To: All members,

This is a comprehensive guide to Paid To Read (PTR) that has been put together, hoping to answer questions/ clarifications you may have regarding various aspects of PTR. Please feel free to PM me if you have any other useful information, so that it can be incorporated into this guide.

If you wish to copy the contents of this thread, please contact me or one of the other Administrators first.

The contents of this guide includes the following:
1. What Is Paid-To-Read (PTR) & Things To Look Before Joining

2. Signing Up With A Site

3. Receiving Emails

4. Other Ways Of Earning From A Site

5. Referral Commission

6. What To Do When You Reach Payout

7. Who Are Cheaters

8. Advertising & Redemption Options

9. Advertising Search Engines (Search Advertisements)

10. What Is Paid To Promote (PTP)?

11. Protecting Your Accounts From Getting Hacked

12. Ads Only Sites

13. What Is A Turing Number

14. Common Mistakes Made By Members

15. Advertising Tips

16. Online Payment Processors

17. What Is A Proxy?

18. Web Browsers & Security Of Your Computer

19. Installing A POP3 Account

20. GeoIP Database

21. What Are Banner Impressions

22. What Is An Affiliate Page?

23. What Is A Personal Page?

24. Purchasing Advertising From A Site

25. Redeeming For Advertising

26. Promoting The Guide

27. Conclusion

I would like to thank the following persons who assisted me in putting together this guide:
Gabi112 for writing the tutorial about proxies
ssink and druth8x for reading the tutorial and making suggestions
The Administrators and Moderators of this forum who made contributions to put this guide together.

Enchanted,
Administrator.

This post has been edited by Enchanted: Jun 23 2008, 03:31 AM

What Is Paid-To-Read (PTR) & Things To Look Before Joining

Paid-To-Read, commonly known as "PTR" is a method of earning money online by reading emails and clicking on the "paid" link. "Paid" link is a link sent along with the advertisement which pays the members, money or points for reading the email advertisement that is purchased by the programs advertisers. The value of money and points vary from program to program.

All programs have “timers” where the member is required to stay on the advertised website for a specific period of time (for example, 10 seconds, 20 seconds etc.), which again, vary from program to program. The member receives credit to his/ her account after the timer runs out with the notification that the member has received credit for the visit. If the member exits from the advertised site before the timer runs out, the member's account will not receive credit (money/points).

Get Paid Programs are usually free to join and 100% opt in. This means, members do not need to pay any money to join and they are required to sign up with the program/s of their choice, on his/ her own accord. However, there are a few paid to read programs which require a membership fee to join.

When you come across a Paid-To-Read site that interests you, there are certain areas that you need to look into before joining.

1. Site Sustainability: It is important to find out whether the site you wish to join is sustainable or not. You can find out the sustainability by looking at the advertising rates offered by the site. There are lots of unsustainable sites on the internet today which promise $10, $20, even hundreds of dollars for reading just one single mail. If you look into the advertising rates of these sites, you will see that an advertisement costs as low as $2 - $3. If for example, the site has 100 members and an email to all costs only $2 for a $10 link, you can clearly see that the site is underselling advertising.

100 members x $10 per member = $1,000
Therefore, the actual cost of the advertisement without taking into account the referral commission (referral commission is explained below), comes to $1,000. If a site sells a link worth $10 to 100 members for $2, the site is sustaining a loss of $988 per advertisement sold.

The above is only an example. But please note that there are sites selling $10, $20 and even links worth hundreds of dollars for just $2 - $3. Basic mathematical skills will show you that such sites are totally unsustainable and therefore, short lived.

If you wish to calculate how much the ad should cost, this site will be useful to you:
http://www.patricksears.com/calculators/adcalc.php

It is a useful site to calculate the advertising cost and will help you to see whether a site is sustainable or not by working out how much the cost of the advertisement should really be against the cost which is shown in the site's advertising page.

Why do people open such sites?
Unsustainable sites may at the beginning, pay a few members to “spread the word” that it is a paying site and thereby gaining more members. But with the example I have given above on how much debt the site sustains by underselling ads, you would be able to clearly see that such sites will not pay for long, if at all it does pay. Therefore, assuming that the reason behind opening such sites is done with the sole intension of scamming members is perhaps, not far from the truth.

Remember “If something looks too good to be true, it probably is”.

What is wrong with supporting unsustainable sites?
Some members join unsustainable sites for many reasons;

- Because they believe they will be paid hundreds of dollars just for clicking mails. This could be due to members being total “newbies” to the PTR Industry and therefore, no experience about PTR sites.
- Because they can accumulate their earnings and redeem for advertising, thereby not having to actually spend their own money to buy advertising.
- Because advertising rates in these sites are cheap.


Is the total number of members shown in an unsustainable site correct?
The answer can be both yes and no.
- Sites Owners can manipulate the membership count of their site to show a higher number.
- Members can be divided into two categories.
(i) Active Members – These are active members who click on links
(ii) Inactive Members – These are members who do not click on links, but who have not deleted their membership. Sites usually have an inactivity policy, which vary from site to site. Some sites have a 14 day inactivity policy, some a 30 day inactivity policy and some perhaps more. This means, if a member does not click any links and show activity within the stipulated period of time, the member can be deleted by the program owner for being inactive.

Some site owners, even though an inactivity period is set by them, do not delete inactive members.

There are also those members who are classified as cheaters (explained in a post below). Not deleting cheaters and inactive members can also be the reason for unsustainable sites to continually show a high member count.


