A comprehensive guide for new members.

Welcome to IndiaStudyChannel (ISC), the most visited educational website in India.

Here are some useful information for the new members ( as Updated on 13 April 2020):

What is ISC ?
ISC is the short name for India Study Channel.com. ISC is the most trusted educational website in India, helping students ( we are all students in one way or the other) to learn, to improve their language and writing skills and also to make some money during their free time. Our primary goal is to provide valuable educational content to the students and teachers in India. Members who provide such educational material and help us through various activities to grow this site will earn revenue from us.

Who runs IndiaStudyChannel.com (ISC)?
ISC was originally developed as an academic project for Timmy John, with the help of his brother Tony John, as part of his B.Tech course in Pondicherry university. The project came up well, so the team decided to publish this as a publicly available website, under the leadership of Tony John, who is the first blogger from India. That gave birth to IndiaStudyChannel.com on March 1, 2007. Currently, there are 3 partners for ISC: Tony (Founder/Technical Architect/Business Management), Timmy (Webmaster, Accounts), Jose Mathew (Webmaster).

Do I have to pay any fees to join ?
No. All our services including revenue sharing program are free and anyone is free to join. However, we will make cash payouts only in India. So, if you are outside India, you are responsible to make proper arrangements to receive cash payments in India.

How much money I can make from this site ?
That completely depends on how much time you can spend here. This is not a money-making site and we do not promise you lots of it. The revenue depends on your hard work, the quality of the contents you post and the time you spend here. We can only assure you that whatever money you earn will definitely reach your bank.

One thing you have to remember is, it may take several weeks to start getting reasonable revenue. Once you start earning, your revenue will most probably keep increasing since all your previous posts will continue to earn in the future too.

How can I make money from this site ?
In addition to providing educational resources, one of the primary goals of ISC is to help members to earn revenue by doing part-time work for ISC. You can work from your home, office or browsing centre in your free time.

There are 3 primary earning programs here:

1. Earn Cash Credits directly from ISC for posting content in various sections like Resources, Ask Experts etc.

2. Earn Google advertising revenue share through us. In general, you will get 90% of the Google Ad revenue from the content you post here.

3. Earn cash prizes and credits from us through various contests and other reward programs that are announced from time to time. We also have weekly, monthly and annual awards that are based on the contributions of members to different sections.

For a complete list of all payment programs, visit this page.

Is there a Fee to join Google AdSense program ?
No, Google AdSense offers free registration. However, they have a very strict review process. You must contribute a few weeks in ISC before you can apply for Google AdSense program.

Does ISC use advertisers other than Google ?
Yes, from time to time, we use various other advertisements also. This is in addition to the normal Google AdSense Ads. The revenue from other advertisements is not shared with members directly. Such revenue will be used to give gifts, cash awards, other expenses etc.

What are Cash Credits ?
Cash Credits are the money we add to your ISC member account. This money will be paid to you when it reaches a minimum amount.

How do ISC make the payments to members ?
When a member earns money from ISC, we give 'cash credits' to the member. Cash credits are equal to cash, but the amount will be paid to members only when it reaches a minimum limit.

For the first time payees, the minimum balance to reach the payout level is Rs 300. If you have never received payment from us and have reached Rs 300 now, you will receive the payment when we make the payment announcement during the first week of the coming month.

If you have received payment at least once, then you have to reach a higher balance to receive payments. The exact amount is decided every month depending on many factors like our revenue during the month, the number of payments we have to make during the month etc. Typically, the cash balance to receive payments after the first time payment is between Rs 500 to Rs 750.

Members can also set their minimum payout amount inPayment & Revenue Settings in manage account page.
Once a cash payment has been announced in your name, you will have to follow the procedure and upload your invoice duly filled in.

It may please be noted that your earnings from Google AdSense program are tracked directly by Google and we have no role in it. The payments from Google are completely different from payments from ISC.

