I Tried It: The $150 Per Day Stupid Simple Method (Real Results After 10 Days)

A video was going around claiming that complete beginners could earn $150 or more per day by following a “stupid simple” method. No experience required, no big investment, just a few steps and the money would start coming in. I ran the method for about 10 days so you do not have to waste your own time finding out.

This is the “I Tried It” series, where I actually run these viral side hustle methods and report back with honest results. What I found with this one goes beyond whether I personally failed. There is a fundamental flaw built into the consumer experience itself, and once you see it, you will be able to spot it in dozens of other “easy money” videos before you ever touch them. Let me walk you through exactly what the method is, what I found when I tested it as a real user, and what actually works in its place.

What You Will Walk Out With

A clear breakdown of the CPA Grip and Linkverse method being promoted across social media
An honest step-by-step look at what a real user experiences before they reach anything useful
The actual earnings from 10 days of running this method
A simple logic test you can apply to any viral side hustle method before investing your time
Two approaches that actually build income for beginners who are willing to show up consistently
A realistic look at what “simple” means in the context of online business
A free tool at finder.platformproof.com that matches your existing skills to the right income method for you

The Claim: $150 Per Day With a Stupid Simple Method

About a week and a half before I filmed this, I came across content claiming beginners could make $150 per day using CPA Grip combined with a platform called Linkverse. The original video walked through the entire setup. It looked fast, it looked free, and it looked like something anyone could run in an afternoon without any prior experience.

I want to be fair to the original creator: the setup really is simple. You can get the whole system running in an hour or two. But there is a real difference between something being simple for the person who sets it up and something being simple for the person on the other end who is supposed to take action. That gap is exactly where this method falls apart, and it falls apart hard.

What CPA Grip Is and How a Content Locker Works

CPA stands for cost per action or cost per acquisition. CPA Grip is a network where publishers, meaning people like you and me, can earn a commission whenever someone completes a specific action. That action might be entering an email address, submitting a phone number, filling out a form, or signing up for a trial. It is a legitimate affiliate model that real marketers use every day.

The specific tool this method uses inside CPA Grip is called a content locker. A content locker puts a wall between the visitor and whatever they came to see. Before they can access the content, they have to complete an offer. When they complete it, you earn a commission. The content locker shown in the original video is designed to look like a sweepstakes entry, with a message like “enter to win $2,500 in cash.” The idea is that an excited gaming fan will be motivated enough to fill in their information to enter.

On paper, this sounds reasonable. In practice, the conversion rate on something like this is near zero for reasons I will show you in a moment.

How Google Sites and Trending Gaming Videos Fit In

Once you have your content locker set up in CPA Grip, the next step is to build a free website on Google Sites. You go to YouTube, find a trending gaming video, such as a popular Fortnite or Call of Duty clip, and grab its thumbnail. You then build a Google Sites page using that thumbnail to make it look like you are offering access to the video, bonus game content, or something valuable related to the game.

The goal is to create the impression that clicking through will give the visitor something they want. In reality, clicking through takes them to the content locker, not to the thing they were expecting. This is a mismatch between what the user expects and what they receive, and that mismatch is a serious problem for conversions.

I built my own version of this site during the test. I used a Fortnite video thumbnail and created a page on Google Sites with links that were supposed to look appealing to gaming fans. The URL showed sites.google.com with my name in it. I want you to honestly ask yourself: if you saw a link like that while browsing for gaming content, would you feel confident clicking through and submitting your personal information?

What Linkverse Is and Why It Was Chosen as a Traffic Source

Linkverse is a website that aggregates gaming-related videos and links. According to SimilarWeb data, Linkverse received 79 million visits between August and October of that year, averaging about 26 million monthly visitors. That is a real number and the reason Linkverse was chosen as the traffic source for this method.

The average Linkverse visitor spends about 3 minutes and 34 seconds on the site and views around five pages per visit. They are there because they want gaming content. The method has you post your Google Sites link inside Linkverse so that gaming fans will find it, click through to your page, and eventually complete the content locker offer.

Now put those 26 million monthly visitors in context. YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and Facebook each attract billions of visits per month. Linkverse has a real audience, but that audience is a small fraction of where gaming fans actually spend most of their time. Beyond the size issue, the core problem is not where the traffic comes from. The problem is what happens to that traffic once they click your link.

Walking Through the Consumer Experience Step by Step

I want to walk you through exactly what a real user experiences when they encounter this method, because this is where the logic collapses completely.

A Linkverse visitor sees your link and clicks it. They are hoping to reach a gaming video or some bonus content related to a game they like.

They land on your Google Sites page. The URL tells them immediately that this is not an official gaming site. There are some links and a thumbnail from a popular video.

