Good sites that don't have referral programs
By echomonster
@echomonster (2226)
Greenwood, Mississippi
March 18, 2008 9:49am CST
The sites and programs that get promoted the most on myLot and elsewhere on the Internet tend to be those that reward the promoters by offering a percentage of referral earnings or a referral bonus. That's only natural -- of course people are going to get the word out when getting the word out means making money! Lately I've been wondering if there aren't more decent online moneymaking sites out there that we rarely hear about just because they lack a referral program. It's not that I've become disillusioned with referral programs at all -- I'm still a big believer in them! However, there are only so many sites one person can promote at a time, and I'm always interested in learning about new ways of making money.
Mechanical Turk ( http://www.mturk.com ) is a good example of the kind of site I'm thinking about. There are tons of opportunities there to make money doing small jobs online; working there is quite similar in some ways to completing jobs in the "real world," but it is all on a much smaller scale and completely online. You can easily make more money there in a month than you can make just from your own efforts (without referrals) clicking at PTCs and reading emails at PTRs. The disadvantage of a site like MTurk is that there is no such thing as passive income there -- you get paid according to what you do, no more and no less.
If you know of any other sites like this that don't have a referral program, please post them in this thread! Sharing knowledge can sometimes be as profitable as sharing referral links.
2 people like this
10 responses
@creationsbyrobin (3071)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I agree with you about sharing knowledge. Yes, knowledge is money and it is very important.
But I think the chance of building a passive income is a HUGE draw. I know that if I can be successful on my own with an affiliate program, then I can show referrals how to earn money with the program and they too can be successful.
I'm in one affiliate program where I have several referrals and as of yet, not one of them have contributed to my monthly earnings. But I am getting checks each month.
I really like the idea of building a passive income, actually I would like to build several stream of passive income. If I'm sick and unable to work, my company won't continue to send me my paychecks, but a passive income doesn't care if your working your business, it just keeps coming in. As a mom of 2 boys, having a passive income, should something happen to me is very important!
@jenni7202 (1598)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I personally write for Epinions.com, they pay you to write your opinion or a review about products that you use everyday. You can write about books you've read, music you've listened to, movies you've watched, shampoo you just tried, a resturaunt you went to, a hotel, you name it, it's there! I don't earn a lot from them, as I don't write many reviews a month, currently this month I only wrote 2 reviews. Your earnings are updated once a month, and the more people that view your review or rate it the more your earn. They pay by check, and the minimum is $10. I've been there for over a year now, and highly trust the site. They have no referral program either. Some members of Epinions make hundreds a month, because it's all they do, but I don't have the time, so my earnings are just pocket change. I do recommend it though.
@brucekaushik (891)
• India
19 Mar 08
is this program open for Indians
i am sad that most of the good programs are not available for international members
@echomonster (2226)
• Greenwood, Mississippi
20 Mar 08
Epinions sounds cool. It's funny that I've actually been to the site before but didn't realize it offered moneymaking opportunities. My money radar is usually pretty effective, but it failed epically in this case. Thanks for letting us know about a good site, jenni!
@jenni7202 (1598)
• United States
20 Mar 08
I'm glad I was able to inform the community about a site unknown to them. If anyone happens to join, look me up, my username is Jenni7202, I will read your reviews and rate them to help you increase your income, in return for you doing the same for me.
1 person likes this
@lexus54 (3572)
• Singapore
19 Mar 08
Hello echomonster, thank you for sharing this information with us, and making us conscious that there are such kinds of sites out there to try. I personally do not know about such programmes to be able to recommend anything. I did try the site you have recommended called Mechanical Turk - signed up about 20 minutes ago and already completed one hit which is supposed to pay 12 cents. Not sure though whether the party will pay for my effort, so I shall keep my fingers crossed for now. I am quite excited about this site nevertheless. There's one thing I am not sure and that is whether they will be able to pay me, because I am from an Asian country. I only assume for now they can and will, since the site accepted my registration and I did indicate my country during the signup. When I read their FAQ, they only mentioned crediting the earnings into US bank accounts, but in the next line, they also mentioned that those in India can be paid in rupees if they choose, so that got me puzzled. I am not from India, by the way.
@lexus54 (3572)
• Singapore
20 Mar 08
Seems like so that many discussions here have focused on Mechanical Turk, and you have become the chief advisor...LOL. It wasn't planned this way of course. Just goes to show that you have introduced an interesting programme to others here who have not heard of this before. Thanks for the advice you have given so far. It is appreciated.
I have done two hits for a total of $1.12, but they are still pending award. I guess since the payout for people like me is uncertain, I may hold doing any other hits for now, and spend my time elsewhere.
1 person likes this
@echomonster (2226)
• Greenwood, Mississippi
20 Mar 08
I wish I had better news for you, but I think you may not be able to be paid directly by Mechanical Turk at the moment though of course I cannot speak for Mechanical Turk. Eventually I'm sure the site will open up to everyone -- Amazon is a pretty international company, and the interest in a site like Mechanical Turk is universal. As is, I think you could still get paid if you have a US bank account regardless of what country you are living in; if not, you could transfer your earnings into an Amazon gift certificate balance and use it to buy goods, as Amazon can ship almost anywhere. It might be worthwhile to contact Mechanical Turk to find out for sure if you can get paid; maybe you could also ask if MTurk has any plans to expand payment options in your country.
It's funny that this thread kind of got turned into a Mechanical Turk thread, with me playing the role of technical support guy! Maybe Amazon should hire me to be their myLot representative...after they expand their international payment options, of course :)
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
15 Apr 08
Hey there lexus, I do review writing besides mylotting, and the reviews I do pay great if consistent in doing. It pays international members like us too ;) .. and the earnings are through paypal (you can create a free account).
