:ph34r: I'd like anyone's imput on this topic......Can you believe what you get paid for a complete search at some of these paid-to-read sites?????? There are some that expect you to do a complete search for 1/4 of a penny......Some even have the gull to ask for a search and pay you 1/10 of a cent.......Do these people understand that searches take time and effort that you could be devoting to some other site that really pays.......What gets me are the advertisers on these sites that expect you to do a search for them and you get rewarded with a whopping 1/4 of a cent or less.....This just burns me up..........I think that any complete search for less than one cent is not worth the time to do at all........I hope that all of you trying to make a little bit of money with these sites feel the same.....Something's gotta change with the pay for these searches!!!!!! Please let me know your opinion.......

They can't charge any higher or they won't make any money. Probably only like 10% of the people actually search, everyone else just takes the free money and runs.

I own a paid to read site & a search engine, I try and not offer less than a half cent for the searches that I do send out from anyones search link including the one I own. Yes I think its very "cheap" to offer such a low amount for the searches, specially when the referring ID number/member link gets anywhere from 50 - 75% of the bid value... however if u look at it from the referrer's point of view the bid value of a valid search click is only worth 3 cent up depending on the bidded link... some are even higher. yes then u have the cheats that just take the money and run... ughhh, yes we have alot of those, but on my program as well as many others, we can track the links the searches and with the engines who clicked and got a valid search and who didn't, so it really matters if a search has been made or not, if more would take the actual time to do the search, then I know that I would raise the payment value of that type link.,... I'm sure that the others would also... but... then again its really up to the owner... :>)

First no one forced anybody to click these links for o.1 cent or 0.25-it's a free choice.
second,why would i click on it in gptr when i can do my own searches and get the entire bid for this search?
i am searching only when i see 1 cent and above.

You also have to look at it from the WMs point of view!
If they sent a 1cent link to 500 members and all clicked, but only 50 did a valid search....there's a problem.....and yes, this really does happen.

So, how can a WM send a 1 cent search link.

I think a WM should send these links as $0.00, then determine their value.
Could be more than 1 cent, could be less.

It's too bad only 10% actually make a valid search.

I do not know what I would do if I were one of these WMs.
Bad situation to have to deal with. So, look at it it from their view.

It would be great if these WMs could tell who clicks and makes a valid search and who just clicks to get the $$$ without searching....that way these people could be warned not to be doing this.

That is the best way to run it.


and crack down on all the cheats you can!


Then the WM won't lose it and members are rewarded better.

ok. i'm gonna jump on the bandwagon here. there are quite a few sites that pay 1 cent and more for valid searches. there are also quite a few sites that ask you to search and pay you nothing at the time, but share the search revenue with their members in the form of higher paying links. personally, i don't mind doing the searches nearly as much as i mind being spammed by the sites i visit. if i wanted to join their mailing list, i would have requested to do so while i was there. i just did searches on the search gazette for gypsy dad and when i checked my in-box, 10 of the 15 sites i visited had sent me mail !! that bothers me more than anything else.
searches should be optional. if you don't want to do 'em, don't check them on your areas of interest.

well i always send out a 1 cent searchlink, because I mostly sell 0.25 cents links, and so the 1 cent link is compesating the 0.25 cent link, especially because with our payout of $20 I don't want to send 0.25 or even less paid searches.

By the way that is not my main income stream, the most profit I make is with the paid to sign ups, so I can afford sending 1 cent search links

Well just my 2 cents

exactly
I promoted my search link with soo many sites & notice about 10% are making search...

I have a really poor click through rate with the searches I send, therefore it would break me to send them at 1 cent each.
I have a nonpaid search link in every email. Those that want to search, can. Those who don't, don't. I know a lot of the people who are performing valid searches and they will be rewarded for doing so.
The money from the searches will be sent out as paid links.

My advice, if you see a search link and you think it's not worth your time, then don't click it. That way, everyone will be happy.

I advertised my search link a couple of places, won't say where, and I didn't even break even, so from now on I'll only advertise by redeeming points,

My searches are 1 cent each, but due to the small percentage of members making valid searches, I'm about breaking even.
I have a script that is supposed to track which members are making valid searches; I'm going to send it to John and see if he can integrate it into the mec scripts (assuming it does what it's supposed to do).

