The transition to Method 2 can be quite a daunting task. There is a lot of competition out there, and your TR is probably still pretty low. My usual recommendation is for traders to do method 1 and get paid for green on 5 or 6 sites, and then start doing green for green trades (g4g) until they have a TR of at least 10. You will be posting this in the “Referral for Referral” section of CaliStyle101.com. There are a number of different opinions out there for setting up your trade thread, and what I'm going to tell you is just my opinion as to what I think works best. Also, what works best for one person, might not work the best for another. So I advise you to read around and get the opinion of other seasoned traders.

First of all, lets talk about why the g4g method is such a good one by comparing 2 scenarios. When I go to the paying for referrals section, I see a bunch of people paying referrals to go green. If I were to look at a trade thread in this section, and I see that someone is looking for a person to go green on a site and is willing to pay $30. I have done my research and I think that this would be a good site to do. I do that site for that person and spend $5 on offers. I go green and since this person is a reputable trader, I get paid immediately on green. I have a net gain of $25 and I am happy.

Lets compare this to a second scenario. I have the freebie site 60 Macrobucks in my portfolio. This means that if I refer someone to this site and they go green, I get paid $60 directly from Macrobucks. My g4g thread has been set up in the Referral for Referral section of CaliStyle101. Because of how effective it has been set up, someone contacts me and willing to trade g4g. I go green for them on the same site described above and spend $5. However, when they go green for me, I get paid $60, with a net gain of $55. This time I'm not only happy, I am EXCITED.

What have I accomplished?
1. Higher payout!
2. Another site added to my portfolio
3. I'm excited and charged, ready to do this again.

Now lets talk about the thread that I set up that was so effective. The first thing you NEED TO DO is to make sure you understand the rules of this forum. You can find them by clicking here!

There are 3 components that i believe a good g4g trade thread should have:

1. Effective Introduction
2. List of sites
3. How to contact you

Effective Introduction: What you are basically showing here is who you are. A very important factor in the freebie industry is how you present yourself. If people see you as a real person – a person of honor and integrity, in addition to a person who understands the industry, they will be willing to trade with you. Reputation is everything, and you should strive to have a good reputation. I'm not going to tell you exactly what to say in your introduction, because it should suit your style. I'd be willing to bet that every seasoned trader at the CaliStyle101 has changed their post a number of times, and I assure you that you will be doing the same. Try different things out, and see what works best for you.

List of sites: This is pretty self explanatory. The person needs to know what you are offering. List your sites in a clear way so that your potential referral doesn't have to work to hard to see them.
How to contact you: Ok, so Bob has read your effective intro, and has seen your list of sites. He has already decided what site he wants to do. How does he contact you? First of all, you want Bob to post in your thread that he is interested. Clearly state this. The reason for this is that it not only lets your know that he's interested, it also BUMPs your post. BUMP stands for Bring Up My Post. When someone replies in your post directly, it puts your post at the top of the forum. This is a great thing because it gives you more visibility.

Other Options for contacting you: It is always good to have multiple methods of contact. People work in different ways. Some people like to do everything via the forum, others email, and others prefer instant messenger. Having multiple means of contact caters to a wide variety of people. Now, this is all up to what you feel comfortable with. I personally like to have all these methods available (but I'm kind of extreme). I also like to keep my personal and business like somewhat separate. So I've set up separate email, IM and phone service specifically for my work in the freebie industry. If you haven't already set up a separate email for your work, I advise you to do so.

How to Be Safe in your G4G Trade

  • Trade sites of equal value. If the payout on one site is $60, the payout for the second should be the same.
  • The person with the lowest TR should green first (especially if someone has an extremely low TR). Unfortunately, there are scammers in the freebie world. By trading with someone who has traded before, you can check their feedback and get an idea of their level of experience.
  • Set some terms as to how much will be compensated if one individual fails to green.

Lets Start your thread

Ok these are the steps that you need to take to start a new thread:

  1. Go to the appropriate forum at CaliStyle101 (for now, that would be the Referral for Referral Suborum)
  2. Click on New Thread
  3. Enter a Title
  4. Enter the information you want to be in your thread
  5. Subscribe to your thread by selecting “Instant Email Notification” in the Notification Type section to the bottom. This will cause an email to be sent to you anytime someone posts in your thread.
  6. Click on “Submit New Thread”

That's it. You have your trade thread and you are ready to go. If you have any specific questions about your trade thread, you can ask them here.

About the Author Leslie Samuel


Leslie Samuel a business coach for high-performing entrepreneurs. As the host of the Leslie Samuel Show, he teaches how to build an online business. "Changing the world one post at a time” is the mission he strives towards. As a former university professor, he has a passion for education. He's the founder of Interactive Biology, a blog and YouTube channel dedicated to making biology fun for students and teachers. As the head of training for the Social Media Marketing Society, he helps social media marketers get the training they need to stay on the leading edge of social media.

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