Need Money? 50 Ways to Make a Quick $50

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Online businesses are a great source of side or even full-time income. However, that reality occurs after a period of months, if not years. What if you need some extra money today, not three months from now?

To this end, there are many upon many resources available to you so that you can make some spending cash fast. Here are just 50 ways you can generate a quick $50:

Sell stuff

  1. eBay– The all-time biggest, oldest and favorite place to sell your unwanted clothes, jewelry and other tchotchkes is eBay.
  2. Amazon– The other major online marketplace is Amazon, where selling fees start at 99 cents.
  3. Bonanza– Sell your stuff here and keep 97% of your profits.
  4. Craigslist– This site works well for local sales of items that need to be seen before they are purchased; some examples include motorcycles, furniture and used electronics.
  5. Consignment shops– Your dressy and/or trendy clothing can fetch a good price at local consignment shops, and you’ll keep a portion of the sale.
  6. Half.com– This book selling site will carry your tomes for months or even years until they sell.
  7. Used book shops– If you sell your books at used book stores (e.g., Half Price Books), you get cash on the spot. These places also usually accept your used DVDs and CDs.
  8. Gift card sites– Cardpool and CardCash will accept your gift cards and give you a majority of their value in cash.
  9. Used smartphone sites– Consider selling your used smartphone through a site like Gazelle or NextWorth.
  10. Garage sales– If you have a weekend, you can organize your unwanted stuff and sell it by having a garage sale.
  11. Nextdoor– The neighborhood social media site Nextdoor offers an area for neighbors to post stuff for sale.
  12. TeachersPayTeachers– If you are a teacher, you can make money here by selling your old lesson plans.
  13. CourseHero– Sell your class notes here and earn up to $10 per carefully annotated lesson. Nexus Notes is another marketplace where you can sell your class notes.
  14. Foap– Your vacation and landscape photos could fetch you $5/piece when you list them on Foap.
  15. Your hair– OnlineHairAffair will sell your cut, undyed hair for hundreds of dollars.

Sell your skills

  1. Fourerr and Fiverr– If you can edit a document, create a graphic, or record a voiceover, you’ll quickly make money on microjob sites like Fourerr and Fiverr. You can also package your services and charge $10 or higher for these add-ons.
  2. Tutoring– Sites like WyzAnt and Tutor.com pay you to tutor people either online or in person.
  3. oDesk– This site enables you to sell services like freelance writing, editing, graphic design, etc. on a per project basis.
  4. Amazon Turk– This micro-job site allows you to complete small jobs like testing links or proofreading a document for quick cash payouts.
  5. TaskRabbit– If you are OK with doing small tasks in town like waiting in line for event tickets or picking up dry cleaning, this site is for you.
  6. Microworkers– Test websites, post tweets, and do small tasks for small (but quick) dollars on this site.
  7. Constant-Content– Earn tens or even hundreds of dollars by selling your articles or answering requests for written content.
  8. Textbroker– Earn up to 5 cents per words for your freelance writing- or even higher for personally priced projects.
  9. Internet research– Experts123, Web Answers, Yahoo! Answers will pay you for your carefully researched and posted answers to user questions.
  10. Test scoring– Score tests like ACTs and SATs through testing sites ACT, the ETS Online Scoring Network, Pearson Assessments and Write Score.
  11. Etsy– If you have a bunch of homemade arts and crafts, you can make money for them here.
  12. Cafe Press– Upload your designs and photographs to this site and make money whenever someone buys a T-shirt or coffee cup containing your work.
  13. RedBubble– This site will transform your photos and drawings into posters, T-shirts and stickers, then sell and ship your sold merchandise.
  14. Society6– This site will also transform your artwork into sellable items like iPhone cases, wall prints, pillows and laptop sleeves.
  15. DeviantArt– This site might be the place to sell your artwork if it’s not exactly “run-of-the-mill” and/or features comic book style design.
  16. Technical support– Sites like AppleCare, ComputerAssistant and PlumChoice are always on the lookout for people who are tech-savvy and can provide technical support to customers.
  17. Craft fairs– Sites like Festivalnet list upcoming craft fairs in your area, where you can sign up to sell your photos, greeting cards, handknit items, etc.
  18. Feastly– Like to cook? Then cook for others right inside your home and earn money while doing so.

Sell professional tasks

  1. SitterCity and Care– Register as a sitter on these sites and get paid to babysit and/or engage with an older adult who requires supervision.
  2. Call center agent– Available as seasonal or full-time work, many customer service jobs can be completed from home. Amazon is looking for seasonal customer service reps and paying $10/hour. There are also sites like LiveOps and Arise.
  3. Survey taker– Various online survey sites such as 20/20 Research, Opinion Outpost, Pinecone Research, Swagbucks, and Toluna will reward you for your opinion about a product or service.
  4.  Leapforce– This site hires search engine evaluators to evaluate websites for usability and cohesiveness.
  5. Uber– If you have a car, you can make money by driving people around town as an Uber driver.
  6. Moving stuff– If you have a pickup truck or a large van, you could hire yourself out as a mover.
  7. Presto Insta-Shops– This smartphone app enables you to mystery shop on-the-go. Some tasks are quite simple to complete, such as taking photos of a drive-thru sign board, or applying for a store credit card.
  8. Swagbucks– Get rewarded with Swagbucks for doing tasks like viewing a video, searching a website, or filling out a survey. Redeem your Swagbucks for cash in the form of Paypal payouts or VISA gift cards.
  9. Pet sitting– FetchPetCare is a national pet sitting service site where you can list your availability and preferred pets, then collect money through the site once you’ve completed your pet sitting session.

Rent stuff out

  1. AirBnb– Rent out a portion of, or your entire home, to travelers looking for a place to stay.
  2. HomeAway– Earn money by having others rent your entire vacation or second home.
  3. FlightCar– If you’re flying somewhere, you can park your car at the airport and have it rented out to other people.
  4. Parking space rental– If you live within walking distance of a sporting event or concert, you could rent out your driveway and even entire yard to people who need a place to park.
  5. Loanables– This site lets you rent out almost anything, from your clothes to your boat.
  6. Zipcar– You can list your car on this site and have people pay to rent it out by the day or week.
  7. Spinlister– This site allows you to post your sporting and recreational equipment including your road bikes, kayaks, fishing rods, weight sets, etc.
  8. Desktime– If you have an unused bedroom or office in your house, you can rent it out through this site to telecommuters and contractors that don’t have a stationary office.

Do you have other ideas on how to make some cash fast? Post them in the comments below.

I’ve Tried That Reviews Your First 10K Readers by Nick Stephenson

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Successful authors know that writing a book is only half the battle. There is also the marketing and selling of that book, a process that can take longer than the book-writing itself, and which can be fraught with frustration.

First-time authors with no name recognition and few resources often see their books make few if any sales. Brick-and-mortar and online bookstores are glutted with people trying to push their novels and how-to tomes. Frankly, without a marketing and/or PR agent, it’s next to impossible to get noticed.

Because of these challenges facing new and even seasoned authors, Nick Stephenson developed a training program and community called “Your First 10,000 Readers.”

Your First 10k

Core training

This program includes a core training that consists of six video modules as follows:

modules

Module 1: Rule the retailers

Video 1: Rule the retailers

Amazon, iTunes, Nook and Kobo operate more like search engines than traditional bookstores. To achieve top positioning for your book with these sites, you’ll need to understand algorithms, SEO and using metadata strategically.

Video 2: Merchandising

Sales channels outside of Amazon don’t implement search algorithms and metadata as much as Amazon does; instead, they promote books based on merchandising deals (e.g., “Deal of the day”). Non-Amazon retailers include Kobo and Nook; there are also distributors like Smashwords and Draft2digital. Nick explains how to reach out to these entities and establish “win-win” relationships with them so that you and they can mutually benefit from merchandising opportunities.

Video 3: Exclusivity vs broad reach

Amazon offers an exclusivity program called “KDP Select (Kindle Direct Publishing)” which features unique promotions including countdown deals, 5-day free book promos, and access to Kindle Unlimited. The hitch to using KDP is you cannot work with other sales channels (e.g., iTunes). Nick goes over what points you should consider with using KDP versus selling on numerous platforms.

