About The Program
The Member Rewards Program is an incentive program available to all members of the Heron Academy. Members receive points by completing tasks that help improve the Heron Academy in some way. Examples include helping other members in the forum, being a mentor, submitting tutorials, referring people to the Academy, contributing content, and many other things.
Points offer many benefits, both on a monthly basis, and a permanent basis.
Monthly Benefits
Each month, 30% of any profits (minus any losses from previous months) that the Heron Academy generates are re-distributed back into the community. At least 10% of these profits are sent to members who have acquired MRP points. Simply put, the greater your share of newly acquired MRP points, the higher your percentage of payout will be for the given month.
If for example in a given month you acquire 100 MRP points, whilst every other member acquires a grand total of 2000 MRP points, and our total profit is $10,000. The MRP points will be divided as follows -
Example only
30% of total profits = $3000.
10% invested into MRP program = $1000.
Total newly acquired MRP Points = 2100 Points
Value of each newly acquired point = $0.47 USD
So, if you acquired 100 MRP points from the month in question above, you'd receive a payout of at least $47 directly into your PayPal account. All this just for helping make the Heron Academy a better resource for everyone!
In addition to receiving a cash payout, your newly acquired MRP Points will be added toward your MRP Point grand total, which is visible under your username on forum posts. MRP Points are never lost, so your total will keep building, however monthly cash payouts are calculated only on the points you've acquired in the given month, not on your total points.
If you want to become a full time contributor, then obviously it would be possible to earn many more points than the example given above. Please note that the value of newly acquired MRP Points will vary greatly from month to month, depending both upon our profit margin, and the number of newly acquired points other members have.
Note: Payments under $1USD will not be processed. Your newly acquired MRP Points for a given month are not visible, only your total acquired points.
Permanent Benefits
Each member has an MRP Point total. That is to say, a grand sum of all the MRP Points they have ever acquired. This total does not reset. At the end of the year we may offer special benefits, prizes, or monetary payouts to members who have reached a certain threshold, or who have amongst the highest MRP Point totals.
In addition to direct benefits, MRP Points reflect your standing within the community. It's a way of letting other members know how much you've contributed and helped others. This can be a very handy way of earning trust and networking with other members.
Other Rewards
Member Of The Month Award (coming soon)
Member Of The Year Award (coming soon)
Earning Points
MRP Points can be earned in many different ways, and we are always open to suggestions of including new ways to earn points.
These points can never be purchased for real money. We believe this maintains the integrity of the program since all MRP Points are awarded only for direct contributions made to the Heron Academy that benefit all members.
Receive Forum Reputation - Earns 1 point
Every time a member increases your forum reputation, you will receive 1 MRP Point. Members are allowed to increase other members forum reputation a maximum of 10 times each month. Members don't lose anything for giving out reputation, so by helping people on the forum, receiving reputation should be the easiest way to obtain points.
Submit Published Article (500 - 1000 words) - Earns 10 points
If you submit an Internet marketing based article to us which is of a high editorial standard, spelling and grammar mistake free, requires little or no modification, and we believe it is worthy to publish on our website, we will offer you 10 points in exchange for you giving us full ownership and copyright over the article.
Submit Published Tutorial (2000 - 5000 words) - Earns 30 points
If you submit an Internet marketing based tutorial to us which is of a high editorial standard, spelling and grammar free, requires little or no modification, and we believe it is worthy to publish on our website, we will offer you 30 points in exchange for having full ownership and copyright over the tutorial.
Submit Published Course/Other Content - Negotiable
If we have a prior arrangement for you to create a course or Internet marketing related product for us, and you subsequently deliver a product which meets our standards, we will offer you a pre-negotiated amount of MRP Points for full ownership and copyright of the material.
Become A Registered Community Training Representative - Earns 15 points per answer
If you apply to become a community training representative, and you subsequently pass our interviewing process, we will pay you 15 points for every paid support ticket that you submit an answer for, provided that the answer is accepted and meets our quality standards.
Refer A Contributor - Earns 5 points (coming soon)
For every active member you refer who contributes to the community, you will receive 5 MRP Points. A contributor is considered any Free member who becomes a regular contributor to the community, or any Premium or Business member regardless of their contribution.
Points Milestone Structure
There are six different MRP Levels that members can earn by simply obtaining the total designated number of MRP Points. These levels are permanently earned regardless of any payouts you receive for already existing points.
Standard: 0 Points
1 Star - 
: 100 Points
2 Star - 
: 500 Points
3 Star - 
: 3000 points
4 Star - 
: 10,000 points
5 Star - 
: 50,000 points
Our motivation behind creating the Member Rewards Program is to offer members additional incentives for helping improve the Heron Academy and answering other members questions. Whilst improvement of the Heron Academy benefits all members indirectly, Member Rewards offers members a way to directly benefit as well.
All of the above MRP details are subject to change. Any changes will only have effect once updated on this page.
Please note that if the Heron Academy operates at a loss for any given period, then any future profits will need to cancel out the losses before payouts are made (please see our 30% Reinvestment Of Profits promise for details on this).