Why is it important to not support unsustainable sites?
The following are a few reasons why unsustainable sites should not be supported;
- There are lots of sites that are sustainable but with a low member count and advertising rates which are somewhat more expensive than unsustainable sites. When members support unsustainable sites by redeeming their earnings or spending money to buy cheap advertising from unsustainable sites, the honest, sustainable sites find it difficult to compete with such sites. If members do not purchase advertising from sustainable sites, there would not be any paid emails to send out. The lesser emails members receive, it becomes increasingly difficult to reach the minimum payout of the site. Then the site would lose members and the Program Owner would find it difficult to pay for its running costs such as hosting fees etc. As a result, the program would close as it would not be worth to continue running a program that does not have enough advertisers or members.

Unsustainable sites could be the death of honest sites. By supporting unsustainable sites, members would be contributing to the demise of honest sites run by honest Program Owners.

- Members will not see the money they earn. Refer the point I have mentioned regarding underselling ads. If a site continually sells advertisements with a loss, the site would incur more and more debt. If the income received to a site is a lot less than what is promised as the reward to members, how can a site continue to pay its members? Let’s see the following example.

Let us assume that the site has 3000 members.
Let us assume that out of the total 3000 members, only 1000 are active.
Payout is $2000
The site is sending $2 emails
The cost to send a $2 email to all is $10.
Let’s make the calculation according to the above information without considering the referral commissions.

One email: $2 x 1000 = $2000 (**this calculation is based on the assumption that out of the 3000 members, only 1000 are actually clicking on links)
Cost to advertise is $10
Total loss per ad $1990

- A member would need to read 1000 mails to reach payout (once again, not considering the referral commissions/ earnings).
- To send 1000 ads, the income received to the site would be $10,000 (this could be much, much lesser if members use their earnings to redeem for advertising, but let us assume they are purchased ads)
- The total loss from the 1000 ads would be $1,990,000.
- Let us also assume that majority of the members redeem their earnings for ads and only 250 members request payout. That would be 250 members x $2000. The site would require $500,000 to pay the 250 members.

Using very, very basic mathematical skills, can you clearly see that there is no way a site can pay $500,000 to members when the site has received only $10,000 for advertising sold. The question that would pop into your mind is “Where would the Program Owner come up with the balance $490,000 to pay the members?” Program Owners do have additional income from the sale of banner impressions, text links on the site, top/ bottom sponsorship advertisements etc which does not add to a site’s debt, but that would not even come close to $490,000.

- Members would be wasting their time and energy by supporting unsustainable programs. Why you ask? Because such programs cannot survive for long. When the time comes for a site to close, members would lose the money they clicked long and hard for.

- Another reason why you should not support unsustainable sites is because there are lots of new members joining this industry who actually join unsustainable sites that promise hundreds of dollars to read mails with the impression that they will get paid what they are promised. The members who redeem their earnings for advertising or purchasing advertising in unsustainable sites knowing the exact situation is actually, contributing to scam members who are totally unaware of the fact that they are supporting sites that they would not see a cent from.

VERY IMPORTANT: Looking into the site sustainability applies only to program that pay money when a member reaches payout. The calculation structure is not for ads only sites. Please refer a separate post below regarding ads only sites.


2. Does the site welcome members from all countries?
There are certain Program Owners who limit membership to people from certain countries. Limiting the membership to certain countries is as per the discretion of the Program Owner. Members are limited for various reasons, including the kind of advertising that is promoted in the site.

For example, if a site is open only to members from countries such as United States, United Kingdom etc, it could mean that the advertisers offer their product/ service only to members from those countries. Therefore, having members from other countries would not be of use to the program.

However, there are certain programs that limit membership to search friendly countries as searches performed by members who do not come from search friendly countries would not earn the program/ its advertisers any money. I will explain about searches in a post below.

The person who is interested in joining a site can easily see whether his/ her country is listed in the front page. For example;

- International Members welcome, which means, people from all over the world can join the site so long as they can read and understand English. The reason English is emphasized by Program Owners is explained in a post below.
- Some sites specifically mention that only members from certain countries are accepted and the list of acceptable countries are usually mentioned in the home page itself. If you come from a country listed by the program as not accepted, please do not join the site. If you join a site where membership is not open to your country, the Program Owner will delete your membership.
- Some sites specify that even though International Members are welcome, members from certain countries are not allowed to join. Here again, if you are from a country that is not allowed to join, please do not join the site as your membership will be deleted by the Program Owner.
- Some sites specify that even though International Members are welcome, members from certain countries will be able to redeem for ads only. If you are from a country where you can redeem for ads only, it means, even though you would be able to earn money from the site, you will not be paid any money even when you reach payout. You would be able to redeem what you earn for advertising ONLY. Therefore, please make sure you are eligible for payout before joining rather than joining the site and finding out later that you will not be paid money. There is little point in blaming the Program Owner of not paying what you earn if the site specifically says that members from certain countries will not be paid but can use their earnings for ads only.


3. Is your preferred payment method listed as a payment option?
Programs usually pay via online payment systems such as Paypal, E-Gold etc. Usually, sites mention in the home page itself, the online payment systems used by the Program Owner in order to pay members. If the online payment system you use is not listed as a payment method, it would be of no use to join the site, unless you are joining the site to redeem your earnings for advertising. If the payment method is not listed in the home page, you can also find out the details in the Terms of Service and/ or Help section of the site.


