Is Pay-To-Click A MoneyMaker?

I’ve been experimenting with three different pay-to-click programs - just to see what would happen. If you’re going to recommend a way to make money for people then it helps to have tried it yourself, right?

Now, why would I want to recommend pay-to-click? For several reasons.

1. No. 1, anything that builds up the Internet is a good thing. I want as many people as possible to be able to earn a living online, even if it’s a small part-time income. It legitimizes the Net as a business model.
2. Secondly, diversity. No use putting your eggs in one basket. If you can find multiple streams of income, that’s always better.
3. Thirdly, not everyone is suited to the same type of work. If I can find people who want to make money online and have tried other things they didn’t like but might try PTC and actually like it then I can be of service to more people.

So I decided to try a few pay-to-click programs to see what would happen. These are the three I enrolled in and the order in which I enrolled:

• Bux.to
• Neobux
• AdGains

The rest of this post will cover specific thoughts about each of these programs - the good, the bad, and the downright awful. First, Bux.to.

Bux.to
I signed up for Bux.to way back at the beginning of the summer. My goal was to reach the first minimum pay out before recommending or cautioning against the site for money-making purposes. Their minimum pay out is $10 and as a basic member you are limited to how many sites you can view in a day. The most I’ve ever been given is 18 or something like that. You only make 1 cent per view and you have to view each ad for 30 seconds. You can do the math and figure that you’ll make, like, 18 cents in 10-15 minutes.

The bright side is that you can do other things while doing this. Rather than sit and gawk at an ad for 30 seconds, I’ll maintain several open tabs and switch between them. That’s not to say I don’t look at the ads at all. I do notice them and have even visited a few a few of the advertisers’ websites.

Advertisers use PTC services like Bux.to because it’s cheap advertising. They are guaranteed 1,000 views for $19.95, which amounts to .019 cents per view. Since Bux.to pays 1 cent per view, they have a profit margin of just under 1 cent per view or $9.975 per ad spot. Seemingly a win-win-win, right?

Has Bux.to Made Me Money?
My experience with Bux.to has been positive for the most part. I’ve had no negative customer service experiences or major technical issues. It took me a while to earn $10 spending just a few minutes each day making pennies. But the real benefit to these pay to click opportunities is not in the value that you bring to your own clicks, but in your ability to recruit others to click for you. Bux.to pays 1 cent for every click by someone that you refer to their network so if you have 100 referrals and they each click 10 ads per day, that equals $10 per day plus what you make on your own clicks. You can also upgrade your membership and earn .0125 per click on your own efforts. Bux.to also sells referrals so you can shell out anywhere from $16.98 for 15 referrals to $459 for 500 referrals.

Assuming that each of your referrals only click a moderate amount, you could potentially earn your money back on the referrals you buy within a month. But since you don’t know if those members will click or not, it’s a little bit of a gamble. Nevertheless, I decided not to exercise any of those options until I knew I for sure that Bux.to would pay. Why risk time and effort earning thousands of dollars only to find that I can’t collect on the money? I chose instead to spend a minimal amount of time each day to reach the minimum pay out in order to test whether or not Bux.to pays. I requested payment for $10.01 on September 11. So far, I’ve not been paid. That, however, does not mean they won’t pay.

I’m continuing to click despite not having been paid. I am giving Bux.to some leeway here. Others have reported that Bux.to is slow on the pay and I thought I’d test them to see if they come through on $10. If they don’t pay on $10 then I wouldn’t expect them to pay on more.

On the payment history page at Bux.to, my status is listed as “Pending Audit”. I guess that means they have not even considered paying me yet. I have earned $3.76 in clicks since requesting payment. I do wonder how long it will be before I get paid from Bux.to. Other than the slow payment, I’ve had no negative experiences from this pay to click site. I leave whether to join in your own judgment of not. If you do decide to join, help me out by clicking here and becoming my referral.

Neobux
There are some positive differences between Neobux and Bux.to. First is the design of the website. Neobux is much prettier. But it does have some scalability issues. That is, I sometimes have trouble loading it and can’t make my clicks for the day, but that’s a minor issue. It doesn’t happen often.

Another issue is the site can sometimes load slowly. It does have considerable more code and the way that Neobux has you click on the sites it shows you requires more from the site itself. If you are working on a connection with very low bandwidth then know that you may have slow upload issues with Neobux.

