How to Make Money by Writing Reviews on Ciao

If you want to know the EASIEST way to make money online try writing reviews. This how to article will steer you in the right direction when it comes to writing and actually getting paid decently. I have written reviews for Epinions, Ebay, and Amazon but have never received one payment from any of those so I removed my reviews from those sites and put them on my new favorite site Ciao.com I figure, why write reviews for those other sites so that they can post paid ads alongside my words when I can get a paycheck from this new site? 

How to start
First you'll need to register for an account with ciao.com Below is my referral link. If you sign up by using my link I will return the favor by signing up for one of your sites so that you can get credit for me. Just send me a message with your referral link.

http://www.ciao.com/reg.php?FriendId=10017027 http://www.myLot.com?ref=Rachel1919 MyLot is a social site that does pay but they don't pay very much. They are a great site for learning the tips and tricks of the online earning trade. Plus it is an awesome place to find referral links and post your own.

Make sure you have a Paypal account prior to signing up with Ciao. This is how they will be paying you monthly so you'll want to set this up before you begin. If you sell on Ebay you probably have a Paypal account already so you won't need another one.

Once you have signed up you should create your profile. You can upload a picture of yourself, choose your layout colors, and write a tagline. A lot of hardcore Ciao members may not like me disclosing the following secrets to you but personally I don't really care. I wish someone had written a guide to earning on Ciao when I first started but it was all hush hush & top secret. People can be so selfish, I, on the other hand am not. I believe in sharing what you know and teaching those who are eager to learn instead of keeping everything to myself. I suppose it comes from my background of being an elementary school teacher for 5 years. If someone asks me a question I can't just ignore that I find more joy in helping others. Read on for some essential tips all on one page.

Write your first review as soon as possible. You can pick just about anything to write about. People usually start out with a review on a movie because it is easy. My advice is to just write what you know about. I am no movie buff and though I have written a couple of movie reviews before, I find them to be boring to write. You'll want to write about something you know and like to talk about. In my case, the topic would be beauty products which is perfect because there is a section on just that. There is pretty much a section for almost anything and if there isn't you can request the product you'd like to review and if they approve it you will get 1st crack at writing the review for that item (which means bonus money for you). In time you will want to write reviews on products that will get the most hits (page views). Those items will usually be electronics and the newer the better. The highest paid articles will have a $$$ symbol beside them you will earn 3 x more for these articles. It is difficult to find these but I have a trick. Once you are signed up there will be a link in the upper right hand corner called member center, go there and you will see a link for the most read products. These products are typically the highest paying products. Not only do you earn .03 for rating them but if you write an article you will make 3 times as much as a regular article makes. 

Once you get established go ahead and navigate your way around the site. It is a social community filled with a ton of nice people. You will receive friend requests right away. Go ahead and approve them all because you will need all the friends, support and advice you can get in the beginning. Please feel free to add me as well, my name on Ciao is Rachel1919.

Some tips for writing reviews:
You can write 2 kinds of reviews, a quick review or a standard review which is 120 words or more. The difference between the 2 is the pay rate. I always write the full standard review. 120 words isn't really a lot to write, looks wise it equals one paragraph. This paragraph you are reading is 120 words long. You'll want to write a good review if you want to receive high ratings. Some people believe that longer is better but I personally think it is better to write quality rather than quantity. Another thing to keep in mind is to always write as if you are speaking to someone. It just helps the words flow faster and it makes for a more pleasant read.

What do the colored dots mean?
This seems to be top secret but I can tell you what I have experienced. The higher dot you are - the more you will get paid, Ciao does not admit to it but it is true in my opinion. I earned practically nothing when I was a white dot but the second I turned green I started getting paid for my rating and views that I gave to others. I am pretty positive that you only get paid for people who view and rate your own reviews when you are past the white dot. Which is why I advise you to get out of the white dot ASAP. I am currently an orange dot. When you first start you are a white dot it is very easy to go from a white dot to a green dot in one day. The higher the dot the more difficult it is to get up there. I personally have not seen anyone who is higher than a bronze dot.

The colored dot next to your name shows the Community Level that you have attained.
Level 1: white: 1-1000 points
Level 2: green: 1 000-4 999 points 
Level 3: blue: 5 000-9 999 points 
Level 4: violet: 10 000-19 999 points
Level 5: red: 20 000-49 999 points
Level 6: orange: 50 000-99 999 points 
Level 7: bronze: 100 000-250 000 points 
Level 8: silver: 250 000-499 999 points 
Level 9: gold: 500 000-4 999 999 points
Level 10: black: over 5 000 000 points 

The ways to earn points are as follows
1 review = 30 points
1 quick review = 3 points
1 picture posted to your review = 2 points
1 member reads your review = 2 points
1 comment given to a review = 3 points
1 rating given to a review = 1 point
1 product list = 3 points
1 product list positive rating received = 1 point
1 product list rating given= 1 point
1 product list read = 1 point
1 video review uploaded = 3 points
1 video view = 2 points
1 video rating given = 1 point
1 comment given on a video = 3 points
1 referral = 150 points
1 friend adds you in their circle of trust = 80 points 

