How to earn money on WebAnswers now

Make money now online free

 The WebAnswers site gives you a way to earn simply by answering questions. Payment is through Adsense, and you will be invited to apply for an Adsense account once you have answered 50 questions, or to link your existing account if you are already a member of Adsense.

While fifty questions may seem like a lot, it is possible to complete this requirement fairly fast. As I write, the leader board shows people, who have answered between 24 and 61 questions today. Those numbers will probably increase as it is still only morning in the US, where many participants live. It is not unusual to see one or two people credited with 100+ answers in a day.

There are a number of points, of which you need to aware in order to maximize your earning potential and minimize the time required to achieve it. 

The system at WebAnswers

 It does not matter which questions you answer

Once you have linked an Adsense account, you will earn money from site visitors clicking on ads. There is something very important to note here. If your answer is chosen by the asker of the question as being the best, you are awarded that question. That means, any clicks on ads displayed with that question, and obviously the resulting Adsense earnings, will be credited to you.

However, everyone who has made the effort to monitor their earnings closely with Google Analytics has commented that they earn far more from non-awarded questions. Therefore, despite what you might hear, it makes little difference whether you answer questions on topics associated with high-value clicks or not, because your Adsense ID will appear not only on your awarded questions and on all non-awarded questions that you have answered in turn with the IDs of other people, but also on non-awarded questions you have NOT answered in all topic areas.

With respect to non-awarded questions, the consistency of your participation and the overall quality of your answers determines whether and how often your Adsense ID will appear on these pages. I'll look at each of these.

WebAnswers Quality Score

This is a somewhat mysterious concept, which is kept unexplained so as to deter people from trying to game the system. It reflects the general quality of your answers.

As far as I can make out from numerous comments on the site, the most important thing is to write answers with correct spelling and grammar and avoid very short answers. If you can write a couple of short paragraphs in good English for each question, your quality score should be OK.

A further important rule is not to duplicate material from elsewhere, because this will result in your answer being removed and your quality score plummeting. 

Although having questions awarded also adds to your quality score, only a very small proportion of the questions on the site is ever awarded. In fact, if your answers appear on many non-awarded questions, you will find the system compensates by giving "virtual awards". This is partly to compensate for the fact that many of the questions were captured from around the Net by bots, and thus will never be awarded. 

Consistency of participation 

 This is perhaps the key factor determining earnings. Even people who have answered thousands of questions report a dramatic fall-off in earnings if they stay away from the site for more than a couple of weeks. Consistency versus absence seems to be a major determinant of how often your Adsense ID is displayed around the site. However, if you are consistent, answering a couple of questions most days, then your overall total of answers will be the main factor in play. So the best tactic is to build up a large body of answers fairly fast, and then make sure you keep answering at least a few questions on a regular basis. 

 Maximizing earning potential at WebAnswers

Along with the above points on the system, you need to know that inserting links into answers is discouraged. This actually is an advantage, because it means you do not need to waste time looking for sources to back up your statements. 

Unless you happen to stumble on a question that really captures your imagination and makes you want to research the answer for your own satisfaction, stick to questions you can answer out of your head. You want to select questions you can answer rapidly, while still producing the couple of paragraphs or more to satisfy quality score requirements.

According to one vociferous site participant, it is not worth answering questions that many people have answered because your turn for having your ID displayed will only come around rarely, so your earning potential from those questions is negligible. Well yes, if you only answer such questions, that will indeed be the case. However, answers to ANY questions boost up your total, and your total also determines how often your Adsense ID is displayed on the site. So, if you see a question to which you can generate a couple of paragraphs of answer in a very short time, go for it regardless of how many answers it already has. Obviously, though, there is no point in answering already awarded questions!

