Triviala, I Could Kiss You :-)

I won another £15 at Triviala! My 5th this year. Total of £75 so far this year for doing something that's fun (playing games) and doesn't take much of my time.

The timing's cool as I haven't been too happy with my online income this month (not that I'm getting my Triviala payment this month, though. I get it next month, but still...)


Earning is nice, but there's something about winning something that's way sweeter :-)

Proof of winnings...

[click image for larger version]

To learn more about Triviala, read my review about it.


Ebele.

Clixsense Update...

(Clixsense pays you to view ads – on average, 1-2 cents per view though it can sometimes be more. Two membership levels: Standard (free) & Premium ($10 a year). Min payout: $10. Pays via cheque or AlertPay.)


I upgraded my Clixsense account yesterday. Why?

Because my imaginary friend told me to.

And I always listen to my imaginary friend.

Always.

We're married, you know? But when I show people the marriage certificate, they pretend they can't see it.

This hurts me deeply.

The whole world's gone mad if you ask me.

Anyway, so I upgraded my Clixsense account to premium again. Couple of (other) reasons why:

REASON 1: Upgrade equals more ads. The amount of initial ads you get when you upgrade depends on your location and profile. I'm in the UK so I've been given 461 ads (worth $4.61) to start with. Last year when I upgraded, I got an initial 270 ads, so 461's a significant improvement.  /// Going on my past upgrade experience, after you've clicked on all the ads, you don't get the same amount of ads to click on. So, for e.g., I'm not gonna get another batch of 461 ads. Rather, I'll get a smaller amount throughout the day, everyday. Last year, I got up to 18 ads a day, plus a one-off 100-200 ads. Not what I expected, but it was still better than the amount of ads I'd get if I was a standard member.

(click image to view larger version)

REASON 2: the upgrade lasts a year which gives me more than enough time to hopefully breakeven and move into profit (especially as I don't plan on using any of my Clixsense balance to buy advertising, which is what I used to do).

(click image to view larger version)

REASON 3: Clixsense now pays via AlertPay. They used to pay via cheque only, which wasn't a problem for me as sites have sent me cheques and vouchers in the post before. However, the problem I had was that Clixsense charged $3.00 for cheques to be sent out. I mean, you did/do have the option to change your minimum payout from $10 to $20, $50 and so on to cushion the blow of a $3 charge, but $3 still seemed a bit much.

The fact that there is now an option to receive your money via AlertPay is great. Plus, there's only a 50 cent fee on that. I'm more encouraged to aim for a payout.


REASON 4: Clixsense has a good referral program that I've never really taken advantage of. Wanna see if I can change that. The program extends to standard members, but has more benefits with a premium upgrade.



Cost of an Upgrade:

The premium upgrade is $10 a year. OK with me. I don't like the extra £1.50 bank charge I'm probably gonna get for using my debit card to pay, though. Got that the last time, so I don't see it changing this time round. I might change my minimum payout on Clixsense to $20 because of that. I'll decide when I reach $10.

Potential Clixsense Earnings: Doing the (very rough) Math...

Well, before I did the recent upgrade, I was at $3.08. The upgrade's given me $4.61 worth of ads. Once I get through those, I don't expect I'll get as many, but it'll still be more than if I was a standard member.

So, $3.08 + $4.61 = $7.69

When I upgraded last year, after I got through the initial 270 ads, I was getting up to 18 cents a day.

So let's say $7.69 + (10 cents a day x 365 days) (**I'm being very prudent here which is why I've done 10 cents instead of 18) = $44.19


Also, there was a time when, several months afterwards, a large batch of ads was added (like 100 or 200):

So, $44.19 + $1.00 (100 ads – again, being prudent) = $45.19

There's more to Clixsense's referral program, but basically it's $0.01 or $0.10 per referred member (depending on if you're standard or premium) and $2.00 per member who goes on to upgrade.

Let's say I really suck at referring people, that I suck so much that a couple of people join through my referral link out of pity:

So, $45.19 + 50 cents (5 referrals) = $45.69

...then, the Tooth Fairy threatens a few of them to upgrade:

So, $45.69 + $4.00 (2 upgrades) = $49.69 total potential Clixsense earnings for the year.

Not much, but not bad on a $10 investment. I don't know how many more ads I'm actually gonna get, or how many referrals, so I could potentially make more than I'm guestimating. Or possibly less. Who knows?



Anyhoo, we'll see how it goes. Not gonna spend too much time on the site. An initial 5-10 minutes a day; then once I've gone through all 461 ads, I won't need to spend up to that.



Too-doo-loo...

MissEb.

[img credit: migraine chick]

ToneADay Tips...

For those that don't know what ToneADay's about, it's basically a site that pays you to rate the emotional content of a preselected group of words. (for more info, read my ToneADay review)


For the past couple of weeks, the following has been a common trend on ToneADay:

When you go to rate words, you get a message that more words are being fetched, to be patient, to come back in a few minutes or later.

Several times, it really has been more 'later' than 'a few minutes'.


I wouldn't recommend that anyone rely on ToneADay for a significant (or only) source of income; ToneADay has said as much in their forums, and I totally agree. However, if you want to make the most of ToneADay, I have the following tips:

- log into the site and leave the window open for the duration of the time in which you're online. If there are no words to rate, refresh the window every 15 minutes or so until (hopefully) words become available.