Video 4: Pricing strategies

Pricing your book can be intimidating- do you price high for better profitability per book, or do you price low for high volume sales? Nick explains pricing strategies for Amazon, taking into consideration book royalties, sales volume, popularity and achieving bestseller status.

Module 2: Drive endless traffic

Video 1: Keywords & categories

Nick covers the processes of keyword and metadata selection that you should be using to narrow down your book’s audience. There are free and paid methods for accomplishing this objective, and Nick goes over both approaches. The free method takes more time to accomplish because you’re picking out suitable keywords, while the paid way takes advantage of KindleSpy and Kindle Samurai for more automated keyword selection and testing.

Video 2: Boost your traffic with Permafree

If you choose to give your book away for free, you can really take advantage of the extra traffic by working with top advertisers like Bookbub, Booksends, etc. to convert those customers to your paid books, or a paid version of your original book, following the promo. Nick discusses several ways of capturing the freebie traffic and converting it on a set schedule into customers that end up paying money for your book.

Video 3: Smart Promotion Tactics

Nick discusses the psychological tactics you can use to achieve improved book sales. Paid advertising, price drops, and other related promos can be combined to generate longer lasting traffic growth trends. Nick emphasizes how to time your promos so that your book gets at least 7 days of increased online interest, and to build up to your biggest promotion over that timeframe.

Video 4: Build your dream team

In this video, you are introduced to the concept of working with a team of authors within your writing genre to influence how Amazon features your promotions and cross-promotions. Recall that Amazon and other online sites feature “Also bought” lists of books…wouldn’t it be nice if another author’s book linked to yours as an “Also bought”? Nick discusses how to reach out to related genre authors and collaborate with them to cross-promote their and your books.

Module 3: Convert traffic into subscribers

Video 1: Your book funnel

Email marketing is the best way to draw in new readers and future customers. This conversion tactic is essential if you wish to generate sales from committed fans. There are free and paid methods for creating a traffic funnel that results in an email list. The free method involves giving readers a free item (like book) in exchange for an email address. The paid method involves building a self-hosted website and using a subscription service, which may or may not include giving your book away for free.

Video 2: Optimize your author website

The best platform you have for converting visitors to subscribers is your author website. Nick covers different methods you can use to convert your visitors without forcing them to give up their email address. Various online tools are introduced towards this purpose, including DreamHost, WordPress, Mailchimp, and OptimizePress.

Video 3: How I added 16k readers via giveaways

How do you find thousands of readers for your book(s)? Giveaways! Nick talks about how you can structure your giveaways so that your target reader is actually interested in your book, not just the prize. He also describes how you can encourage your subscribers to bring in additional subscribers through viral sharing. Other tips include how to advertise your giveaway and to cross-promote it through other authors.

Video 4: Create an irresistible event

In this video, Nick describes the process he used to sell 300+ books in just one hour. How did he do this? By creating a unique, limited-time-only, and cross-promoted event. Nick talks about the various platforms available for creating and hosting such an event, what incentives you can offer to your attendees, and how to structure the event.

Module 4: Engage your audience

Video 1: Why readers don’t buy

There are four reasons why readers don’t buy: indifference, skepticism, worry and procrastination. Your job is to understand every one of these reasons and how to address/overcome them.

Video 2: Priming the sale

Once your readers are prepared for your book, they will not only expect your book, but will be waiting to buy it. How can you prepare your readers to buy? By offering your freebie item up-front…and gradually telling your readers that you have other items for sale. In a nutshell, you need to take your readers on a journey without being salesy and/or pushing a purchase too soon. And doing that is definitely an art form.

Video 3: Scarcity: the secret sauce

The idea of scarcity was first noted in video 1 as a way of getting reluctant readers to buy your book. Here, the psychological tactic of scarcity is explored in greater detail, and especially as a motivator for procrastinators.

Video 4: Social media mastery

The top 5 social media mistakes are: thinking it’s all about you, being a salesman, forgetting your posts are public, getting sucked into a time-wasting black hole, and not setting realistic goals. Nick’s advice includes focusing more on your email list than on spending excessive time on social media. He also introduces Facebook Ads as one advertising platform that could be quite profitable for you.

Video 5: Getting hundreds of 5 star reviews

Reviews are an essential component of getting readers to trust you and overcome their skepticism. To this end, you need to overcome skeptic and worrier buyers by getting good reviews. Also, reviews help your Amazon SEO. Nick explains how to garner reviews without paying for them or engaging in sleazy strategies.

Video 6: Your automated selling system

How can you automate your selling process so you have more freedom? Nick explains how to set up your autoresponder series using Mailchimp. He also offers up his own emails as a template if you’re not sure what to write to your subscribers.

Module 5: The ultimate launch template

Video 1: Build your launch team

One great way to promote your book release is to do it through a launch team. This team helps generate dozens or even hundreds of reviews for your book on its launch day; lots of good reviews help your book excel at SEO and overall visibility on sites like Amazon. You can assemble a launch team from your email list by offering an incentive and setting expectations. You should treat these superfans with respect and not forget to be grateful for their help.

Video 2: Building buzz

Most authors fail in creating any kind of buzz around their new book. Nick emphasizes that you need to not only create buzz, but you should prepare for your book launch at least three weeks in advance. A key part of successfully building buzz involves preparing your launch team and setting expectations. Nick provides swipe copy for you in case you don’t know what to write.

Video 3: Your launch day template

Your launch day is finally here- so what do you do? Many things. You can lower your book price for a limited time, have a giveaway, offer a book bundle, etc. Should you do a giveaway, you can use it to collect additional emails. Keep in mind that it’s illegal to obligate the participant to purchase your book in order to enter your giveaway (i.e., you must make your giveaway a ‘no purchase necessary’ promo).

Module 6: Facebook: profit on autopilot

Video 1: Intro to Power Editor

Facebook Ads enables you to direct your traffic to customized landing pages and increase conversions (and sales). The platform for this sales engine is Power Editor. Using this platform allows you to control the conversion process and analyze your audience. This beats just paying to boost your posts, and knowing very little about who is converting (and why).

Video 2: How to track results with pixels

Facebook’s pixel helper is a plug-in tool that helps you see exactly who is engaging with your message and who is converting. This is enabled through different individual tracking and conversion pixels. Nick shows you how to use this tool and to set it up for maximum data output.

Video 3: Tweak your ads for better results

How can you maximize the ROI of your Facebook Ads? By tracking your sign-ups via Facebook’s reporting system and using that data to tweak your ads. Nick demonstrates, in incredible detail, how to narrow down your audience and select only those segments that are likely to respond to your offer.

Video 4: Ninja tips

How can you get an email signup and a book sale in one ad? Nick shows you his powerful ninja trick for accomplishing both actions using just one ad. Here’s a clue on how this is accomplished: he uses a promo.

The Interrogations

In addition to the core training videos, you also get to listen to in-depth interviews that Nick conducts with published authors. These authors include Mark Dawson, Nick Loper, R.S. Guthrie, Michael Maxwell, Bryan Cohen, Joanna Penn, an Simon Whistler.

In these interrogations, the aforementioned authors go over how they successfully performed their own market research, launched a dream team, built buzz, etc.

Bonuses

Nick provides video tutorials for a variety of marketing activities that you will need to do in order to successfully sell your book. The videos include tutorials on the following topics:

  • Anatomy of a landing page/How to build perfect landing pages
  • Automate your emails with Mailchimp
  • Store and deliver your reader magnets
  • KindleSpy: get traffic with keywords & categories
  • Automate Facebook Ads with AdEspresso
  • Run successful giveaways with KingSumo
  • Detailed keyword research with Kindle Samurai

The tutorials are quite in-depth and show actual examples of ads. For example, in this tutorial, Nick shows you how Facebook’s Power Editor can be manipulated to create and manage ads:

tutorials

Another useful bonus that Nick gives you is his swipe files- in essence, these are copies of the emails and marketing messages that he’s used with his own subscribers and which he now hands off to you, to use as you see fit. Plagiarize them all you want- or switch up the messages to suit your tastes. These swipe files are a very useful benefit if you’re suddenly at a loss for (marketing) words.

There are also four group coaching calls that Nick provides for you. In these coaching calls, he does two Q&A sessions with his subscribers only, and two Q&A sessions with other authors and his subscribers.

