I know you've seen those ads on web sites that say, "Make money just by reading e-mail." Well, the real questions are, can you, what's involved and how much!

I'll try to answer those questions here.

There are companies that are willing to pay you to:

• read the e-mail they send you
• send email from their web site
• click on links within those emails and view advertisers web sites
• refer your friends and have them do all these steps too

In most cases it won't be a lot. But it's extra money and a little extra always helps.

I've tried several of them since they first started appearing around the net and there aren't too many companies that I can say for sure are legitimate.

The one I want to talk about in POCKET MONEY this month is called

SendMoreInfo.

The program has been around since September 2, 1999 and has paid me regularly every month since I joined. I am never going to get rich with the program, but a little extra money each month is nice to have.

The first step is to sign up at

SendMoreInfo. When you get to the site, just click on the "Sign Up" tab on the top right side of the web page. Then click the "RECEIVE Email And Get Paid" link. Fill out a short form and you are instantly approved. During the short signup you can select the categories you want to receive email about. The number of emails you receive is based on the categories that you select and the type of advertising that is being promoted.

The program is International. If your country isn't listed you can write to their Helpdesk to see if it will be soon.

SendMoreInfo pays you 5 cents for each email you read. They offer bonuses a lot, which can pay you up to 50 cents per email. The also pay you 2 cents for every email that a referred friend reads.

Commission checks are mailed out by the 20th of each month for the previous months mailings. I like the minimum commission check amount per month which is only $10.00.

The time involved in reading the emails depends on how many you get each month but I'd say it shouldn't take more than an hour. I didn't read many emails during October because of getting ready for a hectic holiday schedule and many other projects and I still earned $11. Most months, checks are much higher. Come to think about it, $11 a hour isn't really all that bad after all!

And here is another company that pays you for reading email, visiting a start page and evening conducting searches twice a day. Pennies by Email

And one more for you. MailingHeaven