Get Rewarded Buying Presents This Christmas

This is the dreaded time of the year in terms of finances, buying christmas gifts for the family and friends. Yes, there are budget presents but the next thing to consider is the number of persons to give gifts to. Pinoys are known to please as much as they can, not just the immediate family but from the "inaanak" (god child), kumpare's and kumare's (very close friends) and so on. So before dipping very deep into your pockets fellow Pinoys, there is a way to get "rewarded" buying gifts this Christmas, or at least a way to get percentage off on virtually every purchase you will make. It could be in the form of cashbacks, purchase points and discounts.

Get more loyalty points.

Whether online shopping or actual shopping is concerned, use your credit card for all of your transactions. Not only that you are covered with faulty merchandise, but of fraud as well. Credit cards also offer loyalty points, like the Nectar credit card, which you will earn nectar points in using it. If you have a nectar loyalty card, then using it along with your nectar credit card will earn you double points instead of only one from participating nectar loyalty card stores. Your nectar credit card on the other hand, can earn nectar points in virtually all stores including those with no affiliation to nectar loyalty card.

A promo under this card is just on time for the holidays. When you spend £2000 worth of products from the moment you opened your Nectar credit card, you will earn 20, 000 nectar points. This is equivalent to £100 that you can spend to participating stores like Argos, Sainsburys and among others.

Asda credit card on the other hand, gives you a cashback of 1pence for every £1 spend in store or online including george.com, and flexibility of paying it interest free for 6 months for purchases £200 worth or more.

Get More Shopping Points

Asda's 6 months zero interest + points	Collect more nectar points

Use supermarket and stores with loyalty cards 

If you are a fashion fan, stores like Outfit offers a mastercard that can give you upto 70% of savings. You will also have the the exclusive card holder only discounts for a further 20% discount on top of any existing discount. Get your exclusive invitations here.

Boots loyalty card is the most generous in terms of giving points. You'll receive 4points for every £1 spend in store or online. As a card holder, you will be the first to know about their special promos like half price products, buy 3 for the price of two and so on. Get the advantage card here.

Use social buying sites


Groupon, wowcher and other group buying sites provide lower prices compared to the real retail value of goods and services. You could get a treat of up to 90% off.

On top of this, the site also offers an incentive for existing users to invite their friends to become members and earn at least £5 for every referral. Not only that you're helping them save but you could earn a substantial amount for your effort as well. See the site for more details.

Cashback websites

May it be topcashback, quidco,  nhscashback and similar sites, they offer cashback on every purchase made when you use their links. This is the new face of affiliate site that was only accessible to webmasters before. Online costumers and all web users can now participate as an "affiliate" without the need for a website to earn something from their purchases. You can grow as much as £1000 in comission on the things you normally buy and all services you virtually need when you use this sites. I myself have accumulated almost £500 by purchasing my home and car insurance, buying my pay monthly phone, health and beauty products using this sites.

How to join and get cashback..

How To Cash In This Christmas

Here's December, the most expensive month of the year. Season of sales, 50% offs, buy one get one and so on. Companies know when people are prepared to splash their cash out to buy gifts for friends and family or for themselves. So the hard earned money is gone, well , no hard feelings especially it's gone to someone we love or something we really want.  However, there is a way to get some of this cash back. No magic tricks, no hard to follow instructions and no fee, and I can show you how. Trust me, it works!

If you are planning to  buy top of the line smartphones and gadgets this Christmas, there are many sales out there from the highstreet retailers like Carphonewarehouse, dial-a-phone, phones-4-U and many more. This is great, as they all have offers of up to 50% on line rentals,  give you free gifts and cashbacks too. Now the better news is, when you join topcashback and shop online, you can get these offers from them plus another "cash gift" of up to £141 (at the time of this post). All you have to do is less than 5 minutes of your time to join then shop as usual.

See how much you can earn from selected companies below.

It is not only phone company products that you can have something back, in fact almost everything. If you are planning to switch your energy provider, you can have at least £50 in your bank account after the switch, at least £80 for broadband and almost £200 for the combination of TV and broadband products.

To join, all you need is an email address, mailing address, and method of cashback payment, like paypal, or back account.

Join here!

It's not all money out this season, but a cash in as well. An extra something for just joining that can grow into something big when used regularly. Be smart this Christmas on where to spend your money!