Nevertheless there are some similarities between Neobux and Bux.to. Both have a standard, or basic, membership and both allow you to upgrade for a fee. The upgrade pays you more and you get more ads to click on. Each site shows you the ads for 30 seconds. If you don’t view the ads for 30 seconds then you won’t be paid on those ads. You can also only look at each ad once per day so no gaming the system. And both sites also have measures in place to keep ad clickers from setting up multiple accounts and using more than one computer on each IP address. Trying to game the sites will get your accounts dropped and you won’t be paid. Those are good measures that protect the sites as well as legitimate ad clickers and advertisers.

One other thing both sites have in common is they use AlertPay to make their payments to members with, not PayPal. I prefer PayPal, but as long as I get the money I earn I guess it doesn’t matter.

But it’s the differences between these two sites that are noteworthy. First, the pay out. Neobux pays on a minimum pay out of $2. I like that. It means I can test the site much more quickly. As of this writing I have earned $1.96. I should reach my $2 minimum pay out tomorrow and request my payment to see how soon they pay. If it goes well I’ll be recommending them.

Another big difference is on the referral setup. With Neobux, you can “rent” referrals. While I haven’t tried this yet, it seems to be a weaker point than Bux.to’s referral buying program. Renting implies that the referrals will only earn me money for a time then vanish. But you can only rent referrals from money you’ve earned, or add money to your account via AlertPay. And you can only rent referrals once every seven days. Neobux’s referral renting program allows you to rent as few as 3 referrals for .90 and as much as 100 referrals for $30. I like that much better. It just seems more reasonable than shelling out almost $500 for referrals to a site that pays as slow as Bux.to does.

One more difference between Bux.to and Neobux is that as a standard member of Neobux the most ads I’ve been shown in one day is 8. That’s fewer than the fewest number I’ve been shown at Bux.to. So there’s a positive for Bux.to.

Neobux also gives you opportunities to win money through jackpots and “megajackpots”. These are lottery style drawings that allow you to buy “tickets” for a few cents each for a chance to win hundreds. I’ve never seen the wisdom in gambling so it’s not something I’m interested in and likely will never participate in, but if you like gambling then there’s another plus for you from Neobux.

If Neobux interests you then give it a try by clicking here.

Adsgain
Adsgain is easy. I started out liking it. They had a $5 minimum payout and a cool design. A little over a week ago I started having access problems and couldn’t get to the site any more. Now, when I type the URL into my browser window I am redirected to a page that shows it up for sale. Bummer. I’m not interested in buying it. I’ve also lost the $2 or so that I’ve earned from it. Oh well!

What About Advertising On PTC Sites?
Should you advertise with pay to click sites? The rates seem reasonable, don’t they?

First, understand that pay to click advertising is untargeted advertising. That’s why it’s so cheap.

If you have a product or service that might appeal to anyone anywhere without a demographic that makes for a strong target market then pay-to-click might work for you, but I doubt it. It is always best to engage in targeted marketing. Always.

For instance, let’s say you offer a “blue widget” and you know there is high demand for blue widgets in every household on the planet. No specific target market rules. If you build a website optimized for the key term “blue widget” and spend $500 a month on pay per click advertising focused on keywords related to “blue widget”, set up a blog devoted to blue widgets and engage in article marketing where you discuss the benefits and many variations of blue widgets, you’ll do a lot better spending $1,000 a month on your advertising efforts than you’ll do spending $20 per month with untargeted pay-to-click advertising. Targeted advertising works. Untargeted advertising can sometimes work, but it’s a shot in the dark.

The above-mentioned $1,000 is a hypothetical number. The real number depends on your market. What is the price of each unit? How many leads do you need to go through to close a sale? What is the cost of acquisition per lead? What is your realized revenue per product unit? These are all important questions when it comes to judging ROI. You’ll have to base your advertising budget on realistic numbers.

I’d say the best use of untargeted marketing like pay-to-click is as an augmentation to your targeted marketing if you have the budget for it. In other words, don’t deplete your advertising budget on pay-to-click advertising. Spend your money on more proven targeted marketing efforts and if you have a little left over for experimenting, testing, and trying new things AND you don’t target a specific niche market then you can try it. Otherwise, pass it by.

Who Am I Anyways?
I hope this information helps you get a better handle on the pay to click “phenomenon”.

It really isn’t a phenomenon. These sites are popping up all over the place. But that doesn’t mean they are good. My guess is they are better for the companies than the clickers or the advertisers, but I haven’t done it long enough to form a solid judgment. Take what you read here as advice from someone who’s been around the block once or twice. You’ll have to make your own decisions regarding your own business and individual situation. But go cautiously and if you are a small business owner new to the Internet looking for someone to show you the ropes, try a local Internet marketing guide you can trust.