They click one of the links on your page. A new tab opens. Instead of a gaming video, they are looking at the CPA Grip content locker asking them to enter their email to win $2,500 in cash.

If they are still curious, they enter their email and click agree.

They are taken to another form asking for their full contact information including their name and phone number. They still have not seen any gaming content.

They are asked to select numbers as part of the sweepstakes entry process.

They click “free entry” and land on a page that says “Not Found.”

I ran through this entire process on camera during the test. After entering personal information through several steps, I reached a dead-end error page and never saw any gaming content at all. If I had been a real user looking for a Fortnite video, I would have stopped at the content locker step. Most people would stop there. The few who push all the way through get nothing for their effort and are left with their contact information submitted to an unknown sweepstakes.

Why More Steps Always Mean Fewer Completions

There is a simple truth in online marketing: every extra step you add to a process cuts the number of people who will complete it. This is not a theory. It is how people actually behave, and every serious marketer accounts for it.

Think about what happens when a gaming fan encounters five steps between them and a YouTube video they wanted to watch. They open a new tab, copy the video title from whatever preview they saw, paste it into YouTube, and find the exact video in about three seconds. That is faster than going through the first two steps of this content locker process. The shortcut around your system is faster than the system itself.

When you build an online income method, the consumer experience is not a secondary concern. It is the central one. If the process you are asking someone to complete is painful, confusing, or feels like a trap, your earnings will be zero regardless of how much traffic you point at it. A seamless experience where the user gets what they came for is the foundation of any real online income.

The Real Results After 10 Days of Testing

After about 10 days of running this method, nobody clicked my link. Zero clicks, zero completions, zero earnings. Not because I set it up incorrectly or chose the wrong gaming niche. The results were zero because the consumer experience makes it practically impossible for most real users to reach the completion step.

Consider what platforms do when they see this kind of activity. Posting links that take users through misleading flows designed to capture their information gets content flagged as spam. On Linkverse, doing this at scale would get you removed from the platform. The original video suggested you could upload 30 versions of this per day to scale results. Based on the consumer experience, 30 posts would generate 30 spam flags and still zero dollars.

The method is simple to set up. But the simplicity ends the moment a real human being encounters it.

Not sure which online income method actually fits your background and schedule?

Skip the trial-and-error. Answer a few questions at finder.platformproof.com and get matched to the right starting point for your specific situation.

Honest Drawbacks of Shortcut Methods Like This One

This method is not unique in how it fails. There is a whole category of viral side hustle content that shares the same core flaw: it optimizes for how easy setup is for the creator and ignores how bad the experience is for the consumer. Before you invest time in any method like this, run it through these checks.

Would you complete this process yourself? If you encountered this as a gaming fan and had to go through those steps, would you finish? If the honest answer is no, your conversion rate will match that answer.
Does the user actually get what they came for? The Linkverse visitor came to watch gaming content. At no point in this process do they receive gaming content. The outcome for the user is wasted time, an error page, or spam in their inbox.
Is the traffic source matched to the offer? Linkverse visitors are there for gaming links, not to enter sweepstakes. Putting a sweepstakes form in front of a gaming audience creates a mismatch that kills conversions before any other issue even comes into play.
What does scaling look like honestly? If the pitch is that you scale by posting more links, think about what 30 spam-flagged posts looks like versus 30 posts of content people actually searched for. One scales toward a platform ban. The other builds an audience.
What is the creator’s incentive? Many videos promoting methods like this earn affiliate commissions from the tools they recommend. Their financial incentive is to show you a fast setup, not to guarantee your long-term results.

What Actually Works for Beginners Who Want to Make Money Online

After spending 10 days testing what does not work, here are two approaches that can actually build income for a beginner who is willing to be consistent.

Reaction Content in a Niche You Already Follow

Reaction content works when you are genuinely adding commentary, humor, or real perspective. Find a viral video in a niche you are already part of, watch it on camera, and respond to it in a way that is interesting and worth watching. The reason this works is that you are creating something new: your honest take on content that already proved it has an audience. That is valuable to people who share your interests.

This only works if you are actually reacting, not just silently watching. You need to be engaged, funny, willing to take a real position, and consistent about showing up. Creators who just watch content without adding real personality do not build audiences. Creators who respond to trending content with genuine commentary in a specific niche and do it every day can build real followings that generate ad revenue, brand deals, and affiliate commissions.

One thing to keep in mind: you are not trying to be another creator who already has a large following. You are being yourself, with your own perspective, in a niche you know. That is what separates reaction content that grows from reaction content that goes nowhere.

