« on: August 27, 2008, 04:55:18 AM »
Supporting Programs
Most of us belong to at least one PTR/PTC program and would like to see the programs we are in to become better, more user friendly and long lasting. Program owners do as much as possible to keep the programs going and to keep everything under control. But the program owners cannot make a program successful on their own. In order for a program to succeed, members and advertisers play a vital role.
So how can members help a PO to run a good, successful program? There are many things a member can do. A few of them are listed below.
1. Do not support unsustainable programs:
There are plenty of programs out there that offer $1, $2, $10, even $100, $200 for reading e-mails. These sites are scams, which means, they are designed on purpose by unscrupulous program owners to trick people into believing that they will get paid a lot of money to read a single mail, so that people will join it, purchase advertising and perhaps upgraded memberships as well. This way, they earn money from members and not pay a single cent in return. If you look at the number of members of such programs, you will see that such unsustainable programs boast a big member base. This could be for several reasons;
a..) The Program Owner has tampered with the actual member count
b..) The Program Owner is not deleting inactive members and cheaters
c..) The program actually has that many members who believe they will get paid such a lot of money for reading e-mails.
The simplest way to check whether a program is unsustainable or not is to visit the advertising page. For example, check how much it costs to send an email to the program's members. Multiply that with the member count. Even if you do not take the percentage paid to referrals, you will see that such programs are losing a lot of money to send a single mail. Let us look at an example;
The cost of a $1 email is $3
The ad is sent to 3,000 members
$1 x 3,000 = $3,000 (not counting the referral percentage)
How can a program sell an ad that costs $3,000 for just $3 and expect to pay it's members? The program is losing around $2,997 per ad to 3,000 even without taking the referral earning percentage into consideration. Programs that offer such high amounts to read a single mail will never pay you. Joining unsustainable programs will keep you busy as there are so many of them. You could spend that time with programs that are worth joining, programs that will pay you, programs that have been around for a long time, programs run by honest and hardworking owners. So why waste your time clicking links of programs that will never pay you?
2. Do not purchase advertising from unsustainable programs:
Purchasing advertising from unsustainable programs, whether you are a member of it or not is showing your support to it. You are actually helping the unscrupulous program owners who run these programs to scam more people, trick new members into joining and also, allowing the programs to live on month after month, year after year, to scam more and more people. By being a member and advertiser of unsustainable programs, you are doing an injustice to the industry, to the honest program owners who try their best to make their programs a success. Some people join unsustainable programs with the sole purpose of redeeming their earnings for advertising as they are fully aware they will not receive payment from them. If you are such a member, have you given a thought that perhaps there are members belonging to these programs who actually think they will get paid? Members who click every link, every banner in the PTC section, hoping to reach the minimum payout to request payment and expect the huge amount to turn up in their payment processor? By supporting unsustainable programs, you yourself become as unscrupulous as the program owner. You, yourself do your part to keep such programs alive to trick more people month after month, year after year.
To put it shortly, by joining and/or purchasing advertising from unsustainable programs, you:
a..) Waste your time clicking on mails from programs that will never pay you
b..) By joining unsustainable programs, you do not bother to join honest paying programs
c..) Trick people into clicking high paying links and keeping scam programs alive
d..) Discourage and frustrate people who are new to this industry and perhaps turning them away from this industry for good
e..) Depriving honest paying sites of advertisers and members who could keep their programs alive
f..) Give a bad name to the industry and also, to the honest paying programs and program owners
If you would like to join honest paying programs, check out the forums, see which sites have a good history of paying or ask around. It does not hurt to ask and/ or look around. It's best to do so than wasting your time on unsustainable programs.
** Please note, sustainability plays a role only when programs promise to pay you when you reach payout. There are ADS ONLY programs that offer high link values. Do not check the sustainability of such programs by comparing the ad prices and member count as ADS ONLY programs do not pay "actual" money. This means, the money you earn by clicking on ads will not be paid to your payment processor. Instead, you can redeem your earnings to send ads in that program.
3. Click on the e-mails that you receive:
Some members belong to too many programs and therefore, do not have time to click all, or at least a reasonable amount 0f the paid emails that the programs send on a daily basis. Therefore, the only solution they resort to is select and delete the mails. Whilst it is understandable to do this (delete emails) once in a while due to time constraints or real life issues, doing it often is not good. The best thing to do is join a few well selected programs. This way, you will be able to fully participate in the program and earn from various earning opportunities offered by them. For example, paid emails are not the only feature of PTR programs. They also offer paid-to-click banners (sometimes both points and cash), contest paid-to-click, games and contests and so on. You may not be able to make use of these features every day you are online, but if you join only a manageable amount of PTR programs, then you will have more time to show your support to them rather than stretching yourself too thin. Remember, joining tons of programs does not necessarily mean you will earn tons of money. You can earn a decent amount if you dedicate yourself to a handful of well selected programs, as you will be trying out most of the earning opportunities offered by them instead of clicking a link here and a link there in numerous programs.