- when words become available, do what you can while you can

- even though there's no telling when the current words you are rating will become unavailable, don't rush through them. Do what you can, but take your time rating them. I try and spend 10-30 secs rating each word. If you rush it, there's a chance ToneADay will not pay you and all the work you put in would have gone to waste.


If you're using ToneADay and can offer additional tips, that'd be grand.


My ToneADay Earnings...

I've been paid $18.66 to date (1st payment of $1.79 in Aug; 2nd payment: $16.87 in Sept). Proof below:

(click image to view larger version /// p.s.: ToneADay's owned by Lymbix - hence the name in the proof of payment)

I'm approaching the $7 mark in current unpaid earnings. Going by how unpredictable word availability has been on ToneADay, there's no telling how much further my earnings there will creep up. However, as long as my ratings get approved upon verification by the staff, then I'm good with whatever I make.


MissEb.

Not Doing Too Good This Month. Houston, Do You Copy?

img credit: just taken pics

I've made $87.00 online so far this month. Not bad for a small bill or two, but if I'm looking to hit $500 by the end of the month, then I'm not doing terribly well. At this rate, I need to be making at least $22.94 a day for the rest of the month to hit that target.

Writing...

I haven't done any freelance writing this month and there's a part of me that's relieved about that. I only have the one client because that's as much as my senses can take. Crazy about my client, but while he's thinking about the next batch of titles, I'm enjoying the hiatus.

I packed in freelance writing at the end of last year, moved on from that one client; he was cool about it. In May this year, I revived my working relationship with him 'cos I missed writing for him – missed the freedom of expression I had. The money wasn't bad, either.

However, the excitement has settled and the feeling of dread I used to experience has since returned, the "I'm not looking forward to writing this piece" feeling, the "let me do the vacuuming, the washing, the cooking, call Obama, ask him and Michelle how they're doing" feeling.

It's not that the pieces are that hard to write. It's just that...oh, I don't know...

Maybe I'll never be able to get to the root of why freelance writing does what it does to my psyche, but I think it might be time to accept it for what it is and move on (once and for all).


Hmm. I see...

I've realised it's not really the writing that I missed with the client, but our working relationship. I mean, I've been working with him for a few years. /// If the writing's the problem, then I might ask him if he has any other projects I could work on that aren't writing related. He does work for a web agency, so there might be other online stuff I could do. Might be worth asking, but I feel I'm well and truly done with freelance writing. Blog commenting, fine. But not content writing. I'm done.

(Update: the world looks a lot different at 3.45 on a Monday afternoon. I'm not feeling quite as anti-freelance-GRRR-writing as I did several hours ago. My feelings about it at the time were and still are valid. // Still wanna move on from it once and for all towards the end of the year.)


$500 target, Mama's coming for yo' ass...

If I manage my time better (she says), stick to a schedule (which is SO unGemini of me), I think I can do it. I really do. Whether I actually will is another thing, but I wanna prove to myself (and my imaginary friend in the corner) that I can (yes I can, yes I can, can, can).

Oooh, I love brackets. Evidentally :-)


Wish me luck.

Will update on my progress.

E. / Over and out...

August 2010: Online Earnings...

Right, I'm gonna jump straight to it. I made $496.44 in August. Grateful for the money, but slightly frustrated it was a few dollars short of $500. I'm no longer aiming to make $1000 a month for now; need to go back to the drawing board. Actually, there wasn't a board to start with, or a marker, which was parto of the problemo.

Another part of the problem was...at the start of every month, things tend to look more achievable, don't they? So I thought, "hey, why not shoot for $1k this month?" I just sat there and plucked a nice round thousand outta my head like the frikkin tooth fairy was gonna tuck a wad of dollar bills under my pillow.

Anyway, August's earnings (breakdown):
(any figures in pounds means I was originally paid in that currency)

- Writing: $249.13 (blog writing - $230.64 ...and blog commenting - $18.49 (£11.87))

- CloudCrowd: $80.88 (paid to complete tasks) (read my CloudCrowd review)

- Research work: $47.75 (last pay from the research gig I packed in)

- ebay: $36.13 (£23.34) (still getting rid of stuff)

- Surveys: $27.82 (£17.73) (MySurvey UK - $11.67 (£7.50); Crowdology - $6.90 (£4.23); Pinecone Research - $4.63 (£3.00); LightSpeed Panel UK - $4.62 (£3.00))

- Proofreading: $24.24

- Triviala - $23.37 (£15.00) (games/trivia site) (read review)

- Swagbucks: $5.00 (paid to search, do polls, surveys, etc. To find out more about Swagbucks, read my review)

- ToneADay: $1.79 (read review)

- QuickRewards Network: $0.33 (GPT site) (read review)


TOTAL: $496.44



$500: a new obsession...

This is the second time I've been sooooo oooo oooo close to making $500/month this year. In June, it was $492.96. Because I've been so close, because it's eluded me TWICE, I can feel it becoming something of an obsession this month. Maybe that's the extra ingredient I need.


Here's to a kick-ass September (for you, too). Grrrrrr it.

Ebele.