A corollary to the above is that others will often piggyback on questions you have answered, most frequently giving an answer that contains less information or rephrases what you have said. Unfortunately, each time a question is answered, it is thrown back onto the list on the home page. There is no way you can avoid such parasites completely. I sometimes exert revenge on the most shameless ones, who have given a scrappy answer that simply rephrases part of why I said, by going in and piggy-backing on their answers! When I do, I try to provide a longer answer, because I have an inkling that the longest answers for each question possibly get more exposure than others.

To cut the amount of competition from parasites on my answers, I often answer questions during the first half of the European day, when I think significantly fewer people are active on the site. By the time competitors in the US and Asia have come on board, at least some of these questions will have fallen off the home page and be less obvious.

You will also hear one site participating emphasizing how many unanswered questions are buried in the depths of the site classification structure. Yes, there are many. Unfortunately, a lot of these are incomprehensible or not worth answering for other reasons. Poke around the site if you want. Personally, I feel it is not worth the time required to dig out reasonable questions.

The one exception to this is that it can be worth tossing a random key word of your choice into the site search engine, to bring up questions on a topic you feel you can answer out of your head. This is also a good strategy when you see nothing of interest in the home page list. Often, you will find more than one question on the same subject. It is then really easy to go through and answer all of them, remembering to change the wording, and add in a few different snippets in each answer so as not to get penalized for duplication.

A recent change to the site has resulted in old questions being thrown up at random on the home page together with new ones. This means you can just catch the ones that appeal to you as they pass by rather than wasting time searching all the sub-categories.

 Unfortunately, at present the click value of most adverts on the site is rather low. As a result, I do not consider it worth investing more than a couple of minutes per answer, which is why my recommendations are as described above.

My own approach is to log into WebAnswers while having a coffee break or when I otherwise have a couple to minutes to fill that cannot be spent more usefully elsewhere. At just over 1000 answers in total, I don't expect to earn much. My earnings vary from as little as $5 in bad months to maybe $30 in a good month. However, I see this as money for practically no effort, because I rarely spend more than 30 minutes writing answers in any one day and do not even do this on a daily basis. Obviously, if I increased my answer total, my earnings would increase proportionately.

So, take the opportunity to make money now online free by answering questions during those odd, idle moments in your day. You will probably never become rich doing this! However, it is possible to keep pennies rolling in for very little effort if you apply the principles outlined here.

When reading becomes difficult

St Peter reading, painted in 1466 by Friedrich Herlin
(public domain image)

It can be so frustrating to struggle with reading small print. The trouble is that as we age, even larger fonts start to cause problems. Reading glasses do not always provide a full solution, especially for people who are affected by age-related macular degeneration or other eye conditions.

When I joined the Squidoo Book Club, I was given a challenge to write a lens either on a book or books or on book-related products for book lovers. I thought that a good topic to explore would be gifts for elderly people and/or people with impaired vision, who love books.

Thinking particularly about older people, I wanted to stay away from the ebook concept. An elderly book lover will most likely have collected a lot of books over a lifetime. Many of these will have sentimental value. Some books, particularly those published in the 19th century, may be set in really small type.

Therefore, I wanted to look at products, which would help people to continue to be able read hard-copy books. Researching this topic was an eye-opener! From a hands-free reading magnifying glass costing less than $30 to a state-of-the-art desktop low vision magnifier costing over $4000, there is a huge range of products. 

Products in the $75-300 range include high definition reading lights, halogen reading lamps, LED reading lamps with magnifying lenses, and portable digital magnifiers. 

If you know someone who is struggling to continue reading due to eyesight problems and would like to find a gift to help them, why not check out my article for inspiration: http://www.squidoo.com/best-gifts-for-elderly-and-visually-impaired-book-lovers

Some interesting facts about Endellion Inter Ltd (Home Business System)

Recently I received a spam email from a supposed friend on Facebook, advertising a “Home Business System”, which is being sold by a company called Endellion Inter Ltd, based in Birmingham, UK.

I set myself the challenge of finding out more about these people, because I do not like being spammed, especially by people who call themselves friends of mine.

