Money Tree 4 Moms

As the economy continues its downward slide, I hear from more and more people who feel they have absolutely nowhere to turn to meet their financial needs. They’ve lost jobs, had unexpected medical expenses, their homes are in foreclosure, or they are facing some other dire financial circumstances and can’t find an answer no matter where they look.

If you find yourself in a situation where you feel you have no solution to your financial problems, I would like to offer you some hope. A few months ago, a friend of mine started a site called My-Friend-In-Need. It’s a web site where people who need moneycan publish a page detailing their problems and request donations anonymously via their PayPal account.

Yes, we’ve all seen the tacky cyber-begging sites that are cropping up all over the Internet, but this one is truly trying to be different. It’s a clean, well-designed site that has a goal of treating all its visitors with kindness and respect. After it launched, my friend started to hear from so many people, that she added a blog to the site so she could publish some of the testimonials she received — from both givers and receivers. She’s also trying to post links to any publicity they receive, and hints to help people create an appeal that will touch hearts and inspire folks to help.

In order to help cover the costs of developing and hosting the web site, there is a small charge to post your donation request. However, my friend is doing her best to help publicize the site to attract as many donors as possible, and she also offers hints people can use to increase traffic to their individual donation pages.

If you have a crushing financial need, and the other money-making techniques I offer on this site aren’t for you, please at least pay a visit to My-Friend-In-Need and see if it can help.

I recently heard from one of my readers about another paid online survey site that she’s had success with: Paid Surveys at Home. I must say, I’m impressed with their web site. It’s simple, and not overloaded with half-baked hype like many other work-at-home sites.

The payment amounts it lists are completely realistic — for example, $5 to $75 per survey. I’ve signed up with them, and again found opportunities that were not listed with any of the other paid survey sites I use. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on how they work for me, but at the moment I see no reason not to recommend Paid Surveys at Home!

With all the over-marketed hype in the Internet marketing world, I’m quickly becoming a true believer in Chris Rempel. If you didn’t read my previous post on Looking for your next step in Affiliate Marketing, Chris is the plainspoken, down-to-earth creator of Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate, and he has published several other courses and reports to help affiliate marketers turn a profit quickly and efficiently.

The Conduit Method definitely does not disappoint. It is short on fluff, long on facts, and it gives you a strategy that’s easy to follow, complete with real-world examples. I’ve seen it compared to a couple of other reports that sell for more than twice the price Chris is asking for the Conduit Method, so at $14.95 you are getting a real bang for your buck.

In short, without giving too much away, this report teaches a system based on the fact that most people who are looking to buy a product online already know exactly what they want. It teaches you how to leverage the efforts that have already been made by others (the product’s creator and other affiliates) for substantial profits.

I highly recommend Chris Rempel’s Conduit Method for affiliate marketers who have a bit of experience under their belts. It will help you take your earnings to a whole new level.

Now that you are looking online for ways to make money, you’re bound to run across hundreds, if not thousands, of “get-rich-quick” or “easy money” schemes that not only won’t work for you, they will rob you of your time and hard-earned cash. So every now and then I will risk the wrath of the Marketing Gurus and “name names” on some scams that I find particularly offensive. Ready? Here are the first two:

• Maverick Money Makers Club (Mack Michaels)
  The web site for MMM states that the system was “developed by millionaires” and it’s been “proven to generate at least $354.97 per day.” It claims to be “the most effective step-by-step money making system in existence,” and that it’s been “seen on” CNBC, CNN, Fox News, Small Business Opportunities, CBS News, and Reader’s Digest. Your first warning sign should be that searching on the web sites for any of these publications and media outlets brings up absolutely nothing for either “Maverick Money Makers” or “Mack Michaels.”It is nearly impossible to turn up any unbiased information for this program, because a web search brings up thousands of pages, reviews, and articles published by MMM members, all trying to sell you the program and earn a commission for themselves. As best I can tell, the entire program consists of signing up to re-sell programs for Mack Michaels (if that’s really his name… more on that in a bit), in order to earn themselves an affiliate commission. Oh yeah, Mr. Michaels will also charge you $97/month for the privilege of belonging to his “club.”

  Finally, it seems that “Mack Michaels” has been known in the past as “Chris Luck,” “Chris Cavalli,” and “Chris Clayton.” Before MMM appeared on the scene, Chris Luck was running a suspiciously similar program on the now-defunct site IncomeGreed.com.

