I've recently stumbled upon a website called ProfitLance and I'm pretty positive that it's a scam, though I can't actually find a review that says that it is. I'm very curious about this site, albeit untrusting. Anyone heard of it?

I've seen lots of websites claiming you can make money through survey taking and advertising and doing other stuff online, but they all look like or are confirmed scams. What I'm wondering is: does anyone here have any experience or knowledge about any kind of internet thing that can actually make money and isn't a scam?

I know there isn't such a thing as a free lunch. I'm currently unemployed and nobody (when I say nobody I mean that starting next week I'm going to go around and apply at various fast food burger joints, as I've been to just about every other business in town) in my little town is hiring. Since I'm out of school for the summer, I'd be willing to put in serious time each day doing something online, surveys or whatever.

Write soulless articles for 20 dollars a pop. It won't last long, none of the places paying people can honestly be making money on this trash.

*cuts*

Did you end up going to music school this year? You should hit up local music schools as a guitar teacher. Those places will hire anybody if they're desperate enough, but you have an actual education.

The only thing that makes sense are the videos that get payed according to popularity. Advertising cost a lot of money, and @ 5 dollars per 1000 views, it sounds like a deal for sponsors.

Costs millions for commercials to go on tv, but for a video that is accesible to EVERYONE at ANY time of the day as long as the server is up, @ 5 dollars 1000 views, THATS DAMN CHEAP.

Say 1 million people see one video, with the ad in it, thats 5000 dollars, to show 1 million people an add. Thats really cheap.

Hey, I'm pleasantly surprised you remember me asking for advice with that. But yes. I sight read hundreds of charts; so much in fact that of the three pieces I was given to sight read, I had recently played two of them while going through a real book. My audition was in October, so I've really only had the spring semester for classes.

There's two music stores that I know of close by; one just hired somebody, and the other is owned by this guy named Matt Baynes. Apparently he used to be sponsored by washburn, and he teaches all the lessons while his girlfriend runs the store. I would try playing at bars, but I don't know anybody in my hometown that's any good and I'm not really a solo-acoustic kind of guy.

Oh yea, Gold- wasn't one of your plans to make a video like that for game reviews? How'd that go?

The standard market rate for a spot is about $5 per 1000 viewers with slight fluctuations based on the program and the market. It only ever costs "millions" for a national ad during the Superbowl.

If a website claims to pay $5 per 1000 views it is a scam. If they're being honest it means they're charging advertisers more money than a television station would, since you also have to subtract the site's upkeep and profits from the royalties they pay the content creators. There are some fairly detailed statistics that internet advertising has about 1/10th the impression of television advertising (which you can't easily avoid) so I sincerely doubt that they have a lot of clients if they do, in fact, pay the amounts they promise.

Sorry, SF_GoldG_01, I'm afraid you'll have to graduate high school and get a real job.

I was so shocked that this thread wasn't by SF_Gold

I think our measurement of internet ad impressions is poor. How effective are the ads pasted all over in big cities? The sheer volume, low quality, and invasive nature of internet advertising certainly would affect a statistical evaluation of internet marketing.

I think that maybe once more minor online advertising companies become more selective and start investing some marketing resources into their stuff, their effectiveness should improve. It just doesn't seem fair to compare a rather limited medium to a completely open one.

haha, well, I remember because it's one of the few things I'm actually qualified to talk about on the internets. You can make decent money teaching. It's not what I'd call full-time career money but it's good enough for part-time (around where I live the going rate is at least $20/hour). And you don't have to work a whole 9-5 day.

I'm not trying to push you into teaching or anything, it's not for everybody, but it's worth looking into if you're getting serious about music. If these places have a large enough waiting list they'll hire anybody who walks in the door.

edit - I mean, I've worked at McDonald's before. You can do better.

I think it's overly generous. When Google initially offered advertising services they fixed their prices well above the market rates of the time. I would argue that those prices were extravagantly high even given Google's unique service.