The Master Classes

There are also two master-level classes that you can listen to and learn from.

Cover design and book page teardown

In this video, several students of the course offer their book covers and pages for critique by cover designer Mark Ecob and editor Rebecca Heymen. Lots of good advice and tips are provided by these two experts.

How to cold email and work with any VIP

You’re going to need a network of fellow authors and other influencers to successfully launch your book. However, you might be more than a little intimidated at the prospect of reaching out to them.

Luckily, Nick provides you with a video showcasing how master networker John Corcoran not only reaches out to VIPs but forms connections and gets results.

Private Facebook Community

Last but not least, Nick offers you the opportunity to join his private Facebook group, where fellow members (last count: 822) act as resources and help each other out. Incidentally, this Facebook group does not replace Nick; he will still offer his help if you email him directly.

The Bottom Line

I’ve Tried That gives “Your First 10,000 Readers” our highest possible rating.

I found Nick Stephenson’s “Your First 10,000 Readers” to be jam-packed with useful information and examples from Nick’s own experiences or those of his colleagues. No stone is left unturned when it comes to illustrating the information and then proving its validity.

Nick also provides real world data regarding his own book launches and corresponding sales, revenues, traffic streams, etc. This isn’t some guy who is merely conjecturing which technique or marketing message will work the best- he’s been in the trenches as a published author and has the experience to prove it.

How to Get Started in the Website Rental Business

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Most folks think about website flipping as the only way to make money from websites. However, website rental is actually a more profitable and stable form of online income generation, enabling you to make money now as well as later on through residual earnings.

Think about it- if you buy and sell a website, you need to shell out a good deal of money upfront and then also improve the website through content, SEO, etc. You then need to find a buyer who will pay you significantly more for the online property than you originally, as well as compensate you for the time and effort you put into improving your website.

With a website rental, you can build your online property from the ground up, which means you can build it cheap. Once you find some renters, just plug in their businesses and charge them a monthly/yearly fee for doing so. What’s left after this point is routine site maintenance and occasional content development, tasks that any kind of website owner would be responsible for. However, you could get around even those responsibilities if you really wanted to, and this is something I’ll explain later in this post.

So, how do you get started in the website rental business?

What you’ll need to get started in website rental

It goes (almost) without saying that you’ll need the following: Clients!

So, who are going to be your clients?

To get into website rental quickly and easily, you should target local business owners. There are several reasons why, namely:

Local keywords

The competition for keywords is fierce, and especially in businesses like retail, hospitality, restaurant/catering or home building/renovation. However, as soon as you enter the local arena, this competition drops off and your keywords enter into niche categories.

Niche keywords can quickly launch your website(s) to the top of the search engine results page (SERP). People all over the world might use a search term like “roofing company,” for example, but only 100 or fewer will use a search term like “roofing company in Des Plaines, Illinois.”

Business needs

Many local businesses don’t have the time or know-how to organize a proper website that generates leads and converts prospects into customers. Some businesses rely on word-of-mouth and/or newspaper/radio ads to generate leads. Other businesses have a website (or a Google business listing), but the website is outdated and/or not optimized for search.

Lack of local competition

After looking through Google and Yahoo search engines while using search terms like “website rental” and “rent a website,” I located only three businesses that engage in this activity. These results tell me that there aren’t many people doing website rental just yet. Even if more people enter this line of business, it’s doubtful they would compete with you directly because their businesses would need to focus on your locality.

How do you find local business prospects?

Pitching to prospects should start with you perusing local business websites and assessing how well they are performing. That of course assumes that these websites exist.

If you find a business that has no website, you can send that business an email or make a call and tell it about your website rental service. That is one approach that may work to win you a client.

An alternative approach is to actually start building a website that would be targeted at this potential client. To not end up wasting your time in case your sales pitch is rejected, you should first locate at least 2-3 other similar local businesses that would also work with your nascent website.

If the business already has a website, go through it to find out how usable and relevant it is. Could you, as a customer of this business, use it to learn about the services offered and their pricing? Could you reach the owner? How?

If you find any faults with this website, make sure to take note of them. You can politely suggest ways to improve this website to the business owners once you contact them.

If you find several clients who are all in the same line of business, you might even consider adding them all into a “master” website that is optimized for a local area. That is how one rental website business grouped a bunch of Colorado-based roofers.

Once you have some interested prospects, what will you need to start renting websites?

A platform

You’ll start with a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress to launch and build your websites. Within this CMS you’ll need to purchase domain names, website hosting and backup, and malware and virus protection. You’ll also want to cloak your domain name ownership details, which usually costs a few extra dollars.

Website themes

Unless you are adept at website design, you’ll probably be purchasing themes for your websites that are formatted to include specific layouts, graphics and design elements. You could also peruse your CMS for free themes- WordPress offers many decent ones at no cost. However, for a professional-looking website that isn’t a carbon copy of 100 other websites, you will probably need to buy a theme or three.

SEO

You will need to know something about SEO, and especially local SEO, to make good money with website rental. Luckily, locally targeted keywords don’t have a lot of competition and can be used to launch your website to the top of the SERP fast. You can showcase your high ranking websites to clients when you pitch your services to them.

Business services

If your client businesses don’t have their own emails and/or business phone numbers, you’ll want to set those assets up. To this end, most CMS platforms offers an email that goes along with the domain name. To obtain an 800 phone number that redirects to the business phone number, you can use a VoIP vendor like Phone.com. With VoIP, you can also track how many prospects call the business.

When your business websites first start up, their keyword search volume may not be enough to generate steady leads. You could set up online ads through Google AdWords; doing so also gives you an easy way to monitor how well your website is generating inquiries, calls and leads.

Virtual assistance (optional)

As you acquire clients and build additional websites, you’ll find website maintenance and improvement will take up a larger and larger chunk of your time. There will also be the need to perform content creation. To ease your workload, you may wish to invest in a virtual assistant who can do regular site administration for you including updating plug-ins, triaging comments, and completing site backups.

How much do your charge for rent?

You’ll need to consider how much rent to charge your virtual tenants and whether you should also charge any set-up fees. As a start-up business, you could forego charging any rent and instead get paid for each lead you generate.For example, if a roofer values each successful lead at $5,000, you could ask for 5% of that value, or $250.

As you get bigger, you could then ask for X dollars each month; doing so generates a steady residual income for you. The few businesses already doing website rental charge up to $499/month, which is certainly not a bad passive income.

Is World Profit Worth $99/Month?

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World Profit (WP) is an online marketplace and affiliate marketing platform that offers website hosting and domains, paid advertising, traffic exchanges, email safelists, autoresponder programs, etc., that members can both use and sell. This company has been around since 1994, is based in Edmonton, Alberta, and was founded by George Kosch, Sandi Hunter and Jeffrey Lant.

You can sign up to WP as a free member; however, you can’t take advantage of its products, trainings and affiliate commissions until you purchase a Silver Membership at $99.95/month. Membership run month-to-month and can be cancelled anytime; alternately, memberships can be purchased for a full year.

Once you purchase the Silver Membership, you get access to the following products:

  • 20-100% affiliate commissions
  • Sales bonuses up to $1,000
  • Access to affiliate programs, PLR products, web services
  • 12 websites (as part of WP’s FastCash program)
  • Access to a content management system for building websites
  • 9 sales funnels with 100% commissions
  • Landing page builder and 500 pre-built sales pages
  • Sales offer builder
  • E-book builder and cover creator
  • Access to an article directory
  • Ad tracking software
  • 50,000 guaranteed website visitors
  • Email list builder

As a silver member, you also gain access to weekly trainings through the program’s “home business bootcamp” and over 100 self-paced training modules.

Is World Profit worth its $99.95/month membership fee?

Here’s what we found:

1. There are numerous complaints about this program.

Every online business has some negative reviews. However, the sheer mass of complaints about WP has me worried that this program is not all it claims to be.

Complaints range from members not being able to cash their WP checks due to bad routing numbers to WP not honoring refund requests. Other members note that the products offered by WP aren’t quite as advertised; for example, the “50,000 guaranteed visitors” actually refers to ad impressions and not actual visitors. Also, the promised traffic and subscribers are both derived from current WP members, apparently.

