MyLot IS Addictive!

I've heard it said that myLot is addictive and I have to confess that it's true. I even have to say that I like it better the MySpace . I should add, though, that I'm not very good at getting around MySpace yet.

Interestingly enough, myLot was actually conceived as a sort of MySpace that shared it's advertising revenue with the people who contributed and so far it seems to be working. This model also makes a certain amount of moral sense too, after all if it weren't for the people posting to these websites they wouldn't be making any money so why not share?

The business model is nice but the most addictive thing about myLot for me, is that you can find like-minded people very easily by creating your own micro-communities based on shared interests. And since members get paid more for starting discussions there is no shortage of interesting topics to respond to, you can even post your opinions on the latest news if there isn't anything else that tickles your fancy.

Of course the next best thing and the most noticeable about myLot is that you get paid for nearly every action. It's not very much (typically between 1 to 3 cents) but there is a certain satisfaction in watching your earnings pile up while you are having fun and doing something that so many people do for free.

If you feel like you need to make more money in order to make it worth your while, myLot does have a referral system that will give you 25% of everything that the people you refer earn so if you manage to get enough people to sign up, and they are active participants, you can actually start earning a non-trivial amount. I have heard that some of the top referrers make up to $700.00 per month but that could just be a rumor so don't set your heart on making your living this way. (referral systems tend to be vulnerable to Pyramid probems) They also have contests every month and while they don't always pay money out to winners, they did pay out $1,000 to the winner of the video contest they had last month.

Probably the biggest money making potential myLot has is it's traffic. Just randomly spamming discussions with product promotions is prohibited but you can put your information on your profile or even sign your blog up on myLot and then if you are actively posting in discussions you can be sure people will be checking out your profile or blog.

MyLot does have some problems but they are most likely related to their huge growth. The last few months they have been growing at the rate of about 10,000 new users every month and growth like that is sure to cause problems. The most annoying problem I've faced is that I haven't been able to log in during peak internet times. I've also noticed that my post count has gone down occasionally (though that could just be because some of my posts have been deleted). I haven't been able to detect a drop in my earning when this happens so that is what makes me think it might just be caused by a strain on the database. These kinds of problems have worried me a bit and I'm hoping that myLot doesn't become a victim of it's own success. So far they have managed to update their systems fast enough to keep things running.

All in all I would rate myLot at 4 out of 5 stars. If this sounds like something you might be interested in then sign up by clicking here. MyLot pays it's members through PayPal but if you don't happen to have an account yet you can still sign up. Just leave the payment information blank, then when you are ready, you can fill it in later.

Just a quick note before you get started...When you first start posting you will not notice any earning accumulating. This is because myLot only calculates your earnings once every 24 hours.

Can The Warrior Forum Make You $50,000 Or More?

I'm sure it has made a great deal more then $50,000 for the advanced marketeers who frequent this board but the question is... can the average person make that kind of money?

The topic that asks "How Can This Forum Make You $50,000 Or More" is an introduction to a special sale known as the 'Warrior Special Offer'. Basically a Warrior Special Offer (or WSO as they are most frequently referred to) are posts that make sales to, or request donations from, Warrior Forum readers. They cost about $20.00 to set up and the Warrior Forum can actually process the orders for you. Since the entire market is made up of Warrior Forum readers and are therefore probably people who run an internet business, you would most likely only have success with this sales method if you had a product that catered to this particular market. In other words, you probably don't want to try to sell tattoos to these people.

I've never actually tried to do one of these sales so I can't say at this time whether the WSO can make that kind of money for beginners but I've found that the Warrior Forum is still a good resource (even those without a business product to sell). This is because it is frequented by large numbers of fellow marketeers and gets a ton of traffic. It's free to sign up and you will hear the latest news while building your business network. You can also put offers that you are selling or your website address in your signature link for free exposure. This website has an Alexa ranking of 586 as of this date so that means that the Warrior Forum is a very popular and high ranking website. Not only does that mean that you will have a lot of eyeballs looking at your links but having links to your website on such a high ranking website also does nice things for your website's ranking.

One MAJOR warning though. Like most popular websites it attracts con artists by the dozen so be very careful about buying products for sale by Warrior Forum members or products recommended by Warrior members. Many, if not most, of the people recommending products there are affiliates or owners of said product and not everyone cares if they are recommending a good product or not. In my experience, products approved by the Warrior Forum itself have turned out to be pretty good quality. When looking at a product sold or recommended by forum members, check to see if they have been a long time member (at least a year) with a high rank and that they have a good reputation with other services such as PayPal. There should also be more then 5 or 6 people recommending a product. For more information I recommend you check out the "Safer Buying Practices for WSO's" in the "Warrior Special Offers" forum. As always, caveat emptor- buyer beware.

To check out the Warrior Forum yourself click here.

Beware the Pyramid Scheme

Every age has its peculiar folly: Some scheme, project, or fantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the force of imitation.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay

Probably one of the first scams people interested in starting their own home business run into is a pyramid scheme and I was no exception. To my embarrassment, the brand of pyramid scheme that took me in when I first began was the classical chain letter (this is back in the dark ages about 10 years ago before most people had email).

I already knew about the bad reputation that chain letters had and I knew that most of the people who sent them out never made any money but desperation seems to shut down the critical reasoning areas of your brain and I was able to ignore the downsides while convincing myself that if I got creative enough this would work.

For those rare people who have never received one I'll explain how they work. The typical chain letter will have a list of about five names and addresses and you are suppose to send a dollar to each person on the list. Then you are suppose to put your name and address at the top of the list and remove the name of the person at the bottom. You then mail the letter to five people that you know. If everyone who receives this letter follows these instructions you wind up receiving thousands of letters with a one dollar bill inside.

This sounds great at first glance and it did make the first people to start chain letters very rich but if you follow it to it's logical conclusion you'll realize why it's now considered a scam (it's also illegal). Even if everyone followed the instructions exactly, the only people who would make money are the people who got started before everyone else got involved. Since the letter goes out at an exponential rate it doesn't take long before everyone has received their copy of the letter so who do the last few people who get the letter send their letters to?

Most people are immune to this form of pyramid schemes now but this concept has proven to be remarkably adaptable and has taken many other forms. Since I could never possibly cover every form it has taken I'll just leave you with some basic questions to ask yourself when you come across a new opportunity...

1. Does it have an inherent benefit that is worth whatever it costs to participate? For example, if there is a product involved would you buy that product even if there were no business opportunity attached AND for the price that it is offered?

2. Does it require that you recruit other people in order to get your benefit?

If you would like to read more I recommend you read the information from the US Postal Inspectors about Chain letters and Wikipedia has a nice article about pyramid schemes in general.