out a good bit of the REAL spam while you'll still get most of the mail you really need to pay attention to. Check out Gmail by clicking here.

(2) I would highly recommend setting up a second Gmail (or other) address JUST for any survey sites you sign up with, simply to keep it separate from all the tons of other mail you will get from the GPT & similar sites and their clients. Plus that way you won't miss any potential paid surveys that come in.

(3) Lastly, unless you already have one, set up an account with PayPal and verify it ASAP. Yes, many of these sites will mail you a check, but most of them pay quicker through PayPal (and some pay via PayPal only), and many will only pay to verified PayPal accounts. Set up a new PayPal account by clicking here.

One more note - A lot of the offers on the GPT sites involve shopping, free trials, and the like. If you can afford to do so, you stand to make a fair amount more cash than those (like me, generally) who can only really afford to utilize the 100% free things most of the sites have to offer. Still, even only doing a couple of free trials & the rest 100% stuff, I've managed to rack up some cash... some of it I won't be able to withdraw for another month or two, but extra money is still extra money!

My aim is to list sites that I know or feel will produce results and sites I consider better/top quality sites. As time goes on, I will be updating constantly, adding new opportunities and removing any I feel aren't producing enough results. I'm not going to waste your time or mine on places I feel aren't worth the time & effort.

I will especially likely be constantly updating/changing the "top ten", "best lazy sites" and such as I deem fit, as I come across new ones that wow me, etc. My aim is to have the better quality info readily available to the readers who are looking for various and sundry types of "get paid to" things.

That said, just because a site isn't listed here doesn't mean it's not worth it... I may just not have found it yet or taken time to see what the site's like!

I recommend just jumping in and trying all of them out at least one or two times. You'll eventually find the ones you like best and want to return to again and again as time goes on.

In any case, that's about it! Have fun & happy clicking, and good luck!

Regards,
Miss Money Hunter


** DISCLAIMER: Opinions and reviews of websites listed here at MissMoneyHunter.com are based on my personal experiences and information collected and reviewed from other members of those sites only. Your results using these sites may be different.

(But it's so easy I can't see how anyone couldn't possibly make at least $0.01!) :)