On your reviews you can receive a rating that ranges between not helpful - exceptional (aka E) Each rating is worth a certain amount of points for you.
Here is the breakdown
off topic = -12 points
not helpful = -12 points
somewhat helpful = -6 points
helpful = 3 points
very helpful = 6 points
exceptional = 6 points

It is very rare to get of topics, not helpful, and some what helpfuls unless you plagiarize (copy and paste) someone else's work. It is also rare to get exceptionals. If you get enough exceptionals you may get a diamond next to your artcle which gives you higher visibility and equals more views and ratings. You will get featured on a special page as well which is neat. I try to not give people the off topics and not helpfuls because it deducts points from them. I have only given a couple and it was because those people copied MY review and used it as their own. I like to give the very helpfuls and exceptionals out. You are limited to 5 exceptionals a day and I always try to give them all out because I know how nice it feels to do a good job and be recognized for your work. You CAN use previously published work as long as you are the person who originally wrote the review. I just recently learned this by asking the question directly to the correct Ciao authority. If you want to get the most money out of each article you write just submit it in order. First offer it to a site such as Associated Content, retain the rights to your work, then once the article has been approved and paid for you can republish it to the other sites such as Ciao and even Bukisa. Associated Content does not mind they just want to be the ones to get first crack at it. Trust me I have gone through a lot of trial and error on this subject and just decided to go to the sources and ask and this is what they answered. There are sites that do not allow this to be done. Triond is one of those sites. You can post it to Triond and you will get paid for the views but if they find out that it was a republished article then they just yank it and you will not be punished for it. Other places will ban you Reviewstream is one that bans for this but I can't really recommend ReviewStream as a good review site because I believe they are a scam site. I'll write a separate article on them.

Wanna know how much you get paid at Ciao?
I am not an expert at Ciao's payment breakdown but I can tell you what I understand to be true from my experience. This is only an estimate however, it will give you an idea of what you can expect to be paid for your work. I wish someone had put this information out there for me to look over when I began. I was curious and skeptical at first because I have tried many sites that just didn't pan out. This site is a good one though and I can honestly say that I recommend it above all others. It reminds me of how I felt about Ebay in the beginning.

You will receive a payment from Ciao directly into your Paypal account around the 15th of each month. Just to let you know I make around $70.00 each month from Ciao and I don't have much of a downline at all. I probably spend one day a week being very active on the site and the other days I just check in once a day. If I was on Ciao daily I would make a lot more but I have a lot of other things going on right now. I do have many friends there that make a killing on Ciao. The cash out minimum is $5.00 which you will easily make in the first day. Your pay will be totaled once every 24 hours it is updated in the wee hours of the morning around 3 or 4 am. You can cash out everyday if you'd like as long as you have met the minimum payout. Ciao keeps great records which you can check at anytime from your home page. Each review that receives a view will earn you .01, .02, or .03 cents. Depends on if the review is on a movie ($.01) or a more pricey T1 Mobile G1 Phone ($.03) You will also want to rate other reviews right now depending on what you are rating you'll get either .01, .02, or .03 cents. If you are the first person to review a particular product you will receive the normal earning for the review x 2. For every referral plus you will receive half of what they make during their first 6 months. IE: if your referral posts a reviews you will get half of their views and ratings. The person who is referred gets the full amount as well so they do not lose a cent by being referred. Might as well use a referral link right? :o) hint hint :o)
http://www.ciao.com/reg.php?FriendId=10017027

~Here are my dos~Do make friends on the site, accept all friend requests in the beginning and if later on you decide to not have them as your friend you can always remove them.

Do take the time to rate other people's reviews, it is what makes the site work.Do give out your exceptional ratings. These are limited to 5 per day so that they don't get abused but you can use all 5 every day and can give them to whom ever you want even your friends.

Do sign up your friends and family. Yes, you may refer people who live in the same household as you they just need to have a separate Paypal account.

~Here are my don'ts~

Don't participate in clicking cartels (you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours) You may run into members that will message you to let you know when they have written a new review and they will ask you to rate it then they'll return the favor. You can rate their review if you like but don't follow suit and message all of your friends like they did. This is against the rules and these people always end up getting booted off the site.

Don't rate others based on tit-for-tat. If someone leaves you a "not helpful" rating you must resist the urge to retaliate the rating.

Don't rate another person's review with a not helpful or a somewhat helpful rating just because you don't like the product or don't agree with their opinion of the product. You are only supposed to rate reviews based on how thoroughly they described the item and how well they expressed "their" opinion. If you'd like to bash a product you should write your own review on that particular product. You can rate the product itself from 1 - 5 stars and express the qualms you have had with it there.

This article is also posted on AC under my name Rachel Ellis and my website http://rachel19dustin.weebly.com