False Promises of Online Prophets: Paid-to-Surf and Paid Surveys

This post is a rant.

I’ve got a lot of crap I want to get off my chest about online schemes to make money. This rant was inspired by a post I read at Cash Quests about making money with AGLOCO. This is just one of a long line of schemes meant to seduce the average surfer and aspiring webpreneur into wasting time and making other people money.

There are too many people who are looking for a quick buck, online and offline. I have been guilty of this myself, but over the past six months I’ve dedicated more and more time to projects with longer-term earning potential. One lesson I’ve learned is if you want to earn money online you need to be in it for the long haul.

But I didn’t always think this way.

I can’t even remember the names of them, but I participated in some of those paid-to-surf and paid survey programs a few years ago. Let me tell you that if you want to earn at most a few dollars for a few hours of work, knock yourself out. Oh, and I never saw a penny out of them, although for one paid-to-surf program I could’ve used my measly $3 and some odd cents toward a purchase from their online store.

You know who loves paid-to-surf and paid survey programs? People who sell paid-to-surf and paid survey programs. 

AGLOCO is the same deal with a pyramid scheme angle. Unless you’ve got a huge network of referrals under your wing, you won’t be making any significant income. That adage, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t,” always applies to these schemes.

There is one “scheme” that I actually made some decent money with. It’s Amazon Mechanical Turk, or mturk for short.

I’m not sure how many of you participated in the mturk craze of late 2005, but I know plenty of people who made hundreds and a couple who made thousands working on mturk. I pulled in around $150 over a few days, limited only because I had exams. Because I had no US bank account I couldn’t cash it in, but I could use it to purchase things (like textbooks!) on Amazon. Its heyday is over now, and isn’t worth it unless you want to spend 20 minutes on a task that pays 35 cents.

AGLOCO is the same deal. Unless you’ve got a huge network of referrals under your wing, you won’t be making any significant income. The adage, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t,” always applies to these schemes.

Most of you reading already know this, as most of you reading this are participating in the 30 Day Challenge and have at least some idea about how difficult it is to make anything online. But many of you have also stumbled upon this blog with little experience and plenty of interest in this kind of business. I’m no “guru” but there are a few places you can go to get started.

Check out internet marketing forums such as the Warrior Forum and Digital Point. And while you’re at it, check out the 30 Day Challenge. From blogging to article marketing to pay-per-click arbitrage to eBay to review sites, you will see that there are zillions of legitimate ways to make a buck on the internet.

But hey, I just wanna make a few extra bucks.

Take it from someone who is already making “a few extra bucks.” Set your eyes on free online resources and stay the hell away from paid-to-surf programs and paid surveys. Actually, there’s a whole lot more you should stay away from, but I’ll get to those soon.

What’s the pitch? There is none. I just have some things to get off my chest.

Technorati Tags: Paid Surveys, Paid to Surf, AGLOCO, AllAdvantage, Mechanical Turk, MTurk, Sweatshops, Internet Marketing, Make Money Online, Prophets, Heresy, Rants, Make Money

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