Money For Your Thoughts

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Here's another way of making money online. You do not need anything other than a computer and broadband connection. You do not need to own a blog or a website, and you do not need to send your friends spam messages. You can do it on your own and at your own pace. This is by just by sharing your thoughts and opinions about an advertisement, a product or a service.

I had my first payment from what I thought was just a past time sharing what I think about upcoming movies, my favourite drink and which type of phone I use most. These are online surveys, where they ask for my opinions on advertisements, products, services, films, gadgets, and many more. I usually do this while I hear news, or while watching boring TV programs where I do not have a choice but to sit down and to show how polite I am to family members, or couldn't get bothered to get up and do something worthwhile. 

What survey company?

There are survey companies online, where they ask you to do the same as this company does. Other's let you review a certain product by writing a post.

The difference with this company is you just need to tick the questionnaire. You do not even need to agree or select the positive answer. You just need to answer the questions sincerely.

This online company is a global consumer research panel that was founded in 1999 by Global Market Insite, Inc. (GMI). GMI conducts market research to more than 1400 companies in over 60 countries. Their survey studies include: Movies, Restaurants, Automobiles, Consumer products, Current events, and others. They have been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2004.

Who can participate?

Anyone who can understand english with the required minimum age of 14. I just do not know if the surveys in other 60 countries are written in the official language of that  particular country. Though I have tried to finish a survey using Tagalog, which was an option of the survey.

What do you need to participate?

Obviously, you need to have a computer connected to the internet. A broadband connection is needed, as surveys are in the form of questionaires, videos and other multimedia or a combination of the three. Using mobile data connection is also okay as long as you have unlimited tariff.

You also need to be 14 years old and over to participate, though some of the surveys need participation of younger audience, a child of a registered member for example.

You need to have a bank account. This is for the purpose of depositing your cheque or payment. They do not ask you to provide any evidence of this when you register and they do not even ask about it. But what is the point of receiving cheque if you do not have the resources to turn it into cash?

What kinds of survey and for how long?

Surveys are for existing, new and future products from unknown and well known companies. Like BP, for example, they asked me to rate different advertising posters. Which one do I like, which one shows care for the environment, shows innovation, or shows both. Which part of the advert caught my attention, which part doesn't tell anything about the product etc. You will be guided on what to do and how to answer the questions. This type of survey took me at least 25 minutes to complete. See some screenshots below.

Other surveys are for common products we buy everyday like detergents, mobile phones, McDonalds, movies or sweets just like an example below. Sometimes they require opinions from younger audience, so you can grab your son or daughter to complete it.

Sometimes you are not selected to participate, or have been screened out,  this is because they base these surveys according to your personal circumstances that you have disclosed. Example is when they are asking you to give an opinion about children's nappy, but you do not have any children. Do not be disappointed at this point, just keep your answers as honest as possible. I have been screened  out a lot of times as well. 

What's the compensation?

Payment is through redemption of points. Survey point varies from 15 to 250 points. 1000 points is the least amount of point you can have to cash in. This is worth $50 or around £30. I have just got my cheque this month  after at least 30 days from redeeming it. 

How to join?

Please email me at prakticality@gmail.com with a message title Join Panelist . If you have questions please feel free to message me for further tips.

Once you have joined, visit your inbox for survey invitations and you can start earning points doing them. I recommend to do this when you are just killing time, because sometimes the surveys are boring and most of the time repetitive. This is for them to know if you are a good candidate for the product or not. If you'll be screened out, do not worry, they'll compensate you for a sweepstakes entry. I have not won any, but you can see at their website the winners from all parts of the world.

Sometimes I receive  a lot of offers in one day and nothing on other days. You do not need to get involved in every surveys. 

My thoughts and some tips

This might not be for everyone's taste, but if you are an opinionated person on anything I think this is for you. Surveys are here to help companies improve their services by asking us about our views. In doing so, us, the consumers are helping them in the shaping or creating of new and better products. And this is the best part, they make us not just consumers, but as a part of a deciding body whether they release their product into the general public now or later.

Answering a survey doesn't mean you need to agree to all of the nice positive answers and all of the good things they tell you about a product. It is better to tell exactly what's your thought and experience about it, whether good or bad. This will not only help them improve their product, but also to show them that you are an honest product reviewer, and when this happens, you'll be asked to join more surveys to earn more points in the future. 

This doesn't make you rich, it just gives you a little extra, for the movies or anything worth £30. If you can spend all day liking something on facebook without any compensation then this is a little more interesting to do!

