Referrals: The Key to Get-Paid-To Success

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Between the ages of 16 and 18, I went through a whole host of different websites that promised to pay me to take a particular action. They would pay me to write, complete surveys, create lists, click on links, watch videos and all kinds of other things. Each time, I would have to Google “[x website] payment proof” to see if it was the real deal. Sure enough, there would be proof for everything (because scammers that rank content high on Google usually aren’t fools).

For the ones that did turn out to be legit, I trusted that the figures they showed off (usually in the hundreds of pounds) were purely by carrying out the task that the platform was built around. They had usually written a very extensive blog post about it, making you feel as though they were really in the field, grinding it out and reaping the rewards from exactly that.

It’s a lot more likely that they gave it a quick go and then focused on something a lot more lucrative: the referral programme. These programmes come in all shapes and forms, but they usually either work under the understanding that for every person you refer, you get a little commission. Better ones will allow you to earn a percentage of your referrals’ earnings on the platform.

There’s two things to learn from this:

Bear in mind earning potential may be reliant on referrals
Generating a significant number of referrals will require some work

A lot of get-paid-to platforms pay relatively little for the tasks they ask of you. We’re maybe talking £xx (and more likely at the bottom end) per day. In fact, I was once the second-top earner on Ciao.co.uk and although the money was consistent, I doubt it was any more than £30 per day towards my later days. If that’s the top end, there was people taking so much less and dedicating hours of every day to it.

Referrals can be a way to earn money essentially while you sleep. You could share sign up links on social media or create a blog and sit back and wait for people to act on it. And you get to reach far beyond your immediate circle.

It took a long time for me to realise the value in sharing the things I was doing to make money. If there was a referral programme for Ciao, I would have been able to convince people that the money was good (as it really was for me compared to most things out there), and potentially earn a cut of whatever they did, so long as they were as motivated as me to keep posting.

If you really enjoy using get-paid-to websites with referral programmes, maximise your earnings by focusing on whichever way is going to get you to that money in the most efficient way. More often that not, focusing on those sign ups is exactly what you need to spend your time on.