2016 Update
The information I wrote here is getting a little stale now, so a few updates are needed. Based on my experiences over the years, I'd like to narrow down my preferred options to Neobux and Clixsense. Both of these GPT sites have a long history and a record for innovation. They also have their own distinct advantages. For example, Neobux provides a good platform for Crowdflower tasks and a potentially profitable referral renting system, but the rather pricey Gold membership might put some people off. Premium membership on ClixSense is much more affordable, and the increased daily bonus will probably more than cover the cost if you use it regularly. It's also probably a better option if you're new to GPTs, because offers, tasks, and clicks all translate to a cash balance--there's no points/coin system like with Neobux.
At its most basic, a PTC site is essentially a web site that pays you for visiting a web page for a certain amount of time. These web pages typically try to sell or promote something to you, and in return, you're paid something between two cents and a tenth of a cent. This doesn't sound too great does it? In itself, you'll earn very little this way, especially in the short term, so most sites offer other ways to boost this income. Because these sites have evolved into more than just PTC sites, they're often referred to as GPT (Get Paid To) sites.
The Lucky Dip
Most sites will have some sort of game of chance to play. One example is the ClixGrid on ClixSense, where you click somewhere on the grid. You're presented with a short advert and then told whether you've won or not. Typically, the odds of winning are pretty low, but prizes do come along every now and then if you persevere. Whether you find it a productive use of your time is something you'll have to decide for yourself.
Offer Walls
You'll find that most sites provide access to some kind of offer wall. These are basically lists of offers you can complete and get paid for, such as:
- Cashback on purchases
- Money for signing up to websites, games, etc.
- Payment for watching short videos
- Payment for completing surveys
You won't make a fortune completing these offers, but they are relatively simple to complete and have more potential than clicking PTC ads alone. The variety of offers varies quite a lot. Some sites, such as ClixSense, maintain their own offer walls (sometimes in combination with third party ones). Usually these sites will credit you cash (or points that can be converted straight away) for completing these offers, but others will limit what you can spend it on or lock it away for 30 days or so. To give a couple of the better examples, RewardingWays and Superpay.me have two of the widest selections of offer walls I've seen so far.
Mini Jobs/Tasks
Another option that many sites offer is the ability to work on small tasks that are usually provided by CrowdFlower, a crowdsourcing company that outsources large-scale projects by breaking them into small jobs that are then completed by many people working over the Internet. There's a wide range of work offered, but tasks typically involve doing things like verifying business addresses, writing questions and answers, classifying products, and so on. I cover this in more detail in my CrowdFlower tasks article, but currently my recommend sites for tasks are NeoBux and ClixSense.
Referrals
Gaining referrals is probably the most lucrative way to build your income from PTC sites, and even better, this income can continue without any effort on your part. There is of course a downside: Getting direct referrals isn't easy. I'll start by breaking this down to the two basic types of referrals.
Direct Referrals
As I mentioned earlier, getting direct referrals is hard, and getting active referrals is ten times harder again. Some of the ways you can try to recruit referrals include:
- Inviting family and friends
- Writing blog and other articles
- Advertising on other PTC sites
If you choose to try this, my advice would be try and promote sites that you believe are good quality, reliable sites. Don't be sucked into trying to promote a site you believe to be substandard just because it offers a bigger commission, because you won't be serving either your referrals or yourself.
Rented Referrals
Having established that getting direct referrals is hard, some sites offer another option: Rented referrals. These are basically users that joined a site without being referred or that have been "sold" by their referrer. These users are then "rented out" to another user, who gets paid certain amounts when they click various PTC ads.
Confused? I'm not surprised, but it's basically an investment. It costs X per day to rent a referral. Now if that referral earns you, on average, Y per day, and if Y is more than X, you make a profit. If Y is less than X, you make a loss. Like any investment, there's no foolproof way to make a profit, but with careful monitoring and a good strategy you can improve your chances drastically.
NeoBux is the prime example for referral renting at the moment, although other sites also offer it. You can get more information from my NeoBux diary, but what it comes down to is minimizing your rental costs (by renewing for longer periods) while keeping your rentals as active as possible (by "recycling" inactive referrals). A newer alternative is ProBux, which closely follows the NeoBux model but has some slight differences. Particularly interesting is that the "orange" ads that rented referrals need to click to earn you money actually pay a whole cent (it's only a tenth on NeoBux), which may not sound like, but it might help motivate the rentals to click them.
Referral renting is not for the weak hearted, because it does require an investment upfront (although you can make this on the site and build it up gradually) and a certain amount of time, but many people do have success stories with it, and I don't doubt that it's possible.
Premium Memberships
This is the final thing I'll cover. While not all sites offer it, premium membership usually involves paying a yearly subscription for more favorable conditions. It could involve improved pay, more availability of PTC ads, or better referral commisions and rentals. The yearly cost can vary quite substantially. For example, premium membership on ClixSense is $17/year. At another extreme, the gold membership on NeoBux is $90 (or 30,000 NeoPoints), with the top-of-line Ultimate pack costing another $890 dollars. While this might seem astronomical, the moguls who are buying these packs are probably doing so because they're making money from them.
Basically, you should consider premium memberships on a case-by-case basis. Look at it what it offers, and see if you think you'll benefit by taking it.
That's all the basics covered. I hope I've left you a bit informed about the world of PTC sites. For a list of differnet PTC sites to try, head over to my PTC Site Roundup.