My Xomba Experiment…

For anyone who hasn't heard of a site called Xomba before, it's a revenue-sharing article-writing/bookmarking site. I joined it about 7 months ago, but like a few sites I'm with, I joined but was never that active on it. I don't usually give revenue-sharing sites much thought as I'm more into money I can get upfront. But lately, I've been having a think about the residual element of revenue-sharing sites. Writing for money upfront certainly has its rewards, no doubt about that. There's a certain self-assuredness that comes with knowing that once I write two articles for my client, I'm gonna get $100 in my account. However, I've also been thinking that it would be cool if something I wrote earned me money over a longer period of time. Initially, I might not make as much as I do for upfront pay, but over time I might end up making more.

I'm not giving up one method for another, neither am I putting one above the other. Both techniques – upfront pay and residual pay - have their pros and cons. However, I'm becoming more open to trying out the latter way of earning to see what it can do for me. Hence, Xomba. I've chosen Xomba because I've heard good things about it. Some people have had various levels of success with it and they seem to have a supportive admin team and member base.


Articles = Xombytes. Bookmarks = Xomblurbs.

In keeping with the Xomba theme, any articles you post up are known as Xombytes and bookmarks are called Xomblurbs. Xombytes have to be no less then 150 words. Xomblurbs are basically links to things you find on the web that you think other people might find interesting. You accompany your link with a short review (minimum 50 words) describing what you're linking people out to.

The content you write in your Xombytes and Xomblurbs have to be unique.

I'm still learning the ropes, but here's an example of a Xombyte and Xomblurb I wrote.


The Revenue-sharing Part of Xomba...

...is via Adsense on a 50/50 basis (you get 50%; Xomba gets 50%). You can also earn 10% of the ad revenue your referrals earn.

From what I've read, there are a number of factors that contribute towards you earning. It's a matter of experimenting to find out what works for you. However, the following factors play a role in some way:

- the keywords you use
- how well you write
- how regularly you write
- how well you promote your writing/ how much (relevant) traffic you attract
- how much you enjoy what you're doing

It also helps to mingle within the Xomba community. I don't think this affects earnings, but it's not a bad thing to do.



My Plan is...

- to post more Xomblurbs than Xombytes. I've read that this can be a good strategy. Besides, I'm not overly enthused about writing articles anyway, so bookmarking is right up my alley.

- to recreate the bookmarks I have on StumbleUpon as Xomblurbs

- to post all the blogs I frequently visit as Xomblurbs

- to visit sites like Google Trends and Yahoo News to find out what's popular and create blurbs/bytes around them.

- to create blurbs/bytes around what interests me. For example, I like photography so I've started creating Xomblurbs that point to pics I like.

- to comment on other members' bytes/blurbs that I find interesting


I plan on creating 12-15 Xomblurbs and 1 Xombyte a week (possibly 2 – we'll see).


I'm just gonna play around and see how it goes.

Wish me luck.



Too-doo-loo...

Ebele.

Clixsense Update: Over $5 and Counting…

img credit

(read previous post here)


First things first, when I upgraded my membership on Clixsense last month ($10), I later found out my bank levied a 'debit card service charge' of £1.50 on top of that. I'm not sure if it was because of currency conversions or something (I'm in the UK). It's not much money in the grand scheme of things but I wasn't expecting it. When you add the $3 processing fee Clixsense charges per payout, it's just as well I upped my minimum payout on there to $20 rather than the default $10.

Anyway, so far I've made a total of $5.12 since I reactivated my Clixsense account early last month. I clicked through the initial mountain of around 270 ads I received when I first upgraded – took me about a week. Since I've gotten through those, I've been making b/w $0.00-$0.18 a day depending on whether I log on and how many times a day I log on. I've been getting a couple of 2 cent ads, I think I got a 3 or 4 cent one once, but most are worth 1 cent each.



For some reason, I'm not finding Clixsense as tiresome to use as I did with Neobux. But hey, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. You can't tell a cookie not to crumble in whichever messy configuration it chooses to crumble into. That would be cookie abuse. That would be wrong. You could go to jail for that. For a long time.

They don't serve cookies in prison, you know. Uh uh.


My Clixsense upgrade doesn't expire 'til September next year, but at some point I might actually forgo receiving a cheque from across the pond and just use anything I earn on there to buy advertising.

We'll see.


See ya,

Ebele, the Fart Fairy.

Does QuickRewards Network (Really) Pay?

Well that's what I, decked out in my replica Sherlock Holmes outfit, went to find out.


I joined QuickRewards Network last Monday (Oct 5th). I'd read about the site on several blogs before but I assumed it was only open to US residents. However, I later found out that it's open to US, UK and Canadian residents.


Excuse me, Ma'am, Ahem, You Haven't Actually Told Me What QuickRewards Network is About…

If you've ever used or heard about CashCrate or TreasureTrooper, then you're not too far off from knowing what QuickRewards Network is about. QR Network pays you for doing a number of things on their site such as visiting other websites, signing up to sites, doing paid surveys, printing coupons, answering trivia, etc. For doing that, you're either rewarded:

- with cash

- or with points (quickpoints) which are then converted to cash. For every 100 quickpoints you earn, it's automatically converted to a cent.

