How did you earn your first dollar on the web?

[isuit21]

My first dollar has been earned by using Pay Per Download websites, that allow users to upload files, lock them with surveys and spread them on the internet. Every time someone downloads the files, the person must complete a survey first and once it is completed, the uploader earns revenue. Actually I have made my first $10 this way.
How did you earn your first dollar on the web?

 

[NeoGills]

I earned my first dollar by writing an article, i earned $5 not $1
i received my payment via Pay Pal.

 

[rannt]

I made my first dollars on fiverr

 

[edwardkingston]

I made my first earning with seoclerks! that is $30

 

[Jessi]

I worked on a site called Gather. I basically just wrote about whatever I wanted and commented on other people's stuff. I got paid for page views. It was a lot like MyLot, but a whole lot better back then.

 

[tommymaczoidberg]

Made about $120 one month in Google adwords traffic.

 

[BigBigFan]

eBay! I was an early adopter of ebay to promote an Ultima Online game website I owned. Not many are aware that when ebay launched they allowed listings for virtual in-game items and that these made up the core of eBay's early success. It's not until a couple of years later that ebay distanced themselves from this early group of people because of paypal chargebacks on virtual items.

Anyway, I did well by carving out a corner of this market for myself. I was sad to see it go but it was a great time to be an online marketer.

The memories of it all are flooding back, I got into it in 1998, before ebay, but the peak years were in 1999-2001. If you have time you REALLY should check out a book called Play Money by Julian Dibbell to find out where some 39 year olds got their start - http://juliandibbell.com/playmoney/

 

[Zerth]

I used NeoBux, just clicking on adverts each day for 4 times. Was pretty boring and earned so little.

 

[Jessi]

eBay!

Oh yeah! I was only thinking about websites. I guess you're right, though....mine was technically Ebay, too. I sold things while I was in high school before I ever had a website of my own.

 

[BigBigFan]

Is there anyone that hasn't bought or sold something on ebay these days? It's not the same as it used to be, there are more weird fee schedules to deal with than before and the upsell is a lot stronger but it still works. I don't like how they accepted so many name brand stores to see items on ebay though, because they give those guys better exposure through their search system.

 

[Jessi]

I don't use it as a seller any more at all because of that. Not only did the fees go up through Ebay, but PayPal upped theirs around the same time and I had to quit.

And I hate that it's all about stores and brand names, too. The little sellers can't survive much any more. It kinda felt like how Walmart moves into some areas and clears out all the mom and pop shops.

 

[tweety23]

I basically earned my first dollar from writing for Yahoo's Contributor Network for about three successive months. More specifically I got paid $1.66. Sucks right?

 

[Jessi]

I basically earned my first dollar from writing for Yahoo's Contributor Network for about three successive months. More specifically I got paid $1.66. Sucks right?

Oh ouch. How long ago was that?

Were their rates just that bad or did you not get the hang of the program quickly, etc? I've never used them before.

 

[tweety23]

Oh ouch. How long ago was that?

Were their rates just that bad or did you not get the hang of the program quickly, etc? I've never used them before.

That was just last year. I started writing for them in August. I would say their pay rate is pretty cheap but I wasn't exactly receiving an abundance of page views. You have to get 1,000 or above in order to cash out and 1,000 = $1.50 for beginners. The highest they go for more experienced writers is $2.00 for 1,000 views, and that's only when a writer reaches 1,000,000 + views so I would say they're pretty cheap. Don't feel too sorry for me though lol. I just recently found some other sites that I am currently writing for that pay more generously .

 

[BigBigFan]

You can't hang a Banana in front of us like that Tweety, which sites are paying more generously?

I have a habit of posting comments on Yahoo articles, I actually never new you could get paid by Yahoo, lol.

 

[tweety23]

You can't hang a Banana in front of us like that Tweety, which sites are paying more generously?

I have a habit of posting comments on Yahoo articles, I actually never new you could get paid by Yahoo, lol.

The two sites that I am currently writing for right now are Experts Pages and Full of Knowledge. They are both run by the same person, Han Van Meegerin, and they happen to be the best paying content publishing websites that are out there. They claim to offer writers 70% of the revenue for their work. The pay rate each month though fluctuates pertaining to how much traffic that the sites receive. Right now the CPM rate for Experts Pages this month is $5.55 per thousand and for Full of Knowledge the CPM rate is $6.40 per thousand.

Feel free to check the sites out below if you or anyone else is interested:
http://expertspages.com/
http://fullofknowledge.com/

Also feel free to check out my profiles on both sites if you guys are interested :
http://fullofknowledge.com/author/tweety23/
http://expertspages.com/author/tweety23/

 

[Andrei]

I made my first dollar on Vworker - a freelancer website. Sadly now it merged with Freelancer.com.

 

[Jessi]

That was just last year. I started writing for them in August. I would say their pay rate is pretty cheap but I wasn't exactly receiving an abundance of page views

Bleh.

So do they actively market the content themselves? Or do you have to push traffic to the site in order to get page views?

At those rates, if it's the latter, you're better off just having your own blog and go with an advertising network that pays comparable rates.

 

[tweety23]

Bleh.

So do they actively market the content themselves? Or do you have to push traffic to the site in order to get page views?

At those rates, if it's the latter, you're better off just having your own blog and go with an advertising network that pays comparable rates.

Yeah, you have to pretty much promote your own articles anyway you can. You may get a few clicks from other users or visitors on the site, but not many. All of the content written for YCN gets published on a site called Yahoo! Voices, which is totally different from Yahoo's front page or any of their other popular sites they're affiliated with.

 

[BigBigFan]

What a scam, you write the content for them and then you get the traffic for them and then you gain only minor benefits while they made out like a bandit. These types of places wouldn't exist if people weren't after backlinks just because Google says they are a must. The internet is so full of pollution because of all of the link building related schemes, it's nuts!