  My best advice to you is to run screaming in the other direction from Mack Michaels and his Maverick Money Makers.

• Pay-to-Click (PTC) Programs
  This is not a single program, but an entire class of schemes that you should completely avoid. Briefly, PTC programs show you links to advertisements which you are required to view (or leave up on your screen) for a specified period of time, usually about 30 seconds. You are paid about $0.01 (yes, one cent) for each ad you view, and you are only allowed to perform a very small number of these each day, usually 3-10.So, what is the appeal of a program where you can earn $0.03-$0.10 (three to ten cents) daily? Well, the real money supposedly lies in referring other people to click on links. Most programs allow you to recruit your own referrals, and they also offer you the opportunity to buy them. If you take the time to apply some math skills and realistic assumptions, you will see that these programs simply are not the “investment” they claim to be. Worse, they tend to be very short-lived, since the owner of the system stays in business long enough to collect your money, but closes down when it’s time to actually start paying out. If you are still considering participating on a PTC scheme, please read the following article: Getting Paid to Surf? One Person’s Alarming Story.

OK, so maybe you’re not a total newbie to affiliate marketing, and you’re looking for a new approach to try. Or maybe you really have conquered Newbie Campus and are ready to take your next step. I have something really unique to recommend.

If you’ve spent any time at all researching affiliate marketing programs, you will immediately see that Chris Rempel is genuinely a breath of fresh air in the Internet marketing community. When you visit his Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate web site, the first thing you will notice is the length of his landing page… it’s short!  But better than that, it’s honest, to the point, and not filled with the usual sales hype.

Instead, he very simply provides a screen-shot showing a few weeks of his Clickbank income, gives a quick overview of his system, and invites you to receive a video if you are interested in more details. When you go ahead and register on the site to view the video, you are presented with great information in the most straightforward, down-to-earth video I’ve ever seen in the Internet marketing world.

Truly, Chris Rempel and his Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate program are refreshing, legitimate, and unquestionably the best thing I’ve seen in affiliate marketing in quite some time. Obviously, I highly recommend you take the time to check it out!

So, I’ve heard from some of you who obtained the Newbie Campus program, and you’re almost all asking the same question… “Now what?”

Please don’t take offense when I say that one week is definitely not enough time to to complete Newbie Campus and implement all you have learned. Affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme (even though some programs would want you to think it is), and any techniques you use take a bit of time to generate traffic and results. And those of you who have already seen some sales, congratulations! That’s awesome!

Now just because you’ve gotten your feet wet, applied some successful techniques and obtained some favorable results, it does not mean that you need to run out and get the next great money-making scheme and put that to work! In fact, that’s probably the most costly mistake that new affiliate marketers make — trying one program after another, without fully committing enough time and effort to be profitable at anything. There’s a saying that you may see if you hang out on any affiliate marketing forums, “Lather, rinse, and repeat.” (Yes, they blatantly stole it from your favorite shampoo bottle!) But what they mean is, if you’ve found something that works for you, do it again!

Choose a different product to promote, select a different advertising method, research a few new keywords, and duplicate your initial success. By doing that, you will have your first campaign working for you while you start up something new and increase your daily/weekly/monthly earnings. When you’re learning something new, doing it for the first time is always the most time-consuming, demanding part. Once you’ve completed it, you will expend much less time and energy doing it again, and you will also become better at it!

So, once you’ve found some affiliate marketing success, be sure to “lather, rinse, and repeat” before moving on to something new!

In my previous post, I discussed affiliate marketing, and how it has been a steady money-making strategy for me. Today, if you are interested, I’d like to introduce you to a way to get started as an affiliate marketer.

Let me start by saying there are simply hundreds of programs available that claim to offer the secrets to riches and wealth through affiliate marketing. Many of them do offer valuable, workable techniques that you can use to generate some level of income online. However, if you are completely new to this way of making money, the vast majority of these schemes will leave you confused and unhappy, wondering where your time and money went.

Newbie Campus is absolutely the best program I’ve ever seen for someone who is a beginner in the area of affiliate marketing. Unlike many other affiliate training programs, Newbie Campus doesn’t pretend to be a “get-rich-quick” scheme. Instead, it offers realistic expectations and proven techniques for how to go about earning an income online. It’s curriculum includes over 30 training videos that provide step-by-step instructions that walk you through exactly how to get up and running quickly. Furthermore, Shauna Barton, the creator of the course, offers to personally provide support to help you along your way to success.