First off, you're ignoring the reality of advertising. Advertising is a symptom of a stagnating industry. When Tide and Cheer drop $450,000 to produce and air a national ad they're going to see quantifiable returns based on that investment, because their products are undifferentiated. The consumer's choice between Tide and Cheer is essentially random and a memorable ad will probably tip the balance.

For the most part viewing a conventional advertisement is passive. You have no control over your experience, and they normally advertise for products that don't really warrant significant conscious consideration. Like soap, laptops, garbage bags and cell phone plans. They're all really the same. If someone views an ad for one of these products, even passively, it will demonstrably affect their buying habits.

Internet ads focus less on the mundane and more on things that... well, let me give you an example: Microsoft pushes Visual Studio hard on Slashdot. How retarded is that? If you write software and you aren't a slovenly, disgusting neckbeard you already own it. Those ads aren't swaying anybody. If you're viewing an internet ad it's almost always for a new product from a young industry that is still strongly differentiated.

With that in mind: Yes, the ads pasted all over in big cities, on the radio, in movie theaters and on TV are effective because they either cannot be or are not avoided. For example, in most of the situations you cited you need to observe the ad to complete your desired action, like a billboard on your drive home or waiting for your show to return after a dramatic pause. In a lot of ways advertising breaks are a part of the narrative now.

Internet advertisements are, as you said, disruptive. Most people ignore them (if their browser doesn't automatically filter them), resulting in a sub-2% click rate per page impression on targeted ads. This is why internet advertisers don't pay money for views like they used to. Google doesn't even pay per click really: they penalize sites that have a higher number of advertising clicks but a fewer number of purchases than the mean.

I see. And how will these minor online advertising companies compete against Google's automatic generation of advertisements based on page content and ostensibly the interests of the people viewing those pages? How will these marketing resources improve upon the time-tested successes of animated targeted ads already posted to the 'Superbowls' of websites, like Slashdot and Penny Arcade?

Do you seriously think getting a professionally designed ad banner custom-tailored to an awful internet community would actually return enough revenue to pay for that ad banner's creation in the first place?

Still haven't started, cleaning up the storage shed that is being borrowed to us for filming. Plus, the owner still has brought the furniture in. We also got to do some fixing up, and add some light bulb sockets and other stuff in order to get the place to work right with the cameras.

I'd make fun of him but when you mix SF_GoldG_01 and basic home electrical it means a whole lot less SF_GoldG_01 around.

Proceed.

You need lights to film?

Oh.

I'm a member of a few survey sites. The only one that I can really remember getting returns from is American Consumer Opinion. In fact, I think I won their monthly prize draw once or twice and got a free £50. But the number of requests they send me has really slowed down lately.

I also do occasional surveys for pure profile and YouGov.

It would be pretty impossible I think to actually make any kind of living doing this stuff. If you look at the rewards and the time it takes to complete most surveys, the hourly rate is laughable. But as long as you do have another source of income, it's pretty nice to randomly get a £25 cheque in the post!

Oh, and I'd be pretty wary of ProfitLance. Can't find anything definitive, but any site offering that kind of return (and pretty much anywhere asking you for money) is bound to be a scam.

http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=21865

That was the thing; it had all the familiar symptoms of a scam, but I couldn't find a review of it that confirmed that it was. All the other kind of survey and adsense things I could find a definite answer on.

Anyway, I don't expect to be able to make a living off of this kind of stuff, I just need some cash while I keep searching for a real job.
maevie- you say that those 3 things are all reliable? I'll check them out.

There is a number of legitimate sites that pay for specialized articles.

yeah, those ones are all fine. I'm sure there are plenty more that would be worth checking out, but I've lost the motivation to keep looking! I just do the ones that I'm still sent, but I'm not proactive about it anymore

I did treasuretrooper for a while and got a few paychecks, but once you hit all the major ones it rapidly becomes not worth your time anymore.

Also, make a new email address for these things. The website makes ITS money by selling your email address... I accidentally used my gmail one and get 500+ spam emails a day now. (<3 spam filters)