WorldProfit review

Other individuals complain that WP promises free traffic and other goodies; however, it doesn’t deliver on its promises. For example, this WP complainant says that the company promises free traffic and email credits in exchange for listening to its sales video. However, this isn’t true and you actually need to sign up for Silver Membership before you get those “free” tools.

Ripoff Report _ World Profit

2. WP uses high-pressure sales tactics.

You can’t peruse WP’s products and sales pages without first signing up as a free member. However, it seems that WP does this so that it can capture your personal information. Once you are a free member, WP has access to your name, email address, and even your phone number (if you provide it in the optional info area).

What does WP do with this information? Apparently, it uses your personal info to track you once you land on its sales pages.

When I went to WP’s checkout page to learn about its membership terms and conditions, I suddenly heard a voice through my computer calling me by my name and asking me to finish the checkout process and to input any questions I might have into the chat box.

When I looked up at my screen, I saw that I had been placed into a chat room. So, I decided to ask my chat room moderator what was WP’s refund policy for canceled memberships.

Unfortunately, despite inputting this question several times into the chat box, I never received a direct response. Instead, I kept hearing how I would get all these free bonuses, traffic, etc. after signing up as a Silver member. My moderator spent a good deal of time telling me and other chat members “how we’d watch the money roll in.”

Worldprofit Member area

I persisted with my refund question and was finally told to contact the head office because the moderator didn’t handle customer service matters.

3. The products aren’t quite as advertised.

WP advertises that it offers numerous high quality marketing products, traffic networks, etc. The products sound good, at least in theory. However, when you start digging into them, you uncover a different reality.

As an example, here are some of the affiliate products that WP advertises on its member site:

Worldprofit Member

When I clicked on the first link in this list, I was taken to Living Off the Net, which is an MLM. Another link took me to EProfits Extreme, which is a scam online business opportunity. Another link took me to a page that brought up a malware alert on my computer, so I didn’t open it.

WP also offers numerous marketing products for its members to support their personal businesses with. However, many of these products are built on outdated techniques such as article spinning and traffic networks. Such techniques are likely to get your websites de-indexed by Google.

4. There are additional upsells.

If you think that paying $99/month is sufficient for gaining access to all of the marketing tools and bonuses that World Profit offers, think again. The WP platform is filled with traffic exchanges, Solo ads, etc. that are all available…but for an additional cost.

worldprofit

Instead of teaching you how to generate traffic to your website, for example, WP’s tactic is to sell you a quick fix product that won’t help you achieve your desired result. However, it will help line WP’s pockets with still more of your money.

Is it worth it?

At a steep $99/month, World Profit just isn’t worth the money and hassle- and especially when there are other online programs that are of far better quality, cheaper, and without upsells- such as our top pick here.

Instant Profit Funnel & Email Cash Funnel: A 2 for 1 Deal

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I love email marketing. It allows you to connect directly with your followers, to segment them up and is not reliant on outside forces like Google shifting the goal posts.

The thing is, I’m not very good at it.

That’s why when I see internet marketing products saying that they can help me to improve my email marketing, I have to pick them up and take a look.

Some are good, some contain content I already know and some are pretty bad.

I recently picked up Instant Profit Funnel by Mark Wightley.

What is Instant Profit Funnel?

The product comprises of two systems to make money via email marketing. This is based on making squeeze pages (sometimes referred to as landing pages), which are designed to make your visitors sign up to your email list.

The Sales Pitch

The pitch for this product is typical marketing blurb: lots of bolded and underlined text, grand promises, and very little in the way of actual information.

There was nothing overly scammy about the sales page which is refreshing, though there was the usual unprovable proof of earnings, and unverifiable statements of how much Mark and his customers have earned.

The testimonials look real, at least more real than most testimonials I see, but there’s still no way to check them.

emailcashfunnel no skills

Purchasing Instant Profit Funnel

The product is an e-book and it’s designed as a loss leader, as the affiliates for the product actually get 100% of the money from it.

This is because it’s designed to get you into a funnel (oddly enough) and that’s where Mark makes his money, if you buy the upsells that is.

instant profit funnel upsells

The first upsell is a video course of the same eBook you just bought, plus some added extras for $27. After that you’re offered the videos only for $17.

If you decide to buy one of those, then the funnel continues and the cost starts to increase with a monthly recurring fee for updated training for just $47, and finally a done for you funnel at $97.

Do you need any of that? Not really, though some people may get benefit from them, especially the videos.

Inside Instant Profit Funnel

The member’s area is fairly standard: you’re offered a lot of extras mixed in with the purchased products and of course upgrades to the upsells you didn’t buy to begin with.

The e-book comes with some added extras such email swipes, a checklist and a podcast of the course which is a nice bonus.

You get access to both the Instant Profit Funnel course and the Email Cash Funnel courses. On top of those you get a landing page builder plugin which is actually white labelled version a $19 product on Code Canyon. I don’t think you get updates though which isn’t ideal.

Instant Profit Funnel

A solid 56 page eBook, the text is nicely sized, has plenty of useful images and contains very little fluff.

The eBook covers finding a niche, autoresponders, products to promote, offers/bribes, squeeze page creation, high ticket offers, list setup, tracking, follow ups and traffic.

Of course, if you pick up any eBook on email marketing, it will contain most if not all of these.

However, Mark does offer some good information. For example in the niche selection section, he covers points on finding a solid niche specifically for email marketing that most other writers and product creators fail to advise on. It’s still common sense, but it’s nice to see written down.

The focus on the email marketing is very much a hard sell: you are being advised to email people basically daily.

instant profit funnel hard sell

This might well work as a separate website and system, but I wouldn’t advise you to use this tactic on an existing business website, it’s more likely to annoy your customer base than help.

If you’ve ever signed up to a “make money online” product yourself, and then received countless emails, it’s that style that Mark’s product promotes.

The traffic generation section has some interesting tips, but only covers a few methods and then only in brief which is a shame, as traffic generation is usually the biggest hurdle for most people.

It also seems a bit rushed. As an example he gives you 4 rules to follow for niche selection, but then actually only provides 3.

Email Cash Funnel

A longer eBook at 99 pages, Email Cash Funnel has the same formatting and useful images included.

Useful screenshots

This eBook is very similar to Instant Profit Funnel in that it follows a similar process (select niche, autoresponder etc).

However it goes into much more detail about how to set up a campaign in Aweber. It also promotes things slightly differently. Instead of focusing on 2 or 3 products it pushes 10 or more. The style of promoting also seems a little less hard sell and more focusing on the consumer.

I really liked the fact that Mark included several example emails that look like they would work.

There’s definitely more detail in this e-book, mainly with Aweber but also with creating landing pages.

The traffic generation section is also bigger and more detailed than the other eBook.

The Bottom Line

This products isn’t a scam, in fact you actually get a lot of value for money for the $7 bucks you initially outlay. Sure you have to navigate the upsells and choose wisely but overall the value is there.

The two eBooks you get as part of this purchase are very similar, yet they are also different enough to expand and complement each other.

If you have had success with email marketing before, then you may not get much out of these, but if your fairly new to it or have been struggling to make money with it, then there is a lot of quality advice in these 2 eBooks.

I didn’t like the hard sell aspect of the first book, but it’s been proven to work – if it didn’t you wouldn’t see it in your inbox every day.

Overall I was surprised by the quality of the Instant Profit Funnel & Email Cash Funnel systems, and would actually recommend it for a good grounding in email marketing.

Our Review of Mary Rodger’s Cash From Home System

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Cash From Home and its counterparts have been around for a few years now, offering the idea that you can make a decent amount of money for simply adding a link! There seems to be a resurgence in promoting them which is worrying. Let me explain why.

The Background

Cash From Home apparently highlights the success of a lady called Kelly Simmons who has a true rags to rich story.

The essence of it is that she was a struggling single parent who just lost her job – a story that we can relate to quite easily.

Supposedly she met a guy at a part time job who showed her his work from home system. Fast forward and boom! She’s a millionaire, and works less than part time.

This all sounds really appealing, I mean who wouldn’t want to work a couple of hours a day and rake in even just a reasonable amount of money?

The sad part is that Cash From Home is simply leveraging peoples hopes, desires and desperation to actively suck money from them.