Put a Spark in Your Blog

A new friend blogger asked me what's my motivation in publishing my blog.  This question has brought my memory back when the web was still young, and began questioning how a website works, what is HTML then taken aback  viewing the source code of a website. Just looking at the code made me realised that I won't be able to make my own from scratch. But with the existing blogging flatforms like blogger and word press that made a way for the not so technically inclined person to publish and host a site instantly and for free, has given me the passion to express and build my web presence. And not only web presence that you gain when you write a blog, there's more.

Money for your posts.

I have joined Social Spark last year, and initially, I did not really know what Social Spark was or how it works. I first heard it from a fellow blogger, BB, or Bargain Briana at FB, when I followed her post on how to monetize a blog. Did listed  my work and luckily passed the minimum requirements.

What is it?

Social Spark connects advertisers with bloggers to create sponsored blog posts. What it means is  an advertiser tells Social Spark to  contact it's list of approved bloggers to write a post regarding a product. The advertiser's proposal contains the minimum requirement for the post  and how much it is willing to pay. Social Spark then creates a lead (possible paid  post proposal) and distributes it to it's lists of  approved bloggers  with appropriate blog contents related to the product. The selected bloggers will then be contacted by email and from their social spark account and they can accept the lead or negotiate for the payment.  The advertiser then selects from the bloggers who responded to the lead and creates an offer. The blogger will be sent another email whether he is selected to do the post and he is given 3 days to complete the task with specific instructions for the post. Payment follows after 30 days from the post being "live" or published online.

What sorts of products?

I think almost everything, from electrical items like mobile processors, feature of a car, digital product like anti virus, mobile apps, even services like pharmacy subscriptions, cleaning products etc.This means, whatever is the content of your blog, there is a product suitable to your topic.

Getting paid.

Paypal, at the moment, is the only mode of payment. The post's payment is translated into points, where in one point is one US cent. Any payments or points monetized into paypal account below $50 or 5000 points is deducted by $2 or 200 points. 

Limitations

As Social Spark is based in the US,  most of the advertisers and products come  from there as well. And from time to time, posts are exclusive to bloggers from that territory. There are also companies that prefer blogs with good or specific minimum numbers of  stats per day or per month. This means that the leads and offers vary from a blogger to another.

There are also deals that a publisher can post and get paid when a reader buys the item through a click on his codes. These deals are favorable to US bloggers as most of the products are US based.

Why write for Social Spark? 

Because you  can select the leads based on your content, can negotiate your reward, and you get all what it says as your reward. If you are a blogger or have started blogging, list your blog to social spark, who knows, maybe you will be writing a post for the top brands tomorrow!

You can click on the logo or start to join here. 

Watch Video

My thoughts.

It is not easy to start a blog. Finding a topic is also difficult. But if you write something on what you like to do, you'll never run out of topics to write. 

Maintaining it is a bit difficult. You need to have the time to do it. I usually think something to write when it is  quiet at night, and sometimes after reading an interesting and new article. 

Making money from your blog is not also easy. But do not be frustrated that in the first year you just earn a few cents,  in fact, I am happy with any cent adding up every month. It's not the amount that counts but the fact that they are coming from thin air. Just do not stop to write fresh and original new contents to make a reason for your visitors to come back,



How websites and blogs make money 1

Everybody is familiar with websites. We use them for emailing, social networking, paying bills, shopping, studying, as references and for other million things. Did it cross to your mind how these sites make money? Of course there are sites that are set up specifically to make money. But how about those sites that do not sell anything. Or on an ordinary blog like this? Did you think the webmasters or bloggers just set publish things up, write what's on their mind like we usually do in social networks without other motivations? 

There must be other motivations, besides from passion of writing and giving information, and of these is to make money. Websites and blogs can really make money in many ways. This post, however, will concentrate on one of the ways, and that's affiliate marketing.

What's affiliate marketing?

This is a practice  in which a business rewards an affiliate for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own  efforts. Most merchants pay the affiliate when the affiliate's site makes a sale of the company's product or service, or when a affiliate's site drives new customer to fill in his details (lead). Another way to generate and get paid by lead is when a surfer uses a special search engine, usually product comparison search engines.

How can I become an affiliate marketer?

Obviously, computer with internet connection is the first requirement. Second would be a website or a blog which could either be free or paid. And a little bit of HTML know how. Basic online tutorials can be found on many sites, just google it. Next is to join an affiliate network. 

