Have you ever come across a website promising a free prize? Maybe they just give out seemingly “free” money to you like Cash Crate or Treasure Trooper do? These websites are referred to as “Get Paid To,” or GPT, programs… and the secret is that they are very profitable for the business owner. Imagine if you had an advertiser willing to pay you $1 per sign up, and you could get 1,000 people to do it for $0.50… sounds crazy? It’s not! The Get Paid To business model is still holding up in these bad times, and I want to get you in the game.

First of all, a brief disclosure.  I am not going to encourage all of you to drop what you are doing and start a business. There are a lot of GPT websites out there because it is so profitable, so you have to be a hard-worker if this is going to work. Additionally, a bit of background information would help immensely. Tons of GPT websites are started on a daily basis… and there are really only 50 “established” websites. Because too many people get started, and then stop working and give up, the GPT line of work is something that you should be interested in before getting into it.

I want to break up this series on how to make your own GPT website into two parts. First, we will cover getting started up… including things like forming your concept and organizing paperwork. Second, we will get into the actual systems that you can use to get your dream into reality. I think that all of you have the capabilities to be entrepreneurs… and the industry absolutely thrives in bad times when people are increasingly looking for second incomes. Let’s get going!

Step One: Think Up A Brilliant Idea

Here’s the key to running a successful GPT website… are you ready for it? The key to running a successful GPT website is holding your visitors’ attention! Okay, okay… so right now you are thinking that I am wrong, right? It’s not the entertainment business, I’m not making movies here. In effect, the entire function of GPT is to make money… so who cares if it’s fun or not… right?

This is where I think that many people slip up. Having a concept that really hits it out of the ball park is more important than anyone else thinks. Why? Clicking in an out of offers is BORING! In general, people will start giving up and not frequently visiting your website like they should if there is nothing interactive about it. Visitors lose focus, and stop caring about the $0.50 light at the end of the tunnel. As a businessman, it is your job to keep your guests working on your site, and conversely bringing in more revenue for your business.

Let’s check out some examples. Treasure Trooper is the webs #1 GPT by foot traffic, and #2 on our list of the Best GPT Websites for 2009. Why? They play off of the whole “tribal adventure” theme, and everything on the site makes you feel like you are running through the jungle collecting gold coins and fighting bad guys. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but because there is an interactive storyline surrounding their service… it is very hard to leave the computer screen, and that is exactly what we want!

The moral of the story is that you need a killer idea, or “theme” if you will, in order to run a successful business. Start thinking about just how you are going to captivate your audience… and put it in motion! You should jot down a few ideas, make it a bit more fine tuned, and look for the next big idea that you think people will enjoy and keep coming back for.

Step Two: Removing the Personal Liability From Your Business

We talked last week about how to start a business. Essentially, owning a business is all about removing personal liability (at least in the way that I think of it). When you really get down to it, anyone can run a “business.” However, unless you are fully registered and protected as a legal entity, your personal assets are at 100% risk. Therefore, by registering for an LLC. (recommended) or S-Corp., you will be removing personal liability from the equation and greatly enhancing your upside.

There are a few steps to take here, and I think that you should do all of the following before you officially open up your new “get paid to” website for business:

1. Register an LLC. or S-Corp
2. Draw Up Articles of Organization
3. Protect Your Service with a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

It might be a bit of work on the front end, but don’t think that it is not a necessary step. Trust me, you will feel a lot better being able to sleep at night when you have some kind of downside “insurance” if you will.

Step Three: Forming Partnerships with Affiliate Networks

Now comes the tricky part, you need a way to offer your customers “incentivized” offers and surveys to complete for cash. What you need, instead of going to advertisers individually, is a middleman marketer… or what we call an affiliate network. In a nutshell, this is a company that services ads from advertisers and let’s you market them for profit. Typically, you can gauge how “good” a network is based on how many offers they have and how well they pay in relation to other networks. Yes, that’s right, all affiliate networks are not equal.

Because of a recent onslaught of fraud and defaulting, many networks are a bit concerned with allowing traffic through incentivized. However, unline many would have you think, there are still quite a few willing competitors on the market to service your account. Here is a list of some of the best ones just to get you started:

• AzoogleAds
• Hydra
• CPAStorm
• MaxBounty
• IncentaClick
• Commission Junction
• ClickBooth
• Copeac

Remember, NEVER advertise a non-incentivized advertisement on your GPT website. This will result in an immediate ban from your affiliate manager. You can only use the affiliate offers as they are designated to be used, and every network will tell you this information on the main page of the affiliate offer. This is just a word of caution before you start breaking rules!

Bottom Line: Get Paid To programs are increasing in popularity as household disposable income decreases around the world. If you have an entrepreneur spirit, it’s not hard to use this to your advantage and start your own GPT business! We’ve laid the groundwork, come back tomorrow for a look at how you can set it all in motion and actually build up your GPT empire!

-The Net Fool

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