RedGage.Com - My First Week Experience

On Thanksgiving I completed my first 24 hours on RedGage.com. To read about what I thought during my first day, read RedGage.com - My First 24 Hour Experience. After my first 24 hours, I had managed to earn $5.68 just from uploading, and not doing much to promote myself other than constantly uploading whatever I could think of, or writing a blog entries.

RedGage.com is a site which allows a person to upload pictures, links, blog entries, or documents and make money doing so. It is based off how many views an upload has, opposed to adsense which pays you based on how many people click on the ads. Once you reach at least $25, you are able to take your money out on a visa card which they send you, and you can use the card anywhere visa is accepted.

Day 2
I had 26 uploads, 21 friends, and still just two subscribers. I already had 382 views, and with this amount of views I had made $5.72. However, with yesterday being Thanksgiving, and on top of it, I had a 13 hour shift I had to work, I didn't pay it as much attention as I had hoped. Most have been views on my blog, at 267, while my links had 101 views. The rest were from my photos. I had yet to upload any video, mostly because I didn't have any video. I also hadn't uploaded any documents, mainly because I have been a little weirded out by that feature, and hadn't had a chance to toy with it.

I had had an email which stated I had comments on various things, but my dashboard, or anywhere else on my profile or account on the actual site itself informed me of this.

As mentioned in my last Hub, I had managed to get one of my blog entries to be one of the featured content pieces. in 24 hours, I had had 139 views, which had only generated 8 cents.

The way that it supposedly calculates the site user's earnings, is it gives an "average earning rate" per 100 views per upload. Mine for my blog entries, supposedly, is 57 cents per hundred views per blog entry. However, without the bonus from being a featured piece, I have only earned 8 cents with my 139 views. Surely my earnings, if that estimate is correct, should be around 78 cents so far?

Day 3
The third day was the day after Thanksgiving, a day I was working then going into a delayed Thanksgiving dinner, and thus unable to give anything on the computer my fullest attention, or even half of my attention. I managed to write a blog entry on RedGage before I went to work, as well as upload two or three links before I went to bed. This gained me two new friends, and two cents.

Day 4
During this day I uploaded a few pictures and added a blog entry or two. The blog entries were nothing exciting, just general thoughts on the day, nothing like an article or a good source of information. The photos were of my home town, and taken with my phone, so not optimum quality.

By this day I had gained 33 friends total, had 37 uploads, and had made $5.88 total, and had five subscribers. my total views for the entire four days was at 683, the majority of which were in my blog entries. I tried to add people to my friends, to see how many were willing to accept. Nearly all whose profiles I could get to were willing. However, many links to anything did not work the multiple times I clicked them.

And still more kinks which need to be worked through - only by email was I notified that I had a comment on one of my blog entries. I have found that it can be hit or miss as to if RedGage wishes to notify me of any comments or subscriptions on my dashboard, as it is designed to do. Thankfully, the email system seems to be intact.

Day 5
At this point I was really starting to get fed up with the lack of functionality of the site. I still hadn't heard from any help after emailing about being able to connect to any other social network, which is part of the purpose of the site. I emailed them on my first day. I was tired of needing to click "log in" three or four times before it even registers that I want to do something. I was tired of only half the time (if I'm being optimistic) receiving notifications on the actual site, then having to fish through each of my uploads to get to the comment.

I tried to reach out and make friends on my own, but on my dashboard, where it is essentially a news feed, I have been unable to click on any of the names. None of them would even pretend to want to load.

However, at this point, with little effort on my part during this day, I gained four new friends and was up to $8.94, with most of my traffic coming from my blog entries, which were only being uploaded one day at a time, and thus were the least in quantity.

Day 6
I woke up to the sixth day with a rant itching at the tips of my fingers, which I wrote and posted into my RedGage blog. I had three new friend requests. I accepted them, wondering briefly what the point is in getting all these people to follow or friend me on this site. Surely they are friending people for the same reason I am accepting them, so that they might maybe take a look at my stuff and help me earn money. But are they going to put in the time?

With the format of the dashboard, I have a hard time finding inspiration to click on any one else's things, unless it's an image which has caught my eye. Links, block entries, documents - their thumbnails are uninspiring because when they are posted, no option is given except to not have a thumbnail. At which point the thumbnail becomes a little square box with a summary squished into it, but each little square box looks exactly the same as every other little square box, and thus nothing pops out to the viewer. I feel as though unless one is able to get their blog upload or their link or their document to on the featured list (which I am still not sure how that happens), then it is not really going to be shown to any one.

Though that could be me. I might just have shiny-object syndrome, and can't see anything that blends in with everything else, even though it might be a diamond in the rough.

By the end of the sixth day, I was feeling less harsh toward the site. I had gotten a couple friendly comments on my wall welcoming me to the site, and people offering to help with any questions I might have in regards to navigation or just getting around or used to the bugs. I enjoyed that even though some of my posts were a few days old, they were still getting views and comments, and not getting shuffled to the back of the herd. At the end of my second to final day of the week, I had made an even six dollars off 42 uploads.

Day 7
On the last day of my first week on RedGage, I realized something important and crucial that I had neglected to do on the site: reach out to interact with other site members. I had been content to simply upload and glance at what might be popping up on the dashboard, but not properly looking or engaging with any one. I had been waiting to see what it would take to simply let others come to me, without any effort on my part. And, saying that, I think that up to this point I had done a rather grand job, having made over six dollars in my first week at this point. So on my last day of the week, I really put in a good effort to connect with other people, to comment on their blogs, or photos, to check out their links, and to rate their content.

I waited until the end of the day, but so far my efforts hadn't seemed to have paid out. In all fairness, a few hours isn't enough time to judge realistic results. But as I logged out for the day, my earnings sat at $6.05, made in seven days simply by uploading photos, sharing links, and writing unimportant blog entries.

I will admit, after the first day I went into this experience rather negatively, expecting results accompanied by a boat load of frustration.

But after setting aside my annoyances at some of the bugs (which really do get to me), and realizing just how fast my earnings are going up for how little I am actually doing, I warmed up to it.

The community, when you can figure out how to be a part of it, is quite friendly. I have to admit, I have been spoiled by Hubpages with being able to ask questions to the community (I've begun using my status on RedGage to do that in hopes that some one notices it). I think it's an excellent way of reaching out and getting to know people, and it's something I wish each writing site had. This of course does not, but when members of the community do stop by your profile, they are always polite and cheerful and try to be helpful.

I think that my biggest issue is that it is a site for turning heads, not for quality. You can post any sort of link, and as long as you get some one to view your content, you get paid. It isn't about honing in your skill and producing quality work. I want something that is going to make me work for my pay. Sure, I won't turn down spare money, cash for simply sharing links. But it isn't something I want to put all my energy into.

However, it is a way of earning. Some site members I saw had made over $2.5k on that site, which was amazing to me. I don't know that any one has done that on Hubpages.

I'll stick to it half-heartedly. For now, it will just be another way for me to get my Hubs out to the world.