When I got started in affiliate marketing, I spent weeks researching how it worked and the best methods to use to make an income on a limited budget. Honestly, if Newbie Campus had been available to me, it would have literally saved me several months of wasted effort and put me on a much faster track to making a substantial contribution to my family’s income.

Now, I will admit, when you first check out the Newbie Campus web site, it’s pretty over the top… a really long page of copy, lots of big red headlines… but once you get past that and into the actual program, there is an abundance of valuable, practical information that will give you an excellent understanding of the affiliate marketing process and put you on your way to earning a very respectable online income. She’s so sure that you will be able to put her plan into action that she offers an 8 week money-back guarantee.

So if you are a new to the idea and process of affiliate marketing, I highly recommend Newbie Campus. Give it a try, and be sure to let me know how it works for you!

One of the ways  I am able to most successfully make money from home is through a process known as “affiliate marketing.” Affiliate marketing is a sales/advertising strategy in which a vendor rewards an affiliate for each customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts. Let me try to provide a more concrete example…

If I am an affiliate for Amazon.com, I can earn a commission by sending a customer to the Amazon web site to make a purchase. How would I do that? Let’s say I recently bought a blu-ray player for my family. Prior to buying it, I did a LOT of research, trying to find a model with the features I wanted, for a price I was willing to pay. Consequently, I now am something of a blu-ray expert. So, I write an article for one of the online article sites (EzineArticles.com, SearchWarp.com, GoArticles.com, to name just a few), sharing my newfound knowledge, and add a few affiliate links to the Amazon web site for the blu-ray models I liked best. The affiliate links contain a code that will let Amazon.com know that the customer was sent to their site by me. Then, when the customer makes a purchase from Amazon, I am rewarded with a commission — a percentage of the sale.

That’s a pretty simplistic explanation, as there are many ways to increase the amount of traffic that will use your affiliate links and therefore increase your sales, but at a high level, that’s what affiliate marketing is all about. It can be a very profitable way to make money online, from home, on your own schedule. Many, many affiliate marketers make yearly incomes over six figures, and I’ve met some of them personally. As for me, with my family obligations, I can’t devote the time it would take to make that kind of money, but I do enjoy a steady income from the affiliate marketing work I’ve done.

So, I’m creating a new category on MoneyTree4Moms to talk about affiliate marketing, how it’s contributed to my success, and my recommendations for ways to get started if you are interested in finding out more about this method of earning money from home. I’ll admit that it’s not for everyone, but if you are willing to spend a bit of time learning about it and experimenting a bit, you may find that it’s a very fun and lucrative way to earn an income.

Another way that I make money is by taking Mystery Shopping assignments. Mystery shopping obviously must be done during business hours, and therefore can’t be fit into my schedule whenever I have a bit of free time like paid online surveys can. Because of this, I don’t use it as often as I do paid surveys, but it has still proven to be a very profitable choice for our family.

Mystery shopping is a unique type of market research. Mystery shoppers are given an assignment to visit a store, mall, or shopping center, dine at a restaurant, or watch a movie. They then complete a questionnaire based on their experience as a customer. Mystery shoppers earn money while visiting their favorite stores, eating at great restaurants, going to their local theater, or even playing a round of golf!

Similar to paid online surveys, there are membership web sites you can join that will help you find and successfully complete your mystery shopping assignments. Again, if you would like the best opportunity to choose shopping assignments that best fit your preferences, it is beneficial to join more than one site, as this will give you access to the greatest variety of job openings.

Here are some of the mystery shopping membership sites that have worked well for me:

