A Pay-program with Promise
Written: Feb 02 '00 (Updated Dec 05 '02)
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ClickDough is no longer operating. They failed to attract enough advertisers to keep their program going, and in the end, they sold their members' info to anybody who'd buy it. A program that started out with promise, but in the end it died a slow and painful death.
ClickDough is another "Paid to Surf" rewards program that pays you for viewing ads, similar to AllAdvantage, GotoWorld, etc. The primary difference between ClickDough and many of the other "ad-viewing" programs is that ClickDough does not require you to download any software, but instead opens a "Personal Window" , a separate browser window which displays the ads.
This feature is what attracted me to ClickDough, as I use an Apple Macintosh computer and I have yet to find any rewards program that has a Mac version of their software. Another advantage to this feature is that because the ads are displayed in a browser window, your computer's system resources aren't tied up in running another piece of software. Also, because ClickDough doesn't require you to have special software to use the program, it means you can participate from any computer that has a Web browser, whether at home, work, or even a public access machine. I use Netscape 4.08 and have no difficulties, although there is a note at the site saying those using Internet Explorer 5.0 are having some problems.
ClickDough's payment method is fairly standard - you get paid based on how many hours per month your "Personal Window" is active, plus a lesser amount for the time your direct and indirect referrals are using their "Personal Windows". Currently, they have not indicated any hourly rates of pay, but instead say they will pay the participating members 50% of the money they earn from their advertisers. Obviously, it would be better if they could give an exact amount, but the dollar amounts will not be calculated until March 1, 2000. Then they will pay for any time you have built up, plus 20% for your direct referrals, 10% for the first level of indirect referrals, and 5% for second through eighth level indirect referrals. Eight levels of referrals is twice as many levels as offered by AllAdvantage. And unlike many other pay programs, there is currently no limit on the number of hours per month ClickDough will pay you to surf.
I was also impressed by the ClickDough website. It is professional-looking, attractive, and easy to navigate, which always gives me more confidence that the program has more of a chance of continuing. Also, their "Profit Builder Kit" has some excellent ideas for building your personal referral network, from the usual sample emails that most programs offer, but also banner ads to display on your website, and even a link to Homestead.com, which offers free webspace for those that would like to build their own website. There are also downloadable fliers that you can print out and post around the neighborhood, a downloadable image to have printed on your Post-it™ Notes, and even instructions for how to host your own ClickDough Pizza Party to sign up your friends!
About the only thing that I found annoying about ClickDough is that whenever a new ad loads into the "Personal Window", it moves to the "front" of your desktop, which can get a little annoying, especially when your doing a lot of typing, like for instance when you're trying to write an Epinion review. But I suppose it's fair enough that they don't want to pay you to have ads that you can't see because they are hidden behind three other windows. Also, there is a "pause" button in the window that you can click to temporarily stop the ads from loading, which I think is a great idea.
Also, if you don't click on any ads for a certain time period (I haven't timed it, so I don't know how long...maybe thirty minutes to an hour?), the "Personal Window" stops displaying ads and you don't get paid, but again ClickDough includes a link in the window that lets you start the ads up again.
Obviously, since they won't announce until after the first of March what their pay-rates are, I can't say that this program is a great money-earner, but I am impressed with their service, and I think I'll use it at least until after the announcement. Then we'll know if it's worth continuing with.
Until then, I can definitely recommend ClickDough as a good program to try.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
wil31
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Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 14 members
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