4. Minimum payout of the site:
There are sites that offer;
- No minimum monthly payouts: This means just that. You will be paid every month, irrespective how much you have in your account (whether 1 cent or $10 or whatever amount that shows in your account). The exact date of payment vary from program to program. Some programs pay at the beginning of the month, some in the middle of the month etc.
- Fixed minimum payout: Some sites pay members when they reach the minimum payout stipulated by the program. For example, some sites have a minimum of $2 payout, some a $5 payout etc. Deciding the minimum payout of the site is up to the Program Owner.
- Some sites offer different payout amounts depending upon the online payment system. For example, $1.00 via E-Gold, $3 via Paypal etc. This means, if a member has selected E-Gold as the payment option, she/ he can request payment when $1.00 is reached whereas a member who has opted in for Paypal can request payment only when $3 is reached.
- Some sites offer different payout amounts depending upon the membership level (explained in a separate post below). Usually, higher the membership, the lower the payout amount. For example;
$7.00 Payout for Free Members
$5.00 Payout for Bronze Members
$3.00 Payout for Silver Members
No Minimum Payout for Gold Members

Therefore, it is very important to join sites where you feel you would be able to achieve minimum payout. The higher the minimum payout, it is usually difficult to reach by yourself unless you recruit referrals (also known as “downline”). Please refer separate post regarding referrals (downlines) and how to recruit a downline for yourself.


5. Referral levels of the site:
Programs offer referral commissions (please refer separate post) for direct and indirect people you refer to the program. Some members prefer more than one level of referral levels. If you feel you can reach the minimum payout of the site by yourself and/or have no intension of advertising for referrals, it should not make much difference to you as to how many referral levels a program offers.


6. Terms of Service of the site:
It is very important to check out the Terms of Service (TOS) of the site. The TOS list out important areas that you need to make a note of to ensure you are eligible to sign up with the program. The TOS covers the members as well as the site’s commitment to the member. Reading the TOS of a site is not what members like to do, but it is highly recommended to read, understand and adhere to the conditions mentioned in it as they are the rules of the site.

Also, even though the TOS of all sites may look exactly alike, there are certain modifications/ differences. Therefore, it is important to not come to the conclusion that if you have read the TOS of one program, you have read all.

It is the responsibility of the Program Owner to keep the members informed of any changes to the TOS. But there are instances when the TOS is changed with or without notification, even though the members of the program should be notified.


7. Help/ FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):
Most programs also have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) area, which gives ready answers to questions that are most frequently asked by members and non-members alike.


Note: If the site you wish to join is run on Cash Crusader script (CC script), you can check whether the site is registered/ licenced or not. Click on this link and enter the site domain name. For example, if the site you wish to join is http://www.xyzabc.com, type in xyzabc.com and click on "CHECK". If it shows as "xyzabc.com is NOT registered", it means the site is running on unlicenced/ pirated scripts.

This post has been edited by Enchanted: Mar 6 2006, 08:32 PM

Signing Up With A Site
Once you decide you wish to sign up with a site, click on the sign up option. You will be taken to the page where you need to give your email address for the site to send you the link to complete your sign up. Sites usually list out email addresses it does not accept. Therefore, when signing up, please make sure you use an email address that is not listed out as unacceptable by the site.

Once you have given your email address, you will receive an email from the site to complete your sign up. Sometimes the sign up mail may not reach you within a few seconds, but may take a few minutes. If you do not receive it, please check in your bulk/ spam folder or it may have got blocked by the spam blocker in your email account. Therefore, please check your spam/ bulk folder and also ensure to add the email address to the approved list so that all future paid mails will not go to your bulk/ spam folder or get blocked from the spam blocker in your email account.

When you receive the email from the site, please click the link in the sign up email. It will take you to the area where you need to enter details. When completing your sign up, you need to take the following into consideration;

- You need to give the correct details when filling your name, address, province, zip code and country. Program Owners delete members who have given false information.

- When selecting your interests, you need to select them carefully as there are certain categories that are inserted by the Program Owners to see whether you are paying attention to what you select. These categories include:
o Delete Me
o Take all my money
o I do not understand English
o I use cheat bots etc.

If a member has selected such interests, the account can be deleted by the Program Owner as selecting such interest is a clear indication that members either do not understand English or was not paying attention.

Other areas a member needs to take care when selecting interest categories include the sex and age group. Please ensure to select one option of each interest. For example, if you are female, select only "female". If you are 32 years old and there is an age group between 30-35, select that. If a member has selected multiple sex and age groups, the Program Owner will come to the conclusion that the member is either not paying attention or cannot understand English and as a result, the member may lose the account.

- Then you need to select your preferred payment method from the drop down menu. Below that is the area where you need to put in the preferred payment method number or address. For example, if you are an E-Gold user, you need to give your E-Gold number. If you are a Paypal user, you need to put in the email address you signed up with Paypal etc.

- Then comes the password. When using a password, it is always recommended to use a combination of numbers and letters to prevent your account from getting hacked (please refer separate post regarding protecting your account against hacking). It is also important to remember to use different passwords for each program you sign up with to prevent your account from getting hacked.

Once all the above information has been filled, you can complete your sign up. Once you complete your sign up, you will receive an email from the program giving your username and password. You can create a separate folder in your mailbox to keep such emails if you wish.