PM me for details if you are interested and I'll send you the link yea..thanks, and have a nice day. ;)
1 person likes this
@aidenofthetower (1814)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I would agree that referral programs bring in a large amount of traffic simply because people are inspired to to tell the world. I am not very good at getting referrals, but tell everyone about all the sites I use. Most of the writing sites I use don't have a referral program. I still write about them all over the internet and share the passive income you can get from them.
I tried mechanical turk a while back and wasn't thrilled with it. Most of the jobs you get (at least to start with) are rather a lot of time for a tiny bit of pay. With no chance of that growing. At least with my other programs they grow tiny bits of money while I am gone and from things that I have already done.
1 person likes this
@echomonster (2226)
• Greenwood, Mississippi
18 Mar 08
You made a very good point regarding passive income: it's not something limited to referral programs by any means! Creating content can be a great way to bring in some passive income, regardless of whether you share that content with the world through writing sites like Triond ( http://www.triond.com ) or your own personal web space. I'd be curious to know what your favorite writing sites are and if you find yourself having to promote what you write extensively to get any results; that would be a great addition to this discussion. As tough as it is to get referrals, getting your content noticed on an ever increasing Web is quite possibly even more difficult, and you can't generate a passive income from the Web without drawing regular traffic from somewhere.
@echomonster (2226)
• Greenwood, Mississippi
20 Mar 08
Thanks for the nice list! Thanks for the link, too...that pretty much answered the questions I had. It's interesting that some writing sites really do seem to have the means to generate internal traffic for writers' content; one reason I haven't written for any of these sites is because I figured it would be as difficult to promote my content on these third party sites as it would be to promote a web page or blog of my own. In some cases, at least, it seems like writers really can benefit from letting one of these sites host their content.
@aidenofthetower (1814)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I write for some sites where I have done fairly well with no promoting. Other sites, I can see a huge need for it. The sites I write for are,
Hubpages howtodothings.com
ehow
Associated Content
Helium
Triond
SpeakAboutIt
Xomba
YouSayToo
PrintNPost
Tutorial Tub
Squidoo
If you want to know why those are my favorites you can head over to http://www.rankrz.com/personal/170 (Rankrz is a new program I am trying, but not so sure about, your traffic will help me know more at which time I can share my experience with you, so you would be finding out more about the writing sites and helping me out)
I will start promoting my work next month, but am busy with a few other projects right now.
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
15 Apr 08
The site that I'm also on consistently besides mylot would be this review site. But this site has a referral scheme, so I'm not going to talk much about this, since your discussion is about those that have no referral schemes. But it is something like epinions and it pays well. If you happen to be curious, you can PM me, bro.
Have a nice day there, and happy posting..;)
@brucekaushik (891)
• India
18 Mar 08
hey can u tell me about mtruck more
can i join there ( i am from India )
is it open to international members?
and how much time it takes to give payout
and how much is the earning potential
@echomonster (2226)
• Greenwood, Mississippi
18 Mar 08
People from India can join and make money on MTurk; you will receive checks denominated in rupees, but you have to go through a verification process first. I've heard this can take a while in some cases and it seems to be a bit of a hassle. As an American I was able to link my Mechanical Turk account directly to a bank account for quick transfers very easily. (It's one of the few sites I would trust with that kind of information because it is operated by Amazon.com. Incidentally, you can also move your earnings to an Amazon.com gift certificate balance so you can use it to buy books and other goods from Amazon...this is I think the only option for Mechanical Turk members who don't have a US bank account or aren't from India.) I'm not aware of any minimum payout requirements -- I've even transferred amounts as small a dollar to my bank account before! The earning potential is pretty good, but sometimes there is more work available than at other times, and a lot also depends on what work you are good at doing. For instance, transcription work pays well, but some people will need an hour or longer to transcribe a few minutes of audio while others can do the same work in 15 minutes!
1 person likes this
@brucekaushik (891)
• India
18 Mar 08
thnaks a lot for ur help
i was really looking for a good earning opportunity
@plumwish07 (4057)
• Indonesia
20 Mar 08
its really glad if we able to find really good paying site without any referral package. honestly i also try to find those kind thing but so far i did't find yet. even i found one, mostly the program was not available for my country.
what i am going to ask to you about this program, does it available for international members? did you receive your payment from there? what kind payment processor that they use? paypal or what?
honestly i get confused 
when i take a look your link. what should to do in order to get some credit to our account there. much appreciate of your further information
@mrsjbelle (1640)
• United States
6 Apr 08
I also love Mturk so much. Its easy to make money there quick. No its not a ton and yes you have to work for it but its fairly simple and repetative. I always do my best job possible as to get more jobs.I am so glad I found it. I can make more money there hands down then any of my other sites. Its to hard for me to get referrals or I do and there not active. I have 8 on Mylot one was active for a little while and then they stopped after about 13 posts:( I submitted for cashout on Mturk and was paid that evening by PayPal! I have also transferred the funds for a giftcard if I wanted to purchase something on Amazon. I dont know of any other rocking programs though sorry.
@kilani123 (864)
• United Arab Emirates
20 Mar 08
Thank you my dear freind. I will be checking out your website.
Thanks alot
@teeaye98 (287)
• United States
18 Mar 08
www.legitonlinejobs.com has the best of both worlds. They have an affiliate program for their site, but if you get a membership you get a lifetime of "real" job leads and some of the other stuff too! To become a member you have to pay a small fee, but you pay the fee only once and they update their database all the time with free online jobs.