Endellion Inter Ltd

This company has a registered address at:  Corner Chambers, 590A Kingsbury Road, Birmingham B24 9ND and is a registered limited company in England and Wales,  company no. 07867739. It was first registered at Companies House on 1^st Dec. 2011.

The director is listed as a Ms Agnes Jouaneau of Seychellois nationality (more about her below).

This company also markets “The Auction Butler”, which is eBay auction  sniping software patented in the Ukraine in January 2012. It can be found at instantwinsoft.com and newquickvictory.com

The “System”

This supposed money-making opportunity features on at least four web sites, all featuring Endellion Inter, three of which were registered in May 2012 by a Howard Molly from Dublin, and one by Corner Chambers, which is the first part of the registered address for Endellion Inter Ltd. These sites have been registered at the Center of Ukrainian Internet Names (ukrnames.com). Two of these sites are already defunct at the time of writing (ehousenetwork.com and homebusinessinstructor.com).

The registration seems rather a strange choice for a UK company, but shows a further Ukrainian connection in addition to that of the Ukrainian-patented auction sniping software they sell.

Thus, at the time I received the email, the company had only been in existence for just over 6 months and the web sites promoting its system had only been registered for little over a month. The two active sites are, however, already featuring success story testimonials.

I dug around the active sites for a bit to see what I could find. 

They contain an earnings disclaimer and also state they cannot guarantee the accuracy of testimonials.

Site 1. businesssystemworld.com

 The claim is made that it is possible to make “up to $377 per week”. You are asked to fill in some contact details plus indicate your location in order to go further.

Attempting to leave their landing page without any action triggers the usual pop-up box offering a downsell.

Downsell 1 offers you the system for $77.95 as a reduction from the full price of  $197.95. However, you are warned there are only 2 positions left in your area and you only have 5 minutes to decide. 

This offer amused me, because I did NOT fill in my location details as requested on the initial landing page.

Attempting to leave this page will bring you to a further downsell 2 page at businesssystemworld.com/downsell2

Here you are warned that there now only ONE position is left in your area, which has been reserved for you for the next 5 minutes at a mere $47.95. Act quickly urges the page, because if you do not, your reserved place will be freed to the thousands of other visitors coming to the web site (oh yes!).

Site 2. homecompanyinc.com

Here the landing page shows the same blurb offering the same scheme. However, if you wish to leave, you are invited to read a letter by Edward Harris, self-styled “one of the most famous home-based jobs consultants”. Unfortunately, I have not managed to find any other reference on the Net to a Mr Edward Harris acting in such a capacity. 

Edward offers great things: “In less than 1 minute he will tell you how to get a job that pays as much as $87 an hour” says the site. (Rather more than the “up to $377 a week” promised on Site 1. 

He spins us the usual hard luck story with happy ending of Internet riches. 

As for the system itself, it is, of course, a blindingly easy way to become rich: “All you have to do to share information is to post link and wait. Each passing day that link gets exposed to more and more potential clients and chances grow that some of them will buy the product”  Yes, right. 

Mr Harris starts his price at $97 but, if you don’t hurry: “In the nearest future, in order to expand the program and to cover additional expenses, I'll have to raise the entrance fee up to $500 and charge monthly membership fee of $29. But it will not affect you, if you sign up right now.” OK

Should you attempt to leave, you will be offered downsell 1 at $77.95 as on Site 1. This time you are taken straight to a payment page, which promises “Instant access to a work at home opportunity that you could make up to $377 a week.” 

Dammit, I wanted that $87 an hour you promised me, Ed! *pout*

Trying to leave downsell 1 will bring you to the same $47.95 downsell 2 offer as on Site 1

Ms Agnes Jouaneau

According to UK company records, this woman of Seychellois nationality is director of at least 40 other UK companies, all with the same registered address in Birmingham as that of Endellion Inter Ltd. You can see a listing of these companies in the record for one of them, Merkato UK, at http://bizzy.co.uk/uk/06714206/merkato-uk

If you search for her name on the Net, you will find it consistently listed together with an IP address linked to a Bergdorf Group Ltd, which is associated with malware and other shady Internet activities. 