In case you forget your username/ password, you can request them by going to the “log in” area. Click on lost password link below the username/ password, fill the email address you signed up with the program and request. The program will then send you your username and a password with numbers and letters. You can log into your account using that information and change the password.

Receiving Emails
Once you sign up with a site, you will receive emails from the program. The emails you receive are mostly those purchased by advertisers. It is your duty to read the email, click on the paid link and view the website advertised until the timer runs out. If the advertised website interests you, you can sign up. If the advertiser is happy with the results received from the site she/ he advertised with, they will purchase more advertising. Therefore, please give due attention to the email and the advertised website.

The main reason Program Owners require members to read and understand English is due to the fact that 99% (in some sites, 100%) of the advertisements are in English. If a member does not understand English, he/ she will not know the contents of the email or the website. Therefore, the advertiser will not receive the results he/ she hope to receive. As a result, they will no longer use that site for any further advertising. If there are no advertisers, there would be no emails to send out.

A member can see how much he/she has earned by going to the “earnings” area. This will show how much a member has earned, how much the members referrals have earned him/ her, the credits and the debits. Some sites also show the number of referrals in the earnings area itself whilst some other sites have a separate area showing referral stats.

Some sites send links worth cash and/or points. Points are not useless, irrespective what some members may think. There are some sites that send points which can be converted to cash. So points mean cash. Also, in the redemption area, the member would see various redemptions for points such as paid advertisements, paid-to-click known as “PTC”, banner impressions, top/ bottom advertisements etc. In this instance, points mean free advertising for you. By using points, you can advertise the site of your choice without spending your own money. Therefore, contrary to members belief, points are a good way of earning extra cash and free advertising for you.

I would like to make a small note on timers. Timers are set by Program Owners so that members will view the website for a certain period of time, hoping to give the advertised website due attention. Members receive credit once the timer runs out and the notification appears that the member has been credited for the visit. Most sites do not allow you to open more than one link at a time. If you are in program “X” and you are checking the mails from that site, irrespective how many emails you may have, you will not be able to open multiple links. You will need to wait till the timer expires in order for you to open a link sent by the same site. If you attempt to open multiple links from the same site, you will see a notice which says “you must let the timer expire before opening another link” or “please let the ad timer run out” or something to that effect.

Other Ways Of Earning From A Site
There are several ways of earning from sites. Reading and clicking on links sent by email is one way. In addition to this, when you log into your member area, you will find other ways of earning as well.

a.) Paid-To-Click (PTC) is a section where there are banners and text ads. Sites usually have separate areas for cash PTC and point PTC. Clicking on banners and text ads in the PTC area will increase your point and cash earning, thus taking you closer to the minimum payout set by the site.

b.) Paid-To-Promote, commonly known as PTP is another way a member can earn. Not all sites offer the PTP feature. If the site offers PTP, it will be on the homepage of the site. Usually it would mention “67c/1000 credits” or “50c/1000 credits” etc. Please refer separate post regarding PTP and how to use them.

c.) Paid-To-Search – some sites have a section called paid-to-search where a member is paid points or cash for making searches. When you come to this area, please make sure to read any note the Program Owner may have put up. Some programs require the member to be from a search friendly country (search friendly countries are listed in a separate post). If the Program Owner has a notice requesting only members from search friendly countries to use that section and if you are not from a search friendly country, I would not recommend you to use that section. The reason is that the Program Owner can delete you for “cheating”.

d.) Contest PTC – Some sites have a contest PTC area. Here, you may not receive any cash or points for clicking on the banners or text links immediately, but you may stand a chance of winning cash or points if you are selected as a contest winner.

e.) Manual Surf – Some programs have manual surf for cash and/or points. When you go to the manual surf area, you will the manual surf link assigned to you. When you click on it, you will be taken to a page where you need to visit the pages advertised. Manual surf pages have timers as well. When the count down is over, the program will ask you to click on a matching number, colour or sign which will take you to the next page. You need to click on the correct number, colour or sign. Once you do that, you will get credited for your visit and also take you to the next advertised page. Sometimes you will see the notice “there are no more pages to visit”, which means that you have visited all the sites advertised in the manual surf for that day. You can once again surf the next day.

Most sites also have contests from which, you can earn various things such as free advertising, money, points etc. If you have time in your hands, playing the various games in the sites would earn you whatever that is offered by the site for playing and winning the games.

Referral Commission
In the homepage of a site, you will find for example;
3 Referral Levels
Tier 1 – 10%
Tier 2 – 7%
Tier 3 – 5% etc.

The number of tiers and the referral commission offered for each tier vary from program to program.

Sites usually pay commissions for member who recruits referrals (also known as downlines). In order to advertise your referral link, you need to go to your referral central. There, you will find the link which you can use to advertise and gain referrals, a link to refer advertisers and also banners you can use to promote to gain referrals. If you are interested in sending email advertisements to gain referrals, you need advertise your referral link. Then if another member is interested in the site and joins the site you are advertising under you (using your referral link), you will have him/ her as your referral. You can see the members you refer in your EARNINGS area. Some programs have a separate REFERRAL STATS area where your referrals will show.

