Choosing a good Paid to Read (PTR) site.
How do you choose a good PTR site and avoid falling victim of a scam site? Before you join any PTR program always do the research.
1 Do not join many programs in a haste to make more money.
Many beginners think, if they join more programs they will make more. This is not necessary the case. Be aware that there are a lot of non paying scams on the internet.
2 Avoid sites promising a lot of money per email.
Do not be mislead by the sites offering tens and hundreds of dollars per each email. I don’t know any paid to read site to date that would promise unbelievably high values per each email and pay its members. I can confidently say all those are scams! I have looked at hundreds of PTR sites, and been a member of over one hundred programs. I can state with confidence, the most you will get paid is about 10 cents per e-mail. If you know of a program that in fact does pays more, please do let me know.
3 Analyze advertising prices on the site.
Most paid to read sites have advertising prices available on the separate page to view for everyone, but not all. Using simple math you can find out, if the ad prices are sustainable. For example, if it costs $1 to send 1 cent email to 1000 users (every user gets paid 1cent for reading it) the ad prices are not sustainable. It will cost $10 the owner to send 1000 emails with a loss of $9. The site wouldn’t make any money.
Ad prices will give you another important clue. Sometimes, sites don’t list on the home page the amount paid per each email read by members. You will know how much members get paid for reading certain types of email on advertising page. If you are seriously considering joining a site, and its pay per email is too low for you, then there is no need to waste time to join.
4 Do not be easily impressed by “just lunched” programs.
While it is not known if a program will turn out to be an honest one, it is very hard to predict its future. If you hear people praising new program as one of the best, be suspicious and ready to be disappointed.
5 Do take recommendations from others.
It never hurts to ask friends or members on GPForum or Advertise4less and other boards about a certain program. You may take a note of a person who told you about the program that turned out to be good.
But be warned here as well. You may join a program and find out it is not very good. Sometimes people market programs because they have friends who run them, it doesn’t mean programs you told about are good. What's more, often members try to get as many referrals as possible or win a referral contest for a prize at any costs. Overall, if a lot of different people praise the program the probability of it being good is very high. You will be on a right track to joining a good site.
6 Check who is the owner.
The business is only good as its owner(s). The owner(s) is/are the key to what kind of business conduct you can expect, and a sign of the program’s reliability. You can check on Whois to see who owns a particular site.
7 Consider joining paid to read programs from owners with proven paying record.
If you know a webmaster who owns a PTR site that pays, you can be sure that you will get paid, if you join a new program opened by this webmaster. Some program owners run several sites, and it is not rare to hear honest webmasters start new PTR sites.
8 Look in Black Lists
Sites such as "PTR Police" and "Been paid" have lists of programs with various problems: Those lists include approved and banned paid to read programs. They will give you an idea if a site you are looking to join was noticed in unethical business conduct, has poor communication with its members or other problems. You will be glad you checked these lists before you joined a program.
9 Always check Terms and Conditions
Read Terms and Conditions page and keep track of it, if you do decide to join. Sometimes change in payout or members responsibilities can indicate problems to come.
10 Check my list of established paying programs
To check out my list of TOP paying programs with the highest values per email go to Paid to Programs page.
Of course there is no way to ensure that even good, honest programs will stay clean and honest. Sometimes, ownership changes hands and things go downhill. Some program owners do not even let their members know when and if the site is being sold. For whatever reasons those program owners do not disclose this information, but the only ones who suffer in the end are the affiliates. I have been a member of some sites that have been sold to rookie owners and the sites that have been sold to even known dishonest owners. The end result has been the same – affiliates did not get paid. This is not always the case, and change of ownership doesn’t warrant problems will come, but it is a big enough change to take into consideration.
Pay attention to any updates from a paid to read website owner and read his/her emails to know what’s going on with the site. This may help you avoid staying in a program that may turn into a non payer.
Hopefully this guide will put you on the right track to join a good site.
I always strive to provide valuable and objective information. Feel free to send any suggestions or comments about this guide using the Contact form.
