Here are a few pointers to get you started with "get paid to" programs:
1. Get a free e-mail address: GMail, Yahoo, AOL, and others bounce and/or block many get-paid-to emails. Once your email is bounced by a get-paid-to program, they will usually delete your membership.
2. Sign up for the payment processors of your choice. Many people choose just one payment processor, and will not join programs unless they offer that same processor. Personally, I think of myself as a business owner, and I must make myself available to be paid. It is stupid, really, for a business to rely on one processor to be the heartbeat of their programs, especially after PayPal recently changed their terms of service and many get-paid-to programs got caught with their pants down. Many went out of business due to this change. It is a personal decision on your part.
3. Join programs of your choice -- just do not put all of your efforts into one program. Unfortunately, anyone can buy a "get paid to" click website for $15. For this reason, many new programs do not make it past a month. New PTC owners are faced with cheaters, server upgrades, hackers, and much more. It is also unfortunate that many people call programs that disappear "scams," when in fact, the business just did not succeed. Even if a program is legitimate, it may need to go down for maintainance for weeks or months rendering it useless for reliable income. Note: For people who are new to the get paid industry, I highly recommend joining Marketing Pond. Marketing Pond is a free referral-building program with an outstanding support forum. The great thing about marketing Pond is that many of the programs involved have been paying their members for two years+. The pay rates are somewhat lower than new PTC websites, but they are proven payers. The basic premise of Marketing Pond is once you join the free pond programs, you can then place your referral link into the program and have a free automatically built webpage with your referral links, and use one link to refer people to all of your programs at once.
4. So you have joined several programs and your clicking ads, now what? Here is the most important thing: "you must refer people." This is work, it is not easy, I am not going to lie. You need to spend more time referring people than clicking ads, if you are not willing to put forth this effort you will not be earning to your full potential. Each referral could double your earnings. Do not let this scare you. See the "Learn How to Get Referrals" Blog on this site. If you have any other getting started problems or questions, feel free to post a question or comment.