This site is sooo much FUN! I first discovered this site some time in August, and immediately joined up to participate in the competition they were running then, called The Ransom Note. (The snippets of the ransom note had been taken from the logos of websites around the world, and we had to find them!) It was lots and lots of fun, though at times EXTREMELY frustrating! - and I even won a runners-up prize for my efforts! Ok, enough of my exploits, let us talk about the site itself...
Description of the Site
This is an Australian site, but is open to everyone older than 16. Signing up is the usual simple procedure; you supply a username and e-mail address, they then send you a confirmation email for you to link to the site and complete your profile. Job done, you are now a registered Spider.
The main description of the site is that of a Paid To site. As with other Paid To sites you have to complete certain activities, for which you are paid/rewarded. In the case of this one, you are rewarded for completing surveys, questionnaires, tests, quickies and trials, and for rating websites (of your choice!). You also have the opportunity to win rewards by playing games and entering competitions.
Layout and Navigation
The site is nice and simple and well laid out; not a lot of graphics and no flashing or pop-ups (hooray!). Oh and don't panic, there are no pictures of real spiders anywhere on the site - although the logo is a sweet little cutesy cartoon spider! As with Ciao, the navigation couldnt be simpler; using the tabs along the top of the page and the sub-menus listed down the left-hand side of the page. There is also a Site Map to help make things a little clearer. The speed of the site is good too, due (in no small measure) to the fact that Australia is 9 hours ahead of us. Logging in at a different time, means that the site is not clogged up with traffic, a definite advantage when doing the competitions.
Contacts
As I said before, there is the Spider Chat room for chatting to other spiders and the Spider Voice message board where you can review websites of your choice. Contacting the Spider Panel and the powers that be couldn’t be simpler; email the relevant section and await a response. Responses from said powers are pretty quick and they are very helpful and friendly.
The Rewards
For each of the activities you complete, you are awarded various amounts of spiderpoints, (here on known as SP). Typically; surveys, quickies, trials, tests and questionnaires are worth from 1 to 10 SP, and Full Website Ratings are worth 20 SPs. They even start you off by giving you SP’s for completing your profile on sign-up.
The purpose of these SPs is two-fold; Firstly, the more SP’s you earn, the higher-ranking spider you become. (Higher-ranking spiders receive more SPs per survey completed, than the lower-ranking ones).
Secondly, your SPs can be redeemed for one (or more) of the rewards available.
...and the bit you've all been waiting for...
Payments
Once you have accumulated your hard-earned SPs, you can exchange them for the reward or rewards of your choice. The rewards are divided into three categories; Gifts, Vouchers and Cash.
GIFTS These vary in amount of SPs required, according to the gift, of which there are two kinds; one for charity and one for you. You can either make a donation to charity, or you can treat yourself to one of the gifts available at that time, (the list of gifts changes every two weeks or sooner if the items sell out, subsequently the amount of SPs required will also change). Currently, the minimum amount required for the cheapest gift is 12 SPs, and the maximum required is 176 SPs, with various amounts in between.
EVOUCHERS These can be used in exchange for goods at on line stores (listed on site) and vary in value from AU$35 (200 SPs) to AU$150 (700 SPs).
CASH At present, the two choices are, cheque (which unfortunately is only available to Australian spiders) or deposit into your Paypal account. Again, the amounts vary, from AU$50 (300 SPs) to AU$200 (1000 SPs).
