The Varolo Experiment

I came across varolo while looking for a weekend something something that would earn me a few extra dollars a month. By a few I'm talking between one and two hundred dollars. Not a whole lot. I figured I'd get a Sunday evening shift at a gas station.

I'm still looking for that weekend job. But I came across an ad promoting 'Varolo' in my searches. Let me tell you... I went through a phase where all I did was look for ways to make money online. I did 'paid to surf', and freebie sites, and a whole lot of others. I didn't ever make more than $20 before I realized that these weren't worth my time. I did what everybody does eventually. I got a real job.

But. Something about Varolo caught my eye. I went to the website and watched the two minute introduction to the system. And... the business model makes sense. I think. I can visualize how this might work.

Basically, Varolo has advertisers and they have users. The advertisers pay so much per ad. The users watch the ads. They rate the ads kind of as proof that they are actually watching. Sometimes you answer a question as well. For each ad you watch, you get an entry into the weekly sweepstakes. You also get points. As you earn points, you can redeem them for prizes. I checked those out. There are some cheap electronics and for a whopping 990,000 points, a 16G ipad. I did the math... it would take you almost three years to earn that many points on your own, assuming you watch 120 ads per week.

I don't know about you, but I'm not seeing any good reason to join yet. I'm not seeing any money, unless I get lucky enough to win the jackpot. And I'm not seeing any prizes for a good long while.

Varolo's real appeal comes from the referral program. It is your goal to recruit as many people as you can to do the same thing that you are doing. Everyone you recruit becomes a member of your 'village'. Whenever someone in your village watches an ad, you get a small amount of Varolo's revenue from that happening. How much? 8% of your first tier. However much 8% is. The percentages go down from there, but that is the gist. You also get points when they watch, meaning that ipad may not be 3 years out.

So here's the experiment. I will give Varolo 6 months. I will recruit people for my village. I will watch my 140 ads per week. And I will keep records of what happens via this blog. It should be fun. It may end up being profitable. Who knows? I'm willing to put in some time to find out.