Thursday, February 13, 2014

How To Tell If Your PTC Site Is Failing

Before I get into this subject I need to convey the number one rule about "paid to click" sites that pay you money for viewing ads and completing tasks.  That is, these kinds of websites are set up to generate money for their website owner(s), NOT for their members.  They use every trick in the book to get members to give back most of the money they earn and leave them just enough to keep their hopes up for earning a profit in the future (a good subject for a future post).  This is especially true for sites that rent referrals.  It is a game you must learn to play if you want to stay in it.  Beyond that, most of these sites just don't have good business plans and within a few months they will be out of business.  Even if you research a website before joining and it looks like a good one, there is still a very good chance that site won't last.  Below are some things to look out for that indicate things are not boding well for your PTC website.

Downtime - Every website needs to do maintenance and it is usually taken down for a few minutes to do so.  A good webmaster will warn it's members when this is going to happen.  If the site goes down for hours or even days at a time it is a good indicator that it is in trouble.  These sites use many servers and sometimes the site is taken down on a few of them while keeping it running on others. If you are unfortunate enough to be connected to the wrong server you are out of luck for that time period.  When you do get connected again and contact support they will make excuses (or deny that the site was down) and give you a list of things to try on your computer so that hopefully you will get the problem solved.  This is just a ploy and a waste of your time.  Don't fall for it.  Remember, if the site is down you don't earn from viewing ads, doing tasks or from referrals. Thus, the less they have to pay you.

Payment Delays - This is almost always blamed on a script error or even an error on your part.  These sites have even been known to delete your payment processor ID and then tell you to update it before you can be paid.  Then they will make you wait 48 or more hours as another delay tactic.  Always make sure that your payment processor ID is correct.  If it isn't, they are not responsible and your money will disappear into cyberspace never to be seen again.

Your referrals are not clicking or their habits have changed - This is a common tactic that occurs on a regular basis for almost all sites that rent referrals.  Now, I maintain that people generally don't change their habits on a wholesale basis.  Let's say that you have 30 referrals and they are clicking on ads everyday at a certain rate.  Then, all of a sudden one day they don't click at all or their clicks are drastically reduced.  Clicking variations do happen, but this just does not make sense.  There are at least two occasions when this happens.  First is when a website does not want to give you earnings for a particular day.  Obviously, they are not making payment obligations to their members and need to slow down earnings.  Second, is when a member is making too much money and again they need to slow them down.  In this case, it usually happens when a member upgrades.  For instance, when a member upgrades they usually get double earnings from their referrals.  So if a member is at break even as a free member, they might figure that as an upgraded member they will be making a nice profit.  Then when they upgrade, they find that their referrals are not clicking as much and now they are at break even or less  once again. In fact, a PTC site that uses this tactic can stay up and running for a long time (even years).

Not getting credited for tasks completed -  This happens far too often and when you complain, support will give you some kind of lip service.  They will claim to have no control over the situation and tell you to contact their partner site (the site that provided that task and is responsible for paying for it when completed) for a solution.  This is hogwash as good webmaster will work with their partners to make sure all is running well.

Other things can occur, but the above should be enough of an indication for you to put your valuable time elsewhere.  If you suspect even the slightest changes, go to the forum (if there is one) and check to see if other people are having the same problems that you are.  But, beware because forum moderators often delete or lock posts that want to discuss problems with their website.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Selling Online - Part I (Determining What is a Good Product)

If you are fortunate enough to have a product or service or access to products, you have a head start  on marketing them on the Internet.  If you don't have a product and you want to start an Internet marketing business, then you are going to have to do some work.  The type of product(s) you sell can have a big impact on whether or not you are going to be successful.  Companies like Amazon have huge selections of products.  So if some don't sell very well, they just make up for them with the ones that do.  As and independent marketer you don't have that luxury.  Therefore, you have to find products that are going to stand a good chance of appealing to the general public or a niche market.  In that regard, if you can find one good product that sells, you are far ahead of the game.  Good products for Internet marketing have certain characteristics.

They are products that -
Are small enough to be easily picked up - Unless you are going to have a product drop shipped it is advisable to go with smaller products.  Big and heavy products cost more to ship both in (if imported)  and out (not to mention any returns and storage).
Are specific, niche products - It is much better to find one niche product that sells rather than to sell a lot of products in a niche market.  Once you become successful, you can offer others.
Sell for between $10-200 - These price points allow you to have a workable profit margin while keeping start-up and overhead costs low. Furthermore, any markets that do have volumes under $10 are typically going to be run by big companies that can work on low margins.
Have a constant stream of buyers - Although you can make a lot of money selling fad products, you are going to be better off in the long run by selling products all year long and for the foreseeable future. Stay away from products that change often. You also don’t want to sell seasonal items, like Halloween Costumes or Christmas Ornaments.
Sell for twice as much as your buy price - Don't even look at a product with less than a 100% markup, which is a 50% margin.

Products to stay away from items that -
Are mechanical in nature and that demand high quality standards and warranties -This one should be self-explanatory. You definitely don’t want to be dealing with things like power tools and manufacturing machinery, as this is just a headache waiting to happen.
Are sold at big box stores - Selling products that are sold by the giant retailers is missing the point. You want to find a single deep-niche products with consistent buyers.  The idea is to undercut current selling prices and to reduce risk.
Are fragile and require perfect shipping practices - Selling products like this is a nightmare waiting to happen.
Have multiple “Power Sellers” already selling in large volume - Selling products that already have many  power sellers who sell thousands of units a month is not going to get you very far  You just won't be able to compete with them. Don’t let a little competition discourage you, but also don’t try to to compete with companies say on eBay that are selling 20,000 factory items direct every month.
Are trademarked  – If you are importing products, don’t buy anything with a trademark on it.  They are probably counterfeit and selling them won’t get you very far. In fact, you will be inviting a law suit.

Please note that there are always exceptions to everything.  For instance, if you are interested in affiliate marketing then you want to be playing with the big boys or selling products that sell well (more on this in a future post).

Finally. the right informational, subscription, and service type products can and do sell well on the Internet.  Obviously, your online business(s) can go in many directions.  The bottom line here is to keep looking, keep learning and keep trying different ideas.  It all takes time, but if you keep the above three things in mind you will eventually succeed.