- and/or with token points which can be redeemed for prizes.


The big big difference with QuickRewards Network…

What I think the site reeeeally has going for it over several GPT sites is that there's no minimum payout (Paypal only, though). Whether you’ve made a cent, a dollar or 10 dollars, you can request a Paypal payment at any time and it's (apparently) usually with you within 12-48 hours. I say 'apparently' because as I'm new to the site, I can't personally vouch for that until I've experienced it myself. Will keep you posted.


Instead of a Paypal payment, you can choose to request a gift certificate. There are a number of certificates you can use at a variety of places such as Amazon and eBay (minimum $5 required in your QR account), and Footlocker and Borders (min $25 req'd in your acc).


How's the QR Network Going For Tiramisu'licious Me…

Well so far, I've made $0.94 and 526 token points. I achieved that by:

- subscribing to and receiving paid emails: Everyday I receive a handful of emails in my inbox with links to sites to visit (and browse or join). For visiting, I'm mostly rewarded with 25 quickpoints each time.

- completing the daily trivia (I log into Quick Rewards for this): I get 50 quickpoints for that when I answer it correctly. It's usually a multiple-choice question that’s fairly easy to answer. If not, a quick Google check helps.

- browsing the Daily Fun Clicks (I log into Quick Rewards for this): I only click on the ones I'm interested in (daily horoscope and daily recipes) and get a small reward every time I do.


I hardly complete offers as I only plan on signing up to sites I have an interest in. So far, I've only joined one site called IdealBite.com (about green living). I got $0.40 for signing up to it thru Quick Rewards.

I'm yet to qualify for any surveys and I've tried a number of them. I've therefore come to the conclusion that I hardly ever will. That's ok with me as there are other ways for me to earn.

Apart from the whole heap of surveys I don't seem to qualify for, all of the above have been pretty painless (and quick) for me to do which is cool.



Tam, Tam, Taaaaaaaaam: I've Just Requested Payout…

We'll see how it goes. Will update this post if/when I receive payment, aight?

Watch this space.


UPDATE: Payment Received...


That's less than 24 hours from when I requested it. Not bad at all.

It didn't incur a Paypal fee for me either.


So, yes, QuickRewards Network Does Pay...

And quite 'quick' too.

The more surveys you qualify for and the more offers you complete, the more money you'll make. So, I guess I could have made more money on there if I qualified for a survey now and again and if I wasn't selective about the offers I was willing to sign up to. However, as it stands, it looks like a pretty painless way to make a small amount of pocket change.

Having a no-minimum payout is one of QuickRewards Network's big strengths and I hope it stays that way. Sometimes, it can be very encouraging to receive a payment in ones Paypal account no matter how small it is, particularly for those just starting out in the make-money-online arena.


Too-doo-loo...

ebele.

IM Report Card: Bloody Hell, That Was Quick...

Ok, so yesterday I requested a payment from IM Report Card around noon and about 12 hours later, they paid up. I mean, I know they usually pay within 24 hours, but I wasn't expecting it THAT soon.


I'm gonna have to have a word with them for being too on the ball; they're just plain showing off which is sooooo uncalled for. Like, totally :-)

Next they'll be paying me BEFORE I request it!


Now If Ya Haven't Heard of IM Report Card Before...

It's THE site to visit if you want to find out if a well-known internet-marketing product, service, person or business opportunity is genuine or a scam. You can also read reviews about survey sites, traffic-exchange sites, hosting companies, paid-to-click sites and get-paid-to sites. As well as reading reviews written by the IM Report Card team, you're also encouraged to share your own experience of using any of the products, services, etc, they've reviewed (you get paid up to $1.50 when you do that). You can get paid in various other ways, but I won't go into it in this post as I've written about the site in much detail in a previous post.


I'm still enjoying IM Report Card since I joined in August. With my restless spirit, they must be doing something right. ;-)

September Earnings...

I'm gonna get straight to it. I made $134.42. I believe my low earnings reflect my on-off relationship with my main income source: freelance writing (which has never been a particular passion of mine). I've come to a point where I need to make a decision – either stick with freelance writing, embrace it and make it work for me - or stop doing it completely.

Earnings Breakdown...

Freelance writing - $48.00

IM Report Card - $31.55: Still think this is a great information resource and a cool money earner.

Earnawad - £15.00 ($24.85): cashback site.

Proofreading - $10.45: I don't get enough of these, but I love doing them.

Ciao Surveys - £6.00 ($9.85): Took me incredibly long to cash out on this one, so I won't be continuing.

Pinecone Research - £3.00 ($4.86): I thought Pinecone had forgotten about me as I didn't get any surveys in August, so it's cool I got one.

gfk (WISAD) - £2.00 ($3.23): This is a survey site. Each month, I complete one survey and qualify for a prize draw. I won two £1 shopping vouchers last month.

Neobux - $1.63: I'm not using Neobux anymore and I don't miss it one bit, but this is the profit I made from the $5.00 I invested (cashed out $6.63 in total).

Total – $134.42



I definitely need to pull my finger out this month. Less thinking, more doing, methinks.


Have a productive month, people.

ebele.