How Does It Work?

The idea behind this system is that you post links and get paid per link. That sounds amazing, not only is it easy work but the price per links is about the same as a decent minimum hourly rate – $15 bucks for 4 minutes work.

The reality though is that you will never get paid $15 per link. Think of it this way, if people on Fiverr.com (who get paid $4 per gig) will manually add 35 forum links, or 25 links to educations sites, then how likely will it be for you to get paid $15 for a solitary link?

Not likely at all.

The Warning Signs

The sales page for Cash From Home has so many scam markers that it’s scary!

Just take a closer look at these and you’ll understand why this sort of system is nothing but a scam.

#1 System Name vs. Domain Name

This might seem unimportant, but the fact that the system name (Cash From Home) is different to the actual URL (SecureBusinessSites) is a telling marker.

What it suggests is that the people behind this scam are using cheap expired domains that have an air of legitimacy to push this system.

#2 The TV Logos & Video

cash from home tv

This is a popular psychological trick used by nefarious marketers. The idea is that the logos add a sense of legitimacy to the site even when they really have nothing whatsoever to do with the product.

The cleverly avoid lawsuits (just about) by using wording like “Work from home opportunities have been featured on:”. That statement is likely true, it just doesn’t mean that THIS system has been featured, but sadly not everyone picks up on that and instead subconsciously increases their trust in the site.

They also include a recording of a newsreel from NBC talking about work from home opportunities. This reel has been used in an incredible number of scam sites and is solely there to once again add a veneer of respectability.

#3 Unrealistic Promises

cash from home skills

Telling people that they don’t need any skills or experience is a great way to hook people in. Everyone would love to make money easily, but the truth of the matter is that making money, whether it be on or offline, does require skills and experience. Sure you can get that along the way, but to promise instant earnings with no skill set is misleading at best.

#4 Requesting Your Phone Number

This might seem a very minor thing, but really, why do they need your number? Simply, in order to sell you stuff! Once they have a number they will call you or sell it to someone who will try the same thing.

Typically, we see reports from people who signed up for these kinds of systems that suggest that they will call you and try and sell you a “big ticket” system that costs hundreds to thousands of dollars.

#5 The Calculator

cash from home calculator
Cash From Home conveniently provides you with a calculator that works out how much money you can make from using this system.

This provides you with a dopamine rush when you see the potential earnings, but does not really prove that those earnings can actually be made!

#6 The Dream

cash from home dream

One of the most powerful marketing tools available is to show you a dream and convince you that using this product will help you achieve that dream.

To be fair this sort of technique is used by all marketers, ethical and villainous alike, but at least the ethical ones will only use it when they have a product that can definitely provide the outcome. Link building simply doesn’t have that sort of future.

#7 Over Use of Highlights and Bolding

cash from home highlights

OK, so you may be thinking that this shouldn’t be a marker for a scam site, but it is most definitely one. By using highlighting and bolded text marketers can draw your attention to specific areas of the text, perfect for skip readers.

Scam marketers have a tendency to overdo it though and this is visible on the Cash From Home site.

For me, it’s also one of the easiest ways to spot a site that while maybe not a scam, it will surely warrant closer inspection.

The Duplicate Sites

If those points haven’t given you pause, then consider this: the exact same site (or 99% same) is used in other places.

Two sites called simple-income-strategies.com & access.premiere-online-income.com both use the same copy text and formatting, with some minor differences.

The main changes are the system name and logo, the name of the person with the success story and some images.

Mary’s name change made me laugh as apparently they all have a daughter called Amanda, and went through the exact same issues.

Ah, I hear you cry, but the disclaimer on Cash From Home states that they used fake names and stock photos.

That’s right it does, but let’s be honest here, just because they said they are using them to hide someone’s identity doesn’t mean they are telling you the truth. Plus the other two sites don’t contain that disclaimer.

The reality is that Amanda (or Kelly or whoever) doesn’t really exist. She’s simply a tool created by these marketers in order to invoke trust and convince you to hand over your details and money.

The Bottom Line

Link posting systems don’t work. Even if you make some cash from them, it’s not going to be life changing. In fact the only thing that these people want from you is for you to prove your gullibility by signing up in the first place.

From there they then have you by a hook and will slowly reel you in promising you the world while sucking money from your bank account.

Cash From Home has numerous markers that flag that this is at best an unscrupulous marketing ploy and at worst a scam.

Please, avoid link posting scams and Avoid Cash From Home and its duplicates!

How Does the Aussie Method Compare?

It doesn’t. It’s not a real opportunity. It’s a program designed to get into your wallet.

I’ve Tried That has been reviewing products since 2007. In that time, there’s one program that stands above the rest. It’s free to get started, has no ridiculous hidden charges, and will help you build a sustainable income from home.

Click here to see our top recommendation.

Is ClixSense a scam? Can you get paid to view ads?

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Get. Paid. To. Click.

That’s essentially all there is to ClixSense. Click on a link, watch an ad, get paid. It’s awesomely simple and they DO PAY. I tended to avoid these type of ways to make money online in the past and instead try and focus more on building businesses and work at home careers, but this is one opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

What is ClixSense?

It’s a “get paid to click” website that is absolutely free to join and will pay you to look at ads. You pick an ad, look at it for 30 seconds, and they send you money. It’s really that easy.

The pay is a little low as you will only be earning a few cents per ad clicked. Over time the clicks do add up and you just found yourself a very easy way to make some extra money in your part time. You really can’t beat another source of income, not matter how small you think it might be.

ClixSense does have quite the extensive referral program that pays you directly to refer new members and when your referrals click on the ads. I highly suggest you talk to your friends and family and get them to join in as well. Refer more people and seriously improve the amount of money you’re making at ClixSense.

ClixSense pays out once you cross the $10 threshold via check or AlertPay. I’ve never used AlertPay, so I opted to get paid by check. They do have a processing fee to send you a check, which kind of sucks, but I prefer to receive checks. There’s just something about being able to physically hold your accomplishments that is ultimately satisfying.

Here are a few tips I’ve found since joining…

Be careful of the ads you view.

I wasn’t entirely thrilled with some of the ads I had to view. There are quite a few that revolve around “work at home” type offers. Some of these offers are what I have heavily advocated against in the past. If you’re just viewing ads, then you have nothing to worry about. If you consider signing up for a program you see in one of the ads, then I highly recommend you research the company and do your due diligence.

ClixSense allows international members!

Usually, these types of websites only allow US members, but ClixSense is accepting members from all over the world. Seriously. It doesn’t matter where you live in the world. Any person from any country can join and make money at ClixSense.

Consider signing up for a premium membership.

ClixSense offers a premium membership that costs $10 to join. Premium members are allowed to view more ads per day. Free members are severely limited to just a couple ads per day, while premium members can see over 400. A premium membership will increase the amount of money you get paid for referrals from $0.01 to $0.10 and will give you a bonus of $2.00 if one of your referrals becomes a premium member as well.

I find it’s only worth joining if you’re going to actively refer people. It’s great that you’re allowed to view more ads, but the real money in a premium membership comes from referrals. If you’re good at referring people, the premium membership is a definite must join.

And now, for my experiences thus far…

Proof that ClixSense Pays

I do test every program that I recommend and make sure I’m able to make some money first before firing off a recommendation. I joined ClixSense last month, watched a few ads, referred a couple of people, and received my very first check just a few days after the month had ended.

Here’s a copy of the check for proof…

Clixsense Check

As you can see, I was able to earn $44.18 in less than a month in mostly my spare time. It may not be a ton of money, but it definitely helps keeps the bills paid. Plus, it’s a nice chunk of change especially considering the time of year. Every little bit does help.

Is ClixSense.com a Scam?

No, of course not. In fact, I highly recommend you click here and join ClixSense now.

I’ve joined, looked at hundreds of ads and have been paid for it. Just exercise caution while viewing some of the ads and you’ll be in good shape. Start earning money and tell your friends and family about it to make some extra money off of the referral system as well.

Be sure to let me know what you think of the program in the comments section as well!

Best of luck!

Click here and sign up for ClixSense now!

Additional Programs to Try

After you create your account with Clixsense, here are a couple of other similar ways to make some money online. Join them all to increase your earning potential!

