RedGage.Com - My First 24 Hour Experience

I read about Redgage from another Hubber who was writing about other ways of getting writing out there in the world, and how one can make money doing so. Unfortunately, I was using the Hub-Hopper on my phone and only "snapped" a picture of the second half of the hub, so I can't refer back to it. However, I became very curious about Redgage, reading that it was a place where you could make money simply by linking things to it, an connecting social media to it such as Facebook, Blogger and Twitter.

The next day I signed up for RedGage.com.

Essentially it is a website which allows a person to link their social media accounts together and re-post them either as their own imported post, or as a link to the original post. For example, one could log on to their Facebook account through RedGage and import their photos. Each of their photos would be its own entry. With each view an entry gets, you get paid. The same can be applied for blog entries, videos, links, and so on.

Redgage also has contests, raffles and ratings which allow you to make more money, or double your earnings in a month. Redgage itself generates is own earnings to give to you the same way that any other site does: ad space.

How one gets paid is via a visa card which RedGage sends you. Once you reach $25, you can take out money in increments of $25 and put it on your card. It is accepted anywhere that visa is accepted.

There is a catch. For your first transaction with the card, you will be charged $5 as a start-up fee, and each purchase or use after that you will be charged 5% of the total purchase as a processing fee.

The concept is great. However, the site itself is lacking. Many times the links themselves do not work on their tutorial page or on their FAQ page. I found myself refreshing the page over and over again just to find out what information it had to offer, however in the end got to it by right clicking and opening it in a new tab.

When I first signed up on the site, I was using FireFox. Granted, this browser had been acting up and been temperamental. I was unable to link up to FaceBook, Yahoo, Twitter, or any other site which would have allowed me to connect other users that I might know. It would reject every password entry or login name i tried for any of my accounts. So I installed Google Chrome in hopes that a change of browser would help. It did help in that I was able to log into my Twitter account, but no more. I could not log into my Yahoo or Facebook, it only left me with a blank page.

I found that the site was not very easy to figure out. I could not understand how to find friends or make them other than just waiting for an upload that seemed interesting to come up each time I reloaded the Feed page. Even then, when I clicked on the links or the picture which other users had uploaded, it would not take me there. I had to click on the name of the person who posted it and sift through their things.

One has the option of selecting a photo to go along with their uploads whether it be a blog entry or a link, yet when the time comes to insert said photo, the only option accessible is the "no image" selection. Yet I see that others have been able to select a photo. I tried to upload photos so that I might possibly be able to select them, but that did not work either.

I even attempted their app on my phone. It would open but shut down before fully opening. If it did manage to get to the log in page, it would shut down again after I attempted it.

I couldn't find a date on the creation of the site, however I did find blog entries from the administrators from 2010, which means it has had almost three years to work out these very basic bugs.

However, I do have some positive words. I do like that you can rate each entry, based on a five-star system. I like what the potential the site has to offer, what it is supposed to do. I like that it is a rewarding way of networking. However, as I have said before, the bugs are very basic things which should not be an issue, yet it has taken two years for them not to fix them.

By the 22nd hour I had made $5.63. I had some how managed to get one of my blog entries to be on the featured list, which rewards you with an extra $5.50. I was gaining popularity, as I had a couple friend requests, but with it being Thanksgiving and all, I'm not expecting much in the way of traffic.

Within my first four hours, I had earned 5 cents with only a few views on a blog entry.

By the seventh hour, 13 uploads, four friends and two newly acquired subscriptions later, I had earned seven cents. I had done very little over the last two hours to promote myself or take any part of the site's community. In fact, up to this point I had done nothing to gain friends or subscriptions from any one.

By hour ten and vigorous uploading and attempted networking, as best I could, my earnings went up to 8 cents. At this point I had put to use every uploading option aside from documents and video, I had made sure to comment on other folks' uploads, subscribe to others and sent friend requests. Traffic didn't seemed to have increased at that point, though in all fairness, it was nearing midnight and half an hour away from Thanksgiving.

By my 24th hour, I had earned a grand total of $5.65. I had put in a little bit more time during that time that I do on here, but partly because I was just trying to figure the site out.

The site is very confusing, and the links rarely work the first time you click them. There isn't very much option to discover other people on the site. The site wants you to import other files from other social media sites, but most of them won't link up. Other site-users have expressed this as well.

I emailed the technical support about not being able to sync up to my social media profiles, but I have yet to hear any one. Though, in all fairness, it is Thanksgiving and I emailed them only yesterday.

However, I am curious as to see where I can get to in a week, after earning over $5 within the first day, which is more than I have ever earned on HubPages at this point.

I am not completely certain about how valid or legal their money system is. It seems too easy. However, I think I am going to stick it out, to find out what happens. Personally, at the moment, I am not too thrilled with it. But it definitely has a tugging hook, however small it may be, which makes me want to keep at it. I think it will get another month of my attention before I make any final decision.