4. Other way of supporting a program and its owner:
a..) If you have a question or a concern, take the time to approach the program owner. Members and non members can contact program owners using the CONTACT form. Instead of running to forums to post complaints, send a contact mail to the program owner, voice your question or concern and give a reasonable period of time to receive a reply. Program owners have their own lives to lead, just like you. They have offline and online commitments that needs to be taken care of, they go on vacation, they fall ill, they have their spouse and kids to take care of, they have their days off and away from the computer and so on. Check whether the PO is on vacation or away. If so, see whether there is a support folder or support forum in which you can post. By this, I do not mean you need to be patient for weeks on end if the PO is not away to receive a reply to your question or concern. There are unresponsive PO's who do not bother to reply to supports, but there are also lots of PO's who care about their members and the reason for the wait could be genuine. Do not lump all PO's as unresponsive. Not answering a support ticket/ e-mail does not necessarily mean the PO is unresponsive, it could also mean that the PO did not receive the support ticket/ e-mail for some reason or other. Drop a line or two, give a reminder about your question/ concern. It does not hurt to try. But it does hurt a program and the owner to some extent when negative things are posted about their programs and themselves without giving them a reasonable chance. Treat them as you would like to be treated by them.
b..) Read admin messages - Most PO's send admin messages to get a general message across to the members. It's important to read the admin messages instead of thinking that it's just another nuisance admin from the program owner. Admin messages are not sent for fun and usually there is a reason for sending them. Take the time to check it out. It could contain important information regarding the status of the program that could affect the entire member base, just a small update regarding a glitch, a change to the Terms Of Service, downtime etc. You would not know what is going on with the program if you do not bother to read admin messages and may miss important information.
c..) If an admin message is sent regarding updating your profile or something that needs to be done by the general member base, take the time to do so instead of procrastinating. Just as much as you appreciate responsive PO's, PO's appreciate responsive members as well.
d..) While it is not a must for a member to purchase advertising from the program in order to get paid, if you could support the program by purchasing an ad or two, do not hesitate to do so. Programs depend on ad sales, apart from other income they generate to run the program. Program owners need to pay for hosting, their domain, any add-ons to the script and so on to keep it going. If you are unable to purchase ads, see if there are any redemptions that are of interest to you. If there are any, consider to redeem some of your points (even if they can be cashed) or cash to purchase the advertising that interests you.
e..) If the program owner does something that you appreciate, take the time to post in the forum/s you are a member of. It need not only be regarding receiving payment. It can be about processing your ads promptly, responding to your questions/ queries promptly, a gesture you feel is considerate or anything that you would like to share with others. If not, drop a mail once in a way just to show your appreciation to the PO and the way the program is run or any suggestions to improve it. Some PO's put a lot of effort into running their programs and a thank you or a little appreciation goes a long way. It does not take much time, but it does make the PO feel that all the time, money and effort put into the program is really worth it.
f..) If there are contests and games organized by the PO, take part in them if you have the time to do so. PO's organize contests and games to make the program interesting to members. It's natural to feel that clicking links everyday is very boring and some sort of fun is good. PO's usually organize contests to take the usual boredom away, to make the program more interesting, to involve members, as another feature for members to earn a little bit more and so on. If there are only a very few members or no members taking part in them, it is a waste of time for the PO and it is both, a discouragement and disappointment to them to some extent.
g..) If site support links are sent by the program owner, please click them. PO's usually use the money they earn from other programs for the members, to make random (surprise) payouts, for contests (click contests, other contests etc) and sometimes to support the program. Even if the links are non paid, please take the time to click them.
h..) If there are broken links, ads that you feel are questionable or any other errors in mails/ banners or even the site, drop a line or two to the PO. Sometimes, members submit PTP ads without checking whether the program in which they are sending the ad is in the approved list of the PTP program or not. Such members end up losing hits and the ad becomes a loss for them. If you know that the program is not on the approved list of the PTP site or if you see something like "Program XYZ is not an approved site to display the PTP of (name of the PTP program)", please let the PO know. The PO will then take it up with the member/ advertiser.
i..) Do not lie about the program or its owner to gain more referrals or to make it look better than it really is. When speaking about the program or advertising it, be truthful. If new members sign up believing the exaggerations, they will become disappointed or frustrated with the program and simply unsubscribe and have negative feelings about the program and perhaps yourself as well and will be careful not to join under you.
j..) Do not think of PO's as idols. They are people, not those who should be worshiped. Whilst it is perfectly ok to praise and applaud programs and PO's as well as to stick to them (if you so desire) during rough times, do not idolize them. Give praise, show your respect, support the program and the owner, do your part to help the program to succeed. Your commitment to the program ends there. There are lots of program owners who were idolized, only to leave without a word to the members or the money they owe to members.
The above are a few ways you can support programs and their owners. I am sure there are more ways you can show your support. Do what you can do, to make this industry a better place for all of us. Let us all do what we can, to make sure honest, paying programs are given a chance to survive for many, many more years to come.
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Abbreviations used:
PO - Program Owner
PTR - Paid To Read
PTP - Paid To Promote
PTC - Paid To Click
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Topic: Supporting Programs & Program Owners (Read 919 times)