Can I quit my job and try to earn more money from ISC ?
No, we do not recommend quitting your current job and try to earn more money from here. You may be able to make more money from ISC than your current job, but still, you should not fully depend on us. ISC revenue should be only your second revenue source and you should not spend more than 2-3 hours per day for posting content in ISC.

The revenue from ISC comes through Google Ads. If our agreement with Google terminates for any reason in future, we may not be able to continue this revenue sharing program. So, it is always a good idea to stay with your current job and work only part-time for ISC.

What are "Points" ?
We evaluate each and every post from you and assign points based on the quality of the content. This is called 'Revenue Score'. Your earnings and gifts/awards may be based on this. The more points you get, the higher the chances you have to get payments.

The points assigned to content varies by category as well as quality of the content. Also, when any content is posted, our system automatically assigns some points based on certain rules. This page shows the default points assigned in each category.

Are "Points" same as money ?
No. Points are used only to determine your member level. Points indicate the quality of your post. In some section where we pay cash, the payments may depend on the points you received. Read more about each section to find if there is any relation between points and cash in that section.

What are Member Levels ?
Based on the total points earned by a member, we promote members to various levels like Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Platinum etc. Learn more about Membership Levels.

Who verifies the content posted in ISC ?
ISC is a strictly moderated site and we have a team of editors who review each and every piece of content posted in ISC. Content posted by new members will be reviewed and approved/rejected within 1-7 days.

What kind of content I can post?
ISC is basically an educational site and so our priority is for educational/ knowledge-based contents. We do not entertain submissions that resemble other social media sites. The motto of our site being 'to learn while you earn', the contents you post must be related to knowledge sharing. Contents copied from any other source is strictly prohibited.

How do I trust IndiaStudyChannel.com and know that you will really pay us the money you promised ?
Simply post a question in the forum section and ask the members whether anyone got paid so far. I am sure several members will reply soon. Read some testimonials here.

Has IndiaStudyChannel.com received any awards and recognition ?
We have not yet participated in any awards program and hence we have not received any awards. However, one of our partners (Tony) is a recognized technology person and he has been selected as an MVP by Microsoft. You can see his name and name of this website listed on Microsoft website. Read more here.

How to join and start making money ?
Here are the steps to participate in ISC:

1. Register as a member in ISC.

2. Introduce yourself by posting a message in our forum section. You will get a warm welcome from the active community members in ISC.

3. You can discuss various topics in the Forum section, post various educational content in the Articles section, post fresh vacancies in our Job section, can clear your doubts on any issue in our Ask Experts section, can post updates in our College and School section, can post latest question papers and so on.
4. After you become a GOLD level member, create Google AdSense account.

As a matter of fact, it has been observed that new members tend to have some confusions and doubts during the initial days and so it would be better if they start by posting responses to the new threads in the forum section to get acquainted with the requirements of this site. Once they get an idea, they may gradually move on to other sections.

If I have any questions, whom should I contact ?
Simply post your question in the Forum section. We will answer your question as soon as possible.

Where can I read the guidelines for the various sections?
To help out new members to understand how to contribute to ISC, we have created a page where you can check out the section-wise features and guidelines: IndiaStudyChannel.com Sectionwise FAQs. It is suggested that you read all the guidelines properly and understand the same. It may be noted that any violation of our guidelines or policies is not acceptable. You may also go through this thread on posting limits in India Study Channel to know the limits of posting in each section and also about the sections that have now been closed for contributions.

Please also go through all the Help Topics carefully.

A perusal of these articles 1 and 2 will also be of help to you.

How many editors do you have ?
As on date, ISC has around 20 editors including the Managing Editor and lead editors. We have three webmasters actively helping our members.

Can I become an editor in ISC ?
Editors are recruited, based on different criteria, by lead editors, site coordinator and webmasters on need basis. From time to time, we add additional editors to our team to support our fast growth. Please find more details about editor hiring process.

To conclude, ISC is a very friendly site and gives you ample opportunity to improve your language, develop your writing skills and also helps you to brush up your knowledge by interacting with our members. Be interested, be serious, let your thoughts and ideas move freely and all the more, be active here and keep contributing.