  1. Swagbucks – Login, answer questions, take polls, watch videos, make money. I’ve cashed out a couple hundred dollars in my first few months of joining. Absolutely a must join.

  2. SurveySavvy – This is my all time favorite survey company. I’ve cashed out thousands of dollars over the past 4 years from both my completed surveys and referrals. This one is highly recommended.

  3. InstantCashSweepstakes – ICS is a fun way to pick up some extra cash in your spare time. You answer short three question surveys every few hours. Some surveys were created by companies, other by users. Every survey you take has a chance at earning you cash. It’s fun, easy, and definitely worth checking out.

Can You Get Paid to Drive? Review of paidride.com

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Will Companies Really Pay Me to Drive My Car??

You’ve seen the ads online or maybe in your email inbox: Earn hundreds of dollars per month by driving your car! Or get a free car to drive! Companies pay good money to have you drive a car wrapped in their advertisements!

Just like you, we thought it sounded good. With the price of gas what it is, getting paid to drive would be sweet! I might even drive the weinermobile if it meant more money coming in to my pocket than going out.

If you search online for get paid to drive, you find lots of companies willing to sell you a list, or access to an exclusive member’s area, where you can learn all about the advertisers who will pay you to stick their ads on your car and do your normal driving. It’s simple, you learn. A no-brainer money making activity.

We Tried Paidride.com

So we forked over the $15 to paidride.com. Our $15 bought us a “membership,” which was actually access to the site’s directory of companies that are hungry for drivers. I was imagining what kind of awesome ads companies would rush to stick on my minivan. (Car seat ads? Children’s Book Club? Trojan condoms?)

What’s Inside Paidride.com?

The membership area is a clean list of 14 US companies, three Canadian companies, and five UK companies that allegedly either give free ad cars to drive or pay you to drive an ad around on your car. The list looks good, but it isn’t what I would call high quality. The first link to the very first company is bad. The second link, to the same company’s sign up form, takes me to freecarmedia.com where I read this:

What if I PAID to find out about your company?
If you paid ANY fees to get information about FreeCar Media and our programs than you need to immediately ask for your money back. Registering with FreeCar Media is 100% FREE and always has been. There are many scams being run to capitalize on our name, so please do not be fooled.

The second company listed manufactures the vinyl wrap that goes on ad cars…it doesn’t actually hire drivers, as it states right on its website: “We do NOT offer compensation for driving ads.” Hmm…two pitches, two strikes.

And so on, and so on. I could give you a run down of each company in the directory (for one of which I need to own a semi), but it’s not necessary. I can already see the writing on the wall.

Can You Get Paid to Drive Ads on Cars?

In a word, No. Here’s why:

  • Simple numbers. How many people do you think have signed up for these get-paid-to-drive programs? Thousands, no doubt. Tens of thousands, maybe. Have you seen tens of thousands of ad cars on the road? That means the odds are not in your favor.
  • Demise of the medium. Ads on cars peaked in popularity in the 90s. They are now the domain of very specialized niche advertising campaigns, so fewer drivers are needed.
  • Demographics. Imagine yourself as an advertiser. Say you’re the ad executive for I’ve Tried That and you have a fixed budget to spend on advertising each quarter. You decide you’re going to wrap someone’s car in I’ve Tried That ads and pay the owner to drive it around. To get the most bang for your buck, you want to reach the largest possible number of people in the target demographic. That means you’re looking for a car and driver only in densely populated urban areas with lots of stay-at-home moms and others looking to supplement their income by working from home. With that in mind, are you interested in a driver living in Casper, Wyoming? Of course not. How about a driver who owns a 2000 Ford Taurus? No way. (Because Steve and Joe only want their ads on really sexy cars.)

If you don’t:

  1. live in a large city
  2. drive a cool car
  3. AND drive lots of miles every month

forget about it. Your lottery-like chances have just been reduced to zip.

Don’t Pay for Get-Paid-to-Drive Information!

Also, the common denominator I found in all the companies I looked at that actually do hire drivers was this: it is free to sign up for them, and you can find them on your own. There’s no need to pay for “an exclusive list.” There are no exclusive lists because the information is available everywhere. That’s like paying for “an exclusive list of McDonald’s restaurants in your area!” Why buy that list when the phone book is free?

One of those loooooong-shot applications could take you up to 10 minutes to fill out. In the same 10 mintues, you could respond to legitimate job ads that our ebook teaches you how to find. And your chances of being hired for those jobs are much MUCH better than the chances that Fox TV will pay you to drive an American Idol-wrapped PT Cruzer around Podunk, Iowa.

How Does PaidRide Compare?

I’ve Tried That has been reviewing products since 2007. In that time, there’s one program that stands above the rest. It’s free to get started, has no ridiculous hidden charges, and will help you build a sustainable income from home.

Click here to see our top recommendation.

There’s Something Strange About ‘Profit with Jay’

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At I’ve Tried That, we review a lot of work-at-home jobs and online income opportunities. This is because there are many ways to make extra money, from affiliate marketing to blogging to freelance writing.

However, I was scratching my head when it came to figuring out just how one particular program enables its members to make money online. The program in question is called “Profit with Jay.”

Welcome to “Profit with Jay”

If you do an online search for work-at-home jobs, you’ll eventually come across a relatively new program called “Profit with Jay.” This program promises that you’ll make 100% commissions simply by processing emails. A YouTube video explains the process as follows:

Make Cash Daily1

We then hear from a guy who supposedly uses Profit with Jay to make lots of money. He explains that, once you sign up to this system and pay a $25 fee, you receive step-by-step instructions that teach you how to do something called email processing. You also receive marketing materials and access to a members’ area.

That’s all you learn about the actual program before this guy elaborates on his own rags-to-riches story and how he now makes a comfortable living from home thanks to email processing.

As the video rolls on, it eventually reveals another snippet of information about the Profit with Jay program:

Make Cash Daily 3

From the screen shot shown above, it appears that your job will involve posting affiliate ads online, then following up on customer purchases with emails.

A second testimonial confirms this idea- a guy sitting in his car elaborates on how he posted ads to Facebook and Craigslist in the morning, and then discovered that he’d been paid from those ads by the afternoon. These payments came in when customers clicked on his posted ads.

Interestingly, each ad payment is exactly $25.

Why $25?

At the very start of this program’s video, it was stated that members receive a 100% commission for their processed emails. That means that the product is priced at $25.

The Profit with Jay program is also priced at $25.

Unless I’m mistaken, my suspicion is that the actual product you’re advertising and processing emails for is none other than the Profit with Jay program itself. I could be wrong, but…

Profit with Jay- could it be a modern take on the old Envelope Stuffing Scam?

If you look online, you’ll eventually locate Jay Brown himself, touting his email processing program on YouTube:

Jay Brown

Jay states in his video that he’s been doing this program for the last four years; meanwhile, his video descriptor says six years.

Jay shows off his Paypal account as “proof” that his email processing program works. Again, we see a long list of $25 payments from customers. Jay explains that this program is legit, and that additional information about how it works can be learned once it is purchased at $25.

Jay assures hesitant buyers that his website does provide additional info about the program.

However, the only information that the Profit with Jay website offers is this set of customer testimonials:

Make Cash Daily2

The customers all refer to someone named James…but who is James? As for the testimonials themselves, they are very short and generic- and could be testimonials for just about any kind of online income opportunity. There is also no contact information provided on these satisfied customers.

We see the following example email on the website, which Jay notes is very similar to the kinds of emails you’ll be sending:

Make Cash Daily5

It’s intriguing that, even in this example email, it’s stated that the recipient is receiving instructions, a manual, and ads. These are the same items that were promised to anyone who signs up for Profit with Jay, at least according to the program’s checkout page:

ProfitwithJay

Aside from the testimonials and the example email, nothing further is noted about the program, its marketing materials, the aforementioned step-by-step instructions, or where you’ll be posting ads. Nothing further is stated about how your emails will be written, or whether you’ll receive additional training to craft them properly.

However, there is significant effort dedicated to having you buy the product, and then sell something very similar through email processing and advertising.

This is nothing more than a modern take on the old envelope stuffing schemes. You pay $25 to learn how to trick other people to pay $25 so they in turn can deceive more people and this goes on until the FTC gets involved.

