ClixSense
Method:
PTC
Brief
History
ClixSense was the first PTC site we ever reviewed last year in July. The
site was also one of the first major PTC sites to hit the industry but
never tried to compete with any other sites that popped up after it. The
site originally boasted that they were an as seen on TV company however
we haven’t been able to see if their claim is true and more over TV
should have boosted their traffic much higher than they have ever
achieved.
What
has always been strange about their business ethic is to keep themselves
to themselves. The owners of the site seem to be somewhat unaware of
what the rest of the industry is up to and gaining contact with them can
be difficult. Over the year we had asked them for an interview to find
out so much about this site that you never seen to be able to find out.
Current
setup
Granted
the site has been maintained well over time and design changes have been
common. Their Alexa chart shows a rate of consistency that is unmatched
by any other PTC. ClixSense has for along while been number 3 in terms
of traffic regardless of what changes have happened in the industry and
what content has become a must for any promising PTC. Again shying away
from public moderating ClixSense has never installed a forum or live
chat for example.
Essential ClixSense is just what PTC sites were like back in summer 2007
but has been able to maintain its reputation and traffic volumes simply
because they were arguably one of the first PTC sites giving them
something of a head start. Although their way of business has clearly
worked for them it begs the question as to where this site would be if
it did try to include what is popular with PTC sites on their site
today.
One of
the most limiting things about them is that there is no electronic
transaction via PayPal or AlertPay for example. All earnings go by your
home address and the only way to cash out is to receive a check in the
post once you have reached the minimum of £10 on your account. What’s
worse is this check comes with a fee of $3.00. This just goes to show
how dated the setup is here compared to most modern PTC sites as they
are only using the old snail mail with fees added.
Advertising
Because
of the snail mail check fee most people convert their earnings to ads.
Advertising seems a little odd here since it doesn’t look like there is
anyway to purchase ads other than converting your current account
earnings and there is a minimum amount that you can convert. No doubt
this system clearly encourages clicking but it also takes away the
ability for new users to advertiser as soon as they join.
Since
we are using the premium membership here which was worth $10 we should
be able to see around 20 ads a day but after nearly a years use we have
rarely seen the amount of ads that was promised when upgrading. The
upgrade page at the time also stated that there would be plenty of £0.2
ads which defiantly weren’t the case as they were more of a rarity.
Affiliate system
Another
part of what ClixSense has refuse to adapt to is the modern referral
system where you earn of each members clicks and you can purchase your
own. On ClixSense you cannot purchase any referrals you can only refer
them via normal methods. Once you have referred a member you get a $0.01
bonus when they sign up but then you can rise up several levels which
increases the bonus every time you refer someone. If any of your
referrals upgrade to premium you are given a bonus of $0.10.
Although this is far from a universal experience affiliate system it has
proved to have provided our tester with a great deal of earnings from
sign up bonuses and provided us with quite a few ads which do convert
well here. As we were curious as to why ClixSense does not let you
purchase referrals they told us simply “it would increase spam”.
Conclusion
The
facts are that our tests have proven high earnings and if you are good
at the referral system this site is a good place to earn. We don’t
expect this site to change rapidly or become very vocal but there have a
lot of open doors for them. It’s important to understand just how
popular this site is regardless of their slow modernisation. According
to the Alexa chart this is likely the second most popular PTC site
around in terms of sites still progressing.