Ok, here is my gripe...sites that send out "cheap" links that don't tell you where you are going, but clearly state that they are worth 1/10th to 1/4 of a cent, and then half the time they take you to a search site. I personally won't do the searches for less than 1/2 a cent, and only then when I am caught up on my emails and really bored. I guess what I am saying is that if there is a "revisit" link in there that clearly states that the link that you are going to visit is a search, I won't do them, but many sites don't tell you where you are going. That isn't fair to us the readers, or the advertisers.

I really like those programs that send out search links in a separate email, like GypsyDad and DustyGold, to name a couple. If you don't want to search, delete the entire email. I also really like Dana's new site which is for searches only.

I think more WMs should explore doing something like this. OR even just put all searches in one section of the email, not scattered all over.

I think you are forgetting one point, as are many others.

Search links are NOT only sent out by WM's. They are also sent out by advertising. EVEN on a cheap link. By you not clicking the cheap links you are doing out the person that sent out the link. Advertising costs, as many people are quite aware and not everyone can pay it out of their earnings. So really you are mostly doing the advertiser out of money.

Take this for instance: I sent out a search link through PMI back in March, I got quite a good responce from it, yes people did search, enough so that I earned almost $10 just from that. I then waited about a month to sent out the next, that went out near the end of April, yet that didnt get as near a responce as the one in March, whether people just clicked the link and didnt bother to search I dont know. But, I will point out something, it was about mid April that that software came out that allowed people to have their email gone through to click links.

I am struggling with these links. They are paid not much, and it takes some work: you have to click it, wait for the search page to load, think of something to search for, type it in, wait for the results and then click one or two of them. About 40 seconds I guess. If I then have a look at what I searched for, minimum one minute. At a quarter a cent, my time is valued at 10-20 cents an hour! Really. Not strange people just click and leave it at that, after 3 or 4 searches I really do not know what to search for anyway.

It is time to realise why we are offered those searches: in the first place to make money for the person placing it there. They hope that with placing the link (5 minutes work) to make money. When they make 1-3 cents (that is what my 5 minutes time is valued at) for sure they are not happy. When they do not make money, search links will disappear. Simple as that.

It is time for a system where you HAVE to make a valid search. Only THEN you are paid. When there is a 100% valid click rate, then the price can go up, and then it is also interesting for us to do a search, as all are paid fair (the one placing the link and the one doing the search).
Otherwise it is better to become a member of the search engine yourself and happy with the searches you do yourself.

I really don't mind searches, but then I'm a search junky LOL. One tip you might like to try is a multi-tab browser like CrazyBrowser - that opens every link in a new page so you can be searching at one, whilst another is loading and so on. It does save a bit of time and I can pop across from one to the other saving a lot of 'waiting' time - and yes, I ALWAYS let the clicked result page load fully and sit for a good 20 seconds.

Hi,

I redeemed for a searchad this morning, paid in points to 1000 ....

Hmmmmm, had 100 clicks already and .... 15 searches ... talk about takers here, it is written in the ad that it is a search :-))

The only thing that works I think is that if you're a good webmaster, your members will be loyal and do the searches whereas otherwhise they just take the points/money and run .....

And I am not a webmaster, they don't know who I am when clicking and don't care .... can't say I am disappointed tho ... if it continues like this, I'll have 150 searches for redeeming my points ... with the money I'll have, I'll buy a real paid ad ;-)

Sophie

I don't mind doing searches. It really doesn't take that much time if you are doing them in another window while you are doing something else. I search for every single link because I know that in the long run, it will mean more money for me and the WM.

Wish someone would come up with a contest to reward us that do the searches and penalize those that don't. If you don't want to do a search, then just don't click the link at all. After all, you are being paid to search.

By the wording I would say this is pointed at me.

All my searches say "Optional". I even mark the members searches.

Optional is the word.

I belong to over 100 other programs and if I don't have time or don't feel like it I skip the searches.

Maybe it's because I'm on both sides but I think it is cheating and stealing to click on a search link just to get paid.

I have a special search program that was voluntary and they search for nothing but get a BIG percent when I get paid. They are a wonderful group.

The main reason WM's send out searches most of the time is because what else do you send when you have NO Advertisers?

You have to continue to send e-mails or all your members would go away.

Enough complaining, just had to speak my piece.