Read the fine print

Let’s say your curiosity gets the better of you and you decide to purchase the Profit with Ray program. Most online income opportunities come with a money-back guarantee. So, if you don’t like this opportunity, you can just ask for a refund…right?

Not so fast.

If you click on the disclaimer area of Profit with Ray, you’ll come across the following statement:

ProfitwithJay1

So, once you’ve made your purchase, the Profit with Jay system is yours to keep- whether you like it or not.

Bottom Line

Before you purchase Profit with Jay, understand that you may be throwing away not just $25, but any money thereafter that you spend on pay-per-click fees, advertising, etc. As the program itself states, there are no refunds for it or any of the associated fees.

As a result, you’re better off passing on this “opportunity” and seeking real opportunity elsewhere.

How to Create Your Own Online Scam

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“…if the just man is good at keeping money, he is good at stealing it.” Plato, Book I, The Republic

Pretend for a minute that you want to create an online scam that will line your pockets with a significant amount of money. How would you create this scam? Who would you target? Would you involve your friends or keep it to yourself? And perhaps most importantly, when would you end it; i.e., take the money and run?

I’ve Tried That is a site dedicated to spotting and reporting online scams. Since 2007, the scams that have been featured on this site include everything from classic Nigerian “you’ve got cash!” emails to data entry to even colon cleansing (complete with a photo you don’t want to see while eating). As different as all these scams are, however, they all take advantage of one or more of the following six elements to lure you in:

User ignorance: Faecal encephalopathy is a serious medical condition that may be affecting you and your family members, but our associates have the cure.

Voice of authority/experience: Dr. Homer J. Simpson, who studied nuclear engineering at the prestigious Saint Regis University, has worked at a nuclear power plant for 10+ years. He is nationally recognized as a nuclear power plant safety expert.

Emotional appeal: Still stuck in that low-paying job while your boss buys a flashier car every year? What would you do with an extra $1,000 every week? Our system helps you make money while you sleep! “Stick it to the man” and quit your job today!

A hint of truth: Smoking leads to almost all cases of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a very aggressive form of cancer. Luckily, our retinoic acid products inhibit lung cancer, allowing you to smoke without worry.

Exclusivity: It took years for our senior officers to learn how this revolutionary system operates. However, its secrets can now be yours when you join our VIP members-only club.

Limited time: Act now while supplies last. We have only 30 cases of iron pyrite jewelry on hand. Operators are standing by.

Given the information provided above as well as my constant exposure to all kinds of online scams, I’ve come up with the following five scam ideas and how they could be perpetrated. Keep in mind that this information is only theoretical and is meant to help you learn about and spot scams.

Do not attempt the following ideas at home!

1. The new and improved Nigerian email scam.

Send people emails giving them a sob story about some person who is orphaned and can’t withdraw his/her money- but add a contemporary twist. For example, make a plea for a young girl who is being held against her wishes by the Taliban and can’t withdraw the huge sum of money she has inherited in the U.K.- money that would help free her. Or, decry a dog slaughter operation here in the U.S. that would be instantly shut down if some groups could just gain access to their locked funds.

The possibilities are endless- and someone is bound to bite. Once you accumulate a few interested parties, have them forward you money for bogus expenses like taxes, processing costs, legal fees, etc. At some point, you might even gain access to a bank account or the personal information of your email recipients. Drain those accounts and/or steal identities.

2. Fake services company.

Create and purchase a domain name that resembles a high ranking services site. For example, Seomoz.org is a rather well-established SEO services company. Working off of this site, you could create the domain name Seomoz.org/business. This allows your site to be easily found online and establishes credibility. Then, you start emailing small business websites and offering them a service package for only $499/year. Be sure to have the business click only on a special “discount” link that you provide through your website or email correspondence.

Once you collect a sufficient number of Paypal payments, transfer all assets to a bank account created especially for this purpose (using someone else’s personal information that was hopefully gained from scam #1). Sit on your bogus website for a month, sending out periodic emails to your “clients” asking for specs about their websites (e.g., what keywords they want to be ranked for) and other filler newsletters and company announcements. After that month has passed, close down your website and bank account.

3. Compromised account scam.

Send emails to people notifying them that their Paypal, eBay, Amazon etc. account has been compromised and the company needs to re-verify critical account records like the person’s name, log in information, password, etc. The few emails that come back to you with this pertinent information will be worth their weight in gold.

Alternately, if you have some programming skills, create a spyware link that leads the user to a fake account site resembling what would be seen on Paypal, eBay, Amazon, etc. On this site, the user inputs all his/her personal information and transmits it to you. In such a case, you would gain valuable information and be able to install a spyware program on the user’s computer, enabling you to monitor all his/her future keystrokes.

4. Sell a bogus product.

Create a fake product and sell it online. Some examples include diet patches/wraps, miracle creams and nutritional supplements. Making such products at home is easy and all you need is a merchant account that accepts credit cards. Make the refund time at least 6 months or longer, thus lulling customers into putting aside their purchase receipt and eventually forgetting about it or losing it. Testimonials and referrals can be gathered from your friends.

You could even go all out and schedule a webinar or seminar where you hand-pick audience members for questions or praise about your product- audience members that just happen to be your friends. Making and selling a fake product is perhaps one of the easiest scams to perpetrate because many individuals will actually benefit from the product thanks to the placebo effect (i.e., improvement in health through simple belief that the product is working).

5. Sell a bogus product- and create an MLM around it.

Why make money on a bogus product alone when you can also make money from member recruits? Create your own multi-level marketing scheme by recruiting people to buy and sell your product directly. Use your friends for testimonials about how this product and business changed their lives. Your friends can also be used as downline (customer) decoys so that the MLM recruits start making a little money and keep buying bulk product from you.

Learn How to Make Legitimate Money Online Instead

Sure, the allure of a windfall of cash at no work is enticing, but there are much better ways to spend your time. I’ve developed a free step-by-step plan of action that will help you build a real business online. You’ll learn the ins-and-outs of setting up real streams of income that don’t come from deceiving others. Best of all, our guide is absolutely free.

The Bottom Line

In summary, always remember that scammers rely on your vulnerabilities (e.g., ignorance, lack of time) and vices (e.g., greed, laziness) to make money. Before clicking on a web link or providing any personal information, do your homework or call the company directly. Install a spyware/malware protection program on your computer as well. Limit what you reveal online while at a publicly used computer. In short, being vigilant and aware of what scammers might do online protects you from losing your money, time and personal information.

Oh, and don’t create your own online scam.

Beware of GamingJobsOnline.com

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Last Updated:

Quick Summary

Rating: 0 Stars.

Pros: Getting paid to play video games would be great, but…

Cons: Most companies require you to be on-site, you absolutely can’t make $40k per year doing it, and GamingJobsOnline.com is misrepresenting what’s possible to get you to send them money.

Our Recommendation: Not worth it. Not even a little. Companies DO hire video game testers, but you have to be on site and pay is so low that your time is better invested elsewhere. We’ve found one company that’ll pay you to play games online. They’ll even give you $5 to get started. Click here to see our top recommendation. Best of all, no credit card info is required to get started.

Full Review

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just sit at home play video games and make thousands of dollars? It sounds completely insane, right? Well, GamingJobsOnline.com swears that it’s possible, but I can already tell you, they’re pulling your leg while reaching for your wallet.

GamingJobsOnline.com Claims…

The biggest claim they make is that you can work from home, at your leisure, and make upwards of $30/hr playing video games. Laughable, right? Well, GamingJobsOnline.com says it is possible, but it will cost you $37 to learn how to do so. (Sidenote: Your membership also includes information on how to make thousands of dollars taking online surveys and how to watch satellite TV for free. Uhh.. what?)

This should leave you with two questions:

  • Why does it cost money to find out how to get a job?
  • Why would anyone work a real job when they could sit at home, play video games, and make money doing so?

Game Testing From Wikipedia

So, is there a career in game testing? Well, yes, yes there is. Take it away Wikipedia!

Compensation

Despite the job’s difficulty, game testing doesn’t pay a great deal and is usually paid hourly (around USD$10 – $12 an hour). Testing management is usually more lucrative, but this type of job usually requires years of experience and some type of college degree. For this reason, as mentioned earlier, most game testing jobs are taken as “foot in the door” positions, used as a stepping stone for more lucrative lines of work in game development.

