At first glance, I’ll have to say that this one seems like a whole lot of effort for a little bit of money. Ciao! has launched in the US as a shopper destination where you’ll find literally thousands of reviews for a host of products and Internet services. In this capacity, it is a reliable source when you are in the market to purchase particular merchandise and seems to live up to its claim of “the shopping experts network”.

What would this have to do with “making money online”, you ask? Well, as a member of Ciao! you will be “paid” for writing these reviews. This is where the “whole lot of effort for a little bit of money” comes in. Clicking on this link, will take you to the website where you will choose a product to review. Once you make the pick, you are instructed to write a 120 word review, and then register for membership. You’ll be paid $1 for the review. For each subsequent review that you write, you will be paid according to the ratings you receive from other members. I’ll have to admit that I was very confused by the “payment rates”. Here is the explanation from the website:

  1. How can I earn money by writing product reviews?
    Reviews of some products will be awarded a small cash payment every time a member rates them “helpful”, “very helpful” or “exceptional”. To take advantage of this, write high-quality reviews about these products to ensure that you receive numerous positive ratings by other members.
  2. How are earnings for member ratings calculated?
    Your earnings for ratings of your reviews by other members are calculated by multiplying the number of ratings per review by the remuneration rate for each of the reviews written. These totals are then added up and your overall earnings calculated once a month.
  3. What are the different rates of remuneration being offered?
    1 cent per rating, 2 cents per rating or 3 cents per rating. For some reviews, you will not be paid anything for ratings. The different rates of remuneration are indicated by dollar signs which appear next to the name of the product on the product overview page when you have logged in. These symbols are not visible from any of the other product information tabs. The different payment levels are as follows: no dollar sign is shown for non-remunerated products, one dollar sign indicates 1 cent per rating, two dollar signs 2 cents and three dollar signs 3 cents.

Say what??? If you can make heads or tails out of that, more power to you. If you are an aspiring writer, and want to find out what all of this means, please join up and then let us all know if you make any money doing so. I think I’ll pass :)

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