• Get Paid to Shop, Eat Out, or Watch Movies
  This is my favorite site to use to find mystery shopping assignments, and as a plus they also maintain a listing of paid survey opportunities! Resources are also available to help you learn more about mystery shopping and tips and techniques you can use to be more successful. All in all, this is a great company to work with!
• Want to Shop for a Living?
  This is another super site to use for finding mystery shopping jobs. They provide access to over 200 companies that are looking for secret shoppers, and their opportunities are updated on a daily basis. Several bonuses are also offered for signing up here, but I personally didn’t find them as useful as the ones offered at some of the other sites. However, this is still one of my favorite sites, and I can always find jobs in my area and that fit my timeframe.
• Get Paid to Shop and Eat!
  This is one of the first sites to provide access to mystery shopper information and because of their many years of experience it remains among the best out there. One of the bonuses they offer for joining is a report that will tell you how you can earn extra money by attaching advertising decals to your car. This was a money-making opportunity that I had never heard of before, and I now earn about $200 each month by doing this!
• Access to Hundreds of Paid Survey and Mystery Shopping Opportunities
  This is another site that offers access to both mystery shopping and paid survey opportunities. One of the things that is unique about this one is that they offer an online forum where you can exchange thoughts and get helpful hints from other members. This is a great resource, especially for someone who is just getting started mystery shopping!

One of the most common questions I’ve gotten from people trying to make money online is whether you can really make money by doing online surveys. For me, the answer to this has been unequivocally “Yes!” However, in order to get the best results, a little research is required.

Paid online surveys are actually one of the most reliable ways I’ve found to make money online, and it fits perfectly into my lifestyle. If I have a whole morning available while my kids are in school, I will complete a longer, more time-consuming survey (that will also pay quite well). If I only have a few minutes before I need to start dinner, I can choose a shorter survey, and still earn $5-$10 in twenty minutes or less.

In the past 2-3 years, the number of online survey sites has simply exploded, to the point where you need to be very cautious about where you sign up. Some sites are free to join, and some charge a membership fee. I’ve tried virtually all of them and, truthfully, I’ve found that the old adage about “getting what you pay for” is very true when it comes to these online survey sites.

You see, the sites you join are not actually the ones conducting the surveys. These membership sites provide information about different surveys and market research opportunities that are available for you to participate in. They provide a service to you by organizing the details on hundreds of companies that will reward you for sharing your thoughts and opinions. In my experience, the sites that charge a fee to join are much better organized, their information is more accurate, and they offer better opportunities than the free sites. And I would much rather spend my precious time actually filling out surveys and earning money than I would tracking down all the online research opportunities myself, or worse yet, wasting time with inaccurate information and broken links on the free sites.

So if online surveys sound like an opportunity you’d like to pursue, how do you know where to begin? Below I’ve listed my favorite paid survey sites. You may wish to start slow and try out one of two of them, but I’ve found it advantageous to sign up with a handful of different sites. They all have certain listings that are unique just to them, and investing in the one-time membership fee at each site has given me the most flexibility to choose the surveys that work best for me.

• Work from Home by Typing Online
  These folks do all the work for you. Rather than getting scammed, the site administrator researches a large number of companies and then compiles a large list that is available to all members. Simply join as many as possible, complete their surveys, and watch the checks roll in. I highly recommend this company… I believe they are the best, most reputable survey company online!
• Unlimited Access to Hundreds of Paid Survey Companies!
  Much like the previous company, these people research the companies they work with. Their database is continually updated in order to give its members the most current information available in order to maximize your profits. This is another awesome company to work with.
• Make Money Taking Online Surveys
  This is another organization that thoroughly researches the companies they work with and only works with reliable, reputable firms. They also pride themselves in protecting your privacy, and will only work with companies that will keep your personal information (name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, etc.) strictly confidential. Another business that I highly recommend!

And now, for those of you who really don’t want to pay anything to get started, I have two recommendations for you.

• American Consumer Opinion Surveys
  This is a very reputable company. They do not keep an online database of opportunities — instead you provide demographic information when you register, and every now and then they will send you a “screener” survey (a short questionnaire) to see if you qualify to participate in the full survey. Rewards are always paid via check, and they range in value from $4 to $50, depending on the length of time it takes to complete the survey. Since they offer you a chance to participate so infrequently, you will not make much money doing this. However, I’ve found them very pleasant to work with, and they have no minimum payment amount, so they mail you a check very quickly for each survey you complete.
• CashCrate
  I have mixed feelings about this one, and I don’t use it very often. However, I know some people have been very successful making money through CashCrate, so I’ve included it here. I found that the payment for most surveys is very minimal — generally fifty cents to a dollar — and you need to get a little “tricky” to actually get credited for the surveys you complete. For example, they recommend techniques like using several different e-mail addresses and clearing your cookies after every survey, but even following all their hints, I still found that I was only successfully paid for about 20% of the surveys I completed. But give it a try if you are interested… as they say, your mileage may vary!