Tier 1 referrals are your direct referrals. The referrals in the other tiers are your indirect referrals. For example, your tier 2 referrals are those recruited by your direct referral or referrals. If you find an asterisk (*) against a member in your downline, it means that they have joined using your referral link. If you do not see an asterisk (*) against a member in your downline, it means they are not those you referred. The scripts work in such a way that if a member in your tier 1 deletes his/ her membership, his/her referrals move up. This way, his/ her referral becomes your referrals. But since they are not ones who joined using your referral link, an asterisk (*) will not show against their usernames. It is the same procedure if someone in your tier 3 or 4 unsubscribe from the site. Please note that not all programs use the asterisks sign. In some programs there would not be any asterisk sign at all.

If a site is paying 10% referral commission for tier 1, it means, you will earn 10% from their earnings. If for example your referral has earned $1, your referral commission earned would be 10 cents. If the site is offering 7% commission for tier 2, it means you will earn 7% commission from their earnings. For example, if you tier 2 referral earns $1, you will ear 7 cents from them. If the site is offering 5% commission for tier 3 referrals, it is the same procedure. You will earn 5% from all your tier 3 referrals. This is only if there is zero activity policy in the program.

Some programs require you to be active in order for you to earn from your referrals. For example, if the site has a 25% activity policy, it means you have to be at least 25% active as your referrals to earn from them. If the site sends 20 mails a day and your referrals click on all 20 mails, you would have to click on at least 5 mails to earn from your referrals. If you do not click at least 5 emails a day, then you would not earn from your referrals.

You can check the activity percentage required by sites using the following link. This works for sites using cash crusader scripts only. Please replace ccsitename.com with the Cash Crusader site URL.
http://www.ccsitesname.com/scripts/runner.php

What To Do When You Reach Payout
- There are some programs that pays on a monthly basis, irrespective how much you have earned. In such programs, you do not have to request payment. You will be paid when the site pays all its members.

- There also sites that say you can request only once or twice per month. In such instances, you should make sure you request only as per the instructions given by the site, i.e. request only the maximum (once or twice) as stated by the Program Owner.

- Most sites however, have a fixed amount as the minimum payout. When you reach payout, you need to go to your redemption area and request payment. When requesting payment, please make sure you give whatever details requested in the correct payout redemption. There are various payment redemptions depending upon the membership level. Please make sure to check out the payment redemption option and select the correct one. For example, if you are a free member, do not click on the payment request shown for upgraded members.

In some sites, you do not have to go to the redemption area to request payment. Below your earning, there is an area that says "A cashout button will appear when you reach the min payout.". As it says, when you reach payout, a button will appear to withdraw your payment. When you click on it, it will take you to an area where your input is needed to make the payment to you. In that area, you can select the mode of payment (Paypal, E-gold etc), then you need to fill the account number/ address. If it is E-Gold, you need to insert your E-Gold number. If it is paypal, you need to fill the email address you used when you signed up with them. After this comes "amount to withdraw". Here you can either fill in the amount you would like to get paid (for example, if the payout is $2.00 and you have $2.10 and if you would like only the $2.00 to be paid, you can mention $2.00 as the amount to be paid). If you would like the full account balance, you need to check the box against "Full Balance". If the site is charging any fees for the payment option you selected, it will deduct that amount and show the amount the site will pay you in the "net amount" area. Then click on the icon "request".

One important thing to remember is that sites have a policy which says it will pay members within a certain amount of days. Most sites mention that payment will be made within 30 days or reasonable time thereafter. You can check the time frame in the Terms Of Service (TOS) of the site or the FAQ/ Help section. Sometimes, you will be paid within a few hours or days of requesting payment. But if the program says it will pay within 30 days and if you have not received payment within a few hours or days, please do not keep sending emails to the Program Owner asking for your payment. In case you do not receive payment after 30 days, then you may send a mail to the Program Owner requesting to know the payment status.

If you do not receive a reply from the Program Owner, if the program has its own support forum or a support folder in another forum, please post your concern there.

Who Are Cheaters?
Members are considered as cheaters for various reasons;

- Members who create more than one account in a site if the site specifically say only one membership per IP/ household
- Members who use click bots (software to click on links, which is considered an illegal practice)
- Members who click on cheat links.

Where cheat links are concerned;
(.a.) Some programs have a one strike rule which means, if a member clicks on one cheat link, the member will be deleted from the program.

(.b.) Some programs have a three strike rule which means, if a member clicks on three cheat links, the member will be deleted from the program.

(.c.) Some programs have a more lenient policy whereby if a member clicks on for example three cheat links within a specific period of time (for example, one month, three months etc), the member is deleted from the program.

(.d.) Some programs deduct a certain amount of money for clicking cheat links, but do not delete the member?s account.

(.e.) Some programs deduct a certain amount of money but at the same time, after a certain number of clicks on cheat links, the member lose his/ her account in the site.

All these practices vary from program to program as per the discretion of the Program Owner.

When sending cheat links, Program Owners usually warn members by making the subject and the text quite prominent. For example: Please skip this mail, This is one of those emails etc. The body of the mail can also vary from ?DO NOT CLICK THE LINK BELOW? to any kind of warning which the member should not miss unless the member is not paying attention to the contents of the email. Members who do not read the mail but click on cheat links are considered as ?blind clickers? and would face the consequences stipulated by the program.


There are two kinds of cheat links.
(1) Visible cheat link ? Here, members can see the link. If the member clicks on the cheat link, the concequences will be one of those mentioned above.

(2) Invisible cheat links - These are invisible to members who do not use cheat bots to click on mails. Anyone using cheat bots can see the link.