Short-Format Educational Videos in Your Area of Knowledge

Short-form video on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Reels gives beginners a real opportunity because the algorithm can surface your content to new audiences without requiring any existing follower count. If you know something well, teach it in 60 seconds or less. Pick one specific topic area, stay consistent, and focus entirely on giving people information they can actually use today.

The difference between this and the CPA Grip method is simple. A short educational video gives the viewer exactly what they came for. There are no misleading steps, no forms, no spam risk. The viewer gets real value and in return they follow your account, share your content, and eventually buy what you recommend or click your affiliate links. That is how online income actually builds over time.

If you want to be successful online in 2023 and beyond, stop looking for methods that work once. Start looking for methods that compound. Reaction content and short-format education both compound because every video adds to your library and your reputation in a niche.

A Simple Logic Test for Any Viral Side Hustle You See

Use these three questions on any method you see promoted online before you spend any time on it.

Would I personally go through this process as a consumer? Be honest. If you would not complete the steps yourself, build in a realistic conversion rate near zero and ask whether that still makes the time investment worthwhile.
Does the person promoting this earn a commission from my using it? If they get paid when you sign up for a recommended tool, their incentive is your signup, not your results. Factor that in when you evaluate their claims.
Is there a real value exchange? Every online income model that works over time gives someone something they genuinely wanted. If your method is built around getting people into a funnel through misleading expectations, the platform and the consumer will eventually reject it.

Find Your X

The real cost of methods like CPA Grip and Linkverse is not the hour it takes to set them up. It is the days or weeks you spend waiting for results that will never come, time you could have spent on a method that actually fits your skills and schedule. If you are not sure what that method looks like for you, the Platform Proof Finder can help you figure it out. Answer a few questions and get a clear recommendation at finder.platformproof.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CPA Grip a legitimate platform?

CPA Grip is a real CPA affiliate network. Legitimate marketers use CPA networks to run offers and earn commissions. The problem is not the platform itself but the specific method shown in viral videos, which routes users through misleading steps and gives them nothing useful in return. CPA marketing can work, but it requires matching real offers to audiences who genuinely want them.

What is a content locker and how does it earn money?

A content locker blocks access to content until a user completes an action, such as entering their email or filling out a form. You earn a commission each time someone completes that action. This model can work in situations where users are genuinely motivated and the content locker is transparent about what they are agreeing to. It fails when the user feels tricked into a process that never delivers what they came for.

How much traffic does Linkverse get?

According to SimilarWeb data cited in the original video, Linkverse received 79 million visits between August and October, averaging about 26 million monthly visitors. The average visitor spends 3 minutes and 34 seconds on the site and views around five pages per session. That is a real audience, but it is a small fraction of the gaming audience on major platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit.

Why did this method earn zero dollars in 10 days?

The consumer experience required five or more steps before a user could access anything useful, and the final step led to a dead-end error page. Anyone trying to reach gaming content would find it faster by searching directly on YouTube than by going through this process on an unfamiliar Google Sites page. Zero people completed the process during the test, so earnings were zero.

Is it risky to use Google Sites for this type of method?

Using Google Sites to build pages that misrepresent what a visitor is about to experience puts you at risk of having your Google account flagged. Separately, the sites.google.com URL structure signals immediately to visitors that the page is not an official source, which reduces trust before they ever reach the content locker. You can verify your website with Pinterest and other platforms, but you typically cannot verify a Google Sites account the same way you can verify an owned domain.

Do reaction videos actually make money for beginners?

Reaction content can work for beginners who add real commentary, humor, or informed perspective rather than just watching silently. A creator who reacts with genuine personality to trending content in a consistent niche can build an audience that generates ad revenue, brand partnerships, and affiliate commissions over time. The key is being actually entertaining or informative, not just playing a video in a small box on screen.

What short-form video platforms work best for beginners?

TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels all offer algorithmic reach that can surface your content to new audiences without requiring an existing follower base. YouTube Shorts has the additional benefit of connecting to a YouTube channel that can qualify for ad revenue once it reaches the monetization threshold. The best platform is the one you will actually post on consistently, because consistency matters more than platform choice for most beginners.

How do I know if a viral side hustle method is worth trying?

Walk through the method as a consumer before you build anything. Ask yourself honestly whether you would complete every step if you encountered this in the real world. If the answer is no, the conversion rate on that method will reflect your answer. Also ask whether the creator promoting the method earns a commission from the tools they recommend, since that incentive shapes what they choose to show you and what they leave out.

Sources

CPA Grip affiliate network: cpagrip.com
Linkverse monthly traffic estimate: SimilarWeb data cited in source video, August to October period
Google Sites: sites.google.com
Test conducted by Alston Godbolt over approximately 10 days

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.