Here I am.

I've haven't been able to access this forum much, seems like when I'm available, it's not- and when it's not, I am.
Few things to address here...

Upgraded Nickel Ads... too many in one email = yes, and that's why I had cut down the mini-random nickels to a max of 10 when I was doing that. I'll stick to seven per email, and just email out multiple ones on those 2 days of the month... or maybe wait until I have seven come in and then just send it... don't know yet. Thanks for the feedback, yes I NEED complaints!

Vacation time until January 2... not much of a slow down so far but there will be. For those of you who don't know, I'm a graduate student working on my PhD and I try to do work on NBE in the evenings. It's a ... distraction ... from all the hard thinking I do during the day. Well, this week is a particularly busy week because the project I'm working on for school involves software development and the next version is due, well, January 2.

That, with family holiday travel means I have less time for NBE. Sorry about that, January will be great.

Slow earnings. Actually, I gotta agree, they are slow. First of all, it's all about advertising money coming IN to the site - when that doesn't happen, then I can't send anything but my own stuff and people get tired of hearing from me and it reaches a point of diminishing returns anyway. I'm working at getting new advertisers, but DO need to spend more time on just that. Second, I try to provide lots of different earning opportunities, and everyone is right here - if you aren't doing the PTCs or start page (or the ad grid, getting referrals, pay-to-perform, etc.), you're missing out on some potential. Not everything is for everyone, though, and my hope is IF you're ONLY doing the emails that you are at least spending less time RELATIVE to how much you are earning. It may take you longer to get to payout, but you'll actually spend less time doing it. (1/2 cent minimum means 1000 clicks to payout, and I send a lot of 1 cent solos, so it's much less than 1000 clicks if you want to go the low-effort route.)
In summary, here are the ways to earn at NickelsByEmail:
1. 5 Cent Earning Opportunities in Every Paid Email!
2. Paid-to-Read Emails (1/2 cent minimum per standard link)
3. Targeted Search Emails (for limited countries)
4. Paid-to-Click (at least one cent in PTCs daily)
5. Contest Paid-to-Click (for cash and advertising)
6. Referral Earnings (with NO upline activity restrictions)
7. Pay-to-Perform (bonuses from earnings at other programs)
8. Start Page (use in traffic exchanges for easy points-to-cash)
9. $5 Ad Grid (bonuses for referring advertisers)
10. Transfer Earnings from TLCEmail.net (low $1.00 minimum)
PLUS, I'm adding in another two or three earning opportunities in January... one I'm thinking of, some probably aren't going to care for but others will simply adore... and it WILL break the barrier on traditional PTR earning opportunities.

Unfortunately, the quickest way to earn is to sign up for the search category - and those members tend to be the happiest with the program too. I know not everyone can do that, but I'm only giving back what the program earns from it, so it's really just a way for some members to reach payout quicker. As a referrer - get a consistent searcher as a referral and you'll be very happy! So, even if you aren't from a search-friendly country you can earn that way.
One more thing... and this is very true at other PTRs too, I'm sure other POs will agree... for some reason, some members only click on the first link in the email. I put the nickel bonus up top - and let me emphasize the word BONUS - though it's the standard 1/2 cent and 1 cent links that will actually cause you to earn faster. NBE is a bit more complex than other PTRs because I basically must have 2 links for every email. By skipping that second link, many are missing out... I thought about switching the order of them since I'd rather a new member first be exposed to the standard link, but then I fear click-through on the nickel links would go down. Any thoughts on switching the order?
Sorry for the long post, I know I talk too much sometimes.

- Alex