Sometimes, even honest members accidently click on visible cheat links. It happens to the best of us although we feel guilty about it for a long time. If it happens, the best thing would be to send an email to the Program Owner admitting the mistake and apologizing for the same OR the member could put it down to experience and be more careful in the future. Some members however, send emails to the Program Owner with absurd excuses. I would strongly recommend you to not do that. Remember, honesty is the best policy.

Clicking on one cheat link accidently does not make you a cheater. But if you click on a cheat link where there is a one strike rule, then the Program Owner will delete your account. It would be worth your time to write a polite email to the Program Owner as stated above, admitting your mistake and apologizing. But it would totally depend on the Program Owner whether you are given your account back or not.

The reason some Program Owners prefer a one strike rule is because they are very strict on "cheaters". But there are other programs that have a more lenient rule (refer point above under "Where cheat links are concerned"). Usually Program Owners become concerned of members who repeatedly click on cheat links which means that either they do not understand English, they use cheat bots or they are not paying attention to what they signed up to do (paid-to-read).

This post has been edited by Enchanted: Aug 3 2006, 08:40 PM

Advertising & Redemption Options
When you click on your redemption option, you will be taken to a page which lists out the redemptions you are eligible. When redeeming, please make a note of the sites it does not accept for advertising. There is no point in sending an advertising request if the site you intend advertising is not accepted. It is a waste of both yours and the Program Owners time.

The usual redemption options are;
- Advertising packages which include paid emails, PTC advertising, banner impressions etc.
- Paid emails (points/ cash)
- Paid To Click
- Paid To Promote
- Search advertising
- Paid To Sign Up
- Banner Impressions
- Side links at the site
- Top/ Bottom sponsorship ads
- Contest PTC
- Contest ads etc.

(.a.) Paid Emails: When sending emails, members usually copy/ paste what is in the homepage of the site they are advertising. Whilst this is quite alright, it is always best to write down something using your own words. For example, if you are promoting a site that has paid you promptly, easy to reach payout with a friendly PO, you might want to mention that instead of copy/ pasting what is in the homepage. When writing ads, you need to be honest and give the real picture instead of an advertisement with false information/ exaggerations. Also keep in mind, members do not usually like to read very long email advertisements. So remember to keep is short and sweet.

(.b.) Paid To Click (PTC): When making redemptions of this or when buying PTC ads, you need to submit the site URL and the banner URL. You can find readymade banners in your referral centre (same place you will find your referral link). Most sites have a note to request members not to hotlink the banners. It means, the Program Owners do not want you to copy the banner URL directly but instead, you need to download the banner and host it elsewhere before using it. You can use free hosting sites to host your banner if you have no other way of hosting banners. Photobucket and Image Shack are two common places you can host banners for free. Therefore, when using the readymade banners from the site itself, please ensure not to hotlink unless allowed by the Program Owner.

(.c.) Paid-To-Promote (PTP): PTP is a feature that is not offered by all programs. What PTP is explained in a separate post. When making redemptions for PTP, make sure what sort of PTP advertising it is. Sometimes, it can be link only and sometimes, text with link. Therefore, when you are submitting your ads, please make sure you submit it correctly. If it is link only, it means just that. You need to give ONLY your PTP link. If it is text as well as link, then you need to submit your advertisement accordingly.

If it is PTP text with link advertisement, please make the most of the advertisement instead of just typing "click and let the page load" or "thanks for your click". Treat it just like a normal advertisement and do a small write up about the program. Members can join under you from your PTP link (in the PTP page, there is a link which says "join the site"). If an interested person clicks on the "join the site" link, it takes them to your referral link. Some members, even though they do not advertise the site, do get referrals by promoting their PTP links. So putting some effort into writing a nice advertisement to send along with your PTP link would be worth your time.

(.d.) Paid To Search: If you are a member of a search engine, you can promote it by purchasing or redeeming paid to search ads. Pleasee see separate post below regarding search ads, forced searches etc.

(.e.) Paid To Sign Up: Most programs have a paid to sign up area where you are paid a fixed amount to sign up with a program listed in that section. You need to sign up with the program that interests you, copy your welcome email (this is the email you receive from a program when you complete your sign up) and submit it. Please do not use this section for the sake of earning money quickly if you are not interested in the sites you sign up with. It is unfair to both the program and its advertiser. If members keep signing up just for the money, the program would lose and advertiser and gain a bad reputation as well. The advertiser will not get what he/ she paid for. An important thing to remember when you are copy/ pasting your confirmation email is that you need to xxxxxx out your password.

(.f.) Banner Impressions: Some members feel that banner impressions is not a fruitful way to advertise. Remember, it depends on the type of banner you use. Using readymade banners of the site you wish to advertise is quite alright, but most members design their own banners with animations and their own words. The more attractive the banner is, more clicks it will receive.

Banner Making Tips & Suggestions:
Banner Making 101, What Are Your Tips, Tricks & Resources?

Online Banner Making Sites:
Addesigner
Free Animated Banners
3DText Maker
Flamingtext
Cooltext
Banner Creator

(.g.) Side links at the site: When you go to a site, you will see side links (text links). This is what is meant as side links.

(.h.) Top/ Bottom Sponsorship advertisements: Top and bottom sponsorship ads are inserted between the paid ad. Usually, Program Owners limit the text of these ads as the email would be too long with unlimited lines of text in the top/ bottom sponsorship ads. If you are redeeming for this type of advertising, keep it short and sweet but give some interesting information about the site along with the referral link.

