This is the third and last free review given in the Shylock Contest.

The Link Bait is a blog about ….. yes, you guessed it, it’s about contests. A bit of an unusual name for a contest blog, but if it works for them, who am I to argue.

For those that aren’t familiar with this type of blog, it’s a place where people can submit contests, they are then announced on the blog and people that are looking to win prizes or cash can find out about them and what they need to do to enter them.

It’s a good system, that helps give your contests more exposure, and I’ve used this system myself in the past in my first contest. I don’t know how much traffic The Link Bait gets, but they should be pretty well targeted if you’re in the make money online niche. They’re probably bloggers that are looking to enter contests and win prizes, so any contests announced there have a good chance of bringing at least a few extra people.

I’ve looked around at the way this blog works, and I can safely say that it’s a nice example of having a blog with minimum input from the owner.

There are three ways of submitting a contest:

1. free submission (you write the contest announcement)
2. featured contest written by you (you write the announcement and your contest stays in the sidebar for 1 month for extra exposure) – $5
3. featured post written by the blog owner (he writes the announcement and the contest stays in the sidebar for 1 month) – $10

I love it. All he needs to do is accept the submissions from people that write the announcements themselves, and he only needs to write when someone wants a featured post, that he asks $10 to write. The blog runs on user generated content for the most part.

If you’re looking to make some extra cash or win some prizes, then December is probably the best month of the year for contests. Head over to The Link Bait and subscribe to receive the latest contests by RSS. Or, if you’re looking to start a contest yourself, you can submit it there as well, for some extra exposure.

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The following is a paid review, that reflects my own opinion on the service, not influenced in any way.

Online Paid Surveys is a directory of sorts for sites that offer free paid surveys, allowing users to rate each one on quality, frequency of surveys, support and payment. According to them, these surveys pay anywhere from $2 to $50 or they give you gift certificates or enter you into sweepstakes.

If they got a member area then it’s pretty well hidden, as I couldn’t find it. While I can’t really say anything about whether online paid surveys really do pay, I can tell you that the site being reviewed seems to live off affiliate links, and it seems to be pretty well done. They list all the information that you need to decide, you click on the affiliate link and sign-up with each company, and they get their share of the surveys you do.

Seeing as it acts just like a central hub for different paid survey companies, you don’t get the option of a central payment. If you subscribe to 10 survey sites, you need to reach the minimum payment for each of them and you get 10 checks.

Taking as an example, the top rated GlobalTestMarket from the Online Paid Surveys site, the review talks about being able to earn $50 per month from paid reviews. It doesn’t really seem a good alternative to making money with your own sites. It might be a good way to earn a few extra bucks every month, but with 10-30 minutes for every survey, and not being paid for all the surveys that you do (just those that they decide you qualify for, after you’ve done them), it sure seems like a lot of work for peanuts. If you’re not from the US, the number of surveys that you qualify for doesn’t really allow you to make a living of it, and the price for them is probably smaller.

However, if making money online with your own sites doesn’t seem to work for you, and you don’t need to make large sums of money online, you can give http://www.online-paid-surveys.net a shot.

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Thoughts.com is a free blog community that allows anyone to open an online journal, upload photos, videos or do podcasting, add friends and be rated for the quality of their posts.

The intention behind the network seems to be the creation of a social network based around blogging, a place where people can discuss and meet others. They have a rating system in place, that allows other people to rate every post you make. The most active members are eligible to win a trip to Las Vegas this year, and a different city next year.

I like the idea behind it, and for people that are just looking for interaction and the pure joy of blogging, I think it can be a good place to start. If you write well, the size of the community which is still small, allows everyone to see your posts and give them a rating.

One thing bothering me is the limited number of templates. There are only 7 of them, and they seem to be the same theme, just with different colors.

Go to http://www.thoughts.com/ if you want to try it out. If you’re looking for the pure part of blogging, and a small audience from the beginning to read what you have to say, then Thoughts.com might be your thing.

This was a paid review, that reflects my honest opinion about the service.

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