As a career

Within the game industry, testing usually falls under a title such as quality assurance (QA). However, game QA is far less technical than general software QA. Many game testers have only a high school diploma and no technical expertise. Game testing is normally a full-time job with expectation of regular overtime, but many employees are usually hired as temps and the length of employment varies. In some cases, if the tester is working for a publisher, the tester may be sent off to work at the developer’s site rather than in his employer’s own offices. The most aggressive recruiting season is late summer/early autumn, as this is the start of the crunch period for games to be finished and shipped in time for the holiday season.

A common misconception is that professional game testing is akin to a public beta test or stress test, where players are expected to enjoy the game and report any bugs they happen to find. In reality, game testing is highly focused on finding bugs, often using tedious methodologies. Even if one could play the game freely, there is no guarantee that the game is stable or fun enough to be enjoyable. A tester may be required to play the same portion of a game repeatedly for hours at a time. Understandably, burn-out is common in this field.

Despite the demanding and risky nature of the job, game testing doesn’t pay a great deal and is usually paid hourly, with wages ranging from USD$8 to $15 per hour in the United States. As temps, testers typically receive no benefits or holidays and simply take unpaid vacation days when desired. Some testers use the job as a stepping stone in the game industry, but the success of this strategy is unproven, and depends on which part of the game industry the tester desires to work in. QA résumés, which display non-technical skill sets, tend towards management, then to marketing or production. Those wishing to land a job in programming, art, or design usually need to demonstrate their skills in these areas, either by taking jobs outside the industry and/or working on mods.

Did that confuse you? It probably should have. The truth is that there are video game testing positions, but they’re not as lucrative as GamingJobsOnline.com makes them out to be. Do they exist? Absolutely, but they’re mainly entry level jobs into video game companies.

GamingJobsOnline Refund and Contact Info

I did a fair amount of digging and couldn’t find anything. The whois information is falsified and I couldn’t find a phone number to call or the name of the owner or anything really. I managed to find out that the site operates out of the Philippines with servers in Quebec, Canada, but that’s as deep as I was able to go. A possible email address is louie.pixelwise@gmail.com but I have no way of confirming this.

Clickbank does handle all of the payment processing for GamingJobsOnline.com. If you’re looking to get a refund visit this page: http://www.clickbank.com/orderDetail.htm?clear=true and fill out the form to process your refund.

The Bottom Line

If you’re absolutely interested in becoming a video game tester, check the job boards of big name video game developers. After searching for just a few minutes, I was able to find 6 different video game testing positions. The pay averaged around $10/hour but every job required you to be on-site. This is far from the $40k/year at-home salary GamingJobsOnline.com promises.

Bottom line: Stay away from GamingJobsOnline.com

An Alternative That Works?

There’s only ONE site we’ve found that’ll let you play games online and actually make money. It’s called SwagBucks and will pay you to do a bunch of things you already do online for free. It’s free to join and you can even get $5 just for signing up.

Click here and create your free account now. Start playing games and start making money. Use signup code IVETRIEDTHAT3 for an extra cash bonus.

Is High Traffic Academy by Vick Strizheus Worth Its $997 Cost?

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If you are a newbie affiliate marketer or website owner, you know how hard it is to get traffic to your site(s). It can be disheartening when you write a brilliant blog post, publish it, and get no comments or even views.

That’s why High Traffic Academy initially caught my interest. High Traffic Academy is the creation of Vick Strizheus, the “King of Online Traffic,” who also offers group and one-on-one coaching/consulting sessions ranging from $5,000 to $100,000.

A guy who charges such hefty fees for his time and expertise must really know what he’s talking about, right?

So, Vick is now offering an online version of his coaching sessions, called High Traffic Academy.

What is High Traffic Academy?

High Traffic Academy (HTA) is a membership site, created and operated by Vick, that teaches its members how to get quality traffic to their websites. To this end, Vick offers video tutorials, webinars, e-books, traffic campaign examples, and select products.

The HTA operates on three basic pillars:

Website development

Here you learn to purchase a domain and hosting, create your landing page, and link your landing page to an email autoresponder. To this end, Vick gives you access to his landing page builder.

Traffic Generation

This is the meat of the program and Vick tells you of several paid methods that can help you generate traffic to your landing pages. The PPC methods are provided through his software programs and traffic exchanges including Offline Goldmine Traffic, The Penny Traffic, The Underground PPC Traffic.

There is also software that teaches you how to work with Google image ads (i.e., Secret GIA Traffic), software that tells you about buying email lists (i.e., Email Media Traffic), and software that teaches you about using banner ads (i.e., Banner Media Traffic). You are also introduced to CPA networks and ad swaps.

List control

In this section, Vick instructs you on what you need to do after you have paid traffic coming to your landing pages. For example, how do you get a customer to become a repeat customer? Vick also shows you a secret method for following your competitors’ traffic online and building your email list off of this traffic.

You get the following items with your paid subscription:

  • Email autoresponder
  • Click tracker
  • URL scarper
  • Sales page templates
  • Video/YouTube marketing tutorials
  • Social media traffic generation techniques
  • Lead capture techniques

Is HTA worth its hefty $997 price?

HTA isn’t cheap, and a full membership plan costs $997. Even at its occasional promotional rate, HTA still costs $197/month to get started. So, is HTA worth the money?

I say no, and here are my reasons why.

1. Vick focuses on traffic, not content.

The HTA training is focused almost exclusively on generating traffic with PPC ads, banner ads, image ads, etc. There is very little time devoted to creating a quality website and filling it with valuable content. In fact, Vick makes it appear that you don’t even need a website, just a bunch of sales pages.

Google won’t even index your site if it contains nothing but a sales page. You’ll get no organic traffic whatsoever if you don’t have content for your viewers to peruse. And therein lies to key to Vick’s methods…

2. The recommended methods aren’t free.

Vick tells you next to nothing about generating free, organic traffic by creating a quality website, publishing tutorials and videos, etc. He also says nothing about content SEO and how you can get your web pages to rank well on search engines like Google. The only SEO that’s mentioned is ad SEO (e.g., how to match headline and ad keywords).

However, Vick tells you quite a bit about how you should buy traffic and email lists. Most of the recommended exchanges and marketplaces just happen to be his own products, which he generates a profit from when you make your purchases.

3. You’ll be spending more than $997.

The full year membership to HTA costs $997. However, you’ll be spending much more than that after you shell out the $997.

Vick’s trainings and webinars are nothing more than dressed-up sales presentations where he attempts to have you buy paid traffic, paid email lists, paid ads, etc. Even though Vick claims that you’ll get really cheap traffic (“as low as $0.05/click!”), you’ll still need to spend money to generate that traffic.

Vick also proposes that you test out his traffic-generating scenarios within your PPC and ad campaigns. To complete many of these scenarios, you’ll need some really deep pockets. Furthermore, without an optimized website to back up your sale pages, you’ll be paying high fees to Google due to your low Quality Score.

4. Getting a refund can be tricky.

Current HTA members are complaining about their difficulties with getting refunds. For example, here is a complaint posted by Geoffrey:

HTA comment

5. The online reviews might be biased.

Several HTA members report being offered monetary compensation in exchange for a positive review of HTA just days after first joining HTA. It’s one thing to ask for an unbiased review and offer some kind of compensation, but quite another to pay for biased reviews.

6. Some of the material is outdated.

HTA members have made online comments such as the following regarding the outdated nature of HTA trainings:

HTA comment 4

HTA comment 3

HTA comment 1

7. Vick isn’t exactly innocent.

We found this YouTube news video showing his 90-day sentencing on a charge of grand theft in South Dakota.

We’re passing on High Traffic Academy

Affiliate marketers and website/product owners who don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on paid traffic, email lists and advertising won’t find HTA of much use to them. Also, HTA spends little if any time teaching about building quality websites that are indexed well by search engines like Google, Bing, etc. Almost every recommended method has to be paid for, and the commissions from those payments invariably go to Vick.

If you are interested in generating traffic and sales in ways that won’t kill your wallet, there are plenty of other quality affiliate marketing platforms out there, including Wealthy Affiliate.