(.i.) Contest PTC, Contest Emails: When members click on these PTC or emails, they mayl not receive cash or points immediately. Most contest PTC and emails have a zero value. But members are selected by the program randomly and rewarded accordingly.


The types of advertising/ redemptions available vary from program to program. But the ones listed above are some of the most common redemptions/ advertising that Program Owners offer.

This post has been edited by Enchanted: Aug 3 2006, 08:35 PM

Advertising Search Engines (Search Advertisements)
If you belong to a search engine, there are certain aspects you need to be aware of. First and foremost is that incentivized searches are not allowed by the search engine. It means, paying members something in order to do a search for you. When submitting your search link/ portal link (searches are explained in a separate post), please ensure you do not submit the text in a way to force members to make a search. Incentivized/ forced searches are against the rules of search sites and your account can/ will be deleted by the search engine. For example, please do not use text such as follows:

- If you don't wish to search, don't click on the link
- Click only if you wish to search
- Explaining the steps to carry out a "valid" search
- Asking members which words to search etc.
- Asking members to do perform valid searches

Search ads are considered as normal ads. It is up to each individual member to decide whether they wish to search using your link or not. Forced searches are usually rejected by most Program Owners. If a Program Owner does send a text such as mentioned above, there is a very big possibility of someone reporting you to the search engine where you could lose your account. Therefore, please take care when submitting your text.

What is a forced search?
There are certain programs in which the Program Owners force members to perform searches and if members do not carry out valid searches, they are threatened with deletion. This can be considered as a forced search.

Program owners do this by;
- Having special memberships which is available only for members who perform valid searches.
- Offering various incentives for members who perform valid searches including lower payouts, receiving more emails than the members who do not perform valid searches etc.
- Sending lots of emails to members who perform "valid" searches while members who do not perform "valid" searches receive little to no emails.

There was an interesting discussion about forced searches at Get Paid Forum sometime back and lots of members contributed to the discussion. You can find the discussion here:
http://www.getpaidforum.com/forums/forced_...on-t378450.html

Is there a way for Program Owners to see who does a valid search?
The answer would be yes and no. There are some Program Owners who also own search engines. In such instances, they can check where the searches are coming from. More experienced members usually report forced search sites/ Program Owners to search engine owners. This would be a wasted effort if the Program Owner and the Search Engine owner is the same.

Are search ads different to other ads?
To put it simply, "no". If a member is interested in searching for a real product or service, then there is no harm in searching for it. But if the member is not interested in buying a real product or service, performing a search would be cheating the ultimate advertiser of his/ her money (the company/ person who is paying for having their product/ service in the search engine).

What are search friendly countries?
The following list is the one used by most programs.
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Italy
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States


What is an I-Frame?
You will find all about I-Frames explained in this webpage. This page is being added to the guide with the permission of members 2kids2pets and jutaky.
http://jutaky.no-ip.org/iframeinfo.php

This post has been edited by Enchanted: Aug 3 2006, 08:46 PM

What is Paid To Promote (PTP)?

The following is regarding the Paid-To-Promote (PTP) feature of Paid-To-Read sites running on Cash Crusader scripts. There are other PTP companies, which has nothing to do with Cash Crusader PTP. Sites that have the PTP feature give its members an additional means of earning money. By promoting the PTP link assigned to members, they can accumulate ?credits?. These credits can then be converted to cash. Whether a member wishes to use the PTP feature or not is solely up to the member. There is no rule to say a member must promote it. But most members promote is as it earns them additional money.

Some programs with PTP's credit cash to your account automatically for each valid hitt you receive to your PTP link whereas in most programs, the credits will get accumulated until you redeem them yourself.

What does CPM mean?
It means Cost Per 1000. M is the Roman letter for 1000. If you see a site offering 70 Cents/ CPM, it means the same as 70 Cents per 1,000 credits.

What is a unique hit?
Sites with PTP have an xyz hour unique hits mentioned below the PTP link/s. Some are 12 hour unique hits and some 24 hours and so on. For example, let's say you are promoting a 24 hour unique hits link. If one member clicks that link, you will get credited for it. But if the same member clicks the link again before 24 hours, you will not get credited again. You will not receive credit for the second click if it is clicked before the 24 hours is up. It is the same for a 12 hour unique hits link.


You can find the PTP link/s assigned to you by going to your member area. In the member area, you will find a link called Paid To Promote, PTP Main or PTP Overview. When you click on the link or select it from the drop down menu, it will take you to your PTP area. There you will find;
- The PTP link/s assigned to promote
- The sample banners and the codes which you can promote. If you are interested in promoting any PTP banners, please make sure to host the banner elsewhere if you are not allowed to hot link the banner.

Some programs have more than one PTP link to promote, whilst some others have only one PTP link.

Sites with only one ptp link:
When you go to your member area, you will find a link called PTP Main or PTP Overview. When you click on the link or select it from the drop down menu, you will be taken to your PTP area. There, you will usually find your PTP link under "This is the link you should promote to get credited"

When you scroll down, you will find the PTP sample banners and codes. Below that, you will be able to see your stats. The stats show the name of the site you are receiving hits from, total hits, valid hits and the percentage valid.

Valid hit means, the member who clicked on your PTP link has allowed the page to load and stayed in the PTP link page until you received credit. For example, a site shows a one line notification as follows:
<Program Name> user <Username> has received <the credited points or cash amount> for showing you this page.