If you already own a website or a blog, you can start straight away. A good starting point when choosing which company to apply to as an affiliate from an affiliate network is the content of your site. If your site is about traveling or your travels then apply your site to merchants that cater vacation, flights, breaks, or even airline companies. You can also add vehicle hires and airport parking companies.

Which affiliate network to join?

An affiliate network is a company that merchants hire to find affiliates for their products and one of the well known and has good reputation is Affiliate Window . I always recommend this network because of the many lists of merchants that are on board. From groceries to electrical products, flights, insurance, you name it and I am sure you can find merchants which products are relevant to your website. Well known merchants from this networks include Asda, Boots, Carphonewarehouse, Dialaphone, Macwarehouse, PCworld to name a few.

How  websites actually make money on links?

After you're website is approved by a merchant, you will be given codes with your unique tracking code, so that when a visitor clicks on your link, and buys something from the merchant who gave you the link, the site owner gets commission. Commissions can from 1% to 30% depending on the product and the contract a merchant and the affiliate agreed upon.

Below is a screenshot of some of prakticality's 56 affiliate merchants

Let's take a look at the conditions of being a Carphone Warehouse affiliate.

As you can see, they give different commissions on different products, some flat rate cash and some by percentages, from the same merchant.

Now let's see the links and banners with the unique affiliate tracking code which you can embed into your site. The screen shot below

The complete code with the tracking affiliate number 76874(affiliate ID) and the resulting banner below it.


<!--START MERCHANT:merchant name Carphone Warehouse from affiliatewindow.com.-->
                                         
                                        <script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.awin1.com/cawshow.php?v=2264&s=173944&r=76874"></script>
                                                <noscript><iframe src="http://www.awin1.com/cshow.php?v=2264&s=173944&r=76874&iframe=1" width=468 height=60 frameborder=0 border=0 scrolling=no marginheight=0 marginwidth=0></iframe></noscript>
                                                                                    <!--END MERCHANT:merchant name Carphone Warehouse from affiliatewindow.com-->
                                                                         
                             

Embedding the links

The blogger can embed the link anywhere he chooses. I recommend to write some interesting points about a product and redirect readers through a text link or a banner link like the one above. And when a visitor clicks the link, the tracking number which is the affiliates ID will be remembered into the affiliate network's server. When the visitor purchase anything from the merchant's site, the server remember's this as well. In fact, the computer that the visitor used will also retain the affiliate ID's and can store them within 30 days, as long as the cache of the visitor's computer is configured to hold cookies for 30 days. This means the next time the visitor goes and buys anything directly from the merchant's, the affiliate still earns a commission. That's why cookies are so useful for us bloggers and webmasters!

If you have a blog and want to try out how to being an affiliate, and not sure where to start, please feel free to 

contact me.

Money For Posting Anything

I am sure you are a member of facebook. Do you post any links in there like videos from you tube and the likes, favourite websites, favourite web stores, etc. etc?

Do you know that you can earn something when your friends click on the link of the videos you want them to see, the websites you want them to go and anything you want them to visit?

By using a URL shortening site, you can do this. The process of earning is easy. Join, shorten a URL, copy the shortened URL and post it to facebook, email it to a friend, and when your friend clicks on the shortened URL, you earn something. It's free, fun and easy money for you.

Start earning, click the link below to register.

http://adf.ly/?id=196148

Save On International Call

Using BT Line

You don't have to spend a fortune phoning friends who live outside the UK. All you have to do is select which country you want to call (from our list below) and we'll give you an access number that lets you make cheap calls to that country all the time.

Procedure:

1. Scroll to the country you want to call
2. Dial the corresponding access number
3. Dial the complete destination number




Using Monthly Tariff Mobile Phone

We don't bill you either, your normal service provider will. You don't even have to open an account or use a credit card, it's just cheap calls for you at the same rate day or night, every day of the week. Save on international calls by using your existing pay monthly free call allowance .  A call to the US is only 1 pence per minute.  Text BCALL to 80550 and you will receive £5 worth of call, and that means 500 minutes USA calls! Just be sure you have more free minutes allowance!

Procedure:

1. Text BCALL to 80550 for £5 credit
2. You will receive a confirmation text and and a local access number to place your call, which is 0207 124 6666 at the time of this writing.
3.At the prompt enter your destination number including the international code. Dont press send again.

Dialling tip

If you are using smartphones, see how you can automate dialling the access number and destination number in  one or two clicks at

http://prakticality.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/how-to-dial-access-number-and.html