Most interestingly, the very same name appears as the name of a director of “dozens” of companies in New Zealand, including one mentioned in a report about shell companies, which have been set up to launder money and possibly to finance terrorism which you can read at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3210360/New-fears-NZ-firms-laundering-terror-cash

The main protagonist in that story, one Stella Georgette Port-Louis, also of Seychellois nationality, is director of hundreds of other companies in New Zealand. She is also director of quite a few companies in the UK, all citing the same registered address in Birmingham as our Home Business System friends, as you can verify here:  http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/915950189

Given this background, would you trust Endellion Inter Ltd with your money?

I put out a question on WebAnswers asking for people's experiences with this company. So far, at the time of writing, one person has replied. She signed up, got cold feet, and fortunately got her money returned. That is something at least. The question is here.  

To suceed online means trying many different ideas

One of the most difficult things about trying to earn some income from home-based Internet business activities is trying to find the perfect niche for yourself. It's easy for people to say you should choose something that you are passionate about or that interests you sufficiently so that you can research it. Just because something appeals to you, it does not mean it will appeal to a large number of readers, who are also eager to spend money!

So, it may be necessary to try out quite a few ideas, and that means setting up at least one web site for each of these topics. Some of these may bring in some small change, some may take off and become real earners, and some will just have to be ditched.

 In addition, the rules keep changing all the time. Many have been hit badly by the Google Panda and Penguin algorithms. Some people,who know more about these things than I do, are suggesting it might be better just to ditch a badly hit site and try to rebuild that niche again on a new domain.

These are just two reasons why I'm really pleased that I can set up Wordpress sites as and when I wish, using a very simple set-up process and without having to pay for a new hosting contract each time, so the only expense is the purchase of the domain name.

I do this at Wealthy Affiliate University, where my membership includes free hosting with unlimited bandwidth and space. This in itself is a precious resource. However, I also have access to their keyword tool and to masses of training material about every aspect of making money on the Web, starting right at the very beginning for those with no previous experience. If I am stuck, I can ask my questions on the forum, which is frequented by knowledgeable and experienced internet marketers.

If you'd like to have a look at what is available, you can get 10 days access absolutely free, with no upfront payment or any other catches. Why don't you have a look, by following this link?

Affiliate benefits, including eBay, with no sign-up worries

I've just signed up to a neat scheme, which makes it easy for small players on the Internet to receive affiliate payments. It is called VigLink. The way it works is that VigLink has affiliate status to loads of different sellers on the Net, including big names such as Walmart and Zappos.

If you link to a product from one of these, VigLink will automatically turn it into an affiliate link. If someone buys from that link, you will receive commission. For this to happen, all you need to do is to insert some code provided by VigLink on your site.

This means you do not have to go through a long-winded process of signing up for many different affiliate schemes, nor do you have to face the prospect of being rejected because your site is not considered to be important enough. Even more crucially, you can link to eBay products through the scheme and get commission. It is so difficult to be accepted for the eBay Partner Network (EPN) at the moment, and even if you do succeed, you run the risk of being deactivated if you do not bring enough business. With VigLink, all this stress and potential heartache can be avoided.

VigLink pays via Paypal, so you avoid the expenses of receiving dollar cheques if you do not have a dollar bank account.

Another important plus is that VigLink offers a further monetisation alternative to Adsense for webmasters unable to use Adsense. On the other hand, it is possible to use the scheme on websites where Adsense is also installed.

Obviously, this sort of service does not come for free. VigLink takes 25% of your commission. However, considering the fact that it makes a large number of affiliate schemes available, with no extra effort, including some not usually accessible to small website owners, I think this is a price worth paying.

Follow the link to join VigLink and profit.