Invalid hit means, the member who clicked on your PTP link has not stayed in the page long enough for you to receive credit.

There is no point in you receiving 100?s or 1000?s of hits to your PTP link if the valid hit percentage is low. It?s the valid hits that count towards the accumulation of credits, which you can then convert to cash.

Sites with more than one PTP link:
Some sites have more than one PTP link assigned to members. In such instances, it is very important to go through the instructions/ rules mentioned below each ptp link to find out where you can promote each link. Some links are those any member of the site can promote, some only upgraded members can promote, some links where you can promote in auto surf sites etc. The only way of knowing where you can promote each individual link is by reading the instructions/ rules carefully.

To check status, below the instructions/ rules of the assigned links, you will find ?Approved Sites?, ?Tier Info? and ?Statistics?. Approved sites mean, the sites that are approved to promote that specific link. Tier info gives you details of category ratings for countries which are based on advertising demand. Usually, the tier levels are the same in all programs, but how much credit a member receives per each hit can vary from program to program. The following is an example.

Category 1: Each hit will count as 1 credits
Category 2: Each hit will count as 0.8 credits
Category 3: Each hit will count as 0.5 credits
Category 4: Each hit will count as 0.3 credits
Category 5: Each hit will count as 0.1 credits

In order to check your statistics, you need to click on the ?statistics? link. It will take you to a page showing overall statistics. Here it will show the dates you received clicks on your PTP link, total number of clicks, number of valid clicks and some programs also show the number of invalid clicks and finally, the valid hits percentage. If you wish to see from which site/s you received clicks on a specific date, click on the date. It will take you to a page which shows the name/s of the site you received the clicks from, along with the total hits, valid hits and valid percentage.


What to check before advertising ptp links:
It is very important to check the following details before you start advertising your PTP.
- The rules of the site regarding promotion of PTP. It usually shows what sort of sites are allowed and disallowed.
- Before redeeming or purchasing advertising for a PTP, please ensure the program you are purchasing/ redeeming advertising is approved by the PTP site. If not, you will not receive credit.

There is no point in advertising in sites that are disallowed or not approved as you will not receive credit, irrespective how many clicks you may receive. All such clicks will be counted as invalid clicks/ hits which will not earn you anything. Therefore, advertising in unapproved/ disallowed sites is a waste of money.


How to convert credits to cash:
When you go to the PTP main page, you will find something like this:
Your Current Balance: 592 PTP credits Value: $0.3966
Your exchange rate is $0.67 for 1000 credits.

OR:
Your current number of Paid-To-Promote points is: 282
You can exchange these Paid-To-Promote points to cash.
The current value of points is: 70 cents for each 1000 credits

Minimum exchange quantity is 500 credits.
Exchange link will appear after you have reached minimum

OR something similar to the above.


First, check the minimum exchange quantity that the site is exchanging. Usually it is 1000 credits, but the minimum exchange quantity of some sites is 500, some others it is 2000 etc. If your PTP stats show that you have reached the minimum exchange quantity, click on the option ?convert?. Some sites automatically convert the total PTP credits to cash, but some sites give you the option to decide how many credits you wish to convert. For example, if the minimum exchange quantity is 1000 and you have 1050, you can either convert all credits or convert just 1000. It is up to you. When you convert the money, it will show in your account balance.


General Note:
When clicking PTP links of members, please make sure you wait till the page loads and the member gets credit for your visit. If you close the page after the timer runs and if by that time the page has not loaded, your click will not be counted as a valid hit. It will then be a waste of the advertiser?s money and the site that sent you the PTP link/ mail may lose a valuable advertiser. Please show the same amount of attention to other member?s advertisements as you would want to receive to your own.

Very Important
Some members make the mistake of promoting the PTP but not click any links. Promoting your PTP link, logging into your member area and converting the PTP credits to cash does not make you an active member. No matter what a big PTP promoter you may be, if you do not click at least one email or PTC link within the inactivity period stipulated by the program, you will be considered as inactive and your account deleted.

This post has been edited by Enchanted: Aug 3 2006, 11:13 PM

Protecting Your Accounts From Getting Hacked
Unfortunately, there are those who hack members accounts. If you are unable to log into your account, first try retrieving your password. In order to retrieve your password, go to log in area, then click on "forgot your password/ID?", then you will be taken to a page requesting your email address to send you the password/ ID. Once you request for your password/ ID, if it says "sorry we do not have that email address in our database", then you would have cause for concern.

But before assuming you have been hacked, please make sure you are an active member. If you have been inactive, the reason you cannot log into your account would be due to it being deleted by the Program Owner. Also, if you have broken the terms of service (TOS) of the site, it could be that your account has been deleted by the Program Owner.

If you are an active member and feel that you have not broken the TOS of the site, and it shows that your email is not in your database, contacting the Program Owner and seeking their help would be the best course of action to get your account back.

In order to protect your accounts;
- Do not use same password in all sites. Some sites do not store passwords encrypted and that information can be used to attempt login to other paid to read sites.

- Passwords should not be common names or birthdates which are easy to figure out. Passwords should be at least 6-8 characters long with a combination of letters and numbers in no particular sequence.

- Never give your password to anyone. System administrator will never ask a member's password.

- If you acces the site through a link, make sure that the address bar in your browser displays the correct URL.

If there is a key logger in your computer, not matter how many times you change your password, the hacker will get it. This is the reason it is wise to scan your computer regularly for virus and keyloggers.